The Meaning of Green

Reimagining Thanksgiving and progress, achieving the good life, COVID-19 and air pollution in India, and "stuff"

S2 Ep9 Sneak Peek: Consuming and the Good Life by Dr. Vivian Thomson

How citizens get control of their government in an age of polarization and over-promising, fall leaves and freedom, and moderates in America

S2 Ep8 Sneak Peek: Molly Ivins' cheerful take on US politics by Dr. Vivian Thomson

Wendell Berry on affection for the land, industrialized farming, Prof. Delia Grace Randolph on virus spillover, racism and the USDA, and the "Vietnam of entomology"

S2 Ep7 Sneak Peek: Writer Wendell Berry on the "Farm Made Whole" by Dr. Vivian Thomson

Joel Salatin's diaper grass, wildfires on the Pacific coast, farming, the Lorax, and all of the biomass on Earth

S2 Ep6 Sneak Peek: Prof. Ron Milo on animals in children's puzzles by Dr. Vivian Thomson

Bats, the fountain of youth, virus spillovers, and human disruption of natural areas

S2 Ep 5 Sneak Peek: Prof. Emma Teeling on bats and the fountain of youth by Dr. Vivian Thomson

A brief excerpt from Season 2 Episode 4, Lifeboat Earth.

A brief excerpt from Season 2 Episode 3, Growing Out of Pollution or Wallowing in It?

A brief excerpt from Season 2 Episode 2, Power Wears Many Disguises.

A brief excerpt from Season 2 Episode 1, Pollution and the Coronavirus vs. Prosperity

Rachel Carson on the concept of mastery, ecosystem degradation and its multiple impacts, bats, donuts, and, viruses that cross from animals to humans.

Nobel Prize winning economists on why GDP fails to measure well-being and power, how affluence affects pollution and resource use, water use in Arizona, and one pianist's tale of a memorable page turner.

How power's various disguises shaped efforts to reduce coal pollution in the US state of Virginia, and the implications of those lessons for the coronavirus.

Harry Potter, community trust, fine particle pollution, and race

Earth Day's 50th birthday, the coronavirus, Pogo, and Dr. Jane Goodall

A memorable landlord, a summary of lessons from previous episodes, and how the ideological rifts in the US could affect the climate change policy window.

Bad housemates, the global commons, national policy reversals in the US, what the public is thinking, and bipartisan action at the state level.

Disappearing birds and oaks, disputes over the Endangered Species Act, the comeback of the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, and climate change's threats to coral reefs and tropical forests.

Energy efficiency and renewables are unquestionably the waves of the present and future. But we must keep our eyes wide open to collateral impacts.

Twists and turns in the US's dependence on coal, the ripple effects of oil crises, and a coal miner's daughter describes the devastation in her community.

Forests, the Panama Canal, hydropower in Brazil, and the US's dam building frenzy in the 20th century.

A stop sign with bullet holes, garbage wars, environmental justice, and Japan's proximity principle.

Leaded gasoline and moms, mice, misfueling, and crime.

Acid rain was front and center on our nation's environmental agenda, but that issue seems to have dropped from sight. What's the story?

Why and how environmental issues rose on the national political agenda in the 1960s and 70s.

In this preview episode, Dr. Thomson introduces The Meaning of Green's Season 1, which asks: what forces aid or constrain environmental policy success?