What if the greatest strength of modern civilization—its incredible complexity—is also its greatest weakness?

In Part 2 of our six-part summer series, Finding Crazy Town, producer Alex Leff continues investigating the mysterious disappearance of Jason Bradford, Rob Dietz, and Asher Miller. Following the trail leads from a simple podcast microphone into the astonishing complexity of modern techno-industrial civilization, where every solution creates new layers of coordination, specialization, and dependence.

We'll revisit one of Crazy Town's core ideas: that complexity creates complexity. As societies become more interconnected, they also become more fragile—raising difficult questions about resilience, simplification, and what it would take to build a civilization that's durable enough to weather the challenges ahead.

Originally recorded on 7/15/26 with archival episodes.

The world has lost a voice of clear, truth-telling wisdom—a man whose work reached millions of people and fundamentally changed the lives of thousands.

Richard Heinberg was regarded as one of the world’s foremost advocates for a shift away from our current reliance on fossil fuels. He was Senior Fellow of Post Carbon Institute for nearly twenty years. Richard was the author of fourteen books, including some of the seminal works on society’s current energy and environmental sustainability crisis.

Crazy Town producers Alex Leff and Melody Traverse discuss Richard's legacy and play episode one of The Power Podcast.

We'll resume our regular programming of the Finding Crazy Town series next week.

What happens when the global economy depends on fish traveling 10,000 miles, oil flowing through a single strait, and enough cheap fossil fuel energy to build civilizations that previous generations couldn't even imagine?

In Part 1 of our six-part summer series, producer Alex Leff begins investigating the mysterious disappearance of Jason Bradford, Rob Dietz, and Asher Miller. Following the clues leads to international shipping, global trade, and the hidden energy that powers modern civilization. Along the way, we'll revisit some of Crazy Town's foundational ideas—and begin asking how our modern techno-industrial world came to be, why it's so fragile, and what it would take to build something more resilient.

Originally recorded on 7/1/26 with archival episodes.

• Episode 11, “My Dinner Is Stuck in Traffic”
• Episode 16, “The 10,000-Mile Cod and Insane Global Trade”
• Episode 23, “Mayor McCheese & Modern Medicine: the Good & Bad of High Energy”

Production 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.

Join your fellow Crazy Townies by registering at resilience.org/crazytownhall

The Crazy Town Hall is a live, online get-together for our most engaged listeners, affectionately known as Crazy Townies. The Town Hall is your chance to hang out with Jason, Rob, and Asher – and your fellow Crazy Townies – as we continue our arduous journey to the center of a collapsing techno-industrial, politically incompetent civilization. This 75-minute event will feature plenty of lampoonery, fun pop quizzes, and even good ideas for building community resilience.

Like any respectable political circus these days, this event is also a fundraiser. So please consider making a donation to our modest nonprofit organization, and join us for some fun at the Crazy Town Hall.

Is hypocrisy the one thing that can grow infinitely on our finite planet? When you learn that humanity’s fossil fuel burning, including your own, is contributing to climate chaos, what can you do? When you understand that economic growth and consumption are causing habitat loss and the sixth mass extinction, can you opt out? As long as you are embedded in an unsustainable society, it’s hard not to be a hypocrite. At the same time, dropping out seems isolating and ineffective, if you can even do it. Join Jason, Asher, and Rob as they hit the confessional to examine the challenges and psychology of hypocrisy. Originally recorded on 4/23/26.

• Hassan Fathy
• A Short History of Endurance by Charlotte Del Signore
• Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution by Peter Kalmus
• Nature’s Best Hope by Doug Tallamy
• Homegrown National Park
• "What Is the Window of Tolerance, and Why Is It So Important?" Psychology Today, May 23, 2022.
• Asher recommends taking 20 minutes to sit down with this worksheet to better understand triggers/signs for when you’re either in hyperarousal (fight/flight) or hypoarousal (freeze).

• Episode 16, “The 10,000-Mile Cod and Insane Global Trade”

Production 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.

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.

• Chris Smaje’s Blog
• Finding Lights in a Dark Age by Chris Smaje
• Excerpt of the book on Resilience
• Second excerpt on Resilience
• Review: Saying NO to Ecomodermism. Smaje Versus Monbiot, It’s No Contest

• Episode 98, “Bargaining With Collapse: A Superabundance of Lab Grown Meat and Dryer Balls”

Production 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.