By Kate Kavanaugh
4.9
144144 ratings
The podcast currently has 98 episodes available.
In this episode I sit down with Vince Beiser, whose book Power Metal: The Race for the Resources that Will Shape The Future is an incredible follow up to his book Sand: the World in a Grain. When we last caught up with Vince we plumbed the depths of sand and how, while largely unseen, it is one of the major resources our world is built on. In this conversation, Vince and I explore more unseen resources our world is increasingly dependent on: the critical metals that are powering our energy transition. We talk about how everything has a cost, about how the electro digital age, while feeling post-material, is anything but. We touch a little on the materials used in this energy transition. We have a complex conversation around reshoring mining and exploring if where we might mine next is here at home. And then we talk about recycling, repair, and real tangible solutions to what might happen next.
Find Vince:
Instagram: @vince.beiser
Substack
X: @vincebeiser
Power Metal: The Race for the Resources that Will Shape The Future
Sand: the World in a Grain
Resources Mentioned:
Washington Post on Data Centers
NYT Op-Ed on Reshoring Mining
Thea Riofrancos on Novara FM
Fight to Repair Newsletter
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
FIELD COMPANY CAST IRON
BAHÉ FOOTWEAR
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Connect with Kate:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
This is a salty conversation and it’s also the kind of conversation that cracks you wide open. I sit down with Jill Winger - not to discuss her incredible work with Old-Fashioned on Purpose, her courses, her planner, or her book which are all amazing - but to talk about her life philosophies, our shared hot takes, and to lean into our complexity as humans. We explore the complexities of modern communication, the importance of intentional living, and the challenges of building community in a polarized society. We talk about being reflexive contrarians and sometimes needing to go to an extreme to bounce back to some nuance. We discuss the value of discomfort in personal growth as much as we talk about when and how to choose ease, the balance between generalism and specialization, and the necessity of real human connection in an increasingly digital world. We explore choosing when we need to choose discomfort (often!) but also when we need to choose ease. All around, about holding the tension between modern and old-fashioned ways of living, and just holding the tension between so many paradoxical qualities of ourselves and our lives.
Find Jill:
Instagram: @jill.winger
Website
Youtube
2025 Old Fashioned On Purpose Planner
Meal Craft
Old-Fashioned on Purpose: Cultivating a Slower, More Joyful Life
Resources Mentioned:
Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkle
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Molecule of More by Daniel Lieberman, MD and Michael E. Long
10x is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan
Hope for Cynics by Jamil Zaki
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
BAHÉ FOOTWEAR
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Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
WHOOEE. Brock Dolman, folks, in this episode is weaving together all sorts of things previously explored on the podcast in a new (old) and incredibly articulate way. This podcast is about water cycles, beavers, fire, sand, geology, the oceans, a living earth, and so much more. Brock is a conservation ecologist and a specialized generalist over at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. He’s also, in his own right, a linguist and an incredible waeaver of words. We explore the nouns and verbs of earth as energy flows, matter cycles, and life webs. This episode is a catch all - and at the heart of it, is a message about how to build lasting community.
Find Brock Dolman:
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
Water and Fire Video
The Universe is a Green Dragon: A Cosmic Creation Story by Brian Swimme
Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine Benyus
Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities by Diana Leafe Christian
The End of Growth By Richard Heinberg
The Ghost Forest by Greg King
Eager by Ben Goldfarb
Beaver Land by Leila Philip
Tree Crops by J. Russell Smith
Picture of subsidence san Joaquin valley of telephone pole
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken
AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
BAHÉ FOOTWEAR
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Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
In this episode, I sit down with Katy Bowman. First, a long on-ramp to the episode where I talk about where some of Katy’s work dovetails with explorations of how we move resources to our bodies (when we used to move our bodies to resources) that we’ve been exploring on the podcast. Katy and I then dive into the ecology of movement, movement diets, finding your movement why, and how you might consider stacking community into movement.
Find Katy Bowman:
My Perfect Movement Plan: The Move Your DNA All Day WorkbookMovement Matters: Essays on Movement Science, Movement Ecology, and the Nature of MovementInstagram: @nutritiousmovement
Website
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
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Connect with Kate:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
In this episode of the podcast I sit down with John Perlin, whose book A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization explores the history of, well, of us. As you’ll hear in this episode the history of humans is inextricably intertwined, or made possible, with the history of trees and of wood. Wood is our materia prima, the foundational material of both our ecology on earth and the civilizations we have built. We explore the cycles of humanity and their relationship with wood throughout the last million years, touching on the Stone Age (which is really the wood age), Rome and Greece, the American revolution, the Industrial revolution, containerization and the green revolution, and the present. John’s book offers us a mirror to see our activities and how the stories we tell ourselves are ones we’ve been telling ourselves over and over again.
Find John Perlin:
A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization
Let It Shine: The 6,000-Year Story of Solar Energy
Website
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
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Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
In this episode, I sit down with anthropologist Alyshia Gálvez to talk about her book Eating NAFTA. The conversation is from two people who came to economic policy through unlikely means, but as Alyshia explains, economic policy in general, and NAFTA in particular - on its 30 year anniversary, has become a part of all of our bodies whether we’re aware of it or not. Alyshia’s work is incredible at connecting dots that aren’t often seen in economics - its about people, landscapes, and cultures and how they are affected by policy that favors corporations. We explore ideas of efficiency, and how the standard definition is anything but, of consumption, and the paradoxes that arise when looking at people, food, and policy. We look at corn as a material that drives our world through corn products and how landrace corn varietals have been lost to the people that first cultivated them. We also look at the health effects of policy, both here in the US, and in Mexico. Alyshia comes with a big message: if you, like us, feel like you’re a stranger to economic policy or that you can’t change it, perhaps you can and it matters now more than ever.
Find Alyshia Gálvez:
Eating NAFTA: Trade, Food Policies and the Destruction of Mexico
Patient Citizens, Immigrant Mothers
X: @alyshiagalvez
Website
Sponsored By:
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
Support the Podcast:
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Connect with Kate:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
In this week’s episode, I sit down with geologist Marcia Bjornerud to talk about her new book Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks and to explore how we can gain a sense of feeling embedded in the time and space of Earth, as earthlings. We explore the mentorship rocks have to offer us and putting the story of Earth as a dynamic planet front and center. We talk about how learning about process, not just end product, through the lens of geology, can give us a sense of empathy and story that mirrors our own inner experiences on Earth. It’s also about the paradoxical qualities of geology, the vetoing of the term ‘Anthropocene’ in the geologic community and why it matters, and what it means to look at the future through the lens of the past. This episode is about putting Earth in the foreground, not as a backdrop for our human endeavors, but as a living and active system. Marcia is excellent at being a translator for the Earth and her books and way of speaking both illuminate Earth in an intriguing and dynamic way.
Find Marcia Bjornerud:
Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks
Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World
Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of Earth
Geopedia: A Brief Compendium of Geologic Curiosities
Resources Mentioned:
In the Weeds Interview with Marcia (Part 1 and Part 2)
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
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Connect with Kate:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
Rose George is the author of four fantastic books (Nine Pints, Ninety Percent of Everything, the Big Necessity, and a Life Removed) that share a common theme: much of her work is about seeing the unseen. It’s about those things that are ubiquitous and unnoticed, or more likely, obfuscated from us. In this episode, we focus on human waste, the shipping industry, and blood. Much of our conversation is about how we begin to see the waters we swim in, stop sanitizing our language to further obscure things, and use our awareness to create changes large and small. It’s about breaking down taboos and letting individual stories of tragedy and triumph bring us into issues that matter. It’s also a little bit about the shipping industry and how 90% of our goods get to us, how toilets can transform lives, and how period products can dramatically improve the lives of girls.
Find Rose George:
Nine Pints: A Journey Through the Money, Medicine, and Mysteries of Blood
Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate
The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters
A Life Removed
Rose’s Subtack
On X
Resources Mentioned:
Surfer’s Against Sewage
Monterrey Bay Fish Guide
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
Connect with Kate:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
Mariele Ivy is an artist. Known for her work in making jewelry and in lapidary, she is also a ceramicist, a maker of talismans and sacraments. In this episode, Kate sits down with Mariele Ivy from Young In the Mountains to talk about what it means to be an artist and to work with things of the earth. We talk about Mariele’s dedication to her supply chain - to fair trade gold, American mined inlay stones, American mined sapphires, and recycled diamonds and we talk about how she extends that care to every aspect of her business. This episode is about earth’s processes and artistic processes both - about how we can make our inner feelings tangible. It’s also about what distraction, inspiration, and contentment mean in the creative process, about how working with your hands can change your mind, and about those things in us that are most ancient. Mariele is a delight and you’ll love her work and words both.
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
SUNDRIES FARM GARLIC
Find Mariele:
Young In the Mountains
Instagram: @younginthemountains
Resources Mentioned:
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Eat Like a Human by Dr. Bill Schindler
Support the Podcast:
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Connect with Kate:
Instagram: @kate_kavanaugh
email: [email protected]
Steven Kurutz grew up in a town of 1500 people in the mountains of Pennsylvania. It was a formative rural experience. He set pins at a local bowling alley. He frequented the town library. It’s where he learned to love books, writing, and the characters of small town America - including the towns themselves. He puts all of that to practice in his new book ‘American Flannel: How a Band of Entrepreneurs are Bringing the Art and Business of Making Clothes Back Home'. Steven and Kate sit down to talk about the tension between urban and rural environments. To talk about how the last 50 years of economic policy has changed small towns, fashion, and what quality means. We talk about the clothing brands American Giant and Zkano socks and what they’re doing to bring manufacturing back to America while making beautiful and quality goods that are as economically accessible as possible and the grit and determination (and relationships) it takes to do just that.
Find Steven:
American Flannel: How A Band of Entrepreneurs are Bringing the Art and Business of Making Clothes Back Home by Steven Kurutz
X: @skurutz
NYT Work
Selected Other Pieces:
On Small Town Libraries
On Being a Pin Boy
Resources Mentioned:
American Giant
Zkano Socks
Sponsored By:
REDMOND REAL SALT
Support the Podcast:
Substack
Leave a one-time Tip
The podcast currently has 98 episodes available.
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