Doomer Optimism

Patrick Lemmon and Seth Harris In this episode, Patrick and Seth discuss the principles of traditional and orthodox building methods, the importance of local materials, and the future of sustainable construction. They explore how craftsmanship, local culture, and thoughtful design can create enduring and meaningful structures. Keywords: building, masonry, traditional construction, local materials,...

In this episode, Alicia Pederson, founder of Courtyard Urbanist, takes us on a fascinating journey from ancient Rome to today’s urban development roadblocks. She explains how courtyard-based architecture can address housing shortages, social isolation, and environmental concerns—all while creating vibrant, affordable neighborhoods for middle-class families. Read more about Alicia's work and vi...

AI, Existential Risk, and the Future of the Human Soul

Geoffrey Long of Long Story Farms joins Jason to talk about what it actually takes to build a working farmstead part-time, the real challenges of scaling production and finding local markets, and why he thinks a permanent storefront can do what farmers' markets can't. We also get into his philosophy around local economies, community resilience, and why he believes people with skills and ag...

When Your Tractor Breaks, Open Source the Whole Civilization Marcin Jakubowski, founder of Open Source Ecology, joins Ashley to talk about his 20-year project to open source the blueprints for civilization, starting with a broken tractor on a Missouri farm and expanding into a full Global Village Construction Set of 50 industrial machines. They get into the abundance vs. scarcity mindset, solar co...

Three hundred episodes in, and we’re still here, still questioning, still laughing, still building. In this special 300th episode, we gather voices from across DO; past guests, hosts, collaborators, and community members, to reflect on what this experiment has meant to us. What began as a space to grapple honestly with economic, ecological, and political unraveling has become something deeper: a l...

Willy Denner of Little Seed Gardens in Chatham, NY, joins Jason and returning co-host Nigel Best for a wide-ranging conversation about 32 years of small-scale organic farming, the economics of direct market production, and the political philosophy of Henry George. Willy shares how he and his wife, Claudia, built their 100-acre vegetable and grass-fed beef operation from scratch — no farming backgr...

Jason is joined by Greg Cello to discuss his plan to build a regional wool industry in New England, starting with sheep on his Rhode Island homestead. This isn't just about producing sweaters; Greg sees sheep farming as a way to revive the cooperative spirit that once defined rural communities, where families worked together and traded their goods through local granges. The conversation touche...

How patient design and ideological diversity are reshaping food production Ashley sits down with Ryan Blosser and Trevor Piersol, co-founders of Shenandoah Permaculture Institute and authors of Mulberries in the Rain, to explore permaculture beyond the stereotype of backyard herb spirals. We discuss what sets permaculture apart from regenerative agriculture, the evolving demographics of people dra...

Ashley Fitzgerald sits down with Elizabeth Oldfield to explore how we can foster genuine connection across ideological and cultural divides and why it matters more than ever. Drawing on Elizabeth’s experience leading the Theos think tank, hosting the acclaimed podcast The Sacred, and living in an intentional community, they discuss the power of combining rigorous research with compelling storytell...

Surviving Consolidation, One Pig at a Time Greg Gunthorp, a fourth-generation Indiana hog farmer, joins Nate for a wide-ranging conversation about survival, stubbornness, and adaptation in the American meat industry. Greg grew up raising pigs on pasture as part of a diversified family farm, using livestock as a tool to care for the land and keep the operation afloat. But by the early 1990s, the wr...

Nate sits down with Jason Mauck to discuss his hard-won experience running Munsee Meats, a small-scale meat processing operation in Indiana. What started as an opportunistic response to empty shelves during COVID became a two-and-a-half-year battle with regulatory bureaucracy that ultimately revealed the deep structural problems plaguing America’s food system. Jason estimates the regulatory burden...

Antitrust attorney Basel Musharbash discusses recent political whiplash in beef markets and the broader question of how actually to enforce anti-monopoly law. The conversation covers why ranchers erupted over being blamed for high beef prices, the history of promises versus lackluster execution going back to early 1900s meatpacking cases, and how the Packers and Stockyards Act was supposed to regu...

Welcome to Beef Week! 🐄 Nate sits down with rancher, entrepreneur, and farm advocate Mike Callicrate for a deep dive into the crisis facing America's cattle industry—and the path forward. Mike traces the devastating consolidation of the beef industry from the 1980s to today, explaining how we went from 20 competitive cattle buyers to just four dominant packers controlling 85% of the market. H...

Building an Edible Perennial Nursery with Nick Wren Nick Wren of Living Soil Tree Farms joins Jason to talk about the practical realities of starting and running an edible perennial nursery. Nick shares his journey from civil engineering to tree farming, explaining why he became passionate about native nut trees, fruit trees, and woody perennials. They cover the nuts and bolts of nursery operation...

Jason and Ashley welcome back Chris Smaje to discuss his new book, “Finding Lights in a Dark Age,” now available for purchase. Chris is a returning guest who first appeared on the podcast to discuss his influential book “Small Farm Future,” which helped shape many of the show’s conversations about agricultural futures and sustainability. He returned previously to discuss “Say No to a Farm-Free Fut...

Nigel Best doesn’t have time for your bullshit. He’s too busy welding gates, rotating cattle, building spiral staircases, and conducting “illicit beef transactions” in Craigslist parking lots. Missouri woodworker and regenerative rancher Nigel Best joins Jason and Nate to talk about what it actually takes to make a living on the land—without going broke, without selling your soul, and without wait...

Why We Need Each Other More Than Ever https://undpress.nd.edu/9780268210335/the-dignity-of-dependence/ https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-great-feminization/ Ashley welcomes back Leah Sargeant to discuss her new book, The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto . They explore two core arguments: that women's equality with men doesn't depend on being interchangeable with them, and that no h...

Fresh from dinner with Wendell Berry in Kentucky, the crew discusses Paul Kingsnorth’s new book and the deep tensions in American agriculture. From Trump’s controversial beef deal with Argentina to the packing monopolies squeezing ranchers, we explore why our food system prioritizes industrial products over actually feeding people. Topics include: the soybean-ethanol scam, why 80% of corn never be...

Creating member networks, local food systems, and recession-proof community infrastructure Jason talks with Tres, co-founder of GreenBox Homes, about creating a regenerative landscaping company that competes with traditional lawn care services. They discuss the business model of providing weekly yard care focused on building soil and ecosystems rather than just aesthetic maintenance, creating memb...

AI safety researcher Nate Soares explains why he believes there's at least a 95% chance that current AI development will lead to human extinction, and why we're accelerating toward that outcome. Soares, who has been working on AI alignment since 2012, breaks down the fundamental problem: we're building increasingly intelligent systems without any ability to control what they actually w...

Join the Doomer Optimism crew for their first-ever live group chat as they tackle the big questions facing our technologically saturated world. Ashley, Nate, Jason, Peter, and Patrick gather to discuss Paul Kingsnorth’s new book Against the Machine , the creeping influence of AI in our daily lives, and whether we’re heading toward accelerated collapse or just another step down. The conversation me...

Ashley talks with Kevin Ryan, a Marine Corps veteran and public school teacher running for U.S. Senate in Illinois without corporate donors, consultants, or ad buys. Kevin describes his campaign from a converted school bus as he travels to all 102 counties, gathering signatures by hand and talking directly with voters about what they want from their government. The two discuss money in politics, d...

Against efficiency and isolation: learning humility from forgotten communities and the ancient art of the Georgian feastJohn Heers, founder of First Things Foundation, joins Ashley to discuss his unconventional approach to international development—sending people to live humbly in forgotten communities from Mozambique to Guatemala, learning local languages, and facilitating indigenous entrepreneur...

Dr. Chris Ellis interviews Tucker Max, who shares his transformative journey from bestselling author to homesteader, focusing on resiliency and self-sufficiency. Tucker discusses the impact of COVID-19 on his beliefs and actions, emphasizing the importance of family involvement in homesteading and the skills developed through this lifestyle. He emphasizes the importance of community and legacy, ad...