---
title: "GRIDLOCKED: Why the 21st Century is broken and how to fix it"
description: Explore the new podcast Gridlocked, tackling societal gridlock and energy solutions with insights from leading experts. Listen now to understand and address 21st-century challenges.
---

[Media](https://canes.mit.edu/media)

# [GRIDLOCKED: Why the 21st Century is broken and how to fix it](https://canes.mit.edu/media/gridlocked-why-the-21st-century-is-broken-and-how-to-fix-it)

 Written by [Jacopo Buongiornio](https://canes.mit.edu/media/author/jacopo-buongiornio) | May 15, 2023 12:00:00 PM

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

I’m excited to have teamed up with thought leadership consultancy Renovata on a new docuseries podcast called [Gridlocked](https://renovata.vision/gridlocked). The podcast explores ‘why the 21st Century is broken and how to fix it.’

Gridlocked is a discursive platform focussing on issues causing societal gridlock. The show gives voice to those with the ideas and solutions to deliver change, starting in Season 1 with the one issue underpinning so many others today: energy.

The first episodes are now available to listen across all major podcast platforms. You can also listen via the show’s website, which contains further information about the podcast, the key contributors and links to related content: https://gridlockedpodcast.com/

Over the coming weeks further episodes will release examining perceptions about what ‘energy mixes’ involving clean technologies like nuclear and renewables can achieve.

Episode 2, Spaceship Earth, has just released on all major podcast platforms, including here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2175761/12836483-episode-2-spaceship-earth

In this episode, amongst others, we hear from Joshua Goldstein, who co-wrote the newly released film Nuclear Now with legendary film director Oliver Stone.

Indeed, one of the things setting Gridlocked apart from other podcasts is the calibre of its contributors, which includes the planet’s most prominent living architect, a world-leading atmospheric scientist and a designer for the International Space Station.

Here are some of the headline contributors to Season 1 of Gridlocked:

    Norman Foster, President of the Norman Foster Foundation  
    Joshua Goldstein, co-writer of NUCLEAR NOW  
    Kristin Zaitz, Co-Founder, Mothers for Nuclear  
    Dava Newman, Director of MIT Media Lab  
    Guillermo Trotti, designer and space architect  
    Pia Malaney, Senior Economist at the Institute for New Economic Thinking  
    Kerry Emanuel, MIT Professor Emeritus of Meteorology  
    Jacopo Buongiorno, MIT Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering

The importance of a show like Gridlocked is that it provides a platform to address key public policy issues in an engaging way that reaches out beyond the policy and academic realms. It is a great way of connecting intellectual content to a wider mainstream audience.

Through Gridlocked, I hope we can provide listeners with the knowledge needed to combat misinformation, political stalemate and outdated thinking on energy policy… and I hope you can tune in. If you do, please let me know what you think!

Cheers,  
Jacopo

[View full post](https://canes.mit.edu/media/gridlocked-why-the-21st-century-is-broken-and-how-to-fix-it)

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