Mixtapes

Have you noticed it’s a lot more difficult to get humans interested in the hole, in the void, in the absence of things, than getting humans interested in plugging the hole, in making up for deficiencies at all costs, in the patch, in covering it up? This episode features "the Hole" - a poem by Richard G. Stern.  Music by Komitas, performed by Arve Henriksen, Eivid Aarset, Jan Bang & Tigran Hamasyan. Cosmic Dynamics is also available on Spotify & on podcast apps. Thank you for tuning in. Camille

Save the date: On Thursday 9th of April at 19:00 CET, I will mix the best ideas and reflections from my conversation with cello player Christine J. Lee, with music and sounds, so we can explore what the future holds, and very probably feel something! The live mix will be broadcasted from www.cosmic.show Cosmic Dynamics is also available on Spotify & on podcast apps. Enjoy the show! Camille

Thank you to artist Toni Hamel for letting us feature her work on the show. You can find “The land of id” and other fascinating pieces on her  website. Toni Hamel is on Instagram here.  Looking forward to your thoughts / ideas / questions! And thank you for tuning in. Camille.

“Each morning after breakfast I like to start the day by earning twenty thousand dollars.” This is a quote form Salvador Dali. He used to sign blank sheets of paper as well as drawings from random people to make quick cash. It’s estimated that he signed over 350k sheets of paper in his career. This episode is about confusion. You can send me your thoughts at hello@cosmic.show or via DM on Twitter or Instagram

Last month, I heard that the future belongs to the youth of the world. Would you agree?It feels like the youth is playing an important role indeed in the last year of climate mobilisation, with the school strikes etc. but in practice: how influential are young leaders in the boardrooms of the world? Are they even there to begin with? It was time to bring someone with field experience and a long list of ideas on the topic. Over the last few years at Coalition Wild, Crista Valentino trained over a thousand young leaders in 107 countries to unleash their potential to drive action projects in their community. Youth’s voice in decision making is a favorite topic of hers and I brought challenging questions, like “why are we marching for climate exactly?” or “Where do we expect serious answers come from” “How come so many organisations have become obsolete?”. Then she flipped this into a vibrant live therapy session I sure didn’t expect. Once more, I was reminded about how complex it is to change your mind. But how

Forgetting time is not something we generally feel comfortable with. We know it’s good for the mind, but hey, when will I get my work done? And the logistics of family life? I can’t just sit and lose myself into an activity that will take me away from my schedule! Sounds familiar?

I have a positive coffee story for you today. A drop of genius and hope in the dark ocean of bitterness. This is where transition always starts isn’t it? When I found out that with each cup of commercial - or fairtrade - coffee that we drink we perpetuate extreme poverty and child labour, I was ready to fall into denial . I was thinking about all of the cups of coffee I had in my life...

Yes, season 2 is starting strong! You must have noticed the doors of true systemic change are most often closed. And shifting the paradigm requires learning how to open them:) Today I am bringing you the best door-opener I know of - he can go talk to the King without an invitation - hijack an audience when you least expect it or crack jokes on very slippery slopes. "In this episode, he teaches us how to seize moments that truly matter"

Here we are. Season 2. I am very enthusiastic about this new podcast series and am looking forward to hearing what you think about it. As a quick reminder, from now on, we are going to increase our focus on paradigm shift - beyond “just change making”. And shifting the paradigm starts by changing the language we use, and the stories we tell as change makers.

In this second episode of Summer Reflections, you will gain further insights about the future of the show and hear from a first project that was born out of the Cosmic network. The future holds promising opportunities for the Cosmic community!

I’ve always had a fascination for them, knowing they are at the very top of their game, able to coordinate a movement of 80 expert musicians and deliver a performance that is not only extremely precise, coordinated and tight, but one that can also take audiences into another dimension. We must be able to learn something from these guys!?

Across cultures, people don’t laugh about the same things. Can dramatic events be made fun of? Where is the limit? How to handle black humour? And what can satire do for social change? "We are making some upgrades to the podcast production and publishing processes so we are rebroadcasting some of our most popular episodes from this first part of the year."

We are making some upgrades to the podcast production and publishing processes so we are rebroadcasting some of our most popular episodes from this first part of the year. As the new composition of EU institutions is taking shape, I recalled this great discussion with ex-VP of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala, in her kitchen, after a long winter day in Brussels. If you haven’t heard it yet it’s a good moment to dive in.

It’s a positive story. Across the Amazon, alliances of indigenous people are becoming more and more effective. Infrastructure projects are being opposed, international law is being harnessed and we even see governments facilitating a more sustainable vision for the sacred lands that hold so much of the Earth’s biodiversity and vital functions.

What does it mean to be human? And what if emojis are taking over? The development model of our societies clearly involves ethnocide: we kill languages and we kill cultures. Are we paying attention? How much does diversity of languages actually matter? In Cosmic #23, we started a quest exploring what connects languages, culture & power. In this episode, I take a deeper dive with someone who lived a unique range of experiences with the most remote communities on the planet.

The rest is taking over the West. This week I learnt that change in emerging markets is to a great extent driven by entrepreneurs and startups who are shaking markets from the bottom up, often threatening industry and public services with product and service disruptions that simply do a better job than what established players have offered so far. Even NGOs can see the rug pulled from under their feet. There must be a reason for it!

“This could be me”. When looking at the refugee crisis and witnessing the constant inflow of asylum seekers across the European continent, the human mind easily falls into stigmatization. We eventually let in the emotions media and politics seek to create in us and we get captivated in a way that is highly unproductive.

What is your relationship with coffee? Millions of people around the world work blood, sweat and tears so we can all enjoy this one cup of magic potion every morning. Truly, most of us have some kind of addiction to the coffee moment. This one cup is subject to much debate - guilt sometimes - and dreams, more and more. The world of coffee is changing and I wanted to give it proper attention to find out what learnings we can draw from what turned into a key commodity on financial markets.

We didn’t agree on everything, but it was good fun! This conversation was a good way to start digging into the vast & complex world of food safety and agricultural systems, also touching on career trade-offs and purpose. Jessica works as a researcher in communications at Purdue University in Indiana, United States. She recently edited a book combining the perspective of 17 academic voices from her sector, the typical minefield I love to get myself into.

We got kicked out of the place! I think they understood we were here to tell the truth…. But before this group of congress executives came to remove us, we were talking about how hard it is to operate in an industry that is all about selling new products that break, instead of designing them for durability and repairability.