This week’s guest is John Todd, executive director of Wild Montana. Wild Montana’s mission is to unite and mobilize communities to keep Montana wild. Since 1958, Wild Montana has played a key role in securing 16 wilderness designations and protecting millions of acres of public lands.In this conversation, John talks about his journey to conservation and the importance of using storytelling and community engagement to facilitate conservation success. John encourages Montanans to prioritize public lands when casting their ballots, and says that despite the polarization of the political environment, conservation is a bipartisan issue.

This week is the October edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend Bryce Ward about some of the broader challenges facing our society. Last month, they pondered the purpose of college in a world with AI. To follow up on that conversation, Justin invited his friend and colleague, David Firth, p…

This week’s guests are Alissa Quart and Anne Larson of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Alissa built the organization with the legendary Barbara Ehrenreich, whose landmark book, Nickel and Dimed, is now 25 years old. Alissa, Anne and several others recently published a retrospective in The Nation commemorating Ehrenreich’s enduring impact.In this conversation, Alissa and Anne touch on Barbara’s legacy and their wish for her to be remembered among the likes of Gloria Steinem and George Orwell. They discuss redefining the middle class, the broken social contract and the idea of collective action as a solution.