Why the hell is America's public transportation so terrible? That's today's big question, and my guest is Nicholas Dagen Bloom . He's the author of the subtly titled new book, the Great American Transit Disaster . Nicholas i…
What's in wildfire smoke and how can you protect yourself from it? Those are today's big questions, and my guest is Dr. Mary Prunicki. Dr. Prunicki is the Director of Air Pollution and Health Research at Stanford University …
You've got insurance, right? Are you sure? That's today's big question, and my guest is Washington Post reporter Brianna Sacks . Brianna's an extreme weather and disaster reporter for the Post where she explores how climate …
What can I do? The simple question is the underlying premise of everything we do here. It's often the easiest one to help people answer for themselves, but from the outside, it's often the most imposing. All of which is why …
Where the hell did all of the electricians go? That's today's big question, and my guest is leading journalist Emily Pontecorvo . Until recently, Emily was an energy, environment, and climate reporter at Grist , one of our f…
What if you got the chance to dive to the bottom of the ocean? Would you go? And what would you find there? That's today's big question and my returning guest, one of my all-time favorites, is Dr. Dawn Wright , better known …
What if I told you there was less oxygen in the ocean than there used to be? That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Dawn Wright, or as many in the ocean community know her "Deep Sea Dawn." Dawn Wright is an elected…
This week: In response to our ongoing and delightful home electrification series with our friends at Rewiring America , we have received a hell of a lot of questions that are beyond our ability to answer. So we brought in th…
How do we reimagine capitalism in a world on fire? That's today's big question, and my guest is Rebecca Henderson , Harvard professor behind the wildly popular class "Reimagining Capitalism". I had Rebecca on the show in 202…
How can I be a better ancestor? This question has haunted and inspired me since way back in 2019 when I first read the Optimist's Telescope . A beautiful, helpful, inspiring book by Bina Venkataraman. Then I had Bina on the …
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 Munukut…
Aluminum. It’s everywhere! And we’re going to need a hell of a lot more of it in the future. Aluminum is a primary ingredient in solar, wind, hydro, concentrated solar, bioenergy, the grid, batteries, hydrogen, and more. And…
It’s always worth revisiting the inarguable fact that our country was designed to be inequitable . And while much progress has been made over time, the powers that be continued to imagine and design new ways of marginalizing…
Throughout history, kings, queens, governments, churches, and donors have funded contests and awarded prizes for solving the most difficult problems of the day. Today, as we stand on the precipice of huge problems and opport…
How lucky are we? How lucky are we that we live in a time of such great opportunity – when, yes, we’re teetering on the edge of a global climate calamity, still reeling from a pandemic, knowing that our problems and challeng…