Generation Anthropocene

Generation Anthropocene episodes:

• 12.14.2022

  The Nature of Intelligence

  Humans tend to think that our intelligence is the most distinguishing trait of our species. Collectively our intelligence has given us god-like powers. But what exactly is intelligence, and how did it evolve? How do we measure intelligence in other...

  
• 11.03.2022

  The Rescue Effect

  The tone around conservation is often pretty heavy and it’s hard not to feel a sense of despair. But maybe there are opportunities in the world of conservation that we are not fully taking into account. The truth is, organisms...

  
• 10.14.2022

  Planet Texas, Ep1

  Today's episode is a cross-promotion with the Planet Texas podcast. We are featuring the first episode of the series. The Ogallala Aquifer is the biggest aquifer in North America, and it accounts for more than 30 percent of all agriculture in...

  
• 09.21.2022

  Human Origins

  As a species, our intelligence is probably the single most important quality that sets us apart from every other organism that has ever lived. But it’s not so much our abilities as individuals, but rather it’s our collective and accumulated...

  
• 08.10.2022

  Bunkers and Preppers

  What the subcultures of Preppers can teach us about preparing for environmental destruction.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  
• 07.21.2022

  Cybel

  On today’s episode we’re bringing you something special and a little different: A science fiction short story. It’s weird, and cool, and is, in a way, very much about the Anthropocene. Anyway, it’s fun! Written and sound designed by Brandon Buerk...

  
• 07.01.2022

  Famous and Gravy's Emblem of Dignity

  Today's episode is a cross-promotion with a new podcast by Michael Osborne called Famous and Gravy. This person died in 2013 at age 95. His given name translates colloquially as “troublemaker.” The question most often asked about him was how, after...

  
• 06.03.2022

  Elizabeth Kolbert

  Support us on www.patreon.com/genanthro It's hard to avoid the sense of despair that surrounds the story of climate change – and for that matter the story of the Anthropocene. It can all feel so hopeless. So, who is responsible for the...

  
• 05.13.2022

  Christians and Climate Change

  For as long as climate change has been an issue, the Evangelical Christian community has generally either downplayed the threat, or denied it altogether. In the last decade, however, more and more Evangelicals are coming around, and are even voicing...

  
• 04.22.2022

  Bill McKibben

  Find merch and support the show through our Patreon: https://patreon.com/genanthro With his landmark book, The End of Nature, Bill McKibben was one of the first journalists to start writing about climate change for a mass audience. He's since become one of...

  
• 04.15.2022

  The Love Canal

  In the late 1970s, in a neighborhood just downstream from Niagara Falls, an environmental disaster slowly came to light. In so many ways, it turned out to be a true life horror story. And, as it turns out, the story of...

  
• 03.09.2022

  Dark Green Religion

  It's sometimes hard to square Darwinian evolution with the major religions of the world. According to Professor Bron Taylor, if you take our current scientific understanding of biological interconnectedness, and combine it with the reality of the global environmental crises,...

  
• 01.05.2022

  Infectious Disease: A Big History

  The history of disease is really a story about humankind’s ever-changing relationship to the natural world. All of the momentous events in human history— the acquisition of fire, the development of farming, the Columbian exchange, rapid industrialization, and accelerated globalization—...

  
• 11.17.2021

  We Are As Gods

  Humans have been shaping the course of evolution for a long time, but with today's gene editing technologies our power to determine the fate of life on Earth is reaching new levels. With the extinction crisis looming, should we use...

  
• 10.01.2021

  Hurricane Lizards & Plastic Squid with Thor Hanson

  All around the globe, biologists are discovering that organisms are ALREADY responding to climate change. They're moving, adapting, evolving, taking refuge – the whole darned thing is more unpredictable than we could've imagined. Climate change biology is here. Super weird,...

  
• 09.23.2021

  Shrinkage

  What happens to Earth's biology when we heat up the planet? Weird stuff, that's what. For example, everything gets smaller. As in shrinkage. Weird, right? We talk to Jen Sheridan in this conversation about why warming = smaller. Learn more about...

  
• 09.16.2021

  Explainer: The Impact of Climate Denialism

  Sometimes it seems like the only reason we haven't had meaningful action on climate change is because of the decades-long effort to mislead the public. But is that true? Just how important is climate denialism? In this 3rd installment of...

  
• 09.09.2021

  Explainer: Why Cows Are So Damned Bad for Warming

  Cows are...a problem. Especially when it comes to global warming. With an assist from Zeke Hausfather, In this installment of our explainer seires we do our best to answer (quickly) why exactly cows and beef are such a big deal. Learn...

  
• 09.02.2021

  Explainer: The Origin of 2 degrees

  In this first in our new explainer series, we dive into the origins of the number 2 degrees C. How did that number come to be an international target, and what's its significance anyway? Professor Aaron Strong of Hamilton College...

  
• 08.26.2021

  Waste-Free World, with Ron Gonen

  We all kinda know that the global waste stream is a crazy big problem, but, in terms of just bottom line dollars, most of the time we don’t think about what waste COSTS. So, where might there be big opportunities...

  
• 06.02.2021

  Carbon Valley, Ep1

  Today is a guest spot featuring Episode 1 of Carbon Valley, a new series from Wyoming Public Media. In the coal capital of the country, in the least-populated state in the union, leaders had to make a move. So, they...

  
• 05.11.2021

  Yum

  Few things in life are better than savoring delicious food. We all know this to be true today... but we've never stopped to consider just how important flavor-seeking might've been in the distant past. It turns out that the science...

  
• 04.19.2021

  Individual Reckoning

  Climate change sometimes feels like a problem that can only be solved by governments, corporations, and large sectors of the economy. The truth, though, is that we as individuals can make an impact too. And, as it turns out, it's...

  
• 02.26.2021

  Never A Catalytic Moment

  At some point global warming will get so bad that the world will HAVE to take action, right? Well, maybe not. In this conversation with environmental journalist, David Roberts, we dive into the scary reality of shifting baselines syndrome. That's...

  
• 09.18.2020

  The Magic and Science of Psilocybin

  This episode is about magic mushrooms and the Anthropocene. Need I say more? Prepare to have mind = blown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  
• 05.31.2020

  Zombies, Covid-19, and The Anthropocene

  Are you afraid of the end of the world? Sure! Who isn’t?! Sometimes, though, it’s hard to unpack all the stories we tell ourselves about the looming apocalypse. So perhaps the most popular monster of the 21st century, the freakin’...

  
• 05.06.2020

  Timefulness, with Marcia Bjornerud

  When I fell in love with geology, I developed a new relationship with TIME. It’s not just the vastness of Earth history that blew my mind— it’s imagining all that’s happened, all that’s transpired to make the Earth what it...

  
• 04.22.2020

  2020 Earth Day Relaunch

  It's been 3 years since our last episode – and we're (finally!) bringing GenAnthro back. On this episode, we learn how GenAnthro came to be, what happened, and where we go from here. Happy to be back, y'all – more...

  
• 05.04.2018

  Raw Data's Origins of Power: Prelude

  Cross-promotion. Introducing Raw Data's Origins of Power in Silicon Valley. How did we get here? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  
• 06.27.2017

  Sounds of the Ocean

  When you imagine ocean sounds, maybe you hear the smooth arcing songs of the humpback whale, or the energetic, rhythmic clicks and snaps of dolphins. But it turns out the oceans are home to a much wider range and diversity...

  
• 06.22.2017

  Telltale Signs

  Two stories of ecological disruption: the great sea star wasting, and a graveyard of trembling aspens. As climate change unfolds, one of the scariest prospects is that we will witness large scale ecosystem collapse. So is that moment already upon...

  
• 06.20.2017

  Rising Seas in Silicon Valley

  Sea level rise is a global concern, and on the whole, policy and funding for mitigation aren’t keeping pace. Today on Gen Anthro, producer Isha Salian shares a story about a unique mitigation method in the San Francisco Bay Area...

  
• 06.15.2017

  Interview: Kim Stanley Robinson (the sequel)

  What will New York City look like in 2140? Scifi author Kim Stanley Robinson’s latest novel explores a possible future in which NYC is partly submerged, due to catastrophic sea level rise. In this conversation with producer Mike Osborne, KSR...

  
• 06.13.2017

  State of the Human's 'Crashing'

  Once upon a time, Miles crashed a server with his project ‘Geology of Game of Thrones’. Today on the show, we're featuring a short piece in which Miles shares the backstory to the project (and the server hullaballoo), as well...

  
• 06.08.2017

  Interview: Christian Parenti

  Capitalocene – maybe it doesn’t roll off the tongue, but a group of thinkers argue the term is preferable to Anthropocene because it's more diagnostic of what underlies our environmental problems. One of those thinkers is Christian Parenti, a reporter...

  
• 06.06.2017

  Saving the Last Ocean

  We hear a lot in the news about the Antarctic ice sheet melting – but other than climate change, it’s hard to imagine what else threatens a place so cold, so remote, and so seemingly barren. What other ecological protection...

  
• 06.01.2017

  Interview: Admiral Lee Gunn

  How is climate change going to affect national security and the work of our armed forces? On today’s show, Admiral Lee Gunn shares his perspective on this overlooked topic. Now retired from the Navy, Admiral Gunn has been working on...

  
• 05.30.2017

  Trump on Earth's 'The Climate of Mann'

  ‘Trump on Earth’ is a new podcast about the environment under the Trump administration. They’re doing a fantastic job keeping tabs on policy changes coming out of Washington, so today on Gen Anthro, we want to feature one of their...

  
• 05.25.2017

  Interview: Camille Dungy

  How do cultural constructs, like race, influence our relationship to the natural world? Poet and professor Camille Dungy explores this question by highlighting African-American voices in her 2009 anthology, “Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry.” In this...

  
• 05.23.2017

  Carbon Footprint of Superheroes

  In the pursuit of justice, Superman leaps tall buildings in a single bound; Ironman uses incredible technology to defeat evil forces; and Batman outfits himself with everything a flying-vigilante-mammal needs to fight the corrupt underbelly of Gotham City. In their...

  
• 05.18.2017

  Interview: Paul Shapiro

  Are you a vegetarian, a vegan, or a lapsed vegetarian? Do you eat meat and feel a little conflicted about it? No matter where you fall on the spectrum, Paul Shapiro wants to welcome you into the conversation around animal...

  
• 05.16.2017

  Trash to Treasure

  A story about accidental beauty, a changing landscape, disappointed tourists, and the complicated nature of conservation in the Anthropocene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  
• 05.11.2017

  Interview: Odile Madden

  One word: PLASTICS! Plastics get a bad rep when it comes to the environment, but at the same time, we all benefit from this often maligned material. Today on the show, producer Miles Traer talks to materials scientist Odile Madden...

  
• 05.09.2017

  Ginkgo

  Today, Ginkgo biloba is a common street tree, found in cities all over the world. But believe it or not, it was once almost lost to extinction. This once global tree retreated into a tiny relic community, only found in...

  
• 05.04.2017

  Interview: Ryan Kelly

  What if you you could scoop up a jar of seawater and use it to figure out what species were in that part of the ocean? Today we’re able to do that with a new scientific technique analyzing environmental DNA,...

  
• 05.02.2017

  How We Grow

  Humans are a force radically reshaping the Earth’s surface – but what forces are shaping homo sapiens? Today on the show, we feature two stories. First we look at ongoing human evolution and genetic mutations (btw, we are still evolving)....

  
• 04.27.2017

  Interview: John Holdren

  John Holdren was President Obama’s senior advisor on science and technology for eight years. In this conversation with producer Mike Osborne, Holdren discusses Obama’s passion for science and its role in all aspects of American life. He also tells us...

  
• 04.25.2017

  Oh Right, the Animals

  Today: border critters and beaked whales. Two stories about human actions disrupting the ecosystems and lives of other animals with whom we share the planet. First, a tale of how the U.S. Navy’s sonar activities created an acoustic storm in...

  
• 04.20.2017

  Season Premier! Interview: Jonathan Foley

  WE’RE BACK! I mean, OMG, right?! And it’s our 5th podcast birthday! So, on the eve of the Science March, we’re kicking off the new season with an interview featuring Jonathan Foley, Museum Director of the California Academy of Sciences...

  
• 12.15.2016

  The Biggest Stories

  Andy Revkin is an award-winning journalist whose life work has centered on reporting about the environment and climate change. He spoke to producer Mike Osborne about his early seafaring adventures, how he got his start in journalism, and his view...