Philosophy Episodes

Philosophers Alex Madva and Michael Brownstein discuss their book (written with Daniel Kelly about the trap of "either/or" thinking and how we can find agency in a polycrisis world.

What if the problem isn’t that the people with the most power don’t care? What if it’s that they’ve lost the capacity to? That’s the question at the center of Diana Colleen’s debut novel, They Could Be Saviors. A group of the world’s wealthiest men is kidnapped and brought to a facility where they’re offered a choice: undergo psychedelic-assisted therapy, or stay put indefinitely. It sounds far-fetched. Spend a few minutes with the headlines, and it starts to feel less like science fiction and m...

Novelist Lee Schneider completes the Utopia Engine Trilogy with a story of climate collapse, AI dominance, and the stubborn possibility of liberation. What if the Earth pushed back? That’s the question at the heart of Liberation, the final book in Lee Schneider’s Utopia Engine Trilogy. Schneider is a novelist, screenwriter, futurist, and podcast producer, and in this episode, he sits down with me to talk about a near-future world battered by climate breakdown, controlled by an authoritaria...

A Shift in Perception What if the climate crisis isn’t just about what we’re doing to the planet, but how we see it? What if it is our flawed perception of the world and our place within it that separates us from nature and drives our destructive actions? In this contemplative conversation, writer and wilderness guide Bridget Lyons explores how perspective shapes our relationship with the living world, and why empathy for other species might be the key to our survival. Her book Entwined...

Is building a colony on Mars a hedge against human extinction a fool’s errand?

What does it mean to build a civilization on extraction and call it moral? That’s the question at the heart of this solo episode of Earthbound.

Renewables, particularly solar power, are now the backbone of new generation capacity worldwide (including in the United States). It’s cheaper than fossil fuels in most places and doesn’t need routing through the Strait of Hormuz

In a world of either-or thinking, where you’re expected to choose between hugging trees or hugging flags, Katherine Lacefield offers a refreshing alternative. The founder of Just Be Cause Consulting and host of the Just Be Cause Podcast joins us to dismantle the false binaries that plague environmental and animal rights movements. With candor and hard-won wisdom, she shares her journey from "crazy vegan" activism to a more nuanced understanding of how we create lasting change. Katherine reminds ...

With this bonus holiday episode, I revisit a short article I originally wrote for a now-defunct website and republished on Medium back in 2022. Blood and Cigarettes takes us back to Christmas Eve and the trenches of World War I, and how redemption can be found in the unlikeliest of places. Ever since I heard the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914, it has intrigued me. The poignant tale of the 1914 Christmas Truce serves as a powerful reminder of our shared humanity, even amidst the chaos of w...

What Would The Ocean Say If You Could Ask It A Question? Exploring the intersection of art, science, and environmental activism, this episode features thought provoking conversation with Joshua Harrison, director of the Center for the Study of the Force Majeure based at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The art-science environmental research collaborative challenges us to rethink our relationship with the planet and provoke us into thinking beyond the status quo and our long-held assum...

Vanquish the Storm Lords and Anthrogs! The power of stories to shape our understanding of the world is a central theme explored in this episode. We welcome Laurel Colless, an author dedicated to igniting the imaginations of young readers through her Peter Blue series of fantasy-adventure novels. By infusing her narratives with real-world environmental issues, Laurel not only entertains but also educates, allowing children and adolescents to confront the complexities of climate change. Our disc...

Kelley Ramsey describes in exquisite detail the grueling life of a wildland firefighter navigating a male-dominated culture while battling some of the worst wildfires exacerbated by a century of forest mismanagement and climate change.

Find your place in the world. Dig in, and take responsibility from there. -Gary Snyder When the world faces existential threats like climate change, how do we make ethical choices that matter? In this thought-provoking episode, host Tom Schueneman explores philosopher Thomas Rieder's groundbreaking book "Catastrophe Ethics: How to Choose Well in a World of Tough Choices." Opening with a powerful scene from Netflix's "Landman," this episode confronts the fundamental ethical dilemma of our time: w...

Reviewing A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith The notion of colonizing Mars often sounds like a thrilling adventure, but let’s hit the brakes on that rocket ship for a moment. Right off the bat, we tackle the idea that Elon Musk’s vision of a bustling Martian colony is, to put it mildly, a touch delusional. As we delve into the complexities of what it would actually mean to settle on another planet, we confront the sobering reality that space isn't just a hop, skip, and jump away; it’...

A conversation with David Lipsky, author of The Parrot and the Igloo Global warming is a long history spent in the hall of ironies, a statement that resonates throughout our discussion today. We delve into the fascinating yet troubling journey of climate science, tracing back to Svante Arrhenius, who first calculated the impact of accumulating greenhouse gases over a century ago, to the alarming forecasts of the 1950s that continue to haunt us. Amidst this, we uncover the unsettling tactics of c...

Roy Scranton's Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization invites us to confront a sobering truth: we cannot escape our fate. As we grapple with the challenges of our time, Scranton emphasizes the importance of facing our future with patience, reflection, and love rather than panic or denial. His reflections draw from a life steeped in experience, including his service in Iraq, where he learned that truly living often requires us to embrace the reality of mort...