Important, Unimportant: A Podcast For Listeners "Who Give A Sh*t"

Quinn Emmett, the host of Important, Not Important, had an immediate effect on me after listening to several episodes of his superb and marvelously distinct podcast.

I first wondered how he survives with three double consonants in his name. That's a tough break. Then I speculated how he became one of the smartest people in podcasting. 

In a crazy world where everything wrong is Trump's fault or the result of those Democratic groomers, socialists, pedophiles, atheists, and people infected with Type 2 wokeness, Quinn Emmett is anything but a blamer. No, instead, he's a solutions person. We don't have too many of those today. Emmett doesn't point fingers. Instead, he looks for cures, not band-aids.

Emmett doesn't reflexively react to societal problems. He thinks about them. Their causes, their complexities, and the possible solutions. Sadly, many politicians have stopped even offering solutions. Listening to Emmett's podcast, his range of thinking spans a wide-open universe, from climate change to personal and cultural happiness.

Who is Quinn Emmett? It's fitting that Quinn comes from an old Irish word for wise, sense or reason. Quinn is also a first name that could drive conservatives crazy because it is a popular girl's name and a boy's name. Oh boy, the gender complexity.

Quinn Emmett is a screenwriter, investor, a self-described father of three growing humans, and the founder, writer, and host at Important, Not Important: science for people who give a shit. His critically-acclaimed newsletter, podcast, and coaching help you think deeply and act decisively about the world’s make or break science news, from climate to COVID, heat to hunger, and agriculture to AI ethics. 

His work is consumed on a weekly basis by senators and scientists, investors and doctors, students and CEO’s, best-selling fiction writers and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists. Quinn has spent the past two decades working, advising, and investing across a wide spectrum of business, media, politics, activism, and philanthropy. He has been nominated for 6 Webbys including Best Newsletter, Best Podcast Host, and Best Science Show.

Important, Not Important bills itself as "a 6-time Webby-nominated show that delivers deep conversations with the world's smartest people (scientists, doctors, CEOs, farmers, and more), and digestible news updates every single week, loaded with tips and steps you, and we can take to fix this place right up. They’re talkin' clean energy and coral reefs, COVID vaccines and pediatric cancer research, clean water and carbon capture tech, asteroid deflection and artificial intelligence ethics. It’s science for people who give a sh*t, want to feel better, and unf*ck the world."

I think Emmett cleverly and uniquely pitches his podcast this way because he's searching for listeners who don't want to have their confirmation bias stroked by podcast hosts like Ben Shapiro or Charlie Kirk.  

Emmett's conversations and solutions often defy simplistic, sound-bite answers and transcend political ideologies.

In one recent episode, Emmett interviews Marc Schulz, who worked on an 85 year-long study of happiness. After following 724 people, the study learned about the importance of relationships and connections in our lives. Through their conversation, Schulz and Quinn Emmett expand on the findings to apply them to the challenges we face in our current society with technology, lifestyles, and loneliness. It makes you realize all the ways our support systems can help keep us healthy and happy.

It's a terrific episode because it questions our assumptions about happiness, and uses massive datasets to turn conjecture into sharply drawn conclusions.

In a July 24th episode, Emmett spoke with Cora Wyent, the Director Of Research at Rewiring America. The episode offers listeners a succinct assessment of where we are in electrifying everything from cars to homes. What are the breakthroughs? The blockades? 

Emmett offers listeners two types of episodes. Guest episodes -- like the one in late May about protecting yourself from wildfire smoke -- run close to an hour and are wide-ranging intellectual scouting parties. I learned from his guest, Dr. Mary Prunicki, that wildfire smoke that is days old is actually more harmful than just created smoke. 

Emmett also produces short episodes more like news broadcasts that are remarkably insightful and full of useful information.

In the show notes, Emmett infuses the attention to detail that is impressive and often lacking among many other podcasters. In the notes, Emmett includes a HERE's WHAT YOU CAN DO section to make his episode actionable. Then, he offers a NEWS ROUNDUP, which is a written version of his show so that listeners can readily access his links and sources.

Finally, kudos to Quinn Emmett. Through more than 300 episodes, he has provided quality information without the massive financial and logistical assistance of Spotify, iHeart, or Amazon. It's much easier as a host to show up in a top-notch studio with a staff of people who assist in the myriad tasks that the independent podcasters must complete themselves.

Instead, he is the CEO, CFO, COO, host, sound producer, scriptwriter, marketer, sales executive, administrative assistant, and handyman for the podcast. 

To paraphrase Quinn Emmett's own words, "He gives a Sh*t."

Listen to Important, Not Important and leave behind your confirmation bias and assumptions. It's an exhilarating experience. 

Quinn Emmett may not be for everyone, but he is certainly for anyone.