Crazy Town

The Lighter Side of Dark Ages with Chris Smaje 20.05.2026 57мин

Chris Smaje visits Crazy Town for some farmer-to-farmer straight talk with Jason Bradford. Are these two long lost cousins? Both dropped out of academia years ago to become philosophizing farmers (can we call them “pharmers” with a “ph,” as in PhD?!?). Chris’s latest book, Finding Lights in a Dark Age: Sharing Land, Work and Craft explores how we can move from modernity’s unsustainable political economy toward a re-organization of society, driven by communities and local food systems. In this wide-ranging conversation, Chris and Jason cover everything from Viking raids to agrarian populism, from societal collapse to the practicalities of making your way in a failed state. And they can’t get away from the shop talk of gardens, livestock, and home economics. Originally recorded on 4/2/26.Sources & LinksChris Smaje’s BlogFinding Lights in a Dark Age by Chris SmajeExcerpt of the book on ResilienceSecond excerpt on ResilienceReview: Saying NO to Ecomodermism. Smaje Versus Monbiot, It’s No ContestRelated EpisodesEpisode 98, “Bargaining With Collapse: A Superabundance of Lab Grown Meat and Dryer Balls”CreditsProduction and editing by Alex Leff. Editorial assistance and transcripts by Taylor Antal.Theme music is “Way Huge” and “Don’t Give Up” by Midnight Shipwrecks, used with permission.Thanks to all the Crazy Townies, our listeners who are trying to understand humanity's overshoot predicament and do something about it.

Take Me to the River: Getting Rid of Deadbeat Dams 06.05.2026 58мин

People REALLY love their impervious surfaces. Concrete structures practically permeate human-built landscapes. Rather than layering ever more concrete on top of living soils, in waterways, and all over the countryside, what if we re-established our connection with natural ecosystems and put a stop to the concrete madness? One of the most inspiring developments of environmental and cultural restoration involves the cleanup of tons and tons of concrete. We’re talking dam removal today. So grab a sledge hammer, a few sticks of dynamite, and a wrecking ball, and come along as we explore the battle between concrete placement and concrete removal. And don’t miss our interview with Tara Lohan, author of Undammed: Freeing Rivers and Bringing Communities to Life. Originally recorded on 3/17/26.Sources/Links/Notes:The Reef Line“Underwater ‘traffic jam’ off Miami beach, CBS News, November 3, 2025Miami Beach’s New Traffic Jam Frolics With the Fishes, New York Times, December 1, 2025We Finally Know Why Ancient Roman Concrete Stood The Test of Time, Science Alert by Michelle Starr, October 29, 2025L“Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future” by Mary Soderstrom. University of Regina Press, 2020.“Concrete: From the Ground Up” by Larissa Theule. Candlewick Press, 2022.“This is the total weight of everything humans have created since 1990” World Economic Forum, December 6, 2021“Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass” Nature.com, December 9, 2020“Undammed: Freeing Rivers and Bringing Communities to Life” by Tara Lohan. Princeton University Press, 2025Map of U.S. Dams Removed Since 1912“Ten years after Oregon’s largest dam removal” Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, 2017“‘Salmon Everywhere’ One Year After Klamath Dam Removal” California Department of Fish and Wildlife, 2025Undammed: The Klamath River Story podcast“First Descent: Kayaking the Klamath River after the largest dam removal in U.S. history” Oregon Public BroadcastingCar Free AllianceAuto MatTransportation Action Network“Stop this destructive, car-centric development” Hindustan Times, December 22, 2025Ridges to RifflesRivernetwork Member DirectoryDepave.orgRelated episode(s) of Crazy Town:Episode 48, “The Taming of the Slough: Humanity’s History of Trying to Control Water”Episode 123, “Mailbag: The Crazy Townies Speak!”

Mailbag: The Crazy Townies Speak! 22.04.2026 53мин

It’s really refreshing to hear from you, our listeners and fellow strugglers living in high-energy modernity (affectionately known as Crazy Townies). This mailbag episode offers the element of surprise, as it gives Jason, Rob, and Asher a chance to respond with delight and spontaneity to your questions and comments. Join the guys as they apply their dubious intellectual powers, subpar comedic talents, and underwhelming insights to your Crazy Townie queries. Originally recorded on 3/6/26.Sources/Links/Notes:Tradable Energy QuotasCarfree City AllianceBraver AngelsMaclean Art BlogRelated episode(s) of Crazy Town:Episode 19, “I Can’t Drive… 35! The Rationale for Rationing”Episode 45, “Feedback Loops and Climate Catastrophe, or… the Story of the Baseball Bloodbath”

Birdbrained: When Nature and Technology Collide 08.04.2026 51мин

What happens when technology and competition start to invade our experiences in nature? For example, what if you’re so focused on documenting a bird sighting in your iPhone app that you fail to appreciate the majestic songs of the bushtit or dickcissel on the branch in front of you? In this episode, Jason, Rob, and Asher explore the world of competitive birding, the relationship between those who love nature and the technology they use to connect to it, and how even the most gentle of shared passions can get corrupted by status-fueled competition. Bear with us through the maddening tech and over-the-top competition as we rediscover how to observe and just exist within our home ecosystems. Originally recorded on 3/5/26.Sources/Links/Notes:Holding the FireOwen Reiser, Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching, 2025David Frankel, The Big Year, 2011 filmNature photographer Hannah Seilhan

Being Team Human in Crazy Town 25.03.2026 54мин

Have you ever had that feeling in your gut, when you suddenly realize that the person you’re talking with might have a screw or two loose? What about when you’re the one others are trying to slowly back away from at the punch bowl? The question of who’s the real nut often arises for us collapse-aware folks living here in Crazy Town. Since Mr. Peanut is no longer returning their phone calls, Rob, Jason, and Asher invite Douglas Rushkoff, media theorist, professor, and host of the Team Human Podcast to answer the question. In this far ranging conversation, they discuss why “leveling down” might be the best strategy for navigating late stage capitalism and bringing ourselves back into right relationship with each other and the planet. Originally recorded on 2/24/26.Sources/Links/Notes:Team HumanDouglas Rushkoff YouTube ChannelDouglas Rushkoff, “You Are Not Crazy,” Substack, January 7, 2026Douglas Rushkoff, “Survival of the Richest,” Medium, July 5, 2018Jesse Armstrong, Mountainhead, 2025 filmDan Fogelman, Paradise, Hulu, 2025 seriesProsperaNeomCalifornia ForeverJack Manno, Privileged Goods, 1999 bookRelated episode(s) of Crazy Town:Tech Bros on Acid with Douglas Rushkoff (Bonus episode of Crazy Town)It’s All Paradox with Douglas Rushkoff (Bonus episode of Crazy Town)

You Ain’t Gonna Live Forever: The Dos and Don’ts of Legacy Building 11.03.2026 40мин

Immortality projects represent an often irrational, and sometimes even unconscious, way to tamp down anxiety about death. There are some shocking examples of people, especially those with lots and lots of money, who try to leave some sort of mark in a futile attempt to keep from facing death. In this episode, we run a special fantasy-football style draft to take a look at immortality projects, some horrendous, but some with positive effects. Originally recorded on February 6, 2026.Sources/Links/Notes:Adam McCay, The Big Short, 2015 filmHenry VIIIGabriella Angeleti, “Two men sentenced to prison time for vandalising Nevada petroglyphs,” The Art Newspaper, November 10, 2022Owen Clarke, “A Utah Woman Must Pay $15,000 in Fines for Vandalizing Ancient Petroglyphs,” Outside Magazine, November 20, 2025Lehman’s CatalogJohn Prine, “Paradise” 1971 songX post on Brian Johnson’s erections, February 11, 2024Epic of GilgameshTompkins Conservancy and Patagonia National ParkInstituto TerraEric Grundhauser, “Visit a Beard That Killed Its Owner,” Atlas Obscura, January 26, 2018Raoul WallenbergRelated episode(s) of Crazy Town:Crazy Town Classics “Terror Management Theory”Episode 51, “A Load of Papal Bull: Greenlighting Colonization and the Mindset of Extraction”Episode 54, “Colonizing the Sky: The Untold Environmental Toll of Skyscrapers”Episode 92, “Escaping Otherism: Why Dr. Seuss Could Never Find a Rhyme for Genocide”

Crazy Town Classics - Terror Management Theory 25.02.2026 1ч 1мин

What can we learn about death from the X-Men, small screaming rodents, and unwitting college students in psychology experiments? It turns out that the fear of death (or death anxiety) affects human behavior in all sorts of surprising and deeply troubling ways. Especially disconcerting is the way such fear entices people to cling to cultural beliefs so tightly that they will attack anything or anyone they perceive as a threat to their beliefs. And extra-super-duper disconcerting is how unaware most of us are that we are susceptible to such bad behavior when we’re reminded that one day we’ll die. Follow Jason, Rob, and Asher as they try not to deny climate change, vilify any out-groups, or assault one another while diving into the topic of death. In the Do-the-Opposite segment, Michael Hebb (author of Let’s Talk about Death over Dinner) shares wisdom for developing a healthier relationship with death. For episode notes and more information, please visit our website. Originally recorded on December 22, 2020.

Getting Real about Resiliency with Emily Schoerning 11.02.2026 55мин

What if there were a news outlet that actually covered the most important environmental stories of our time? Dr. Emily Schoerning and her nonprofit, American Resiliency, translate the latest and most urgent climate science into useful information for communities across the United States. Jason and Emily discuss the potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the merits of mitigation versus adaptation, and how to take meaningful action in your own community. Originally recorded on 12/22/25.Sources/Links/Notes:American ResiliencyMark Rober YouTube ChannelSixth National Climate Assessment, International Panel on Climate ChangeRelated episode(s) of Crazy Town:Episode 8, “Mosquito-Flavored Popcorn, or What Climate Scientists Are Getting Wrong”Episode 34, “Fear of Death and Climate Denial, or… the Story of Wolverine and the Screaming Mole of Doom”Episode 37, “Discounting the Future and Climate Chaos, or… the Story of the Dueling Economists”Episode 45, “Feedback Loops and Climate Catastrophe, or… the Story of the Baseball Bloodbath”Episode 77, “The Elon Musk Episode about Elon Musk Brought to You by Elon Musk”Episode 97, “The House Is Quite Literally on Fire: Peter Kalmus on the Climate Emergency Hitting Home”

Choose Your AI Adventure: Immiseration or Extinction 28.01.2026 34мин

Jason and Asher replace Rob with a much more humane and humble co-host, Elon Musk, to explore the feasibility of harnessing the entire sun to power AI superintelligence. We come away perplexed that not much of the excellent reporting on the environmental, energy, and financial risks of the AI boom address the googleplex-sized elephant in the room – that both AI success and failure lead to immiseration. Originally recorded on 12/3/25.Sources/Links/Notes:“Colossus 1” Search Engine podcast, November 21, 2025“Colossus 2” Search Engine podcast, November 21, 2025Episode 77, "The Elon Musk Episode about Elon Musk Brought to You by Elon Musk", Crazy Town podcast, June 14, 2023“Elon Musk on DOGE, Optimus, Starlink Smartphones, Evolving with AI, Why the West is Imploding” All In podcast, September 9, 2025“Is there an A.I. Bubble? And What if It Pops?” The Daily, November 20, 2025Hanna Rosin, The Atlantic, “What If AI Is a Bubble?” The Atlantic, November 13, 2025Related episode(s) of Crazy Town:Episode 77, “The Elon Musk Episode about Elon Musk Brought to You by Elon Musk”Episode 84, “Escaping Technologyism: Dreams of AI Sheep and the Deadliest Word in Film History”Episode 101 “Even AI Chatbots Hate Us: The Rise of the New Luddites, with Brian Merchant”

EVs on Speed: The Jevons Paradox Strikes Again 14.01.2026 43мин

Mainstream economists and environmentalists share something in common. Both tend to tout efficiency -- think better light bulbs -- as the solution to climate change and all our other environmental problems. But the little-understood Jevons Paradox intervenes to overwhelm any progress that comes from improved efficiency. We skewer the efficiency gains of electric vehicles, lighting, and plenty of other sectors, and we cover ideas for avoiding the efficiency trap, including unveiling our new political platform, which is sure to take the country by storm.Sources/Links/Notes:Jason Barlow, "EVs Have Gotten Too Powerful," Wired, September 19, 2025.Russ Heaps, "Heaviest Electric Vehicles of 2025," Kelley Blue Book, April 7, 2025.Wikipedia article on energy efficiency in transport that includes a table that compares many modes of transportWilliam Stanley Jevons, The Coal Question: An Inquiry concerning the Progress of the Nation, and the Probable Exhaustion of our Coal-mines (London: Macmillan and Co., 1866). 2nd edition, revised.Tomas Kloucek, "Darkness as an Endangered Species: Why Light Pollution Matters," Earth Bridge, June 11, 2025.Scenic America, "Billboards in the Sky: The Hidden Culprit Behind Light Pollution," July 30, 2025.Prepared Mind, "Welcome to the Great Unraveling (Tapestry Cloud Style Reweaving Polycrisis into Polyopportunity," June 20, 2025.2,000 Watt SocietyCalculate your ecological footprint.Related episode(s) of Crazy Town:Episode 3, "One Point Twenty-One Jigawatts"Episode 19, "I Can’t Drive... 35! The Rationale for Rationing"Episode 101, "Even AI Chatbots Hate Us: The Rise of the New Luddites, with Brian Merchant"

Sane Town: A Realistic Vision of Life 100 Years from Now 17.12.2025 55мин

Picture the future 100 years from now. What do you imagine? Flying cars? Space colonies? AI talking toasters?But if we can’t sustain an endlessly growing economy - even with a transition to green energy - what does a realistic and positive future look like?Alex Leff of the Human Nature Odyssey podcast joins Jason, Rob, and Asher to imagine life in the 22nd century: walking from our family farms into communal villages, living off the land in a low-energy lifestyle, taming our pet donkeys, and resisting our local warlords. It’s not the future the movies told us to expect. But it might be a future we enjoy living in.Sources/Links/Notes:Human Nature Odyssey podcast

Toasting Bread Is WAY Harder Than You Think: The Challenges of a Renewable Energy Future 03.12.2025 37мин

What does a livable future look like 100 years from now? If we unlocked unlimited green energy, what would we actually do with it? And are our dreams of a renewable-energy utopia sometimes just as delusional as the old fossil-fueled, drill-baby-drill mentality?Alex Leff of the Human Nature Odyssey podcast hosts this special Crazy Town highlights compilation. Alex revisits some of the most thought-provoking moments from Crazy Town, weaving in new commentary and context. Together, we explore energy literacy, the promises and pitfalls of a renewable-energy transition, and why toasting a simple slice of bread is much harder than you might think.Along the way, we meet an Olympic athlete trying to toast bread with nothing but a bicycle. We also step inside a billionaire’s latest invention—a time-travel device designed to fling us one hundred years into the future.Stay tuned for Part 2, where we take the full leap into the time machine and imagine what life a century from now could really look like in a post high-energy future.Sources/Links/Notes:The Toaster Challenge, Olympic Cyclist Vs. Toaster: Can He Power It?, 2015Tom Murphy, Galactic-Scale Energy, Do the Math, 2011.Tom Murphy, Limits to Economic Growth, Nature Physics, August, 2022.Solar Freakin' Roadways, Indiegogo, 2014Human Nature Odyssey podcastRelated episode(s) of Crazy Town:Episode 3 "1.21 Jigawatts: Energy Literacy and the Real Scoop on Fossil Fuels"Episode 5 "Solar Freakin' Roadways: How Technological Optimism Undermines Sustainability"Episode 106 "Blinded by the Light - Facing Reality with Renewable Energy"ADDITIONAL MUSICModified version of "Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30" by Strauss, from classicals.de — licensed under CC BY 4.0

Worried about the Future? Join the Club 19.11.2025 51мин

There’s the book club, the Rotary Club, the Mickey Mouse Club, and the club sandwich. Whatever your preference, you might want to think about joining a club. Social clubs, fraternal orders, and the like have had a storied and critical role in public life. That is, until government programs and technology gave us an out from having to deal with each other. But with modernity failing, will clubs and community organizations make a huge comeback? In this episode we explore club life – past, present, and future, if there is one. Originally recorded on 11/6/25.Sources/Links/Notes:Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Simon & Schuster, 2000.John Michael Greer, "Secret Handshakes," The Archdruid Report, January 21, 2010.Related episode(s) of Crazy Town:Episode 65, "Why the Polycrisis Is a Statistical Anomaly: The Willful Delusions of the World’s Leading Pseudointellectual"

Searching for the Golden Toad with Kyle and Trevor Ritland 05.11.2025 51мин

Frog and Toad Are Friends, at least according to a venerable children’s book. And so are Jason (Crazy Town’s resident biology nerd) and conservationist brothers, Kyle and Trevor Ritland, authors of The Golden Toad: An Ecological Mystery and the Search for a Lost Species. The three eco-explorers connect over wondrous habitats and critters in Costa Rica's cloud forest and swap stories that cover Lazarus species, global pandemics, self-taught naturalists, birding, and even pregnancy tests. Spliced into the nostalgia and stories are reflections on how to cope in a world where biodiversity is declining and how to regain the connections that modernity has severed between humanity and wild nature. Originally recorded on 10/9/25.Sources/Links/Notes:Kyle and Trevor Ritland, The Golden Toad: An Ecological Mystery and the Search for a Lost Species, Diversion Books, 2025.Adventure Term, Kyle and Trevor's nonprofit experiential learning initiativeRelated episode(s) of Crazy Town:Episode 40, "Nature Detachment and Ecocide, or… the Story of the Marauding Mountain Lion"Episode 49, "A Day at the Zoo Is No Walk in the Park: Humanity’s Overexploitation of Animals and Nature"

Unsung Heroes: Sustainability Gurus Who Influenced the Crazy Town Worldview 22.10.2025 57мин

Some key understandings in Crazy Town: the Earth is finite; the economy cannot grow forever; people can harm ecosystems and cause global warming; physics, chemistry, and biology are real; inequality hurts everyone; healthy humans need community, and it’s more fun to laugh than to cry. But where did principles like these originate? In this episode, Jason, Asher, and Rob use the format of a fantasy football draft to pick the pundits who most influenced their thinking on sustainability, resilience, community, science, economics, and politics. Like starry-eyed fanboys (but hopefully a bit more articulate) they gush over their heroes and tell behind-the-scenes stories about how they came to be influenced. And they ask listeners to share their top picks for influencers (in the best sense of the term). Originally recorded on 9/29/25. Visit Crazy Town on the web.

Burned by Billionaires, with Chuck Collins 08.10.2025 44мин

Billionaires. They should be objects of scorn rather than envy. While they ride around in their super-yachts and private jets, producing the climate-damaging pollution of entire nations, they’re doing things to extract even more wealth, harm your health, diminish democracy, and rig the whole system in their favor. How did this happen? Why do we tolerate it? How can we stop the billionaires? And can we get a hold of our own super-yacht for Crazy Town pleasure cruises? Chuck Collins returns to Crazy Town to offer insights from his new book, Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power Are Ruining Our Lives and Planet. Originally recorded on 10/3/25.Sources/Links/Notes:Chuck Collins, Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power Are Ruining Our Lives and Planet, The New Press, October 2025.Chuck Collins, Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good, Chelsea Green Publishing, September 2016.Chuck Collins, The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions, Polity, January 2022.Related episode(s) of Crazy Town:Episode 10, "Tackling Inequality, One Pair of Lederhosen at a Time"Episode 43, "Overproduction of Elites and Political Upheaval, or... the Story of Rich People Doing Stupid Things"

Crazy Town Classics - Maximum Power and Scarcity, or... the Story of the Birdbrained Backhoe on the Beach 24.09.2025 59мин

The “maximum power principle” may sound like the doctrine of an evil supervillain, but it actually applies to all living creatures. The principle states that biological systems organize to increase power whenever constraints allow. Given the way humans adhere to this principle, especially by overexploiting fossil fuels, we often do behave like supervillains, wielding power in wildly irresponsible ways and triggering climate change, biodiversity loss, and other aspects of our sustainability pr...

Et Tu, Bhutan? Cryptocurrency and Late-Stage Capitalism 10.09.2025 36мин

Maximize profits, exploit nature, hoard money, and, like Buzz Lightyear, grow the economy to infinity and beyond! That’s the modern economic playbook. But for decades, one renegade country has taken a contrarian stance that actually cares about people’s wellbeing and environmental health: the Himalayan nation of Bhutan. When Bhutan embraced “Gross National Happiness” and a sane notion of progress, environmentalists and social reformers rejoiced. They spotlighted Bhutan as an example of how we...

Artifacts of Collapse: Touring the Crazy Town Museum 27.08.2025 1ч 2мин

In this episode we travel in time to the year 2125, to visit the Crazy Town museum, which showcases today’s world of wanton consumption and profligate waste. How will humans in 2125 – if there are any of us left – judge the things everyone sees as normal today? Jason, Rob, and Asher take turns serving as expert curators of this future museum, nominating items that best encapsulate how foolish and environmentally ruinous our priorities are. At the end we call on you, dear listener, to share wh...

Crazy Town Classics - Net Energy and Sustainability, or… the Story of the Overstuffed Strongman 13.08.2025 1ч 26мин

All of humanity’s feats, whether a record-setting deadlift by the world’s strongest man or the construction of a gleaming city by a technologically advanced economy, originate from a single hidden source: positive net energy. Having surplus energy in the form of thirteen pounds of food per day enables a very big man, Hafthor Bjornsson, to lift very big objects. Similarly, having surplus energy in the form of fossil fuel enables very big societies to build and trade very big piles of stuff. Ma...