Chef and restaurateur Andrew Carmellini, co-founder of the NoHo Hospitality Group, talks with us about using food as a way to nourish communities, why there’s no recipe for scaling restaurants, and the nuanced realities of local produce. Episode sponsored by Château Troplong Mondot .
Mar 21, 2022•42 min•Ep 136•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Jo Handelsman, author of the new book “A World Without Soil: The Past, Present, and Precarious Future of the Earth Beneath Our Feet,” discusses the urgency of developing new antibiotics, why she’s opposed to calling soil “dirt,” and what Indigenous agricultural systems can teach us about protecting and rebuilding farmlands. Episode sponsored by Château Troplong Mondot .
Mar 07, 2022•43 min•Ep 135•Transcript available on Metacast British designer, creative director, and artist Samuel Ross, founder of the fashion label A-Cold-Wall, speaks with us about his reverence and respect for materials; essentialism as a response to excess; and why art, at its best, provokes questions. Episode sponsored by Grand Seiko .
Feb 21, 2022•48 min•Ep 134•Transcript available on Metacast Novelist and veteran wine writer Jay McInerney, famous for his 1984 cult classic “Bright Lights, Big City,” talks with us about how vineyard owners are coping with the climate crisis, the opportunity plant-based fine dining presents for rethinking wine pairings, and why great food should cost a certain price. Episode sponsored by Château Troplong Mondot .
Feb 07, 2022•33 min•Ep 133•Transcript available on Metacast Kate Orff, founding principal of the landscape architecture and urban design studio Scape, discusses rewilding as one tool among many for restoring ecological infrastructure, oysters as engineering assistants in preventing coastal flooding, and other out-of-the-box solutions local and federal authorities should be considering before the next hurricane hits. Episode sponsored by Château Troplong Mondot .
Jan 24, 2022•39 min•Ep 132•Transcript available on Metacast Kathleen Finlay, president of the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming in New York’s Hudson Valley, speaks with us about the great opportunities to be harnessed within local food systems, the health benefits of subscribing to a C.S.A., and the importance of giving people a voice in determining their foodscapes. Episode sponsored by Château Troplong Mondot .
Jan 10, 2022•37 min•Ep 131•Transcript available on Metacast Kyoto-based landscape architect, artist, and author Marc Peter Keane talks with us about listening to stones, how well-tended environments can help engage the senses, and the importance of thinking about the world not as a series in individual parts, but as a confluence of them. Episode sponsored by Grand Seiko .
Dec 13, 2021•48 min•Ep 130•Transcript available on Metacast Social philosopher Daniel Schmachtenberger, a founding member of The Consilience Project, discusses the importance of taking multiple perspectives on a single situation, the challenge of international coordination when trying to solve global problems, and how collective action can mitigate catastrophic and existential risk.
Dec 06, 2021•49 min•Ep 129•Transcript available on Metacast Wava Carpenter, the curatorial director of the Design Miami fair, speaks with us about what she’s doing to make Design Miami a potent platform for conversation, how the pandemic created an ideological shift in the design industry, and the age-old debate around what constitutes “art” versus “design.” Episode sponsored by Grand Seiko. https://www.grand-seiko.com/us-en
Nov 29, 2021•28 min•Ep 128•Transcript available on Metacast Bioacoustician and musician Bernie Krause, author of the new book “The Power of Tranquility in a Very Noisy World,” talks with us about quieting the mind by listening to nature, what he learned after losing his home and studio in a 2017 California wildfire, and his recordings of more than 100 species in their natural habitats for “The Great Animal Orchestra,” an immersive audio-visual exhibition now on view at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts (through May 22, 2022).
Nov 22, 2021•38 min•Ep 127•Transcript available on Metacast Computer scientist and investor Kai-Fu Lee, co-author of the new book “A.I. 2041: Ten Visions For Our Future,” discusses reasons to remain optimistic about artificial intelligence, why minimizing routine work could make space for more creativity, and the powerful role that science fiction can play in inspiring STEM professionals.
Nov 08, 2021•27 min•Ep 126•Transcript available on Metacast Mathematician and professor Jordan Ellenberg, author of the book “Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and Everything Else,” speaks with us about the limitations of logic, how math can help us develop mindful skepticism, and why gerrymandering is no longer visible to the naked eye.
Nov 01, 2021•40 min•Ep 125•Transcript available on Metacast Entrepreneur and writer Emilien Crespo, founder of the publishing company Ordinary Flame, talks with us about the importance of getting out of one’s comfort zone, how an increasingly digital culture can intensify real-life experiences, and an adventure in Tokyo he went on with the artist Harold Ancart. Episode sponsored by Grand Seiko .
Oct 25, 2021•53 min•Ep 124•Transcript available on Metacast Activist, journalist, and academic Raj Patel, co-author of the new book “Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice,” discusses why corporations encourage people to make changes within themselves rather than within society, the consequences of treating nature as a cheap and infinite resource, and how external anxieties, from payday loans to the stress of living in an exploitative culture, can prime the body for illness.
Oct 18, 2021•45 min•Ep 123•Transcript available on Metacast Penny Abeywardena, New York City’s Commissioner for International Affairs, speaks with us about how the Trump era provided an opportunity for community leadership to harness its governing power, why an entrepreneurial spirit can aid in developing public policy, and how the city is navigating various pandemic-related issues, including vaccination requirements, keeping schools open, and a recent uptick in violence.
Oct 11, 2021•38 min•Ep 122•Transcript available on Metacast Anthropologist and historian Josh Berson, author of the new book “The Human Scaffold: How Not to Design Your Way Out of a Climate Crisis,” talks with us about why design thinking often fails to result in actual anthropological work, how reconsidering what it means to be comfortable can help us find environmental solutions, and the relationship between race, capitalism, and eating meat.
Oct 04, 2021•37 min•Ep 121•Transcript available on Metacast Devon Turnbull, founder of the hi-fi audio equipment company Ojas, discusses listening with intention, the parallels between consuming music and viewing art, how the Japanese audio scene’s emphasis on tradition and simplicity has informed his work, and the profound response to his D.I.Y. speaker-making kit. Episode sponsored by Grand Seiko .
Sep 27, 2021•49 min•Ep 120•Transcript available on Metacast Vanessa Barboni Hallik, founder and CEO of the fashion brand Another Tomorrow, speaks with us about building supply chains from scratch, how clothing resale marks a radical shift in how people think about fashion, and why the pandemic provides an opportunity to redefine luxury in terms of personal and planetary values.
Sep 20, 2021•43 min•Ep 119•Transcript available on Metacast Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind, who designed the original Ground Zero master plan at the World Trade Center site, talks with us about his personal experience of the 9/11 attacks; how architecture can serve as an instrument for healing; and why the Tree of Life Synagogue he’s redesigning in Pittsburgh, to memorialize victims of the 2018 mass shooting there, represents a global vision for the future.
Sep 10, 2021•40 min•Ep 118•Transcript available on Metacast Astrologer Alice Sparkly Kat, author of the new book “Postcolonial Astrology: Reading the Planets through Capital, Power, and Labor,” discusses the dual meanings of planets, the relationship between race and astrology, and why the practice is about making, not predicting, the future.
Aug 23, 2021•26 min•Ep 117•Transcript available on Metacast Historian and speechwriter Jeff Shesol, author of the new book “Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War,” speaks with us about how the space race of the 1950s and ’60s differs from the space flights of Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson happening today, the unresolved questions that fuel power struggles in America, and why the pandemic and the climate crisis are crucial tests of the durability of the country’s democratic system.
Aug 09, 2021•38 min•Ep 116•Transcript available on Metacast Artist Mary Mattingly talks with us about how “Public Water,” her current installation in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, exposes the various forms of the water crisis; the social, political, and economic mechanisms affecting clean water access; and the truths that tracing the origins of an object or a material can reveal.
Jul 26, 2021•26 min•Ep 115•Transcript available on Metacast Forest ecologist Dr. Suzanne Simard, author of the new book “Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest,” discusses the consciousness of trees; how slow, selective logging can rejuvenate forests; and why being attuned to local ecosystems can lead to a better understanding of global biological communities.
Jul 12, 2021•40 min•Ep 114•Transcript available on Metacast Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of the new novel “The Committed,” speaks with us about how the term “the American dream” masks the nation’s colonial history, the importance of distinguishing between identity and ideology, and why the only new aspect of the recent violence and racist rhetoric directed toward Asian Americans is that it’s triggered by Covid-19.
Jul 05, 2021•50 min•Ep 113•Transcript available on Metacast Swiss auctioneer, art dealer, curator, and collector Simon de Pury talks with us about how the pandemic shifted the art market toward increased inclusivity and equality, the NFT phenomenon, and why technology such as blockchain and digital renderings can benefit physical artworks and the institutions that house them.
Jun 28, 2021•35 min•Ep 112•Transcript available on Metacast Peter Adamson, host of the History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps podcast and professor of late ancient philosophy and Arabic philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, discusses stoicism, the dangers of rationalism, and the importance of understanding when to think for ourselves and when to seek expertise.
Jun 21, 2021•53 min•Ep 111•Transcript available on Metacast Neurobiologist, author, and professor Stefano Mancuso, director of the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology in Florence, Italy, talks with us about embracing plants as a path toward planetary survival, humans as an invasive species, and why all living organisms deserve rights.
Jun 14, 2021•35 min•Ep 108•Transcript available on Metacast Lili Chopra, the executive director of artistic programs at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, talks with us about the 2021 River to River Festival, the importance of integrating the creative community within a city’s urban fabric, and the role that the arts can play in rebuilding societies and envisioning the future.
Jun 07, 2021•38 min•Ep 110•Transcript available on Metacast Kathryn Garcia, New York City’s former sanitation commissioner and a Democrat currently running in the city’s 2021 mayoral race, discusses innovating by leveraging relationships of trust, holistic thinking as a tool to evolve municipal programs, and her plan to create “the most climate-forward city on earth.”
May 24, 2021•33 min•Ep 109•Transcript available on Metacast Nevine Michaan, founder and creator of the Katonah Yoga Center in New York, speaks with us about honing a craft to save one’s soul, the difference between self-care and healing, and how metaphors can provide a means for mutual understanding.
May 10, 2021•33 min•Ep 107•Transcript available on Metacast