Food & Water Episodes
Food systems and water. You need 'em both to survive, we got 'em.
April 14, 2025
Table To Farm
Sometimes you buy organic, sometimes you hit a restaurant that's plant-based, or at least you choose the veggie option. Maybe the fish option at the market or the restaurant is marketed as being sustainable. Maybe you compost...
March 24, 2025
Don't Move The Goalposts
One of the ways this Trump administration is different from the last is, relatively at least, how much more unconstitutional, how much more organized and comprehensive the attacks on our institutions, particularly the scaffol...
Nov. 11, 2024
Bridging Misinformation Gaps with Local Journalism
What's the missing link in local journalism? That's today's big question, and my guest is Lyndsey Gilpin . Lyndsey is the Senior Manager of Community Engagement at Grist. Lyndsey was the founder and executive editor at Southe...
Oct. 28, 2024
Thinking In Systems To Save An Indivisible World
Is multisolving the future? Is it today? Should we do more? That's all today's big question and my guest is Dr. Elizabeth Sawin . Dr. Sawin is the Founder and Director of the Multisolving Institute , which is convenient for o...
Oct. 21, 2024
Poverty Is A Policy Choice
How do we make it easier for more Americans to reliably put food (in particular, hot food) on the table? That's today’s big question, and my guest is Salaam Bhatti . Salaam is the SNAP Director at the Food Research and Action...
Oct. 7, 2024
Best of: Fresh Banana Leaves
There’s no word for “conservation” in many Indigenous languages. Some come close, but mean something more like “taking care of” or “looking after.” And that’s probably because the very idea of conservation, to “prevention the...
June 24, 2024
Houston, We Have An Overfishing Problem
How do we stop overfishing if we don't know who's doing the fishing? That's today's big question, and my guest is Jennifer Raynor . Jennifer is an Assistant Professor of natural resource economics at the University of Wiscons...
June 10, 2024
Bring A Folding Chair
How do we tackle huge systemic intersectional environmental justice issues at the local level? That's today's big question, and my guest is Jacqui Patterson . Jacqui is the Founder and Executive Director of the Chisholm Legac...
April 8, 2024
The Social Infrastructure of Water
What have we learned from millennia of water insecurity, of climate changes and disasters, of building along freshwater ways and the ocean, that we can apply today? That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Amber Wutic...
Feb. 19, 2024
Saving Democracy From The Bottom Up
What are reverse coattails, and how might they slow climate change, prevent the next pandemic, and keep Nazis off of school boards? That's today's big question, and my returning guest is Amanda Litman . Amanda is one of my fa...
Dec. 4, 2023
How To Make Ethical Decisions
Has there ever been a more important time, a more consequential time, to lead with ethics? That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Susan Liautaud . Susan is the author of The Power of Ethics and of the Little Book of...
Oct. 16, 2023
Do You Know Where Your Water Comes From?
Every single one of us needs air, water, food, shelter, and energy. So why are the infrastructure that provides them, the systems we are most reliant on hidden in plain sight? How can we reconnect with them, appreciate them, ...
Sept. 25, 2023
Turning The Tide On Microplastics
What are microplastics doing to us? And how do we stop putting them into our water, and our bloodstreams, and our food? That's today's big question, and my guest is Julia Yan . Julia is the co-founder and CEO at Baleena , a c...
May 8, 2023
Fighting Food Waste With The iPhone of Trash Cans
How much food do you throw away every week? And do you have to? That's today's big question, and my guest is Matt Rogers . Matt is a former Apple iPod and iPhone engineer . The Co-Founder of Nest thermostats , Founder of inci...
April 3, 2023
Best of: What Really Happens When You Just Give People Money?
What if we just gave people money? That's today's big question and my guests are Caroline Teti and Michael Faye from GiveDirectly . This conversation from 2021, one of my all-time favorites is one of those conversations that ...
Nov. 28, 2022
Why You Should Care About Soil Health
What’s one big change we can make that can make our food healthier, make farming more lucrative, draw down carbon in the atmosphere, and reduce climate emigration? That’s today’s big question, and my guest is Sasankh Munukutl...
Nov. 14, 2022
Breaking Bread with the Korean Vegan
There’s nothing quite like breaking bread with family and friends, old or new. By mid-2020, we’d have all taken the opportunity to break bread with just about anyone. Why are recipes, and the stories behind them, some of the ...
Nov. 29, 2021
128. The Best Olive Oil You’ve Never Had
In Episode 128 , Quinn unpacks the most delicious olive oil in the world , how it came to be, and what it means to start a food business in the age of climate change. Our guest is Aishwarya Iyer , dreamer, doer, and eternal o...
Sept. 13, 2021
How We Deal With Drought: From NOVA Now
I’m very excited to share an awesome show with you today, from the fine folks at PBS! God, I love PBS. The show is called “NOVA Now” and I’m a longtime huge fan. This episode is near and dear to the moment we’re in. As the We...
Aug. 9, 2021
121. QueerBrownVegan
In Episode #121 , Quinn’s got a fantastic new guest to help answer his favorite question: “ What can I do? ” Isaias Hernandez – or, as he’s known pretty much everywhere on the internet, Queer Brown Vegan -- shares the mic tod...
June 28, 2021
116: What Really Happens When You Just Give People Money?
In Episode 116 , Quinn wants to know: why is simply giving people money the most effective way to 1) help them make positive changes to their lives and 2) erase global poverty along the way? To help him understand the answer,...
June 14, 2021
Best of the Best: Legalizing the Other Weed
In celebration of New York state passing Bill S6532A, permitting underwater kelp cultivation, we’re re-playing one of our coolest (and most entertaining) episodes. Kelp could be THE crop of the 21st century. But why? Listen i...
Aug. 17, 2020
#93: All The Fun Stuff (That Shouldn’t Be) in Your Drinking Water
In Episode 93 , Quinn & Brian ask: What can we do about all of this not-water in our water? Our guest is: Imari Walker , who is quite possibly the world’s preeminent Microplastics Bae. Imari is an Environmental Engineer, a Mi...
Aug. 3, 2020
#91: Why is Drinking Water So Unaffordable for So Many Americans?
We’re back! In Episode 91 , Quinn & Brian ask: Why is drinking water so unaffordable, or unavailable, or just filthy for so many people? Our guests are: Nina Lakhani & Mary Grant. Nina is environmental justice reporter for Th...