Harm Edens

The state of the world according to Harm Edens Since autumn 2025, Harm Edens has been touring the Netherlands with his theatre lecture 'The state of the world according to Harm Edens'. A show focusing on his drive to make the world a nicer and more enjoyable place. Because we have all made a mess of it, you might say. Harm is now 64 and all his life he has been touched by the state of the world. "As a child, I saw on TV a starving little boy in Biafra, then the carpet bombing in Vietnam, The Club of Rome's 'Limits to Growth' report and later, as a TV maker, the melting glaciers on Svalbard. It is that experience in particular that made me devote most of my daily work to making the world a better, more sustainable place. But lately I have been thinking more and more: the world is only getting crazier. We consume ourselves to death, we scold each other on X, we veer and coarsen and begrudge each other less and less. Humans are being replaced by AI, while AI is killing the world even further because of high energy consumption." This is what Harm wants to discuss with the audience. In a cheerful tone and with lots of humour, Harm takes people through the idiocy of our collective behaviour and points out how things can be done differently and better, without losing the fun. Because that does lie at the heart of Harm's existence: do everything with pleasure. "I grew up in a joyless family, where nothing was celebrated, nothing was enjoyed, where humour did not exist, where I was not seen. These experiences shaped me into whatever I am: someone who faces crazy life with a lot of humour, stays optimistic (most of the time then) and enjoys as much as possible. That's why I also talk about that formative side of my life. It will be a show full of uncomfortable truths, enlightening insights and, above all, lots of humour. Because if nothing else remains, at least we will go into the abyss laughing together." In a cheerful tone and with lots of humour, Harm takes people through the idiocy of our collective behaviour and points out how things can be done differently and better, without losing the fun.