World Is Burning

After we learned about the climate and cultural impacts of non-native lawn grass in North America, we were left wondering: what's up with golf? In this minisode, Elise tells us why golf might be one of the rare resource-intensive problems that could actually be on its way to solving itself. Topics include creative land use, solar farms, and affordable housing. Listen to Episode 28 - Lawn Culture a...

This week we're exploring ways to cope with climate despair. Maybe you're experiencing it for the first time in the wake of the new IPCC report, or as wildfire smoke makes its way to your doorstep. Maybe you've been around the block a few times. In this short episode we define what exactly climate despair is, where we struggle with it, and how to frame it as a valid emotion that guides us to trans...

What would a decolonized world look like? How can we spend more time building the world we want to live in, while still fighting back against oppressive systems? This week we're focusing on the work of two Indigenous environmental leaders, Winona LaDuke and Sherri Mitchell. We discuss teenage Winona's decision to use her high school debate skills at the U.N. Conference in Geneva, how to learn from...

At the peak of 19th-century hat culture, an ounce of feathers was worth more than an ounce of gold. This extravagant trend, however, was putting once-flourishing bird populations in peril. Enter the bird lady: Harriet Hemenway, a controversial Boston socialite who co-founded the Massachusetts Audubon Society and used posh tea parties to protest the overhunting of birds. Elise recalls Harriet's sto...

On this week's no-frills episode, we're telling you how to prepare for extreme heat, what to do in the middle of a heatwave, and how to recognize heat-related illness to keep you and your loved ones safe. 01:30 - How to prepare your home for extreme heat 05:52 - How to plan according to the weather 10:55 - How to read important heat indicators 15:08 - What to do if you're dealing with extreme heat...

Once upon a time, Coca-Cola ran one of the world's most successful reusable bottle systems. Their decentralized network boasted an over 95% return rate, with some glass bottles being used upwards of fifty times before being recycled. Today, they're the biggest plastic polluter on the planet. What the hell? This week Olivia's telling us the story of Coca-Cola, the rise of the single-use mindset, an...

On this week’s episode Elise tells the story of the regretful inventor of Keurig and the single-use pod coffee phenomenon. Other topics include the overwhelming news of the last few weeks, drinking 30-40 cups of coffee a day, and plans for future mini-series. Subscribe/follow/press the button to keep up with new episodes every Wednesday! You can also follow us @worldisburnin on...

File this episode under things you never thought about but that will now haunt you... sorry! This week we're talking about the darker side of two things you've probably encountered this week: vanilla flavoring and customer receipts. Elise takes us through the unlikely ways that vanilla flavoring is being made, including petroleum-based artificial flavors that are already likely in your cupboard. T...

What's up with America's obsession with cow's milk? Olivia tells the story of the famous Got Milk campaign that brought deprivation marketing and milk mustaches to a generation of young dairy consumers. Then Elise takes us through the meteoric rise of Oatly oat milk during the pandemic, their controversial investors, and one healthy way we should treat our food like technology. Subscribe/follow/pr...

This week we're talking about ego, allyship, and debriefing Olivia's time at the Treaty People Gathering on White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota. The gathering was organized as part of the Indigenous-led effort to stop Enbridge's Line 3 tar sands pipeline. For more on the pipeline and why it needs to be stopped, check out our minisode on the issue . In this episode, we're talking about wh...

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...

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...

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...

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&nbs...

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) settlemen...

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 buy...

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...

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 ob...

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 F...

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...

In the final installment of our Elements series, we're dispelling the myth that there is no such thing as good fire. Olivia tells us about the lost indigenous practice of controlled burning, what happens when colonizers ignore indigenous knowledge, and the many ways that native-led prescribed burns could help our planet. Then, Elise explains how the government of California exploits prison labor t...

This week we're focusing on two Asian activists fighting for justice. Although Biden may call racism "un-American" in his response to the Atlanta shooting, the reality is much different. Elise tells the story of Tran To Nga, a French-Vietnamese journalist sprayed with toxic Agent Orange by the American military's Operation Ranch Hand during the Vietnam War. Her case against over a dozen chemical c...

This week we're dusting off our music business degrees (yes, we both have one) to talk about the music industry and how touring can come back more sustainably. Olivia uses Harry Styles' first solo tour as a case study on eco-friendly efforts of large-scale shows (and as an excuse to talk about One Direction). Then Elise lays out the demands that artists, managers, and fans can advocate for to make...

Do we need to save the whales all over again? What's the deal with celebrity animals? What does it mean to be a 'flagship species' for your ecosystem? This week, Elise explores how the early whaling industry led to the Save the Whales movement of the 1970s, with a few interesting family connections along the way. Then Olivia tells the story of Keiko, better known as the star of Free Willy, and how...

In the third installment of our Elements series, we've got two very different stories about the earth. Olivia tells the fascinating but devastating story of the exploitation of the Ogoni land and people for oil, including the execution of activists known as the Ogoni Nine. Elise goes a different route, recounting a series of butterfly-effect events that explain how a 19th-century volcano in Indone...