The Most Important Question

This episode was originally published in print on August 29, 2020.

Originally published to our community through our newsletter and blog, the Do Better Better essays are now available in audio for the first time. You’ll learn how to ask questions and think about our changing world, for yourself, your family, and your business.

These essays compliment the audio version of our weekly newsletter, and of course, our ground-breaking conversations with diverse, interdisciplinary humans working on the frontlines of the future.

We’re so grateful to have you as part of our community, working alongside us on the world’s biggest problems and opportunities.

Two quick reminders:

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

This essay was originally published in print August 2, 2020

Originally published to our community through our newsletter and blog, the Do Better Better essays are now available in audio for the first time. You’ll learn how to ask questions and think about our changing world, for yourself, your family, and your business.

These essays compliment the audio version of our weekly newsletter, and of course, our ground-breaking conversations with diverse, interdisciplinary humans working on the frontlines of the future.

We’re so grateful to have you as part of our community, working alongside us on the world’s biggest problems and opportunities.

Two quick reminders:

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

This essay was originally published in print July 26, 2020

Originally published to our community through our newsletter and blog, the Do Better Better essays are now available in audio for the first time. You’ll learn how to ask questions and think about our changing world, for yourself, your family, and your business.

These essays compliment the audio version of our weekly newsletter, and of course, our ground-breaking conversations with diverse, interdisciplinary humans working on the frontlines of the future.

We’re so grateful to have you as part of our community, working alongside us on the world’s biggest problems and opportunities.

Two quick reminders:

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

This essay was originally published in print July 19, 2020

This week, we’re introducing Do Better Better: essays to plan for the future, today. Originally published to our community through our newsletter and blog, now available in audio for the first time. You’ll learn how to ask questions and think about our changing world, for yourself, your family, and your business.

These essays compliment the audio version of our weekly newsletter, and of course our ground-breaking conversations with diverse, interdisciplinary humans working on the frontlines of the future.

We’re so grateful to have you as part of our community, working alongside us on the world’s biggest problems and opportunities.

Two quick reminders:

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

This week: The 80-20 Rule works both ways; The incredibly timely importance of probably; We can learn a lot on how to think from a survey of 700 epidemiologists by the New York Times; The second-order effects of everything; And water is getting scarce;

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

We’re moving the audio version of our Webby and Shorty-nominated newsletter into our main podcast feed and we can’t wait to share it with you today.

If you’re new to our community, welcome! This newsletter pairs the most vital science news of the week with specific, data-driven Action Steps you can take to fight for a better future — for everyone. Today is a little longer — something to set the table, if you will, as we rethink how to think about the news in 2021.

You can get your newsletter in your inbox at importantnotimportant.com, or from now on, listen to it right here.

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

In Episode 101, Quinn & Brian ask: How did all of America end up in the emergency room?

Our guest is: Dr. Hiral Tipirneni. She is an emergency room physician, mom, immigrant, cancer research advocate, and congressional candidate in Arizona’s 6th district who is trying to bring her expertise — and empathy — to a congress that’s bereft of either.

We are figuratively and literally in the midst of a health crisis. Let’s go ahead and throw in moral and ethical crises, too, given her incumbent admitted to 11 ethics violations and is still in office. So, there’s really no better choice to help triage the problem and come up with solutions than an experienced emergency physician. Please, vote like your life depends on it.

P.S. Please send cookies, and not the kind that you’re legally required to inform us about every time we go to any webpage.

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Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

In Episode 100, Quinn & Brian discuss: Why state elections matter not just for your state but for the future of our planet.

Our guests are: Aimy Steele & Amanda Litman. Aimy is a candidate for the North Carolina House of Representatives in District 82, a mother of five, a former Spanish teacher, and a former K-12 principal. Amanda is the co-founder and Executive Director of Run For Something, a PAC that is recruiting and supporting young progressives who want to run for state and local elections. They’re endorsing more than 500 candidates in the 2020 elections, primarily women and people of color, and they’re inviting all of us to take an active role in writing a new future for our country.

And let me tell you -- if those 500 candidates are even half as inspiring as Aimy, we’re in for one hell of a new generation of state representatives. Aimy represents one of those rare times when we get the hero we need and they’re so much better than we deserve. Really, we probably do deserve a horde of bitter white men who all go to the same discount barber, but our world will be so much better off if we elevate diverse voices who actually know how to help our country’s diverse communities. So, please, use your voice, your vote, and your dollar to help Aimy and the other 500+ candidates get into office in 2020 — also, while you’re there, please vote for Biden. (We know, we’re not happy about it either.)

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

Trump’s Book Club: 

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Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

In Episode 99, Quinn & Brian, with help from Inverse.com, ask: how are YOU feeling?

Our guest is: Ali Pattillo, a health and science reporter at Inverse.com and co-producer of The Abstract podcast. Supplements, metabolism boosters, miracle cures: Ali covers just about anything that can be put on or in your body and makes any health-based claims. In other words, she debunks all of the things that Brian buys online instead of reading books.

There are few journalists who do a better job at not just reporting on science news but explaining it in a way that is digestible, understandable, and practical for idiots like the two of us. And this is a service that really can’t be undervalued. You don’t have to go very far on your timeline to find someone jumping to conclusions or misinterpreting facts — and that can have dire consequences when it comes to your health, especially in the virus-assisted end times that we’re living through. Our conversation focuses on the mental health side of things and how 2020 has catalyzed a staggering epidemic of depression, but on the bright side, magic mushrooms might be part of the solution.

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

Important Book Club: 

• "Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman" by Yvon Chouinard

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Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

In Episode 98, Quinn & Brian discuss: common sense solutions to prevent gun deaths and destroy the gun lobby.

Our guest is: Fred Guttenberg, a gun safety activist and political troublemaker. 

14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg was killed in her high school on February 14, 2018 in Parkland, FL. We usually like to make some jokes at this point, but not today. This is a loss that no person should have to experience — and it’s all the more painful for how utterly avoidable it is. Which side you choose to be on this issue should be as simple as answering this question: do you want to wake up and discover that one of your friends or loved ones has been shot? If the answer is no, then pay attention.

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

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Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media