Environment - Think

Corporations are people — what about animals?

March 15, 2022 Environment, Politics

Lawrence Wright examines human rights and how activists are fighting to extend them to animals, turning away from previous animal welfare models.

Bugs are disappearing (and that’s not a good thing)

March 2, 2022 Environment, Global Issues

Oliver Milman considers the collapse of the insect world, how insects connect intrinsically to the human world, and why our planet will be in peril without them.

The ugly history of fast fashion

February 17, 2022 Culture, Economics, Environment, Global Issues, History

Sofi Thanhauser of the Pratt Institute discusses her research into linen, cotton, silk, synthetics, and wool, how they shaped civilization and why, today, fashion has become a leading producer of pollution on the planet.

Could we bring back mammoths?

February 16, 2022 Environment, Science and Technology

Beth Shapiro, an associate professor of evolutionary biology, discusses cutting-edge DNA research and decisions about which animals might be brought back.

Photo of Fog over Phu Thok Mountain at Chiang Khan ,Loei Province in Thailand. B

Nature Is Our Nurturer

February 3, 2022 Environment, Health, Mental Health

Lucy Jones joins us to talk about her story of overcoming addiction by forming a deep connection with the beauty of nature, and the biological reasons humans need to be outside.

Photo of a group of African safari animals composited together in a scene of the grasslands of Kenya.

Animals Sometimes Don’t Follow The Rules

January 19, 2022 Environment, Science and Technology

Mary Roach joins us talk about when humans and wildlife are in conflict – from errant elephants to rule-breaking moose and life-threatening trees.

The miracle of electricity

January 13, 2022 Environment, Health

Timothy J. Jorgensen talks about advances in our understanding of the connection between electricity and the nervous system – and how these discoveries are changing how we live.

Is the Texas power grid ready for the winter?

January 5, 2022 Environment, Politics, Science and Technology

KUT reporter Mose Buchele walks us through any regulatory or policy changes that have happened since the massive storm.

The race to save coffee from extinction

December 7, 2021 Current Events, Environment, Global Issues, Science and Technology

Sarah Sax of High Country News joins us to discuss how climate change and questionable farming practices are harming crops and ways researchers are trying to breed more sustainable beans.

Searching the Amazon for the next miracle drug

December 6, 2021 Environment, Health, Science and Technology

Dr. Cassandra Quave joins us to discuss her work searching the globe for plant-based medicines.

Want to help the planet? Stop buying so much

November 29, 2021 Economics, Environment, Global Issues, Think

J. B. MacKinnon joins us to talk about the push-pull between the supposed economic harm of less shopping with the environmental impacts of buying too much.

Why People Obsess Over Pakistani Mangoes

November 25, 2021 Culture, Environment

Food writer Ahmed Ali Akbar joins us to discuss the backchannels of importing fruit, the lengths people will go to, and the customs bureaucracy that keeps foods from reaching American shores.