Ideas

Our relationship with earth and water is changing in the Anthropocene, says renowned author Robert Macfarlane. Humanity has become a transformative force of planetary proportions, to the point where we are altering the composition and behaviour of the four elements: earth, water, air and fire. He tells IDEAS this has grave implications for the planet and us. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 9, 2024.

The summer of 2026 has been defined by the smoke — and the horror — of wildfires around the world. But what comes after one of these fires? "That isn't the end of the story. That's the beginning of a whole different kind of story," says Nlaka'pamux ecologist Jennifer Grenz. That's why we have decided to follow the long-term story of one 21st century megafire: the 2021 McKay Creek wildfire in interior B.C. Producer Pauline Holdsworth returned in September 2025 — four years after the fire — to find new life emerging from the ashes, and new questions about the road ahead. This is the latest episode in our ongoing series Healing the Land. Listen to other episodes: How brutal wildfires are 'killing' Indigenous ways of life (Pt 1) How Indigenous ecology is reviving land destroyed by wildfires (Pt 2) Guests in this episode: Chief Justin Kane is the elected Chief of Ts'kw'aylaxw First Nation. Michelle Edwards is the Tmicw Coordinator for the St'át'imc Chiefs Council and the former Chief of the communities of Sekw'el'was and Qu'iqten. Dr. Jennifer Grenz is an Indigenous scholar and assistant professor in the department of forest resources management at UBC, and the principal investigator at the Indigenous Ecology Lab. She is a member of Lytton First Nation, where she sits on the lands committee. She is also the author of Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Journey toward Personal and Ecological Healing and the forthcoming book Burned: Truth and Hope in the Fires. Virginia Oeggerli is a PhD student in the Indigenous Ecology Lab in the Faculty of Forestry at UBC. Dr. Sue Senger is a biologist working with the Lillooet Tribal Council. Gerald Michel is a council member and the lands resource liaison for Xwísten First Nation.

What happens to the land after a brutal wildfire? IDEAS visited St'át'imc territory near Lillooet, B.C., to follow land guardians and scientists from the Indigenous Ecology Lab at the University of British Columbia, as they document the effects of wildfires and chart a new future based on Indigenous approaches to healing and balancing an ecosystem. *This podcast is part of our ongoing series, Healing the Land. Listen to other episodes: How brutal wildfires are 'killing' Indigenous ways of life (Pt 1) What emerges from the ashes after a wildfire? (Pt 3) Guests in this series: Chief Justin Kane , elected Chief of Ts'kw'aylaxw First Nation Michelle Edwards , Tmicw coordinator for the St'át'imc Chiefs Council and the former Chief of the communities of Sekw'el'was and Qu'iqten Sam Copeland , senior land guardian for the P'egp'ig'lha Council Luther Brigman , assistant land guardian for the P'egp'ig'lha Council Travis Peters , heritage supervisor and interim lands manager for Xwísten First Nation Gerald Michel , council member and the Lands Resource Liaison for Xwísten First Nation Denise Antoine , natural resource specialist for the P'egp'ig'lha Council Dr. Jennifer Grenz , assistant professor in the department of forest resources management at the University of British Columbia. She leads the Indigenous Ecology Lab at UBC, which works entirely in service to Indigenous communities on land-healing and food systems revitalization projects that bring together western and Indigenous knowledge systems and centres culture and resiliency. Virginia Oeggerli , graduate student in the Indigenous Ecology Lab in the faculty of forestry at UBC Dr. Sue Senger , biologist working with the Lillooet Tribal Council Jackie Rasmussen , executive director of the Lillooet Regional Invasive Species Society

In 2021, a deadly heat dome produced a devastating wildfire season across British Columbia. While immediate media coverage often focuses on evacuations and the numbers of homes destroyed, many First Nations say what these fires do to the land in their territories — and the cultural lives of their communities — is often overlooked. "These fires are killing our way of life," says a Tmicw coordinator for the St'át'imc Chiefs Council. IDEAS visited St'át'imc territory around Lillooet, B.C. to learn how 21st-century wildfires are reshaping the landscape — and their consequences for plants, animals, and humans alike. *This podcast is part of our ongoing series, Healing the Land. Listen to other episodes: How Indigenous ecology is reviving land destroyed by wildfires (Pt 2) What emerges from the ashes after a wildfire? (Pt 3) Guests in this series: Chief Justin Kane is the elected Chief of Ts'kw'aylaxw First Nation. Michelle Edwards is a Tmicw coordinator for the St'át'imc Chiefs Council and the former Chief of the communities of Sekw'el'was and Qu'iqten. Sam Copeland is a senior land guardian for the P'egp'ig'lha Council. Luther Brigman is an assistant land guardian for the P'egp'ig'lha Council. Travis Peters is a heritage supervisor and interim lands manager for Xwísten First Nation. Gerald Michel is a council member and the Lands Resource Liaison for Xwísten First Nation. Denise Antoine is a natural resource specialist for the P'egp'ig'lha Council. Dr. Jennifer Grenz is an assistant professor in the department of forest resources management at the University of British Columbia. She leads the Indigenous Ecology Lab at UBC, which works entirely in service to Indigenous communities on land-healing and food systems revitalization projects that bring together western and Indigenous knowledge systems and centres culture and resiliency. Virginia Oeggerli is a graduate student in the Indigenous Ecology Lab in the faculty of forestry at UBC. Dr. Sue Senger is a biologist working with the Lillooet Tribal Council. Jackie Rasmussen is executive director of the Lillooet Regional Invasive Species Society.

On the surface, bibliotherapy might sound like another personal wellness trend, but it definitely isn’t. In fact, it’s an approved form of mental health treatment in Canada. And it’s been around for at least a century. In this podcast, researchers Sara Haslam and Edmund King discuss the First World War roots of this practice in the UK. Author Cody Delistraty considers its role in moving him forward in the grieving process. And psychiatrist Martina Scholtens explains why she created an evidence-based reading list online, tailored to a range of mental health diagnoses. *This episode originally aired on June 2, 2025.

We should move away from this idea that childhood should be filled with innocence, safe from the knowledge of difficult things argues Critical Cultural Theorist of Childhood Julie Garlen. Kids do experience difficulty, even in the best of circumstances, and she suggests they need the tools and language to navigate the lives they are living. Constructing childhood as a time of innocence limits children's opportunities for growth and learning. *This episode originally aired March 27, 2025.

Eugenics is seen as a 19th-century idea put into horrific 20th-century practice. But the attraction to breeding “better” humans has a long and persistent history, says Adam Rutherford. The geneticist and science podcaster explains, in conversation with host Nahlah Ayed. *This episode originally aired on January 20, 2023.

That’s what Hanna Pickard argues. After analyzing the scientific research, and working with those who’ve stopped self-destructive drug and alcohol use, the Johns Hopkins philosopher sees addiction as a complex behavioural disorder. She argues it’s driven by individual psychology and social circumstances, and should be treated that way. Jowita Bydlowska and Michael Kaufmann, both memoirists of addiction, weigh in. *This episode originally aired on March 3, 2026. Guests in this episode : Hanna Pickard is the author of What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing but Cocaine? A Philosophy of Addiction (2026). She is a professor of philosophy and bioethics, as well as psychological & brain sciences, at Johns Hopkins University. Jowita Bydlowska is a writer of fiction, as well as two memoirs of addiction: Drunk Mom , and Unshaming: A Memoir of Recovery, Relapse, and What Comes After (2026). Dr. I. Michael Kaufmann is emeritus medical director of the Physician Health Program of the Ontario Medical Association. He is a retired family doctor, a retired addiction doctor, and the author of Drugs, Lies, and Docs: A Doctor's Memoir of Addiction (2024).

Thanks to Dexter and Hannibal Lecter you may think you know what a psychopath is. But a critical review of the science suggests that 'psychopath' as a diagnosis is flawed. Author of Psychopathy Unmasked Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen argues it’s time to end the misuse of controversial science in our criminal justice system — and to rethink psychopathy as a whole.

"We need to separate AI from empire," says tech journalist Karen Hao who used to work in Silicon Valley as an engineer. Now she’s an outspoken critic of its AI giants. She argues AI companies run their businesses like empires and it has to stop. In her book, Empire of AI , Hao digs into the global impact of Big AI and explores how we need to rethink AI to build a better future. This podcast includes a lecture by Karen Hao and a discussion with host Nahlah Ayed. *This episode originally aired on March 25, 2026.

Hidden in the 1950 academic paper that launched the famous 'Turing Test' of machine intelligence, is a strange mystery. Cryptographer Alan Turing argued that humans might always be able to outsmart machines, because we have supernatural powers like ESP, telepathy, and telekinesis. His belief in the paranormal is just one part of the spooky side of artificial intelligence. Like hauntings or seances, AI is an exercise in self-deception; we imagine intelligence from computation and data, just like we imagine ghosts from strange lights and bumps in the night. *This episode originally aired on March 12, 2025.

Thanks to AI, it's easier than ever to avoid reading books — but that convenience may come with a cost. IDEAS explores how our digital landscape, coupled with the decline of reading, is changing the way we think. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 19, 2026. If you like this episode, listen to our podcast with Geoffrey Hinton , the 'godfather of artificial intelligence' who says AI must develop empathy and 'maternal instincts' or we risk human extinction. Guests in this episode: Adriaan Van der Weel is a professor emeritus by special appointment at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society. He's also the co-author of The Ljubljana Manifesto on Higher-Level Reading. Maryanne Wolf is director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, and the author of Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World (2018). Naomi Baron is a professor emerita of World Languages and Cultures at American University and the author of Reader Bot: What Happens When AI Reads and Why It Matters (2026). Leah Sargeant is an author and senior policy analyst at the Niskanen Center. Shannon Vallor is the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) at the University of Edinburgh, where she is also appointed in Philosophy. She is the author of The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking (2024).

If AI continues to develop without appropriate guardrails, a worst-case scenario could lead to human extinction, warns the 'godfather of artificial intelligence' Geoffrey Hinton. But the Nobel Prize winner has a solution: AI must foster 'maternal' instincts, empathy and kindness. Hinton tells host Nahlah Ayed that it's fairly inevitable AI will become smarter than humans, but if we could make it care more for us than it did about itself, good things could happen. *This episode originally aired on Feb. 18, 2026. Like this episode? Listen to: How can we prevent AI from becoming a menace?

Millions of people are using AI to “talk” to the dead. The phenomenon has left cyberpsychologist Elaine Kasket asking what happens when we rely on for-profit AI companies to help us manage something as deeply human as grief? And where’s the line between comfort and self-destruction? IDEAS features two episodes from the CBC Podcasts series Artificial Intimacy , exploring the promise and peril of our emotional entanglements with AI chatbots. Enjoyed this episode? Listen to the full series of Understood: Artificial Intimacy here .

If intractable conflicts in the 90s could end in peace agreements, is there hope for the ongoing wars in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and beyond? What can we learn from the successes and failures of the past about how to create a more peaceful world? And what solutions are obstructed by lack of will? Nahlah Ayed and guests explore what peacemaking and rebuilding mean for us today, and try to chart a course for the future. *This is the last episode in our five-part series, Inventing Peace. It originally aired on Sept. 29, 2025.

The apartheid era in South Africa ended in 1991 with the National Peace Accords. The peace agreement also paved the way for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Yet TRC head Desmond Tutu considered the process “scandalously unfinished.” Lawyer Prakash Diar agrees: "You don’t undo centuries of colonization just like that.” Diar and writer Kagiso Lesego Molope were young activists in apartheid-era South Africa. They saw the toll that oppression and state violence took: on their families, communities, and themselves. In our fourth episode of our series Inventing Peace , they consider the history of the history of this pivotal peace agreement and what other countries might learn. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 22, 2025.

For almost four years, the Bosnian War in the former Yugoslavia was characterized by ethnic hatreds, atrocities, and a refugee crisis. So when leaders of the warring factions were sequestered in an American air base and forced to come up with the 1995 peace agreement known as the Dayton Accord, the world was relieved. But is a cessation of violence the same as real peace? *This episode is the third in a five-part series called Inventing Peace. It originally aired on Sept. 15, 2025.

When Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat met in Washington to sign the first Oslo Accords in 1993, it was supposed to usher in a new era of peace and lay the groundwork for a more stable Middle East. Three decades later, the Accords are primarily remembered as a failure. Nahlah Ayed and guests discuss what went wrong, and what lessons the Oslo Accords hold for the future. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 8, 2025 as part of our series, Inventing Peace.

The process of making peace is often imperfect, and can shape the future in both positive and destructive ways. In a five-part series called Inventing Peace , Nahlah Ayed asks panelists to reflect on one pivotal 20th century effort to make peace, and its relevance for our own time. This first episode focuses on the “constructive ambiguity” of Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement, signed in 1998.

Whether mechanical or digital, a button delivers the promise of power — but it's far from simple. The small and mighty technology has a riveting history, a story of control, power, freedom and oppression. From the podcast Media Objects , this episode traces the evolution of the button, and asks what happens when every command is reduced to a single press. *This episode originally aired on Nov. 13, 2025.