TopPodcast.com
Menu
  • Home
  • Top Charts
  • Top Networks
  • Top Apps
  • Top Independents
  • Top Podfluencers
  • Top Picks
    • Top Business Podcasts
    • Top True Crime Podcasts
    • Top Finance Podcasts
    • Top Comedy Podcasts
    • Top Music Podcasts
    • Top Womens Podcasts
    • Top Kids Podcasts
    • Top Sports Podcasts
    • Top News Podcasts
    • Top Tech Podcasts
    • Top Crypto Podcasts
    • Top Entrepreneurial Podcasts
    • Top Fantasy Sports Podcasts
    • Top Political Podcasts
    • Top Science Podcasts
    • Top Self Help Podcasts
    • Top Sports Betting Podcasts
    • Top Stocks Podcasts
  • Podcast News
  • About Us
  • Podcast Advertising
  • Contact
Not in our directory?
Add Show Here
Podcast Equipment
Center

toppodcastlogoOur TOPPODCAST Picks

  • Comedy
  • Crypto
  • Sports
  • News
  • Politics
  • True Crime
  • Business
  • Finance

Follow Us

toppodcastlogoStay Connected

    View Top 200 Chart
    Back to Rankings Page
    Earth Sciences

    Crazy Town

    With equal parts humor and in-depth analysis, Asher, Rob, and Jason safeguard their sanity while probing crazy-making topics like climate change, overshoot, runaway capitalism, and why we’re all deluding ourselves. Each fortnightly episode helps you understand the “Great Unraveling” of our environmental and social systems and describes how we can make the transition to a sustainable and equitable world. If you’re someone who questions the trajectory of society and struggles to understand why most people would rather eat nachos on the deck of the “SS Denial” than face reality, you’ll find community and plenty of laughs in Crazy Town.

    Brought to you by https://www.resilience.org/ and the unconventional minds at Post Carbon Institute, a nonprofit think tank that builds awareness of the polycrisis and prescribes community resilience-building as the most appropriate response.

    Your hosts:
    Asher Miller – Nonprofit executive director by day, apocalypse comedian by night. Feels most at home exploring insanity-inducing topics while trying not to spill coffee on his keyboard as he convulses over the latest ecomodernist fantasy. In danger of losing his mind every time he encounters someone using a gas-powered blower to move leaves from one spot to another.

    Rob Dietz – Jack-of-all-trades environmental scientist, conservation biologist, and ecological economist with a penchant for relating planetary overshoot to the catalog of movie scenes that play on a continuous loop in his colonized brain. Known for inserting random ecological facts into casual conversation, often in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s voice. His friends call him “pessimistically hilarious.”

    Jason Bradford – Activist farmer and former encyclopedia salesman with a PhD in plant ecology who gets genuinely excited discussing soil microbes and societal collapse in the same breath. Morally opposed to doomsday prepping, but predisposed toward sharing everything he keeps in his bunker, er root cellar, including potatoes, wine, and a 47-month supply of scientific esoterica and embarrassing anecdotes.

    These guys are the Three Stooges of sustainability podcasting, although they tend toward scientific analysis, righteous outrage, and self-deprecation rather than beating each other up with hand tools. How can they have this much fun while contemplating collapse and navigating the Great Unraveling?

    Heartfelt thanks to the team at Post Carbon Institute, our volunteers, and all our fellow Crazy Townies out there who help bring this podcast to life.

    Advertise

    Copyright: © 2022 Crazy Town

    • Apple Podcasts
    • Google Play
    • Spotify

    Latest Episodes:
    Eating the Future: The NY Times Goes Full Ecomodernist on Food and Farming Mar 05, 2025
    Show notes

    How will we feed people living in the megacities of the 21st century, especially while confronting climate chaos and the depletion of fossil fuels and fossil water? According to the mainstream media: ecomodernism! Massive deployment of technology on factory farms and an extreme ramp-up of industrialization will save the day – right? RIGHT?!? If you read the New York Times, you might think that supermarket shelves will forever overflow with 3D-printed fish sticks, mylar bags full of genetically modified cheesy poofs, and faux corn dogs that ooze out of laboratory vats. Jason, Rob, and Asher question the wisdom of doubling down on industrialization in food and farming. It’s no surprise they recommend paying attention to nature and ecological limits. Stick around for ideas you can use in your community to support a healthy, regenerative food system (and keep on eating). Originally recorded on 1/21/25.

    Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

    Sources/Links/Notes:

    • Jason Bradford, The Future Is Rural, 2/19/19.
    • Eliza Barclay, "What to Eat on a Burning Planet," The New York Times, 7/29/24.
    • David Wallace-Wells, "Food as You Know It Is About to Change," The New York Times, 7/28/24.
    • Andrew Nikiforuk, "A Reality Check on Our 'Energy Transition'," Resilience, 1/6/25.
    • Michael Grunwald, "Sorry, but This Is the Future of Food," The New York Times, 12/13/24.
    • "Changing How We Grow Our Food: Readers disagree with an essay about factory farms," The New York Times, 1/4/25.
    • Jay Famiglietti, "Will We Have to Pump the Great Lakes to California to Feed the Nation?" The New York Times, 8/5/24.
    • Clip of the Hydrologist in Chief "explaining" the oh-so-simple solution to water shortages.

    Support the show


    Bargaining With Collapse: A Superabundance of Lab Grown Meat and Dryer Balls Feb 13, 2025
    Show notes

    Do you contemplate topics like climate change, biodiversity loss, and the risk of civilizational collapse? If so, then you probably understand something about bargaining – a psychological defense mechanism that’s one of the five stages of grief. With just a wee bit of embarrassment, Asher, Jason, and Rob reveal damning episodes of bargaining from their personal histories (involving green consumerism and cult-like devotion to technology). Having admitted their sins, they discuss the allure of false solutions to our environmental predicaments and how even veteran environmental journalists can be susceptible to it. Stay to the end for thoughts on how to avoid getting hoodwinked by the horde of ecomodernist tech bros who continuously shove unworkable "solutions" down our throats. Originally recorded on January 16, 2025.

    Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

    Sources/Links/Notes:

    • Julia Musto, "The end of the world as we know it? Theorist warns humanity is teetering between collapse and advancement," Independent, January 13, 2025 (about Nahfeez Ahmed's take on superabundance versus collapse).
    • Rob Dietz, "Chris Smaje Vs. George Monbiot and the Debate on the Future of Farming," Resilience, October 27, 2023.
    • Crazy Town episode 32 on cognitive bias
    • Megan Phelps-Roper's six questions
    • Crazy Town episode 45 on feedback loops, featuring an interview with Beth Sawin
    • Post Carbon Institute's Deep Dive on building emotional resilience

    Support the show


    The House Is Quite Literally on Fire: Peter Kalmus on the Climate Emergency Hitting Home Feb 03, 2025
    Show notes

    Peter Kalmus, climate scientist and returning friend of Crazy Town, used to live in Altadena, California, where one of the disastrous Los Angeles wildfires struck on January 7th. Having learned that his former house had burned, Peter penned an emotional article for the New York Times about his family's decision to leave LA two years prior, out of safety concerns about frequent heat waves, drought, and just the sort of tragic conflagration that has reduced parts of LA to ashes. Get Peter's take on this historic wildfire, what nature is trying to teach us, and how to think about unnatural disasters now and in the future. Note: this interview was recorded on January 24, 2025.
    Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

    Sources/Links/Notes:

    • Peter Kalmus’s article in the New York Times from January 10, 2025: “As a Climate Scientist, I Knew It Was Time to Leave Los Angeles”
    • Peter’s book, Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution
    • News story about the huge Bobcat Fire that struck Los Angeles County in 2020
    • Article in Science about the damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton
    • Peter mentioned the Clausius-Clapeyron equation, which relates vapor pressure to temperature.

    FeedSpot ranked Crazy Town as the #1 environmental economics podcast.

    Support the show


    The Frequent Flyer Tree: Losing the Last Bit of Sense in the Climate Emergency Jan 15, 2025
    Show notes

    In the world of college sports, money talks and the volleyball team walks, er, flies 33,000 miles to play games. The NCAA, like almost everyone else, is playing games with Mother Nature. What do we expect student-athletes to gain from ignoring the climate emergency (not to mention putting their health at risk)? Who cares, as long as we can wring a few more dollars out of the TV deals -- am I right?!? Jason, Rob, and Asher propose a new plan for college sports and for taking the climate emergency seriously.
    On a happy note: FeedSpot ranked Crazy Town as the #1 environmental economics podcast.
    Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

    Sources/Links/Notes:

    • Jeff Eisenberg, "Conference realignment has redefined 'travel ball'," yahoo!sports, September 11, 2024.
    • Stanford University's Woods Institute for the Environment and Doerr School of Sustainability
    • Stanford has the most winning NCAA program, counting all sports. (2nd and 3rd are UCLA and USC, by far!)

    Support the show


    Shotgunning Hedwig: The Dilemma of Invasives and the Bizarre Decision to Slaughter Barred Owls Dec 18, 2024
    Show notes

    The US Fish and Wildlife Service decided to "manage" barred owls by shooting half a million of them over the next three decades. Jason, Rob, and Asher (along with the postal workers at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry) are upset about this plan for addressing the predicament of invasive species. Surely there's a finer tool than a double-barreled shotgun for conserving ecosystems and protecting the species that inhabit them.

    Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

    Sources/Links/Notes:

    • Bill Lucia, "Plan Finalized to Kill Thousands of Barred Owls around Northwest," Washington State Standard, August 28, 2024.
    • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Final Barred Owl Management Strategy, August 2024.
    • "Killing barred owls to save northern spotted owls: Rethinking American wildlife conservation," On Point, WBUR, 9/5/2024.
    • Avram Hiller, Jay Odenbaugh, and Yasha Rohwer, "A Dystopian Effort Is Underway in the Pacific Northwest to Pick Ecological Winners and Losers," New York Times, August 8, 2024.
    • Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, "Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program."
    • Robert Dietz and Brian Czech, "Conservation Deficits for the Continental United States: an Ecosystem Gap Analysis," Conservation Biology, August 16, 2005.
    • Tom Murphy, "Metastatic Modernity #12: Human Supremacy," Metastatic Modernity Video Series, August 9, 2024.

    Support the show


    Breaking News: Crazy Town Joins the Newly Formed Department of Entropy Nov 27, 2024
    Show notes

    Rob, Jason, and Asher talk about joining the new Trump Administration, at least until Elon Musk eradicates it. They explore the implications of Trump 2.0 through three reality-bending lenses – shifting baselines, entropy, and the upside of down – and three ways of responding: resistance, resilience, and regeneration. They decided they couldn’t stomach a fourth R – respect.

    We’ve added something new to this and future episodes: VIDEO! If you’d like to feel even more like you’re in the room with the Crazy Town gang, please check out the video and let us know what you think.
    Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

    Sources/Links/Notes:

    • Daniel Pauly’s 1995 article, Anecdotes and the Shifting Baseline Syndrome of Fisheries
    • Randy Olson’s op-ed in the LA Times, Slow-Motion Disaster Below the Waves
    • Video of Howard Dean’s speech with the infamous “Dean Scream”
    • NASA’s description of the second law of thermodynamics, the entropy law (Be sure to read it before the incoming US administration repeals the laws of thermodynamics!)
    • Thomas Homer-Dixon’s book The Upside of Down

    Support the show


    Bonus: Human Nature Odyssey Jul 31, 2024
    Show notes

    Sometimes you just wanna hear from someone else. In this bonus episode, Alex Leff enters Crazy Town to introduce his podcast, Human Nature Odyssey. Before playing the first episode of the podcast, Jason, Rob, and Asher find lots of laughs with Alex as they contemplate environmental destruction, gorilla suits, the fate of civilization, tandem bike rides, imaginary games, and how to make a podcast. If you need a little more encouragement to check out Human Nature Odyssey, our friend Tom Murphy (author of the Do the Math blog) gives it his highest recommendation.
    Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

    Sources/Links/Notes:

    • Human Nature Odyssey on Apple Podcasts
    • The work and philosophy of Daniel Quinn, author of Ishmael
    • Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
    • Alex Leff’s Patreon page for Human Nature Odyssey

    Support the show


    Escaping Escapism: What a Bizarre Rodent Ritual Can Teach Us About Navigating a World We Can't Really Escape Jun 19, 2024
    Show notes

    After a full season of trying to escape more than a dozen evil -isms (fun things like capitalism, industrialism, extremism, and otherism), Rob, Jason, and Asher come to one conclusion: there is no true escape -- at least not for those of us who want to help their communities collapse and re-emerge gracefully. Join the boys as they explore what the cult classic Groundhog Day has to teach us about navigating the endlessly insane world of modernity and reflect on key lessons and actionable steps we can all take to navigate the Great Unraveling of environmental and social systems.

    Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

    Sources/Links/Notes:

    • Trailer for the cult classic Groundhog Day
    • Article: "Harold Ramis didn't intend 'Groundhog Day' to be Buddhist, but it's a dharma classic" by Perry Garfinkel in Lion's Roar
    • Article: "Was Modernity Inevitable?" by Tom Murphy in Do the Math
    • Article: "Hospicing Modernity: Not a new idea" by Eliza Daley in Resilience
    • Article: "Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System" by Donella Meadows, published by the Donella Meadows Project
    • Multisolving Institute
    • Book: A Darwinian Survival Guide: Hope for the Twenty-First Century by Daniel R. Brooks and Salvatore J. Agosta, published by MIT Press

    Support the show


    Escaping Otherism: Why Dr. Seuss Could Never Find a Rhyme for Genocide Jun 12, 2024
    Show notes

    The drive to belong to an in-group and the tendency to observe differences in others are core parts of the human condition. But differentiating can (and often does) turn deadly when it morphs into othering. Jason, Rob, and Asher try not to other one another as they explore the roots and consequences of othering, and the ins and outs of belonging as a key organizing principle of society.

    Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.

    Sources/Links/Notes:

    • Wes Tank rapping Fox in Socks
    • The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss
    • Definition of othering from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights
    • Stereotype Content Model
    • Susceptibility to othering
    • Othering and Belonging Institute
    • Book by john a. powell and Stephen Menendian - Belonging Without Othering: How We Save Ourselves and the World
    • Crazy Town episode 51 on colonization and the mindset of extraction
    • Seeing White podcast
    • Racial Equity Institute
    • Colonial roots and other drivers of genocide in Rwanda
    • Trump’s reprehensible remarks about immigrants and about liberals
    • The dystopian, othering politics of Balaji Srinivasan (article by Gil Duran in The New Republic)
    • Christian Picciolini’s Ted Talk about how he stopped othering and helps more people do the same
    • Marnita’s Table
    • Needham Resilience Network

    Support the show


    Escaping Extremism: Slap Fighting Our Way to a More Civil Society Jun 05, 2024
    Show notes

    The forces of media, technology, and even the wiring of our own brains seem aligned to draw people toward extremism. But never fear: Asher, Jason, and Rob unpack why we're so susceptible to wackadoodle viewpoints and offer ways to tamp down extremist thinking and behavior in ourselves, our communities, and across society. Along the way, they tour the worlds of extreme sports, extreme politics, and extreme yogurt. They even question their own decidedly non-mainstream views on the environment and the economy.

    Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.


    Sources/Links/Notes:

    • Kevin Roose’s article in the New York Times “A QAnon ‘Digital Soldier’ Marches On, Undeterred by Theory’s Unraveling”Definition of extremism from the Anti-Defamation League
    • Concepts of “malignant bonding” and “scarcity mind” in the article “Widening the ‘We’” by Colin Greer and Eric Laursen
    • Zeynep Tufecki’s 2018 article in the New York Times “YouTube, the Great Radicalizer”
    • Kari Paul’s 2021 article in the Guardian “‘It let white supremacists organize’: the toxic legacy of Facebook’s Groups”
    • Peter D. Kvam et al., “Rational inference strategies and the genesis of polarization and extremism,” Nature, May 5, 2022.
    • Statistics on rising levels of hate crime in the United States
    • Statistics on domestic terrorism in the United States
    • Statistics on antisemitism around the world
    • Crazy Town episode 78, which includes the six questions Megan Phelps-Roper developed to challenge her entrenched beliefs.
    • Rapoport’s Rules for constructive criticism
    • Post Carbon Institute’s Deep Dive on Building Emotional Resilience
    • Diane Benscoter’s nonprofit, Antidote.ngo, which runs recovery groups for people caught up in disinformation.
    • Thought reform consultation
    • Crazy Town episode 89 on escaping individualism, in which we discussed mutual aid networks
    • Lawsuit to allow social media users to control their algorithms
    • Ranked choice voting

    Support the show


    Previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 18 Next

    Related Podcasts

    Quirks and Quarks – CBC

    1

    Quirks and Quarks – CBC Earth Sciences
    Climate One

    2

    Climate One Earth Sciences
    MinuteEarth – Minute Earth

    3

    MinuteEarth – Minute Earth Earth Sciences
    I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast

    4

    I Know Dino: The Big Dinosaur Podcast Earth Sciences
    Eat For The Planet with Nil Zacharias

    5

    Eat For The Planet with Nil Zacharias Arts
    The Weather Junkies

    6

    The Weather Junkies Earth Sciences
    footer-logo

    Contact Us

    Toll Free: 844-670-7747

    Links

    • Home
    • Top Charts
    • Networks
    • Apps
    • Independents Podcasts
    • Podcast Advertising
    • Podcast News
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Analytics & Insights

    Stay Connected

      Privacy, Terms of Use & Our Code of Ethics Protecting Content Creators Copyrights