The Most Important Question

Latest Episodes:

The Future of Aluminum Recycling Nov 21, 2022

Show notes

Aluminum. It’s everywhere!

And we’re going to need a hell of a lot more of it in the future.

Aluminum is a primary ingredient in solar, wind, hydro, concentrated solar, bioenergy, the grid, batteries, hydrogen, and more. And that’s just electricity generation and distribution, to say nothing of consumer goods, from EVs to baseball bats.

Great news: we already collect and recycle a hell of a lot of it. Compared to, say, plastic, this is a huge win!

But…the bit we haven’t been able to recycle is 1) at scale, a lot, and 2) FAIRLY hazardous.

Luckily, some very smart young folks may have figured out how to recycle more of it, and maybe even power their whole operation from the inside out.

We have to rebuild our entire economy to get to zero new emissions, and then go even further. Some sectors are far easier than others, and deep tech, heavy industry, is the latter.

It’s not sexy, but heavy industry is – often literally – the foundation for everything we do. Think metals and minerals and concrete and steel and more.

My guests today are Rostam Reifschneider & Julian Davis.

Rostam and Julian are childhood friends, and the founders of Hydrova, a new company that focuses on developing technology to repurpose waste byproducts of aluminum recycling that are typically landfilled into valuable commodities.

Rostam is another 776 Fellow that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and sharing with you.

What they’re trying to do is so important. If you’ve ever watched a video about aluminum production or recycling on YouTube, well, it’s like looking at a collection of rings being forged in the fires of Mordor.

Finding a way of making that process more efficient, more circular, less dangerous for people and the climate, and just in time for us to need much more of the product?

Well, that’s a story I’ve just got to share.

-----------

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

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

-----------

INI Book Club:

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

Learn more on the Hydrova website
Connect with Hydrova on LinkedIn

Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Subscribe to our Youtube channel
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Find our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-stats

Advertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

Newsletter #299: How to save 1.3 million lives Nov 18, 2022

Show notes

This week:

Global climate news roundup beyond COP27
The human cost of vaccine inequity
Water runs dry
Chatbots aren't your friends
Caveats to exciting AI developments

Here's What You Can Do:

More Democratic Senators means a greater chance the US can stand by it's climate commitments. Donate to Senator Warnock's December runoff campaign here, and the invaluable "Georgia Safe and Strong" alliance of local organizers here.
Check out Biobot's wastewater monitoring program for local governments and then take it to your next city council meeting
Get deeper water news from our friends at Circle of Blue
Every bit of leverage for data privacy policy matters. Donate to Senator Warnock's December runoff campaign here, and the invaluable "Georgia Safe and Strong" alliance of local organizers here, so we can get ahead of this dangerous nonsense for once.
Get free weekly updates on ethical AI from our friends at the Montreal AI Ethics Institute.

Get more:

Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter
Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp
Subscribe to our Youtube channel
Get fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/store
Take a nap you deserve it

Advertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

Breaking Bread with the Korean Vegan Nov 14, 2022

Show notes

There’s nothing quite like breaking bread with family and friends, old or new. By mid-2020, we’d have all taken the opportunity to break bread with just about anyone.

Why are recipes, and the stories behind them, some of the most enduring parts of each of our cultures?

How can we be more intentional about cooking food more often, food that makes us feel good, that tastes good, that’s good for the planet, food that nourishes others, and that allows us to let our guards down for a moment, and share our joys and struggles?

One thing I never make enough time for is hosting others, and feeding others. I mean, besides my kids, who I love to feed, but they never stop feeding, and so it’s relentless, but that’s another story altogether.

Some of my favorite food to make is from my guest today Joanne Lee Molinaro, the Korean Vegan.

Joanne is a runner, an attorney, a blogger, a podcast host, and the author of the James Beard-award-winning Korean Vegan Cookbook named one of the best cookbooks of 2021.

But you may know her best as the chef and storyteller behind her wildly popular Instagram and TikTok accounts, where in just sixty seconds or so, she makes a delicious plant-based Korean dish, and at the end, when she’s done, you and millions of others are laughing, or crying or both.

Joanne infuses her food with stories about her life, and her family’s journey from what is now North Korea. Her stories are heartbreaking and compassionate, at the same time vulnerable and empowering as hell.

Because we’ve all come so far. We’ve all suffered, we’ve all felt alone, and I can tell you, sharing some spicy garlic tofu over a round table packed with friends…that’s the antidote to just about everything.

-----------

*CORRECTION* The Indigenous author referenced at approximately 31:50 is Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer. I am a moron. You can and should buy Dr. Kimmerer's books here.

-----------

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

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

-----------

INI Book Club:

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

Links:

Order the Korean Vegan Cookbook
Follow the Korean Vegan on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube

Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Find our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-stats

Advertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

Why is Environmental Justice Journalism Important? Nov 07, 2022

Show notes

It’s always worth revisiting the inarguable fact that our country was designed to be inequitable.

And while much progress has been made over time, the powers that be continued to imagine and design new ways of marginalizing, at best, Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous people throughout our society and economy.

But who will tell their story? And who should?

Local news has all but disappeared. Meanwhile, the communities most marginalized and least covered by mainstream publishers continue to struggle.

It’s important we help them tell their stories, not only so we are – very simply – more aware and educated about lived experiences different from our own, but so we can understand the specific mechanics behind the systems oppressing them, where their organizing has been successful, and where it hasn’t, and why.

And finally, how best to help.

We need new models of local and regional and even national news, where the news and stories are more accessible, more a product of relationships inside those communities, and more impactful, to improve daily outcomes, and to prepare us for an even more volatile future.

My guest today is Adam Mahoney.

Adam is a national climate and environment reporter at Capital B, a first-of-its-kind Black-led nonprofit local and national news organization committed to news that centers Black voices and experiences to act as a catalyst for meaningful change and beat back against mistruths targeted at Black people.

In his reporting, Adam covers issues involving environmental racism, the ways communities are fighting climate change, and how the climate crisis is disproportionately impacting communities of color.

Prior to joining Capital B, Adam covered policing in Chicago and was a reporter covering environmental justice and investigations at Grist, where he was also an environmental justice fellow.

Since joining Capital B, Adam has conducted numerous investigations tied to environmental justice and telling the underreported ways climate change is impacting Black Americans.

-----------

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

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

-----------

INI Book Club:

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

Links:

Read, subscribe, and donate to Capital B News
Follow Capital B News on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
Follow Adam Mahoney on Twitter and LinkedIn
Become a mentor or mentee with the Zenith Cooperative

Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Find our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-stats

Advertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

#298: What they're *not* teaching kids today Nov 04, 2022

Show notes

This week:

Climate change in the curriculum
Increasingly divergent subvariants
Cell-cultured meat
RSV vaccines are coming
Generative AI (...didn't write this, but it might one day)

Here's What You Can Do:

Teachers can't teach without understanding the material. Check out ClimeTime and the CLEAN project for free, vetted resources for educators K-12.
Bring everyone you know to get their bivalent boosters, bring masks back (they can help defend against the flu and RSV too), and improve your air quality wherever you can
Our friends at Climate Tech VC put together a free deep-dive on methane emissions from cows. Read it and get up to speed.
Join our friends at Pod Save America to call, text, knock on doors, and vote for people who will fight for the 75% of Americans who don't have access to paid leave through an employer
Check out Bleeding Edge AI for a cool timeline for developments as they happen, and/or Ben's Bites, a free, digestible, pithy email update with all things generative AI

Get more:

Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter
Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp
Get fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/store
Take a nap you deserve it

Advertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

Introducing Climavores: "Our first Climavores guest is a big one: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack" Oct 31, 2022

Show notes

Climate change is a touchy topic in farm country. But one third of greenhouse gas emissions come from food and agriculture, so it’s crucial that the industry becomes part of the climate change solution.

For years almost all the action on climate change centered on energy – solar and wind and electric vehicles taking on coal and gas and oil. But now Washington is suddenly buzzing about “climate-smart agriculture,” and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is in the middle of the action. He just announced $3 billion in grants for “climate-smart commodities.” The Inflation Reduction Act is sending the USDA $20 billion for climate-smart projects. It’s incredible how quickly the food and climate issue has moved to the center of the plate.

This week, Mike and Tamar welcome Secretary Vilsack as their first Climavores guest. They dig in on everything from regulating farmers to regenerative agriculture to subsidies as a bridge to market solutions. And of course Mike pushes the Secretary on his favorite topic – biofuels.

Have a question about food and climate change for Mike and Tamar? Leave a message on the Climavores hotline at (508) 377-3449. Or email us at climavores@postscriptaudio.com. We might feature your question on a future episode.

Climavores is a production of Post Script Media.

-----------

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

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

-----------

Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Find our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-stats

Advertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

Newsletter #297: Your neighborhood's about to get much cleaner Oct 28, 2022

Show notes

This week:

$1 billion for electric school buses
A potential "tripledemic" sandwich (not as delicious as it sounds!)
One person's (treated) wastewater is another person's drinking water
Most pregnancy-related deaths in America are preventable
Bumble goes public with their "Private Detector" code

Here's What You Can Do (usually more varied, but until November 8th, it's all hands on deck):

Join our friends at Pod Save America or the Environmental Voter Project to call/text/donate and vote for people who will continue to build the foundation for a healthier world
If you lead or even work at a company with paid leave, message every to stay home as much as necessary, and if you don't - Join our friends at Pod Save America or the Environmental Voter Project to call/text/donate and vote for people who actually learned something from the pandemic
Join our friends at Pod Save America or the Environmental Voter Project to call/text/donate and vote for people who have lived experiences that reflect reality and will fight for a better water system
Read the Momnibus Act, and then join our friends at Pod Save America or the Environmental Voter Project to call/text/donate and vote for people who understand all too well what it means to struggle for health care
Use Bumble's easy tool to get your state reps to ban unsolicited nudes, and then (ding ding ding) join our friends at Pod Save America or the Environmental Voter Project to call/text/donate and vote for people who 1) actually understand the internet and 2) will help build one that's safer for women, LGBTQ+, and children.

Get more:

Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter
Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp
Get fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/store
Take a nap you deserve it

Advertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

You get an XPRIZE, and YOU get an XPRIZE! Oct 24, 2022

Show notes

Throughout history, kings, queens, governments, churches, and donors have funded contests and awarded prizes for solving the most difficult problems of the day.

Today, as we stand on the precipice of huge problems and opportunity, with everyone looking around going “What can I do?” the utility and relative inclusivity of prizes like these remains compelling.

And there’s one group that’s driving them more than anyone – XPRIZE.

My guest today is Dr. Marcius Extavour.

Marcius is the Chief Scientist & Executive Vice President of Climate and Energy at XPRIZE.

Marcius moved to XPRIZE after over a decade of working at the intersection of science, policy, education, and technology development. He served as Director of Government and Corporate Partnerships in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Extavour is active in science and energy policy more broadly, having held positions at the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resource as the OSA/SPIE/AAAS Congressional Science & Technology Policy Fellow, and at the Council of Canadian Academies, a science policy consultant to the Government of Canada.

The beauty of a problem like climate change, COVID, or antibiotics is that it affects everyone on the planet. We’re all invested in the outcome whether we’re actively participating or not.

The beauty of a contest like XPRIZE is the goal is clear and measurable, but the “how we get there” is not. It seeks active participants from likely players and the most unlikely of sources, dreamers of every kind who want to help in a very specific way, and to put a dent in the universe, odds be damned.

Marcius’s passion for bridge-building and problem-solving are evident in our conversation, and his work and team-building incredibly inspire me. We have to imagine a better future, and then take our best shot at it.

-----------

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

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

-----------

INI Book Club:

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

Links:

Follow Marcius on Twitter
Connect with Marcius on LinkedIn
Check out XPRIZE

Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Edited by Anthony Luciani
Produced by Willow Beck
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Find our more about our guests here: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/guest-stats

Advertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

Newsletter #296: Fake meat, fake profits? Oct 21, 2022

Show notes

This week:

Plant-based meat stocks
Another COVID winter is coming
A long-term plan for the baby formula shortage
The uncertain future of telehealth
Willfully shunning data privacy

Here's What You Can Do:

Help elect progressive state and federal candidates who will shift our diets and land use toward healthier, more sustainable food systems
Check your wastewater data here or here
If you've got extra, unopened, not-expired formula, donate it through the Free Formula Exchange. You can also get screened and donate breast milk at one of 31 regional milk banks.
We need people in office, at every level, who understand how quickly technology is progressing, how we can use it to help people, and the infrastructure required to enable broad access. Help get them elected.
We should make sure that the companies and governments that build tech only collect the data they absolutely need, and transparently, and not use it against us. Help elect people who understand where the puck is going.

Get more:

Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter
Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp
Get fun merch at importantnotimportant.com/store
Take a nap you deserve it

Advertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/sponsors

Automated Synthetic Biology (I'm sure it's fine) Oct 17, 2022

Show notes

Let's talk robots.

But first: There’s a very particular bottleneck where groundbreaking science is more applicable than ever but inaccessible to many.

The tools are unaffordable to the schools and groups who could use them to hook kids right when they’re most excited, kids with a huge variety of lived experienced, who have grown up in the climate era, and in the COVID era, who see and want to solve problems they can touch and feel – but because of costs and access, they never get to try.

Or the bottleneck presents as being frustratingly inefficient, to the labs who actually do this stuff every day, the ones who see a peer’s research and try to replicate it, but don’t have the funding or people or bandwidth or all three to spend time filling test tubes.

Building better processes isn’t the sexiest science you can do, but the science doesn’t happen, or nearly enough of it, or fast enough, without the help of someone who’s been affected by these inefficiencies.

Someone who can see the whole journey and identify areas where existing ways of doing things and tools for doing things can be made more reliable, more useful, and more affordable, to more people.

Enter: automated synthetic biology. Or, robots!

Roya Amini-Naieni is my guest today, straight from her robot lab.

This is another in our series of conversations with 776 fellows, a two-year program for young people who want to build a better future.

Roya is not only a 776 fellow but also the co-founder and CEO of TriloBio, where she’s working on revolutionizing synthetic biology by changing the way synthetic biologists do science.

Roya’s had an incredible journey so far, the child of Iranian immigrants, the child of engineers, and the apprentice to so many mentors who have seen her ambition and seem to understand that Roya has identified a way to stand up for better access to the tools of the future, and along the way, maybe even put a dent in the universe.

-----------

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

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

-----------

INI Book Club: