Galactic Travels and Evolving Diets Discussed

Welcome to our podcast, where we tackle life's inconvenient truths and remind you that, like it or not, we're all part of nature's mess. Think of it as a therapy session with no preparation, no forewarning, and no escape. Stuart and William don't see the questions before we hit record, so they approach them as clueless as you are when you press play.

Get comfortable—or uncomfortable—and join us in this delightful chaos.

Rithipol, a listener from Phnom Penh, Cambodia has set the first question for Stuart and William to explore - See Rithipol’s question here.

William kicks things off with a cheery note about evolution—basically, we’re not going to be around in a billion years. We’re constantly evolving, and let’s not forget those regular other cataclysmic events that keep life interesting.

Stuart jumps in, suggesting that to ensure our species’ survival, we’ll need to be sprinting around the universe anyway, dodging the ever-changing cosmic chaos. So we shouldn’t worry too much about the Andromeda galaxy crashing into the Milky Way and messing up planetary orbits.

William, ever the optimist, points out that there’s plenty of room in space. He even throws in a fun fact: if you lined up all the planets in our solar system, they’d fit neatly between the Earth and the Moon. Comforting, right?

Then Stuart, the realist, mentions that even if we do manage to colonise space, we’ll probably just end up with the same old tribalism. History repeating itself on a cosmic scale.

William finishes by looping back to evolution, speculating that if we settled on Mars, in a few thousand years we’d have a whole new species. And of course, more tribal squabbles, but this time between different species.

Hortencia, Humacao, Puerto Rico set the second question. See Hortencia’s question here.

Stuart and William kick off by moaning about why it’s so hard for people to change their diets.

William reckons it’s because we’re not exposed to different foods when we're young, and as we get older, we get more fussy—like some sort of culinary agoraphobia.

Stuart jumps in, banging on about how expensive it is to eat sustainably. And let’s not forget the peer pressure—because heaven forbid you eat a salad while your mates are munching on burgers.

William points out how vegans are stereotyped, as if they’re all part of some tofu cult.

Stuart’s got the idea that it’ll take a lot of different tactics to get people to change their eating habits on a large scale.

Then they have a natter about how people often mistake thirst for hunger, and how some folks they know wouldn’t touch “foreign rubbish” with a ten-foot pole.

William’s advice? Just give something new a try and see if you don’t hate it.

What do you make of this discussion? Do you have a question that you'd like us to discuss? Let us know by sending an email to ⁠thepeoplescountryside@gmail.com

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This podcast's overall themes are nature, philosophy, climate, the human condition, sustainability, and social justice. 

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