EarBuds Podcast Collective Recommendations: Where Documentaries Meet Drama

 Every week, Arielle Nissenblatt distributes the EarBuds Podcast Collective recommendations by topic. Five podcasts are recommended according to a theme, and they are curated by a different person. 

This week, the recommendation curator is Amy Martin, the founder and executive producer of the Threshold podcast. 

 Threshold is a Peabody Award-winning podcast that tells captivating stories about people and the planet. Each season, they do a deep dive into one pressing environmental story, exploring it through the intersections of science, politics, culture, and environmental justice. 

Threshold aims to make space for thoughtful, honest, and intersectional conversations about human relationships with the natural world, including the controversy over drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, climate change in the Arctic through the eyes of people who live there, and asking if we can ever have wild, free-roaming bison again.

Martin's recommendations are documentary podcasts. They include

Floodlines, is one of the best narrative audio shows ever made, in EarBuds curator Amy Martin's opinion. The evocative writing and sensitive listening drew her in. The people that are centered in this story of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath kept her hooked. A must-listen, Martin insists.

 The Experiment is a three-part miniseries from The Atlantic and WNYC where you can learn about history, cuisine, and labor relations through the lens of canned meats. Really, Amy? But trust me. The show is not spam!

In The Sum Of Us from Spotify, host Heather McGhee excavates American histories and inspires us to imagine new American futures in this audio follow-up to her best-selling book, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. Martin says: "Shining a light on the brutal effects of racism while also creating space for hope and renewal is no easy task, but somehow she pulls it off."

 Bundyville: The Remnant explores the world beyond the Bundy family and the armed uprisings they inspired. This series investigates extremist violence that results from the conspiracy theories of the anti-government movement, who is inspiring that violence and who stands to benefit. Martin says, "This second season of this podcast's exploration of western anti-government movements was fabulous when it came out in 2019. Listening to it now, post-January 6, it sounds even fabulous-er. But in a seriously disturbing (and important) way."

Martin is effusive in her praise of Making and all its seasons (Oprah! Beyoncé!), but right now, Making Obama feels like much-needed balm for the gaping wounds in our democracy, she asserts.

Arielle Nisssenblatt adds, "hearing from and about the man himself is fascinating, but what sticks with EarBuds curator Amy the most are the voices of all the people around him who both championed and challenged him. It's an inside look at how leadership is learned through and with community. It's also just a really fun (and emotional) listen."

For more recommendations, check out EarBuds Podcast Collective.