Every now and then, I find something I obsess over.
I'll go around telling everyone who'll listen about it.
Don't be fooled. The bar is high.
It's gotta be radically perspective-changing.
Often, it's music or a film or a book.
This time it's a podcast.
In my increasingly busy life, I've really leaned into listening to audiobooks. I love how I can "read" while walking the dog or walking into town.
I literally remember things I've listened to by physical location. Like, there's an opening in the woods on my morning dog walk where I first heard Jon Alexander share his idea of citizenship. The idea that we were first 'subjects', then 'consumers', and how we need to become 'citizens' to fix the future. I call this opening Citizen Square in my head.
But the podcast I want to share with you is different.
It's a beautiful example of how storytelling can create momentum.
And it's called...
​Maryam Pasha and Matt Golding go on a journey around the UK, visiting ordinary neighbourhoods doing something extraordinary.
They use story to build a connection between the listener and the protagonists. And what makes this so compelling is that the protagonists are regular folk. People like you and me. It leaves you feeling inspired, capable, energised even.
You meet people like Lee Rob, who is one of the co-founders of a radical, community-owned greengrocer's in Carrick who source all their veg within 10 minutes of them. They are pioneering the transition to a nature-friendly agroecological farming system with lower dependence on fossil fuels. Lee is now even being invited to contribute to national food policy.
Or Mark Pepper, who lives in Lawrence Weston on the outskirts of Bristol, who organised his community to get a supermarket built in a food desert and has built the UK’s largest community-owned wind turbine. Plus much, much more.
Listening to these stories, I'm inspired by what's possible. And I want you to be inspired too.
So this week's newsletter is simply this:
Check out Maryam and Matt's podcast: Screw this... let's try something else
I hope it inspires you as much as it's inspired me.