Souwie On

15/05/2024

The featured image for this article is an old photograph of the world's first stock exchange. Dating back to 16th century Antwerp, the Oude Beurs as locals call it, is both beautiful and symbolic of the kind of economic powerhouse that Europe once was. As the old continent falls further behind both the US and China in terms of growth and prosperity, the recent Letta Report has some innovative ideas on what Europe can do to change this 👉

What are some of the biggest take-aways from Letta's recent report on rebooting the EU Single Market and can Europe find the political will to implement them?

10/05/2024

Do our current economic models really measure the most important aspects of life? Can one quantify happiness, for example? I spoke with world-renowned economist, Deidre McCloskey about why Humanomics is the way forward. Or, what she calls, "Economics with the humans left in". Listen to the full discussion👉https://souwieon.com/home-2/souwie-on-humanomics-podcast/

30/04/2024

Do we need to radically rethink our relationship with work as AI develops at eye-watering speed? Why are governments not incentivising the development of AI that empowers rather than replaces humans? These and other tough questions were discussed at a recent gathering of high-level experts hosted by The Brookings Institution in the US. Read on for more key take-aways.

How is AI really going to affect the future of work? No one is certain. But, a group of high level experts suggest we need to rethink our relationship with work

04/04/2024

heads back to court in the this week to fight a landmark 2021 climate ruling that ordered the multinational to cut its absolute carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. I look back to an interview I did with the man who spear-headed this David and Goliath battle. Donald Pols of and the hope it brought to so many. Currently, Shell aims to reduce the carbon intensity of products it sells by just 15-20% by 2030 from a 2016 baseline. Read the full article here: https://drivingchange.org/the-people-vs-shell-for-climate-change/

08/03/2024

On International Women's Day, I'd like to celebrate all the incredible women, whom I've interviewed during my years as a journalist. Below are just a few of them. From all four corners of the globe, working in areas as diverse as politics, agriculture, academia and activism, they all share one thing in common - their passion for what they do and a firm belief that what they do is contributing to making a better world. Here's to all of these women - I salute you!🎉

08/02/2024

Hi folks, working as a journalist in the and , I have met and interviewed so many fascinating people, doing good things for the world. In my new Souwie On Podcast series, I aim to share some of what I've learnt from these inspiring people, using a solutions-based approach.
This week, I'm focusing on . A bit academic? Have you recently attended a wedding, funeral or naming ceremony, perhaps you're planning your own? I speak with a qualified Humanist celebrant, Zena Birch and ask how Humanism is different from traditional religions. Personally, I like to think we're all Humanists at heart, but listen in and let me know what you think. https://souwieon.com/home-2/souwie-on-humanism-podcast/

08/12/2023

Ruramiso Mashumba was one of only three girls in her class of fifty at agriculture college. She was teased for dressing like a boy but the last laugh is certainly not on her now as she leads Africa's young farmer's revival. More and more young people in Africa want to farm but they need support to do this because farming is also a business, she told me. Read her story here:

https://souwieon.com/home-2/ruramiso-mashumba-on-women-who-farm-africa/

20/04/2023

Just signed!

Europe's own Amazon is threatened. A major new shipping channel backed by tax money is set to bulldoze right through this wilderness! We can’t let the European Union fund this destruction in our names. Sign the petition now!

16/11/2022

As Europe looks ahead to the brave new world of the Metaverse, NFTs and AI, the question is: who will regulate the virtual world? Can the EU work together with the US against authoritarian powers like Russia and China to set the rules of the game in this brave new world?

Can the EU and the US work together to for a democratic approach to digital sovereignty, as Russia's war in Ukraine threatens the free world?

05/10/2022

"Obedient women never make history - we intend to" - so said Maryam Namazie when I met her in Amsterdam back in 2019. A tireless campaigner for human rights, ex-Muslim and out-spoken critic of Islamic fundamentalism, Namazie predicted that the next Iranian revolution would be female. Will the current protests in Iran prove her right?

Human rights come before religion maintains ex-Muslim, Maryam Namazie. Threatened by Iranian fundamentalists, she spoke with me about her life-long fight for the right to dissent against religious control and inequality.

21/09/2022

Sometimes, less is more. As museums and galleries around the world make preparations to mark 75 years since the death of Pablo Ruiz Picasso - I ask this simple question: Bull's Head, Bicycle or both?

Click the following link for the full discussion: http://artstalkmagazine.nl/souwie-on-the-arts-4/

15/09/2022

Barbequing meat and being a man are too closely linked in France, claimed Green MP, Sandrine Rousseau, this summer. The response from across the political spectrum matched the rising temperatures of our planet. Is an Italian-inspired slow food approach to consumption and production the answer? I spoke with new Secretary General of Slow Food, Marta Messa about how the slow food movement is slowly but surely revolutionising our attitudes toward food.

Food is fuel, they say. But it is also cultural, economic, and increasingly political. The Slow Food movement began more than 30 years ago in Rome with protests against the construction of a MacDonald’s near the city’s iconic Spanish Steps. Today, it is a global movement, active in 160 countries...

07/09/2022

We are all familiar with the idea of recycling. But what about the recycling of a whole building? In a first-of-its-kind project in Europe, local government officials in Limburg, the Netherlands, have worked with construction companies to reuse building materials from 1960s built apartment blocks to create new, sustainable housing for local residents in what they call, the SUPERLOCAL project. The Dutch government is aiming for fully sustainable building practises by 2050 - could projects like these provide an important first step in this direction?

Imagine if buildings in the future could be constructed and dismantled like Lego houses. Using the same blocks for a variety of constructions that conform to individual needs and tastes. This is how Victor Moura and Marco Theunissen explain the idea behind the SUPERLOCAL circular estate building pro...

02/09/2022

Crypto entrepreneur, Tey El-Rjula, spent two years in a refugee camp in the Netherlands - he had no access to a bank account or other basic financial services. But instead of "sitting in a corner and crying", he downloaded the bitcoin app and opened a crypto account. The rest, as they say, is history. Many are suspicious of cryptocurrencies but for those like Tey, they provide access to services that for over a billion people worldwide are not simply not available through traditional channels.

Over a billion people worldwide are unbanked. Can blockchain-based cryptocurrencies provide a solution for all of those who have been excluded from traditional financial services?

26/08/2022

Finding the bright side in any situation, no matter how bad, is a special skill that is worth cultivating. These young people in Ukraine are doing exactly that - inspirational!

More than 100,000 buildings in Ukraine have been destroyed in the war. Volunteers are clearing away the rubble — and partying while they do it.

17/08/2022

Did you know that there used to be hundreds of different apple varieties in Europe? Many were unique in flavour and required little help from pesticides as they were adapted to the environments in which they grew. Nowadays, it is difficult to find more than four apple varieties in most supermarkets. Large scale farming and food production have changed the landscape of both food production and consumption. Is it time to rethink our relationship with food? Marta Messa, recently appointed Secretary General of Slow Food, thinks so. I had a fascinating conversation with her recently about why we all need to become food activists and start voting with our forks!

Food is fuel, they say. But it is also cultural, economic, and increasingly political. The Slow Food movement began more than 30 years ago in Rome with protests against the construction of a MacDonald’s near the city’s iconic Spanish Steps. Today, it is a global movement, active in 160 countries...

12/08/2022

For those who are travelling this summer, and, let's be honest, there are many of us. This list of apps provides a range of digital solutions to the chaos that has assailed many travellers this year.
Bon voyage! 😎

From tracking flight delays, finding last-minute accommodations, and even locating the nearest public restroom, these are the most helpful travel apps to download before you travel.

04/08/2022

Choosing rural life - this is what millennial mayor, Alba Barrio has done as she works to bring other young people and families back to Grajera, Spain, the village of her birth. She describes herself as a member of Generation R - for rural. Read the full discussion with her here: https://drivingchange.org/alba-barrio-martin-is-mayor-for-a-new-rural-generation/

27/07/2022

The art world has not featured strongly in the battle against climate change. Until recently. Groups of young activists from the Stop Oil movement and Extinction Rebellion have begun a series of protests that involve gluing themselves and other things to priceless art works, in some cases causing damage. How should we view such actions? My column for Arts Talk magazine this month.
http://artstalkmagazine.nl/art-protest-protest-art/

20/07/2022

What if public services were more in tune with what everyday citizens wanted and needed? What if young people were involved in designing local government policies that affected them? These initiatives and many more like them is what Swiss social entrepreneur and new-age politician, Nicola Forster, is dedicating his time. Click link below for my discussion with him:

“I really believe in experiments,” says Nicola Forster, a 37-year-old Swiss social entrepreneur. Society is changing so fast and there are no obvious solutions to many of the problems we face today. “The only way is doing experiments.” Since he led his first successful political campaign as ...

08/07/2022

A recent study by the European Environmental Agency has provided strong evidence for the powerful effects of environment on the development of cancer. Living in greener, cleaner towns and cities is not just nicer, it is also likely to reduce your chance of developing cancer by more than 10%. Click on the link below for the full story:

Cleaner, greener living and working environments can reduce over 10% of cancers, a recent EU research report finds. But long term investment is needed for this.

06/07/2022

Fascinating first-hand account of the grim realities of what it means to work as a pr******te from age 14. Time to re-think naive notions of the 'free choice' narrative of s*x work and accept the reality of what for most human beings is a very long way from being a labour of love. Long-time campaigner, Shireen Poyck, has reached the same conclusion after spending years living next-door to the Hague's Red Light District. https://souwieon.com/archive/red-light-for-the-hagues-red-light-district/

Prostitution is not s*x and it’s not work. Its reality is far from complex – in fact, it’s simple. Trust me, I’ve done it

29/06/2022

Ghost towns and villages are an increasingly common sight in many parts of Europe, particularly rural Spain where depopulation has been happening for over half a century. One man decided to do something about it - now his project has 9000 families on their database who want to relocate to the country. And why not? If Covid has taught us anything, it's that remote work is definitely part of the future for many. I spoke with Enrique Martinez for Driving Change.

Visiting the abandoned stone villages of rural Spain during Christmas 2016 with his youngest son, Enrique Martínez Pomar, recalls his sense of loss and sadness at the emptiness he encountered. Less than 300 km from Madrid, Las Tierras Altas region in the province of Soria feels as if it is a world ...

24/06/2022

It's Friday, and it's summer - time for a glass of Rosé? But which one - it's rare to find a connoisseur of Rosé wine in the way that one might a red wine aficionado. Here are a range of suggestions including Spanish, French, Italian and Californian wines. The only one they seem to have missed is one of my favourites - Rosé Pinotage from South Africa:)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/10/dining/drinks/rose-wine-review.html?te=1&nl=morning-briefing:-europe-edition&emc=edit_mbe_20220621

There’s no reason to confine rosé to the summer, but for good reasons the season does have a special hold on the wines.

22/06/2022

This year marks 200 years since the Mauritshuis became an art gallery - officially, the Royal Picture Gallery. Yet the name of its original owner, Johan Maurits continues to be the one with which we associate this world-renowned gallery. in recent years, the role of Count Maurits in the trans-Atlantic slave trade has been highlighted and questions have been raised about just how much historical significance such a figure warrants. My column for Arts
Talk magazine this month.
http://artstalkmagazine.nl/art-and-history-battle-for-new-territory-in-the-story-behind-the-mauritshuis/

Each month Souwie Buis writes on a subject related to the arts in Holland and further afield. This month, with Keti Koti on our minds commemorating the Dutch abolition of slavery, Souwie tells the …

01/06/2022

A small village of 800 residents in Swedish Lapland rebuild their community after multinational power company, Vattenfall, pulled out leaving job loss, empty schools and shops behind. Vuollerim is now part of the Smart Rural 21 project, funded by the EU and is sharing their innovative approach to community building with other small villages across Europe. For full story 👉https://drivingchange.org/are-smart-villages-the-answer-to-rejuvenating-rural-life-in-europe/

23/05/2022

Is a basic universal income for artists the answer to supporting the arts in a post-pandemic world? The Irish government recently announced the start of a pilot project involving up to 2000 artists who will receive €350 a week over a period of 3 years. 🤩 Read the full article here: 👉 http://artstalkmagazine.nl/souwie-on-the-arts-2/

13/05/2022

We've all heard of smart cities, but what about smart villages? Europe wants to create more smart villages so that those who want to live in the countryside can still enjoy the same access to digital and other services as those living in towns and cities. I spoke with two villagers from Vuollerim, Sweden near the Arctic Circle about their smart village initiative. Let's go live in the county folks!

In a small village in Swedish Lapland, the snow still lies thick on the ground in late April and a nearby lake remains covered by a thin layer of ice. But two of Vuollerim’s residents explain that spring can arrive in a matter of days and should appear sometime in May. This remote village close...

29/04/2022

Strong words from Dutch MEP - perhaps a little extreme given that the EU must find compromise between 27 different Member States, some of which, including her own, are not as supportive of democracy at EU level as they could be.

Calling for a radical reboot, the Dutch MEP argues a weak European parliament has left EU leaders too powerful and unaccountable

22/04/2022

On World Earth Day - let's celebrate the power and majesty of one of nature's greatest beauties - the trees! Recent research on these silent guardians of the natural world reveals that they are able to communicate with one another via complex bio-networks and have a special kind of communal intelligence that we are only beginning to understand.

Trees are the ancient guardians of the natural world. Richard Powers is confident that they will survive in spite of humans. But can they help save us too?