Tom Rippin and Oliver Matikainen: Are the SDGs a dangerous distraction? | Benjamin Freud, Ph.D.

February 17, 2023

In this episode, I speak with Tom Rippin and Oliver Matikainen. I came across their article Are the SDGs a dangerous distraction? a few of weeks ago. It asks “Are we addicted to quick-fix painkillers – and still failing to address the underlying causes of our ailing economy?” In this conversation, we explore whether the worldview that created the SDGs is born from the same paradigm that created today’s major problems. Tom is the CEO of On Purpose, an award-winning social enterprise developing purpose-driven leaders and a Trustee at Global Action Plan. Oliver is an Associate at On Purpose and has a rich background in sustainability development. We discuss:

🥥 How development as a linear, one size-fits-all path doesn’t open up to different ways of becoming;

🥥 How the SDGs isolate problems in ways that don’t recognize the interconnected whole;

🥥 How there is no unradical future: either we respond radically to create conditions for thriving or we don’t and we risk facing radical futures that aren’t so pleasant.

Here is the link to Tom and Oliver’s…

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Benjamin Freud, Ph.D.

Benjamin Freud, Ph.D. is the co-founder of Coconut Thinking, an advisory that supports schools and learning organizations to co-create, co-develop, co-stress test, and co-implement ideas that nurture the conditions for emergent learning. Benjamin is also the Head of Upper School at Green School, Bali. He was previously the Whole School Leader of Learning and Teaching at Prem Tinsulanonda International School in Thailand. He was the Academic Coordinator at Misk Schools, one of the most prestigious and high-profile school in the kingdom. In 2018-2019, he was also the Head of Upper Primary and Middle School at Misk. Prior to this, he was Vice-Principal of the Middle School and High School at the Harbour School in Hong Kong. He holds a Ph.D. in History, an MSc in Education, an MBA, an MA in International Relations, and a BA in International Affairs. Benjamin was born and grew up in Paris, France. He moved to the U.S. when he was 15 and spent 11 years there in different cities before living in the U.K., Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and now Bali, Indonesia. He started his career in consulting for Internet start-ups in Silicon Valley in the late 1990s, working with people whose ambitions were no less than to change the world. This experience had a profound effect on Benjamin's outlook on education, innovation, and entrepreneurship.