Playlist: Leslie Chang's Portfolio
Featured
Our Fashion Footprint
From Generation Anthropocene | 18:44
A trendy outfit has never been cheaper than it is today. Not only that, the fashion industry is churning out new styles so quickly that the entire phenomenon has been dubbed fast fashion. The industry includes retailers like H&M, Forever 21, Zara, and even Target and Walmart. Of course, it’s only natural that we love finding the latest styles at affordable prices. But our clothes have abundant hidden costs for both the environment and people. This week, producer Leslie Chang takes a closer look at the footprint left behind by the fast-moving fashion industry. We hear from journalist Elizabeth Cline, author of ‘Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion,’ as well as UMass Dartmouth Asst. Prof. Nick Anguelov, author of ‘The Dirty Side of the Garment Industry: Fast Fashion and Its Negative Impact on Environment and Society.’
- Playing
- Our Fashion Footprint
- From
- Generation Anthropocene
A trendy outfit has never been cheaper than it is today. Not only that, the fashion industry is churning out new styles so quickly that the entire phenomenon has been dubbed fast fashion. The industry includes retailers like H&M, Forever 21, Zara, and even Target and Walmart. Of course, it’s only natural that we love finding the latest styles at affordable prices. But our clothes have abundant hidden costs for both the environment and people. This week, producer Leslie Chang takes a closer look at the footprint left behind by the fast-moving fashion industry. We hear from journalist Elizabeth Cline, author of ‘Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion,’ as well as UMass Dartmouth Asst. Prof. Nick Anguelov, author of ‘The Dirty Side of the Garment Industry: Fast Fashion and Its Negative Impact on Environment and Society.’
Peak Phosphorous
From Generation Anthropocene | 12:00
Five things you may not know about phosphorus (but probably should): 1) It’s an essential element to all life on Earth – so it’s a critical ingredient for industrial fertilizers. 2) The vast majority of our phosphorus supply comes from phosphate rock, mined from geologic deposits. 3) Those geologic deposits are concentrated in just 5 countries, and Morocco alone controls 75% of known reserves. 4) The rate at which we’re consuming phosphorus is flat out unsustainable, to say the least. Experts warn that at current rates we may run out of it this century. 5) If all that weren’t enough, many commercial farms over-apply phosphorus-rich fertilizers, which has catastrophic consequences for freshwater and coastal ecosystems around the world. So, wow, right?! Who knew phosphorus was so important? And given that pretty much no one is talking about the issue of peak phosphorus, what are we going to do? Will we be able to better manage the world’s phosphorus supply before we run out and cause widespread environmental damage, all while continuing to feed the billions of people on the planet?
- Playing
- Peak Phosphorous
- From
- Generation Anthropocene
Five things you may not know about phosphorus (but probably should): 1) It’s an essential element to all life on Earth – so it’s a critical ingredient for industrial fertilizers. 2) The vast majority of our phosphorus supply comes from phosphate rock, mined from geologic deposits. 3) Those geologic deposits are concentrated in just 5 countries, and Morocco alone controls 75% of known reserves. 4) The rate at which we’re consuming phosphorus is flat out unsustainable, to say the least. Experts warn that at current rates we may run out of it this century. 5) If all that weren’t enough, many commercial farms over-apply phosphorus-rich fertilizers, which has catastrophic consequences for freshwater and coastal ecosystems around the world. So, wow, right?! Who knew phosphorus was so important? And given that pretty much no one is talking about the issue of peak phosphorus, what are we going to do? Will we be able to better manage the world’s phosphorus supply before we run out and cause widespread environmental damage, all while continuing to feed the billions of people on the planet?
Attention is Money
From Raw Data | Part of the Raw Data: Season 2 series | 30:33
On the Internet there’s a never-ending, epic battle to catch – and keep – your attention. Today on the show, we talk to Tim Wu, author of "The Attention Merchants." He explains the stakes of attention being the essential currency of the Internet.
- Playing
- Attention is Money
- From
- Raw Data
On the Internet there’s a never-ending, epic battle to catch – and keep – your attention. We don't really think about it much, but attention is a precious and personal resource, and these days the name of the game is to monetize your attention through clicks and shares. Today on the show, we talk to Tim Wu, author of "The Attention Merchants." He explains how attention is the essential currency of the Internet, and that the stakes are not merely an ad-filled online experience, but in fact our very ability to preserve and independently determine our own mental spaces. We also chat with Byron Reeves, a Stanford professor whose research involves taking a screenshot of participants’ laptops every – five – seconds. This unprecedented view into where we go when we go online, and how we move around, will make you wonder how we ever get anything done.
Propaganda Armies
From Raw Data | Part of the Raw Data: Season 2 series | 34:58
Let’s face it – there’s a lot of bulls**t flying around on the Internet. But where is it all coming from? Fake news, propaganda, and misinformation tackled from a few different angles.
- Playing
- Propaganda Armies
- From
- Raw Data
The Legal Codes
From Raw Data | Part of the Raw Data: Season 2 series | 32:20
How are algorithms and data science making their way into the American criminal justice system?
- Playing
- The Legal Codes
- From
- Raw Data
How are algorithms and data science making their way into the American criminal justice system? The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world, and it’s clear from the statistics that minorities – most notably, black Americans – are locked up at disproportionate rates. So there are good reasons to take a close look at how new technologies are creeping into police departments and courts. Perhaps we can "code" for more equality and fairness by taking some decision making power away from humans and giving it to algorithms...but given this country’s inescapable history of discrimination, do we run the risk of ossifying a system that some describe as “the new Jim Crow?"