On Fridays I want to share with you a quote, some thougths, an image...something that talks to me and inspires me to seek positive change and be a better person everyday.
As I put the latest issue of The Economist down on my shelf, I suddenly realized that an entire world was opening itself entirely in front of me, under my eyes, on my smartphone's screen, without making too much noise.
As I wrote earlier here, I have been trying to get my daily commute as constructive as possible and use the time I have the best possible way, i.e. learning things.
I still had to discover what podcasts are. And this was a revelation.
I downloaded the first show that came to my mind - in French: the monthly recordings of Studio 404. I had been following their team for a while on social media but it never occured to me that I could actually a) enjoy listening to recorded shows and b) learn a lot from them: I still had a lot to discover, obviously.
Studio 404 is specialized in the digital world, going from the use of new technologies to how these impact our societies, our habits, politics etc...(to be honest it is very hard to reduce their scope of discussions in a few words - in French we have this expression: "A la wanagain" that I won't even try to translate). On special occasions (Christmas and summer holidays), they even turn the program into a live role-playing game, something the old-me obviously jubilates about.
In October they made a special live session on technologies and ecology: can the digital world be a trigger towards more environmental practices? How could we re-invent our habits to reduce the environmental impact for instance of the increasing number of emails we send each day, or of the newest smartphone we want to buy?
This podcast has been delightful for the environmentalist geek I am. Since the first days of university, I have always been optimistic enough to believe that if men would not be the actors of an urgent change, technologies would make the deal. Innovation is to me a key to a more sustainable world (along with a drastic change of economic paradigm).
It is difficult to summarize a podcast in a blog post, especially as I do not want to spoil French-speaking readers who would want to give it a try, too. But since then I have been binge-listening the past shows on my way to work, and it has been very hard not to laugh out loud in a very quiet Swiss train. I have also signed up on the show's forum, allowing myself to share comments on topics discussed months ago but to which I relate entirely.
And If I am able to share also what I learned from this show (for instance, an "average spam email has a footprint equivalent to 0.3 grams of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e)" so it would be better to re-learn how to e-communicate) on my mail- and tech- savvy workplace, maybe I'll help a little more save the world, geek-style.