#176: Saving The World By Spending A Trillion Dollars With Rowan Hooper

02/21/22 • 50 min

A trillion dollars is an unimaginably large sum, yet it's only around 1% of the world’s GDP, and is roughly the same valuation of Google, Microsoft or Amazon. Rowan Hooper, author of “How To Spend A Trillion Dollars”, joins me on this episode to share how 10 of the world’s biggest problems can be solved with just a trillion dollars. Rowan shares more insights into these global problems, why governments aren’t doing anything to solve them, and he answers the question we’ve all been asking ourselves: Is it too late to reverse the damage we’ve done?

Special thanks to Emirates Literature Festival for facilitating this interview.

Notes

[02:14] How much is a trillion dollars?
[05:51] Ensuring the money is spent appropriately
[12:42] The problems to solve
[16:33] Why governments don’t solve these problems
[21:05] What Rowan learnt whilst writing the book
[26:28] Cows destroy our planet
[29:50] Rowan’s journey
[33:46] Additional learnings
[38:17] How Rowan would spend one trillion dollars
[40:24] Rowan’s journey after writing the book
[44:00] The responsibility of the world’s richest
[47:43] Is it too late to change?
[51:18] Rowan’s experience writing the book
[52:21] Creating a new life form

Show Sponsors:

Smartkas: Providing food security as a service
Najahi Events: The UAE’s leading event promotor

Socials:

Spencer Lodge

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

Rowan Hooper

https://www.instagram.com/rowhoop/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rowan-hooper-98428099/

https://twitter.com/rowhoop/

Special thanks to Emirates Literature Festival for facilitating this interview.

Notes

[02:14] How much is a trillion dollars?
[05:51] Ensuring the money is spent appropriately
[12:42] The problems to solve
[16:33] Why governments don’t solve these problems
[21:05] What Rowan learnt whilst writing the book
[26:28] Cows destroy our planet
[29:50] Rowan’s journey
[33:46] Additional learnings
[38:17] How Rowan would spend one trillion dollars
[40:24] Rowan’s journey after writing the book
[44:00] The responsibility of the world’s richest
[47:43] Is it too late to change?
[51:18] Rowan’s experience writing the book
[52:21] Creating a new life form

Show Sponsors:

Smartkas: Providing food security as a service
Najahi Events: The UAE’s leading event promotor

Socials:

Spencer Lodge

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

Rowan Hooper

https://www.instagram.com/rowhoop/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rowan-hooper-98428099/

https://twitter.com/rowhoop/

Previous Episode

#175: How To Stop Procrastinating And Control Your Attention With Nir Eyal

If I told you 90% of distractions result from internal triggers - our thoughts, our behaviours and our habits - would you believe me? Many people claim they have short attention spans, lack time management skills, or blame the allure of social media for not finishing their tasks. But according to behavioural engineer and bestselling author, Nir Eyal, the key to increasing your productivity is to become INDISTRACTABLE. If you want to be more productive, master distractions, and stop procrastinating, tune in now.

Notes

[03:29] The problem with to-do lists
[08:25] How working from home affects productivity
[11:49] What is distraction?
[15:54] How to prioritise tasks
[21:10] How far ahead should you plan?
[27:05] The 4 steps to becoming indistractable
[32:00] How Nir’s journey started
[39:41] Nir’s book “Indistractable”
[42:07] Companies that are indistractable
[46:21] Upcoming projects

Show Sponsors:

Smartkas: Providing food security as a service
Najahi Events: The UAE’s leading event promotor

Socials:

Spencer Lodge

https://www.instagram.com/spencer.lodge/?hl=en

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerlodge/

https://www.youtube.com/c/SpencerLodgeTV

Nir Eyal:

https://www.instagram.com/neyal99/?hl=en

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nireyal/

https://twitter.com/nireyal

https://www.nirandfar.com/

Next Episode

#177: An Astronaut’s View On The Future Of Planet Earth And Humanity

It may not happen in our lifetime, but according to many experts, the only way for humanity to survive is to leave planet Earth. Nicole Stott, retired NASA astronaut, aquanaut, artist and now author of her first book, “Back to Earth”, joins me on the podcast to talk about her 27-year long career at NASA, life in space, and what it feels like to be one of only 600+ professionally trained astronauts. We also discuss the latest in space tourism, if life on Mars is really the future and how humanity can save planet Earth.

Special thanks to Emirates Literature Festival for facilitating this interview.

Notes