The Most Important Question
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The Most Important Question
Science for people who give a sh*t. Want to feel better AND unf*ck the world? The 6-time Webby nominee delivers deep conversations with the world's smartest people (scientists, doctors, CEO's, farmers, and more!), and digestible news updates every single week, to help you answer the world's most im...
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(Re)Introducing The Science of Fiction
This week we're rerunning our 2024 episode with Maddie Stone, writer of The Science of Fiction blog, to celebrate the fact that Maddie has joined our...
The Answer is Always Run for Something
Turns out it's our 200th episode. It has been a journey.
The show is now called The Most Important Question, and I can't think of a better answe...
Making Your Climate Dollars Count When Government Won't
Congress just jammed the brakes on America's clean energy boom, however short-lived it may have been.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed...
When Foreign Aid Gets Zeroed Out Overnight
Imagine waking up to discover that the United States has just pulled $35 billion out of foreign aid overnight, and that hundreds of HIV clinics, and c...
Taking Care of Business (Sustainably)
Toilet paper. You use it. I use it. Sometimes, even my children use it. The point is, toilet paper is everywhere.
Almost everyone needs it, and...
We Live In A World of Trees
You've heard people say it. It shouldn't have been called Earth. It should have been called Ocean, but it is simultaneously a planet of trees.
...
Climate Solutions That Make Everything Better
Picture a city that beats brutal heat waves with cool tree-lined streets, slashes household energy bills, and cuts carbon pollution by as much as 80%,...
How Saving Salamanders Could Save Us All
In every flood scarred bend of an Appalachian river sits a chance to rebuild something stronger, cleaner water for people, and room for a 160 million-...
Essay: What's in a name?
There are a million legitimate reasons why standing up to bullies may require a pseudonym (and a cowl), or even anonymity.
As has been clear for...
Changing the Abortion Conversation
63% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and yet here we are. So what can we do to make the language around abortion more p...
Table To Farm
Sometimes you buy organic, sometimes you hit a restaurant that's plant-based, or at least you choose the veggie option.
Maybe the fish option a...
History's "Viral" Lessons We Keep Ignoring
We've spent the last few years learning up close how a crisis like a global pandemic reveals and deepens all of our faults, inequalities, biases, and...
You Might Also Like: The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women
The United States has long been the largest aid donor in the world, accounting for about 40 percent of humanitarian assistance globally last year, acc...
Essay: Give A Little
You’ve never had a better opportunity to improve one person’s life than you do right now.
I would argue, in fact, that there’s never been a bett...
Don't Move The Goalposts
One of the ways this Trump administration is different from the last is, relatively at least, how much more unconstitutional, how much more organized...
Going Quietly Is Not An Option
We didn't always call our work science for people who give a shit.
But ever since we did, we've welcomed at least two types of people to our fl...
No Country for Poor Men (or Women)
What can we do about land power?
It's the most important question and my guest today is Mike Albertus.
Mike is a professor of political...
Essay: The Story of Not Right Now
Not. Right. Now.
I hope you enjoy our new show. It’s super, super informal, and fun, and full of profanity, and personal, and — I hope — somethi...
Push Them Down
Please enjoy the debut episode from our new show, Not Right Now.
Every week, Claire (Evil Witches) and Quinn (Important, Not Important) dive i...
Introducing: Not Right Now
Not Right Now is a podcast for parents navigating the impossible task of raising kids while *gestures wildly at everything*.
Join Quinn Emmett...
Essay: Have Mercy
I’m not religious. But I did (barely) successfully major in religious studies.
For better and often for worse, the history of faith and organize...
Essay: Build Something Useful
You're wasting your talent on bullshit while the world burns.
You — yes, you — can actually use your very unique set of skills for good. Even an...
We Need To Talk About Bird Flu
We (Quinn) has been avoiding this question for quite a while.
I even wrote a few thousand words about it a couple months ago and didn't publish...
Essay: Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Be prepared — because these fires that are still burning are only the beginning. Start somewhere, start right in front of you, do what you can.
...
Essay: About 2025
It’s been a minute. Thanks for your patience. Please check out my 2025 preview, and if you’d be so kind, share it widely.
Bridging Misinformation Gaps with Local Journalism
What's the missing link in local journalism?
That's today's big question, and my guest is Lyndsey Gilpin.
Lyndsey is the Senior Manager...
Essay: Only 86,000 To Go. You in?
This entire (short!) episode is a call to action. It's time to do this thing...do the thing, but also take care of yourselves and your loved ones thes...
Thinking In Systems To Save An Indivisible World
Is multisolving the future? Is it today? Should we do more?
That's all today's big question and my guest is Dr. Elizabeth Sawin.
Dr. Saw...
Poverty Is A Policy Choice
How do we make it easier for more Americans to reliably put food (in particular, hot food) on the table?
That's today’s big question, and my gu...
Best of: Check Your Insurance Policy
We first ran this episode in May 2023, but following back-to-back hurricanes in Florida this month, it remains as relevant as ever.
You've got i...
Best of: Fresh Banana Leaves
There’s no word for “conservation” in many Indigenous languages.
Some come close, but mean something more like “taking care of” or “looking afte...
Essay: Why We Made An App
You’d think that -- considering we just spent two years building our new What Can I Do? app -- that I’d have a really good answer for why we were doin...
Introducing: What Can I Do?
It’s another big day in a very big month for us.
Our extremely tiny team has been busting our asses for almost two years to bring you something...
Finding Joy In Climate Solutions
What if we get it right?
That's today's big question, and my returning guest is Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson.
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson...
Best of: A Conversation With A Future President of the United States
In this throwback episode from October 2020, Quinn & Brian discuss: Why state elections matter not just for your state but for the future of our plane...
Essay: How to Eat More Plants (And Less Beef)
Next up in our series of “How to Eat More Plants”. Today’s topic? Beef!
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Essay: The Sun Machines Cometh
Please enjoy this hopeful ditty on how we have finally harnessed the sun ☀️ — and how we’re just getting started.
Essay: How To Eat More Plants
Today’s post is more of a macro introduction to the why and how of the “eat more plants (and consequently) fewer animals” lifestyle.
Deep-dives...
Essay: The Turn of the Tide
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 ev...
Everything Is Connected (No, Seriously)
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.