Citizen Dialogue

Polio might be forgotten by all of us who can access this podcast. But it’s still a disease that brings terror to people in parts of Asia and Africa. But the good news is, that the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, lead by Bruce Aylward, are closer then ever to achieve their goal. To make polio history. I talked to him about polio and what we can do to help in and his program to succeed.

His commitment to this cause are very inspiring and hopefully we can make a new dialogue with him when polio is eradicated.

Read more about Bruce Aylward and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative: http://www.polioeradication.org

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http://citizendialogue.com/wp-content/uploads/BruceAylward.mp3

TEDtalk

Citizen Dialogue are looking for a small team of volunteers to continue to build the platform.

We host series of conversations around the world where we interview influential people with questions collected by our viewers. Our aim is to create a global network of people committed to ask questions and give comments to leaders, thinkers and eyewitnesses. To make sure we can develop we’re now looking for 5 committed volunteers interested in media production and social change.

You will be a part of the team with various responsibilities.

* Discuss and decide who to interview
* Establish contacts with the people we want to interview
* Be a part of the long term development of the platform

We will communicate trough a online platform. We’re looking for people who can take responsibility for their own assignments, and it’s important that you’re a team player.

Write a e-mail to info@citizendialogue.com and tell us a bit about yourself and why you want to be a editor for Citizen Dialogue.

Next week I will interview Bruce Aylward, a Canadian physician and epidemiologist who heads the polio eradication programme at WHO, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).

Bruce Aylward is a Canadian physician and epidemiologist. Since June 1998, he’s been working with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, directing the effort since February 2006. During the course of his medical training, Dr. Aylward traveled and worked in countries throughout South America, Africa and Asia. Upon joining the World Health Organization in 1992, Dr Aylward worked as a Medical Officer with the Expanded Programme on Immunization, primarily in the areas of measles, neonatal tetanus and hepatitis vaccination, and injection safety. From 1992 to 1997, he worked with national immunization programmes at the field level in the Middle East, Western Pacific, Europe, North Africa and central and southeast Asia.

What should I ask him? Send your questions to info@citizendialogue.com.

Next week we will interview Dianna Cohen, artist and co-founded of the Plastic Pollution Coalition. With the Plastic Pollution Coalition, she helps to raise awareness of ocean waste – the majority of which is nondegradable plastic – and everyday strategies to cut down the amount of plastic we use and throw away.

What should we ask her? Send your questions to info@citizendialogue.com.

Economist and UN adviser Jeffery Sachs speaks about the process towards Rio+20. Thanks to South South News for the video.

One of the most interesting TEDtalks I’ve ever heard are from professor Barry Schwartz. He talked about the power of people using their wisdom for doing good.

You can see his talk at http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html

Barry Schwartz makes a passionate call for “practical wisdom” as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives often backfire, and practical, everyday wisdom will help rebuild our world.

I interviewed him using some of the questions you sent.

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We will do a interview with Barry Schwartz, Professor of Social Theory and Social Action, and three time TED-speaker. The interview will focus on his two talks about wisdom. What should I ask him? Send your questions to info@citizendialogue.com. Deadline: Sunday June 5th, 23.59 GMT.

In his 2004 book The Paradox of Choice , Barry Schwartz tackles one of the great mysteries of modern life: Why is it that societies of great abundance — where individuals are offered more freedom and choice (personal, professional, material) than ever before — are now witnessing a near-epidemic of depression? Conventional wisdom tells us that greater choice is for the greater good, but Schwartz argues the opposite: He makes a compelling case that the abundance of choice in today’s western world is actually making us miserable.

Infinite choice is paralyzing, Schwartz argues, and exhausting to the human psyche. It leads us to set unreasonably high expectations, question our choices before we even make them and blame our failures entirely on ourselves. His relatable examples, from consumer products (jeans, TVs, salad dressings) to lifestyle choices (where to live, what job to take, who and when to marry), underscore this central point: Too much choice undermines happiness.

Schwartz’s previous research has addressed morality, decision-making and the varied inter-relationships between science and society. Before Paradox he published The Costs of Living, which traces the impact of free-market thinking on the explosion of consumerism — and the effect of the new capitalism on social and cultural institutions that once operated above the market, such as medicine, sports, and the law.

Both books level serious criticism of modern western society, illuminating the under-reported psychological plagues of our time. But they also offer concrete ideas on addressing the problems, from a personal and societal level.

HIS TEDTALKS

Our first dialogue with a TED-speaker are with Nigerian author Chris Abani, who gave two personal talks on the power of the story.

Imprisoned three times by the Nigerian government, Chris Abani turned his experience into poems that Harold Pinter called “the most naked, harrowing expression of prison life and political torture imaginable.” His novels include GraceLand (2004) and The Virgin of Flames (2007).

What would you like to ask him? If you don’t know who is is. Watch the TEDtalks.

This is the second interview in our focus towards Earth Summit, the United Nations conference on environment and development. I’ve been talking with Tariq Banuri, Director of the Division for Sustainable Development of the United Nations and Head of Office of the Secretary-General of the Earth Summit.

We mostly talked about the UN-process towards the summit and some of the technical details important to know about to understand the conference.

We will continue our focus on the Earth Summit with several interviews all the way to the conference on June 4-6 2012. Do you have any request of who to interview, please let us know.

Listen to the podcast

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http://citizendialogue.com/wp-content/uploads/UN.mp3

Next podcast will be about the conflict between Israel and Palestine. What do you want to know about the conflict, let me know!

I run the blog Best TEDtalks where I share the most interesting lectures from the world famous conference. The blog is getting more and more popular and I’ve decided to start interviewing selected speakers as a way to develop the blog and share more ideas from the great minds.

I will use Citizen Dialogue to collect questions for the interviews and then post the interviews as podcast both at Best TEDtalks and Citizen Dialogue.

Now I need your help to decide who to interview, take a look at http://www.ted.com/speakers and contact me with suggestion on who to interview.