On this week’s episode of The Progress Report, Zachary and Emma dig up the good news buried beneath the usual headlines, celebrating Costa Rica’s leap into high-income status and the upward mobility of Cape Verde and Samoa, marveling at Paris’s historic $1.4 billion effort to make the Seine swimmable again for local residents, highlighting a Supreme Court decision that keeps crucial phone and internet subsidies alive for rural and low-income Americans, and exploring how drones are helping clear decades of trash from Mount Everest. Plus! They share a listener’s inspiring idea to end every conversation with a piece of good news.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.orgWatch the podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetworkAnd follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk
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15:36
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15:36
What Makes Societies Thrive? with Johan Norberg
What made history’s golden ages thrive? Zachary and Emma speak with Johan Norberg, historian, documentary filmmaker, and author of Peak Human: What We Can Learn from the Rise and Fall of Golden Ages. Johan discusses what special societal qualities produced golden ages across history, as well as why these civilizations declined, what we can learn from their setbacks, and why the cyclical nature of history should bring optimism in today’s world. Johan also explores recent political developments in his native Sweden.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Watch the podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork
And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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55:59
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55:59
The Progress Report: A Robot Saved My Heart
This week on The Progress Report, Zachary and Emma bring more uplifting headlines you won’t find in your usual news feed. America’s prison population is dropping fast, thanks to a dramatic decrease in youth incarceration. The first fully robotic heart transplant in the U.S. marks a giant leap for medical innovation, eliminating the need for open-chest surgery and speeding up recovery for patients. Nepal is quietly staging an electric vehicle revolution, with 70% of new cars now electric and nearly universal access to the power grid.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Watch the podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork
And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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13:08
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13:08
Climate Change's Agriculture Problem with Michael Grunwald
Can we feed the world without destroying it? Zachary and Emma speak with Michael Grunwald, award-winning journalist and author known for his work on the environment and national politics. He is currently a senior writer for Politico Magazine and author of We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate. Michael discusses ways to farm using fewer acres of land, the improvements in plant-based products, and technology innovations including gene-edited crops and lab-grown meat. He points to recent growth in energy with solar panels and electric cars, hoping that farming could have a similar revolution.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Watch the podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork
And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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57:26
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57:26
The Progress Report: FDA Approves HIV Prevention Gamechanger
On this week's Progress Report, Zachary and Emma spotlight the stories that prove the world is moving forward, from Ireland’s bold move to end coal power to major U.S. brands ditching synthetic food dyes to breakthrough HIV prevention. They also cover how aviation safety is getting a high-tech upgrade as airlines roll out new cockpit alert systems that warn pilots about potential runway mix-ups and risky landings. Last, tune in to see if they stick the landing after a diversion into a joke from a problematic comedian.
What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate.
For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org
Watch the podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork
And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What if instead of being on the brink of disaster, we’re on the cusp of a better world? No one can deny the challenges the world faces, from pandemics to climate change to authoritarianism. But pessimism and despair are too easy a response. Each week, Progress Network Founder Zachary Karabell and Executive Director Emma Varvaloucas convene a diverse panel of experts to discuss the central issues of our era, including sustainability, polarization, work, and the economy, and make the case for a brighter future. They emerge from their conversations with a counterintuitive but informed take: progress is on its way.
USA