3 October 2020 | New Scientist | 47The old model is we live in these
dystopian islands of concrete. You live on
the 87th floor, and if something terrible
happens, you don’t know your neighbours.
It’s built to isolate. But there are these places
called intentional communities, where
people share resources and responsibilities,
like Findhorn in Scotland. I’ve just been
there. It’s a community, there are little roads
between the houses. People smile when they
see you, even though they don’t know you.
There’s a community room where you can
eat with other people, although it’s not
open now because of covid. I like the idea
that everybody’s got your back – this is
how humans were built, to have each
other’s backs.But we can’t all live in villages...
Well look at Copenhagen. They’ve got the
most developed cycle network in Europe and
the streets are designed to encourage people
to spend more time in public spaces. These
people seem a little happier. There are realR
UBY WAX is on a serious mission to
improve people’s mental health. The
American-British TV star, comedian,
author and mental health advocate found
fame in the 1980s TV sitcom Girls on Top and
went on to deploy her comic persona of a
brash, overconfident American in multiple
comedy interview shows. Yet it is her
experience with depression and stress that
has shaped much of her more recent career.
Her encounter with major depression
15 years ago led her to earn a master’s degree
in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy at
the University of Oxford, an experience she
incorporated into a stage show. For this, as
well as her writing about depression and
mindfulness, she was awarded an OBE, one
of the highest civilian honours in the UK.
Wax has also set up community groups
where, before lockdown, people could meet
up and chat; these have now moved online.
In her fifth and latest book, And Now for the
Good News... To the future with love, Wax goes
on a whirlwind world tour to meet innovatorsin schools, businesses and communities
whose work she believes shows things
are looking up.Clare Wilson: Now seems an odd time for a
book about optimism. Why did you write it?
Ruby Wax: We were besieged by bad news,
even before covid. We were going on a drip
feed, from one disaster to another, and we
were getting addicted to it – at least, I was.
I couldn’t wait for more bad news, and you
could gossip about it. But where you pay
your attention defines your reality. Your
brain is shaped by what you look at. So I said,
let’s move the lens, let’s break the habit.How did you do that?
I went on a global hunt, to try to see the
innovators, the people that are going to
change the world. I also wanted to change
my life – to see where I could live, what I
could do, because I like reinvention. I did find
some places I would like to live some of the
RO time and people who I’d like to be around.
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