Humans tend to think that our intelligence is the most distinguishing trait of our species. Collectively our intelligence has given us god-like powers. But what exactly is intelligence, and how did it evolve? How do we measure intelligence in other species, and how might we use that information to protect organisms in the wild? Joshua Plotnik is a professor at Hunter College in New York, and he's part of a community of researchers who are re-examining some of these fundamental questions. Josh is...
Dec 14, 2022•56 min
The tone around conservation is often pretty heavy and it’s hard not to feel a sense of despair. But maybe there are opportunities in the world of conservation that we are not fully taking into account. The truth is, organisms and ecosystems have built-in defense mechanisms to respond to rapid change that might just be the secret to combatting the negative effects of the Anthropocene. In his new book, The Rescue Effect, author Michael Webster explores the many ways in which nature is responding ...
Nov 03, 2022•49 min
Today's episode is a cross-promotion with the Planet Texas podcast. We are featuring the first episode of the series. The Ogallala Aquifer is the biggest aquifer in North America, and it accounts for more than 30 percent of all agriculture in the United States. And… it’s running out of water. Climate change is making the naturally hot and dry climate of the Texas Panhandle even worse. Farmers are working desperately to keep their crops alive, and the secret to survival is adaptability. Advertisi...
Oct 14, 2022•45 min
As a species, our intelligence is probably the single most important quality that sets us apart from every other organism that has ever lived. But it’s not so much our abilities as individuals, but rather it’s our collective and accumulated knowledge. All of the drivers of the Anthropocene are only possible because of our capacity to transfer knowledge down through generations. So when exactly did that process begin? When did we start to behave in a way that was fundamentally “human,” and can we...
Sep 21, 2022•1 hr
What the subcultures of Preppers can teach us about preparing for environmental destruction. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Aug 10, 2022•49 min
On today’s episode we’re bringing you something special and a little different: A science fiction short story. It’s weird, and cool, and is, in a way, very much about the Anthropocene. Anyway, it’s fun! Written and sound designed by Brandon Buerk with help from Jackson Roach, and read by Nick Weiler. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
Jul 21, 2022•25 min
Today's episode is a cross-promotion with a new podcast by Michael Osborne called Famous and Gravy. This person died in 2013 at age 95. His given name translates colloquially as “troublemaker.” The question most often asked about him was how, after all he’d been through, he could be so evidently free of spite. In 1956, he was arrested on charges of treason. He was a symbol of the opposition to apartheid in South Africa. Today’s dead celebrity is Nelson Mandela. Famous & Gravy official websit...
Jul 01, 2022•1 hr
Support us on www.patreon.com/genanthro It's hard to avoid the sense of despair that surrounds the story of climate change – and for that matter the story of the Anthropocene. It can all feel so hopeless. So, who is responsible for the weight of these feelings? What responsibility lies with the scientists and journalists who are bringing us the hard truth? Elizabeth Kolbert is one of the premier science journalists living today, and in this conversation she confronts that question head on. And, ...
Jun 03, 2022•45 min
For as long as climate change has been an issue, the Evangelical Christian community has generally either downplayed the threat, or denied it altogether. In the last decade, however, more and more Evangelicals are coming around, and are even voicing support for meaningful action. So what's changed? In this episode, Kyle Meyaard-Schaap offers some ideas for why this shift is happening, and how climate change and Christian values aren't as disparate as they might seem. Support us on Patreon at www...
May 13, 2022•21 min
Find merch and support the show through our Patreon: https://patreon.com/genanthro With his landmark book, The End of Nature, Bill McKibben was one of the first journalists to start writing about climate change for a mass audience. He's since become one of the most prominent American environmentalists of our time. With his most recent endeavor, Third Act, he's trying to mobilize the older generation that drove the political and social change of the 1960s. This episode, published on Earth Day 202...
Apr 22, 2022•38 min
In the late 1970s, in a neighborhood just downstream from Niagara Falls, an environmental disaster slowly came to light. In so many ways, it turned out to be a true life horror story. And, as it turns out, the story of the Love Canal also has a lot to teach us about the environmental crises we face today. In his new book, Paradise Falls, author Keith O'Brien chronicles the activists and scientists who raised the alarm to the highest levels of corporate and political power. This is a must read (a...
Apr 15, 2022•53 min
It's sometimes hard to square Darwinian evolution with the major religions of the world. According to Professor Bron Taylor, if you take our current scientific understanding of biological interconnectedness, and combine it with the reality of the global environmental crises, what you get is a whole new spirituality that is taking shape before our eyes. He has a term for this emerging phenomenon: Dark Green Religion. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https...
Mar 09, 2022•1 hr 3 min
The history of disease is really a story about humankind’s ever-changing relationship to the natural world. All of the momentous events in human history— the acquisition of fire, the development of farming, the Columbian exchange, rapid industrialization, and accelerated globalization— all coincide with exposure to emerging new diseases. In a way, the Covid-19 pandemic is a reminder that pathogens will always evolve alongside us, and, in fact, infectious diseases can shine a light on the complex...
Jan 05, 2022•1 hr
Humans have been shaping the course of evolution for a long time, but with today's gene editing technologies our power to determine the fate of life on Earth is reaching new levels. With the extinction crisis looming, should we use these new editing tools to rescue threatened organisms? Are we playing god? In her new book, Life As We Made It, Beth Shapiro helps us understand our long history exerting evolutionary pressure, the state of the science, and the ethical questions confronting conservat...
Nov 17, 2021•33 min
All around the globe, biologists are discovering that organisms are ALREADY responding to climate change. They're moving, adapting, evolving, taking refuge – the whole darned thing is more unpredictable than we could've imagined. Climate change biology is here. Super weird, kind of a bummer, but also at times pretty fascinating. Stay curious, my friends! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
Oct 01, 2021•41 min
What happens to Earth's biology when we heat up the planet? Weird stuff, that's what. For example, everything gets smaller. As in shrinkage. Weird, right? We talk to Jen Sheridan in this conversation about why warming = smaller. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Sep 23, 2021•29 min
Sometimes it seems like the only reason we haven't had meaningful action on climate change is because of the decades-long effort to mislead the public. But is that true? Just how important is climate denialism? In this 3rd installment of our explainer series, Aaron Strong helps us tackle that thorny question. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
Sep 16, 2021•20 min
Cows are...a problem. Especially when it comes to global warming. With an assist from Zeke Hausfather, In this installment of our explainer seires we do our best to answer (quickly) why exactly cows and beef are such a big deal. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Sep 09, 2021•14 min
In this first in our new explainer series, we dive into the origins of the number 2 degrees C. How did that number come to be an international target, and what's its significance anyway? Professor Aaron Strong of Hamilton College explains. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Sep 02, 2021•28 min
We all kinda know that the global waste stream is a crazy big problem, but, in terms of just bottom line dollars, most of the time we don’t think about what waste COSTS. So, where might there be big opportunities today to totally rethink everything we throw away? In today’s episode, Ron Gonen answers that question and paints a picture of the past, present, and future of waste in America. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
Aug 26, 2021•48 min
Today is a guest spot featuring Episode 1 of Carbon Valley, a new series from Wyoming Public Media. In the coal capital of the country, in the least-populated state in the union, leaders had to make a move. So, they turned to a silver bullet and brought in a $20 million competition to jumpstart a new era for coal country. Along the way, an unlikely ally emerges: a skateboarding environmentalist. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/priv...
Jun 02, 2021•38 min
Few things in life are better than savoring delicious food. We all know this to be true today... but we've never stopped to consider just how important flavor-seeking might've been in the distant past. It turns out that the science of flavor can teach us a lot about the story of human evolution, and how we might reign in our rapacious appetites as we confront global environmental change. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
May 11, 2021•34 min
Climate change sometimes feels like a problem that can only be solved by governments, corporations, and large sectors of the economy. The truth, though, is that we as individuals can make an impact too. And, as it turns out, it's not all sacrifice. In her new book, Under the Sky We Make, Professor Kim Nicholas of Lund University explores the humanity that emerges when we're willing to do engage in a little personal reckoning. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-...
Apr 19, 2021•34 min
At some point global warming will get so bad that the world will HAVE to take action, right? Well, maybe not. In this conversation with environmental journalist, David Roberts, we dive into the scary reality of shifting baselines syndrome. That's the human tendency to rationalize, normalize, and otherwise brush stuff under the rug. Along the way we drop a bunch of f-bombs, and also have a good chat about hope. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://red...
Feb 26, 2021•46 min
This episode is about magic mushrooms and the Anthropocene. Need I say more? Prepare to have mind = blown. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Sep 18, 2020•1 hr 10 min
Are you afraid of the end of the world? Sure! Who isn’t?! Sometimes, though, it’s hard to unpack all the stories we tell ourselves about the looming apocalypse. So perhaps the most popular monster of the 21st century, the freakin’ ZOMBIE, can help us unearth and confront our collective fears. Let’s do this. See you in the graveyard at midnight! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
May 31, 2020•39 min
When I fell in love with geology, I developed a new relationship with TIME. It’s not just the vastness of Earth history that blew my mind— it’s imagining all that’s happened, all that’s transpired to make the Earth what it is today. In her book, Timefulness, Marcia Bjornerud captures this idea as well as anyone I’ve ever met. I had to talk to her. She’s my new favorite person. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
May 06, 2020•44 min
It's been 3 years since our last episode – and we're (finally!) bringing GenAnthro back. On this episode, we learn how GenAnthro came to be, what happened, and where we go from here. Happy to be back, y'all – more episodes coming soon! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Apr 22, 2020•24 min
Cross-promotion. Introducing Raw Data's Origins of Power in Silicon Valley. How did we get here? Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
May 04, 2018•8 min
When you imagine ocean sounds, maybe you hear the smooth arcing songs of the humpback whale, or the energetic, rhythmic clicks and snaps of dolphins. But it turns out the oceans are home to a much wider range and diversity of sounds than we could ever imagine, and today some of them are being captured by hydrophones (underwater microphones). In this episode, we take an audio journey of the oceans, learning what sound can reveal, what scientists have yet to identify, and how the underwater sounds...
Jun 27, 2017•23 min
