Crazy Town podcast

Crazy Town

With equal parts humor and in-depth analysis, Asher, Rob, and Jason safeguard their sanity while probing crazy-making topics like climate change, overshoot, runaway capitalism, and why we’re all deluding ourselves. Each fortnightly episode helps you understand the “Great Unraveling” of our environmental and social systems and describes how we can make the transition to a sustainable and equitable world. If you’re someone who questions the trajectory of society and struggles to understand why most people would rather eat nachos on the deck of the “SS Denial” than face reality, you’ll find community and plenty of laughs in Crazy Town. Brought to you by https://www.resilience.org/ and the unconventional minds at Post Carbon Institute, a nonprofit think tank that builds awareness of the polycrisis and prescribes community resilience-building as the most appropriate response. Your hosts: Asher Miller - Nonprofit executive director by day, apocalypse comedian by night. Feels most at home exploring insanity-inducing topics while trying not to spill coffee on his keyboard as he convulses over the latest ecomodernist fantasy. In danger of losing his mind every time he encounters someone using a gas-powered blower to move leaves from one spot to another. Rob Dietz - Jack-of-all-trades environmental scientist, conservation biologist, and ecological economist with a penchant for relating planetary overshoot to the catalog of movie scenes that play on a continuous loop in his colonized brain. Known for inserting random ecological facts into casual conversation, often in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s voice. His friends call him “pessimistically hilarious.” Jason Bradford - Activist farmer and former encyclopedia salesman with a PhD in plant ecology who gets genuinely excited discussing soil microbes and societal collapse in the same breath. Morally opposed to doomsday prepping, but predisposed toward sharing everything he keeps in his bunker, er root cellar, including potatoes, wine, and a 47-month supply of scientific esoterica and embarrassing anecdotes. These guys are the Three Stooges of sustainability podcasting, although they tend toward scientific analysis, righteous outrage, and self-deprecation rather than beating each other up with hand tools. How can they have this much fun while contemplating collapse and navigating the Great Unraveling? Heartfelt thanks to the team at Post Carbon Institute, our volunteers, and all our fellow Crazy Townies out there who help bring this podcast to life.

With equal parts humor and in-depth analysis, Asher, Rob, and Jason safeguard their sanity while probing crazy-making topics like climate change, overshoot, runaway capitalism, and why we’re all deluding ourselves. Each fortnightly episode helps you understand the “Great Unraveling” of our environmental and social systems and describes how we can make the transition to a sustainable and equitable world. If you’re someone who questions the trajectory of society and struggles to understand why most people would rather eat nachos on the deck of the “SS Denial” than face reality, you’ll find community and plenty of laughs in Crazy Town. Brought to you by https://www.resilience.org/ and the unconventional minds at Post Carbon Institute, a nonprofit think tank that builds awareness of the polycrisis and prescribes community resilience-building as the most appropriate response. Your hosts: Asher Miller - Nonprofit executive director by day, apocalypse comedian by night. Feels most at home exploring insanity-inducing topics while trying not to spill coffee on his keyboard as he convulses over the latest ecomodernist fantasy. In danger of losing his mind every time he encounters someone using a gas-powered blower to move leaves from one spot to another. Rob Dietz - Jack-of-all-trades environmental scientist, conservation biologist, and ecological economist with a penchant for relating planetary overshoot to the catalog of movie scenes that play on a continuous loop in his colonized brain. Known for inserting random ecological facts into casual conversation, often in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s voice. His friends call him “pessimistically hilarious.” Jason Bradford - Activist farmer and former encyclopedia salesman with a PhD in plant ecology who gets genuinely excited discussing soil microbes and societal collapse in the same breath. Morally opposed to doomsday prepping, but predisposed toward sharing everything he keeps in his bunker, er root cellar, including potatoes, wine, and a 47-month supply of scientific esoterica and embarrassing anecdotes. These guys are the Three Stooges of sustainability podcasting, although they tend toward scientific analysis, righteous outrage, and self-deprecation rather than beating each other up with hand tools. How can they have this much fun while contemplating collapse and navigating the Great Unraveling? Heartfelt thanks to the team at Post Carbon Institute, our volunteers, and all our fellow Crazy Townies out there who help bring this podcast to life.

 

#157

Toasting Bread Is WAY Harder Than You Think: The Challenges of a Renewable Energy Future

What does a livable future look like 100 years from now? If we unlocked unlimited green en... more

03 Dec 2025

37 MINS

37:11

03 Dec 2025


#156

Worried about the Future? Join the Club

There’s the book club, the Rotary Club, the Mickey Mouse Club, and the club sandwich. What... more

19 Nov 2025

51 MINS

51:54

19 Nov 2025


#155

Searching for the Golden Toad with Kyle and Trevor Ritland

Frog and Toad Are Friends, at least according to a venerable children’s book. And so are J... more

05 Nov 2025

51 MINS

51:11

05 Nov 2025


#154

Unsung Heroes: Sustainability Gurus Who Influenced the Crazy Town Worldview

Some key understandings in Crazy Town: the Earth is finite; the economy cannot grow foreve... more

22 Oct 2025

57 MINS

57:05

22 Oct 2025


#153

Burned by Billionaires, with Chuck Collins

Billionaires. They should be objects of scorn rather than envy. While they ride around in ... more

08 Oct 2025

44 MINS

44:46

08 Oct 2025


#152

Crazy Town Classics - Maximum Power and Scarcity, or... the Story of the Birdbrained Backhoe on the ...

The “maximum power principle” may sound like the doctrine of an evil supervillain, but it ... more

24 Sep 2025

59 MINS

59:28

24 Sep 2025


#151

Et Tu, Bhutan? Cryptocurrency and Late-Stage Capitalism

Maximize profits, exploit nature, hoard money, and, like Buzz Lightyear, grow the economy ... more

10 Sep 2025

36 MINS

36:08

10 Sep 2025


#150

Artifacts of Collapse: Touring the Crazy Town Museum

In this episode we travel in time to the year 2125, to visit the Crazy Town museum, which ... more

27 Aug 2025

1 HR 02 MINS

1:02:51

27 Aug 2025


#149

Crazy Town Classics - Net Energy and Sustainability, or… the Story of the Overstuffed Strongman

All of humanity’s feats, whether a record-setting deadlift by the world’s strongest man or... more

13 Aug 2025

1 HR 26 MINS

1:26:55

13 Aug 2025


#148

Just One Word: Microplastics, with Matt Simon

Put on your best polyester pants, grab a bunch of gleaming mylar balloons, and crack open ... more

30 Jul 2025

53 MINS

53:17

30 Jul 2025


#147

Crazy Town Classics - Lord of the Swans: The Tragedy of the Enclosure of the Commons

The “tragedy of the commons” is an idea that has so thoroughly seeped into culture and law... more

16 Jul 2025

57 MINS

57:02

16 Jul 2025


#146

Will Trump's Tariffs Fuel or Foil the Degrowth Movement?

As Trump’s tariffs kick in, the Republican party is suddenly spouting anti-consumerist rhe... more

02 Jul 2025

47 MINS

47:53

02 Jul 2025


#145

Blinded by the Light - Facing Reality with Renewable Energy

Solar panels and other modern energy technologies can be really useful, but the belief tha... more

18 Jun 2025

56 MINS

56:39

18 Jun 2025


#144

Who Can Fix the Housing Crisis - NYT Pundits, German Shepherds, or Bilbo Baggins?

Jason, Rob, and Asher are taking out a huge, unaffordable mortgage on the housing crisis. ... more

04 Jun 2025

51 MINS

51:46

04 Jun 2025


#143

Bunkers, Bazookas, and Bespoke Moats: How to Be Safe in an Unsafe World

The world has gone bunking mad. The bespoke security industry is burying bunkers stocked w... more

21 May 2025

42 MINS

42:13

21 May 2025


#142

It Was Never Your Democracy Anyway: Thomas Linzey on Rethinking the Constitution

Democracy and environmental protection have two things in common: (1) they’re both suppose... more

07 May 2025

51 MINS

51:19

07 May 2025


#141

Going #2: The Dueling Rules of Nature That Every Good Earthling Needs to Know

Happy Earth Day! There are two concepts that every person should understand to be a better... more

20 Apr 2025

50 MINS

50:32

20 Apr 2025