This week: Got fired? Start over.Plus: More young people are getting cancer, the rise of solar power, new YouTube misinformation rules, getting paid to bike to work, and moreHere's What You Can Do:⚡️ If apocalyptic skies and hazardous air quality reports are making your climate anxiety a little more intense this week (I feel you), look into the Climate Psychiatry Alliance’s database to find a climate-aware psychiatrist near you.⚡️ Help spread fire adaptation practices and give communities the tools they need to reduce their wildfire risk and increase their resilience by donating to Fire Adapted Communities.⚡️ Campaign to speed up the transition away from coal in your community by joining a local team to retire coal plants.⚡️ While you’re staying indoors to avoid the unhealthy air outside, purchase an air purifier to keep your indoor air quality up to par (got Scrooge McDuck cash? Donate a few to local schools).⚡️ Learn more about the impacts of air pollution, and read these recommendations for proper building ventilation.News RoundupHealth & MedicineA new pill for lung cancer was found to cut the risk of death in half during clinical trials, yay!Unfortunately, cancer is on the rise for people under 50 worldwide, and we don’t really know why, god I really fucking hate cancerThe chatbot “working” for an eating disorder helpline, instead of real humans capable of human empathy, was found to be encouraging unhealthy...

This week: Ask these questions before you click on ANYTHING.Plus: Gut inflammation news, California insurance gets harder to find, 750k adults just lost Medicaid, what (non-vaccinated) COVID actually does to your lungs, and moreHere's What You Can Do:⚡️ PFAS (“forever chemicals”) have been linked to serious health problems. Urge Congress bans PFAS from all food contact materials by using this script from Toxic-Free Future. ⚡️ Work in marketing? Join Clean Creatives, a movement of advertisers and PR professionals, and pledge to cut ties with fossil fuels.⚡️ Reclaim your right to privacy online with the Mullvad VPN (I use it every day). ⚡️ Keep informed with Circle of Blue’s in-depth reporting on the solutions and challenges to the water scarcity crisis. News RoundupHealth &amp; MedicineMost pregnancy-related deaths occur in the year after a baby is born, prompting new strategies in caring for new mothers The science behind how chronic stress impacts gut healthNano-plastics are<a...

 What's in wildfire smoke and how can you protect yourself from it? Those are today's big questions, and my guest is Dr. Mary Prunicki. Dr. Prunicki is the Director of Air Pollution and Health Research at Stanford University under the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research. Her lab examines the impact of air pollution and wildfires on health, specifically immune health. Dr. Prunicki and I got together in late summer 2021 as fires and smoke just enveloped the American West and eventually the East Coast too. Almost two years later, the west has seen a very wet winter and relative if temporary respite from fires, but Canada's on fire now, and everyone can see and taste the smoke as the jet stream carries it all the way across the continent. So it's always a good time to understand how to protect yourself and your family, and that begins with understanding what you're protecting yourselves from, so we're rerunning this very popular and necessary conversation to make sure you and I, and all of us are up to speed all over again.-----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.-----------INI Book Club:Night&nbsp;by Elie WieselFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:profiles.stanford.edu/mary-prunickiBuy Purple Air monitor&nbsp;(or just look at the live map)How to Buy a *Real* N95 MaskEPA Air Quality &amp; Climate Change ResearchCalifornia Air Resources BoardAmerican Lung Association on Outdoor Air QualityStanford Center for Air Quality ResearchFrom Bloomberg: Wildfire's Toxic Legacy Leaves Children Gasping for Air Years LaterFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkUwIVGwYxsZHEgL2fstz9Q"...

This week: Things feel pretty out of control. Get used to it.Plus: The Canadian West is burning, Oregon bans PFAS, ChatGPT plugins for everyone, the All We Can Save project is hiring, and moreHere's What You Can Do:⚡️Wildfire smoke exposure is directly linked to myriad health impacts due to poor air quality. Know your daily risk by using this Purple Air outdoor air monitor.⚡️We need to heal ourselves to heal the planet. Find resources and community to help with your climate anxiety through the Climate Mental Health Network.⚡️Act locally. Use ReFED to find current food waste policies and programs you can learn from and implement in your town.⚡️Work in local government? Biobot Analytics provides wastewater testing tools so we can better estimate the number of COVID-19 (and other diseases) infections in the communityNews RoundupHealth &amp; MedicineThese are the cities with&nbsp;most bike deaths&nbsp;per capita (I share news like this to illustrate where we can make drastic improvements)Not to be outdone, the South Carolina House passed a&nbsp;six-week&nbsp;abortion banUnitedHealthcare wants doctors to get prior authorization for colonoscopies.&nbsp;People are very pissed off.Where American&nbsp;air pollution&nbsp;is improving, and getting worseClimateOur friends at the&nbsp;All We Can Save&nbsp;project are hiring a Programs &amp; Community Manager — details&nbsp;here!Could&nbsp;enormous robots&nbsp;dramatically speed up solar farm construction? Sure!How can we&nbsp;<a...

Is healthcare a human right? That's today's big question, and it clearly shouldn't be a question, but here we are. My guest to help explain the obvious today is Dr. Sheila Davis, the CEO of Partners in Health. Sheila entered the global health arena in 1999, responding to the global HIV and AIDS pandemic. A few years later, she co-founded a small NGO that worked in both South Africa and Boston on a wide array of health projects, including the operation of a rural village nurse clinic. She joined PIH in 2010 as their main operation in Haiti was torn apart by the earthquake there and worked her way up over the years, becoming the Chief of the Ebola response during the 2014-2016 West Africa epidemic. And then as the Chief of Clinical Operations and the Chief Nursing Officer, Sheila oversaw nursing efforts as well as the supply chain, medical informatics, laboratory infrastructure, and quality improvement activities.Dr. Davis is a frequent national speaker on global health and clinical topics, including HIV and AIDS, the Ebola epidemic, leadership in public health, and the role of nursing and human rights. And folks, if it is not clear enough for the past few years, just in the US, much less everywhere around the world, yes, healthcare is a human right, and everyone deserves a fair shake. -----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.-----------INI Book Club:Devotions by Mary Oliver (a starting point, as one of many Mary Oliver poetry selections)Mountains Beyond Mountains by Paul FarmerAbove Ground by Clint SmithFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:Get involved with Partners In HealthFollow Dr Davis on TwitterFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our YouTube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony...

This week: COVID is over (as far as we know it). What did we learn, and what’s next?PLUS: Gay blood donations are a go, wind power in the UK, social media guidelines, millions for Black farmers, water report cards, and moreHere's What You Can Do:⚡️ Discover which websites are harvesting your data using The Markup’s Blacklight tool ⚡️ Prepare your home for a wildfire using these resources from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection⚡️ Ensure everyone, everywhere, receives access to quality healthcare by donating to Partners In Health⚡️ With SNAP benefits getting rolled back, make sure more people have access to food and volunteer with or donate to Feeding America⚡️ Keep an eye on wastewater tracking data to understand the prevalence of COVID in your area News RoundupHealth &amp; MedicineThe APA has released a health advisory on social media use for kids Gay and bisexual men are now eligible to donate blood without having to abstain from sex. Welcome to the...

How much food do you throw away every week? And do you have to? That's today's big question, and my guest is Matt Rogers. Matt is a former Apple iPod and iPhone engineer. The Co-Founder of Nest thermostats, Founder of incite.org, and former Chairman of Carbon180. He is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Mill.What's Mill? It's a membership to a food-shrinking, de-stinking kitchen bin, and it just may be one of the most important levers you and I can take to fight food waste and climate change. I'm a huge fan of Matt's multidisciplinary work to drive systems change across tech, non-profits, and politics.Mill may be his most direct take on it yet.&nbsp;-----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.-----------INI Book Club:The Alchemy of Air by Thomas HagerCradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael BraungartFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:Reserve your Mill binFollow Mill on Instagram and TwitterFollow Matt on TwitterRead the recent Nature article on food waste and emissionsFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our YouTube channelFollow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmettEdited by Anthony LucianiProduced by Willow BeckIntro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.comAdvertise with us: https://www.importantnotimportant.com/c/sponsors

This week: Solutions to our biggest problems shouldn’t be so perplexing. On the other hand, washing our hands wasn’t obvious for a couple hundred thousand years, and my kids STILL don't want to do it.Plus: Seasonal allergy news, a new Barbie, non-profit grocery stores, climate hackers, the SEC, the WHO, Google’s huge new feature, and Khan Academy revolutionizes education — againHere's What You Can Do:⚡️ Floods or not, fire season’s (probably) right around the corner. Get up to the minute air quality reports with a Purple Air monitor (and nifty map, too) ⚡️ Your community may need to replace toxic lead water service lines. Check out Beyond Plastic’s report on the pros and cons of PVC pipes. ⚡️ Sure, the economy and market are completely unpredictable at this point, but there’s no better time to put your retirement fund to work fighting climate change. Do it with Carbon Collective. ⚡️ Speaking of lead pipes — will microplastics and PFAS (“forever chemicals”) be our version? Check out PFAS Central’s PFAS-free brands and consumer products. News RoundupHealth &amp; MedicineSeasonal allergies are coming for us all In Cancer Alley, US chemical giants mounted a campaign against grassroots organizers, so they can continue to kill people Apparently forever chemicals in food packaging (like <a...

You've got insurance, right? Are you sure? That's today's big question, and my guest is Washington Post reporter Brianna Sacks. Brianna's an extreme weather and disaster reporter for the Post where she explores how climate change is transforming the United States through violent storms, intense heat, widespread wildfires, and other forms of extreme weather.Brianna deploys to disaster zones, which are sometimes very close to home, and does enterprise reporting on the preparations for responses to and the aftermaths of catastrophic events. We're having this conversation today because last month Brianna revealed how insurers have slashed Hurricane Ian payouts far below damage estimates, often up to 80%.I cannot emphasize enough that the future includes an insurance landscape that is among the most important in our very brittle economy and society. It underpins everything we rely on, so understanding not only your own insurance but how well your mortgage holder and the system at large are prepared for what's here and what's coming, is essential.-----------Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.comNew here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.-----------INI Book Club:What I Talk about When I Talk about Running: A Memoir by Haruki MurakamiOn Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen KingTraining for the Uphill Athlete by Steve House, Scott Johnston, and Kilian JornetThe Great Displacement by Jake BittleFind all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-clubLinks:Follow Brianna on Twitter and InstagramRead Brianna's piece on Hurricane Ian insurance cutsRead more of her reporting at The Washington PostFollow us:Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpSubscribe to our YouTube channelFollow Quinn: <a href="http://twitter.com/quinnemmett" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

This week: Is what you’re working on important?Plus: The cleanest produce, a mosquito factory, lots of rooftop solar, autonomous GPT, maybe, and the latest with the Colorado RiverHere's What You Can Do:⚡️ Climate change and mental health are inextricably linked. Get some help with the Climate Mental Health Network. ⚡️ Live in or own a multi-family building? Check out how BlocPower can help electrify it. ⚡️ If you’re like “I wonder if my town or state has e-bike rebates”, here’s a Google Sheet with every known rebate in the country ⚡️ Start a student alliance for tech ethics at your university with the Techshift Alliance. News RoundupHealth &amp; MedicineThe countries with the highest rates of malaria deaths have approved Oxford’s new vaccine Brazil built a massive mosquito factory — it’s not what you think Our friends at Biobot Analytics have expanded their wastewater monitoring into norovirus outbreaks Are we close to a <a...