This is the second of a two-part extra focusing on disease and pandemic. In this second special episode we turn to the 1918 Influenza outbreak, better known as the Spanish Flu, a global pandemic that took place near the end of World War I and killed an estimated 50 million people. We'll look how the virus spread during wartime and consider how US cities reacted to early public health control measures, include many we are familiar with today, such as social distancing and mandatory mask laws. We'll also look at how government efforts to suppress information about the pandemic played a role in making the outbreak worse, as well as how anti-mask resistance in cities like San Francisco find echoes still today. Stay tuned for part two of this deep dive into pandemic history. If you haven't listened to it already, be sure to check out part one of this two-part special, which looks at the Black Death in the 14th century.

I'm producing these episodes in parallel with a course of the same name which I am teaching at California State University, Chico where I am currently teaching.  Each week I will look at a different topic related to the end of the world, from doomsday preppers and our deepest fears to the role of religion, media, and politics in thinking about the end of the world.

There are several short video segments included which you can watch by following the links below:

Clip 1: Influenza, 1918 PBS American Experience

Clip 2: History Of The 1918 Flu Pandemic In 7 Minutes BuzzFeed News

Clip 3: Spanish Flu: A Warning from History Cambridge University

Clip 4: How the Coronavirus Pandemic Compares to the Spanish Flu New Yorker

For additional show notes and materials references in this episode be sure to visit my End of the World page:

https://www.chriscrews.com/end-of-the-world-podcast/

Thanks for listening.

Dr. Crews

This is the first of a two-part extra focusing on disease and pandemic. In this first special episode we turn to the Bubonic Plague of the 14th century, better known as the Black Death, a pandemic that devastated Europe and remains the single most deadly disease in human history, accounting for a staggering number of deaths, with estimated as high as 200 million dead. We'll look at the science and history behind the Bubonic Plague, and explore how this disease travelled from fleas to rate to humans. We'll also look at how Medieval society responded, from religious communities like the Flagellants to Italian medical experts who developed the now famous plague masks and gave us the term quarantine. Be sure to check out part two, which will look at the 1918 Influenza pandemic.

I'm producing these episodes in parallel with a course of the same name which I am teaching at California State University, Chico where I am currently teaching.  Each week I will look at a different topic related to the end of the world, from doomsday preppers and our deepest fears to the role of religion, media, and politics in thinking about the end of the world.

There are several short video segments included which you can watch by following the links below:

Clip 1: Disease - Crash Course World History

Clip 2: How You Could Have Survived the Black Death

Clip 3: Europe on the Brink of the Black Death

For additional show notes and materials references in this episode be sure to visit my End of the World page:

https://www.chriscrews.com/end-of-the-world-podcast/

Thanks for listening.

Dr. Crews

In this week's show we look at disease and pandemics, a topic that everyone on the planet has been dealing with in recent months. From historical outbreaks such as the Plague of Justinian or the Black Death in the 14th century, to more modern diseases like the 1918 Influenza pandemic and SARS in 2003, disease remains the most deadly natural enemy of humanity--a point made clear by our current coronavirus pandemic. We'll also look at how society has responded to the threat of disease, and the ways in which religion and politics have shaped our responses. Finally, we'll ask what we learned from these earlier pandemics and global health threats.

I'm producing these episodes in parallel with a course of the same name which I am teaching at California State University, Chico where I am currently teaching.  Each week I will look at a different topic related to the end of the world, from doomsday preppers and our deepest fears to the role of religion, media, and politics in thinking about the end of the world.

You can also listed to the two special bonus episodes on plagues and pandemic below:

Bonus Episode (Part 1 of 2) - Black Death

Bonus Episode (Part 2 of 2) - 1918 Influenza

There are several short video segments included which you can watch by following the links below:

Clip 1: How wildlife trade is linked to coronavirus

Clip 2: What the 1918 influenza pandemic can teach us about the coronavirus

Clip 3: Coronavirus outbreak: The effect of COVID-19 on community faith, religious ceremony

Clip 4: Bryan Walsh on SARS and Covid-19

Intro Music: "Have You Sanitize?" by Futwax (2020 Indiefy)

Outro Music: "Too Deep" by Madam Snowflake (2020 CC BY-NC 3.0)

For additional show notes and materials references in this episode be sure to visit my End of the World page:

https://www.chriscrews.com/end-of-the-world-podcast/

Thanks for listening.

Dr. Crews

In this week's show we look one of the most pressing issues in the world today--climate change. We'll explore some of the history and recent trends around a changing climate, and ask why countries around the world seem unable to take the bold steps necessary to address climate change before it becomes a global catastrophe. We'll also look at how American attitudes about climate change have themselves been changing, mostly for the better. And we'll look at how religious values and religious traditions around the world are grappling with the ethical and moral dilemmas posed by climate change. All this and more in this week's episode of the End of the World. 

I'm producing these episodes in parallel with a course of the same name which I am teaching at California State University, Chico where I am currently teaching.  Each week I will look at a different topic related to the end of the world, from doomsday preppers and our deepest fears to the role of religion, media, and politics in thinking about the end of the world.

There are several short video segments included which you can watch by following the links below:

Clip 1: Why 2 degrees Celsius is climate change’s magic number

Clip 2: Yale Professor Tony Leiserowitz Discusses American Perceptions of Climate Change

Clip 3: COP21 Religions vs. Climate Change

Clip 4: Religion has nothing to say about climate change, right

Clip 5: How California leads the fight against climate change

For additional show notes and materials references in this episode be sure to visit my End of the World page:

https://www.chriscrews.com/end-of-the-world-podcast/

Thanks for listening.

Dr. Crews

In this week's show we look at two possible ways the world might end. We start with the issue of supervolcanoes and look at the role of volcanic activity in several of the past mass extinctions on Earth, including the End Permian Event, better known as the "Great Dying," 250 million years ago when more than 70% of life on land and 90% of life in the ocean went extinct. We'll look at some of these major volcanic events in the past, from Toba and Tambora to Mount Saint Helens and the Yellowstone supervolcano, and consider how these events gave us the "Year Without a Winter" and even Mary Shelly's Frankenstein! Then we'll turn to the challenge of nuclear weapons and the invention of the first atomic bomb test at the Trinity Site on July 16, 1945. We'll explore how fears of both nuclear war and a "nuclear winter" shaped American fears during the Cold War, and how efforts since the mid 1980s to draw down global nuclear stockpiles may be at risk today as President Trump and the current US administration tosses decades of nuclear non-proliferation out the window and calls for a ramping up once again of the US nuclear arsenal. And finally, don't forget that October 27 is Arkhipov Day, celebrating the decision by a young Russian submarine officer during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 that avoided launching us into a nuclear WWIII.

I'm producing these episodes in parallel with a course of the same name which I am teaching at California State University, Chico where I am currently teaching.  Each week I will look at a different topic related to the end of the world, from doomsday preppers and our deepest fears to the role of religion, media, and politics in thinking about the end of the world.

There are several short video segments included which you can watch by following the links below:

Clip 1: Biggest Volcanic Eruption in Human History

Clip 2: Should We Worry About The Yellowstone Supervolcano

Clip 3: Survivor of world's first nuclear attack recounts Hiroshima bombing 75 years later

Clip 4: Duck and Cover

For additional show notes and materials references in this episode be sure to visit my End of the World page:

https://www.chriscrews.com/end-of-the-world-podcast/

Thanks for listening.

Dr. Crews

In this week's show we turn back to our central theme of the end of the world and dive into Bryan Walsh's book End Times: A Brief Guide to the End of the World (Hachette Books 2019). After a brief recap of recent public surveys about the end of the world (...spoiler alert, a little over 50% of the world thinks our way of life has a 50% chance or better of coming to an end in our lifetime, while a quarter think humanity has a 50% of going extinct this century!), we turn to one the oldest threats to life on Earth--asteroids. We'll look at the existential risks posed by Near Earth Objects colliding into our planet, and consider the legacy of earlier asteroid strikes, such as the one 65 million years ago that crashed into Chicxulub, Mexico and brought an end to the reign of the dinosaurs or the 1908 Tunguska event in Siberia. And we'll also look at more recent developments in the search of potential dangers in the sky, and consider how new efforts such as President Trump's Space Force fit into this picture. All this and more in this week's episode on Asteroids, Existential Risk, and Planetary Defense.

I'm producing these episodes in parallel with a course of the same name which I am teaching at California State University, Chico where I am currently teaching.  Each week I will look at a different topic related to the end of the world, from doomsday preppers and our deepest fears to the role of religion, media, and politics in thinking about the end of the world.

There are several short video segments included which you can watch by following the links below:

Clip 1: The Universe is Trying to Kill You

Clip 2: The Legacy of Shoemaker-Levy 9

Clip 4: The Asteroid Hunters

Clip 4: NASA's plan to save Earth from a giant asteroid

For additional show notes and materials references in this episode be sure to visit my End of the World page:

https://www.chriscrews.com/end-of-the-world-podcast/

Thanks for listening.

Dr. Crews

In this week's show we wrap up our exploration of fear by turning to the relationship between fear and crime in America. As researchers at Chapman University found in their Survey of American Fears, our belief about crime are deeply out of step with reality. Many Americans believe crime is on the rise and our country is more dangerous now than in the past, yet both violent crimes and property crimes crime have seen a steady decline for nearly 30 years. How do we explain this disconnect? In trying to answer that question we'll explore how and why views on crime are deeply racialized, and the ways in which white fears and anti-immigrant politics have distorted criminal justice policies and fueled the mass incarceration of people of color soon after the "War on Drugs" and "Law and Order" rhetoric of the 1970s and 80s. We'll dive into the data behind crime in America and look at how everything from political affiliation to belief in the devil and demons shape views on crime and punishment and criminality in America.

I'm producing these episodes in parallel with a course of the same name which I am teaching at California State University, Chico where I am currently teaching.  Each week I will look at a different topic related to the end of the world, from doomsday preppers and our deepest fears to the role of religion, media, and politics in thinking about the end of the world.

There are several short video segments included which you can watch by following the links below:

Clip 1: Mass Incarceration Why Does The U.S. Jail So Many People - Al Jazeera 

Clip 2: From Trump to Nixon GOP's  law and order strategy remains as context changes - Global News

Clip 3: The fractured politics of a browning America - Vox

For additional show notes and materials references in this episode be sure to visit my End of the World page:

https://www.chriscrews.com/end-of-the-world-podcast/

Thanks for listening.

Dr. Crews

In this week's show we continue our exploration of fear in America, turning to how natural and man-made disasters have fueled interest in "prepping" and disaster preparedness more generally. From there we'll pivot to the issue of political violence and look at American fears around terrorism and mass shootings. As the researchers behind the Chapman University Survey of American Fears suggest, the deeper political divides which we saw earlier in terms of what Americans fear becomes readily apparent in these issues, with wide divides around issues like gun control and public attitudes towards Muslims. As we'll explore in more detail, the rise of Trump can be explained in part by growing Islamophobia and xenophobia more generally, trends which the media has helped to fuel and reproduce. We'll look at these issues and more in this week's episode.

I'm producing these episodes in parallel with a course of the same name which I am teaching at California State University, Chico where I am currently teaching.  Each week I will look at a different topic related to the end of the world, from doomsday preppers and our deepest fears to the role of religion, media, and politics in thinking about the end of the world.

There are several short video segments included which you can watch by following the links below:

Clip 1: Doomsday Preppers w/ Survivor Jane

Clip 2: Murfreesboro mosque controversy

Clip 3: Guns & Politics in America

For additional show notes and materials references in this episode be sure to visit my End of the World page:

https://www.chriscrews.com/end-of-the-world-podcast/

Thanks for listening.

Dr. Crews

In this week's show, which is divided into two special episodes, we'll dive into fear in America and explore some of the findings from a multi-year study on fear in a new book, Fear Itself, The Causes and Consequences of Fear in America (NYU Press, 2020). In this second part of this week's show we'll dig deeper into how belief in the paranormal and conspiracies both shape, and are shaped by, the things that we fear. We'll look at conspiratorial "spirit guides" like David Wilcock and Alex Jones of InfoWars and how they have promoted a conspiratorial worldview, what the authors of Fear Itself describe as "conspiratorial Gnosticism." And we'll consider why belief in conspiracies seems to be on the rise in America today, from the political margins to the White House.

I'm producing these episodes in parallel with a course of the same name which I am teaching at California State University, Chico where I am currently teaching.  Each week I will look at a different topic related to the end of the world, from doomsday preppers and our deepest fears to the role of religion, media, and politics in thinking about the end of the world.

There are several short video segments included which you can watch by following the links below:

Clip 1: The Social Dilemma Netflix Trailer

Clip 2: David Wilcock on California Fires Conspiracies

Clip 3: Alex Jones Show Clip on Covid Conspiracies

For additional show notes and materials references in this episode be sure to visit my End of the World page:

https://www.chriscrews.com/end-of-the-world-podcast/

Thanks for listening.

Dr. Crews

In this week's show, which is divided into two special episodes, we'll dive into fear in America and explore some of the findings from a multi-year study on fear in a new book, Fear Itself, The Causes and Consequences of Fear in America (NYU Press, 2020). We'll look at what we know about American fears, and consider some surprising findings about who fears what and why. One of the interesting insights we'll discuss is how partisan politics have come to dominate American fears, so much so that conservatives and liberals fear entirely different things. We'll delve into why that is, and what it means for democratic politics. 

In the second part of this week's show we'll dig deeper into how belief in the paranormal and conspiracies both shape, and are shaped by, the things that we fear. Be sure to check out that episode later this week.

I'm producing these episodes in parallel with a course of the same name which I am teaching at California State University, Chico where I am currently teaching.  Each week I will look at a different topic related to the end of the world, from doomsday preppers and our deepest fears to the role of religion, media, and politics in thinking about the end of the world.

There are several short video segments included which you can watch by following the links below:

Clip 1: Chapman University Survey of American Fears Promo

Clip 2: LBJ's in64 "Daisy" campaign ad

Clip 3: Fear in New Trump 2020 Campaign Ad

For additional show notes and materials references in this episode be sure to visit my End of the World page:

https://www.chriscrews.com/end-of-the-world-podcast/

Thanks for listening.

Dr. Crews