The Tools at Hand with Harrison Gardner

harrisongardner

We live in a complex world. And navigating it as the complex, hopeful, emotional, ambitious human beings that we are takes a very real set of tools. The Tools at Hand is a podcast about people who have done the work of finding and developing those tools. People who saw a problem, or felt one, and instead of waiting for someone else to fix it, started figuring it out for themselves. In their community, their discipline, their craft, or their own inner life. Each episode in conversation with one guest who gives an honest account of what it actually took to build something real. The question underneath every conversation is: what did you have to learn to build this? The Tools at Hand podcast is brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy.  New episodes drop every Thursday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

  1. 6d ago

    The Question I've Been Trying to Answer for 20 Years

    When I was 19, I went to Kenya because I wanted to make myself useful in the world. Instead, I found myself caught in the middle of the 2007–08 post-election violence and came home with a feeling of helplessness and a question that has stayed with me for almost 20 years: why do some people keep believing their actions matter while others eventually stop trying? Years later, I went back to the journal I kept during that time and started looking at the experience differently. In this episode, I explore Martin Seligman’s famous dog experiment and the psychology of learned helplessness, and how our sense of agency is shaped by repeated experience. I also look at where I see the same pattern today, from Irish farmers dealing with wool that has almost no economic value to a generation growing up with every global crisis in their pockets. And I ask what it might take to unlearn helplessness and start finding the levers that still work. Pre-order my new book HEAT-SHELTER-WATER-FOOD https://www.harrisongardner.net/heat-shelter-water-food Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/HarrisonGardner CONNECT WITH ME Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_harrisongardner Website: https://www.harrisongardner.net/ Chapters 00:00 Intro: Kenya and Helplessness 01:03 Welcome Back 01:40 Why I Went to Kenya 04:10 Kenya's 2007 Election Crisis 13:03 Reading My Diary From Kenya 24:04 Martin Seligman's Dog Experiment 26:30 Learned Helplessness and Agency 28:00 Why I Thought I Could Change the World 31:20 Finding the Same Pattern Everywhere 33:42 The Irish Wool Problem 38:10 What Today's Generation Is Learning 42:30 What Really Happened in Kenya? 48:20 The Work That Actually Matters 52:50 Looking Back Twenty Years Later 55:40 Finding the Levers Around Us 56:50 My New Book: Heat, Shelter, Water, Food 57:35 Credits Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. Jun 17

    Alan Wyley: The Answer Was Already There

    Ireland wastes over a million euro of renewable energy every day while over half a million households can't afford to heat their homes. Alan Wyley is the CEO of Energycloud and has a €500 device that connects those two factors. He and Harrison talk about elegant solutions, stubborn optimism, and what it takes to bring an end to energy poverty. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Alan Wyley: The Answer Was Already There

  3. Jun 10

    Clare Noone: Understanding the System We're In

    Dr Clare Noone has sat in the rooms where the world tries to agree on its future. As a climate scientist who attended the most recent COP summit in Brazil, she has seen up close the gap between what the science says and what actually gets decided. She and Harrison talk about turning research into action, what it costs to keep communicating clearly when the stakes are this high, and what the rest of us can actually do with that information. Contains strong language. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Clare Noone: Understanding the System We're In

  4. Jun 3

    Ankur Delight: Conflict as a Place to Build From

    Ankur Delight is a conflict mediator, farmer, mathematician, and one of Harrison's oldest friends. They met at the Gandhi Ashram and in this conversation they explore why conflict might actually be a gift, what really happens in a mediation room, and what it means to build community and connection in a world that keeps pulling itself apart. Contains strong language. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Ankur Delight: Conflict as a Place to Build From

  5. May 27

    Ainle Ó Cairealláin: Language as Infrastructure

    Ainle Ó Cairealláin has just returned from Cuba, where he travelled as part of the Nuestra América Convoy's humanitarian mission. He's also one of the most compelling voices in Ireland on the relationship between language, community, and identity. He and Harrison talk about language as a form of infrastructure, what it means to hold a culture together from the inside out, and why the communities with the least are often the ones who know most about resilience. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Ainle Ó Cairealláin: Language as Infrastructure

  6. May 20

    Clare Dunne: Making the Thing You Need

    IFTA award winning actor and writer Clare Dunne joins Harrison in the studio. Clare's performance as Amanda Kinsella in Kin has made her a household name, but what Harrison really wanted to talk about was Herself, Clare's film about a woman who builds her own home when the system fails her. She and Harrison talk about craft, identity, and the courage it takes to make the thing you need when nobody else will make it for you. Contains strong language. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Clare Dunne: Making the Thing You Need

  7. May 13

    Matt Smith: Planting for the Long Game

    After years on the ocean, and then years growing vegetables, Matt Smith co-founded the charity Hometree to restore native woodland across Ireland. He and Harrison talk about ecological restoration, long-term thinking, and what it takes to build something with results you may never see. Contains strong language. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Matt Smith: Planting for the Long Game

  8. May 6

    Aoife Dunne: Building a Life That Makes You Laugh

    Aoife Dunne is repeatedly selling out her hit comedy show GOOD GRIEF across Ireland and lucky for us, she found a moment in the middle of it all, to join us in the studio. In this episode, she and Harrison talk about what it actually takes to build a creative life, trust your own voice, and use comedy to process the harder parts of being alive with some honesty. Contains strong language. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Aoife Dunne: Building a Life That Makes You Laugh

  9. Apr 29

    Seán McCabe: Owning the Future Together

    Most climate action starts with a government or a corporation. Seán McCabe started with a community football club. As the Head of Climate Justice & Sustainability at the Bohemian Climate Cooperative, he and his community are using cooperative ownership to fund renewable energy and retrofit homes from the ground up. He and Harrison talk about what it really means to give people a stake in something, and why that changes everything. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Seán McCabe: Owning the Future Together

  10. Apr 22

    Iseult Ward: Rescuing Food, Building Systems

    Every day in Ireland, good food is thrown away while families go without. Iseult Ward co-founded FoodCloud to close that gap and has built one of Europe's most effective food redistribution systems. She and Harrison talk about what it takes to turn a good idea into real infrastructure, and why food is rarely just about food. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Iseult Ward: Rescuing Food, Building Systems

  11. Apr 15

    Using What You Have to Create What You Need

    Before the guests arrive, Harrison sets out the idea at the heart of this podcast. From a slum in Ahmedabad to Gandhi's salt march, a piece of American legislation that affected everyone… but that nobody read, and a damp stone cottage on the west coast of Ireland, this is the episode that explains why the show exists and what it is for. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  12. Season 1 Trailer

    The Tools at Hand Podcast

    Ten conversations. Ten people who stopped waiting and started building. The Tools at Hand podcast. First episode drops this Thursday, and then every Thursday after that. Brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trailer

About

We live in a complex world. And navigating it as the complex, hopeful, emotional, ambitious human beings that we are takes a very real set of tools. The Tools at Hand is a podcast about people who have done the work of finding and developing those tools. People who saw a problem, or felt one, and instead of waiting for someone else to fix it, started figuring it out for themselves. In their community, their discipline, their craft, or their own inner life. Each episode in conversation with one guest who gives an honest account of what it actually took to build something real. The question underneath every conversation is: what did you have to learn to build this? The Tools at Hand podcast is brought to you by Bord Gáis Energy.  New episodes drop every Thursday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information