Author and climate leader David Ligouy focuses on developing green energy solutions for developing countries. His book – Able to Be Human – is currently being translated into English. His organization is an NGO called Peace Movement based on the Resistance Movement in France. His current project, #BankOnTheClimate, is devoted to producing very economical, light electric vehicles for people in developing countries, like solar powered electric bikes! To raise awareness and funding for this effort, David has ridden a solar powered bike from Argentina to California, and he’s currently on his way up the west coast to Canada.
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[Video Transcript]
Matt Schlegel:
Thanks for joining me in conversations with leaders who are using their feelings as a leadership tool for both inspiration and motivation.
Matt Schlegel:
Today, I’m speaking with author and climate leader David Ligouy. David works to bring solutions to people in developing countries that will help meet the internationally recognized sustainable development goals. And now for the conversation.
Matt Schlegel:
Today, I’m speaking with a remarkable climate leader and author David Ligouy, who focuses on developing green energy solutions for developing countries. His book, Able To Be Human, is currently being translated into English. His organization is an NGO called Peace Movement and his current project, Bank on the Climate, is devoted to producing very economical light electric vehicles, for instance, solar-powered electric bikes. To raise awareness of this effort, David has ridden a prototype solar-powered bike from Argentina to California, and he’s currently on his way up the West coast to Canada. I am so eager to hear about what is inspiring him and motivating him on his journey. David, thank you so much for joining me today. Welcome.
David Ligouy:
Thank you very much, Matt. So, my inspiration come from science. I met a world scientist about EPCC, is a panel of climate change, is from Vietnam, and is an expert of integrate risk. So he did studies on integrate risk. So when you isolate a problem, you don’t see, okay, this maybe 20, 30 years. But he say, “Okay.” He said to me, “If we want to have a chance to save a lot of people, we are by 2020.” And I met him in 2015. So he says.
David Ligouy:
So I start to be conscious that we don’t have a lot of time. I prepare myself to the improbable. So in case it happens, maybe we all get together. We have, it’s for me an enormous hope that we can fix climate change, but also other solution my NGO Peace Movement, French Peace Movement is originally from the resistance, the resistance movement.
David Ligouy:
And in the resistance movement in 1941, Germany was as a Nazi was all over Europe for maybe four decades for… So, and the German army was the best in army in the world. So the Nazi was the best army in the world. So it was almost impossible to defeat them, improbable. But in two days, the Japanese decide to bomb Pearl Harbor and the USA enter in the war with us. So, and then USA has enormous potential. Okay. And the second one is the Nazi were defeated in studying God by the Russian. So in two days it changed completely the perspective of French resistance, that maybe there is a chance.
David Ligouy:
So, my NGO is focusing on social solution, economical solution, and also on environmental.
Matt Schlegel:
You said that your inspiration came out of science, but how did that make you feel? What are you feeling now?
David Ligouy:
I first feel overwhelmed by the situation. And also when I’m getting older, I have a lot of frustration because I think I didn’t do much. I did a lot, actually. We do. We Matt too. You did a lot. But we didn’t manage to, for the moment, we still didn’t manage to fix the situation. So it’s very frustrating sometime I have a lot of anger and I am overwhelmed by my anger. So, and also it’s a new field. That mean I was diagnosed with eco-anxiety one year ago and I’ve been suffering for 20 years. So, and…
Matt Schlegel:
So you were actually diagnosed with eco-anxiety, but you realize you’ve been feeling it for 20 years?
David Ligouy:
Yes, I didn’t… And then, so now I know what is my problem before. So, and I really like the book of this professor of Stanford.
Matt Schlegel:
Yes. Dr. Britt Wray Generation Dread. Yes.
David Ligouy:
Wow. So she’s very courageous because she’s attacking this main problem.
Matt Schlegel:
Yeah.
David Ligouy:
That I didn’t even know last year I was sick of it. I have all the feeling.
Matt Schlegel:
Yeah.
David Ligouy:
All the bad feelings. You name it, I have it. All of them in a short time and a big amount of them. So it’s very hard to cope, but it’s preferable that I, and you Matt, are dealing with it than teenagers or children because they are not ready to face it. They don’t have the structure. If I have big problem to face it, I imagine the children. And so one of them is also denial. Me, I should be the guy who should know most the problem because I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it, but sometimes I don’t want to see it because it’s too much.
Matt Schlegel:
Yeah.
David Ligouy:
So I have, my brain should do some denial to protect myself.
Matt Schlegel:
Many people are starting to have very strong feelings. But the easiest thing to do is to just be in denial. It’s a self-defense mechanism. And once you get past denial, it essentially uncorks all these other feelings that will come out, frustration, anger, grief, anxiety, all of these things are being bottled up now. And once you get past denial, they’re going to come out. And I think more and more people as they come to grips with climate reality, they will be starting to feel these feelings, which… So I guess what I want to ask you next is now that you are feeling all these feelings, how do you channel them into constructive positive action?
David Ligouy:
I have to know what is my… What’s called resilience. You have to look for resilience. Resilience, it’s a mechanical term. That’s if you hit somebody, if you hit a metal, it becomes stronger.
Matt Schlegel:
Mm.
David Ligouy:
So it’s a natural property of steel. If you hit it with hammer, it make it become every time stronger. So, but there’s a limit. So me, I have to find my resilience factors and everybody’s different.
Matt Schlegel:
Right?
David Ligouy:
So my… And then I do, because when you are overwhelmed by all these feelings, it’s not possible.
Matt Schlegel:
Right?
David Ligouy:
So you have to prepare it a little bit before that to get ready. So what I do first for me is swimming. So when I travel with my bike, I try to go to near the coast to be always near the Pacific coast or Atlantic coast. That’s what I do. Caribbean. So I know if I am too much overwhelmed by situation, I go to the sea. The sea calm me down.
David Ligouy:
And second one is, I do, what I do is biking. Because biking is generating sport. It’s generating also like swimming on the veins or calm my body and calm down my brain. And then, and biking, it’s helping me also with nature because I have to look the nature. I have to, not to look to my problem like this. I have to open to look left and right. It’s very basic. But to do that, look left and right, nature. “Oh, there’s a bird here. Oh, there’s a car here.” It just calm me down because I stop concentrating on my problems, on my fears. I look around. So that’s the second one. And the third one is dancing.
David Ligouy:
So in Latinos, they have been suffering for 500 years. So they are very resilient. They are not from a consuming society where they can have everything, because they don’t have money. So they found some ways to be resilient. So it’s dancing and singing. So they are poor, but they are allowed to dance. Don’t need too much to dance. So the third for me is dancing. I’m looking, I take some time to dance. And maybe a fourth, it’s maybe also very important is my bike, because bike will provide curiosity, provide…
David Ligouy:
So that’s one that was part of the project. That mean if you stress people, they’re already very stressed. Two third of the young people on the planet are stressed by the problem. And they are not in denial, because they don’t have this mechanism so elaborate. Adult are more in denial because they are too busy or obviously, cause they have way to be in denial. Young, especially young children, are not in denial. They are quite straightforward. They see the reality and they speak the reality and they are afraid. They are really afraid. They’re in panic.
David Ligouy:
So what I do with my bike, I bring curiosity, creativity, and joy. So, “Wow. What is this?” And then, and I provoke the meeting and I have a lower bike that also provoked humility, because I’m lower than people. That was part of the plan. So what I’m promoting is women is emancipation through transportation, who is the biggest… So also I’m tackling the problem. Action, so this, if I do action, if I’m just worry about my feeling, it doesn’t help. I have to act.
Matt Schlegel:
What advice would you give to them?
David Ligouy:
It’s everything is interactive. So I have to work on myself and I have to work with others. I have to also believe that it’s possible to do it on the world level. I have to work with the institution. Has to be a complete change.
David Ligouy:
So, and we have to do it fast. So it’s like a disruptive change in everything. So my advice is really based on the SDG. People should know first, what is SDG? And SDG, they have 169 target. So young people, especially, they should know that because it is going to help them to have an overview of the solution. This whole thing is interconnected. And after they have to feel in their heart, what is the most important for them? Because like in your book, everybody’s different. So you can work on one target, on of the 169 target and say… And maybe sometime you can even change in time, but you can constantly say, now I am more concerned about this target for could be gender equity could be integrated in education. It can be write a book or it can be okay… Or maybe sometime maybe you just too overwhelmed, just take care of yourself first. You can be taking care of others and this will take care of yourself.
Matt Schlegel:
Whenever you are going to start to have feelings about something it’s about a problem. That’s usually what is the starting point of having feelings is whether it’s your head or your heart or your gut is telling you that something isn’t right. There’s a problem. And…
David Ligouy:
It’s never face problem of humanity. Nobody have faced such a problem before.
Matt Schlegel:
Right. And you bring up the very good point of study the problem, really take the time to understand what the problem is. Don’t just assume, you know it, don’t just assume that your gut is right or your heart is right or your head is right. Actually take the time to understand the problem and then let that really good understanding of the problem inform your head or your heart or your gut, what to do next. I think that’s what I heard you say. And everybody is different. Everybody will bring a different strength or a different focus and we need it all. We need everything.
David Ligouy:
That’s biodiversity.
Matt Schlegel:
That’s right. Exactly. And if we’re all on the same page in terms of what the problem is, as we all contribute, we will all be working towards solving the same problem.
David Ligouy:
Yeah. It’s a patchwork of solution.
Matt Schlegel:
Yeah.
David Ligouy:
It’s like a puzzle of solution and it will all come together.
Matt Schlegel:
Yeah.
David Ligouy:
And it’s already planned by the SDG. So, okay. Okay. It’s going to work. You’re going to work on mental health of people because that’s your knowledge.
Matt Schlegel:
Well, David, thank you so much for all of your insights and sharing your feelings and for all of the work that you are doing and your focus, it’s really truly an inspiration for me. And I just appreciate you so much and what you’re doing, and I wish you the very best on your continued journey. And you know, much success to you as we solve our collective problem. Bank on the climate
David Ligouy:
Hashtag bank on the climate.
Matt Schlegel:
Yes. And I will put a link to bank on the climate in the notes here. And you said that you have a YouTube explanation. So I’ll also put that in the notes for people so that they have a way to follow you and stay in touch with you.
David Ligouy:
Thanks so much, Matt.
Matt Schlegel:
Okay. Thank you.
Matt Schlegel:
Thanks for watching. David shared so many fantastic insights for leaders who are facing a big problem and are starting to have strong feelings about that problem. He highlights the importance of taking care of yourself so that you don’t become overwhelmed. He emphasized the role that community plays in problem solving. And he says that you never know from when or where a tipping point will occur. So you have to prepare and be ready to take advantage of it when it does.
Matt Schlegel:
If you found this conversation helpful, please click on the thumbs up button and subscribe to the channel to get notifications of future episodes. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section and I’ll respond as soon as I can. Thanks again.
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