Crazy Town

Can our economy keep growing forever on a finite planet?
In this third installment of Finding Crazy Town, we explore the idea of exponential economic growth, why economists and politicians have become so committed to it, and what happens when our economic models fail to account for the environmental systems that make the economy possible.
Along the way, Jason, Rob, and Asher revisit the problems they see in conventional economics, Jason recounts the experience that sent him down the rabbit hole of Limits to Growth and ecological economics, and the trio asks whether growth and progress really mean the same thing.
From Robert Wadlow to Ronald Reagan, Donella Meadows to Julian Simon, the IPCC to the three musketeers, we follow the clues—and discover that sometimes limits aren't the enemy of creativity. They’re what make creativity possible.
Originally recorded on 7/21/26 with archival episodes.

Related Episodes
Episode 2, “Punching Ronnie in the Mouth”
Episode 8, “Mosquito-Flavored Popcorn, or What Climate Scientists Are Getting Wrong”

Credits
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.

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.
Related 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”

Credits
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.

With the churn of daily news growing more apocalyptic by the headline, and with earth scientists competing ferociously for the title of “gloomiest doomer,” it’s time for some fun (or at least making fun) with a new fantasy-football-style draft. This time, Jason, Rob, and Asher are making their way through their top 3 signs of civilizational collapse, in 3 categories: Earth systems, pop culture, and politics. But they refuse to remain mired in the muck. Each draft pick has to be accompanied by a countervailing force, a real-world example of people facing reality and building resilience together. Originally recorded on 5/22/26.

Sources & Links
The 'Doomsday' Glacier's Giant Ice Shelf by Alison George, New Scientist, May 18, 2026
Thwaites glacier in Antarctica
Antarctica’s ‘doomsday glacier’ by Hope Nguyen, Yahoo! News, May 20, 2026
Plastic-Eating Microbe by Hafsa Aslam, UC Davis, Apr 7, 2025
Gardening google search trend
Advances in AI will boost productivity, by Mark A. Wynne and Lillian Derr, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, June 24, 205
Dallas Fed Chart 3 Possible AI Futures by Rudo Chakrabarti, Yahoo! Finance, May 9, 2026
Local governments oases of compromise by Alexandra Marquez, NBC News, Oct 23, 2024
North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre collapse by Laurie Laybourn, IPPR.org, Oct 9, 2024
Global Tipping Points: Atlantic Circulation
The most pro-business Supreme Court ever by Felix Salmon, Axios, Aug 4, 2022
Voting Rights Decision, New York Times, May 28, 2026
Planetary Boundaries framework
Land System Change
Willamette Valley Wet Prairie
Willamette Valley Upland Prairie and Savanna
Maps of Crazy Town: Mar de Plastico by Rob Dietz, Resilience, Sep 4, 2025
The Land Trust Alliance
Community Land Trusts
How F1 Became the Fastest Growing Sport in the U.S. by Douglas Jase, Complex, May 6, 2026
Fatalities in F1 racing
Explainer: What’s happening with gerrymandering in the United States—and who will “win” the redistricting battle? Harvard Kennedy School, May 4, 2026
Democracy was never designed to work — but something better is emerging by Jeremy Lent, Resilience, May 6, 2026

Related Episodes
Episode 96, “The Frequent Flyer Tree: Losing the Last Bit of Sense in the Climate Emergency”
Episode 103, “It Was Never Your Democracy Anyway: Thomas Linzey on Rethinking the Constitution”

Credits
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.