Rethinking what we call waste means rethinking which resources we choose to depend on. As blockades in the Strait of Hormuz expose the fragility of fertiliser supply chains, Ros Bluett reveals the surprisingly global story behind modern food systems.

Through conversations with experts in agriculture, history, and technology, she unpacks how the Green Revolution in food production was shaped as much by geopolitical maneuvring as scientific innovation, demonstrating how supply disruptions half a world away can affect farmers, food prices, and local food security.

We rarely think of sand as a scarce resource— it seems infinite along a beach. Yet much like fossil fuels and the phosphate rock used in synthetic mineral fertilisers, the supply of high-quality sand is finite, while our consumption is staggering.

On this Radiolab episode, we hear how essential sand is for making concrete to keep building the infrastructure that dominates our world.

This episode features a conversation with award-winning filmmaker Rubén Abruña on his documentary, “Holy Shit: Can Poop Save the World?”

This doc explores how composting and source-separating toilets can safely recover nutrients and turn them into high-quality fertiliser, even in urban environments.

In this episode, Adam Davis traces his journey from waste management operator to private equity partner, challenging assumptions about what creates value.

He unpacks how useful resources become "waste,” why ecosystem services rarely appear on balance sheets, and the challenges of transforming existing systems.

Giving legal rights to a river or forest may sound like a wildly radical idea, but lawyers assure us that it’s no more unusual than our legal system giving a corporation the rights of an individual. The growing Rights of Nature movement argues that ecosystems should have legal standing of their own.

In this episode, John Biewen is joined by Amy Westervelt to explore the origins and rise of this movement.