We first ran this episode in May 2023, but following back-to-back hurricanes in Florida this month, it remains as relevant as ever.

You've got insurance, right? Are you sure?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Washington Post reporter Brianna Sacks.

Brianna's an extreme weather and disaster reporter for the Post, where she explores how climate change is transforming the United States through violent storms, intense heat, widespread wildfires, and other forms of extreme weather.

Brianna deploys to disaster zones, which are sometimes very close to home, and does enterprise reporting on the preparations for responses to and the aftermaths of catastrophic events.

We're having this conversation today because last month Brianna revealed how insurers have slashed Hurricane Ian payouts far below damage estimates, often up to 80%.

I cannot emphasize enough that the future includes an insurance landscape that is among the most important in our very brittle economy and society.

It underpins everything we rely on, so understanding not only your own insurance but how well your mortgage holder and the system at large are prepared for what's here and what's coming, is essential.

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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.

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INI Book Club:

• What I Talk about When I Talk about Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
• Training for the Uphill Athlete by Steve House, Scott Johnston, and Kilian Jornet
• The Great Displacement by Jake Bittle
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Follow Brianna on Twitter and Instagram
• Read Brianna's piece on Hurricane Ian insurance cuts
• Read more of her reporting at The Washington Post

Follow us:

• Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
• Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
• Get our merch
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• 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

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There’s no word for “conservation” in many Indigenous languages.

Some come close, but mean something more like “taking care of” or “looking after.”

And that’s probably because the very idea of conservation, to “prevention the wasteful use of a resource”, would have been, and continue to be, foreign to many of North America’s Indigenous peoples, who lived in an entirely different, co-dependent relationship with nature.

That is to say, to have had a relationship at all.

A relationship with the very same nature of which we’re inextricably part of, of which we rely on for clean air, food, and water – or it’s game over.

And now, if we’re not facing game over, we’re certainly up against the final boss.

We live on stolen lands that were tended for thousands of years by Indigenous and Native peoples have been dried out by mostly white settlers in what seems like the blink of an eye.

Land now covered in cities, in suburbs, in industrialized agriculture, desperately and even controversially conserved as national and state parks.

Waters onshore and offshore, full of plastic and fertilizer, once bountiful, now overfished.

The receipts are in and it’s not gone well for colonialists’ stewardship over the single habitable ecosystem as far as anyone can tell.

New voices are needed, new policies and practices are needed, and perhaps the most compelling ones come from our land’s longest-tenured human inhabitants.

And while, yes, I’m focused on actions we can take to build a vastly cleaner and better future for all people, you know I work hard to bring you the necessary context, to understand how we got here, why we got here, to understand the decisions and systems involved – all of which should only make us more effective at taking action.

My guest today is Dr. Jessica Hernandez.

Dr. Hernandez is an environmental scientist, founder of environmental non-profit Piña Soul, and the author of the new book, “Fresh Banana Leaves”, where she weaves together her family’s relationship with nature, as part of nature, her family’s history of being displaced over and over, through the lens of eco-colonialism, and how Indigenous-led restoration is the way forward.

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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.

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INI Book Club:

• Le Maya Q’atzij/Our Maya Word by Dr. Emil’ Keme
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Dr. Jessica Hernandez on Twitter
• Jessica Hernandez website
• Piña Soul

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

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You’d think that -- considering we just spent two years building our new What Can I Do? app -- that I’d have a really good answer for why we were doing it in the first place.

But I didn’t. Not until about a week ago.

I knew, of course, the practical reasons why it needed to exist, and I had a good idea of what I wanted it to look and feel like.

I knew it was the natural evolution and a significant missing piece of our work.

But I had never really interrogated myself to understand why I was so hell-bent on building an app -- a tool -- that gathered all the action steps we’d researched over the years, and made them accessible to anyone across the world, anytime they wanted or needed them.

• 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

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It’s another big day in a very big month for us.

Our extremely tiny team has been busting our asses for almost two years to bring you something fucking extraordinary, something I’m just so proud of, and now it's here:

Our new app: "What Can I Do?"

A one stop shop for taking action on the issues you give a shit about.

Why?

Because the world won't unf**k itself.

Get it here: https://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

What if we get it right?

That's today's big question, and my returning guest is Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson.

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist. She is a policy expert, a writer, and a teacher working to help create the best possible climate future. She co-founded and leads the Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for the future of coastal cities, and is the Roux Distinguished Scholar at Bowdoin College.

Ayana authored the forthcoming book, What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futures, co-edited the best selling climate anthology, All We Can Save, and co-created and co-hosted the Spotify slash Gimlet podcast, How to Save a Planet. Lastly, she co-authored the Blue New Deal, a roadmap for including the ocean, what an idea, into climate policy.

This is a special one for me.

Ayana was guest number seven or eight on the show a long time ago. She took a chance on us. And almost 200 episodes later, a pandemic later, a few degrees of warming later, a lot has changed.

But Ayana's passion for nature, her influence on U.S. and global policy and our one wonderful habitable planet has not.

I am such a huge fan of hers, and I am so thankful she came back to spend time with us.

If you have been trying to find your way into this whole thing, today just might be your 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.

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INI Book Club:

• What If We Get It Right by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
• All We Can Save by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katherine Wilkinson
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Subscribe to Ayana's What If We Get It Right? newsletter
• Find climate action resources to pair with What If We Get It Right?
• Join and donate to the All We Can Save Project
• Donate and check out the Resource Hub at Urban Ocean Lab
• Keep up with more of Ayana'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
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

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In this throwback episode from October 2020, 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.

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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.

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INI Book Club:

• "Indecent Assembly: The North Carolina Legislature's Blueprint for the War on Democracy and Equality" by Gene R. Nichol
• "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Find a great local candidate to vote for: directory.runforsomething.net/candidates
• Support Run for Something: runforsomething.net/give
• Listen to Amanda’s first episode: #60: Why You Should Run for Something in 2020

Follow us:

• Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
• Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
• Get our merch
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• 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

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Next up in our series of “How to Eat More Plants”. Today’s topic? Beef!

• Read the essay and get the links online here
• Donate to the Humane Farming Association to support their work against factory farming.
• Volunteer with Planted Society to help cities, restaurants, and individuals make sustainable changes in their food culture.
• 🌎️ Get educated about ways to transition to plant-based options by checking out the Meatless Monday campaign.
• Be heard about animal cruelty, air and water pollution, and public health by asking the Department of Agriculture to stop supporting factory farming.
• 🌏️ Invest in industries that aren’t cutting down the Amazon using Deforestation Free Funds.

• 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

Please enjoy this hopeful ditty on how we have finally harnessed the sun ☀️ — and how we’re just getting started.

• Donate to Grid Alternatives to advocate for community-powered solar policy that gets everyone on a clean energy grid (🌎 go global: Donate to GiveDirectly so people have the agency to buy their own solar)
• Volunteer to become a member of the Green Workers Alliance to help ensure the creation and maintenance of well-paying, sustainable green jobs in the clean energy transition.
• Buy solar for your home, company, school district, and/or your town with help from our best friends at Rewiring America.
• 🌏️ Get educated about where your power is coming from with electricityMap.
• Be heard about continuing to expand solar access and ask your representative to support clean energy progress.
• Invest in positive climate action and use your money to fund solar expansion with ATMOS.

• 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

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Today’s post is more of a macro introduction to the why and how of the “eat more plants (and consequently) fewer animals” lifestyle.

Deep-dives on how to eat fewer animals, by type, including meat/beef/pork, chicken/turkey, dairy, and fish (and humans! Can’t forget humans) will follow in subsequent posts.

My overall goal is to help you — someone who already gives a shit for one reason or another — understand why eating more plants and fewer animals is intersectional as hell.

• Donate to Friends of the Earth to help transition our food system into one that is more sustainable, healthier, and more just.
• Volunteer with Kiss The Ground to help shift policies and resources towards regenerative agriculture.
• Get educated about more ways to eat more plants by subscribing to Vox’s Meat/Less newsletter.
• Be heard about passing a strong Farm Bill that provides critical funding so farmers can grow nutritious food via sustainable farming practices.
• Invest in sustainable farming with Farm VC.

• 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

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We're running an updated version of a popular essay from last year.

Tolkien described life (and often, his stories) as a "long defeat", where evil frequently, inevitably wins.

But he allowed for "eucatastrophe" — sudden joyous turns (just like breakthroughs in elections and voting rights).

We must keep fighting, to hold off the darkness.

• Donate to protecting voting rights and advocating for democracy with Fair Fight.
• Volunteer to bring together conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between to fix America’s political system with RepresentUS.
• Get educated about quick, easy, daily actions you can take to save democracy by subscribing to the Chop Wood, Carry Water newsletter.
• Be heard about fair elections and add your name to the End Gerrymandering Pledge.
• Run for your state or local office with Run for Something (if you’re under 40, if you’re over 40, donate!)

• 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