The Rise of Blue Nation: An Innovative Approach to Climate Change

02/15/23 • 33 min

1 Listener

Hey folks, in today's episode of the Climate Confident podcast I had the pleasure of sitting down (again!) with Steve Willis to talk in a little more depth about the idea of the ocean as a nation - which he mentioned briefly on last week's instalment of the show.

Steve's concept is a fascinating one, and we spent the whole episode discussing the potential benefits and challenges of such an idea. We talked about the steps that would need to be taken to turn this vision into a reality, and how we could start building a public discussion around it.

In addition to discussing the idea itself, we also talked about the potential for turning it into a Netflix series and how storytelling can play a role in raising awareness and inspiring action.

Overall, it was a thought-provoking episode and I hope you'll enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed recording it!

Here are the links that Steve mentioned during the episode:

Thanks for tuning in and I hope you'll join us for the next episode!

Support the show

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing supporters:

Lorcan Sheehan
Jerry Sweeney
Andreas Werner
Stephen Carroll
Roger Arnold

And remember you too can Support the Podcast - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Climate Confident episodes like this one.
Contact
If you have any comments/suggestions or questions for the podcast - get in touch via direct message on Twitter/LinkedIn.

If you liked this show, please don't forget to rate and/or review it. It makes a big difference to help new people discover the show.
Credits
Music credits - Intro by Joseph McDade, and Outro music for this podcast was composed, played, and produced by my daughter Luna Juniper

Send me a message

In addition to discussing the idea itself, we also talked about the potential for turning it into a Netflix series and how storytelling can play a role in raising awareness and inspiring action.

Overall, it was a thought-provoking episode and I hope you'll enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed recording it!

Here are the links that Steve mentioned during the episode:

Thanks for tuning in and I hope you'll join us for the next episode!

Support the show

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing supporters:

Lorcan Sheehan
Jerry Sweeney
Andreas Werner
Stephen Carroll
Roger Arnold

Previous Episode

The Holodeck of Climate Solutions: Writing a Better Future

Send me a message

I had the pleasure of speaking with Professor Denise Baden and Steve Willis on the latest episode of this podcast. Denise is a Professor of Sustainable Practice at the University of Southampton and runs the Green Stories project, which aims to communicate climate solutions through storytelling. Steve is the Director of Herculean Climate Solutions and helped produce the book "No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save Our Planet" with Denise.

In this episode, we dive into the power of storytelling and how fiction can be used to raise awareness and inspire action on the climate crisis. Denise and Steve share their approach to writing positive, solution-focused stories that address the lack of hopeful narratives in the climate fiction genre. The book features 24 stories by experienced writers (Kim Stanley Robinson, Andrew Dana Hudson, Paolo Bacigalupi, and more) in collaboration with climate experts and includes solutions such as personal carbon allowances and citizen assemblies.

We also discuss the importance of moving away from the GDP metric and towards a Wellbeing Index or Happy Planet Index. Steve shares his idea of making the ocean an independent state to solve its problems and Denise highlights the potential for planting ocean vegetation. They both hope their writing will inspire people to think about these solutions and take action.

Denise shares the inspiration behind the anthology and how she balanced the need for entertainment with communicating climate solutions. She and Steve have big dreams of turning the stories into a Netflix series. They also plan to promote the book and raise awareness of the need for action on the climate crisis.

So, grab a pen and take notes! This episode is packed with inspiring ideas and solutions to the climate crisis. Don't forget to check out the accompanying website for the book, which offers audio versions of the stories and links to ways to make the solutions a reality.

Support the show

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing supporters:

Lorcan Sheehan
Jerry Sweeney
Andreas Werner
Stephen Carroll
Roger Arnold

Next Episode

A Climate Solution That Brings People Together: Citizen Assemblies

Send me a message

Hello Climate Confident listeners! I'm so excited to share with you the latest episode of the podcast where I had the pleasure of speaking once again with Prof Denise Baden and also this time with Prof Matt Ryan. In this episode, we dive into the topic of Citizen Assemblies and the role they play in addressing the climate crisis.

Denise and Matt are both experts in the field and it was amazing to hear about their experiences and insights on this topic. We talked about the importance of involving citizens in the decision-making process and how Citizen Assemblies can help to find solutions to complex issues, such as climate change.

One of the highlights of the episode was when Denise shared a story about a successful Citizen Assembly in Gdansk, Poland. It was inspiring to hear how a group of 60 city dwellers were given the authority to take action and made sweeping changes in areas like flood mitigation, air pollution, and even controversial topics like LGBT rights. And to top it off, the assemblies ended with a hug!

Matt also shared valuable information about the Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies (KNOCA) website, knoca.eu, which is a great resource for anyone interested in learning more about Citizen Assemblies and their role in addressing the climate crisis.

Throughout the episode, Denise and Matt emphasized the importance of finding the right mix of entertainment, decision-making structures, and inclusion in the Citizen Assembly process. They shared that while there may be mistakes made along the way, the goal is to find solutions that will allow us to survive, thrive, and flourish without damaging the planet.

If you're interested in learning more about Denise, Matt, Citizen Assemblies, or any of the topics we discussed in the podcast, be sure to check out sortitionfoundation.org, dabaden.com, and participedia.net.

I hope you enjoyed this episode of Climate Confident! Stay tuned for more inspiring and informative conversations on the latest climate solutions.

Support the show

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's amazing supporters:

Lorcan Sheehan
Jerry Sweeney
Andreas Werner
Stephen Carroll
Roger Arnold

Climate Confident - The Rise of Blue Nation: An Innovative Approach to Climate Change

Transcript

Steve Willis00:00:03.552

And we will approach, the easy beachhead customers to start with and get a little bit money to do that, and then be able to reach a bit further in order to be able to collect more money from the other companies that have made net zero promises. And then when there is some money in the bank, you could say, okay, now we will, speak to the people, obviously who have contributed, and we will choose a number of key critical projects to just pay for