Travel Documents 134: How We Survive
Hosted by Amy Scott for NPR Marketplace
Genre: nonfiction, investigative journalism, social change, cultural change
The Dust Cover Copy
The climate crisis is here. And we’re looking for solutions. "How We Survive" is now a podcast series, available wherever you listen.
Climate change is dire, but it does not have to be world-ending. The solutions are out there, but they can feel removed from our day-to-day lives. “How We Survive’s” Burning Questions video series explores what we can do to help resolve the climate crisis. From individual actions to big policy changes, we’re getting answers to some of our most pressing questions.
The Scene
Podcast Setting and Staging
NPR always has a high standard of production, and How We Survive is no exception. Snappy intro and extro music, strong integration of soundscapes and interview content, and good overarching narration by Amy Scott makes for an engaging podcast experience. It’s fun to listen to, and that doesn’t often get said about climate change material.
The Crowd
Hosts
Amy Scott is everything you hope for in a host:
She’s a skillful interviewer who draws out her subjects
She’s a down to earth and sensible speaker with a dry sense of humor
She’s a skillful researcher with an eye for a new angle
And to top it off, she just has a good voice to listen to!
The Lingo
Podcast Pacing And Story Choice
Curious, open, grounded and thoughtful, How We Survive moves at a steady clip over lots of content and valuable ideas. The focus is always on problem-solving, the content is valuable and the tone is contemplative. The subjects cover a wide range of topics:
Where the lithium for our electric cars can come from and who that impacts
Who pays for the tech to survive climate change?
As climate change brings more fires, how do we keep the air clean?
Where water will come from tomorrow, and how we’ll use it
On all these topics, Amy Scott sticks with her approach: grounded, sensible, and skeptical in the best sense of that word. She digs into all the layers of the topic at hand, and does so with common sense and a searching mind. She’s accessible and engaged with whoever she’s speaking to, and she’s got a real knack for making a lot of things real and concrete.
Overall Rating
A solutions-focused, sensible and engaging exploration of a tough topic. Amy Scott explores subjects where everybody’s right, everybody’s wrong, and works through the possibilities for living in a better world tomorrow by changing the way we do things today. Really, my only complaint is the ads. If you’re worried about the future right now and feel like you don’t know which way to turn, listen to this. It helps.