The Most Important Question

Latest Episodes:

#100: A Conversation With (A) Future President of the United States Oct 05, 2020

Show notes

In Episode 100, Quinn & Brian discuss: Why state elections matter not just for your state but for the future of our planet.

Our guests are: Aimy Steele & Amanda Litman. Aimy is a candidate for the North Carolina House of Representatives in District 82, a mother of five, a former Spanish teacher, and a former K-12 principal. Amanda is the co-founder and Executive Director of Run For Something, a PAC that is recruiting and supporting young progressives who want to run for state and local elections. They’re endorsing more than 500 candidates in the 2020 elections, primarily women and people of color, and they’re inviting all of us to take an active role in writing a new future for our country.

And let me tell you -- if those 500 candidates are even half as inspiring as Aimy, we’re in for one hell of a new generation of state representatives. Aimy represents one of those rare times when we get the hero we need and they’re so much better than we deserve. Really, we probably do deserve a horde of bitter white men who all go to the same discount barber, but our world will be so much better off if we elevate diverse voices who actually know how to help our country’s diverse communities. So, please, use your voice, your vote, and your dollar to help Aimy and the other 500+ candidates get into office in 2020 — also, while you’re there, please vote for Biden. (We know, we’re not happy about it either.)

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

Trump’s Book Club:

"Indecent Assembly: The North Carolina Legislature's Blueprint for the War on Democracy and Equality" by Gene R. Nichol
"Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill

Links:

Donate to Aimy: aimysteele2020.com/make-a-donation
Find a great local candidate to vote for: directory.runforsomething.net/candidates
Support Run for Something: runforsomething.net/give
Listen to Amanda’s first episode: #60: Why You Should Run for Something in 2020

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Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!
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Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
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Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

#99: How You Doin’? Sep 28, 2020

Show notes

In Episode 99, Quinn & Brian, with help from Inverse.com, ask: how are YOU feeling?

Our guest is: Ali Pattillo, a health and science reporter at Inverse.com and co-producer of The Abstract podcast. Supplements, metabolism boosters, miracle cures: Ali covers just about anything that can be put on or in your body and makes any health-based claims. In other words, she debunks all of the things that Brian buys online instead of reading books.

There are few journalists who do a better job at not just reporting on science news but explaining it in a way that is digestible, understandable, and practical for idiots like the two of us. And this is a service that really can’t be undervalued. You don’t have to go very far on your timeline to find someone jumping to conclusions or misinterpreting facts — and that can have dire consequences when it comes to your health, especially in the virus-assisted end times that we’re living through. Our conversation focuses on the mental health side of things and how 2020 has catalyzed a staggering epidemic of depression, but on the bright side, magic mushrooms might be part of the solution.

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

Important Book Club:

"Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman" by Yvon Chouinard

Links:

Read Ali’s work at Inverse.com
Listen: The Abstract
Instagram: instagram.com/alipattillo
Twitter: twitter.com/alipattillo
“Wildland Firefighters Are Burning Out”
“Cold Comfort” (Wim Hof Method)
“Cancer Patients Say Psilocybin Can Be Both Therapy And 'a Beautiful Experience'”
Alex's Lemonade Stand

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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

#98: How to Stop School Shootings in the USA Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

In Episode 98, Quinn & Brian discuss: common sense solutions to prevent gun deaths and destroy the gun lobby.

Our guest is: Fred Guttenberg, a gun safety activist and political troublemaker.

14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg was killed in her high school on February 14, 2018 in Parkland, FL. We usually like to make some jokes at this point, but not today. This is a loss that no person should have to experience — and it’s all the more painful for how utterly avoidable it is. Which side you choose to be on this issue should be as simple as answering this question: do you want to wake up and discover that one of your friends or loved ones has been shot? If the answer is no, then pay attention.

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

Links:

VOTE: votesaveamerica.com
“Find the Helpers: What 9/11 and Parkland Taught Me About Recovery, Purpose, and Hope (Grief Recovery)” by Fred Guttenberg
Support Orange Ribbons for Jamie
fredguttenberg.com
Instagram: @orangeribbonsdad
Facebook: facebook.com/orangeribbonsdad
Twitter: @fred_guttenberg

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!
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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

#97: How Do We Rebuild Capitalism in a World on Fire? Sep 14, 2020

Show notes

In Episode #97, Quinn digs into how we can rebuild capitalism for the world, for your company, and for yourself.

Our guest is: Rebecca Henderson, Harvard professor behind the wildly popular class Reimagining Capitalism. Rebecca's research explores the degree to which the private sector can play a major role in building a more sustainable economy, focusing on the relationships between organizational purpose, innovation, and productivity in high performance organizations.

Rebecca published Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire in April 2020 — but she probably didn’t expect the book to become so literal so soon.

The crux of what she discovered over the last decade of research is that focusing on shareholder profit is a terrible way to run a company in the long term, and it’s going to burn this whole thing down. This has never been more apparent than the current state of the world, where we can watch in real time as every major American institution chooses profit over the health and safety of… anyone. The silver lining is that the five or so catastrophes that this country faces at any given moment may also present an unprecedented opportunity: the market cycle has already been broken and there has never been a better time to rebuild these systems.

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

Book Club:

"Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist" by Kate Raworth

Links:

reimaginingcapitalism.org
“Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire”
Twitter: @RebeccaReCap
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rebecca-henderson-recap
Read Ed Yong’s “How the Pandemic Defeated America”

Connect with us:

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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

#96: A Just Alternative to Climate Disaster *and* Gentrification Sep 07, 2020

Show notes

In Episode 96, Quinn & Brian ask: How do we orchestrate a just energy transition for frontline low- and middle-income communities — from the inside out?

Our guest is: Daphany Rose Sanchez, Executive Director of Kinetic Communities Consulting and fourth generation Brooklynite. Daphany advocates for energy equity and efficiency access in housing for New York City's low-income and immigrant communities. By working with energy and affordable housing industry partners, she helps New Yorkers save money, feel safe, and live in a cleaner environment.

Time and time again, Black and Brown communities in the U.S. have been forced to bear the brunt of inequity. Now that politicians are putting some lip service to solving some of the environmental problems that disproportionately affect these communities, Daphany and other advocates are making sure that their voices are heard and included as part of the solution. If the goal is reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050, but the solution is going to once again let these communities down — then Daphany is on team Let The Planet Go To Shit. The environment is great and all, but “it’s not worth living on a planet where people aren't cared for.” And we 100% agree.

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:

"Bargaining for Brooklyn: Community Organizations in the Entrepreneurial City" by Marwell Nicole

Links:

Twitter: @Daph_NYC_
Instagram: @daph_nyc_
Kinetic Communities Consulting
UHAB (Urban Homesteading Assistance Board)
Climate Works for All Coalition
WOCCS (Women of Color Collective of Sustainability)

Connect with us:

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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

#95: How to Upgrade Your Microbiome Aug 31, 2020

Show notes

In Episode 95, Quinn & Brian ask: how can we upgrade our microbiome (also, what’s a microbiome (also, why does it need upgrading))?

Our guest is: Raja Dhir, Co-Founder of Seed Health a microbiome company pioneering the application of bacteria for both human and planetary health. He leverages years of expertise translating scientific research for product development to lead Seed’s R&D, academic collaborations, technology development, clinical trial design, supply chain, and intellectual property strategy.

So, what is a microbiome? Overly simply put, it’s the 38,000,000,000,000 little guys in and on your body that help you do stuff; the bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses that work symbiotically and allow us to function. Interest in the field grew rapidly around 2015, but Raja thought the rate of innovation and commercial response was lacking, not to mention the science behind many of the products that were being created. So Seed leveraged the “foundry model” to support many startups in the field, driving innovations in everything from immunology to hygiene to cancer treatments while performing trials that were scientifically sound and blind as hell. They’re trying to learn all they can about the superorganism that is a human being and then make it better so that we can both live better lives and stop creating so many things that harm the planet.

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:

"The Lessons of History" by Ariel Durant and Will Durant
"Deep Work" by Cal Newport

Links:

Seed.com
Seed on IG: @seed
Raja on IG: @wildraja
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rajadhir
LUCA Biologics: luca.bio

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Subscribe to our newsletter at newsletter.importantnotimportant.com
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Follow Brian: twitter.com/beansaight
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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

#94: Wait. Is Climate Science...Fashionable? It Is With Allbirds! Aug 24, 2020

Show notes

In Episode 94, Quinn & Brian discuss: the most comfortable and sustainable shoes on the planet.

Our guest is: Hana Kajimura, who leads the development and execution of the Allbirds sustainability program and strategy and is on a personal mission to make climate science fashionable. Allbrids was founded as a B-corp back in 2016, launching the world’s first wool shoes, which have been on Quinn’s feet pretty much the entire time since then. So are we shilling? A little bit. But we’re shilling *sustainably* — for the environment, if not our wallets — and that’s important.

Hana has some fascinating insight into why the best sustainability happens when you build it into a product from the very beginning, how sustainability can be used as a competitive advantage, and how we can use storytelling to reduce fashion’s carbon footprint. And if the clothes you wear aren’t telling a story, then you’re probably just Quinn.

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:

"Dirt to Soil: One Family’s Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture" by Gabe Brown

Links:

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at newsletter.importantnotimportant.com
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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Artwork by Amrit Pal

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

#93: All The Fun Stuff (That Shouldn’t Be) in Your Drinking Water Aug 17, 2020

Show notes

In Episode 93, Quinn & Brian ask: What can we do about all of this not-water in our water?

Our guest is: Imari Walker, who is quite possibly the world’s preeminent Microplastics Bae. Imari is an Environmental Engineer, a Microplastics Researcher, a SciComm YouTuber, a Duke PhD candidate, and a true revelation to talk to.

Here’s some fun facts: in 2018, there were ~359 million metric tons of plastic produced worldwide, and if current trends continue, roughly 12 BILLION metric tons of plastic waste will be in landfills or the natural environment by 2050. Also, to stay relevant, there are now almost as many disposable masks in the ocean as there are jellyfish. So where does all this waste come from (spoiler: check yo’ stretchy pants), why is it all just being thrown around willy nilly, and how can we get people to stop doing that?

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:

"Emotional Intelligence 2.0" by Jean Greaves and Travis Bradberry
INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

www.imariwalker.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/imariwalker100
Instagram: instagram.com/calimari93/
Twitter: twitter.com/calimari93
Take the Pesky Plastics Quiz
Plastic Free July

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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Artwork by Amrit Pal

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

#92: Your Invitation to Climate School at Terra.do Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

In Episode 92, we're headed off to climate school!

Our guest is Anshuman Bapna, the creator (and headmaster) of Terra.do, which is like Hogwarts but for fixing the broken Earth. Of course, unlike Dumbledore, you can trust this headmaster won’t abandon you in your time of need.

It seems so obvious that there should be a central (online) location where people can learn about climate change and how they can actually make a difference… but, until we learned about Terra.do, we didn’t even think about the fact that it didn’t exist. Luckily, now it does, and it has a strong bias towards taking participants from being interested in the topic to taking action to solve the problem — and it’s that critical DOING step that we need more people to take before we can hope to heal our planet and address some of the global inequities caused by industrialization and colonization.

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

INI Book Club:

"The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable" by Amitav Ghosh
INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

Apply now: www.terra.do
Twitter: @bapnaa

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at newsletter.importantnotimportant.com
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Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
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Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Artwork by Amrit Pal

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

#91: Why is Drinking Water So Unaffordable for So Many Americans? Aug 03, 2020

Show notes

We’re back!

In Episode 91, Quinn & Brian ask: Why is drinking water so unaffordable, or unavailable, or just filthy for so many people?

Our guests are: Nina Lakhani & Mary Grant. Nina is environmental justice reporter for The Guardian US and Mary Grant is the Public Water for All Campaign Director at Food & Water Watch. They’ve bottled up their empathy and their anger for good, and we think they fit right in on the show.

If it wasn’t already obvious: water is important. It’s one of the few things we actually need to survive, believe it or not. We’ve all heard of problems in Flint, but that’s not some crazy anomaly. It’s just the one town that got the most media attention, and even then, there are still huge problems with their water supply.

The inequitable access to basic resources has been normalized in our country, but let's be clear about one thing — it’s NOT normal, and it doesn’t happen at anywhere near this scale in other developed countries. So, want to Make America Great Again? Well, let’s start by just getting us to a C average in basic human rights.

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:

The Dictionary
https://bookshop.org/shop/importantnotimportant

Links:

Call your Senator and tell them to fight for a second Coronavirus Relief Package that includes a national moratorium on water, power, and broadband shutoffs: 202-609-9041
Tell your representative to support for the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability Act (HR 1417, S611)
www.foodandwaterwatch.org
Read Nina’s articles: theguardian.com/profile/nina-lakhani
Nina on Twitter: @ninalakhani
Mary on Twitter: @MaryGrant_Water
The Human Utility
Navajo Relief Fund

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at newsletter.importantnotimportant.com
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Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
Artwork by Amrit Pal

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

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