#247: The Future Always Surprises Us: Mark Earls

Why did the U.S. and most other nations around the world do such a poor job of preparing for and reacting to the global COVID-19 pandemic? After all, we had earlier outbreaks, from HIV-AIDS to SARS, MERS, H1N1 and the Ebola virus.

This episode looks at why humans are so bad at preparing for the future and how we can improve our thinking. Marketing strategist, Mark Earls, has studied behavior change for many years. He's the author of "Herd: How to Change Mass Behavior by Harnessing Our True Nature", and "Copy Copy Copy". Mark is now writing a new book, "Memories of Our Future."

When we plan for what's ahead "we should consider multiple futures", says Mark. This doesn't usually happen, and "we find it much easier to have a simple story about how we got here. We overstate our confidence in the causality."

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#238: Detroit. Bankruptcy and Broken Promises: Jodie Adams Kirshner

When Detroit went bust in 2013 it was the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in American history. During the Motor City's fifty years of decline, population fell from nearly 2 million people to just under 700,000. 

Today, Motown is on the rebound. Media reports called the restructuring of massive debt by a partnership between city and state government, business leaders and the philanthropic community a "stunning success." 

In this episode we look at what still needs to be done to improve the lives of residents who live with high crime rates, under-funded schools, and a devastating landscape of abandoned properties. Jodie Adams Kirshner, author of "Broke: Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Dreams" is our guest. 

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#235: 2020: Celebrating Collaborations and Sharing

If independent podcasts are to prosper and survive in this era of growing commercialization, big media, and multi-million dollar podcast investments, we need to grow our community: Share, collaborate and promote groups, individuals and podcasters who share many of our goals.

In this first "How Do We Fix It?" episode of 2020, we include recent interviews with leaders and supporters of Bridge Alliance, Civic Hall, Heterodox Academy, Solutions Journalism Network and Listen First Project. We support their efforts to strengthen democracy, boost curiosity, find constructive solutions and emphasize the positive.

We've included clips from our 2019 interviews with Debilyn Molineaux, Arthur Brooks, Micah Sifry, Jodie Jackson and Pearce Godwin. 

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