ABOUT THE PODCAST

Pullback is a podcast that explores big ideas and asks: is this a real solution or a distraction? In our new season, we cover ideas that proponents say will address global problems like inequality and climate change.

We started Pullback because we were struggling to make ethical consumption choices, and in our first 101 episodes we brought listeners with us on our journey to learn more about the ethical issues behind everyday choices, and the ethical movements, labels, and lifestyles that exist to “pull back” (get it?) from these harms. Ultimately, we found ourselves doing episodes on the systemic issues behind our everyday ethical conundrums. Things like forced labour, surveillance capitalism, monopolies, and climate change. Listeners can go into our back catalogue for well-researched episodes explaining some of the most intractable problems of our global economic system. So we thought it was time to focus on solutions for a change.

Our new seasons—we’re on season 3 now!—is all about headline-grabbing ideas that you’ve probably heard about. Things like Web 3.0, effective altruism, geoengineering, prison abolition, and universal basic income. We dive into one idea each episode and ask whether it could actually work, if it could cause other problems, and, ultimately, whether we think it is a real solution or a distraction.

ABOUT KRISTEN AND KYLA

Kyla Hewson, Co-Producer and Audio Editor

Kyla Hewson is an audio wizard living in “the-rent-is-too-damn-high” Vancouver, who loves exploring ways to challenge and transform systems of injustice. Kyla is an avid podcast listener, see her favourite recommendations here!

Kristen Pue, Co-Producer

Kristen Pue is an expert on social policy and climate resilience, with a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. She lives in “the-snow-is-too-damn-high” Ottawa.

THANK YOU

We want to give a GIGANTIC thank you to Rachel Beyer and Evan Vrinten, who poured hours of effort and creative energy into making our incredible logo.

INDIGENOUS TERRITORY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are grateful to be learning and unlearning on the ancestral and unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation), as well as the ancestral unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation. We encourage listeners to visit native-land.ca to learn more about the history of their own territory, and to read the Truth & Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action.

TRANSCRIPTS

Pullback recognizes how important transcripts are in providing accessibility to our content. While we do not have the resources to transcribe our past work at this time, we do have research notes that provide the content of the episodes. It’s missing a bit of the witty banter, but the information and practical tips are there! Inclusivity is important to us, and we hope to add full transcripts of each episode in the future.