MM #3: Early Life

I want to encourage you to try a little bit of awe for early, microbial life. Try some respect; try seeing yourselves from a position of humility, and extend admiration for the genius that we take for granted, but that is absolutely crucial to being who we are.

Lessons from Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson died 198 years ago on the 4th of July, but we really shouldn’t wait two more years to notice, and take to heart, an important argument in political/economic philosophy that Jefferson made in a letter to James Madison dated 6 September 1789.

MM #2: Cosmology

This is the second in the Metastatic Modernity video series of about 17 installments (see launch announcement), putting the meta-crisis in perspective as a cancerous episode afflicting humanity and the greater community of life on Earth. This episode provides a cosmological perspective on our insignificance.

Community- and Justice-Centered Climate Action with Johanna Bozuwa

Journalist and podcaster Rachel Donald interviews Johanna Bozuwa, Executive Director at the Climate and Community Project, where she directs a network of researchers and experts to develop crucial and justice-based climate policy. Rachel and Johanna discuss community-based projects, policies aimed at climate adaptation and mitigation, and the political requirements of an equitable energy transition.

Nations of the Learned

When I describe the schools that barefoot rural children once attended, in the USA of 1900 or the Ireland of the 1950s, everyone assumes their education would be pathetic — the “three Rs,” … This belief … crumbles the instant one reads descriptions of schools from a century ago