Cascade PBS Ideas Festival

Reporting on the Crisis in the Middle East

Tug of War host David Rind and international correspondent Nada Bashir dig into how the war in Gaza has changed the Middle East and the world.

Since the Hamas attacks of October 7 and the outbreak of the war in Gaza, CNN’s Tug of War podcast has brought listeners into the heart of the conflict.  

As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, host David Rind and CNN international correspondent Nada Bashir got on stage for a live taping of Tug of War. They discussed Bashir’s reporting in the region – and the unique challenges of covering an unfolding war with decades of context. 

In this episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, Rind and Bashir explore the horrors taking place in Gaza and the many impacts the war is having on the rest of the region and the world. They discuss the international media’s heavy reliance on Palestinian journalists, as few other reporters have access to Gaza; what many media outlets get wrong and the impact of bias on all sides; and what Bashir will take with her as she continues her work.  

This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2024.  

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

 

Welcome Back to the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival

Catch up on every session, featuring speakers such as Malcolm Gladwell, Lindy West and Ta-Nehisi Coates, on our weekly festival podcast.

This year’s Cascade PBS Ideas Festival has officially wrapped. But the insightful conversations that took place on May 4, 2024, are coming soon to a podcast app near you. 

To help launch this season of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast (formerly Crosscut Talks), host Paris Jackson sat down with events director Jake Newman to chat about this year’s approach to the festival, some of the luminaries who attended and what we can expect to hear in the coming weeks.   

In this short kickoff episode, Newman points to a few guests he’ll be eager to hear from, including author and podcaster Malcolm Gladwell, historian Heather Cox Richardson, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and CNN international correspondent Nada Bashir. 

A new episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast will air every Monday, beginning May 13. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

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If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

Marc Summers on Double Dare and His Last Meal

The television host shares his ideal last meal and serves behind-the-scenes details from Nickelodeon and the Food Network.

Marc Summers, best known for his role as host of the 1980s Nickelodeon game show Double  Dare and host of the Food Network’s Unwrapped, actually launched his career doing magic tricks.

Summers shared this fun fact, and a whole lot more, with Rachel Belle, host of Your Last Meal — a James Beard Award finalist for Best Podcast — during a live taping at the Crosscut Ideas Festival in May. 

Another fun fact: Your Last Meal is now a Crosscut podcast! New episodes will be released every other Thursday. Learn more, listen and subscribe here. 

For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, Belle and Summers dig into the actor’s lifetime love of show business, how he snagged the job hosting the beloved Nickelodeon show (plus what that legendary slime was really made of), and why Summers decided to share his OCD diagnosis in the late 1990s. 

This conversation was recorded May 5, 2023.

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Seth Halleran

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

Psychedelics and Our Mental Health

Research shows the drugs can be effective in treating depression and substance-use disorders — but there’s still much we don’t know.

Psychedelics are moving back into the mainstream. According to a growing body of medical research, psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and ketamine can have a profound impact on people struggling with mental health conditions, including depression, post-traumatic stress and substance-use disorders. 

As a result, legal barriers are beginning to fall away. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has designated psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy,” for example, accelerating its path to approval, and recently released draft guidance for all clinical trials with psychedelic drugs. 

For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation among science journalist and author Carl Zimmer, palliative and rehabilitative care physician Dr. Sunil Kumar Aggarwal and University of Washington psychiatry professor Dr. Nathan Sackett about the rapidly emerging field of psychedelics in psychotherapy.

They discuss these drugs’ specific effects on the brain, explain their use in clinical practice and in current research and explore some of the bigger questions raised — from the challenges of practicing medicine in a legal gray area to the nature of human consciousness. 

This conversation was recorded May 6, 2023.

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Seth Halleran

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

Tackling the Biodiversity Crisis

Pollution, habitat loss and climate change all threaten wildlife and their ecosystems. Conservationists discuss what we can do to help.

Wildlife numbers are plunging worldwide. From toxic waste to invasive species, deforestation to rising temperatures, threats to the survival of our planet’s millions of plants and animals are causing scientists to warn of a sixth extinction.

It’s estimated that roughly a third of the world’s species have become endangered or gone extinct in the past 500 years. And as the climate crisis continues to escalate, many more will be forced to adapt.

For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, environmental journalist Michelle Nijuis, Conservation Northwest senior policy director Paula Sweeden and National Wildlife Federation chief scientist Dr. Bruce Stein unpack the reasons we’re facing such a crisis and what we can do to mitigate it.

The panelists’ proposed solutions range from federal legislation to backyard gardens—and ultimately make the case that the biodiversity crisis is inextricable from the climate crisis.

This conversation was recorded May 4, 2023.

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Seth Halleran

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

Solving the World’s Plastics Problem

Following the failure of the Washington Recycling and Packaging Act, experts and a key lawmaker discuss next steps.

Plastic is everywhere. It’s in our refrigerators, in our oceans and even in our bloodstreams. And wherever there are plastics, there are questions over what to do with them. 

In Washington state, as in most other places, the answer has been to recycle them whenever possible. In 2011, Washingtonians recycled 56 percent of recyclable materials, but since then there’s been a decline. Now the state recycles about 49 percent.

For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation from the Crosscut Ideas Festival about plastics and the challenges to recycling. Seattle Times environment and climate editor Ben Woodard leads the conversations with Washington state representative Liz Berry, Ocean Nexus Center director and anthropologist Dr. Yoshitaka Ota and Zero Waste Washington executive director Heather Trim.

The panel discusses why those numbers have dropped, as well as China’s role in recycling, the equity issues surrounding the practice and legislative efforts to hold producers of goods accountable by having them pay for recycling services.

This conversation was recorded May 6, 2023.

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Seth Halleran

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

Climate Crisis Solutions with Jamie Stroble and Dr. Heidi Roop

The climate leaders share why individual responsibility and corporate accountability aren’t mutually exclusive — and how daily habits can aid the planet.

The impacts of climate change are everywhere, often making headlines. Yet most Americans don’t know what climate change really is, or don’t think it will harm them ... until it does. 

For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we are listening in on a conversation about the challenges in communicating about climate change impacts and finding solutions with climate scientists Heidi Roop and environmental strategist Jamie Stroble. 

During the Crosscut Ideas Festival in Seattle, the two climate leaders discussed tangible solutions we can all participate in, and how climate scientists must recognize that facts and figures don’t change minds, but human connection can.

Roop and Stroble also discuss the longstanding inequities and structural barriers that result in disproportionate impact on marginalized communities, and how young people’s activism provides some hope for the future. 

This conversation was recorded May 6, 2023.

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Seth Halleran

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

The Powers and Possible Perils of Gene Editing

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Jennifer Doudna discusses how the technology she helped advance is treating diseases and raising ethical dilemmas.

Gene editing is a game-changer for humanity. From health on individuals to the fate of the planet, the possible impacts of the technology are something previously found only in science fiction. But as with all scientific advancements that supercharge human capabilities and power, the technology comes with ethical questions.

These possibilities and questions are at the core of this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast. 

We’re listening in on a conversation between Nobel laureate and University of California Berkeley chemistry professor Jennifer Doudna and New York Times columnist and science writer Carl Zimmer as they discuss one of these technologies, CRISPR.  

Doudna, who won the Nobel for her work with gene editing technology, explains the fundamental science behind CRISPR, how it’s now being used by scientists to treat a wide range of diseases from HIV to sickle cell anemia, and where it might go from here.

This conversation was recorded May 3, 2023.

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Seth Halleran

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

Which Metaverse Will Win?

Two experts in immersive technologies may disagree on what the metaverse will look like, but they do agree that it is going to change society.  

The metaverse may very well be the future. Before we get there, though, it is probably necessary to establish what exactly the metaverse is. That, it turns out, isn’t so easy. 

For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation between Carnegie Mellon University professor Jesse Schell and Wedbush Securities managing director Michael Pachter, who discuss recent developments in metaverse technologies and how the public views these developments. 

In this conversation with journalist and author Steven L. Kent during the Crosscut Ideas Festival in Seattle, the two also spar over what exactly the metaverse will be, and share how much further they believe the industry needs to evolve to truly see the metaverse reach its full potential. 

What they agree on is that the metaverse will be able to bring us closer together, but also risks pulling us further apart.

This conversation was recorded May 2, 2023.

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Seth Halleran

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.

Big Tech’s Midlife Crisis with Will Oremus

The Washington Post tech industry analyst discusses how America’s major tech companies are grappling with government regulation and a public that has fallen out of love. 

Tech companies aren’t the shiny new players in the world economy anymore; they are core pillars of that economy and primary drivers of our culture. 

They are also feeling a little old, says Washington Post tech industry analyst Will Oremus, and are now beset by lawmakers who would like to regulate them and users who have fallen out of love with them. 

For this episode of the “Crosscut Talks” podcast, Oremus and Lizzy O'Leary, host of Slate's “What Next: TBD,” dive into the tech industry's midlife crisis and discuss how companies like Microsoft, Google and Facebook are cutting back by laying off workers in an effort to slim down and stay relevant.

The two revisit what made these tech giants powerful, the tactics they used to get there and how backlash started nearly 10 years ago. And they discuss what the future could hold as these companies attempt to grow and remain dominant.

This conversation took place May 3, 2023. 

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Credits

Host: Paris Jackson

Producer: Seth Halleran

Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd

Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

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If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.