Essays Episodes

This week: Is what you’re working on important? Plus: The cleanest produce, a mosquito factory, lots of rooftop solar, autonomous GPT, maybe, and the latest with the Colorado River Here's What You Can Do: ⚡️ Climate change and mental health are inextricably linked. Get some help with the Climate Mental Health Network . ⚡️ Live in or own a multi-family building? Check out how BlocPower can help electrify it. ⚡️ If you’re like “I wonder if my town or state has e-bike rebates”, here’s a Google Shee...

This week: A very basic way to use a mental model, you’re welcome. PLUS: Mosquitoes, overseas abortion pills, healthy ice cream, German nuclear power, electric school buses, and more. Here's What You Can Do: ⚡️ Interested in community solar? Check out Wattbuy’s tools to get some. ⚡️ One of the most effective ways to make fashion more sustainable is to partner up with our friends at Fashion Revolution ⚡️ Want to understand if there’s (actually) a moral case for fossil fuels? You should read Amy W...

This week: Fighting over ESG is stupid, risky, and bad business. Let’s move on. Plus: RSV vaccines, the E-BIKE Act, Skittles (?), deepfakes, allergies, and a new season of DRILLED What We Can Do: ⚡️ Submit your comment to keep Virginia in the very-successful — and very lucrative — RGGI ⚡️ Some folks need shelter. Some need water. Or food. The data says giving them agency — and straight cash — works better . Do that by donating to GiveDirectly . ⚡️ Health care is a universal human right. Setup a ...

This week: What we know — and more importantly, what we don’t — about what AI is capable of, and how much change we’re capable of absorbing. Plus: the Willow Project, H-1B visas, blueberries, honeybee vaccines, climate disclosure rules, next-gen bed nets, and health insurance in North Carolina Here's What You Can Do: ⚡️ Just a few bucks buys some life-saving bed nets with Against Malaria , maybe the most effective NGO on the planet ⚡️ The only thing dumber than cancer is rare cancers. Good news:...

This week: Can little-old-you really make a difference? Hell yes you can. Plus: cheaper insulin, cleaner camping gear, a new (lidless) coffee cup, good news on BetterHelp, and maybe even some paid leave. Here's What You Can Do: ⚡️ Help your local farmers sell online — not just at farmer’s markets — with GrownBy . ⚡️ Help people worldwide get clean, safe, accessible drinking water with charity: water . ⚡️ Support Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s Urban Ocean Lab as they write the future of ocean poli...

This week: Pulled in a million directions? Wondering what the hell you do with your days? Find your north stars (and become devastatingly effective) with one simple question. What We Can Do: ⚡️ Please don’t use public wifi without a VPN. Please? If you can’t just hotspot, use the lightning-fast Mullvad VPN to secure your data. ⚡️ On the hunt for new furniture? Save some trees and check out Kaiyo’s marketplace to buy and sell fancy used furniture! ⚡️ Cancel out your transportation emissions and f...

This week: The future of search and chatbots looks a lot like our ancient past. Why do we keep making the same tools over and over again? What We Can Do: ⚡️ Addiction is brutal. Help yourself or a loved one or someone you’ve never met with Shatterproof . ⚡️ I’m so excited to share that my favorite event on Earth, “LA Loves Alex’s Lemonade Stand” is finally back. Support pediatric cancer research and buy yourself some tickets to eat food from some of the greatest chefs on the planet. ⚡️ It’s a pr...

This week: There are a default group of problems that exist in our society because of the basic needs required to be a human. They are: Air Water Food Sleep These, our most primal needs, are more or less biologically inarguable, and the good news is, we understand them very well and have made enormous progress to ensure they are accessible to a greater percentage of humans than ever before. There have been trade-offs along the way, of course, including plundering most of the solar system’s singl...

This week: For the next few weeks, I’m rewriting and sharing a selection of essays I wrote in 2020 and 2021, so about two hundred years ago. I think they’re more relevant than ever — I can’t wait to hear what you think. This week: What would you say you do here? ( Originally published July 2020, updated February 2023) Why do we exist? After a hundred years of progress, humanity faces stress tests unlike any we’ve faced before, and all at once. The good news: Your company can help rewrite the fut...

This week: Everyone needs insurance. But what kind? And what does it mean to have it, or not? Well, there’s actual insurance, which is a policy where you and an insurer contract with one another in case things go south with (usually) your home, your car, or your body. That’s the layman’s technical explanation, but more colloquially, and for our purposes today, “insurance” can mean just having a buffer or a back up plan, or a “thing you might do to make sure a big decision (like buying a home, ha...

This week: What does it mean when people say “revolution”? For these purposes, which are pretty narrow and entirely of my own invention, I don’t mean some single moment in time, unless it was a bellwether for something bigger. And I don’t mean the revolutions that have necessarily most directly impacted me. When I think “revolution” I imagine a building up of…something…that affected most people directly or indirectly, so that’s the threshold I’ll use here. This list is in no way comprehensive, I...

Across the front of our website, in big bold letters, is our calling card: “Science for people who give a shit.” You may have seen it and immediately thought “That’s me!” or “You sir, are a child.” Either reaction is well and great. We’re not for everybody. You’re here, though, so let's assume you’re on board with the whole idea. However you identified with that tagline, you may have also asked yourself what it means, in practice. And that’s a good question because while the mantra isn’t changin...

This week: Global climate news roundup beyond COP27 The human cost of vaccine inequity Water runs dry Chatbots aren't your friends Caveats to exciting AI developments Here's What You Can Do: More Democratic Senators means a greater chance the US can stand by it's climate commitments. Donate to Senator Warnock's December runoff campaign here , and the invaluable "Georgia Safe and Strong" alliance of local organizers here . Check out Biobot's wastewater monitoring program for local governments and...

This week: Climate change in the curriculum Increasingly divergent subvariants Cell-cultured meat RSV vaccines are coming Generative AI (...didn't write this, but it might one day) Here's What You Can Do: Teachers can't teach without understanding the material. Check out ClimeTime and the CLEAN project for free, vetted resources for educators K-12. Bring everyone you know to get their bivalent boosters, bring masks back (they can help defend against the flu and RSV too), and improve your air qua...

This week: $1 billion for electric school buses A potential "tripledemic" sandwich (not as delicious as it sounds!) One person's (treated) wastewater is another person's drinking water Most pregnancy-related deaths in America are preventable Bumble goes public with their "Private Detector" code Here's What You Can Do (usually more varied, but until November 8th, it's all hands on deck): Join our friends at Pod Save America or the Environmental Voter Project to call/text/donate and vote for peopl...

This week: Plant-based meat stocks Another COVID winter is coming A long-term plan for the baby formula shortage The uncertain future of telehealth Willfully shunning data privacy Here's What You Can Do: Help elect progressive state and federal candidates who will shift our diets and land use toward healthier, more sustainable food systems Check your wastewater data here or here If you've got extra, unopened, not-expired formula, donate it through the Free Formula Exchange . You can also get scr...

This week: What climate change means for insurance Pregnancy and the COVID vaccine Food insecurity in America What wildfire smoke means for air quality Internet blackout in Iran What we can do Understand your flood risk with Flood Factor , a free tool to learn if your property has flooded in the past, is currently at risk, and how that risk changes over time. Stock up on masks, get your boosters , and bring your parents, your kids, and your friends with you Feed people tonight (and every month, ...

This week: It's hurricane season Viral levels in wastewater spiking What the world might look like in 2050 Results from the biggest-ever Alzheimer's study Asking better questions about our apps Action Steps Send disaster recovery supplies to Florida, donate or volunteer with World Central Kitchen to feed people in Florida and/or Puerto Rico , help the Footprint Project spin up microgrids Tell your city council about BioBot wastewater monitoring Check out Vox's explainer video on how the remainin...

This week: The companies building a new clean economy (and the pretenders) The "I" in COVID Defrauded pandemic funds for hungry kids Preventing overdoses with safer supply programs Increasing surveillance Action Steps Read Protocol's tips to make your company more sustainable If it's been 3-6 month since your last infection or shot, get boosted Feed some families by donating to Feeding America Know someone dealing with opioid addiction? Find a related clinical trial near you Read share, and subs...

This week: What's happening with cars and micro-mobility in America Brain fog A food system rundown The corporations backing a national abortion ban Border agents are taking your phone data Action Steps Watch this short about Statiq, the Indian startup electrifying transportation, then check out Ride Review to find an e-bike or scooter ( here's Quinn's beloved e-bike) Read about the success of the new COVID boosters, then get boosted Donate to or volunteer with World Central Kitchen Read this ar...

This week: Corporate clean energy purchases go down as temperatures go up The current status of COVID-19 vaccines Moving towards a healthier, climate-friendly diet A promising new malaria vaccine Back to the drawing board for a federal online privacy bill Action Steps Learn how to talk to kids about climate change with Science Moms Get BioBot to get your county's wastewater treatment plant access to free COVID-19 wastewater testing Share your ideas with the White House before the Conference on H...

This week: The cost of electrification The end of free COVID tests The water crisis in Jackson Minimizing cancer treatment side effects The companies selling your location data to the police Action Steps Read Rewiring America's home electrification guide, and then share it with your apartment/HOA/city council Use BioBot to get your county's wastewater treatment plant access to free COVID-10 wastewater and variant testing Donate to Cooperation Jackson, a local cooperative ensuring water access fo...

This week: Heat in China ramping up a clean economy arms race How to learn more about Long COVID Cleaning up after coal Magic mushrooms and depression Better data for pregnant people Action Steps Check out CTVC's rundown on Ira's impact on capital costs If you or someone you love is suffering from Long COVID, sign up to participate in the RECOVER study Donate to EarthJustice Sign up for a psilocybin mental health study Listen to my conversation with Representative Lauren Underwood about better m...

This week: What IRA means for cars Centralizing data for the next pandemic A parched Earth Big Pharma is Big Mad about IRA Fingers crossed that Big Tech will protect democracy Action Steps: Listen to a very-Ira episode of "The Coolest Show" podcast Check out this COVID dataset of sequences by variant and country Donate to bring clean drinking water to people in developing countries Call your senators to urge them to support the INSULIN Act Sign up to be paired with a cybersecurity expert Get mor...