Earthbound (Formerly Global Warming Is Real)

Thomas Schueneman

Earthbound is a podcast about what it means to be human on a warming planet. Host Thomas Schueneman, a climate writer, global freelance journalist, and audio producer, talks with scientists, philosophers, activists, artists, Indigenous leaders, policy experts, and everyday people about how a changing Earth is reshaping our lives—and how our choices, values, and imaginations are reshaping the planet in return. From climate politics and planetary health to environmental justice, mental well‑being, psychology, and philosophy, the show explores the quiet work of repairing our relationship with nature and each other. Earthbound offers clear‑eyed, human‑centered stories from the Anthropocene.

  1. The Psychology Behind Our Rage: Understanding Outrage Overload

    1D AGO

    The Psychology Behind Our Rage: Understanding Outrage Overload

    Your Brain is the Algorithm A conversation with David Beckemeyer We are a storytelling species. Long before we had data, we had narrative. But in a media environment engineered to trigger our most primitive threat responses, even the most compelling story struggles to find its audience. The amygdala doesn’t care about nuance. It cares about survival. So how do we talk about climate change to people who aren’t already in the room? David Beckemeyer has spent years studying that question, not from a climate angle, but from within the outrage machine itself. As host of Outrage Overload and a researcher with the Connors Institute, David brings together scientists, psychologists, and civic thinkers to examine why we get so worked up, and what we can actually do about it. In this conversation, we get into the psychology behind why facts so often fail to move people, even when the stakes couldn’t be higher. We talk about naive realism, the quiet assumption that because you’ve looked at the evidence and reached a conclusion, everyone else should too. We talk about solution aversion, how people unconsciously shift their position on a problem based on whether the proposed solutions feel ideologically threatening. And we talk about the movable middle, the people who aren’t loud, aren’t on your feed, but are out there, and listening. The conversation also moves into territory that surprised me. Deliberation versus debate, and why one almost never works. The role of storytelling in reaching people across tribal lines. And a genuinely hopeful data point from Texas, of all places, about what’s possible when people engage with trade-offs honestly rather than defensively. This is not a climate episode in the conventional sense. It’s a conversation about the human wiring that shapes every climate conversation we try to have. And if you’ve ever felt like you were talking and not being heard, I think you’ll find something useful here. In this episode: Naive realism and why clarity isn’t enoughSolution aversion and the tribal brainThe movable middle: who they are and how to reach themDeliberation versus debateStorytelling as the path past the amygdalaFinding agency in an algorithmic media landscapeThe Texas wind power story Links: Outrage Overload: outrageoverload.netEarthbound listener surveyEarthbound on the web: earthboundpodcast.comGlobalWarmingisReal.com

    47 min
  2. Diana Colleen: They Could Be Saviors | Curing Billionaire-ism

    APR 28

    Diana Colleen: They Could Be Saviors | Curing Billionaire-ism

    What if the problem isn’t that the people with the most power don’t care? What if it’s that they’ve lost the capacity to? That’s the question at the center of Diana Colleen’s debut novel, They Could Be Saviors. A group of the world’s wealthiest men is kidnapped and brought to a facility where they’re offered a choice: undergo psychedelic-assisted therapy, or stay put indefinitely. It sounds far-fetched. Spend a few minutes with the headlines, and it starts to feel less like science fiction and more like a thought experiment we should have started a long time ago. Diana is an author, a trained psychedelic therapy facilitator, and a self-described democratic socialist. In 2018, she hit rock bottom and found her way to an underground facilitator who, she says, saved her life. That experience is the bedrock of her novel. The book frames the billionaire class not as villainy but as pathology. A taker mentality writ large, scaled across centuries and obscene accumulations of capital. But it’s also an argument for reconnection. These men are still human beings. They’ve had trauma. They can change, if something happens to shake them loose from the story they’ve been telling themselves. That’s where the psychedelics come in. We talked about the carbon footprint myth, the corrosive design of social media addiction, the feminist architecture of the story, and what any of us can actually do right now. Your voice, Diana says, is your power. And then she told a story about a barista having a bad day, and how one small act of kindness ripples outward in ways we can’t always see. It sounds small. But it’s also how the world turns. Takeaways: Billionairism is a pathology, not just a policy problem. Extreme wealth concentration isn't simply an economic issue. Diana frames it as a mental illness, a hoarding disorder scaled to planetary consequence, that severs its hosts from the shared reality the rest of us navigate every day.The carbon footprint narrative is a diversion. The idea that individual consumer choices are the primary lever for addressing climate change was largely engineered by fossil fuel interests to shift blame downward. Changing the behavior of a few thousand people at the top would do more than changing the habits of eight billion at the bottom.Psychedelic therapy is not recreational drug use. Set and setting make all the difference. Therapeutic use is built on intention, preparation, and a held, safe environment. That distinction matters, and the suppression of legitimate research since the Nixon era has cost us decades of potential progress.Hope is the consequence of action, not its prerequisite. Waiting to feel hopeful before doing something has it backward. Engagement, however modest, is what generates the sense that change is possible. Disengaging entirely may protect your mental health in the short term, but it removes you from the work.Small acts of kindness are not trivial. They ripple. The barista story isn't a consolation prize for people who can't do bigger things. It’s a genuine theory of change, grounded in how human beings actually affect one another. Resources: Diana Colleen: They Could Be SaviorsThe Parado Principle (80/20)Daniel Quinn: IshmaelEarthbound PodcastGlobalWarmingIsRealEartbound Listener Survey

    50 min
  3. From Dystopia to Liberation: Lee Schneider's Utopia Engine Trilogy

    APR 14

    From Dystopia to Liberation: Lee Schneider's Utopia Engine Trilogy

    Novelist Lee Schneider completes the Utopia Engine Trilogy with a story of climate collapse, AI dominance, and the stubborn possibility of liberation. What if the Earth pushed back?That’s the question at the heart of Liberation, the final book in Lee Schneider’s Utopia Engine Trilogy. Schneider is a novelist, screenwriter, futurist, and podcast producer, and in this episode, he sits down with me to talk about a near-future world battered by climate breakdown, controlled by an authoritarian artificial intelligence called MIND, and populated by imperfect people doing their best to find their way through. The trilogy began for Schneider in a very personal way. California wildfires brought smoke into his neighborhood, forced him to run his air filters constantly, and eventually forced him and his family to evacuate their home. That experience crystallized something he’d long cared about into an urgent creative need. The result: three novels that use speculative fiction as a rehearsal space for the challenges we’re already living. Liberation brings the trilogy’s story arc to its conclusion. Protagonist Kat Keeper, a reluctant revolutionary, is trying to build a communications network free from MIND’s control, while grappling with grief and the relentless propaganda machine targeting her credibility. And out in the ocean, orca whales, having endured centuries of human noise, pollution, and indifference, have had enough. We dig into a lot of territory in this conversation. How does misinformation amplify ecological collapse? What does it mean that AI power is concentrated in so few hands? What would a world of brain-modded humans and fake press conferences actually feel like to live in? And what can the behavior of orcas off the coast of Spain teach us about the intelligence we share this planet with? Schneider is, perhaps unexpectedly, an optimist. Not naively so, but deliberately. He invokes Churchill: there’s no point in being anything else. And that optimism finds its way onto a wall of a building in the world of Liberation: “Utopia will always be far off. But it's always worth walking toward.” Climate fiction, as Schneider sees it, isn’t propaganda. It’s behavior modeling. We watch imperfect characters navigate an imperfect world, and we learn something. About ourselves, and about what it means to ask “what if?” We are a storytelling species. This episode is a good example of why that matters. In This Episode: What drove Lee Schneider to write climate fiction after years in HollywoodHow the Utopia Engine Trilogy depicts AI-controlled climate manipulation and surveillanceThe real science behind orca intelligence and what it means for how we treat other speciesThe role of misinformation in ecological collapse, and how close we already are to the world in his booksWhat comes next: Schneider's new forest-world trilogy for younger readersHis podcast production company, Red Cup Agency, and his show The Future Lab with Lee Schneider Links and Resources: Lee Schneider's books: leeschneiderbooks.comThe Future Lab with Lee Schneider podcast: Future LabLiberation (Book 3, Utopia Engine Trilogy), also Surrender and ResistListener survey: earthboundpodcast.com/surveySupport Earthbound: earthboundpodcast.comCarl Jung: Personality Archetypes About Earthbound: Earthbound is stories from the Anthropocene, life on a warming planet. If this episode moved you or made you think, please take a moment to leave a rating and review wherever you listen. And subscribe so you never miss an episode. Audio Attribution: whale song by muri_kuri -- https://freesound.org/s/684188/ -- License: Creative Commons 0 humpback_whales_and_orcas_ambient_underwater_recording by raiden04 -- https://freesound.org/s/797762/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 freewilly.mp3 by mjudo12 -- https://freesound.org/s/74908/ -- License: Attribution 3.0 Sea and seabirds by FonotecadeCanarias -- https://freesound.org/s/210954/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 3.0

    52 min
  4. Bridget Lyons | Entwined: Dispatches From the Intersection of Species

    MAR 27

    Bridget Lyons | Entwined: Dispatches From the Intersection of Species

    A Shift in PerceptionWhat if the climate crisis isn’t just about what we’re doing to the planet, but how we see it? What if it is our flawed perception of the world and our place within it that separates us from nature and drives our destructive actions? In this contemplative conversation, writer and wilderness guide Bridget Lyons explores how perspective shapes our relationship with the living world, and why empathy for other species might be the key to our survival. Her book Entwined: Dispatches from the Intersection of Species weaves together 14 essays chronicling encounters with owls that hear heartbeats from 200 feet away, elk navigating human intervention in Yellowstone’s feeding programs, and octopuses revealing astonishing intelligence. Lyons argues that we’ve inherited a hierarchical worldview—from Genesis to Descartes—that places humans above nature, but indigenous wisdom and ecological reality tell a different story: we've never been separate from the tapestry of life, only tangled within it. The polycrisis we face—climate change, biodiversity collapse, ecosystem fragmentation—stems from a deeper forgetting: that Earth's systems are breathtakingly complex, and our attempts at control often trigger cascading consequences we never anticipated. Lyons challenges the notion that managing nature is the solution, suggesting instead that humility, curiosity, and what she calls "healthy anthropomorphization" can rebuild our severed connection to the more-than-human world. From tamarisk invasions on Western rivers to chronic wasting disease threatening elk herds, she demonstrates how good intentions falter when we underestimate ecological entanglement. The antidote isn’t more data or policy alone. It's cultivating empathy as a practice, an exercisable muscle strengthened by simply stepping outside, observing an insect in the grass, and asking: What is it like to be this being? Can wonder alone shift the trajectory of civilization? Lyons believes the answer lies not in grand solutions but in small acts of attention that crack open our hard shell of human-centered arrogance. She finds hope in bookstore audiences lighting up when sharing creature encounters, in the spider referred to as “who” rather than “that,” and in the possibility that perspective can turn on a dime when we put down our phones and rejoin the web of life, not as rulers, but as fellow participants. Discover how encountering the non-human world might be the most revolutionary act of our time, and why fostering kinship with owls, fireweed, and sponges could be the remediation work that saves us all. Learn more about Bridget Lyons and her work at bridgetalyons.weebly.com, and order Entwined from a local independent bookstore. Visit earthboundpodcast.com to explore past episodes and share your thoughts through our listener survey. Takeaways:Bridget Lyons emphasizes the importance of fostering empathy and kinship with non-human species through personal encounters and storytelling.The historical narrative of human superiority over nature is deeply embedded in Western culture and is a primary cause of our current environmental crises.Our separation from the living world leads to a crisis of perception, making it crucial to shift our worldview towards one of interconnectedness.Empathy is not just a human skill but a vital muscle that can and should be exercised to connect with all living beings, bridging our relationship with nature.Bridget highlights how well-intentioned wildlife management can sometimes lead to negative consequences, underscoring the complexity of ecosystems.The podcast suggests that rebuilding our relationship with nature starts with simple acts of observation and curiosity, urging us to reconnect with the world outside our screens. Resources:Bridget LyonsEntwined: Dispatches From the Intersection of SpeciesCarl SafinaEd YongGreat Chain of BeingTeton Raptor CenterFive Facts About the Velella-VelellaEarthbound PodcastGlobalWarmingIsReal.com Huntley Meadows Virgina by jdzikiewicz -- https://freesound.org/s/848979/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

    58 min
  5. Peter Solomon: 100 Years to Extinction

    MAR 8

    Peter Solomon: 100 Years to Extinction

    Do We Need to Colonize Mars to Survive?A Book Review of Dr. Peter Solomon's 100 Years to Extinction In 2017, Stephen Hawking warned that humanity had just 100 years to move beyond Earth or face extinction. That bold prediction frames my Earthbound podcast conversation with Dr. Peter Solomon, physicist, serial entrepreneur, and author of 100 Years to Extinction. We dig into the triggers threatening our survival (climate change, AI, nuclear war, misinformation) and whether a Mars colony is really our best backup plan or a fool’s paradise. In my book review of Solomon’s novel, we follow Gen Z trio Aster, Liz, and Milo, an astrophysicist, geneticist, and political leader, respectively, as they vow to save the world from the damage of previous generations. They colonize Mars, refine nuclear fusion, and spark a political revolution back home through the New Planet Party. All this by the mid-2030s. I found his scientific optimism admirable, if a bit unrealistic, and the plot uneven at times. But his effort to frame our polycrisis age through the lens of solutions is always a good exercise. My takeaway? While I respect the genius of Hawking and Solomon, I believe the resources needed to colonize not just reach) Mars should first be applied to building a survivable, equitable civilization here at home. Solomon anticipates that objection, emphasizing throughout that Earth is precious and irreplaceable. I couldn’t agree more. Check out his follow-up book, 12 Years to AI Singularity, and if you enjoy this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, or support us at earthboundpodcast.com. Takeaways: Stephen Hawking emphasized the urgent need for humanity to establish a permanent presence beyond Earth within a century to ensure survival.The dialogue around extinction triggers is crucial, as it includes climate change, AI, and misinformation, which we need to address urgently.In his novel, Dr. Peter Solomon explores a future where a Gen Z trio tackles existential threats while colonizing Mars, showcasing a blend of hope and realism.While the book presents an optimistic view of colonization, it glosses over significant challenges, such as governance and social dynamics on Mars, leaving some questions unanswered.Ultimately, while exploring space is essential, our priority should be creating a sustainable and equitable future here on Earth. Links referenced in this episode: Peter Solomon: 100 Years to ExtinctionStephen Hawking’s Grim PredictionEarthbound: Living on Mars-Utopia or Fool’s Paradise?GlobalWarmingIsReal.comEarthboundPodcast.com/survey

    13 min
  6. The Climate of Our Moral Character | Energy, Capital, and Human Well-Being

    FEB 15 ·  BONUS

    The Climate of Our Moral Character | Energy, Capital, and Human Well-Being

    Climate, Energy, Morality, and How We Thrive as a Species on a Finite Planet We tell ourselves stories to help us cope with existence, but too often we bend our stories to fit a misguided, destructive, and utterly unsustainable worldview. In this revised audio version of a 2019 article I published in Medium, we begin with a tight shot on Venezuela and the Trump administration’s recent military action and claim to its oil. From there, we slowly pan back and consider the moral grounding of a civilization convinced of its “God-given” right to extract, destroy, and dominate, if it means there is more energy to burn. We can find a better way to live, one based on our fundamental, biological morality. Resources: The Climate of Our Moral Character on MediumDeliver Us From Evil: How Biology, Not Religion, Made Humans MoralGreta Thunberg UN Speech TranscriptPolitico: Energy secretary plans visit to Venezuela — but says Trump isn’t focused on its oil richesCNBC: What Big Oil Executives Told Trump About Investing in VenezuelaTop 10 Countries with the Largest Confirmed Oil ReservesEarthbound Podcast HomeGlobalWarmingisReal.com

    10 min
  7. Climate and Peace | Lessons of Minneapolis

    FEB 10 ·  BONUS

    Climate and Peace | Lessons of Minneapolis

    This bonus episode features a short reading from my Thinking Out Loud section of my newsletter. Is empathy a strength or a weakness? How do we respond to forces that hide behind masks and seek to coerce, intimidate, and terrorize? In the midst of the chaos, how do we make sense of living in a warming world? There are lessons we can learn from the citizens of Minneapolis as they resist the masked men and their grasp at power, and from their efforts to maintain an unjust world, exemplifying the power of community, compassion, and empathy. These are the qualities that will lead us into a thriving future. As Bad Bunny says, love is stronger than hate. Sign up for my newsletter for more!

    4 min
  8. Bill McKibben: Here Comes the Sun and How Renewables Can Power the Future

    JAN 27

    Bill McKibben: Here Comes the Sun and How Renewables Can Power the Future

    What if the sun, the same star that’s powered life on Earth for billions of years, could finally free us from the fossil fuel stranglehold that’s choking our future? That’s the question at the heart of this episode’s conversation with legendary climate activist and author Bill McKibben. In his latest book, Here Comes the Sun, McKibben delivers a message that's equal parts urgent and unexpectedly hopeful: after decades of fighting uphill against Big Oil, the economics of energy have fundamentally shifted, despite the rhetoric from vested interests and their bought-and-paid-for politicians. In 2024, more than 90% of new electricity generation globally came from renewable sources. Solar and wind aren’t “alternative" energy anymore, say McKibben, they are the future, and they're already cheaper, cleaner, and increasingly more accessible than fossil fuels. But the window to capitalize on this epochal shift is narrow, and the fossil fuel industry knows it, which is why they’ve purchased political power to protect their dying business model. McKibben doesn’t sugarcoat the climate crisis—he knows too much about the science for that. We've already locked in significant warming, and we won't stop short of 2 degrees Celsius. But he argues passionately that we're in a race to shave off every tenth of a degree we can, because each one represents 100 million people pushed out of livable climate zones. My conversation with McKibben explores practical, real-world solutions that are scalable right now: heat pumps, induction cooktops, electric vehicles, and even balcony solar panels that renters can plug directly into their walls. From California’s grid running on over 100% renewable energy during peak hours to China’s EV revolution eating the world’s lunch while America’s political leaders serve it up on a silver platter, McKibben paints a picture of a world in transition. This isn’t a conversation about distant doom or abstract policy—it’s about the tangible, human-scale changes we can make right now, and the massive structural shifts already underway that prove rapid transformation is possible. McKibben’s clear-eyed honesty about where we are, combined with his grounded optimism (though he says he isn’t an optimist) about what we can still do, offers a roadmap illuminated by the sun itself. The question isn’t whether the technology exists to save ourselves. It does. The question is whether we’ll choose to use it before it's too late. If you've ever felt paralyzed by the scale of the climate crisis, this episode will remind you that, even as we have backed ourselves into a corner, we have a brightly lit, if narrow, path out. Takeaways: Bill McKibben highlights the shift in energy economics where renewable sources are now cheaper than fossil fuels, marking a pivotal moment for climate action.The podcast emphasizes our deep connection to the sun, both biologically and emotionally, making renewable energy not just feasible but a natural choice for humanity.McKibben’s journey through climate activism illustrates how grassroots movements can reshape global agreements like the Paris Accord, showcasing the power of collective action.The conversation underscores that transitioning to solar and wind energy is not merely an alternative but the primary path forward for sustainable living.McKibben argues that while the climate crisis poses serious threats, there are still viable paths to mitigate its impacts through immediate, aggressive adoption of renewable energy. Resources: Bill McKibbenHere Comes the Sun350.orgThird ActInternational Energy Agency: 2024 Renewables Global OverviewEarthbound PodcastGlobalWarmingIsReal.com

    33 min
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About

Earthbound is a podcast about what it means to be human on a warming planet. Host Thomas Schueneman, a climate writer, global freelance journalist, and audio producer, talks with scientists, philosophers, activists, artists, Indigenous leaders, policy experts, and everyday people about how a changing Earth is reshaping our lives—and how our choices, values, and imaginations are reshaping the planet in return. From climate politics and planetary health to environmental justice, mental well‑being, psychology, and philosophy, the show explores the quiet work of repairing our relationship with nature and each other. Earthbound offers clear‑eyed, human‑centered stories from the Anthropocene.

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