Monthly Archives: September 2025

Podcast

SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE & BURNED BY BILLIONAIRES: Michael Mann and Chuck Collins on Defending Truth and Democracy

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Today, we look at two urgent threats to our world: the assault on science and the concentration of wealth.

First, climate scientist Michael E. Mann talks about the book he co-authored with infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Hotez, Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World. It’s a guide to defending truth, evidence, and reason against disinformation and attacks on science.

“If we lose our ability to have shared facts, we lose our ability to have democracy.” — Michael Mann

Then, author and inequality scholar Chuck Collins joins us to discuss his book Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power Are Ruining Our Lives and Planet. He reveals how a handful of billionaires manipulate markets, politics, and culture — and what we can do to fight back.

“Extreme wealth is destabilizing our democracy.” — Chuck Collins

Connect with WV:

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast 

Key Words: Michael Mann, Peter Hotez, Science Under Siege, disinformation, threats to democracy, attacks on science, climate denial, vaccine denial, Chuck Collins, Burned by Billionaires, wealth inequality, billionaire class, oligarchy, democracy under threat, economic justice, concentrated wealth

You Might Also Like: Michael Mann, THE NEW CLIMATE WAR, Chuck Collins, ALTAR TO AN ERUPTING SUN

Continue reading →

Podcast

HOW TO SAVE THE AMAZON & ARCTIC PASSAGES: Andrew Fishman on Dom Phillips’ Legacy & Kieran Mulvaney on Climate and Power in the Far North

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

This week on Writer’s Voice, two stories from the planet’s frontlines: the Amazon rainforest and the Arctic ice. Two urgent stories from Earth’s frontlines — and why they matter for us all.

Journalist Andrew Fishman joins us to talk about completing the last book by Dom Phillips, How To Save The Amazon: A Journalist’s Deadly Quest for Answers. Phillips was murdered in 2022 for reporting on the destruction of the rainforest — and this book is his legacy.

“Dom’s idea was to answer the question: what do we need to do to save the Amazon?” — Andrew Fishman

Then we head north with writer Kieran Mulvaney. His book Arctic Passages: Ice, Exploration, and the Battle for Power at the Top of the World uncovers how centuries of ambition and today’s climate crisis are colliding in the Arctic.

“[The Arctic] is both a frontline of climate change and a frontline of geopolitics.” — Kieran Mulvaney

Connect with WV:

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast 

Key Words: Andrew Fishman, Dom Phillips, How To Save The Amazon, Amazon rainforest, deforestation, Indigenous rights, environmental journalism, climate change, Kieran Mulvaney, Arctic Passages, Arctic exploration, climate crisis, polar regions, environmental justice.

You might also like: Rowan Jacobsen, WILD CHOCOLATE, Sherri Goodman, THREAT MULTIPLIER

Continue reading →

Podcast

HOLY GROUND & A YEAR OF COMPASSION: Catherine Coleman Flowers and Colleen Patrick-Goudreau on Justice, Hope, and Living Kindly

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

This episode of Writer’s Voice explores two inspiring approaches to building a more just and compassionate world. It’s part of September’s WV programming in honor of Climate Week. Two nationwide mobilizations are happening for Climate Week: Make Billionaires Pay and Sun Day.

First, environmental activist Catherine Coleman Flowers tells us about her new memoir Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, And Finding Hope. She shares her journey from Lowndes County, Alabama to the national stage, her deep roots in faith and family, and her fight for sanitation justice, climate action, and dignity for all.

“In the darkest of times, hope is still possible. Indeed, it is essential.” — Catherine Coleman Flowers

Then, vegan advocate Colleen Patrick-Goudreau joins us to talk about her book A Year of Compassion: 52 Weeks of Living Zero-Waste, Plant-Based, and Cruelty-Free. She offers practical steps to live with compassion for animals, people, and the planet—showing that small changes add up to big impacts.

“We don’t get to choose whether we can make a difference or not. We get to choose only if the difference we make is negative or positive.” — Colleen Patrick Goudreau

Connect with WV:

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast 

Key Words: Catherine Coleman Flowers Holy Ground, environmental justice, sanitation justice, climate change activism, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau A Year of Compassion, plant-based living, vegan lifestyle tips, zero waste, plastic reduction, food waste composting,

You might also like: Naomi Klein: Climate Changes Everything, Melanie Joy, WHY WE LOVE DOGS, EAT PIGS, AND WEAR COWS

Continue reading →

Podcast

Dickens the Enchanter & Plato and the Tyrant: Peter Conrad and James Romm on Imagination, Power, and Authoritarianism

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.

Episode Summary

In this episode of Writer’s Voice, we explore the lives and legacies of two giants—Charles Dickens and Plato—through the eyes of authors who reveal new dimensions of their work.

Cultural historian Peter Conrad tells us about his biography, Dickens the Enchanter: Dickens didn’t just depict Victorian society—he conjured an entire imaginative universe he called “Planet Dick.” Conrad examines Dickens as an enchanter, social critic, and visionary.

“What he was creating was not some sort of mirror or model of a world that already existed as other 19th century novelists were doing…He was creating an autonomous world, a world of his own, almost a science fiction world.” — Peter Conrad

Then, historian James Romm joins us to talk about Plato and the Tyrant. He shows how Plato’s philosophy wasn’t just abstract theory—it was shaped by his fraught entanglement with tyrants in ancient Syracuse. Romm uncovers how those experiences influenced The Republic and still echo in our contemporary struggles with democracy and authoritarianism.

“My students at Bard saw the dark side of the Republic, its authoritarianism, its interest in censorship, thought control, regulation of private life on a scale that I’ve compared in my book to that of modern North Korea.” — James Romm

Connect with WV:

Follow us on Bluesky @writersvoice.bsky.social and subscribe to our Substack. Or find us on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast 

Key Words:

Peter Conrad Dickens the Enchanter, Charles Dickens biography, Dickens Planet Dick, James Romm Plato and the Tyrant, Plato Republic, philosopher king, Syracuse Dionysius, democracy vs autocracy, Writer’s Voice Francesca Rheannon

You might also like: James Romm, THE SACRED BAND, James Romm, DYING EVERY DAY

Continue reading →