Episodes
Aug. 5, 2024
Essay: How To Eat More Plants
This week: Today’s post is more of a macro introduction to the why and how of the “eat more plants (and consequently) fewer animals” lifestyle. Deep-dives on how to eat fewer animals, by type, including meat/beef/pork, chicke...
July 29, 2024
Essay: The Turn of the Tide
This week: We're running an updated version of a popular essay from last year. Tolkien described life (and often, his stories) as a "long defeat", where evil frequently, inevitably wins. But he allowed for "eucatastrophe" — s...
July 22, 2024
Everything Is Connected (No, Seriously)
How did our planet come to life? Is it alive? And where are we as part of that? Those are today's big questions and my guest is Ferris Jabr. His new book, Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life , is one of the most compe...
July 8, 2024
Error 404: AI Ethics Not Found
When is a cancer scare, a rejected mortgage loan, a false arrest, or predictive grading, more than a glitch in A.I.? That's today's big question, and my guest is Meredith Broussard . Meredith is a data journalist and associat...
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 20, 2024
🌎 A Leading Question
This week: We are occasionally asked why we link to scientific journals, news outlets, and sometimes even opinion pieces that are behind paywalls. In a world where HBO HBO Max Max and Spotify and everyone else raise prices on...
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...
June 3, 2024
(Climate Solutions) Are Only Impossible Until They Are Not
Why is it so important that we share the science of fiction, and what do we do with it once we have it? That's today's big question, and my guest is Maddie Stone . Maddie is a prolific science journalist. She is a doctor of e...
May 27, 2024
Essay: In Bruges
This week: Do you like cookies? What about olive oil cake? What about chocolate chip coffee cake? Listen on. Here's What You Can Do: 🌍️ Donate to support African farmers by increasing incomes and improving food security throu...
May 20, 2024
Chronic Illness: Not Actually Female Hysteria!
How do we take a huge chronic disease burden like Lyme disease or long COVID or even long flu and make it so personal that we simply can't ignore it anymore? That's today's big question and my guest is Dr. Mikki Tal , an immu...
May 10, 2024
Essay: How to get more Good Energy
This week: This week I wrote about a groundbreaking and essential new study that — thank christ — is not actually about which seemingly reasonable dietary supplement will definitely extend/tragically cut short your life. It’s...
May 3, 2024
Bridget Jones, Climate Hero
This week: In this essay, I will argue that Bridget Jones is the perfect climate-era hero, because she is all of us. Here's What You Can Do: 🌍️ Donate to Project HOPE to support frontline teams working to strengthen healthcar...
April 29, 2024
Keeping Long COVID In The News
Who is still covering Long COVID, and how much is the audience actually growing? That's today's big question, and my guests are Betsy Ladygetz and Miles Griffis , editors and co-founders of The Sick Times , a journalist-found...
April 11, 2024
Program The World
This week: Let’s talk about the Information Era. Here's What You Can Do: Donate (and subscribe!) to the 19th , an independent, non-profit, kick-ass newsroom reporting on gender and politics. Volunteer with Tech Shift to build...
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...
March 25, 2024
The Aftermath
This week: Bernie decided March 15th is Long COVID Awareness Day , so I thought it was an appropriate moment to try to pull together the threads of why Long COVID pisses me off so much, examples of other self-defeating issues...
March 18, 2024
The Best Depression Treatment For You
You know you're stressed. You know you're anxious. Do you have depression? And do you need to know the latest in the biology of how the brain works and depression works or doesn't work and whether the gut is involved in getti...
March 13, 2024
How To Give
This week: There are few problems so simple that a single donation can fix them. Usually, to turn a problem into a realistic opportunity takes many donations. Over time, spread over a large number of donors. But all the work ...
March 4, 2024
Can Capitalism (Justly) Solve the Climate Crisis?
The climate clock is ticking faster and faster. How can we use capitalism to undo the bad stuff that capitalism did and maybe even make things better? That's today's big (loaded) question, and my returning guest is Akshat Rat...
Feb. 26, 2024
How to See The Forest
This week: Are we in the hardest part of the climate transition? Here's What You Can Do: 🌎️ Donate to 350.org , a global movement working towards a fossil fuel-free world. Volunteer with your local Mothers Out Front chapter t...
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...
Feb. 14, 2024
The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round
This week: How are we supposed to navigate this energy transition, AI, and pandemics, if we cannot agree on the most basic, fundamental shit? We argue about tradeoffs or gently suggest expanding the scope of our moral concern...
Feb. 9, 2024
If This, Then What Else?
This week: Today’s essay is a bit of a departure — I just wanted to make super clear where I stand vis a vis the next eleven months. A MAGA party don't stop unless we stop it. Here's What You Can Do: Donate to Voters of Tomor...
Feb. 7, 2024
2024: The Gaps and How to Close Them
This week: Today’s essay is my version of a 2024 preview. Unlike other previews, though, it’s less, “This is what is going to happen” and more “These are the table stakes as far as I can tell.” I think that approach is much m...