This week we're rerunning our 2024 episode with Maddie Stone, writer of The Science of Fiction blog, to celebrate the fact that Maddie has joined our team and The Science of Fiction now lives at Important, Not Important.

The Science of Fiction explores the real-world science behind fictional monsters and alien planets, and stuff like that.

Quinn and Maddie get into the reasons why The Science of Fiction was a perfect fit for Important, Not Important, and then we get into their conversation from last year.

More on Maddie:

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, and the founding editor of Earther, Gizmodo's climate-focused vertical.

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.

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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.

Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth

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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

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• Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
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• Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Mentioned in this episode:

Become An Important Member

Turns out it's our 200th episode. It has been a journey.

The show is now called The Most Important Question, and I can't think of a better answer than just fucking run for something. What can I do about anything? Run for something.

And so obviously the best guest to answer that question, is returning guest, Amanda Litman.

If you are new here, she is the co-founder and president of Run For Something, which recruits and supports young, diverse progressives running for down-ballot office, state and local. Since launching in 2017, a hundred years ago, Run For Something has elected more than 1500 leaders across nearly 50 states, mostly women and people of color.

She's also the president of Run for Something Civics, a 501C3 that works to end the gerontocracy. Shortly after launching Run for Something, Amanda wrote a book called Run for Something: A Real Talk Guide to Fixing the System Yourself, and she just published her second book called When We Are In Charge: The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership. It's wonderful.

It's hugely instructive whether you are young or old and very brittle like me. It doesn't pull any punches at all because it's by Amanda. Anyone in any profession, in the year of our Lord 2025, whether this is the last year or not, will get something out of it, whether you are a leader or not yet.

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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.

Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth

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INI Book Club:

• When We're In Charge by Amanda Litman
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Run, donate, or volunteer for democracy https://runforsomething.net/
• Subscribe to Run for Something's feel good updates https://rfsfeelgoodupdates.substack.com/

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
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Mentioned in this episode:

Get Mill

What Can I Do?

Become An Important Member

Congress just jammed the brakes on America's clean energy boom, however short-lived it may have been.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law after a lot of debate in the House and the Senate and in public. It will wipe out most of the wind, solar, and EV tax credits. It's directing agencies to unwind renewable energy support, much less the mass electrification we need to do. These are changes the industry warns could kill new projects and spike electricity costs for homeowners and renters, and everyone.

So what can I do to keep climate progress moving when federal policy just banged right into reverse?

My guest today is Dr. Daniel Stein. He's the founder of Giving Green.

Dan's team pours over mountains of evidence to steer every donated dollar toward the highest impact climate solutions. Exactly the kind of agile systemic work we'll need now that this brief shining window of federal support just got gutted.

Stick around to learn how your strategic giving can still bend the carbon curve and how you can start actually multiplying your own impact today.

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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.

Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth

-----------

INI Book Club:

• We Are Eating The Earth by Michael Grunwald
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Find high-impact, strategic climate solutions to fund at Giving Green https://www.givinggreen.earth/

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
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Mentioned in this episode:

Get Mill

Become An Important Member

Imagine waking up to discover that the United States has just pulled $35 billion out of foreign aid overnight, and that hundreds of HIV clinics, and child malnutrition programs, and poverty graduation trials will shut their doors within days and weeks.

Now imagine there's a rapid response team quietly sifting through every single grant, ranking them by lives saved per dollar and building lifeboat bridge grants before the lights go out.

That team exists. It's called Project Resource Optimization (PRO), and it's turning a disaster into a crash course in faster, smarter, truly lifesaving philanthropy.

So what can you do to keep the most effective aid on the planet from flatlining?

My guest today is Rob Rosenbaum, one of the co-leads of PRO.

Stick with us to learn how emergency triage, ruthless transparency on both sides of the market and a few well-placed dollars can keep millions of people from falling off a fiscal cliff and how you can help build the lifeboats.

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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.

Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth

-----------

INI Book Club:

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

Links:

• Get money to lifesaving projects at https://proimpact.tools/

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
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Mentioned in this episode:

Become An Important Member

What Can I Do?

Get Mill

Toilet paper. You use it. I use it. Sometimes, even my children use it. The point is, toilet paper is everywhere.

Almost everyone needs it, and so much of it still comes from actual forests, and yet 2 billion people don't have access to even basic sanitation, much less readily available and recycled toilet paper. That's about 40% of the global population.

289,000 children under five die every year from diarrheal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's almost 800 children per day, or one child every two minutes. That's also completely fucking unacceptable.

So what can I do about toilet paper and sanitation, and can I do them at the same time? 

My guest today is Bernie Wiley. Bernie's the Sustainability Director at Who Gives a Crap and, oh boy, do I love this company.

Who Gives A Crap makes toilet paper and paper towels and poop bags and more out of recycled paper and bamboo. And they give 50% of their profits to help build toilets and improve sanitation in the developing world.

And because of Bernie's relentless focus, they consider every step of the supply chain along the way from water use to power use, all the way to last-mile delivery.

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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.

Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth

-----------

INI Book Club:

• The Ranger's Apprentice Collection by John Flanagan
• Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Buy sustainable toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, and garbage bags from Who Gives A Crap for your home, your office, your school, everywhere! https://au.whogivesacrap.org/

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
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Mentioned in this episode:

What Can I Do?

Become An Important Member

You've heard people say it. It shouldn't have been called Earth. It should have been called Ocean, but it is simultaneously a planet of trees.

As Richard Powers put it in The Overstory: We live in a world of trees. Once something like 6 trillion trees, and humanity are the late arrivals. So how do we reconnect with trees to stop using them for toilet paper?

How do we learn more about why they're suffering and in some unexpected places surviving to know them, to care for them, and maybe even know ourselves a little bit better along the way?

My guest today is Marguerite Holloway.

Marguerite is the author of the wonderful new book Take To The Trees: A Story of Hope, Science, and Self-Discovery in America's Imperiled Forests. Marguerite is a professor at Columbia University's graduate school of journalism. She loves maps and is the author of The Measure of Manhattan.

She has written about science, including climate change, natural history and environmental issues, public health, physics, neuroscience, and women in science for publications including the New York Times, the New Yorker, Natural History, WIRED and Scientific American, where she was a long time writer and editor.

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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.

Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth

-----------

INI Book Club:

• Take to the Trees by Marguerite Holloway
• Foster by Claire Keegan
• The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Keep up with Marguerite's writing: https://www.margueriteholloway.com/
• Check out the Women's Tree Climbing Workshop: https://www.womenstreeclimbingworkshop.com/
• NYC Citizen Pruner Program: https://treesny.org/citizen-pruners-stewardship/

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
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Mentioned in this episode:

Become An Important Member

What Can I Do?

Picture a city that beats brutal heat waves with cool tree-lined streets, slashes household energy bills, and cuts carbon pollution by as much as 80%, without waiting for these miracle technologies.

That future-positive vision is already taking shape in fast-growing places like Ahmedabad, India, where community-designed cooling plans and demand-side innovations are proving that climate action can double as a public health and equity upgrade.

It's co-benefits. You've heard it a thousand times. We're gonna talk about them more today.

What can you do to help your city deliver cleaner air, lower costs, and a safer climate? 

My guest today is Dr. Minal Pathak, associate professor at Ahmedabad University and a former senior scientist with the IPCC who helped craft the landmark sixth assessment report.

We will explore how people-centered, data-smart solutions can transform just about any city into a climate-resilient wellbeing powerhouse and how you can start pushing your neighborhood, your spheres of influence, down that path today.

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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.

Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth

-----------

INI Book Club:

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

Links:

• Follow Dr. Pathak's work at Ahmedabad University https://ahduni.edu.in/academics/schools-centres/global-centre-for-environment-and-energy/people-1/minal-pathak/
• Connect with Dr. Pathak on LinkedIn https://in.linkedin.com/in/minal-pathak-318827130
• Read the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/
• Read the Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan (replicated in 50+ cities)https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/ahmedabad-heat-action-plan-2019-update.pdf

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
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Mentioned in this episode:

Get Reader

Become An Important Member

In every flood scarred bend of an Appalachian river sits a chance to rebuild something stronger, cleaner water for people, and room for a 160 million-year salamander to thrive again.

Hurricane-shaped chaos is unveiling a surprising truth when we restore stream banks, fund green storm water projects, and protect keystone species like the Eastern Hellbender, we don't just rescue wildlife, we buffer towns and farms and drinking water intakes against the next big storm. The same fixes that help a snot otter bounce back can future-proof entire communities like yours and mine.

So what can I do to turn the washed-out creeks and budget cuts into a cleaner, more resilient future?

my guest today is Jackie Flynn Mogensen, senior reporter at Mother Jones.

Jackie embedded with conservation biologists after Hurricane Helene and uncovered how saving an ancient salamander could safeguard our waterways and our towns for decades to come.

Stick around and you'll discover practical ways to turn today's river wreckage into tomorrow's resilience.

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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.

Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth

-----------

INI Book Club:

• Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet by Ben Goldfarb
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Read Jackie's Mother Jones Eastern Hellbenders article https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2025/04/endangered-species-salamander-hurricane-helene-eastern-hellbender-bog-turtle/
• Learn how to build a rain garden https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2023/01/rain-garden-resources-water-flooding/
• Follow Jackie and keep up with her reporting https://x.com/jackiefmogensen?lang=en
• Rain Garden app https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/rain-garden.html

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
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Mentioned in this episode:

Get Mill

Become An Important Member

There are a million legitimate reasons why standing up to bullies may require a pseudonym (and a cowl), or even anonymity.

As has been clear for centuries, and even more so in this moment of inescapable mass surveillance, some of us — by nature of our birth nation, skin color, ethnicity, sex, gender, religious beliefs, and/or who we love — are in far more clear and present danger than someone like me.

And yet — millions of people over decades and centuries have stood in broad daylight and put their names and their bodies, their finite time and resources to the test, on the line, to fight for a better future for themselves and the generations to come.

• Donate to the Electronic Frontier Foundation to defend digital privacy.
• Volunteer with organizing initiatives through Tech Shift, to help build a fairer, more just technological future.
• 🌍️ Get educated about where your data is going online by using the Markup’s Blacklight tool.
• 🌍️ Be heard about unlocking global energy data so that researchers worldwide have access to it.
• Invest in tech for good and use your capital to scale climate tech with Carbon Equity.

• Take action at www.whatcanido.earth
• 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
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
• Take a nap you deserve it

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Mentioned in this episode:

Become An Important Member

63% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and yet here we are. So what can we do to make the language around abortion more positive?

My guest today is Sophie Nir.

Sophie is the CEO of the Abortion Positivity Project. The Abortion Positivity Project seeks to destigmatize abortion by more or less overhauling the framework by which we currently understand and discuss it.

They've developed a training curriculum on embracing abortion positive messaging in partnership with other nonprofit orgs and mission-aligned companies. Their goal is simple: educate everyone about abortion, expand the lens through which we all view abortion and ignite peer-to-peer conversations about reframing abortion discourse.

Sophie is the former executive director of Eleanor's Legacy, as well as the former finance director for New York State Attorney General Leticia James. She's the founder of Vaccine Vigilantes, which is a fucking incredible name, and a veteran of the campaigns of many prominent women elected officials.

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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.

Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth

-----------

INI Book Club:

• In Memoriam by Alice Winn
• Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use To Win by Jessica Valenti
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Learn more about the Abortion Positivity Project: https://www.abortionpositivity.com/
• Follow the Abortion Positivity Project on Instagram and Tik Tok
• Get some abortion positive merch https://www.social-goods.com/collections/abortion-positivity-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
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Mentioned in this episode:

Become An Important Member