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The truths of Solomon Hsiang
or how the climate will define both the economy and future conflicts -
We will go on living, no matter what
one-legged football teams in Sierra Leone -
Give the Oscar to Oppenheimer
author of two wonderful films about the worst of humanity -
The boy who wanted to clean the oceans
the story of Boyan Slat -
The many children of Matt Berg
and how he helps them to survive -
Life of the “Mother Teresa of Asia”
the stunning achievements of a poor monk -
Never too early to start
How Phoebe Russell fed thousands of people at 5 -
A coach just for yourself?
the Thinkful project
ECONOMY - SCIENCES
Business not as usual
Turkey: Perhaps one of the biggest lessons of the pandemic has been the urgent need to reassess our priorities, including the idea of ‘business as usual’, says Richard Betts, Sustainability Director at KPMG, in an interview with OLBIOS
SOCIAL ISSUES
Learning from the past how to protect our future
USA: A health crisis of this magnitude is a first for our digital era, This has raised a number of pressing questions and issues such as the ethical responsibility of accurate reporting, the role of experts in government policy and, crucially, the need for a new moral ethos, says Stacy Gallin, Founder and Director at MIMEH, in her interview with OLBIOS.
SOCIAL ISSUES
There is an ‘I’ in Team
London: The pandemic has been a collective experience that affected different groups in entirely different ways, However, what we do as individuals, our sense of responsibility and honesty within communal life, and the avoidance of false dichotomies are make or break factors for what lies ahead, says Carl Liederman, Founder and CEO at Liedership, in an interview with OLBIOS.
ECONOMY
How « Humans in the Loop » is making the digital remote work economy more inclusive amidst COVID-19
Bulgaria: During lockdown, millions continued work from home, An entirely new work paradigm seemed to be emerging, But this is only part of the story which is also one of increasing inequality for low-skilled workers, write Iva Gumnishka and Namrata Yadav in the OLBIOS special Covid-19 edition.
CULTURAL ISSUES
Culture after Corona
Rio de Janeiro: As part of the Covid-19 special edition at OLBIOS, Victor Pitanga writes on the profound changes in cultural production and consumption during the stay-at-home period, from Marília Mendonça to museum art collections and beyond.
SOCIAL ISSUES
In search of new patterns
Learning new patters or reconsidering older ones might be part of the silver lining of this otherwise terrible pandemic, argues Bill McKibben.
CULTURAL ISSUES
Smart cities need to be smarter
Basel, Switzerland: Cintia Jaime, Founder of the ES VICIS Foundation, argues that ‘smart cities’ may not be that smart after all; She argues that urban density is a breeding ground for pandemics and that the current crisis is an opportunity to rethink our approach.
SOCIAL ISSUES - PUBLIC HEALTH
The curve that we shouldn’t flatten
Pandemics have a history of bringing about catalytic changes, and covid-19 is no exception, The pandemic could be part of a learning curve, argues Henry Mance
OUR CITIES - NATURE & ENVIRONMENT
COVID-19: not only a health crisis
Valencia, Spain: The COVID-19 pandemic is drastically inhibiting our way of life as we know it, the way we work and our economy, Eva Morales is asking: Is it also inhibiting our advancements towards a more sustainable future?
ECONOMY - PUBLIC HEALTH
The virus’ underlying conditions and the real solutions
Kenan Malik writes on finding solutions that could endure long after the crisis
EDUCATION
How Covid-19 rendered the impossible possible
Berlin: Prof Andreas Kaplan, Rector of ESCP Business School, writes on the exciting consequences of the move to online teaching, a subject that for a number of years had attracted intense debate and speculation.
PUBLIC HEALTH
How a pandemic can breathe life into the health sector
Difficult times, especially like the present pandemic, require new forms of action and engagement beyond the institutional: exceptional times require exceptional measures, In his article to OLBIOS, Azzeddine Bensouiah describes how this was achieved, almost against the odds, in Algeria.
PUBLIC HEALTH - SOCIAL ISSUES
An eye-opener in so many dimensions
Cambridge, Massachusetts: In an interview with OLBIOS, Carin Knoop, Executive Director at Harvard Business School, addresses the issue of how this pandemic is a game-changer, revealing ‘how close to the edge many people are living’, unevenness of internet access and the importance of skilled labour, among many other things.
SOCIAL ISSUES
Shaping the world beyond the pandemic
The Netherlands: Peter Merry, Chief Innovation Officer at Ubiquity, writes on Humanity Rising and on how the pandemic has brought everyone into the conversation as we all face the same predicament and future
NGOs & ASSOCIATIONS
Doing No Harm: How Values Misalignment Could Hurt the Nonprofit Sector
Kenya: The whole point of walking the talk is not only one of integrity and sincerity but also of allowing one’s work to be effective in the best possible way, argues Torrey Peace in her article on what she calls ‘Reflective Development’.
EDUCATION
The digital solution to an old but serious enemy: illiteracy
Nigeria: Illiteracy and poverty go hand in hand; Technology, such as the Digital Language Tutor, however, has ‘paved a new road’ in mass education and the acquisition of new skills, says Elvis Austins, Founder of PDLT, in his interview with OLBIOS.
SCIENCES & NEW TECHNOLOGIES - ECONOMY
Towards a digital transformation
Toronto: In many parts of the world, the focus is now on the balance between keeping some pandemic measures in place and reopening the economy, But what happens 2 years from now, when the economic effects become evident, remains to be seen, says Jesse Kirkey in an interview with OLBIOS.
CULTURAL ISSUES - NATURE & ENVIRONMENT
Decide differently to resist and re-exist
Sao Paulo: We need to overcome deep-rooted dichotomies such as that between nature and culture but also scientific authoritarianism in favour of a more inclusive perspective, writes Kátia Fenyves for OLBIOS.
NATURE & ENVIRONMENT
The silence of the lands
The pandemic was a unique opportunity for scientists to study a world that had suddenly become quiet argues Marina Koren
FOUNDATIONS
An ounce of humanity goes a long way
New Delhi: The pandemic has seen extraordinary levels of mutual help, according to Alokesh Sharma, Founder of Kayantar Foundation, interviewed for OLBIOS.
PUBLIC HEALTH - INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Facing the Corona challenges with local power
Stuttgart: International aid in the fight against the coronavirus in Africa has two flaws: First it is not short-term enough, and then it is too short-sighted, argues Benjamin Wolf, Founder of the Stay Foundation; This is why his Foundation has chosen to support the helpers in their home regions.
EDUCATION - SCIENCES & NEW TECHNOLOGIES
The Tech difference in Education
As teaching moves online, it essentially enters an entirely different universe for teachers and students alike, The change of environment is not merely a change of background but one that alters profoundly the teaching experience and the curriculum itself, But it has also thrown the spotlight on ‘tech inequalities’, writes OLBIOS Correspondent in the USA, Karine Leno Ancellin.
ARTS
Covid-19: The ruthless agent who brought audiences center-stage.
Berlin: What are the ingredients for a great performance? In his article for OLBIOS, award-winning composer and author, Konstantinos Athanasakos outlines some time-honoured ingredients alongside some less obvious but equally important ones.
POLITICS
Coronavirus: the good, the bad and the return of politics
Belgrade: The coronavirus threat has united the world under one threat but has also signaled a return to philosophical and political thinking, argues activist Filip Milenkovic in an interview with OLBIOS.
SOCIAL ISSUES - SCIENCES & NEW TECHNOLOGIES
A time to see things anew
Bad times and periods of adversity have a silver lining, The pandemic is no exception, argues Alan Lightman in The Atlantic.
SOCIAL ISSUES
Re-Learning from disaster
San Francisco: The take-away lessons from the pandemic are not new But we might need to relearn them until it becomes blatantly obvious that how we live and think needs to change, argues professor Dan Brook in an interview with OLBIOS.
NATURE & ENVIRONMENT
A Time to Look Closer at Nature
Athens: OLBIOS asked wildlife expert Philip Dragoumis of his thoughts on how the pandemic is affecting nature The message is clear: humans need to do less, he claims.
ECONOMY
And now for Blockchain Ecology
Gunther Sonnenfeld, founding partner of Novena Capital, writes on why blockchain ecology is critical in building ‘polycultural’ systems
ECONOMY -SOCIAL ISSUES
Who is afraid of success?
Switzerland : Biliana Vassileva writes on how the complex network of fears can be blessings in disguise.
OUR CITIES
Who knows what PropTech is?
Lora Salomidou writes on why millennials do not just want jobs but also to become agents of social change
CRIME & PUBLIC ORDER - HUMAN RIGHTS & JUSTICE
Mexico’s great gamble: Trump plays poker, but AMLO plays chess
Switzerland: Juan Carlos Lara, an expert from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, writes about corruption, toxic elites and some reasons to hope
ECONOMY
Making SDGs work: A private sector perspective
Germany: Julian Bents, CEO & Founder of Tomorrow is Now, shows how current corporate efforts towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals, while admirable, leave much to be desired