Important, Not Important

In Episode 23, Quinn & Brian ask: can we predict the next big earthquake? Pretty please?Joining us is Josh Bashioum, founder of Early Warning Labs, an earthquake early warning technology developer, whose mission is to improve, expand, and lower the costs of existing earthquake early warning systems.Listen in as we discuss San Francisco, the northwest, San Andreas, The Rock, other dreamy action stars, and how LA is (shockingly) more prepared than you think. Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links: Early Warning Labs on Twitter Early Warning Labs Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation The MMI Scale The USGS UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Dr. Lucy “The Earthquake Lady” Jones ABC story on Early Warning Labs CBS story on Early Warning Labs Trump’s Book Club: The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us (and What We Can Do About Them), by Lucy Jones Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our news

In Episode 22, Quinn & Brian ask: how does your phone call become law?  To help answer that question, they’ve got Andres Jimenez on the line. Andres is the Senior Director of Government Affairs for the Citizens Climate Lobby, working with both the House and Senate to expand the voice of citizens, as well as push relevant legislation through.  He’s also a leading member of GreenLatinos. Andres has worked with the Ocean Conservancy and in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office in New York. Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message! Links: Andres Jimenez on Twitter Citizens Climate Lobby Green Latinos League of Conservation Voters Schoolhouse Rock: I’m Just A Bill A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger Trump’s Book Club: The Giving Tree Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com! Like and share us on Facebook! Check us on Instagram! Follow us on Twitter! Pin

In Episode 21, Quinn & Brian finally get to the heart of it: What’s the #1 thing YOU can do to affect climate change?On the mic and down the street, Peter Kalmus, an atmospheric scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.Peter wrote a book called “Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution” and also he’s got chickens and no longer a motorcycle (BRIAN).Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links: Peter Kalmus on Twitter Becycling.life Trump’s Book Club: Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution by Peter Kalmus Carbon footprint calculator Citizens Climate Lobby Vipassana Meditation Headspace How to compost Wirecutter’s Best Composter for Kitchen Scraps Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com! Like and share us on Facebook! Check us on Instagram! Follow us on Twitter! Pin us on Pinterest! Tumble us

In Episode 20, Quinn and Brian wonder: How the hell are we gonna feed 10 billion people?Enter Fred Iutzi of the Land Institute, where they’re focused on the incredibly modest goal of working to displace the predominant industrial, disruptive system of agriculture by providing staple foods without destroying or compromising the cultural and ecological systems upon which we so very much depend.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links: Fred Iutzi on Twitter The Land Institute Long Root Ale by Patagonia “The Importance of Soil”, NY Times “Why the paleo diet is half-baked”, Scientific American Motorcycle death data Trump’s Book Club: Becoming Native to This Place by Wes Jackson Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com! Like and share us on Facebook! Check us on Instagram! Follow us on Twitter! Pin us on Pinterest! Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumbl

In Episode 19, Quinn & Brian asks: What’s the future of antibiotics?To answer: the irrepressible Dr. Gautam Dantas, the professor of pathology and immunology and biomedical engineering at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. He leads the Dantas Lab, where they work at the interface of microbial genomics, ecology, synthetic biology, and systems biology, to understand, harness, and engineer the biochemical processing potential of microbial communities.We have a lovely, not terrifying chat about designing new antibiotics in the post-antibiotic area. Topics covered include bacteria as the O.G., Thanos, precision medicine, cows, horror shows from the ancient past buried in ice cores, and your vote and where it should go. Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links:  Dr. Gautam Dantas on Twitter Dantas Lab “Why Some Bacteria Eat Antibiotics”, NBC News “Antibiotic Resistance is Ancient”, Science Daily Trump’s Book Club: Doomsday Book, by

In Episode 18, Quinn & Brian try to build a more flexible, approachable, and fun new science foundation in America. But they don't know where to start.Enter the legendary Phil Plait, the “Bad Astronomer”. He's an astronomer (obviously), author, and science communicator extraordinaire and we chat about rebuilding the foundations of American science.And that, friends, starts with enthusiasm. Science — fuck yeah!Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links:  Phil Plait on Twitter Phil’s blog Phil’s newsletter The Science and Entertainment Exchange Global Weirding Crash Course 314 Action Trump’s Book Club: The Madhouse Effect by Michael E. Mann and Tom Toles Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com! Like and share us on Facebook! Check us on Instagram! Follow us on Twitter! Pin us on Pinterest! Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr! Ok that’s

In Episode 17, Quinn & Brian ask: What’s the future of emergency medical systems in the age of climate change?Joining us: Jason Friesen, the founder and executive director of Trek Medics, a 501 c3 registered NGO dedicated to creating or improving emergency medical systems in communities without reliable access to emergency care through innovative mobile phone technologies.We talk about the current and future state of emergency medical systems in the age of climate change. Because the big one's coming.Jason would like you to know that they make their services available to all communities, regardless of race, religion, or creed. He's saved six lives since Brian woke up.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links:  TrekMedics.org Trek Medics on Instagram Disaster Preparedness Team Rubicon Charity Navigator Zello 5 steps to emergency response: Can you help? Did you find the patient? Do you need additional resources? Are you able

In Episode 16, Quinn & Brian ask: what's the future of climate modeling? Also, what's a climate model?Enter Dr. Kate Marvel. She's a climate scientist and a writer. A theoretical physicist by training, she is now an associate research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University’s Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics. Because, sure.Dr. Marvel's research focuses on how human activities affect the climate and what we can expect in the future, using satellite observations, computer models, and basic physics to study the human impact on variables from rainfall patterns to cloud cover.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links: Dr. Kate Marvel on Twitter Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity The Earth System Grid Marvel Climate We Need Courage, Not Hope - OnBeing Her pick for Trump’s Book Club: The Constitution of the United States of America Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Bla

In Episode 15, Quinn and Brian dig deeper and ask: Can carbon capture be a building block in climate action, part II?On the mic: Akshat Rathi, a reporter for Quartz in London. He wrote a series last year called The Race to Zero Emissions about carbon capture, and we dig into that, and the next 10 years of CCS, today.Akshat’s resume: he’s previously worked at The Economist and The Conversation. His writing has appeared in Nature, The Guardian and The Hindu. He has a PhD in chemistry from Oxford University and a BTech in chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, and if that isn’t enough to convince you, well I’m sorry.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links: Akshat Rathi on Twitter “The Race to Zero Emissions” series Carbon Engineering Canada’s first carbon capture power plant Illinois carbon capture plant The Clean Air Task Force Carbon Capture Coalition The Social Cost of Carbon Trump’s Book Club: Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse Quinn

In Episode 14, Quinn (Brian abandoned him) asks himself: How do we improve America’s agriculture system?On the mic, Emily Cassidy, the Sustainability Science Manager at the illustrious and beautiful California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and a leading member of their new climate action initiative, Planet Vision.Emily's the co-author of a highly cited paper called “Solutions for a Cultivated Planet”, investigating how to sustainably feed 9 billion people. Today we put Emily’s long background in natural resources science to use and discuss the steps America, and Americans, need to take to improve our food system, and make it healthier. For the air, for the land, for the water, and for each of us, inside our bodies.Also: Jane Goodall, and cow farts vs. cow burps.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links:  Emily Cassidy on Twitter PlanetVision on Twitter California Academy of Sciences PlanetVision JANE documentary Netherlands greenhouses Added Sugars

In Episode 13, Quinn and Brian plot a blueprint for suing the pants off fossil fuel companies. Of course we don't know where to start, so we asked for help.Meet the mastermind: Mayor Serge Dedina of tiny Imperial Beach, California, one of the first cities to sue fossil fuel companies for climate change damages.We discuss what led to their suit, but more importantly, actions other cities should be taking to plan for the future, including their own legal action. Also: surfing, Nazis, and grandmas.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links: Mayor Serge Dedina on Twitter Wild Coast Serge’s book choice: Homo Deus, by Yuval Noah Harari Blue Carbon Australia Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com! Like and share us on Facebook! Check us on Instagram! Follow us on Twitter! Pin us on Pinterest! Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr! Ok that’s enough good l

In Episode 12, Quinn and Brian ask: Can algorithms predict the next major pandemic? Pretty please?Joining us: Dr. Sam Scarpino, Assistant Professor of Marine & Environmental Sciences and Physics and a core faculty member in the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University.We discuss whether, and if so, how advanced algorithms and data science can help predict and prevent the next major pandemic. Also, the importance of a liberal arts education, bad wifi in 2018, and my wife’s iPhone. Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links:  Dr. Sam Scarpino on Twitter Sam’s book selection: On Immunity: An Inoculation Dharma.ai Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com! Like and share us on Facebook! Check us on Instagram! Follow us on Twitter! Pin us on Pinterest! Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr! Ok that’s enough good lord

In Episode 11, Quinn & Brian ask with fingers crossed: Can carbon capture be a building block in climate action?On the mic: David Hawkins, director of the climate program at the National Resources Defense Council, and the man basically responsible for you breathing clean air most days. So, you’re welcome.  We discuss David’s history of working to safeguard the planet, but more specifically, his thoughts on the futuristic but necessary technology that is carbon capture, and whether we can pin our hopes on it. Stay tuned for his thoughts on using your voice and vote to move the needle.Also: yodeling. Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links: David Hawkins on Twitter NRDC.org https://echo.epa.gov Enter a city or state name or zip code and it will crank out a facilities list. For example, put in Houston, TX and hit the search icon. On the right hand side there will be a count of facilities with violation info (eg, 154 with significant

In Episode 10 (we made it!), Quinn & Brian read a picture book. And a damn good one. Introducing The Tantrum That Saved The World.On the mic: Megan Herbert, Aussie co-author and illustrator of the popular new children’s book about climate change activism. We talk about the book, her co-author, esteemed climate scientist and science communicator Michael E, Mann, as well as modeling behavior for our kids, providing them with tools now and in the future to become agents of change, and also drinking. Order Megan and Michael’s book right now at WorldSavingBooks.com! Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links:  Megan Herbert on Twitter Michael E. Mann on Twitter MeganHerbert.com WorldSavingBooks.com Earth 101 Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com! Like and share us on Facebook! Check us on Instagram! Follow us on Twitter! Pin us on Pintere

In Episode 9, Quinn and Brian cower under the desk and ask: How do we stay safe from infectious disease (zombies)?Please meet Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, an infectious diseases physician, Assistant Professor at Boston University, and the Director of Infection Control and Medical Response at National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory. Yeah. Exactly what you imagine. That's her job. You're welcome.We discuss historical pandemics, modern-day factors in the growth of new and return of old infectious diseases, our current level of preparedness, zombies, Minority Report, hand washing, and of course, anti-vaxxers.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links:  Dr. Nahid Bhadelia on Twitter Interview with Dr. Bhadelia on interconnectedness GHSA Her book for Trump: Spillover The Coming Plague The Sixth Extinction CDC's One Health Program Her award-winning photo in Nat Geo Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our n

In Episode 8, Quinn and Brian ask: How do we safeguard science in American schools?Here to answer: Don Duggan-Haas, a lifetime advocate for science education standards (he literally wrote the textbook, and yes, this is the correct use of “literally”), as well as Therese Etoka and Jai Bansal, two immigrant high school students who fought to keep climate change science a part of the Boise, Idaho public school curriculum.Together, we form a game plan to ensure every American student gets a comprehensive science education. Also: Black Panther, Shuri (swoon), the Justice League, James T. Kirk, thoughts on Parkland, and more.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links: Don Duggan-Haas on Twitter Therese Etoka on Twitter Jai Bansal on Twitter Donate to send the Teacher-Friendly Guide to Climate Change to every public school science teacher The Teacher-Friendly Guide to Climate Change (online) The Teacher-Friendly Guide to Climate Change (print) So You Want to Talk About

In Episode 7, Brian and Quinn ask: How can we use the ocean without using it up? Meet Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist, policy expert, and conservation strategist extraordinaire. And like a hundred other things, because her hobbies include saving the planet, what about you, punk? Find out how the ocean’s doing, who should be responsible for keeping it clean, how representation is a nightmare on ocean conservation boards just like everywhere else, and finally, the seafood you definitely should and should not be eating.  Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message! Links:  Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson on Twitter Ocean Collectiv Dr. Johnson’s work for National Geographic Dr. Johnson on FundingTheOcean.org  Will the Ocean Ever Run Out Of Fish? (cartoon) Seafood Watch by Monterey Bay Aquarium (app) Billion Oyster Project Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.

In Episode 6, Quinn and Brian meet the queer female volcanologist who wants to change CongressToday's guest is the one and only Jess Phoenix, volcanologist, geologist, and Congressional candidate for CA-25. We discuss her experience in the field, her unlikely move into politics, and the lessons she’s learned as a female scientist that might help others to come. Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links: Jess Phoenix on Twitter Jess 2018 Blueprint Earth Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com! Like and share us on Facebook! Check us on Instagram! Follow us on Twitter! Pin us on Pinterest! Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr! Ok that’s enough good lord

In Episode 5, Quinn and Brian conclude (for now!) their conversations with conservative climate activists, asking: Is climate action worth getting kicked out of Congress? Uniquely qualified to answer is former Congressperson Bob Inglis of South Carolina. Bob’s the founder of RepublicEN.org, a small government, free-enterprise, "we need to save the world" climate action group. Hear how he’s trying to move the (very heavy) GOP needle, and what could possibly persuade current conservatives to risk their seat to save the planet.  Also discussed: sailing, Brian running a marathon vs. Bob, ill-timed construction, and angry juice cleanses.  Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message! Links:  Bob Inglis on Twitter RepublicEN.org Bob’s TED talk Alfred Coffee Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com! Like and share us on Facebook! Check us on Instagram! Follow us on Twitter

In Episode 4, Quinn and Brian continue with the second in their "trilogy" of conversations with conservative climate activists, and ask: What does the bible say about climate change?Here to answer: Reverend Mitch Hescox of the Environmental Evangelical Movement.Descended from generations of coal miners, Mitch helps us understand our role — or lack of one — in helping the religious right become green advocates. Because nobody wants the Sierra Club yelling at them all the time. Not even us.Want to send us feedback? Tweet us, email us, or leave us a voice message!Links:  Reverend Mitch Hescox on Twitter Creation Care What is an “evangelical”? The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion Quinn Emmett on Twitter Brian Colbert Kennedy on Twitter Intro/outro by Tim Blane Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com! Like and share us on Facebook! Check us on Instagram! Follow us on Twitter! Pin us on Pinterest! Tumble us or whatever the hell you do on Tumblr!