Second Nature

By CommonsSociety & Culture Education Personal Journals

Second Nature episodes

June 17The Art of Being a Villager
It seems that the modern world is in its isolation era, leaving us craving the easy comfort of irl camaraderie. Ideally, the kind that comes without the need to buy a ticket or split a bill. Because becoming a villager isn't just a salve for loneliness, it's a rebellion against consumerism.
After a whole season of following the money, we're wrapping up our finale contemplating how we can create community without it. We're hearing from our community about how they show up as villagers, and how they start their own villages. Turns out you don't need to bean extrovert, have a huge group chat, or be a pillar in your community. You just have to show up.
These relationships we make with our community create bonds that strengthen our ability to adapt in climate disasters, financial instability, and even supply chain woes. And getting started is easier than you think.

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🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.
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Episode Credits
Listener contributions: Nick Blocha, Elena Demireva, Tavia, Camila Bronson, Jen Horn, Lena
Research: Makenna McBrierty
Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham
17 min
June 10The Data Center Next Door
When data centers come to town, power bills go up, the water supply gets squeezed, and emissions start to rise. It's no wonder seven in ten Americans don't want one in their backyard. In the midst of this AI gold rush, many tech companies are taking advantage of communities, health, wealth, and safety for promises of a better future. But communities aren't taking the bait.
In this episode, we talk about the real-life effects of AI infrastructure and hear how it's affecting folks in our community. We get the stats on this booming industry and what's at stake. We hear from Abre' Conner, the civil rights attorney leading the NAACP's lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI — a data center that's now running 59 methane gas turbines in a Mississippi community, breaking a law that's been on the books since the 1970s.
And we ask the uncomfortable question: could all this energy hunger actually accelerate the renewable transition? Is the AI revolution happening to us or for us? And what can we do about it?
Episode rundown:
(00:53) - On thing we can agree on
(09:14) - The ripple effects of the AI boom
(14:35) - The NAACP Lawyer Taking Elon Musk's xAI
(27:59) - Can the Grid Save Us?
(43:52) - Keep Making Noise
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🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.
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Episode Credits
Listener contributions: Artie Sadahiro, Birdie Peelman, Amanda Doughty
Research: Makenna McBrierty
Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham
47 min
June 03How Cows and Congress are Raising Your Grocery Bill
You don't have to look much further than your grocery receipt to see how climate change can affect our food supply chain. But some of the key drivers of climate change are sitting right in our carts. It's a chicken-or-egg debacle that we're happy to explore on this episode if it means understanding how we can create a more adaptable, equitable food supply chain.

Farms are dealing with historic heat waves slashing wheat and maize yields, record rainfall collapsing corn harvests, sea level rise swallowing farmland on the East Coast, and disappearing pollinators that one-third of our food supply depends on. And we're paying the price. We hear from our community about how the rising price of groceries has meant making sustainability tradeoffs on what they buy at the store.
Food insecurity and the climate crisis are also intertwined. Maggie Baird, founder of Support and Feed, helps us understand how the animal agriculture industry is at the center of many climate (and health woes), challenging us to rethink food traditions rooted in culture and family identity. To better understand how we got here, Commons founder Sanchali Seth Pal follows the money through animal agriculture subsidies.
Episode rundown:
(00:54) - How our food choices and the climate crisis feed each other
(02:30) - How climate change is affecting food prices
(04:41) - When sustainable food becomes a luxury you can't afford
(09:07) - Animal agriculture, culinary tradition, and food inequity with Maggie Baird
(27:49) - Our tax dollars are making meat cheaper?
(33:59) - Changing what we eat can change the climate
📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .
🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.
📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!
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Episode Credits
Listener contributions: Sophia Anderson, Jeanne, Mary Klene, Molly Barton, Katherine, Dom Altomari
Research : Makenna McBrierty
Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham
38 min
May 27Can We Vote Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis?
Government seems to move slower than the pace of climate change, so do our votes for climate candidates and policies actually make a difference?
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In this episode, we're connecting the dots between climate and policy and hearing from people around the world about how their governments’ policies are affecting their lives and their regions. We're also catching up with HEATED editor-in-chief Emily Atkin to hear how climate reporting has changed over the past couple of presidential terms and how she keeps her head above water after a decade of reporting on climate. We'll also talk to Commons founder Sanchali Seth Pal about climate policies around the world that have actually worked.
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If you're looking for resources to help you vote for the planet in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, or any upcoming U.S. election, here are some resources that could help: Vote Climate U.S. PAC's Voter Guide, Climate Cabinet's Climate Scorecard, League of Conservation Voter Scorecard.

📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .
🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.
📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!
📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits
Listener contributions: Anandi Yadav, Clara, Danielle Bird, Lindsay Kerns, Michael Chase, Nick Blocha, Shai
Editing and engineer: Evan Goodchild‍
Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham

Episode rundown:
(01:29) - Every vote you cast is a climate vote
(03:34) - The price tag on our planet's worst year yet
(10:46) - Emily Atkin won't let Big Oil off the hook
(30:06) - Which climate laws are actually working?
(39:30) - Local elections are crucial
43 min
May 20Can We Shop Our Way to "Clean"?
The word "clean" on your shampoo bottle means exactly nothing — legally, anyway. The U.S. has taken so long to update regulations that it's created a huge gap between what consumers want — products without toxic chemicals — and what the government regulates. This means only a small portion of toxic chemicals used in manufacturing are actually regulated at a national level. Folks like advocate and author Lindsay Dahl have been working for decades to close this gap, passing dozens of laws in the process. But the regulatory gap has left space for a "clean" industry to emerge, and rack up lots of cash. The "clean" beauty industry alone is worth $7 billion.
In this episode, we talk to Lindsay Dahl about how we've gone this far without adequate toxicity regulation and how to shop smarter, we hear how big beauty brands have pushed back against regulation, we find out how to use our voices for federal-level change, and we hear how our community is navigating this tricky landscape.
If you want to check out any of the orgs Lindsay mentioned, you can find some here, and the full list is in her book, Cleaning House:

Toxic Free Future
Natural Resources Defense Council
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Working Group
Saferstates.org

Episode rundown:
(00:36) - Why is this my job?
(01:49) - The history of chemical regulation
(05:49) - What does “clean” mean to you?
(12:06) - The fight rid our homes of toxic chemicals
(29:24) - Following the money
(38:17) - What you can do
(40:14) - Community Classified
📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .
🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.
📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!
📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits
Listener contributions: Anna, Darice Chang, Nyiah, Kayla Joy , Sawyer, Grace Hebert, Dom Altomari
Research: Makenna McBrierty
Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham
42 min
May 13War Has Always Been a Climate Issue
Your workout leggings, your morning commute, and the fertilizer to grow your food — what do they have in common? They're all fossil fuel legacies of war. In this episode, we connect the dots between the military and the climate crisis, tracing how wartime decisions made decades ago still shape and pollute our everyday lives.
We sit down with Neta C. Crawford, professor of international relations at the University of St. Andrews and author of The Pentagon, Climate Change, and War, to unpack a staggering blind spot in our global emissions picture: the military. We also follow the money with Commons co-founder Sanchali Pal to understand how the U.S. kept military missions out of the Kyoto Protocol, and what that means for climate targets today. We also hear how our community feels about using their money to avoid funding wars they don't support.
Episode rundown:
(00:22) - The US military is the world's single largest institutional fossil fuel consumer.
(01:31) - War's Industrial Afterlife: Nylon, fertilizer, and freeways.
(05:55) - Community action: from campus divestment campaigns to rethinking their everyday spending.
(09:02) - A deep dive into military emissions, hidden history, and the case for diplomacy.
(38:07) - Following the Money: How Big Oil lobbied to keep military emissions off the global books
(44:18) - Your vote and your wallet are more powerful climate tools than you think.
(46:10) - Community Classified: Citizens’ Climate Lobby
📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .
🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.
📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!
📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits
Listener contributions: Braden Marazzo-Nowicki, Diana Holguin, Drew, Julia Nolasco, Fionaa Bhatia, Nicole Collins
Research: Makenna McBrierty
Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham
48 min
May 06Composting Is for Everyone
[This episode originally aired June 19, 2024] Composting is one of the easiest, most rewarding climate actions. You get to repurpose food waste, save money on fertilizer, and give back to the soil. Plus, there are so many ways to do it! On this episode, you'll get a straightforward explanation of how composting works and all the inspiration and guidance you need to start composting — no matter where you live. Listen in to hear:
Our community's firsthand advice for composting in any living situation
Your composting questions answered by Dr. Sheridan Ross of Compton Community Garden
The carbon impact of composting our food waste
📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .
🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.
📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!
📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode credits
Listener contributions: Nicole Collins, Joëlle Provost , Lindsay Kerns, Bo Meisl, Sameera Mokkarala, Melissa Athina, Yolanda Gonzalez, Gracon Ladd, and Daniel Goh‍
Featured guests: Dr. Sheridan Ross and Sanchali Seth Pal‍
Editing and engineer: Evan Goodchild‍
Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham
37 min
April 29Slow Shopping in a Fast World
In a world that tries to get us to shop fast, slowing down our shopping is an act of resistance. In this community episode, our listeners share how slowing down their shopping habits saved them money, cut down on waste, and made them appreciate their stuff any more.

Episode rundown:
(00:00) - Why is slow shopping important?
(03:07) - Slow shopping tips from our community
(11:25) - Reflections on slow shopping
📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .
🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.
📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!
📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits
Listener contributions: Grace Kinney-Broderick, Grace Hebert, Molly Barton, Sophia Anderson, Keionna Spalding, Gaby Beaudoin
Research: Makenna McBrierty
Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham
15 min
April 22Is There a Sustainable Future for Flying?
The aviation industry has gotten twice as fuel-efficient since 1990, and emissions have still quadrupled. In this episode, we reckon with the guilt of flying, tracing it from economy class all the way up to private jets, where a handful of ultra-wealthy passengers emit up to 500 times more carbon than the average person annually. Plus, we dig into sustainable aviation fuel with Alyssa Norris from Aether Fuels and what it would actually take to make flying something we don't have to feel guilty about.
Episode rundown:
(00:35) - Should we feel guilty about flying?
(03:12) - Our flying footprint
(05:17) - Reckoning with guilty consciences
(09:52) - What is SAF and why aren’t all planes using it?
(27:19) - Following the money from private jets to economy
(37:08) - Individual actions for systemic change
📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .
🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.
📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!
📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits
Listener contributions: Lorena, Morgan Gallagher, Bruno Olmedo Quiroga, Darice Chang, Jessica Tucker, Kayla Joy , Lena, Dom Altomari
Research: Makenna McBrierty
Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham
40 min
April 15It's Time to Kill Your Lawn
Lawns cover more American soil than any other irrigated crop — but who decided they should look this way, and at what cost? In this episode, we trace the centuries-old aristocratic tradition behind the modern lawn, expose the billion-dollar industry profiting from invasive grasses and toxic chemicals, and with the help of nature educator Jason Wise (aka Journeyman), we’ll explore how your patch of green could become something far more prosperous. If you've ever questioned the monoculture outside your front door, this one's for you.
Episode rundown:
(00:00) - Chapter 1
(00:49) - Why are lawns a climate issue?
(02:38) - How did lawns become popular?
(06:05) - How is our community adapting their lawns?
(12:34) - Tips to rewind your lawn from Jason Wise (aka Journeyman)
(34:02) - Who’s profiting off the lawn industry?
(43:07) - Imagining a lawn-free future
📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .
🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.
📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!
📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits
Listener contributions: Craig Brown, Nick Blocha, Lena, Grace Kinney-Broderick, Haley Murphy
Research: Makenna McBrierty
Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham
48 min

About Second Nature

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How can we live sustainably in an unsustainable world? Second Nature is a podcast by Commons exploring how our sustainable choices impact our lives and the planet.