The Most Important Question

By Important, Not ImportantSociety & Culture Science Technology

The Most Important Question episodes

June 24, 2024Houston, We Have An Overfishing Problem
How do we stop overfishing if we don't know who's doing the fishing?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Jennifer Raynor.

Jennifer is an Assistant Professor of natural resource economics at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Before entering academia, she conducted policy-relevant economic research for the U.S. federal government for nearly a decade, most recently at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries.

Jennifer's research focuses on improving the efficiency and sustainability of fisheries and wildlife management, primarily using methods from economics, data science, and remote sensing.

She strives to inform the legislative decision-making process and works closely with state and federal resource managers to design and evaluate conservation policies. She serves on the board of trustees for Global Fishing Watch, and her research has appeared in top journals such as Science, Nature, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Jennifer and her team decided to tackle, 70 percent of our planet. The ocean. And what they discovered about who's trawling our oceans and where could set in motion policy the world over to make fishing drastically more sustainable and safe for everyone on every front.

-----------

Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to [email protected]

New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

-----------

INI Book Club:
The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina
Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club
Links:
Read Jennifer's satellite mapping paper in Nature
Read Jennifer's research on the economic benefits of wolves (and Ed Yong's piece about it in the Atlantic)
Follow more of Jennifer's work
Support Global Fishing Watch
Read the Crimes Behind The Seafood You Eat
Read The Outlaw Ocean series
Support the Outlaw Ocean Project
Follow us:
Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors
1 hr 19 min
June 20, 2024🌎 Essay: A Leading Question
This week:
We are occasionally asked why we link to scientific journals, news outlets, and sometimes even opinion pieces that are behind paywalls.

In a world where HBO HBO Max Max and Spotify and everyone else raise prices once a month, it’s a great question:

Our newsletter is free — why the hell do we make you click through to something that costs money?
Here's What You Can Do:
Donate to the 19th, a diverse, indie, non-profit newsroom reporting on gender, politics, and policy. They do amazing work.
Volunteer with Documenters to fill the gap in local media coverage and make sure public meetings are on the record.
Get educated about what journalists can do to help journalism survive, from getting involved in policy to unionizing.
Be heard about helping journalists and publishers receive fair compensation from tech platforms for use of their content and ask your representative to support the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act.
Invest in companies that align with your values using fennel.
Get more:
Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Got feedback? Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Take a nap you deserve it

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors
24 min
June 10, 2024Bring A Folding Chair
How do we tackle huge systemic intersectional environmental justice issues at the local level?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Jacqui Patterson.

Jacqui is the Founder and Executive Director of the Chisholm Legacy Project, which helps connect Black communities that are being disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis with the resources they need to create systemic change across connected challenges.

Jacqui was recently named to Time Magazine's 2024 list of Women of the Year, and she took home the Earth Award for her work. Jacqui was previously the Senior Director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program. Since 2007, she has served as Coordinator and Co-founder of Women of Color United.

She has served as the Senior Women's Rights Policy Analyst for ActionAid, where she integrated a women's rights lens for the issue of feud rights, macroeconomics, and climate change, as well as the intersection of violence against women and HIV/AIDS.

Previously, she served as Assistant Vice President of HIV and AIDS Programs for IMA World Health, providing management and technical assistance to medical facilities and programs in 23 countries in Africa and the Caribbean.

Jacqui served as the Outreach Project Associate for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Research Coordinator for Johns Hopkins University.

She also served as a US Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica.

-----------

Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to [email protected]

New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

-----------

INI Book Club:
Chronicles of the One series by Nora Roberts
Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club
Links:
Support the Chisholm Legacy Project
Check out Policies For The People
Keep up with Jacqui's work
Follow us:
Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors
48 min
June 03, 2024The Science of Fiction
Why is it so important that we share the science of fiction, and what do we do with it once we have it?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Maddie Stone.

Maddie is a prolific science journalist. She is a doctor of earth and environmental sciences. She's the former science editor of the technology website Gizmodo, which I love, and the founding editor of Earther, Gizmodo's climate focused vertical, which I love.

Maddie has edited articles for The Verge, Polygon, and Grist, and her original and award winning journalism has appeared in National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Grist, Vice, MIT Technology Room, Technology Review, and Drilled, and many other outlets we love and link to basically every day.

An avid science fiction fan like me, Maddie runs one of my favorite blogs called The Science of Fiction, an email newsletter and a blog, if you're old, that explores the real world science behind fictional monsters and alien planets and stuff like that (which checks all of my boxes).

-----------

Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to [email protected]

New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

-----------

INI Book Club:
Not The End of The World by Hannah Ritchie
The Right to Repair by Aaron Perzanowski
Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club
Links:
Subscribe to The Science of Fiction
Keep up with Maddie's writing, including her recent story holding Microsoft accountable to their sustainability pledges
Check out the Climate Reality Check report from Good Energy
Follow us:
Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors
1 hr 5 min
May 27, 2024Essay: In Bruges
This week:
Do you like cookies? What about olive oil cake? What about chocolate chip coffee cake? Listen on.
Here's What You Can Do:
🌍️ Donate to support African farmers by increasing incomes and improving food security through the Alliance for a Green Africa.
🌎️ Volunteer to join the Coffee & Climate Network, an organization that connects stakeholders in coffee farming to create a climate-smart future.
🌎️ Get educated about regenerative agriculture that increases resilience using resources from Climate Farmers.
Be heard about your eco-anxiety by connecting with others having similar feelings at a Climate Psychology Alliance Climate Cafe near you.
Invest in deforestation-free investment options with Deforestation Free Funds.
Get more:
Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Got feedback? Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Take a nap you deserve it

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors
21 min
May 20, 2024Chronic Illness: Not Actually Female Hysteria!
How do we take a huge chronic disease burden like Lyme disease or long COVID or even long flu and make it so personal that we simply can't ignore it anymore?

That's today's big question and my guest is Dr. Mikki Tal, an immunoengineer and a principal scientist at MIT.

Dr. Tal leads the Tal Research Group within the Department of Biological Engineering, and also serves as the Associate Scientific Director of the Center for Gynepathology Research. Mikki is working to identify the connections between infections and chronic diseases.

I've written a bit recently about the lessons we finally need to learn about post viral and bacterial health issues, the societal and medicinal and health and economic issues and improving our baseline of wellness and community health, so that we don't suffer from those quite as much.

These things are very real, we've known about them for a very long time and the compounding effects of chronic diseases are just going to continue add up the longer we ignore them, and we gaslight people.

There has never really been a better time for Mikki's work, or for this wonderfully inspiring and personal conversation.

-----------

Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to [email protected]

New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

-----------

INI Book Club:

Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:
Participate in the MAESTRO Study
Explore more of Dr. Tal's research (including recent papers here and here)
Keep up with Dr. Tal's work on X and Linkedin
Read more about Dr. Tal's work here and here
Follow us:
Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors
1 hr 12 min
May 10, 2024Essay: How to get more Good Energy
This week:
This week I wrote about a groundbreaking and essential new study that — thank christ — is not actually about which seemingly reasonable dietary supplement will definitely extend/tragically cut short your life.

It’s about 🍿 film, and after you’re done reading, I’d love it if you replied to this email with some favorite movies that moved the needle for you in some way. We’ll share the list with everyone soon.
Here's What You Can Do:
Donate to Eco-Anxious Stories to help create stories about meaning, mental health, and climate change.
🌍️ Volunteer to share your climate solutions story with the Global Solutions Diary from Project Drawdown.
🌎️ Get educated about how to integrate climate change into your writing in an authentic way by booking a consultation with Good Energy.
Be heard about the climate crisis and urge Congress to act.
Invest in a climate-positive future using ATMOS.
Get more:
Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Got feedback? Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Take a nap you deserve it

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors
13 min
May 03, 2024Essay: Bridget Jones, Climate Hero
This week:
In this essay, I will argue that Bridget Jones is the perfect climate-era hero, because she is all of us.
Here's What You Can Do:
🌍️ Donate to Project HOPE to support frontline teams working to strengthen healthcare systems and respond to crises globally.
🌎️ Volunteer to share your climate solutions work with the Global Solutions Diary from Project Drawdown and use your story to inspire hope in the climate community.
Get educated about how you can join a network of people working on climate, and get started on working on solutions, in your city with Climate Tech Cities.
Be heard about feeding hungry kids and urge your representatives to support the Universal School Meal Program Act.
Invest in a climate-friendly 401(k) using Sphere.
Get more:
Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Got feedback? Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Take a nap you deserve it

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors
31 min
April 29, 2024Keeping Long COVID In The News
Who is still covering Long COVID, and how much is the audience actually growing?

That's today's big question, and my guests are Betsy Ladygetz and Miles Griffis, editors and co-founders of The Sick Times, a journalist-founded website chronicling the Long COVID crisis.

The Sick Times investigates injustices, challenges powerful institutions, wades through the latest research, assesses COVID-19 data, and offers an essential platform for those most affected by the crisis.

Betsy is an independent science, health, and data journalist and writer focused on COVID-19 and the future of public health in general. Prior to The Sick Times, she ran the COVID-19 Data Dispatch. She was recently a journalism fellow at MuckRock, where she contributed to award-winning and impactful COVID-19 investigations, such as the Uncounted Project, investigations into the National Institute of Health's Recover Program, and stories covering public health responses in several states.

Miles is an independent journalist and writer who covers Long COVID, science, and LGBTQ plus issues. He developed Long COVID at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and has used his lived experience to report on the disease.

So many people are struggling directly or indirectly with Long COVID.

Sometimes they don't even know themselves, but with journalism just crumbling around us, new publications like The Sick Times operated by people with very particular essential skills and lived experiences can help make sure that these massive all all-encompassing issues of our lifetimes stay in the news, giving everyone else a way to stay in touch, and of course, to act.

-----------

Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to [email protected]

New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

-----------

INI Book Club:
The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the Struggle for the Soul of Labor by Hamilton Nolan
Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT Up New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman
Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club
Links:
Subscribe and donate to The Sick Times
Find a Mask Bloc near you
Support the COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project
Support the Patient-Led Research Collaborative
Support the Long Covid Action Project
Learn about diseases related to Long Covid and support #MeAction, Solve ME/CFS, and Dysautonomia International
Support the Clean Air Club and A.I.R. NYC
Buy high-quality masks from Project N95
Get more COVID-19 info from People's CDC
Follow us:
Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors
1 hr 16 min
April 11, 2024Essay: Program The World
This week:
Let’s talk about the Information Era.
Here's What You Can Do:
Donate (and subscribe!) to the 19th, an independent, non-profit, kick-ass newsroom reporting on gender and politics.
Volunteer with Tech Shift to build a fairer, more just technological future.
🌏️ Get educated about the powerful institutions using technology to change society through the invaluable reporting by The Markup.
Be heard about keeping companies accountable to assessing AI for bias and effectiveness and ask your representatives to support the Algorithmic Accountability Act.
Invest in climate tech solutions that will accelerate the transition to a clean economy with Full Cycle.
Get more:
Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Got feedback? Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Take a nap you deserve it

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors
28 min

About The Most Important Question

From the publisher's feed

The most important question in today's world of climate chaos, AI psychosis, and crumbling democracy is: what can I do? Your host, Quinn Emmett is completely unqualified to answer it, so he's calling the people that already are.