Knox Pods

In Salt, Sugar, Fat, Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter Michael Moss shows how the trillion-dollar-per-year processed food industry has brought us to the point of today's obesity rates. The average American eats thirty-three pounds of cheese and seventy pounds of sugar annually, and daily injests double the recommended amount of salt. Grounded in meticulous research, this book exposes the methods of the industry giants to promote over-consumption, as revealed by concerned insiders who make startling confessions. Mary Pom Claiborne, Communications Manager of Knox County Public Library, led a discussion of the book in 2014. In a special interview recorded a year after the discussion, she tells of the impact this information had on her and the personal decision it provoked. (Recorded March 19, 2014 and March 24, 2015)

Todd Witcher responds to Elizabeth Kolbert's The sixth extinction: an unnatural history and explains the actions that can be taken. (Recorded December 17, 2014)

Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. Elizabeth Kolbert draws on the work of scores of researchers in half a dozen disciplines, accompanying many of them into the field: geologists who study deep ocean cores, botanists who follow the tree line as it climbs up the Andes, marine biologists who dive off the Great Barrier Reef. The sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy; as Kolbert observes, it compels us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human.

"This a great book that takes a look at the biological issues we face in today’s world," Witcher says. "It should renew your interest in conservation and move you to take action." Mr. Witcher is the executive director of Discover Life in America, the nonprofit organization coordinating the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Susanna Sutherland, of Sutherland & Associates, offers a critique of The infinite resource: the power of ideas on a finite planet by Ramez Naam. Naam contends that with innovation and expanding human knowledge, humanity will meet the very real and enormous environmental challenges we face. Ms. Sutherland summarizes, "Though dealing with global issues, this book notes that individual choices drive big picture outcomes. It contends that what you and I chose to think, say, do, not do, support, or oppose—here in Knoxville—impacts more than just Knoxville. It reminds us that the incredible quality of life we enjoy comes with a caretaker’s responsibility." (Recorded November 19, 2014)

John W. Craig, owner of Segundo Properties, discusses Growing greener cities: urban sustainability in the twenty-first century, edited by Eugenie L. Birch and Susan M. Wachter. The book examines urban sustainability and environmental issues beyond parks and recreational spaces, such as public transit, water resources and food production. The topics are important for city planners, policy makers, and especially citizens. (Recorded September 23, 2009)

Elizabeth Eason, a Knoxville architect accredited with the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED system, led a community discussion of the book Cradle to cradle: remaking the way we make things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. McDonough and Braungart question the wisdom of "reduce, reuse, recycle" and propose that products might be designed so that, after their useful life, they provide nourishment for something new—either as "biological nutrients" that safely re-enter the environment or as "technical nutrients" that circulate within closed-loop industrial cycles, without being "downcycled" into low-grade uses (as most "recyclables" now are). (Recorded April 8, 2009)

In The green-collar economy: how one solution can fix our two biggest problems, author Van Jones illustrates how we can invent and invest our way out of the pollution-based grey economy and into a healthy new green economy. Chris Woodhull, a former Knoxville City Council member and co-founder of TRIBE ONE, led a community discussion of the book. "I am interested in this book because it combines two significant community challenges with one very practical solution," said Woodhull. "We address the disenfranchisement of inner city youth to the workforce at the same time that we are building a greener city. This approach is tailor-made for us here in Knoxville." (Recorded May 13, 2009)

In this podcast we read two articles (transcript below) from the 1920s and 30s that appreciate the development of Market Square as a farmer's market. Author Jack Neely is a special guest commentator; his book is entitled Market Square: a history of the most democratic place on earth.

Dr. Jack D. Fellows, Director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Climate Change Science Institute, discusses Hot: living through the next 50 years on Earth by Mark Hertsgaard. "This book is a great history of the climate change debate as well as offering a look at the threats and opportunities future generations will face from a changing climate. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how we have gotten to this point in our history, and what we can do about it." (Recorded October 15, 2014)

Ben Epperson, Coordinator of Beardsley Community Farm, discusses some issues of local food resources based on the memoir Animal, vegetable, miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. "Animal, vegetable, miracle is an important story for all of us," says Epperson, "especially here in East Tennessee where our growing season can last up to 10 months." (Recorded July 15, 2009)