This week: Exactly why the youths are so pissed off. Here's What You Can Do: Donate to the Steve Fund to support the mental health of young people of color. Volunteer with Everytown so youth can grow up in communities free from gun violence. Get educated about being a better ally to trans and non-binary young people with this guide from the Trevor Project . Help youth be heard about their future by supporting Voters of Tomorrow . ...
Oct 24, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: It can be difficult as hell to understand when we don’t actually have a choice — and when we’ve got more options than we think. Deciphering the two is the key to the good stuff getting built way, way faster. Here's What You Can Do: Donate to The Greenling Institute to help communities of color build wealth and live in healthier, climate-resilient communities. Volunteer with People for Bikes to make biking better for everyone by improving infrastruct...
Oct 18, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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, rebuild them, reinforce the ones we already have, and build new ones that actually benefit everyone? Those are today's big questions, and my guest is Deb Chachra . Deb is a material scientist and professor of engineering at Olin College of Engineering . She has studied bones...
Oct 16, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep 166•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Why was this year so hot? Will it keep getting hotter, and for how long? It’s not an easy read, but it’s important you know and keep in mind the inputs and externalities. Here's What You Can Do: Donate to Climate CREW to help build resilience hubs and prepare your community for extreme heat. Volunteer to build a resilience hub in your community so your community can better respond to extreme heat. Get educated about community plann...
Oct 11, 2023•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Tolkien described life (and often, his stories) as a "long defeat", where evil frequently, inevitably wins. But he allowed for "eucatastrophe" - sudden joyous turns, just like breakthroughs in voting rights. We must keep fighting, to hold off the darkness. Here's What You Can Do: Donate to protecting voting rights and advocating for democracy with Fair Fight . Volunteer to bring together conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between to fix America’s political ...
Sep 26, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 closed-loop, consumer-facing laundry startup working to tackle ocean microplastic pollution. Julia is a recent graduate at UPenn , and with her two co-founders, some funding, including from our friends at 776 and a bunch of big name partners, they're trying to tackle one of t...
Sep 25, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep 165•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Are you ready for the next big test? Here's What You Can Do: Donate to Cooperation Humboldt , a worker-led, non-hierarchical non-profit that delivers programming in seven areas that are key to basic human rights. Volunteer with Global.health to help create a global resource of public health information and assist in preventing the next pandemic. Get educated about steps to solving the climate crisis by receiving a weekly challenge in your inbox from...
Sep 23, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Because I am a sap, I have been thinking about my kids a lot lately. And kids in general. They’re going to grow up and live in a world that’s very different from ours, and it’s important to me that they’re all as ready for that as they can be. So this week: Did you hear about the starfish? Here's What You Can Do: Donate to Tobacco Free Kids to help fight against flavored e-cigarettes. Volunteer with Mothers Out Front and come together to fight...
Sep 21, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Over the past few years, more and more voters have cited “action on climate” as a reason for voting the way they do. But here’s the thing: lots of voters who are registered, and even those who do vote in presidential elections – don’t turn out for midterms. Much less for state and local races. Millions of registered voters who list the environment or climate as their most important issue do the same. Success might not actually be about identifying and focusing on one specific iss...
Sep 18, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Voluntary carbon credits are a lot like used cars: You really have no idea what their quality might be. Or maybe they’re more like expensive bottles of wine. Many people (or at least Shayle) can’t tell whether they’re actually buying good-quality wine. If it’s expensive, it must be good, right? That’s the kind of logic that has plagued voluntary carbon markets for years. A carbon credit can work in one of two ways. First, it can avert 1 metric ton of emissions that would have otherwise hap...
Sep 11, 2023•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast This Week: Telling better stories is a type of Compound Action. Here's What You Can Do: Check out the Good Energy Project's playbook on how to tell better climate stories. Donate to Experiment , a platform where scientists can crowdfund their research, and you can pick and choose what research you want to support. Volunteer with our friends at the Environmental Voter Project , a non-partisan non-profit with a proven track record of getting non-voting environmentalists to ...
Aug 25, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast How can we provide better mental health support for pregnancy, postpartum, and loss around pregnancy? That's today's big question, and obviously in America in 2023, it's a loaded one, so I'm so thankful that my guest today is Simmone Taitt . She's the Founder and CEO of Poppy Seed Health . Simmone experienced the vast gaps in emotional and mental support in American maternal healthcare while navigating her own path to parenthood after suffering multiple miscarriages, which she talks about today,...
Aug 21, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep 164•Transcript available on Metacast How did we get here? That's today's big question, and today my guests are Roy Moger-Reischer , and our first three-time guest, Brandon Ogbunu . Roy Moger-Reischer is a scientist trained in microbiology, evolution and data analysis for his PhD. He's currently a fermentation specialist Arzeda , working to develop new proteins and biochemistry for the production of valuable molecules. Brandon Ogbunu, described as a radical collaborator , is an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Ev...
Aug 14, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep 163•Transcript available on Metacast This week, we’re running an episode of Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers , from our friends at the Environmental Defense Fund . This episode is part of a new miniseries called “The Year of the Climate Job,” hosted by EDF Innovation Director Daniel Hill. Each episode provides the best advice from movers and shakers in the green careers landscape. They share creative, practical ways to land a job and build a career in climate work. In this episode, Drawdown Labs Director Jamie Beck Al...
Aug 07, 2023•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: How to be excited about the future, explained. Plus, the news: 🌊 The tipping point for the Atlantic Ocean 👶 An RSV shot for babies 🥕 Examining the “N” in SNAP 🤖 Profiting from AI tools And more! Here's What You Can Do: Donate to the Institute for Policy Studies to help turn transformative policy ideas into action. Join a Ride Spot Challenge by committing to replace car trips with bike rides . Biking is an ea...
Aug 02, 2023•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, we want to tell you about Andrea Learned’s podcast: Living Change: A Quest for Climate Leadership. In season one, Andrea interviews local leaders living the change they want to see reflected in their communities, from John Bauters and Alex Fisch on the west coast to Barbara Buffaloe in Missouri . But she also goes beyond city leaders to find corporate and media professionals leading the way – from&nb...
Jul 31, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: This week: Are car dealers the devil? And why? Plus, the news: 🇨🇳 Can we build a green economy without China? 🦆 Bird flu, explained 🇷🇺 Russia quits the Black Sea grain deal 🤖 A.I. journalists And more! Here's What You Can Do: Donate to Grid Alternatives , an organization building community-powered clean energy solutions that advance economic and environmental justice. Volunteer your school or workplace to participate in the...
Jul 25, 2023•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sure, we've got to electrify everything, including 1 billion machines by 2050 . But where are we now and how do we get there? That's today's big question, and my guest is Cora Wyent from Rewiring America . Cora is the Director of Research at Rewiring America , where she's conducting research and analysis to enable rapid electrification of everything in the economy. Prior to joining Rewiring America , Cora completed her PhD in physics at Caltech , where she studied new materials for ultra thin so...
Jul 24, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep 162•Transcript available on Metacast This week: How can we better protect farmworkers? Plus, the news: A free online summit for eco-anxiety from RITA A new era for Alzheimer’s treatments Inflated prices of packaged food Saving lives with better weather forecasting Here's What You Can Do: Donate to the Food Chain Workers Alliance , a coalition dedicated to improving working condition s for workers in every stage of food production, and to the Native CDFI Network to improve access to capital and credit f...
Jul 19, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 is a professor of urban policy and planning at Hunter College . He's the author of a bunch of books including Public Housing That Worked , The Metropolitan Airport and How States Shaped Post-War America . He's also the co-editor of the prize-winning Public Housing Myths and Af...
Jul 17, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep 161•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Why don’t I eat animals? Plus, the news: Carbon capture is (mostly) BS Narcan vending machines save lives The vertical farming boom doesn’t have enough power Hacking EV charging stations And more! Here's What You Can Do: Donate to the Food Animals Concerns Trust to advocate for raising food producing animals in a healthy and humane manner . Volunteer with the Environmental Voter Project to turn out more environmental voters for ele...
Jul 11, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast How can we live happier lives? That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Marc Schulz, the co-author with Dr. Robert Waldinger of “The Good Life: Lessons From the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness” They're the most recent generation of co-directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development , the longest study of happiness ever conducted. Marc is the Associate Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development and the Sue Kardus PhD 1971 Chair in Psychology at Bryn Mawr College ...
Jul 10, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep 160•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Texans have a huge opportunity to get even MORE liberty — from the sun. Plus : Diabetes is expected to double, the state of carbon removal, A.I. detection tools, future pandemic prepping, BEES?!, and more Here's What You Can Do: ⚡️ It’s getting hot out there. Direct your city officials to the Heat Action Platform Policy Tool to explore existing heat adaptation solutions for your community. ⚡️Thinking of becoming a nurse? Bless you, and thank you. Here are...
Jun 30, 2023•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Can Apple help improve mental health? Here's What You Can Do: ⚡️LGBTQ+ youth are 4x more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. Help the The Trevor Project build a safer, more-inclusive world through crisis services, peer support, education, and advocacy. Happy Pride! 🏳️🌈 Get more: Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at https://www.importantnotimportant.com/ Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp Subsc...
Jun 28, 2023•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Is the future inevitable? Plus: A lack of OB-GYN’s in a post- Roe world, some new bills for agrivoltaics, the best in climate journalism, the link between COVID and Alzheimer’s, misinformation, and more Here's What You Can Do: ⚡️ Our algorithms and technology are only as good as the people who make them. Empower future innovators to consider the social impact of their work with Tech Shift. ⚡️ Donate to the Urban Ocean Lab , a think tank working on solutions and policies to make coasta...
Jun 26, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Got fired? Start over. Plus: More young people are getting cancer, the rise of solar power, new YouTube misinformation rules, getting paid to bike to work, and more Here's What You Can Do: ⚡️ If apocalyptic skies and hazardous air quality reports are making your climate anxiety a little more intense this week (I feel you), look into the Climate Psychiatry Alliance’s database to find a climate-aware psychiatrist near you . ⚡️ Help spread fire adaptation practice...
Jun 09, 2023•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Ask these questions before you click on ANYTHING. Plus: Gut inflammation news, California insurance gets harder to find, 750k adults just lost Medicaid, what (non-vaccinated) COVID actually does to your lungs, and more Here's What You Can Do: ⚡️ PFAS (“forever chemicals”) have been linked to serious health problems. Urge Congress bans PFAS from all food contact materials by using this script from Toxic-Free Future. ⚡️ Work in marketing? Join Clean Creatives , a movement of advertisers...
Jun 07, 2023•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 under the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research . Her lab examines the impact of air pollution and wildfires on health, specifically immune health. Dr. Prunicki and I got together in late summer 2021 as fires and smoke just enveloped the American West and even...
May 29, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week: Things feel pretty out of control. Get used to it. Plus: The Canadian West is burning, Oregon bans PFAS, ChatGPT plugins for everyone, the All We Can Save project is hiring, and more Here's What You Can Do: ⚡️Wildfire smoke exposure is directly linked to myriad health impacts due to poor air quality. Know your daily risk by using this Purple Air outdoor air monitor. ⚡️We need to heal ourselves to heal the planet. Find resources and community to help with your climate anxiety through t...
May 19, 2023•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Is healthcare a human right? That's today's big question, and it clearly shouldn't be a question, but here we are. My guest to help explain the obvious today is Dr. Sheila Davis, the CEO of Partners in Health . Sheila entered the global health arena in 1999, responding to the global HIV and AIDS pandemic. A few years later, she co-founded a small NGO that worked in both South Africa and Boston on a wide array of health projects, including the operation of a rural village nurse clinic. She joined...
May 17, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep 159•Transcript available on Metacast 
