World Is Burning

This week, we're taking a closer look at the natural and synthetic materials you're probably wearing right now. How did cotton become the "fabric of our lives"? Elise explains the reasoning behind advertising a material rather than a brand, and tells us which policies we should be paying attention to in regard to cotton manufacturing. Then Olivia takes on the massive (but nearly invisible) problem of the synthetic material industry: microfibers. 1.4 million trillion of them. Other topics discussed: exciting life changes, the limits of individual action and systems-change advocacy, and TikTok Olivia Rodrigo theories.

Subscribe/follow/press the button to keep up with new episodes every Wednesday! You can also follow us @worldisburnin on Instagram and Twitter, and check out our website worldisburning.com for extended show notes including sources and photos.

This weekend Olivia is heading out to the Treaty People Gathering along the Line 3 pipeline route in Northern Minnesota, so we're explaining the roots of the Indigenous-led non-violent direct action: who are the treaty people? Why stop Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline? Can Biden really do anything? What can you do from home?

Subscribe/follow/press the button to keep up with new episodes every Wednesday! You can also follow us @worldisburnin on Instagram and Twitter, and check out our website worldisburning.com for extended show notes including sources and photos.

What if humans colonized the oceans? What if Elon Musk's dream of a Mars colony came true? This week we're looking at the human desire to solve all our problems elsewhere, rather than where we already are. Olivia takes us through the blueprints for entire underwater cities, and Elise leaves the planet entirely: why are billionaires so keen on Mars? We talk about how colonization rehashes patterns of violence that already exist on land, and how we can spark a cultural shift that dismantles extractive practices and encourages regenerative giving.

Subscribe/follow/press the button to keep up with new episodes every Wednesday! You can also follow us @worldisburnin on Instagram and Twitter, and check out our website worldisburning.com for extended show notes including sources and photos.

Why are Americans so horny for grass? What happens when you get on a scammer's bad side? This week we're taking a closer look at how the lawn care industry of today ties back to colonization, war, and (you guessed it) capitalism. Then Olivia tells us about a one-step climate solution to help YOU reduce YOUR carbon footprint in one easy payment of $125... or not.

Subscribe/follow/press the button to keep up with new episodes every Wednesday! You can also follow us @worldisburnin on Instagram and Twitter, and check out our website worldisburning.com for extended show notes including sources and photos.

A story with so many cartoon villains we don't know where to start! Steven Donziger is an environmental lawyer best known as the lead attorney on a landmark case for the people of the Ecuadorian Amazon versus Texaco (now Chevron) after they dumped an admitted 16 billion gallons of oil waste on Indigenous land. Chevron have yet to pay the 18 billion dollar (later decreased to 9.5 billion) settlement, and have also brought Donziger through the seven circles of corporate law hell in the last decade. This week we tell you the wild, winding story AND take a trip to the #FreeDonziger rally before the first day of Donziger's trial.

Sign the petition at freedonziger.org, follow Steven @SDonziger on Twitter/@stevendonziger on Instagram and check the hashtag #FreeDonziger for trial updates.

Subscribe/follow/press the button to keep up with new episodes every Wednesday! You can also follow us @worldisburnin on Instagram and Twitter, and check out our website worldisburning.com for extended show notes including sources and photos.

Down the Rabbit Hole is our new miniseries dedicated to the deep dives, side trails, and themes that don't quite fit into our normal episodes. This week we're following up on our music episode to examine the environmental impact of streaming. If you're streaming this episode, it's for you! We cover the insane energy consumption of one Justin Bieber hit, when you should download an album versus buying a physical version, and how we can build a fossil fuel-free future that supports small artists.

Subscribe/follow/press the button to keep up with new episodes every Wednesday! You can also follow us @worldisburnin on Instagram and Twitter, and check out our website worldisburning.com for extended show notes including sources and photos.

Down The Rabbit Hole is our new miniseries dedicated to the deep dives, side trails, and themes that don't quite fit into our normal episodes. This week we're following up the excitement and exhaustion of Earth Day with an episode on how to get involved in climate action. We share our successes and failures, creative ways you can get involved, our criteria for assessing an existing climate action group, and how to support action even when you're short on time and money.

Subscribe/follow/press the button to keep up with new episodes every Wednesday! You can also follow us @worldisburnin on Instagram and Twitter, and check out our website worldisburning.com for extended show notes including sources and photos.

It's book club, with no required reading! We're talking about Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, known as the book that "launched the modern environmental movement" and revolutionized public perception of chemical spraying. We talk about what's changed since it came out almost 60 years ago, the constant ties between money and unethical decision-making, and what this new generation of dads should be obsessed with instead of World War II.

Listen to Trace Material trailer on Spotify or find more links in our extended show notes.

Subscribe/follow/press the button to keep up with new episodes every Wednesday! You can also follow us @worldisburnin on Instagram and Twitter, and check out our website worldisburning.com for extended show notes including sources and photos.

This week we're thinking about the ways we frame history and how understanding the past can help us pave an equitable & inclusive path forward. Olivia breaks down the Anthropocene, the suggested name for the new human-centered epoch. If we accept that we're in a new time period, when did it start, and why does it matter? Then Elise dives into the story of 19th-century scientist Eunice Newton Foote, whose long-ignored work is now seen as fundamental to climate science. We also talk about the climate re-imaginings of Disney World, creating space for others, and feminist science.

Subscribe/follow/press the button to keep up with new episodes every Wednesday! You can also follow us @worldisburnin on Instagram and Twitter, and check out our website worldisburning.com for extended show notes including sources and photos.

This week we went rogue, sort of, to talk about the term we use at the beginning of every episode: climate anxiety. We've been hearing the term a lot lately, particularly in the social media response to Sarah Jaquette Ray's recent article for Scientific American, 'Climate Anxiety Is an Overwhelmingly White Phenomenon.' In this episode we finally define climate anxiety, break down the article and responses to it, and discuss the white-centering conversations around climate emotions. We also talk about coping with anxiety, turning it into action, and–if you come from privilege–how not to crawl back into the comfort of your shell. (Surprise, your shell is made of structural oppression!) Asides include processing fear through true crime, building a community, and being sad about our favorite music venue being made into a hotel.

Subscribe/follow/press the button to keep up with new episodes every Wednesday! You can also follow us @worldisburnin on Instagram and Twitter, and check out our website worldisburning.com for extended show notes including sources and photos.