Doomer Optimism

DO 310 - Chapter House with Josh and Hannah Centers

This episode explores how Josh and Hannah Centers built Chapter House, a publishing project designed to restore beautiful, culturally literate children’s books to homesch

DO 309 - Bill Kauffman

"But at Least They're Human: Face-to-Face Living -- With Joy and Without Illusions"From the conference: Another Life is Possible co-organized by the Woodcrest Bruderhof c

DO 308 - Growing Pecans with Lenny Wells

Tom and Jason talk to Lenny Wells - pecan farmer and extension agent - about growing pecans in Georgia, the cultural and ecological factors. Along the way we also discus

DO 307 - Microcolleges with Jacob Hundt

In this episode Ashley and Jacob discuss the concept of microcolleges, and examples of alternative educational models writ large. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro: Exploring

DO 306 - Building New Athens with Jackson Solway

Movetonewathens.com TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Introducing the idea of building a city from scratch to address societal doom 02:08 - Jackson’s background in tech and recruitm

DO 305 - Orthodox Masonry

Patrick Lemmon and Seth Harris In this episode, Patrick and Seth discuss the principles of traditional and orthodox building methods, the importance of local materials,

DO 304 - Courtyard Urbanism with Alicia Pederson

In this episode, Alicia Pederson, founder of Courtyard Urbanist, takes us on a fascinating journey from ancient Rome to today’s urban development roadblocks. She explains

DO 303 - AI, Existential Risk, and the Future of the Human Soul

AI, Existential Risk, and the Future of the Human Soul

DO 302 - Starting a Farm and a Farm Store on Main Street

Geoffrey Long of Long Story Farms joins Jason to talk about what it actually takes to build a working farmstead part-time, the real challenges of scaling production and f

DO 301 - Open Source Civilization: Marcin Jakubowski of Open Source Ecology

When Your Tractor Breaks, Open Source the Whole Civilization Marcin Jakubowski, founder of Open Source Ecology, joins Ashley to talk about his 20-year project to open so

DO 300 - Celebrating 300 Episodes of Doomer Optimism

Three hundred episodes in, and we’re still here, still questioning, still laughing, still building. In this special 300th episode, we gather voices from across DO; past

DO 299 - Small Scale Production, Henry George, and the Land Value Tax

Willy Denner of Little Seed Gardens in Chatham, NY, joins Jason and returning co-host Nigel Best for a wide-ranging conversation about 32 years of small-scale organic far

DO 298 - The Wool Empire, Faith, and Local Business

Jason is joined by Greg Cello to discuss his plan to build a regional wool industry in New England, starting with sheep on his Rhode Island homestead. This isn't just abo

DO 297: Mulberries in the Rain: Permaculture, Crisis, and Building Food Systems for the Future

How patient design and ideological diversity are reshaping food production Ashley sits down with Ryan Blosser and Trevor Piersol, co-founders of Shenandoah Permaculture

DO 296: Building Community in Fragmented Times

Ashley Fitzgerald sits down with Elizabeth Oldfield to explore how we can foster genuine connection across ideological and cultural divides and why it matters more than e

DO 295 - Navigating the Evolution of Meat Production with Greg Gunthorp & Nate

Surviving Consolidation, One Pig at a Time Greg Gunthorp, a fourth-generation Indiana hog farmer, joins Nate for a wide-ranging conversation about survival, stubbornness

DO 294 - Rural Revival and the USDA with Nate and Jason Mauck

Nate sits down with Jason Mauck to discuss his hard-won experience running Munsee Meats, a small-scale meat processing operation in Indiana. What started as an opportunis

DO 293 - Antitrust Law, Beef Politics, and Actually Using Government Power

Antitrust attorney Basel Musharbash discusses recent political whiplash in beef markets and the broader question of how actually to enforce anti-monopoly law. The convers

DO 292 - Breaking the Beef Cartel: Mike Callicrate on Monopoly Power, Maker-Owned Markets, and the Fight for Rural America

Welcome to Beef Week! 🐄 Nate sits down with rancher, entrepreneur, and farm advocate Mike Callicrate for a deep dive into the crisis facing America's cattle industry—and

DO 291 - Building an Edible Perennial Nursery with Nick Wrenn of Living Soil Tree Farm

Building an Edible Perennial Nursery with Nick Wren Nick Wren of Living Soil Tree Farms joins Jason to talk about the practical realities of starting and running an edibl