The Conspiracy of Goodness Podcast
Hosted by Dr. Lynda Ulrich, Goodness Exchange Co-Founder
The Conspiracy of Goodness Podcast is designed to give you more joy, less fear, and no end to the evidence that a bright future is possible. Each episode, we help you make sense of the world by introducing you to people tackling some of the world’s most difficult problems and show you why they still think the future is bright.
61 min listen
APOPO’s Highly Trained Rats Could Save Your Life with Dr. Cindy Fast (Episode #131)
Dr. Cindy Fast tells us about the fascinating and groundbreaking work of an organization in Africa that has realized the potential in a common local animal, and turned it from “pest” to “hero.” Remarkable gains in landmine clearing, stopping the spread of tuberculosis, and even search and rescue techniques are being made… all from the discovery of a novel partnership: one between humans and… African giant pouched rats! Listen in to learn about the fantastic work of nonprofit, APOPO.
Listen InAPOPO’s Highly Trained Rats Could Save Your Life with Dr. Cindy Fast (Episode #131)
62 min listen
Here’s A Better Way to Axe Food Waste (Hint: It’s Not Composting!) with Andrew Shakman (Episode #130)
Many of us are conscientiously making new habits to help with the problem of climate change: recycling, making greener purchasing choices, or reducing our carbon footprint. But did you know there is a solution well underway that can reduce 13% of greenhouse gasses if the food industry made one commitment? Yes, our guest today—Andrew Shakman—is tackling (and winning against) one problem: food waste. And this one problem that we know how to solve in a fascinating, completely new way. Hint: it is not about more composting!
Listen InHere’s A Better Way to Axe Food Waste (Hint: It’s Not Composting!) with Andrew Shakman (Episode #130)
56 min listen
Compete Against Your Best Self, Not Others: Advice from An Olympian with Jason Dorland (Episode #129)
Our most important goals can pull us along into lives well-lived, but they can also be at the heart of our most devastating moments. In this episode, Dr. Lynda talks to Olympic Athlete Jason Dorland,about many fresh perspectives that we can all bring to circumstances that threaten to derail our hopes and dreams. Delightfully, many of these perspectives are born of a relationship with a very special dog named Ike.
Listen InCompete Against Your Best Self, Not Others: Advice from An Olympian with Jason Dorland (Episode #129)
52 min listen
Seeking a Message from Space: SETI’s Search for Extraterrestrial Life with Dr. Jill Tarter (Episode #128)
Dr. Lynda sits down with Dr. Jill Tarter to talk about SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), Jill’s 40 year journey, pioneering that field as a female scientist, and how positive a more “cosmic perspective” could be in our lives and our shared futures.
Listen InSeeking a Message from Space: SETI’s Search for Extraterrestrial Life with Dr. Jill Tarter (Episode #128)
59 min listen
What Lights You Up? Untangling Life’s Complexities with Jonathan Domsky (Episode #127)
Jonathan Domsky talks with Dr. Lynda about untangling life’s complexities with a positive outlook and strategy. Their conversation provides insight into seeing the things that are working and uncovering beliefs that may have us “stuck.” His experience in helping others get clarity and his international success as an entrepreneur allows him to offer practical solutions for our personal and professional lives.
Listen InWhat Lights You Up? Untangling Life’s Complexities with Jonathan Domsky (Episode #127)
58 min listen
Why Kids Can’t Change Until Adults Do with AJ Crabill (Episode #126)
Dr. Lynda talks with AJ Crabill about getting where we want to be by resisting the urge to focus on the strategies most familiar to us, and instead identifying the outcome we want and finding the most effective strategy from there. Through his work improving student outcomes by keeping “collectivism” in the center of the table, AJ has found some secrets that we can all use to come together in all kinds of boardrooms—schools, businesses, and communities—and even around the kitchen table.
Listen InWhy Kids Can’t Change Until Adults Do with AJ Crabill (Episode #126)
72 min listen
Rebranding Loss and Grief: How Beginnings AND Ends Can Be Celebrated with Naila Francis (Episode #125)
Many of us have first-hand experience with grief and loss, but our guest today—a grief coach and death midwife—will give us alternatives to how we approach this rite of passage. Today’s guest, Naila Francis, shows us how we find simple sources of joy even in the depth of our losses, that help us move forward with grief, NOT move on from it.
Listen InRebranding Loss and Grief: How Beginnings AND Ends Can Be Celebrated with Naila Francis (Episode #125)
59 min listen
How 82 Million Minutes of Rainforest Audio Could Save Your Life with Bourhan Yassin (Episode #124)
It is possible to save all the remaining rainforests in the world when we connect three things: technology, imagination, and our love for the world. Our guest today, Bourhan Yassin, is CEO of a nonprofit—the Rainforest Connection (RFCx)—that has been working towards doing exactly that since 2014. Their founder discovered that we could use simple cell phone technology to detect and stop illegal logging, and in less than a decade, the RFCx has expanded into using sound and machine learning to protect biodiversity in all kinds of places.
Listen InHow 82 Million Minutes of Rainforest Audio Could Save Your Life with Bourhan Yassin (Episode #124)
45 min listen
One Eagle Scout’s Hydroponic Gardening Project Tackles Hunger in Five Countries with Christian Heiden (Episode #123)
There’s a generation coming up that could be called the “see it and then solve it” generation. They look at problems like riddles just waiting to be solved, and then they start ingeniously doing what they can with what they’ve got. Today’s guest, Christian Heiden, is an amazing example of this style of innovator. He has taken an Eagle Scout project he started at age 16, and turned it into a solution to malnutrition and food insecurity in 5 countries and the impact of the endeavor is expanding at an extraordinary, inspiring pace.
Listen InOne Eagle Scout’s Hydroponic Gardening Project Tackles Hunger in Five Countries with Christian Heiden (Episode #123)
69 min listen
Corporate Giants Start to Care—It’s Great for Business! with Andrew Winston (Episode #122)
It’s easy to look at a daunting challenge - something so big that you know you can’t possibly finish the job - and then do nothing. It’s easy to just not start at it, somewhere. But our guest today, Andrew Winston, did the opposite. When experience started telling him how important it was that we make a fundamental, global change in how business is done on our planet, he committed to a life of fighting for all our shared futures. He is truly living up to the moniker of “change-maker” and we are honored to share his insights.
Listen InCorporate Giants Start to Care—It’s Great for Business! with Andrew Winston (Episode #122)
45 min listen
The Ultimate Triangle Pose: Connecting Yoga, Travel, and Girls’ Education with Jordan Ashley (Episode #121)
If you are wondering about your “purpose,” and you like to travel, then today’s guest will open a whole new landscape of possibilities for you. Jordan Ashley had two passions (yoga and travel) but over time, she began to feel like both were too self-involved. Then, the magic happened (travel with purpose) and she decided to connect her passions to her commitment to helping girls around the world who were being denied access to education. We can all learn from Jordan’s story and perhaps discover what we are uniquely built to contribute.
Listen InThe Ultimate Triangle Pose: Connecting Yoga, Travel, and Girls’ Education with Jordan Ashley (Episode #121)
63 min listen
A Brain in Each Leg? Follow Your Curiosity to the Bottom of the Ocean with Nathan Robinson (Episode #120)
Having filmed bioluminescent shrimp 4,700 feet beneath the sea and studied light as the world’s potentially most common communication method in the world, Dr. Nathan Robinson’s deep sea discoveries lead the world in exploring the depths of our ocean and changing the way we see this largely unexplored landscape. He spots opportunities for wonder everywhere, and celebrates them with a sense of awe that is infectious. Taking us to the most extraordinary realms on our planet, Nathan’s work and enthusiasm have the power to move mountains… and it may already have.
Listen InA Brain in Each Leg? Follow Your Curiosity to the Bottom of the Ocean with Nathan Robinson (Episode #120)
60 min listen
Looking for Easy Ways to Volunteer? There’s an App for That! with Stephanie Page (Episode #119)
What if you could instantly connect with people who share your passions, and then, spur of the moment, do something fun together that makes the world a better place. Oh, and while you are expanding your friend network, you’d also be learning about your community and building your skills and resume! Turns out, all that is very possible, and today’s guest may send you spinning off into a new life of possibility. Stephanie Page is co-founder of POINT, the app and website that the world has needed for too long. (Think Uber meets volunteerism.)
Listen InLooking for Easy Ways to Volunteer? There’s an App for That! with Stephanie Page (Episode #119)
85 min listen
The Leaders in Your Life are Not Who You Think with Drew Dudley (Episode #118)
If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a timely bit of kindness from a stranger or received a compliment or word of encouragement at just the right moment, then you know how these seemingly small acts can lead to a lifetime of impact. Drew Dudley would call those moments ``Everyday Leadership,” and he has some inspiring ideas about how we can all be leaders in the lives of others, right where we are. Sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is simply recognize someone else’s leadership.
Listen InThe Leaders in Your Life are Not Who You Think with Drew Dudley (Episode #118)
62 min listen
282 Lawyers Defend a Client Without a Voice: Planet Earth with Elspeth Jones (Episode #117)
Today's episode will give you hope and a sense that the tide is actually turning, if just thinking about the state of our planet makes you sad or fearful. Our guest—Elspeth Jones—is the warm, funny, brilliant Deputy CEO of an environmental law charity called ClientEarth whose main client is just what the name implies: their client is our planet! Turns out, there is a group of global lawyers whose only client is The Earth. And with a support team of experts in conservation, they are defending our planet and making real change legally binding.
Listen In282 Lawyers Defend a Client Without a Voice: Planet Earth with Elspeth Jones (Episode #117)
88 min listen
Saving Whales to Save Ourselves: Shared Survival through Whale Research with Iain Kerr (Episode #116)
A constant source of wonder in the world is learning about innovators who use technology in wildly novel ways to do tasks that used to be chores or next to impossible. Our guest, Dr. Iain Kerr, is at the center of that kind of wonder with the way he combines drone technology, the science of snot, and the study of whales. (Yes, you read that right.) Even if you are not a science enthusiast, Iain’s take on progress, finding purpose, perseverance, and innovative thinking will simply put a spring in your step.
Listen InSaving Whales to Save Ourselves: Shared Survival through Whale Research with Iain Kerr (Episode #116)
55 min listen
Reintroducing Yourself as You Are, Not as You Were with Cheldin Barlatt Rumer (Episode #115)
Communication is a struggle for most of us. Either we don’t really know when to keep quiet, or we can’t muster the courage to speak up. Our guest, Cheldin Barlatt Rumer, is an expert in seeing our communication landscape, in every moment, with fresh eyes. She has some inspiring perspectives on how we elevate the voices of others, re-introduce ourselves to others after all we’ve been through, and how we can re-imagine the role of the internet in our lives as a tool for communication that can help us thrive.
Listen InReintroducing Yourself as You Are, Not as You Were with Cheldin Barlatt Rumer (Episode #115)
65 min listen
Get Closer to the Good Life: Ditch the Fast Life with Carl Honoré (Episode #114)
If many days end with you feeling depleted and wondering what just happened because of your dizzying pace, Carl Honoré has insights that will help you break free from this need for speed. Carl is the originator of the “Slow Movement,” a growing way of thinking about how we spend our time: Should we continue rushing through everything, or consciously decide which things we will slow down for so we can truly savor the moments? Due to Carl’s work, there are growing communities around Slow Travel, Slow Food, Slow Schools, Slow Living, Slow Biking, Slow Money, and more.
Listen InGet Closer to the Good Life: Ditch the Fast Life with Carl Honoré (Episode #114)Follow Us
Positive news for curious people.
There is a wave of goodness and progress well underway, all around the world.
