There’s a new podcast on the block called Bubble, put out by Maximum Fun and it has been an immensely enjoyable ride so far. Bubble is set inside the city of Fairhaven, in the not-so-distant future (or alternative present), where a giant bubble protects the town from the “brush” outside. The brush is a wild landscape with exotic plants, psychedelic herbs, and deadly prehistoric monsters — some of which manage to get inside Fairhaven from time to time. It is also filled with mysterious peoples who have shunned the cushy life inside the bubble and tend to fend for themselves; fierce, proud, and earthy. If you’re inside the bubble, however, you’ll find yourself in a millennial utopia(/dystopia) replete with the uber-ification of pretty much everything, including monster hunters with IG profiles for when the terrors of the Brush decide to show up in your house; but make sure you give them 5 stars only if you think their special powers are totes entertaining. The main plot revolves around Morgan, Mitch, Annie, and Van Joyce - late 20/30 somethings who are somewhat unwittingly pushed into the business of monster hunting.

Where Bubble succeeds is its potent mixture of sci-fi landscapes and cyberpunk charm, bolstered by the depth of the characters and the quirks of the city. Ultimately, the podcast relies on a strong plotline with sharp, tongue-in-cheek, absurd, and deprecative humor dotted along the way, which fans of BoJack Horseman, Arrested Development, or 30 Rock will not find out of place. Bubble is the podcast version of Archer set inside a Transmetropolitan-lite world, seen through the eyes of Broad City's lead characters. Oh and also, Bubble has a star-studded cast with many guest appearances. The arc is set to last for a total of eight episodes, and Episode 6 came out this week — so its relatively easy to catch up.

Go check it out.

I have written before about Generation Anthropocene, a podcast about moving into the Anthropocene, co-founded by Mike Osborne, a coral paleoclimatologist and a good friend of mine. To get a flavor of the podcast, here is their mission statement:

History is accelerating. Global population has crossed seven billion, the planet’s temperature continues its abrupt rise, and scientists warn we are in the midst of a new mass extinction. Transformations this enormous are rare in earth’s 4.6 billion year history and humankind’s planetary impact is geologic in scale. We have caused a new geologic age, and it has a name: The Anthropocene.

In addition to our extensive physical and chemical influences on our planet, the Anthropocene has come to symbolize a cultural shift. The concept has spread from academic circles to popular media and we at Generation Anthropocene want to cast our butterfly net as wide as possible to capture the conversations about this new age. We seek out cross-generational stories from our changing environmental and cultural landscapes, discussing all things Anthropocene with thought-leaders like geologists and historians, ecologists and philosophers. We’re grappling with our realization that we’re a geologic force and confronting the new reality with investigative storytelling.

I am featured on their latest episode, Fungi, a cedar, a Kau, oh My! in the last ~7 minutes or so where I talk about some of the exciting stuff that's going on with the PAGES2k group. Mike and I have always had long, drawn-out conversations about all things climate, and he decided to feature a glimpse into our back-and-forth on GenAnthro, with a segment called 'Convos with Kau'. I am super stoked - hopefully I can keep up my end of the interesting conversation! Check it out: