How can we take on today’s difficult challenges with optimism while building a better future for generations yet to come?
That’s the question being tackled in a new podcast called Generations Ahead, a collaboration between Wilson College of Leadership and Civic Engagement and the Walrus.
Hosted by Sara Wolfe, External Director for Wilson College, the leadership podcast centres changemakers who are doing practical work in the real world.
The title was inspired by Wolfe’s experience as a midwife and the Indigenous Seventh Generation principle of looking back for looking ahead, encouraging us to consider how decisions made today will have their greatest effect seven generations into the future.
“Our actions today will have their biggest impact on generations that we will not meet,” says Wolfe.
“We want to think about how we have this conversation. We want to look at the past and future with humility. We’re only here for a small period of time, but we have a deep responsibility to future generations.”
There will be six episodes, with a release every two weeks, featuring guests from diverse backgrounds and expertise in areas ranging from environmental justice to AI in the workplace.
Wolfe says the diverse voices featured on Generations Ahead are meant to reflect society and appeal to local and global audiences in an era of uncertainty.
“We’re having to confront things that until now, many of us only learned about in history books,” says Wolfe. “It’s scary, and sometimes you want to bury your head in the sand, but we also know that things work in cycles.
“If we can equip young people with skills to combat apathy and drive community engagement and collaboration, it doesn’t have to stay this way.”
The first episode, “From Apathy to Action: How Young Canadians Can Shape Their Democracy,” features Sam Reusch, executive director of Apathy is Boring, one of Canada’s largest non-partisan democracy organizations. The group addresses youth engagement in democracy and issues such as misinformation, disinformation, and a lack of trust in politicians.
Wolfe and Reusch discuss how politics affects every aspect of life, and how dialogue can lead to major change. As Reusch says during the episode: “The smallest unit in a democracy is a conversation between two people.”
Episode 6 will feature three Wilson College students reflecting on the previous five episodes. Wolfe hopes students will see themselves reflected in and be inspired by the conversations, noting that their generation has more exposure to information than any that has come before them.
“They’ve grown up with phones and devices with access to unlimited knowledge,” says Wolfe. “They’re coming into adulthood with this access to information, ideas, and skills that generations before them didn’t have. I think we need to find the magic for untapping that. It makes me very hopeful for our future when I talk to young people these days.”
Click here to listen to the latest episodes of Generations Ahead.