Podcast
How To Change The World Podcast
Hosted by World Within Studios · EN
The How to Change the World Podcast and host Rostam Zafari invite you to sit down with builders, artists, and organizers as they wrestle with today’s challenging questions while providing blueprints, cautionary tales, and calls to action for anyone ready to fight for a more just world.
Produced by World Within Studios with PRX. New episodes every other Thursday.
15episodes
Episodes
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Rutger Bregman: How to Be Morally Ambitious
1w ago01:13:46Tap to summarize“A ship is safe in harbor, but that's not what ships are for.” - John A. SheddMost of us like to think we know what we're living for. Rutger Bregman isn't convinced. The problem, as he sees it, isn't that people are selfish. It's that we've built a culture where playing it safe looks like ambition. We chase titles, salaries, and status not because any of it makes us happy, but because it's the path of least resistance. Bregman finds that depressing. More than that, he just finds it plain boring.Rutger is a historian and bestselling author who has spent years studying what he calls the "moral pioneers" of the past: the abolitionists, suffragettes, and civil rights leaders who reshaped our world. His new book, Moral Ambition, and the organization he's built around it, draws on their firsthand accounts to ask two questions at once: what made those people willing to risk everything, and why do so many talented people today end up living smaller lives than they're capable of?At World Within, we think about power. Specifically, how to move it away from small groups of oligarchs, and toward communities who have the most at stake, and often the sharpest ideas.To that end, we dig into why good intentions aren't good enough, the “Bermuda Triangle of talent,” what social movements actually need to win, and how privilege can either fuel or quietly undermine the causes we care about.-----------Learn more about World Within: www.worldwithin.orgFind Rutger's Work: www.moralambition.org
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Iran: Inside the Revolution (Pt.3)
3w ago00:54:21Tap to summarizeWhat does a revolution look like from the inside? What does it cost? What does it demand from the rest of the world? The world is watching Iran. This episode is part of a miniseries we're dedicating to understanding what's actually happening there, and the struggle for freedom of a people caught between a barbaric regime on one side and missile strikes on the other. Spend time with the people who know this fight best: Who’ve fought brutal regimes in the halls of the Hague, or been held in the notorious Evin prison. Who have lived through revolutions, and shared their story with the world.HTCTW presents Iran: Inside the Revolution. Iran is a civilization more than ten thousand years old - home to great poets like Ferdowsi, Rumi, and Hafez, leaders like Cyrus the Great – who created the first charter of human rights, and thinkers like Zoroaster, the founder of the world’s first monotheistic religion that influenced Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Iran and its culture has been held hostage by theocratic rule since 1979. To understand what is happening there right now, we have to understand its history.As our guest today has written, modern Iranian history is really the story of a battle between the visions of two people you need to know - Reza Shah and Ayatollah Khomeini. Reza Shah, who founded the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925, and his son Mohammad Reza Shah after him, built a secular, modern state, rooted in Iran's pre-Islamic identity. Khomeini answered with a theocratic counter-vision that swept everything away in 1979. That same battle for the spirit of a nation is still being fought inside the country, and its effects are being felt around the world. We also explore another crucial figure - former Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh - in this story. Our guest today has lived every chapter of this story. Born in Tehran, radicalized at UC Berkeley in the sixties, he returned to Iran as a young intellectual, was jailed at Evin Prison under the Shah, taught at Tehran University after the revolution, watched the Islamic Republic prove darker than he ever imagined, and fled into exile during the Iran-Iraq War. And now, from Stanford, he is one of the most compelling voices on what Iran has been - and what it might yet become. Dr. Milani has dedicated his life to developing the self-cognition of a nation. This conversation with Dr. Abbas Milani was recorded at the end of March 2026 - in the midst of war. While current events may shift by the time of this episode’s release, the journey of Iran to know and reclaim itself from tyranny continues.
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Iran Inside the Revolution - Part 2
Apr 3000:44:50Tap to summarizeWelcome to Part 2 of our three part series - Iran: Inside the Revolution. What does a revolution look like from the inside? What does it cost? What does it demand from the rest of the world? The world is watching Iran. This episode is part of a miniseries we're dedicating to understanding what's actually happening there, and the struggle for freedom of a people caught between a barbaric regime on one side and missile strikes on the other. Spend time with the people who know this fight best: Who’ve fought brutal regimes in the halls of the Hague, or been held in the notorious Evin prison. Who have lived through revolutions, and shared their story with the world.HTCTW presents Iran: Inside the Revolution. Our guest today is Gissou Nia - an Iranian-American human rights attorney who has dedicated her life to holding brutal regimes accountable. She started her career in The Hague, working on war crimes and crimes against humanity. She now leads The Strategic Litigation Project at Atlantic Council, which focuses on prevention and accountability efforts for atrocity crimes, human rights violations, terrorism, and corruption offenses around the world. We'll get into the ins and outs of launching legal battles in international courts, the specific pressure points that could collapse this regime, and the pathways that lead to a just and prosperous future for the Iranian people.This conversation was recorded at the end of March 2026 - in the midst of war - so while current events may have shifted, Iran's path towards freedom continues. And to set the stage for our guest, I think it’s only fitting to ground us in the words of one of Iran’s greatest poets, Ferdowsi:Rise, do not let the world to darkness fall May each of us strive for the good of all Good deeds alone spin the celestial spheres Our time is at hand, and our glory nears
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Iran: Inside the Revolution - Part 1
Apr 1701:34:15Tap to summarizeWhat does a revolution look like from the inside? What does it cost? What does it demand from the rest of the world? The world is watching Iran. This episode is part of a miniseries we're dedicating to understanding what's actually happening there, and the struggle for freedom of a people caught between a barbaric regime on one side and missile strikes on the other. Spend time with the people who know this fight best: Who’ve fought brutal regimes in the halls of the Hague, or been held in the notorious Evin prison. Who have lived through revolutions, and shared their story with the world.How to Change the World presents Iran: Inside the Revolution. Our guest today is Adnan Hadad, and he knows revolution not as some abstract concept, but as a lived reality. He left a stable career behind to join the Syrian revolution in the midst of a brutal conflict. Adnan co-founded the Aleppo Media Center, producing The White Helmets - the Academy Award-winning documentary that shared the power of humanity even in the midst of war to global audiences.Together, we dig into the blueprint of dictatorships, the insights Syria’s revolution holds for the Iranian opposition, and the underlying challenges to make regime change and secular democracy possible. This conversation was recorded at the end of March 2026 - in the midst of war. While the situation on the ground continues to shift rapidly, the journey of Iran to reclaim itself from tyranny continues. -----The How to Change the World Podcast is produced by World Within Studios with PRX.Producer and Composer: Alexandre MillerEditors: Eve Weston and Martin McGreevySession Engineers: Amirnezam Samadabadi and Gabe Sweeney
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KOTN: How to Build a Business Worth Believing In
Apr 200:55:45Tap to summarizeThere's ample evidence to suggest that philanthropy alone won't save the world. We have to find ways for businesses to step up to the global challenges we face. But in an era of corporate greenwashing, how do you know who's actually doing the work? Today we’re talking to Rami Helali, founder of KOTN, a wildly popular fashion brand rewriting the rules on ethical business. We get into how growing up between cultures gave him a rare lens on global supply chains, and how KOTN is turning fashion into real world impact. -----The How to Change the World Podcast is produced by World Within Studios with PRX.Producer and Composer: Alexandre MillerEditors: Eve Weston and Martin McGreevySession Engineer: Gabe Sweeney
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Kat Taylor: How to Fix our Broken Banking System
Mar 2300:51:55Tap to summarizeOn this show - and in the work we do at World Within - we spend a lot of time asking one question: “What happens when the systems we depend on stop working for the communities they’re meant to serve?”Today we’re talking about one of the biggest of them all: banking.And our guide is Kat Taylor.Kat is the co-founder of Beneficial State Bank and a leading voice in the movement to build a more regenerative economy. In this conversation, she breaks down how banks really work, why the system looks the way it does today, and - most importantly - what each of us can do to be part of changing it.-----The How to Change the World Podcast is produced by World Within Studios with PRX.Producer and Composer: Alexandre MillerEditors: Eve Weston and Martin McGreevySession Engineer: Gabe Sweeney
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Old Salt Pt. 2: How to Rethink Our Relationship with Land
Mar 500:44:03Tap to summarizeLast episode, we featured Cole Mannix of Old Salt Co-op - a collective of ranchers outside Helena, Montana who are restoring landscapes, local food, and protecting a ranching way of life being squeezed by industrial agriculture.Cooper Hibbard is one of those ranchers.He speaks candidly about family legacy - the cherished values carried forward, and the harder history tied to the land. It’s a conversation about what we inherit - and what we choose to do with it. -----The How to Change the World Podcast is produced by World Within Studios with PRX.Producer and Composer: Alexandre MillerEditors: Eve Weston and Martin McGreevySession Engineer: Gabe Sweeney
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Old Salt Co-op: How a Montana Town Is Reclaiming Its Food Future
Feb 1900:45:15Tap to summarize“Land is kin.” It’s the mantra at the heart of what guides Cole Mannix and Old Salt Co-op. Old Salt is a meat company built by ranchers to take the power back from Big Beef. They do everything from pasture to plate, running multiple restaurants and an annual festival that draws thousands to Montana around food, art, and community. This is also a deeply personal story born out of a promise to save his own ranch. Cole serves land, legacy, and community - and represents what it means to take responsibility for a place and the people who depend on it.-----The How to Change the World Podcast is produced by World Within Studios with PRX.Producer and Composer: Alexandre MillerEditors: Eve Weston and Martin McGreevySpecial Thanks: Gabe Sweeney
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Lufa Farms: How to Grow Food on Top of a City
Feb 500:48:52Tap to summarizeIt’s an idea so simple it could come from a five-year-old. At least that’s how Lufa Farms founder, Mohamed Hage, refers to their idea of turning idle rooftops into working greenhouses. But the real story - and this conversation - is about what it takes to build it, and what becomes possible once you do.In Montreal, Lufa has become a household name for its rooftop farms, local food delivery, and hunger relief work - and that’s just the beginning.Alongside Mo, we’re joined by Dave Furneaux, a seasoned investor and builder, to talk about their friendship, what makes the “soul” of a business, and why the risks of doing something transformative are worth it.-----The How to Change the World Podcast is produced by World Within Studios with PRX.Producer and Composer: Alexandre MillerEditors: Eve Weston and Martin McGreevySpecial Thanks: Gabe Sweeney
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Coral Vita: How to Rescue a Coral Reef
Jan 2200:42:00Tap to summarizeCoral reefs are disappearing fast - and they matter more to our daily lives than most of us realize. Sam Teicher, co-founder of Coral Vita, joins the pod to explain their fascinating approach to reef restoration, which he calls “taking coral to the gym.” We talk Category 5 hurricanes, why the Bahamas is leading this work, and why coral reefs matter whether you live by the ocean or nowhere near one. We’ve all heard what’s going wrong in the climate change fight - this is a conversation about what’s still possible.-----The How to Change the World Podcast is produced by World Within Studios with PRX.Producer and Composer: Alexandre MillerEditors: Kenny McMillanSpecial Thanks: Gabe SweeneySFX credits:Sunrise east and west coast waves skagen branch 07-27.wav by Kyster -- https://freesound.org/s/126007/ -- License: Attribution 4.0
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