Professor Karen O’Brien is a globally renowned thought leader on climate change impacts and social transformation. She has been heavily involved in the work of the IPCC, and shared in its 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. She’s also been on the scientific advisory board for Project Drawdown, and is the co-founder of cCHANGE, an Oslo-based company that has become a beacon in the space of social transformation. And a few months ago, cCHANGE launched Karen’s new book, called You Matter More Than You Think: Quantum social change for a thriving world.

The by-line reads: have we been underestimating our collective capacity for social change? Spoiler alert – big time! Friend and best-selling author of Regeneration: Ending the climate crisis in one generation, Paul Hawken, says: “You Matter More Than You Think is more than just a book. It is an awakening, a how-to manual showing a new path to social and ecological regeneration.”

 It feels like we hear the themes of this conversation in so many other conversations on this podcast, right up to the last couple of weeks. This also feels like chapter 2 to the previous conversation Karen and I shared a few years ago. That’s where you’ll hear more about her fascinating background, and what led to her current passions - along with early ruminations on what’s become the new book. Here, we pick up the thread.

This conversation was recorded online with Karen at home is Oslo, Norway, on 7 November 2022.

Title slide image: Karen O’Brien (pic: from the book).

Music:
Wildflower Meadow, by The Eternal Page (featuring Karen’s son Jens Stokke)

The Deep Ocean is Calling, composed by Eva Holm Foosnæs with lyrics by T Aarskog and Karen O'Brien

Find more:
Read a transcript of our conversation on the episode web page.

On Karen and her book ‘You Matter More Than You Think: Quantum social change for a thriving world'.

A 6-minute film of the book launch.

Transformative leadership course.

Tune into our previous conversation on episode 42, ‘The Most Powerful Solution to Climate Change: Karen O'Brien on how people, systems and consciousness transform’.

Artist Tone Bjordam.

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