The nth Dimension

People's mental health has severely decreased during the pandemic. Openings/closings/loss of jobs and hours/increase in costs of living are taking a toll on people. What is the government doing to make sure this expensive health service is provided to everybody, regardless of their insurance/benefits coverage. In conversation with mental health nurse, and psychotherapist, Talia Singer.  Music: Metre, Pedestrian. 

This episode is not so much a micro-analysing the conclusions of the 36-day election cycle, but more so focusing on the democratic system at hand and whether it's working to meet the needs of people currently. Where do we stand, how can we evolve the system? What're the drawbacks? Equally what're the solutions. 

Wealth tax, and tax reform in general, has emerged as a key issue since it was brought forward by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in 2019. The momentum for tax fairness has spilled into Canada as well, which is grossly unequal now than it was just a few decades ago. Alex and I discuss whether a wealth tax and tax reform are enough to solve the inequality problem, or just a part of the solution. 

Bhutan is a small country nestled between India and China, with an extremely small population. But as the world grapples with climate change, the world has reason to pay attention to Bhutanese people. Bhutan has ALWAYS been a carbon negative country, and it has a min 60% of forest cover as part of its constitution. The cross stitches of Buddhism, a compassionate monarchy and leaders, and living literally in the mountains, have all played a part in the progressive and people + environment-centric policies of Bhutan.  I spoke to Kinley Dorjee, an environmental science professor in Bhutan. 

There are 30 million orphaned and abandoned kids in India. Of this only about half a million are in childcare institutions, and only around 20,000 in the legal adoption pool. So where are the other 29.5 million of India's children? In this episode, we chat to Smriti Gupta, Founder of 'Where are India's Children', who's working towards the safe surrender of orphaned and abandoned kids, spreading awareness on the existence of childcare institutions (CCIs) in India, and using technology to ensure the path of children from CCIs to the adoption pool is streamlined. Essentially, Smriti is in the pursuit to ensure that every child in India grows up in a safe and loving home. 

In this episode, we chat to Japleen Pasricha, the founder of Feminism in India, about the women's movement in India. We talk about her startup journey, violence against women, dismantling patriarchy and the rocky road to gender equality. 

When the Ontario government, led by Premier Doug Ford, reduced the province's carbon emission targets, seven young Ontarians took the Ford government to court. They are suing the government for weakening environmental standards and making them more vulnerable to sickness. This is one of many climate cases around the world, where people are increasingly taking their governments to ensure they are moving the needle on the climate instead of making empty promises to their votebanks to wield power. The Netherlands vs Urgenda was one such case that resulted in an unexpected victory. In a nutshell, Urgenda, a climate organisation, took the Dutch government to court to urge the them to more to mitigate climate change. And they won! One of the first such victories, setting a standard for other similar cases around the world. So this is what I focus on in this episode, where I speak to Karinne Lantz, a law professor at Dalhousie University in Canada.

Mainstream media such as CNN, MSNBC, and the New York Times have benefited from Trump's presidency and experienced higher profits in the past four years. In this episode, a Jacobin journalist and I talk about the increased polarization of mainstream media and how that is affecting a nuanced flow of ideas, while discussing the role of tech in censorship and creating echo chambers.

Donald Trump or Joe Biden? Nasim tells us who he thinks is going to win, and why. Listen for more!

Thought I'd do something different for this episode, so it's a Joe Rogan style episode with one of my favourite guests, Nasim, back on to discuss everything that's happened this year.

UBI is THE most talked about policy idea right now as a way to reform the creaky foundations of our global socio-economic systems that have plunged millions into financial vulnerability. While the pandemic will eventually end, what will pursue is the climate crisis. It will create much of the same chaos and disruptions except it will be widespread. There is a growing concern in BC, for example, that the drought in California is going to inflate food prices which imports about 70% of its produce from the US. It would be naive to say that UBI is the silver bullet to all our problems, but it does seem to be the missing link to push us forward from where we have been stagnating for decades.

Most of the conversation about UBI globally happens in the context of more developed countries. How close is a country like India - eyeing to become the next superpower but still with millions in poverty - to implementing UBI. In conversation with Sarath Davala, the VP of the Basic Income Earth Network.

Young people are increasingly doing gig and contract work, which is often devoid of benefits and precarious. The job market is set to become even more precarious because of covid-19. How could an unconditional basic income help a generation of people entering an economy that is going to be more devastated than during the Great Depression? I talk to Floyd Marinescu, CEO of UBI Works.