Claim OwnershipThe Building a Better World Podcast
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© 2020 Shawn Klassen-Koop
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Join Shawn Klassen-Koop, co-author of "Building a Better World in Your Backyard - Instead of Being Angry at Bad Guys", for short episodes introducing ideas you can use to make a huge, positive, global difference from your own home! Prioritize comfort over sacrifice while saving thousands of dollars!
26 Episodes
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The list of global problems is huge. But a lot of them are related. This episode covers 5 problems that are holding us back from living a happy, healthy, life on a sustainable planet. And since Shawn doesn't enjoy talking about the problems, he'll also start introducing some solutions for each of them. The five […]
The world's problems are massive and overwhelming. Fortunately, for nearly every global problem there are solutions we can implement in our backyard that, at the same time, save us money and help provide more luxuriant lives. In this introductory episode, Shawn Klassen-Koop discusses his preferred approaches to solving the world's problems from his book "Building […]
The most effective way to make your voice heard is not writing letters, signing petitions, or going to a protest. It's making the right choices each and every day. Angry about the impacts of fracking? Vote with your wallet. Want a food system that heals the planet instead of destroying it? Vote with your wallet. […]
Having conversations with others about environmentalism can be extremely frustrating – even with other environmentalists. It's important to remember that life is a journey, and different people are at different places on their journey. And the things they want to talk about where they are on their journey might be much different from what we […]
Most of us heat our homes by heating all of the air in the whole house and then blowing it around in the hopes that it will eventually heat some people. Why not just heat the people instead? By focusing on heating the person instead of heating the space, it is possible to save up […]
In a cold climate, heat is almost 2/3 of home energy use. Rocket mass heaters are super efficient wood-fired heaters that are pretty much smokeless and use one tenth of the wood of a conventional wood stove. They can be built for as little as a few hundred dollars and a weekend's worth of time. […]
People are getting sick at an alarming rate. The list of factors is immense, but there are things we can do at home to reduce our exposure to toxins that will also save us money at the same time. This episode shares strategies for home care that use cleaners that are so healthy, you can […]
Living in community is one of the biggest solutions for solving our environmental problems. Unfortunately, it is also really hard to do in a way where people actually want to do it. Oftentimes discussions on community assume that people are going to be noble. It's important to plan for a community that recognizes that people […]
The food we eat has a massive impact on our health and our planet. Conventional methods of raising animals are terrible for everything involved, but eating food grown in a way that mimics nature can drastically reduce our footprints and help us live happier, healthier lives. In doing so, we can also restore ecosystem diversity […]
A huge portion of our world's footprints come from the food we eat, not only because of the destructive methods of conventional agriculture, but also because of all of the many other industries that are attached to it. Growing our own food in a way that works with nature rather than against nature can dramatically […]
This is the first in a series of episodes about strategies for growing double the food with one tenth of the effort. Most gardeners spend a lot of time starting their plants indoors in the spring and babying them until they are ready to go in the ground. But nature doesn't really do transplants. By […]
This is the second in a series of episodes about strategies for growing double the food with one tenth of the effort. Tilling can be a lot of work. And while the short-term benefits can be excellent, the long-term consequences are huge. Every time you till, you lose 30% of the organic matter in the […]
This is the third in a series of episodes about strategies for growing double the food with one tenth of the effort. Growing more trees is one of the best things we can do for the environment. They stabilize soil, increase moisture, provide shelter, deliver free mulch, sequester carbon, and much more! In addition, there […]
This is the fourth in a series of episodes about strategies for growing double the food with one tenth of the effort. This episode shares two strategies for building soil and reducing the need for irrigation. Berms block wind and introduce texture into the landscape, providing some spots that are wet, some that are dry, […]
This is the last in a series of episodes about strategies for growing double the food with one tenth of the effort. Conventional methods of controlling pests and fertilizing are time consuming, expensive, and have negative environmental consequences. By emulating nature and growing plants in a polyculture, we can eliminate the need for both while […]
Lawns are the most irrigated crop in the United States of America. If we want to have a lawn, let's explore ways to care for a lawn that require much less irrigation. While we're at it, let's find ways to eliminate the need for fertilizer and weed control at the same time. For more info, […]
Colony collapse disorder threatens to destroy food crops around the world. Conventional beekeepers were reporting losses of 40%! And yet treatment-free beekeepers reported near-zero losses. The solution is easy: stop stressing the bees. To learn more about the book, visit buildingabetterworldbook.com.
Animals are a key component of natural ecosystems. Learning from nature, caring for animals can help us increase the amount of plants growing on a plot. But conventional methods of caring for animals are repulsive, don't help, and cause far more problems. Let's explore the idea of pampering animals instead. For details about the book, […]
The toxic footprint of our wastewater is immense. Reducing the amount of water that goes into septic or sewer systems will result in a much higher concentration of toxins, which should hopefully ring more alarm bells to properly handle the material. There are many ways to reduce the amount of water going down the drain. […]
Blackwater is filled with nutrients. Flushing those nutrients away is like flushing away free fertilizer! But blackwater can also be very dangerous, so we need to deal with it safely. There are many different strategies that one can use. This podcast explores two of those strategies that can work extremely well if done right. For […]
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