The Most Important Question

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**The Most Important Question**

The most important question in today’s world of climate chaos, AI psychosis, and crumbling democracy is: what can I do? Your host, Quinn Emmett is completely unqualified to answer it, so he’s calling the people that already are.

If you’ve got the news, the analysis, the outrage, but still no plan — join us as we figure it out together with long-form conversations with amazing people working on the frontlines, and quick updates responding to today’s most important headlines, and what you can do about it, tonight.

220+ episodes. 110+ countries. A bunch of Webby and Signal Award nominations. Zero hot takes.

Latest Episodes:

Essay: The Turn of the Tide Jul 29, 2024

Show notes

This week:

We're running an updated version of a popular essay from last year.

Tolkien described life (and often, his stories) as a "long defeat", where evil frequently, inevitably wins.

But he allowed for "eucatastrophe" — sudden joyous turns (just like breakthroughs in elections and voting rights).

We must keep fighting, to hold off the darkness.

Here's What You Can Do:

Donate to protecting voting rights and advocating for democracy with Fair Fight.
Volunteer to bring together conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between to fix America’s political system with RepresentUS.
Get educated about quick, easy, daily actions you can take to save democracy by subscribing to the Chop Wood, Carry Water newsletter.
Be heard about fair elections and add your name to the End Gerrymandering Pledge.
Run for your state or local office with Run for Something (if you’re under 40, if you’re over 40, donate!)

Get more:

Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
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Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com
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Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Take a nap you deserve it

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Everything Is Connected (No, Seriously) Jul 22, 2024

Show notes

How did our planet come to life? Is it alive? And where are we as part of that?

Those are today's big questions and my guest is Ferris Jabr.

His new book, Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life, is one of the most compelling, beautiful, timely, and important reads I've ever got to underline throughout.

Ferris is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and Scientific American. He has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper's, National Geographic, Wired, Outside, Lapham's Quarterly, McSweeney's, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other wonderful publications.

I've been on a bit of a bender lately. I'm getting older. I've got kids that are getting older quickly. Work continues. Everything keeps changing and staying the same. I'm trying to contextualize for myself, for this work, for you all, and for my kids, time and place and presence and relationships.

How much time do we each have here? Do we as a species have here? Who do we spend it with? How do we spend it? How precious is it to each of us? Does it become more so, less so? How should we use our time and experience, and how can we help?

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New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

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INI Book Club:

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

Read Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life
Read more of Ferris' work and follow him on social media

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Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

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AI Ethics Not Found Jul 08, 2024

Show notes

When is a cancer scare, a rejected mortgage loan, a false arrest, or predictive grading, more than a glitch in A.I.?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Meredith Broussard.

Meredith is a data journalist and associate professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University, Research Director at the NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology and the author of several books I loved, including More Than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender and Ability Bias in Tech, and Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World.

Her academic research focuses on A.I. in investigative reporting and ethical A.I., with a particular interest in using data analysis for social good.

She's a former features editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer. She's also worked as a software developer at AT&T Bell Labs and at the MIT Media Lab. Meredith's features and essays have appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Slate, and other outlets.

If you have ever turned on a computer or used the internet in some way to apply for something, or literally anything, this one is for you.

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INI Book Club:

Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

Read Meredith's books: More Than A Glitch and Artificial Unintelligence
Check out Meredith's website and follow her on social media
Get up to speed on A.I. ethics by reading: Weapons of Math Destruction, Algorithms of Oppression, Automating Inequality, Race After Technology, Black Software
Follow algorithm and bias influencers Avriel Epps and Joel Bervell
Check out the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, NIST's AI Risk Management Framework, GAO's Algorithmic Audit, and the Algorithmic Accountability Act
Check out Encode Justice

Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
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Get our merch
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

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Houston, We Have An Overfishing Problem Jun 24, 2024

Show notes

How do we stop overfishing if we don't know who's doing the fishing?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Jennifer Raynor.

Jennifer is an Assistant Professor of natural resource economics at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Before entering academia, she conducted policy-relevant economic research for the U.S. federal government for nearly a decade, most recently at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries.

Jennifer's research focuses on improving the efficiency and sustainability of fisheries and wildlife management, primarily using methods from economics, data science, and remote sensing.

She strives to inform the legislative decision-making process and works closely with state and federal resource managers to design and evaluate conservation policies. She serves on the board of trustees for Global Fishing Watch, and her research has appeared in top journals such as Science, Nature, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Jennifer and her team decided to tackle, 70 percent of our planet. The ocean. And what they discovered about who's trawling our oceans and where could set in motion policy the world over to make fishing drastically more sustainable and safe for everyone on every front.

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Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

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INI Book Club:

The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina
Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

Read Jennifer's satellite mapping paper in Nature
Read Jennifer's research on the economic benefits of wolves (and Ed Yong's piece about it in the Atlantic)
Follow more of Jennifer's work
Support Global Fishing Watch
Read the Crimes Behind The Seafood You Eat
Read The Outlaw Ocean series
Support the Outlaw Ocean Project

Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

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🌎 Essay: A Leading Question Jun 20, 2024

Show notes

This week:

We are occasionally asked why we link to scientific journals, news outlets, and sometimes even opinion pieces that are behind paywalls.

In a world where HBO HBO Max Max and Spotify and everyone else raise prices once a month, it’s a great question:

Our newsletter is free — why the hell do we make you click through to something that costs money?

Here's What You Can Do:

Donate to the 19th, a diverse, indie, non-profit newsroom reporting on gender, politics, and policy. They do amazing work.
Volunteer with Documenters to fill the gap in local media coverage and make sure public meetings are on the record.
Get educated about what journalists can do to help journalism survive, from getting involved in policy to unionizing.
Be heard about helping journalists and publishers receive fair compensation from tech platforms for use of their content and ask your representative to support the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act.
Invest in companies that align with your values using fennel.

Get more:

Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Take a nap you deserve it

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Bring A Folding Chair Jun 10, 2024

Show notes

How do we tackle huge systemic intersectional environmental justice issues at the local level?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Jacqui Patterson.

Jacqui is the Founder and Executive Director of the Chisholm Legacy Project, which helps connect Black communities that are being disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis with the resources they need to create systemic change across connected challenges.

Jacqui was recently named to Time Magazine's 2024 list of Women of the Year, and she took home the Earth Award for her work. Jacqui was previously the Senior Director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program. Since 2007, she has served as Coordinator and Co-founder of Women of Color United.

She has served as the Senior Women's Rights Policy Analyst for ActionAid, where she integrated a women's rights lens for the issue of feud rights, macroeconomics, and climate change, as well as the intersection of violence against women and HIV/AIDS.

Previously, she served as Assistant Vice President of HIV and AIDS Programs for IMA World Health, providing management and technical assistance to medical facilities and programs in 23 countries in Africa and the Caribbean.

Jacqui served as the Outreach Project Associate for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Research Coordinator for Johns Hopkins University.

She also served as a US Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica.

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Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

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INI Book Club:

Chronicles of the One series by Nora Roberts
Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

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The Science of Fiction Jun 03, 2024

Show notes

Why is it so important that we share the science of fiction, and what do we do with it once we have it?

That's today's big question, and my guest is Maddie Stone.

Maddie is a prolific science journalist. She is a doctor of earth and environmental sciences. She's the former science editor of the technology website Gizmodo, which I love, and the founding editor of Earther, Gizmodo's climate focused vertical, which I love.

Maddie has edited articles for The Verge, Polygon, and Grist, and her original and award winning journalism has appeared in National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Grist, Vice, MIT Technology Room, Technology Review, and Drilled, and many other outlets we love and link to basically every day.

An avid science fiction fan like me, Maddie runs one of my favorite blogs called The Science of Fiction, an email newsletter and a blog, if you're old, that explores the real world science behind fictional monsters and alien planets and stuff like that (which checks all of my boxes).

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Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

-----------

INI Book Club:

Not The End of The World by Hannah Ritchie
The Right to Repair by Aaron Perzanowski
Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

Subscribe to The Science of Fiction
Keep up with Maddie's writing, including her recent story holding Microsoft accountable to their sustainability pledges
Check out the Climate Reality Check report from Good Energy

Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
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Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Essay: In Bruges May 27, 2024

Show notes

This week:

Do you like cookies? What about olive oil cake? What about chocolate chip coffee cake? Listen on.

Here's What You Can Do:

🌍️ Donate to support African farmers by increasing incomes and improving food security through the Alliance for a Green Africa.
🌎️ Volunteer to join the Coffee & Climate Network, an organization that connects stakeholders in coffee farming to create a climate-smart future.
🌎️ Get educated about regenerative agriculture that increases resilience using resources from Climate Farmers.
Be heard about your eco-anxiety by connecting with others having similar feelings at a Climate Psychology Alliance Climate Cafe near you.
Invest in deforestation-free investment options with Deforestation Free Funds.

Get more:

Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Take a nap you deserve it

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Chronic Illness: Not Actually Female Hysteria! May 20, 2024

Show notes

How do we take a huge chronic disease burden like Lyme disease or long COVID or even long flu and make it so personal that we simply can't ignore it anymore?

That's today's big question and my guest is Dr. Mikki Tal, an immunoengineer and a principal scientist at MIT.

Dr. Tal leads the Tal Research Group within the Department of Biological Engineering, and also serves as the Associate Scientific Director of the Center for Gynepathology Research. Mikki is working to identify the connections between infections and chronic diseases.

I've written a bit recently about the lessons we finally need to learn about post viral and bacterial health issues, the societal and medicinal and health and economic issues and improving our baseline of wellness and community health, so that we don't suffer from those quite as much.

These things are very real, we've known about them for a very long time and the compounding effects of chronic diseases are just going to continue add up the longer we ignore them, and we gaslight people.

There has never really been a better time for Mikki's work, or for this wonderfully inspiring and personal conversation.

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Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

-----------

INI Book Club:

Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

Participate in the MAESTRO Study
Explore more of Dr. Tal's research (including recent papers here and here)
Keep up with Dr. Tal's work on X and Linkedin
Read more about Dr. Tal's work here and here

Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

Essay: How to get more Good Energy May 10, 2024

Show notes

This week:

This week I wrote about a groundbreaking and essential new study that — thank christ — is not actually about which seemingly reasonable dietary supplement will definitely extend/tragically cut short your life.

It’s about 🍿 film, and after you’re done reading, I’d love it if you replied to this email with some favorite movies that moved the needle for you in some way. We’ll share the list with everyone soon.

Here's What You Can Do:

Donate to Eco-Anxious Stories to help create stories about meaning, mental health, and climate change.
🌍️ Volunteer to share your climate solutions story with the Global Solutions Diary from Project Drawdown.
🌎️ Get educated about how to integrate climate change into your writing in an authentic way by booking a consultation with Good Energy.
Be heard about the climate crisis and urge Congress to act.
Invest in a climate-positive future using ATMOS.

Get more:

Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com
Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
Get our merch
Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp
Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Take a nap you deserve it

Advertise with us: importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

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