What Next | Daily News and Analysis

You can be forgiven for not thinking of Vermont as a place prone to catastrophic flooding. But as the climate changes, we have update our expectations—and our floodplain maps. Guest: Anna Weber, senior policy analyst focused on the current and future effects of flooding and sea level rise at the NRDC.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pedestrian deaths in America have been rising for the last decade, while dropping in Europe and Japan. What makes the U.S. so dangerous for pedestrians?Guest: Jessie Singer, author of There Are No Accidents: The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster―Who Profits and Who Pays the Price.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Contract negotiations between the Teamsters and UPS broke down last week and now a strike looms. With time running out, can both sides reach a deal? Guest: Noam Scheiber, labor reporter for the New York Times.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Beat it, Barbie; outta the way, Oppenheimer—this summer’s biggest box office surprise is “The Sound of Freedom,” a low-budget search-and-rescue thriller that Hollywood doesn’t want you to see—or so the implication goes.Guests:Sam Adams, Slate senior editorWill Sommer, media reporter at the Washington Post and author of Trust the Plan The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite holding only twelve percent of Americans, the state of California is home to nearly one-third of the nation’s people experiencing homelessness. A landmark study from UCSF—the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness— produced an intimate look at who is living on the streets and in their cars in California, how they got there, and what actual aid would look like. Guests:Claudine Sipili, co-leader of UCSF’s Lived Expertise Advisory Board for the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness.Ethan Ward, founder of HEATDRAWN Media, and the host of Reputation, a podcast which challenges preconceived notions about the homelessness crisis.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 4th of July was the hottest day yet—not just of the summer but of recorded human history. Between waves of Canadian wildfire smoke, malaria reappearing in the United States, and deaths from heat, this might be the year that we’re forced to reckon with what life will be like on our newly hotter planet.Guest: Jeff Goodell, contributing writer at Rolling Stone and the author of the upcoming book The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Moms for Liberty call themselves a “parent’s rights group,” but the Southern Poverty Law Center calls them an “anti-government extremist” group. Even if they don’t all have kids, these “moms” do have goals for the future of education in America—and quite a bit of clout.Guest: Kiera Butler, senior editor at Mother Jones reporting on how purveyors of disinformation target online communities of women. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work.Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Madeline Ducharme, Anna Phillips, Paige Osburn, and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Tate’s gross mix of self-help, toxic masculinity and misogyny captured the minds of young boys on the internet. It also led to indictments in Romania on human trafficking and rape charges.  Guest: Lisa Miller, contributing editor at New York magazine.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It seems like with each new Musk innovation, a new Twitter replacement appears in response. But Threads is backed by Meta and available in just a few clicks for an Instagram user. Could it be the one?Guest: Mike Isaac, technology reporter for the New York Times.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next TBD. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Biden administration’s plan to forgive federal student loan debt has been stalled, perhaps indefinitely, by the Supreme Court’s decision in Biden v. Nebraska. Was their plan to help borrowers always doomed, or was there another way? And after the Roberts court delivered such a broad-sweeping decision, what options does Biden have left?Guest: Jed Shugerman, professor at Boston University School of Law.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.