Crazy Town

Send us a textThe US Fish and Wildlife Service decided to "manage" barred owls by shooting half a million of them over the next three decades. Jason, Rob, and Asher (along with the postal workers at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry) are upset about this plan for addressing the predicament of invasive species. Surely there's a finer tool than a double-barreled shotgun for conserving ecosystems and protecting the species that inhabit them.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.Sources/Links/Notes:Bill Lucia, "Plan Finalized to Kill Thousands of Barred Owls around Northwest," Washington State Standard, August 28, 2024.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Final Barred Owl Management Strategy, August 2024."Killing barred owls to save northern spotted owls: Rethinking American wildlife conservation," On Point, WBUR, 9/5/2024.Avram Hiller, Jay Odenbaugh, and Yasha Rohwer, "A Dystopian Effort Is Underway in the Pacific Northwest to Pick Ecological Winners and Losers," New York Times, August 8, 2024.Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, "Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Program."Robert Dietz and Brian Czech, "Conservation Deficits for the Continental United States: an Ecosystem Gap Analysis," Conservation Biology, August 16, 2005.Tom Murphy, "Metastatic Modernity #12: Human Supremacy," Metastatic Modernity Video Series, August 9, 2024.Support the show

Send us a textRob, Jason, and Asher talk about joining the new Trump Administration, at least until Elon Musk eradicates it. They explore the implications of Trump 2.0 through three reality-bending lenses – shifting baselines, entropy, and the upside of down – and three ways of responding: resistance, resilience, and regeneration. They decided they couldn’t stomach a fourth R – respect.We’ve added something new to this and future episodes: VIDEO! If you’d like to feel even more like you’re in the room with the Crazy Town gang, please check out the video and let us know what you think. Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.Sources/Links/Notes:Daniel Pauly’s 1995 article, Anecdotes and the Shifting Baseline Syndrome of FisheriesRandy Olson’s op-ed in the LA Times, Slow-Motion Disaster Below the WavesVideo of Howard Dean’s speech with the infamous “Dean Scream”NASA’s description of the second law of thermodynamics, the entropy law (Be sure to read it before the incoming US administration repeals the laws of thermodynamics!)Thomas Homer-Dixon’s book The Upside of DownSupport the show

Send us a textSometimes you just wanna hear from someone else. In this bonus episode, Alex Leff enters Crazy Town to introduce his podcast, Human Nature Odyssey. Before playing the first episode of the podcast, Jason, Rob, and Asher find lots of laughs with Alex as they contemplate environmental destruction, gorilla suits, the fate of civilization, tandem bike rides, imaginary games, and how to make a podcast. If you need a little more encouragement to check out Human Nature Odyssey, our friend Tom Murphy (author of the Do the Math blog) gives it his highest recommendation.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.Sources/Links/Notes:Human Nature Odyssey on Apple PodcastsThe work and philosophy of Daniel Quinn, author of IshmaelRobin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of PlantsAlex Leff’s Patreon page for Human Nature OdysseySupport the show

Send us a textAfter a full season of trying to escape more than a dozen evil -isms (fun things like capitalism, industrialism, extremism, and otherism), Rob, Jason, and Asher come to one conclusion: there is no true escape -- at least not for those of us who want to help their communities collapse and re-emerge gracefully. Join the boys as they explore what the cult classic Groundhog Day has to teach us about navigating the endlessly insane world of modernity and reflect on key lessons and actionable steps we can all take to navigate the Great Unraveling of environmental and social systems.Warning: This podcast occasionally uses spicy language.Sources/Links/Notes:Trailer for the cult classic Groundhog DayArticle: "Harold Ramis didn't intend 'Groundhog Day' to be Buddhist, but it's a dharma classic" by Perry Garfinkel in Lion's RoarArticle: "Was Modernity Inevitable?" by Tom Murphy in Do the MathArticle: "Hospicing Modernity: Not a new idea" by Eliza Daley in ResilienceArticle: "Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System" by Donella Meadows, published by the Donella Meadows ProjectMultisolving InstituteBook: A Darwinian Survival Guide: Hope for the Twenty-First Century by Daniel R. Brooks and Salvatore J. Agosta, published by MIT PressSupport the show