What’s Good in the World begins with a simple idea: people have more to offer one another than we sometimes realize.

Someone has a skill. Someone else has an idea. Another person has been seeking exactly that experience. Sometimes all that’s missing is a way for them to find one another.

That’s where we come in.

We bring people, stories, ideas, and creative possibilities into the same space and see what can happen.

Some of what we do begins with conversation. Driftwood Conversations introduces us to artists, scientists, writers, musicians, educators, and others doing meaningful work around the world. Our stories and reflections continue those conversations, offering another way to discover people you might never otherwise meet — including some who live right around the corner.

Other ideas become projects.

The Hello Project is an experiment in something very basic: saying hello. It explores what happens when we move beyond the familiar circles of our lives and make a small gesture toward someone we don’t know.

A new clothing and sewing project grew from two women bringing different talents together — an eye for finding wonderful secondhand clothing and the imagination and sewing skills to transform what they find. We’re developing a class focused on rehoming, redesigning, and playing with clothes because what we wear can make us feel beautiful, sexy, professional, expressive — or simply make us smile.

Sometimes our role is simply to tell you about something remarkable someone else is doing.

Ever thought about volunteering somewhere far from home? Sam Oakes, founder of ATOVA, Indonesia, is a member of our extended community and founded a nonprofit that offers volunteer opportunities in Bali. 

Living and working alongside people in another country can change the way we understand the world, and ourselves. We’ll tell you about opportunities like this and introduce you to the people creating them.

Writer and curator Katie Nartonis is compiling a new book exploring the history of California design in the postwar period. As that project develops, we’ll share the story behind it and ways to learn more.

Rohini Walker, writer, consultant and holistic coach is the Projects Curator for What’s Good in the World, bringing another dimension to this growing exchange of ideas. Through her podcast, Root & Rise, Rohini explores the movement from systemic unsustainability toward a more holistic, embodied relationship with ourselves and the world around us. Alongside Martín Mancha, Rohini is also the co-founder of Luna Arcana, the independent arts and literary print journal based in the Mojave high desert. Luna Arcana is currently working on a new book.

At What’s Good in the World, we bring together special guests, projects, experiences, and ideas that invite us to look differently at ourselves, one another, and how we live on this planet.

These are only a few of the people and projects crossing our path. There will be more.

One Thing Leads to Another

That may be the best way to understand What’s Good in the World.

A conversation can become a collaboration.
A skill can become a workshop.
A story can introduce you to someone you need to know.
An idea can find the person who knows how to help it grow.

We don’t know where every connection will lead.

That’s part of the point.

We are creating a place where people can discover themselves and one another, share what they know, try something new, and see what becomes possible when one thing leads to another.