“We’ve now reached the twelfth and final episode for 2018! It’s been a real pleasure producing this series! I’ve learned a lot, as I hope you have! So thanks very much for tuning in!”

Craig Applegath

When I launched the podcast, I had no idea how many people would be interested, but given the importance and timeliness of the issues we would be exploring, I figured that, whatever the audience size, it would be worth the effort.

As it turned out we typically had a hundred to two hundred listeners tuning in for each podcast, with thousands of downloads over the course of the year. Clearly this was a topic that struck a chord!

So, thanks again for your time and interest. I very much hope that you heard some ideas that would help you better understand the challenges of the Twenty First Century Imperative, and possibly even some strategies that you could use in your own life.

Also, a really big thanks to the listeners who took the time to contact us and give us feedback or suggest other possible guests and interview topics. Please keep the comments coming! It’s really great to hear from you, and it provides me with ideas for future podcasts. But most importantly, it confirms for me that the ideas, strategies and solutions we are talking about really matter.

Indeed, it’s very clear now, especially since the release of the IPCC’s most recent report, that things are getting worse, not better. Global temperatures are rising faster than anticipated, and unless we figure out how to muster the collective determination to rapidly pull back on carbon emissions within the next 10 years, we face catastrophic consequences!  So clearly, the focus of this podcast matters!

In exploring the challenges of the Twenty First Century Imperative, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing a wonderfully diverse and thoughtful group of guests, who have brought not only deep expertise and experience to our interviews, but a real passion for making a difference. So, thanks again to each of my guests for taking the time to prepare for and do our interviews. Each of you contributed so much to helping me and our listeners better understand how we might more effectively meet one or more of the challenges of the Twenty First Century Imperative.

For some weeks now, I’ve been thinking about how best to use this year’s final episode to sum up and take stock the year’s podcasts. There have been so many good discussions and interesting ideas explored, I had a hard time imagining how to summarize them in a way that would do all the podcasts justice.

So, I decided that, instead of trying to summarize all of the ideas explored, I would instead focus on three themes that really seemed to resonate with listeners, and to pull excerpts from the podcasts that best exemplified these themes. I also thought it would be appropriate to close this year’s podcast series with excerpts of the answers to the question that I typically asked at the end of each interview. And that is: “What advice would you offer listeners about what they can do to be a part of making a difference in meeting the challenges of the 21st Century imperative?”

I look forward to returning in 2019 for another year of podcasts where we will continue to explore the approaches and insights of scientists, designers, planners, engineers, business entrepreneurs, and other successful change-makers, who are finding effective ways to meet the challenges of21st Century Imperative.

And before I sign off for the year, I’d like to say a big THANKS! to Derek Wellsman, our amazing sound editor; and Erin Masters, our assistant producer, who set up all the blog posts on the pod’s website. I couldn’t have done this podcast without you both! I’d also like to thank Heather Goddard for all her assistance in helping organize the interviews and keeping me on schedule!  And say a big thanks to everyone at DIALOG who were so supportive of this podcast, not to mention providing us with the studio space to record in! And finally, I’d like to thank my amazing partner Jane Thompson who has contributed so much to helping me work through the ideas and develop the questions for our interviews. I can’t imagine doing this podcast without her input.

I look forward to continuing our explorations next year! All the best until then!

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