The Most Important Question

In Episode 88, Quinn & Brian ask: You voted for clean energy… so why hasn’t it become a thing yet?

Our guest is: Dr. Leah Stokes, author of the new book Short Circuiting Policy: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States She’s like Captain Planet if Captain Planet was a powerful woman with a Ph.D. in kicking polluters’ asses AND public policy.

At the end of this episode, you’ll know exactly why your state is still building or spewing fossil fuels and how you can help burn it all down. The energy system in our country is functioning exactly as it was designed — poorly and toxically — but we do have the ability to reclaim our air, reclaim our water, and reclaim our health if we start working together now.

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In Episode 87, Quinn & Brian ask: What, exactly, are we putting on our bodies (and why aren’t more people asking questions about it)?

Our guest is: Gregg Renfrew. Gregg is a serial entrepreneur who most recently founded Beautycounter to increase transparency and safety in the personal care industry. She also actively lobbies for regulation in the cosmetics industry to limit the number of harmful chemicals included in products sold in America because, you know, less poison in and on our bodies is a good thing — a good thing that many other companies in the beauty industry fight vehemently against.

There are complicated ingredients in our cosmetics, moisturizers… well, pretty much everything we’re sold to put on our body to make it look or feel better. And these ingredients are increasingly obscured by labeling trickery, like the deceptive word “fragrance” that can hide dozens of potentially dangerous chemicals — and, holy hell, after what we learned in this episode, we are so on board with getting to the bottom of all of it.

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• “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek

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In this special episode, Quinn (with some help from our friends at the CDC and elsewhere) talks you through everything you need to know about the coronavirus, what you can do to prepare, and — maybe most importantly — what you can’t.

Want to read or print or share with friends? The matching blog post is here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/blog/2020/3/2/how-to-survive-the-coronavirus-with-your-sanity-intact.

In Episode 86, Quinn & Brian ask: What can we do to support the black farmers who have the ancient answers to rebuilding our soil, farms, and food system?

Our guest is: Leah Penniman, Co-Director and Farm Manager of Soul Fire Farm, a farm dedicated to ending racism and injustice in the food system. Leah is also the author of “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land.”

In many ways, Soul Fire Farm represents a new start for American agriculture — a new start built on some very old roots, carrying on the legacy and wisdom of sustainable African farming traditions. We all benefit from the incredible work that Li and the others at Soul Fire Farm are doing, and this is a piece of historical and ecological education that everyone in the US, in particular, should be aware of.

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In Episode 85, Quinn asks: Is there a blueprint for fighting food waste in your city?

Our guest is: Rick Nahmias. As Founder and Executive Director of Food Forward, Rick has spent more than a decade harvesting the bounty of LA’s fresh fruit and vegetables and getting them to the organizations feeding the many, many, many people in Southern California who cannot otherwise afford it.

When you realize just how much food goes to waste in the United States, it’s a little sickening. And when you then consider how many people go hungry every day in the United States, it’s more than a little disheartening. 

But the bright side — and, yes, we know that we wouldn’t need to talk about the bright side of every topic if we didn’t exclusively talk about how our world is going to hell — is that, wherever you might live, you can help get food out of the landfill and onto the plates of people who need it.

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We’re back! 

In Episode 84, Quinn & Brian ask: Is the USA responsible for climate refugees (and then turning them away)?

Our guest is: Jessica Cisneros, a 26-year-old immigration and human rights attorney and proud Mexican-American woman running for Congress in Texas’ 28th district to fight for working families.

Jessica’s opponent and the district’s incumbent is Henry Cuellar, “an anti-choice, anti-labor, pro-NRA Democrat who voted with Donald Trump and the Republicans almost 70% of the time last Congress,” according to Jessica’s campaign website. Rick Perry also appointed him to Texas Secretary of State, so that’s a big red flag. On top of all that, Cuellar is one of the top congressional recipients from the oil and gas industry and — surprise, surprise — he has voted for rolling back environmental regulations. Funny how that works.

But here’s the thing: those choices don’t just affect voters in Texas’ 28th district. They affect generations of people in Texas, as well as people from other areas of the world who are already experiencing devastating effects from the climate crisis. But doing the work now to support and vote for people like Jessica will improve the lives of people around the world, for generations.

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This is a special preview of our new weekly audio newsletter. It's all the most vital science news you missed, with action steps you can take to fight back, delivered in five minutes and read by Brian. After this week, it's a premium-only product, so if you find it valuable, go to importantnotimportant.com/shitgiver to subscribe!

This week: the EU lost their meat pies to Boris but gained a hell of a lot of clean energy; energy emissions are flat worldwide but flat isn't enough; be damn glad you're not stuck on a cruise ship with the coronavirus; we CRISPR'd the first cancer patients; can we trust BP oil?; Democrats are campaigning on fixing our soil

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

We’re very excited to announce the launch of our new premium podcast feed — The Shit-Giver Edition!

Our main feed (this one) will always be free, and will always host the latest in our award-nominated "save the world" conversations, with ads read by us to help pay the bills. Our mission remains to reach the greatest audience and affect as much change as two guys and a rescue dog possibly can.

But for those of you that don't want ads, or love Fun Talks, or just want to support our hard work -- you can now go premium!

In exchange for supporting the show with $5 a month or $49 a year (a 17% discount!), you'll get: 

Plus, you’ll get a *discount on merchandise* in our store!

So head on over to http://importantnotimportant.com/shitgiver to invest in the future of our work and help pay, most importantly, for Brian’s coffee.

Thanks, as always, for all of your support.

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

This week's Fun Talk begins with a Quinn and Brian planning their next cannabis-fueled caper — think Cheech & Chong, but with more gentrification. It’s actually one of our most fun topics on Fun Talk, so you’re welcome. 

Reminder: this is the last Fun Talk on our main feed. If you enjoy them, head on over to importantnotimportant.com/shitgiver to subscribe to our new premium, Shit Giver feed!

Also today: Brian shares how things are going at the new restaurant. You still can’t check out their menu online because they don’t have a website, but you can check out their Instagram: @methimatabar. We also touch on our Amazon-sponsored Orwellian future and how even doorbells are spying on you before kinda go off the rails after that, but hey, that’s kinda the point.

FYI: Fun Talk is when we talk about whatever we want, and we stop whenever Brian gets tired. If you want to hear us pondering the many ways we are approaching world-wide catastrophe, check out the episodes that publish on Mondays.

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