DOWN TO EARTH: THE PLANET TO PLATE PODCAST Sandra Postel
30 00:26:5030
Sandra Postel‘s new book is Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity. It’s about the world water cycle, and about real solutions to the problem of providing water for people and food, and at the same time for nature and wildlife. And it’s also about building coalitions, relationships, and partnerships among many different water users — which, if we’re committed and lucky, just might prevent major water shortages and crises in the not-very-distant future.
Postel is author of several books on water; she’s director of the Global Water Policy Project, and co-founded Change The Course, a national water stewardship project that received the 2017 U.S. Water Prize for restoring water to rivers and wetlands. She’s been a freshwater fellow at National Geographic; she worked with the Worldwatch Institute; she’s was named one of the “Scientific American 50” for her contribution to science; she’s written for many publications like Science and Natural History; and her work formed the basis of a PBS documentary on water.
This program is produced in collaboration with the Quivira Coalition.
Photo credit: National Geographic Channels/Tyler Demogenes
Related Articles
'SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.ID
FROM wp_posts LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_term_relationships.object_id)
WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.ID NOT IN (3469154) AND (
wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id IN (4,8988,8992,8997)
) AND wp_posts.post_type = \'post\' AND ((wp_posts.post_status = \'publish\'))
GROUP BY wp_posts.ID
ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC
LIMIT 0, 3'
By Chris Smaje, Small Farm Future
A critique of contemporary food and energy analysis, this essay argues that many proposed solutions to food insecurity and fossil fuel dependence remain trapped within the assumptions of growth and technological complexity. Instead, it calls for a more honest reckoning with ecological limits, inequality and the possibility of a lower-energy, more localized future.
May 7, 2026
By Kate Congreves, The Conversation
More than a farming method, regenerative agriculture was conceived as an ethic of care for land and life. Focusing on a “one-size-fits-all” standard for regenerative agriculture and marketing it for profits has left the concept a hollowed version of itself.
May 5, 2026
By Vicki Robin, Katharine Wilkinson, Resilience.org
Dr. Katharine Wilkinson is an author, strategist, and teacher, working to heal the planet we call home. She addresses the question of “What Could Possibly Go Right?”
May 1, 2026