There’s a lot of repetitive manual labor to do around our household this year. Kelly and I are in the midst of re-doing our garden and fixing up a few rooms of our old house. While I could execute my duties in a contemplative and mindful silence, the fact is that I’m not that type of person. I’m also not the audio book type, so when I’m working I like to listen to podcasts. Here’s a selection of what I subscribe to:

C-Realm Podcast
This is the first podcast I ever subscribed to and it’s my favorite. It’s hard to pin down exactly what this show is about other than that the “C” stands for “consciousness,” but in no way would I call it “new age.” The topics vary widely, everything from resource depletion to singularitarians to heady economic theory. The talented, thoughtful and compassionate host goes by the pseudonym, “KMO” and it’s been interesting over the years to hear his ideas change. Lately, KMO has come out of a doomer phase and has shifted his focus to a new set of guests who are articulating the problems and possibilities or our time. KMO also has a paid subscription podcast called the C-Realm Vault, which I also enjoy.

Futility Closet
A romp through historical curiosities. Recent episodes have covered the 1925 serum run to Nome, a 19th century attempt to balloon over the North Pole and Victorian children’s author Favell Lee Mortimer’s offensive travel book.

In Our Time
Host Melvyn Bragg corrals a posse of academics to discuss topics in history, religion and philosophy. When guests drop big words like “hermeneutics” and “teleology,” Bragg always brings them down to earth and makes them explain things in plain English. This show has filled in many gaps in my education and functions as a reminder that not all of the media in this world is fixated on Kim Kardashian’s derriere.

On Being
Like Bragg, On Being host Krista Tippett has an almost supernatural ability to tackle difficult subjects, in this case religion and spirituality. I’m especially fond of a recent episode, a rare interview with poet Mary Oliver.

Radiolab
A highly produced NPR show. Readers of this blog will especially enjoy the episode, “How do you put a price tag on nature?”

Reply All and Start Up
Two podcasts from a new podcasting network founded by This American Life producer Alex Blumburg. Reply All tell stories about the people behind the internet and Start Up is a recursive look at founding a podcasting network.

99% Invisible
An short and to the point show on design and architecture.

Grow Edible
Homesteading advice from Seattle blogger Erica Straus.

Do you have a favorite podcast? Leave a comment!

First, I want to thank all of you who have subscribed, listened to and given us feedback on our podcast. I think there are many more of you who might like our podcast but are flustered by the user-unfriendly technology of podcasting.

You can, of course, just use the player that we embed in our podcast blog posts. But then you can’t do your dishes or listen to us natter on during your commute to work. If you’ve got a mobile device you can subscribe and have the podcast automatically downloaded via:

• Apple’s Podcasts App
• Via iTunes
• Sticher (Android users and in some Ford and GM vehicles)

When I’ve got some menial chores I make sure to load up my cast-off iPhone with my favorite podcasts. I’ll share some the podcasts I listen to in a future blog post.

Our guest this week is Peter Kalmus who is, among many things, a physicist, a climate scientist, a gardener, a beekeeper, a cyclist and the father of two boys. In our conversation he discusses his “Be-Cycling” response to climate change. Through a series of lifestyle changes he has reduced his personal CO2 emissions from 20 tonnes a year–which is about the US national average–to two tonnes. And he says he’s had a great time doing it. During the podcast he also touches on:

• His transition from astrophysics to climate science and why he made the switch.
• The carbon footprint of climate science.
• Not giving climate skeptics any more airtime.
• The disconnect between evidence and action.
• Meditation.
• Techo-fixes vs. “pulling back.”
• Figuring out your carbon footprint.
• Avoiding flying.
• The carbon footprint of food.
• Becoming a vegetarian.
• Dumpster diving.
• Growing food.
• RIPE Altadena.

You can find out more about Peter through his be-cycling website. You can also download an excerpt of his book-in-progress (pdf) and see slides from one of his talks (pdf).

If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. The theme music is by Dr. Frankenstein. Additional music by Rho. A downloadable version of this podcast is here.