Radio Utopistan The Los Cedros case is evidence that a more just future is possible. It is a constructive story in times when we almost only get dystopian news about the world we live in. It is a story humans need to not lose hope in democracy and civil engagement. It shows us how powerful and transforming civil society can be. How human rights and nature rights are interconnected and how justice can be implemented. The cloud forest of Los Cedros in Ecuador was the first case in which a court clearly and irretrievable recognized the Rights of Nature. It ruled in favor of the forest and against ..read more

Radio Utopistan It is now almost six weeks since the horrors in Israel and Palestine started – again, but this time in an unprecedented manner. It has never been so cruel so far. So much has been said about all of it already and it is still happening anyway. People are still getting killed on a daily basis by a huge military apparatus that is supported by the big Western countries of this world. Words don`t seem relevant or powerful enough in the face of this. The increasingly loud and aggressive discussions about Israel and Palestine seem to create more and more division instead of an underst ..read more

Radio Utopistan We are back from a long brake - with even more passion and new tools to interconnect visionary people and bold ideas from around the world. Our mission still is to inspire a more just future through storytelling. Through constructive storytelling. And today Elisabeth will share some insights about the power of constructive storytelling. You will learn the very basics of: what is constructive storytelling and solution journalism why humans are always paying attention to the horror stories and how that is affecting our mental health three principles + one tiny tool on how to bra ..read more

Radio Utopistan When she had just become a journalist Ronja went to Afghanistan for almost two years. There she did reports about the war, about drug addiction, poverty and other really devastating things. Sometimes all the misery left her hopeless and without perspective. So she started to look for the constructive aspects within her stories: for people who are trying to find a way out, for projects that are offering solutions. This is called constructive journalism or solution journalism. She didnt know it by then because it is a recent but very much needed version of journalism. It doesnt m ..read more

Radio Utopistan Carolyn Ekyarisiima wanted to become a doctor to help people. Now she is an IT-Expert training thousands of girls in Tanzania how to use technology to create the world they want to live in. She founded the organization Apps and Girls. They are teaching girls how to code. And how to use IT and technology to get their voices heard and ideas out into the world. When she founded the NGO in 2014 she was pregnant, today she has four kids and 11 employees. In the last eight years more than 100.000 girls learned about the power of IT with Apps and Girls. Thez focus on girls and young w ..read more

Radio Utopistan Since almost 30 years the people of Intag are successfully fighting a huge open pit copper mine in the tropical Andean mountains in northern Ecuador. It´s one of the most biodivers places left on earth, there live more species per hectare than in the Amazon. But underneath it lies copper and some gold, worth millions and billions of dollar. Different transnational mining companies and also the state of Ecuador are trying to get it out. Exploration phase is now almost completed. Next step would be a huge and toxic hole in the rainforest. Meanwhile the hunger for copper is growin ..read more

Radio Utopistan The people of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon are protecting their territory in a very special way. They call it Kawsak Sacha, the living forest. It grows on land under which there is a lot of oil, like in many parts of The Amazon. Helena Gualinga is one of them. She is 20 years old and her way of fighting consists of photo shoots for lifestyle magazines, of traveling to international climate conferences and of dancing with her friends and family at traditional ceremonies. About 75.000 people watch her doing this on her Instagram channel. I had the honor of talking and dancin ..read more

Radio Utopistan The problem we tackle in the first episode of our second season is huge and it is everywhere: CONCRETE It is the most widely used substance on the planet after water! And it obviously works: The Pantheon in Italy was built out of Roman concrete almost 2000 years ago and still standing. But it’s destroying nature big times: Eight percent of all carbon dioxide in the world comes from producing concrete. That’s more than double than those from flying or shipping. To produce it you need a lot of energy and a lot of sand. So much that we are running out of sand on this planet. And t ..read more

Radio Utopistan We’ll visit the forensic institute of Guerrero to look for a missing son, we see if Padre Fili can establish a side hustle with a Mezcal brewer for his human rights organization Centro Minerva Bello. We learn about the connection of the violence in Guerrero to drug trafficking in the US and about the connection of illegally exported weapons from Germany to the missing 43. And Padre Fili will reveal his secret: how to talk to Narcos. Along the way we will talk to Guadeloupe the psychologist and Hegel the human rights lawyer in Fili’s team. Guadeloupe says: I love working with ki ..read more

Radio Utopistan We are in the field again for this episode: In the drug strongholds of Mexico, the violence is unimaginable and the justice system overwhelmed or even involved. Less than two percent of crimes are solved. Padre Fili has gone to one of the hot-spots there to spread some peace, joy and vanilla cream cake. He set up camp in Ayotzinapa, where 43 students disappeared seven years ago. They were on their way to a demonstration, their buses were stopped and shot at by the police. Illegally supplied weapons from Germany were used. Fili’s mission: to create dialogues between everybody in ..read more