Breaking Down: Collapse

Doing something new with this episode - chatting with a friend who doesn't listen to Breaking Down: Collapse, or necessarily agree with its premise. The purpose here isn't to convince or debate him, but to hear his thoughts about the state of the world and its future.

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This week I sat down with Cydian Kauffman to discuss the multi-faceted world of water. How safe is our water? What are the main threats that we face? How does water availability affect genders differently in 3rd world countries?

Cydian Kauffman is the owner of Pure Water Northwest, dedicated to helping families and communities take control of their water quality. With a mission to demystify clean water, Cydian empowers people to make informed decisions without relying on hype or half-truths. He specializes in cutting through confusion to deliver real, science-backed solutions-and loves exploring fringe topics like structured or hydrogenated water to clarify what's fact and what's fiction.

Social media links:

https://purewaternorthwest.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cydian-kauffman/

https://www.facebook.com/PureWaterNorthWest

https://www.instagram.com/purewaternorthwest1/

https://www.tiktok.com/@purewaternorthwest

https://twitter.com/AquaMasters12

https://www.youtube.com/@purewaternorthwest

https://www.linkedin.com/company/pure-water-northwest/

https://nextdoor.com/pages/pure-water-northwest-bainbridge-island-wa/

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No doubt, there are many dangers of AI. One of the most unexplored is simply the environmental impact of creating and running it. In this episode we take a look at impacts ranging from pollution, to waste, water usage, and more.

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Sam Baker is the co-founder and CEO of WriggleBrew, a regenerative agriculture company turning earthworms and microbes into high-performance organic fertilizers. With a background in chemistry and economics and a passion for sustainability, Sam is pioneering new ways to transform waste—like plastics and food scraps—into living soil solutions. His work bridges science, entrepreneurship, and environmental stewardship, and recently earned national recognition through innovation awards and public-private partnerships.

https://www.wrigglebrew.com

https://www.facebook.com/PRAGWriggleBrew/

https://www.instagram.com/wrigglebrew/

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After speaking with Dr. Brahney a couple of weeks ago, I felt it was time to touch again on the health impacts of microplastics and what the state of the research is.

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This week I was able to link up with Dr. Rob Meade to discuss his recent research on wet bulb temperatures.

Taken from his bio on his Harvard profile: "Robert D. Meade, PhD, MPH completed his doctoral degree in thermal physiology at the Human and Environmental Physiology Research Unit of the University of Ottawa. He also holds a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Rob's research has been aimed at improving scientific understanding of the physiological impacts of extreme heat in vulnerable groups. He also designed and executed the first daylong laboratory based heat wave simulation trials to evaluate the efficacy of personal cooling strategies including cooling centers, foot immersion, and electric fans. His work has been published in leading scientific journals including JAMA and the Lancet Planetary Health. In 2024, Rob joined the Harvard School of Public Health and the Salata Institute South Asia cluster to apply his unique training in thermal physiology and public health to the development and evaluation of community led heat adaptation strategies in South Asia."

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I had the privilege this week of speaking with Dr. Janice Brahney, who is credited as being one of the first researchers to discover the severity of microplastic proliferation in the environment. From her website: "As an environmental biogeochemist, I work at the intersection of the ecological and geological sciences. I combine field, analytical laboratory, and quantitative modeling methods to establish fluxes, transformations, and the fate of elements and compounds in the environment. These techniques are a powerful means to determine the complex drivers of environmental change, quantify the ecological impacts of land use, and determine the mechanisms underpinning ecosystem processes. The three main themes in my research are 1) vectors of material transport to aquatic ecosystems, 2) climate change effects in mountain environments, and 3) the cause, mitigation, and effect of water quality impairment. I am driven to conduct research that tests fundamental theories but also has societal relevance and can be translated into management action."

Enjoy the interview!

Janice Brahney | Logan River Observatory | USU

Janice Brahney Website

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This episode contains the audio from an interview I was invited to do with the amazing Sarah Wilson for her Substack. She was gracious enough to allow me to share the audio with you all here as well!

Bio:

Sarah Wilson is a multi-New York Times and Amazon bestselling author, social philosopher, international keynote speaker, minimalist and philanthropist. She edited Cosmopolitan magazine Australia at 29, founded the global I Quit Sugar movement, hosted the most-watched TV series in the nation’s history – Masterchef Australia – and wrote the bestseller First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, which Mark Manson described as “the best book on living with anxiety that I’ve ever read.”

Her most recent book, This One Wild and Precious Life, won the US Gold Nautilus Prize, and she has ranked in the top 200 most influential authors in the world (two years in a row).

Sarah leads dynamic, global conversations about modern philosophy, creativity, existential risk and climate change via her keynote speaking, Wild podcast, and her Substack and social communities (of 550,000 subscribers).

She lives nomadically, but is based between Paris and Sydney, is a compulsive hiker and adventurer.

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We know by now that collapse is happening and will continue - but who's fault is it? And is there any point in laying blame? Who should be held accountable, and how?

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As a follow up to the previous episode "The end of the American Experiment", we take a look at The Butterfly Revolution, a blog article posted in 2022 by Curtis Yarvin, detailing the plan for how Donald Trump could seize power and dismantle democracy.

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