Land of the Rising Floodwaters (w/ Dr. Wesley Cheek)

After the unprecedented rain and landslides in western Japan, disaster sociologist Dr. Wes Cheek talks about the country's future, and how facing the climate crisis may require never-before-seen levels of "shikata-ga-nai."
Ollie recommends a climate change simulating cruise that is ALREADY behind the times.

Bobby throws some classic comedic misdirection in your face.

Topics discussed on this episode range from:

Whatever happened to all those RAINBOW HATS?Updates with Ollie's continuing run of terrible luck at the Fringe, and how he's discovered that his pain is funnyWes's wild journey from bourgeoise JET ALT to MMA Photographer to disaster recovery researcher, and how 311 (not the band) changed the direction of his lifeBrian's in a bit of a moodThe JBRC Alumni network and Wes's work adjacent to previous guest Angela OrtizHow we're funding the boathouseThe extreme weather and its effects on southern JapanWes getting caught in the weather in Kagoshima, Bobby being in it in FukuokaA brief description of rainExactly HOW severe the level of precipitation was and how this is creating challenges for areas that didn't see these challengesHow Japan's topography makes it vulnerableJapan immigrant pessimism from Alex Kerr's 'Dog's and Demons' but how Japan's tendency to put concrete everywhere can actually be goodWhat are the extreme lengths Japan might have to go in preventative measures?How Japan news media is reframing its approach to covering extreme weather storiesWhat does that "Once in hundred year" storm terminology actually refer to statistically?A very clear illustration of why we invite people who are smarter than us on the showWhat motivates politicians to gamble with disaster preparednessWhy politicians frame disasters as unforeseeable and what disaster researchers try to do balance that outThe inherent conflict between running day-to-day politics and caring about the long-termHelplessness in the face of disasterGeographical climate crisis triageWhen should we give up?Is there messaging that can get people to not adapt a shikata-ga-nai attitude towards man-made climate disasters?The proliferation of "Bousai" (disaster preparedness) content in JapanThe effect of measuring the value of a society based on its GDP, and how that relates to who we put the responsibility for saving the planet onWhy Wes tells his children not to recycle (not really)How is Japan positioned to face the future?What sort of things should Japan concern itself with going forward?

As always, the extras are FANTASTIC, and they're like getting a whole extra show for free. Well, not for free.
For like 4 to 5 dollars a month.
You can get access to the extras by supporting the podcast for less than $1 an episode by becoming a member at http://buymeacoffee.com.

Topics discussed on the extras include:

How Ollie and Wes think that being able to edit podcast audio makes them fucking Keanu ReevesHow the new internet economy screws you guys, sorryWes gets a brief education on UK sitcoms before he SURPRISE SURPRISE moves to London. TWEET AT HIM ABOUT his soon to be defunct @ on twitter!Wes's podcast Atticus Shrugged, covering US politics in the southHow the names of places work, and how Florida politics skew, plus a brief moment where Bobby pretends to remember college footballA definition of "florida crackers" that we were unfamiliar withWhy Wes hates thinking about good thingsOnce Wes almost ran for Congress against Matt GaetzAre there parallels between current US populism and Japanese political trends?How legacy politics and elite association membership controls the relationship between politics and the mediaThe western tendency for people to define their personal/social identity based on their political affiliation and how that doesn't really happen in Japan at largeThe US pulling out of Afghanistan, and Japan's reactionThe relationship (financial and otherwise) between Japan and Afghanistan over the yearsNakamura TetsuHow Japan doesn't accept refugees, except they gave it to that Myanmar Soccer GoalieThe Utada Hikaru contradicition: How Japanese people choose whether or not they consider someone JapaneseHow lots of countries will make "humanitarian" choices when it involves people who are good at sportShould Kobe Bryant and Mike Tyson have been forgiven? (HOW THE HELL DID WE GET HERE?)How the US rightwing is just trollingBobby's lighting fail when we made that Olympic video

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Social Media Links:

Dr. Wesley Cheek:  Twitter | Podcast-Atticus Shrugged

Ollie Horn: Twitter | Instagram

Bobby Judo: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

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We record remotely using Squadcast and the podcast is hosted on Transistor. Bobby uses the Samson Go Mic and Ollie uses the AT2005USB mic

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