Map or compass for a new normal?

This is what I believe - that we are capable of amazing possibility.

The world - in all its glory, dirt and grime - has been handed down to my generation by all the hundreds of previous generations who battled through despair, disease, war, and so much more.

What do we do with it? How do we accept this gift? Do we tie a ribbon on it, and hand it forward to the generation after us, or do we open it, take a hammer to it and offer up the shards?

I believe we are capable of generosity and possibility. I believe that the generations coming after us are filled with imagination, moral courage and a passion for righting wrongs and that we are here to empower and encourage them.

I believe that we will create a new tomorrow that protects our environment. As a society before us challenged the morality of keeping slaves though that had been a tradition for centuries, we will not accept an economic structure that demands that we pillage the earth's most precious resources purely to sustain our national economies. Instead, we will protect all the resources, particularly the water and clean air.

I believe we can invent the technologies that allow us to indulge in the advances of modern science and technology, but make the move to a greener use of energy. We can feed the Earth's growing population. We can find meaningful engagement for each human so they contribute to society as a whole, embracing robotics and AI as our ancestors embraced the plough, made bigger, not less, by technology.

I believe in nurturing the generation that follows us with compassion, but also charging them with the responsibility to care for Mother Earth, not to squander its resources.

I trust in the power of connection - families, communities, classes like Acumen & Akimbo that connect like-minded souls to each other so that we are able to foster a mindset of abundance and possibility. I am sustained by my connection to humanity and to nature: to the sunrise, the melting snow, the enduring cycle of tides and daffodils that bloom in the spring. Nature teaches us the resilience of rebirth.

I know that this world will survive past my race. So I believe in the Earth and place my trust in my generation and the generations after me to respect the Earth as a living being that pushes back when hurt but embraces when whole.

I will do what is within my power - stretching that capability to all its might - to make a green and wonderful world available to the next 7 generations, to gift to them as was gifted to me: the wonder, awe and amazement at what Nature can give us.

And in doing so, I honour the memories and sacrifices of the generations before, as well as the powers that created this beautiful Earth and bequeath to the generations that will follow.

This is what I know:

I am a dot.

• I'm just one human in a world of 7.8 billion
• I exist at a specific point in time, stepping gratefully in the footsteps of those who came before
• Ours is just one of so many species that have covered this same earth for billions of years
• Our world is one planet, a dot in a galaxy and universe that is so wide and spans dimensions

I'm a dot.

And like a dot, I believe in connection. Connecting with friends and family. Connecting a young generation with their elders. Connecting problems with solutions and opportunities. Connecting our future with our past. Connecting peoples across space, place and time.

I'm a dot.

While a dot is small, it is not without impact - just ask COVID-19! You pile enough dots on top of each other, and suddenly you have substance and form, weight and shape which we can choose to use to move towards better.

I am a dot.

And a dot is a beginning.

Host: Karena de Souza  
Producer: Karena de Souza  
Music for this episode: Children of Lemuel by Blue Dot Sessions 
Technology: taped on HP Envy desktop, using Audacity 2.4.2, Blue Yeti Nano  
Processing: Audacity, lightly edited: noise reduction, amplify, normalize 
Photo credit: Karena de Souza photo

ARE YOU A COURAGEOUS PARENT?

This is a book is for all us parents out there who feel like we are being called on to make BIG decisions for our children - those life-impacting, monumental decisions.

• It is for the parents-in-waiting, especially the first-timers who are simultaneously sure they’re going to do it better than their parents, and unsure if they can do it at all. (Yes, you can!)
• It is for the parents of toddlers who are worrying about where they put their hands that they then put in their mouths, whether they can pass something along to their adoring grandparents.
• This is for parents of young children who are weighing the lack of socialization, the effect on their long-term learning by a possible delay in schooling.
• It is for parents of elementary schoolers who know that their peers create a learning environment that encourages children to explore and get creative.
• It is for the parents whose children are in high school - where rules were always already getting broken.
• And for the parents whose child is heading off to university. An uncertain moment already fraught with emotion and discussions on preparedness, now heightened with debates on COVID-19.
• And it is for parents like me at the other end of the parenting journey, whose children are out in the wider world, already making independent decisions that we have to find the courage to live with. They balk at being called ‘children’ having stepped into their own maturity - but to us, they continue to be our babies.

I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always
As long as I’m living _
_My baby you’ll be”

*Love you Forever *
by Robert Munsch

It is about having the courage to provide them with that parenting assist, without interrupting their natural process of maturing.

Host: Karena de Souza  
Producer: Karena de Souza  
Music for this episode: None
Technology: taped on HP Envy desktop, using Audacity 2.4.2, Blue Yeti Nano  
Processing: Audacity, lightly edited: noise reduction, amplify, normalize 
Photo credit: Canva free

ARE YOU A COURAGEOUS PARENT?

This is a book is for all us parents out there who feel like we are being called on to make BIG decisions for our children - those life-impacting, monumental decisions.

• It is for the parents-in-waiting, especially the first-timers who are simultaneously sure they’re going to do it better than their parents, and unsure if they can do it at all. (Yes, y_ou can_!)
• It is for the parents of toddlers who are worrying about where they put their hands that they then put in their mouths, whether they can pass something along to their adoring grandparents.
• This is for parents of young children who are weighing the lack of socialization, the effect on their long-term learning by a possible delay in schooling.
• It is for parents of elementary schoolers who know that their peers create a learning environment that encourages children to explore and get creative.
• It is for the parents whose children are in high school - where rules were always already getting broken.
• And for the parents whose child is heading off to university. An uncertain moment already fraught with emotion and discussions on preparedness, now heightened with debates on COVID-19.
• And it is for parents like me at the other end of the parenting journey, whose children are out in the wider world, already making independent decisions that we have to find the courage to live with. They balk at being called ‘children’ having stepped into their own maturity - but to us, they continue to be our babies.

I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always
As long as I’m living _
_My baby you’ll be”

*Love you Forever *
by Robert Munsch

It is about having the courage to provide them with that parenting assist, without interrupting their natural process of maturing.

Host: Karena de Souza  
Producer: Karena de Souza  
Music for this episode: None
Technology: taped on HP Envy desktop, using Audacity 2.4.2, Blue Yeti Nano  80/77 cardoid
Processing: Audacity, lightly edited: noise reduction, amplify, normalize 
Photo credit: Canva free

Host: Karena de Souza  
Producer: Karena de Souza  
Music for this episode: No. 4 Piano Journey, Esther Abrami, YouTube Audio Library
Technology: taped on HP desktop, using Audacity, Blue Yeti Nano  
Processing: Audacity with apologies to all sound engineers out there  
Photo credit: Karena de Souza, Canva

Editing recipe

Need to fix gain on mic - set mic slightly off from centre, at approx 30-degree angle

1. Raised envelope on vocal to 0.8
2. Normalize -6db
3. Compressor -12 -35 3:4:! 0.225 1sec
4. Added in music
5. Used autoduck feature
6. Used fade out starting at 42s

What if COVID is the dress rehearsal, a road map for how we as humans can handle the environmental crisis? We have now shown that nations can quickly agree on a consistent course of action, humans can make sacrifices for the common good.

As we ease back into a new normal of life after COVID, is there an opportunity to play leapfrog? Can we make economic and social decisions that ignore the actions that hurt the environment? And jump straight towards a new post-COVID normal that also supports human’s continuing presence on Earth while absorbing an accelerated Future of Work?

Regardless of whether we’re able to turn the clock on climate, Weather and all its ripple effects are going to impact what started as the Future of Work and will soon be the new Nature of Work.

There is a tight synergy between these events. 

Bottom line, climate acts as a magnifier for all the issues facing the Future of Work. 

We have a shrinking window within which to effect change – and the COVID crisis has gifted us with the vision that it is possible for peoples from all nations to work together quickly, to make momentous decisions with speed, to dissolve the invisible constraints we had placed on our ability to take action.

Enjoy this replay of an episode that I taped in 2019 about the inevitable impact of climate & environment on all our job choices as we move forward.

I talk about why I feel it is important to include a discussion of the impact of Climate Crisis and Climate Catastrophe in any conversation with GenZ as they debate their options in the Future of Work.

Mitigation is a great opportunity and a necessary one for the protection of our planet.
But there are also opportunities in the discussion on how we prepare for a new version of our world. In both, there is a space for activism and innovation.

I seek to inspire a new generation to fight with all the tools at their disposal - their voice, their brain and their ideas, not purely to scare them.

I look forward to an engaging dialogue.

References:

• Link to article What connects the Future of Work with climate catastrophe?
• JFK speech given at Rice University Texas on September 12, 1962 available with transcript from the JFK library
• Xiuhtezcatl Martinez speech at the UN
• Xiuhtezcatl Martinez Who am I rap at the UN

Host: Karena de Souza
Producer: Karena de Souza
Music for this episode: Bright Future by Silent Partner for the intro,  Cellophane_Sam, Awestruck from the album Sea Change for the 2019 episode
Technology: taped on MacBook Air, using Audacity, Blue Yeti Nano
Processing: Audacity with apologies to all sound engineers out there
Photo credit: John-Cameron-1518022-unsplash.jpg

1. The gift of a pocket of Time spent with family, discovering each other in deep conversations
2. The gift of Humanity - the generous nature of people in real space and digital space
3. The gift of Possibility - when we see how quickly nations and individuals were able to collaborate, it gives us HOPE.

Covid is the dress rehearsal for our collaboration in the fight for climate action. We got this!

Each time I have made a major pivot in my life, it was when I had a pocket of time. Most often these came at low points in my life - having an unnecessarily long job hunt, nursing a sick family member, not getting into the college of my choice.

It turned out that I had not received what I wanted, but offered a chance to get what I needed.

This episode is a pitch for a regular date with yourself - a time to sit down on a weekly, quarterly or annual basis and revaluate your direction against your life goals.

Click here for the full transcript and show notes for this episode: 'Recalibrate'
Please leave your comments on this site, or on LinkedIn.

website: Tiltthefuture.com

Host: Karena de Souza
Producer: Karena de Souza
Music for this episode: Bright Future by Silent Partner
Technology: taped on MacBook Air, using Audacity, Blue Yeti Nano

What would you do if you knew you had the permission?

Permission to speak up.
Permission to make something better.
Permission to be vulnerable.
Permission to connect.
Permission to care.
What would you do?

Because the punch line is “you have permission”

The world needs big bold dreams right now.
Insane ideas that might actually work.

The best idea can come from anyone, anywhere, at anytime.
So dream bold.
Speak up.

You have permission.

Click here for the full transcript and show notes for this episode: 'You have permission'

Please leave your comments on this site, or on LinkedIn.

website: Tiltthefuture.com

Host: Karena de Souza
Producer: Karena de Souza
Music for this episode: Bright Future by Silent Partner
Technology: taped on MacBook Air, using Descript, Blue Yeti Nano
Audio processing: Descript, Audacity, Auphonics

The corona crisis has shown how even the smallest organism has the power to such down the global economy and send us all sheltering in place.

There is big power in small. 

And it goes both ways. Just as small can disrupt entire economies, small ideas can also have a major impact.

Now is the time for bold ideas - and no idea is too small or too simple to be voiced. Because it may be the next big idea.
Or it may launch a 100 other great big ideas in areas from the health crisis, the future of education, the economy or climate crisis.

So speak up.

This podcast is part of a challenge created for the Canadian Gap Year Association.

Click here for the full transcript and show notes for this episode: 'The power of small'

Please leave your comments on this site, or on LinkedIn.

website: Tiltthefuture.com

Host: Karena de Souza
Producer: Karena de Souza
Music for this episode: Bright Future by Silent Partner
Technology: taped on MacBook Air, using Audacity, Blue Yeti Nano