What happens when you can't trust anything anymore? That's the question we'll be exploring this week as we look into the world of half truths, lies, bots, manipulation, and our rapidly approaching post truth world. Everything from voice to video to our very sense of self is at stake in this rapidly changing world where the ability to manipulate becomes easier than ever. What does that mean for law, politics, sex, and our culture? Listen in to find out.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

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One of our hosts is out of town, so we take this week to explore updates to many of the subjects we've discussed so far. Guest host Moriah King helps us explore everything from the power grid to pensions, state surveillance to sea level rise, and so much more.

Strap in this week: it's a few months of bad news all at once (with a little good news thrown in), but we hope you'll be as motivated by it as we are to start working towards something better.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

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Global topsoil is being lost at terrifying rates. So much so that many experts predict less than 60 years left of agricultural yields before the global food system collapses. Add to this questionable chemical inputs, monoculture, and other large-scale industrial practices as well as the dangers climate change introduces to disrupt traditionally fertile regions (decreasing yields further and impacting food nutrition) and we've got a perfect storm on the horizon.

We are joined by Chris D'Alessandro of Harvest Moon Garden & Orchard to discuss organic farming techniques, what it means to form a regenerative relationship with the soil, and hopefully how we can avoid this coming tragedy.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

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Facebook has entered nearly every part of our internet connected lives. Most of us aren't happy with this, but tolerate it as a part of modern day living. But as we dig deeper into this social media and advertising juggernaut, we start to learn that maybe we shouldn't trust Zuckerberg and crew with so much of our world and our own lives.

Join us as we explore psychological experiments, obscene image work farms, revenge porn, and so much more in this episode all about Facebook.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

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It's natural, it's delicious, it's everywhere, and it may be killing us. For years, sugar has been overlooked as a serious detriment to our health because of the manipulations of the sugar industry in both science and politics, but the lies are coming to light as the diseases caused by that deadly white powder threaten to overwhelm the health systems of the world.

Can we wake up to the danger this major health risk is posing in time or are we too addicted to that sweet release? Join us this week as we explore the how and why of sugar.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

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What do airports, water treatment facilities, gas stations, and espresso machines all have in common? A dependence on a reliable and stable network of power generation and distribution. In America, and around the world, our electrical grids are aged, stressed, and increasingly at risk of attack. Worse, the centralization and increased interdependence of these grids mean the risk for large-scale failure has never been greater.

If we don't act quickly, the next time the lights go out, they may not turn on again.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

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In forests, grasslands, and landscapes around the world, poor wildland management and climate change have combined to produce some of the most explosive fires ever seen. This trend is getting worse, and as we continue to push development into these areas, the need to extinguish fires that threaten human life and property rises. But paradoxically, fighting fires is a big piece of the puzzle in how we got here in the first place.

We are joined by Tommy Nease and Tyler Marlow, both with professional Forest Service experience, to help make sense of this frightening trend.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

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What do suffragettes, cigarettes, Sigmund Freud, bacon and eggs with breakfast, bananas, and a coup in Guatemala all have in common? We'll explore the answer to that question in this week as we look at the lessons from an important man and contemplate the extraordinary effects he had (and continues to have) on our society.

It's propaganda, public relations, advertising and more on this episode of Ashes Ashes.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

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Pensions have long been considered to be the gold standard of retirement, the treasured benefit of public service and big company jobs. But because of changing demographics, evolving financial environments, and poor accounting practices, these once sure things may soon become a liability. With a reckoning soon approaching, will retirement, the markets, and all of us as a whole be able to survive this ticking time bomb?

00:00 Preshow

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

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The relationship between government intelligence, the military-industrial complex, and big business goes deep. In technology hubs around the world, complex surveillance products are developed and sold to governments that deploy the tech on journalists, lawyers, academics, and their own citizens. How are these technologies spreading and what effects do they have on society and us as individuals?

Join us this week as we explore one of the most heavily surveilled places on earth and ask ourselves how to respond as these technologies increasingly come home to be deployed right here in America.

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

Find more information along with relevant news and links on your favorite social network @ashesashescast.

CC BY-SA 4.0