Lena Han and Betsy Kim

How We Hope

Society EN ↓ 7 episodes

These days, many are feeling like their country, the world, and possibly even humankind, are doomed. In six deeply-researched episodes, co-hosts and close friends Betsy and Lena ask: where can we find hope? How We Hope investigates, debates, and wrestles with hope from all angles: practical examples of progress, the philosophy and psychology of hope, and stories from those who have lost or regained their faith. We talk to activists, scholars, and our own peers. In every episode, we banter, report, and grapple with our own relationships to hope. Originally distributed with Grab Bag Collab.

Author

Lena Han and Betsy Kim

Episodes

Hope in journalism and other unlikely places 11.01.2026 26:38

Journalists are often the bearers of bad news about the world, and increasingly, about the future of their own work. It’s part of why Betsy and Lena felt compelled to document their journey as friends – and as journalists – to find hope. So did they find it? Tune in to find out. How We Hope Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howwehope How We Hope YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HowWeHope Bets...

When faith runs out 11.01.2026 26:21

With polls showing trust in the government, mainstream news outlets, and colleges and universities at record lows, it seems like there aren’t a lot of things Americans believe in these days. In this episode, Betsy and Lena chat about the idea of faith in crisis. Betsy’s friend Esther Holliday, who left the fundamentalist Christian faith she was born into, and Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Dan Horn...

Is hope rational? 11.01.2026 26:15

What’s the point of having hope when it feels like there’s nothing left to have hope about? In this episode we interview Lena Zurub, a Palestinian American mom of two who grew up in the West Bank and now lives in Ohio, about how she holds onto hope in the face of genocide. We also talk to Nadia Rahman, a therapist and clinical psychologist who treats PTSD, about how recalling positive memories and...

Overcoming Climate Doomism 11.01.2026 29:30

The climate crisis is dire, and doomism about it is tempting. We’re psychologically set up to remember negative headlines more than positive ones and to reinforce the bleak narratives we create about the world. In this episode, we talk to a Dr. Claire Robertson, a psychology professor, and Ricky Huang, a climate activist, to better understand why it is so hard to overcome climate doomism, its soci...

Afrofuturism: remembering the past, reimagining the future 11.01.2026 28:59

Afrofuturism – the movement, genre and cultural aesthetic that inspired Marvel’s Black Panther – teaches us to reinvent the future by studying the past. Afrofuturist works that we discuss include Octavia Butler’s sci-fi novel Parable of the Sower (1993) and techno music, which was invented in the 80s by Black teens tinkering with machines in Detroit. Boston University professor Dr. James Howard Hi...

Hope in collective action: What we can learn from Wikipedia, smallpox eradication, and a movie theater strike 07.01.2026 32:11

Some of the biggest sources of doom are collective action problems—issues that feel too big for any one person to solve, but that could be turned around if everyone made a change. For our first episode, we investigate examples of successful collective action at different scales. We talk to Seb Diaz about organizing a movie theater strike in Downtown Brooklyn, Nellie Bristol about the eradication o...

How We Hope Trailer 17.12.2025 0:52

Coming soon! Email us at howwehopepodcast@gmail.com.