Second Nature

Season 4 is underway! We’re hard at work on the new season and we can’t wait to hear your contributions. For the best shot at getting on season 4, please send in your submissions before November. But feel free to continue submitting through November as well.  Submitting to the show is easy! Fill out this form to start your submission to Second Nature. After you fill out the form, you'll receive qu...

‍ -> Short Survey: Tell us what you think of Second Nature ‍ Whether you're a parent, an auntie, a coach, a godfather — there's a lot to think about when it comes to raising a more sustainable generation. How can we raise young people to take better care of the planet than the generations before them?  ‍ ‍ For our last episode of season 3, we're looking into the future to see how younger genera...

-> 🚨 Tell your U.S. reps not to cut federal funding for public libraries. -> Short Survey: Tell us what you think of Second Nature Libraries are icons of the sharing economy. When we borrow books, media, and tools from the library, we save ourselves from needing to buy new stuff. But did you know that libraries are also community hubs for climate resilience? From heatwaves to hurricanes, th...

Microplastics seem to be everywhere, inside and outside our bodies. These micro and nano particles are shedding from our clothes, our tires, food packaging — basically anywhere there's plastic. People, animals, and plants are consuming these microplastics, thereby complicating the issue and contributing to health problems. But what health issues? And how do we avoid them?  The science is still a w...

NOTE: An early version of this audio has an error around 4:50. If you hear that error, it's likely because your podcast player downloaded the first version. Please re-download the episode to hear the correct version! And forgive us, as we're merely human beans 🫘 . Is climate news stressing you out? Same. We're experiencing funding cuts to environmental agencies, while climate disasters like heatw...

🔗 TAKE ACTION: Stop State AI Regulation Ban in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" Act When you ask ChatGPT to write a cover letter, make your grocery list, or edit an image, what's actually happening in the real world? As AI gets bigger by the day, it's requiring more and more energy, water, and land in communities around the world.  Tech companies are investing billions of dollars in data centers and...

Farmers market season is upon us! As we've started seeing spring crops here at markets in the Northern Hemisphere, we're thinking about the power of locally grown food. As our food supply chains have gone global — we’ve gained more access to nutritious foods in areas where they may be hard to grow — but we’ve lost touch with seasonality and the source of our food. And we’ve lost touch with plenty...

Microplastics are seemingly everywhere, even our clothes. From production through wash days, synthetic fabrics are shedding microplastics into the air and water. It's a big issue that's going to take shifts from manufacturing to our own homes, and we wanted to start tackling this big discussion with the help of our friends at the podcast, Conscious Chatter.  Earlier this year, host Kestrel Jenkins...

The climate crisis has a way of making hard things even harder — and that includes gender disparities. From their professional lives to their personal lives, climate change has left many women vastly under-resourced and at risk, all while taking on the heavy toll of caring for their families and communities through climate mitigation and resilience. In this episode, we hear how the climate gender...

Planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence have us in a disposable consumption cycle. But it hasn't always been this way. When and why did we stop thinking things were worth fixing? In this episode, we get a history lesson in planned obsolescence, visit Adrienne Ferre, who is helping run a Makers Hub in LA, complete with a tool library and repair cafes. And we catch up on Right to Repair legi...

This episode originally aired on June 12, 2024.  Becoming more conscious consumers is a pivotal step in building a more sustainable economy, but how do we deconsume in a consumerist world? When we buy less, we save money, cut down on clutter, and lower our emissions. This collective shift has another big impact — helping us to steer the economy away from disposable products, unsustainable resource...

Help us win a Webby! It only takes a minute to vote. Vote here! Often on urban lots, behind chain link fences, adorned with hand-painted signs, plots burgeoning with fruits, vegetables, and flowers, flanked by compost piles — the humble community garden feels like a salve for so much that ails us.  On this Community Voices episode, we're going from Los Angeles to Brazil to hear how community garde...

The secondhand clothing market isn't equipped for textile recycling. So when your donated clothes don't sell, where do they end up? With the rise of overconsumption and fast fashion, clothes have piled up in thrift stores, landfills, and incinerators around the world. Countries like Ghana and Chile are dealing with fashion waste from countries like the U.S., UK, and China, and the impacts are vast...

In a capitalist society, value is measured in dollars and cents. But the resources we take from planet Earth can't be repaid in any kind of financial currency, and we're already paying the price for the debt we owe.  ‍ So the question on many people's minds is "Can we even have ethical consumption under capitalism?" In this episode, we find out that despite having differing opinions on the answer...

Feeling bummed out by climate setbacks? Or maybe you're outright angry? We're here for you.  With 40% of Americans starting to align their money with their views, it's clear that we're ready to push back on recent climate challenges. In season 3 of Second Nature, we're balancing hope and action — from company boycotts to community gardens. With the help of community voices from around the world, t...

This episode originally aired on June 4, 2024. We're about to break ground on season three, the soil outside is warming up and we're ready to get our hands in the dirt. So we wanted to revisit this episode as we prep our gardens for spring. Stoops, balconies, and windowsills are ripe for growing food. Today, we're riding out the ripple effect that urban gardening can have on our lives and the plan...

This episode originally aired on July 9, 2024. As more and more people are boycotting big brands like Amazon, we thought it was the perfect time to bring back this episode about how ditching convenience culture can actually make us more sustainable citizens. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, our use of Amazon has skyrockted, making the company the second biggest U.S. parcel carrier after t...

This episode originally aired on May 29, 2024. As we're prepping for season 3, we're revisiting this episode in honor of our February Collective Challenge in the Commons app: Boycott Fast Fashion . Join us! Fast fashion is cheap, but the low cost to customers comes at a high cost to garment workers, communities, and the environment. So, how do we break free from the fast fashion cycle? Second Natu...

We're excited to hear from your for season 3! Fill out this form to start your submission to Second Nature: https://j09c5.app.link/e/KfZvWw9izPb After you fill out the form, you'll receive questions based on the topics you chose, with details about how to submit your audio. At the end of this call for submissions, you heard the voices of listeners Jordan Webb, Cindy, and Artie Sadahiro.  (00:00) -...

When you’re trying to live more sustainably, fashion can be hard to navigate. The industry is ripe with greenwashing that masks exploitative practices for people and planet. But sustainable fashion is an expansive, exciting world of circularity, repair, and trustworthy, responsible brands. On this episode (our season 2 finale!), we’re coming face-to-face with the cost conversation when it comes to...

A third of the food we produce goes to waste, and a shocking amount of that waste happens in our own homes. The good news is that fighting food waste is easy with a few life hacks up your sleeve. And even better, it'll save you money too.  ‍ In this episode, we hear what types of food our community struggles with and get their tips to curb the waste. We're asking plastic-free, low-waste chef Anne-...

We’re eating way too much meat. An unsustainable, unhealthy amount of meat. If you’re looking for one way to drastically improve your health and carbon footprint — plant-based eating is it. But even if you’re not going fully plant-based, reducing your meat intake is a huge step in the right direction.  ‍ In this episode, we hear how our community has noticed a difference in their health since eati...

When we need or want something, our first thought is often, "Where can I buy it?" But what if our first thought was: "I wonder if my neighbors have it?" Buy Nothing groups and free groups are community-rooted solutions for overconsumption and how much overconsumption costs us and the planet.  Whether you're looking for empty plastic containers for a craft or you want to give away an old Kindle you...

Government seems to move slower than the pace of climate change, so do our votes for climate candidates and policies actually make a difference?  ‍ In this episode, we're connecting the dots between climate and policy and hearing from people around the world about how their governments’ policies are affecting their lives and their regions. We're also catching up with HEATED editor-in-chief Emily A...

Plant-based cheese is better than ever, but can we expand our expectations of cheese to ease our reliance on Big Dairy? Cheese is delicious. Even aspiring vegans find cheese hard to quit. But making dairy cheese is not only rough on the planet — the dairy cows’ lives aren’t great either. In this episode, we’re getting the full picture of the impact of dairy cheese, including the United States’ dec...