Pat Mooney is the co-founder and executive director of the ETC Group, and is an expert on agricultural diversity, biotechnology, and global governance with decades of experience in international civil society and several awards to his name.

The ETC group is an international civil society organization headquartered in Canada with offices in Mexico, Philippines, Nigeria and USA. ETC group has consultative status with ECOSOC, FAO, UNCTAD, UNEP, UNFCCC, IPCC and the UN Biodiversity Convention.

Since 1977, ETC group has focused on the role of new technologies on the lives and livelihoods of marginalized peoples around the world. Pat Mooney has almost half a century of experience working in international civil society, first addressing aid and development issues and then focusing on food, agriculture and commodity trade.

He received The Right Livelihood Award (the “Alternative Nobel Prize”) in the Swedish Parliament in 1985 and the Pearson Peace Prize from Canada’s Governor General in 1998. He has also received the American “Giraffe Award” given to people “who stick their necks out.” The author or co-author of several books on the politics of biotechnology and biodiversity, Pat Mooney is widely regarded as an authority on issues of agricultural diversity, global governance, and corporate concentration.

Although much of ETC’s work continues to emphasize plant genetics and agriculture, the work expanded in the early 1980s to include biotechnology. In the late 1990s, the work expanded further to encompass a succession of emerging technologies such as nanotechnology, synthetic biology, geoengineering, and new developments ranging from genomics and neurosciences to robotics and 3-D printing. Pat Mooney and ETC group are known for having discovered and named The Terminator seeds – Genetically-modified seeds designed to die at harvest.

Nikola Tesla would be happy.

As technology and innovation continues at lightning speeds, a new world of systems, services and policies is emerging.  Electric vehicles will replace the internal combustion engine, putting an end to the need for fossil fuels and the policies that keep them in place.  The price of electric vehicles is coming down, and the smart grids for charging have already emerged.

Mobilized spoke with Phillipe Vangeel, the Secretary General of AVERE about how e-mobility is shifting the power landscape, with an understanding of how–and WHY—Norway is a leader in the movement to cleaner energy systems.  Let’s hope the rest of the world catches on soon!

AVERE (The European Association for Electromobility) is the European association that promotes electromobility and sustainable transport across Europe.

AVERE is the only European association representing and advocating for electromobility on behalf of the industry, academia, and EV users at both EU and national levels.

Their Members consist of Companies, Research Institutions, and National Associations supporting and encouraging the use of Electric Vehicles and electromobility across Europe. We currently have active members in 21 European countries, notably some of the most successful EV countries like Norway, France, The Netherlands and Belgium. The association is governed by their Board.

Within these Associations, there are close to 2.300 industry members, ranging from SME’s, OEM’s, and other companies with a commercial interest in electromobility and about 100.000 EV users. Furthermore, AVERE’s network includes Users of Electric vehicles, NGOs, Associations, Interest Groups, Public Institutions, Research & Development Centres, Vehicle and Equipment Manufacturers and other relevant Companies. This extends beyond Europe into global outreach.

On top of advocacy, AVERE provides its members with a unique forum for exchanging knowledge, experience, and ideas on how to stimulate electromobility throughout Europe. Our Working Groups analyse the most important EV themes. We engage in European and international projects promoting sustainable transportation across the EU and we have often joined other international initiatives to support electromobility.

Philippe Vangeel is the Secretary General in one of the fastest changing and growing technologies: e-mobility.

In electronics by background, Philippe has always worked as a manager in the sector. Strong of 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, he brought a practical outlook to the association that enabled it to seize the moment: his vision is to make AVERE a protagonist in the growth of the e-mobility sector. In his five years, the AVERE’s membership grew significantly, while the association affirmed itself as the go-to expert for e-mobility in Europe.

As part of his broader approach, he also ensured that the entire e-mobility value chain would get visibility through AVERE. He made it the potential home of every player in the sector, from companies extracting the materials to build EVs, to vehicles manufacturers, charging point operators and final consumers.

His native language is Flemish, he is fluent in English and French, and is happy to help you in Norwegian and German.

Dr. Arun Gandhi is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and is a longtime peace activist and author. We discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict with Dr. Gandhi and get his thoughts on this crisis as well as the global peace movement. Additionally, we will share his clear understanding of how we can all be the change we wish to see in the world.

Gaia Talks/The Earth Speaks is a Mobilized Co-Production. Produced by Missy Crutchfield and Jeff Van Treese.

Recorded on Monday, January 24, 2022 at 6 pm. Eastern / 3 pm Pacific Time (USA/Canad)

If governmental regulations around the world really existed to serve the common good, we would have seen a global green energy revolution several decades ago. Instead, sustainable energy solutions have had an uphill battle in the marketplace due to the power structure that favors professional lobbyists and the fossil fuel industries that back them.

Eugene Wilkie has been at the front lines of green tech development around the world with his firm Now Solar for over 30 years. In this wide-ranging conversation, you’ll learn how clean energy has butted heads with corruption behind the scenes and why the lobbying framework has stood in the way of progress. Plus the current battle for the soul of democracy in America, how the sustainable energy sector fits into the anti-autocracy movement, and what you can do to help in your own community.

Description of the Series: Why isn’t the world making faster progress on climate change, social justice, and human rights? Well, because “kleptocracy thrives in the soil of chaos.”

There’s an undertow against forward motion on every front lurking just beneath the surface. It’s an iron triangle of corrupt government officials, crooked corporations, and transnational organized crime. In other words, dirty money and a criminal culture of greed. The only thing standing in the way between a healthy future for humanity or slow death at the hands of a global network of autocratic mafia states is Western Liberal Democracy.

Join Mark Metz as he brings you the courageous citizen journalists and independent researchers doing the thankless task of exposing this underworld.

Produced by Mark Metz and Jeff Van Treese
Executive Producer is Steven Jay