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Libraries are icons of the sharing economy. When we borrow books, media, and tools from the library, we save ourselves from needing to buy new stuff. But did you know that libraries are also community hubs for climate resilience? From heatwaves to hurricanes, thousands of people have used libraries as free spaces to escape the elements and find respite.

In this community episode, we're everything that our listeners get from their local libraries.

🌎 See photos of our contributors and find further reading in the full show notes and citations.

📱 To join the Commons community, download the app.

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Episode Credits

• Listener contributions: Kelly Kandra Hughes, PhD, Alexa Rivera, Sare, Shaila, Taylor Barkley, Evan Goodchild
• Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
• Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham

Microplastics seem to be everywhere, inside and outside our bodies. These micro and nano particles are shedding from our clothes, our tires, food packaging — basically anywhere there's plastic. People, animals, and plants are consuming these microplastics, thereby complicating the issue and contributing to health problems. But what health issues? And how do we avoid them?

The science is still a work in progress, but today, we're finding out what we know so far. We’re going to find out from an actual scientist what we know and don’t know about the health implications of microplastics and what we can do about it. And we’re going to try our best to find our way to a place of understanding without complete overwhelm.

🌎 See photos of our contributors and find further reading in the full show notes and citations. Here's the MPI paper Barbro shared!

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Episode Credits

• Listener contributions: Kylie Kovatch, Artie Sadahiro, Nicole Collins, Parisa Golchoubian, Brian Stancheski
• Episode expert: Prof. Dr. Barbro Melgert
• Editing and engineer: Evan Goodchild‍
• Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham

NOTE: An early version of this audio has an error around 4:50. If you hear that error, it's likely because your podcast player downloaded the first version. Please re-download the episode to hear the correct version! And forgive us, as we're merely human beans 🫘 .

Is climate news stressing you out? Same. We're experiencing funding cuts to environmental agencies, while climate disasters like heatwaves and storms persist, and wildlife and environmental protections are at risk. It's a tough time to be an environmentalist, and all this stress and sadness can lead to climate anxiety (aka eco-anxiety).

If you've felt anxious about the state of our climate, you're not alone. We thought it was a perfect time to bring back this episode from last season, where we hear from you our listeners, to hear various ways to cope with climate anxiety through nature, community, and gratitude.

If you're looking for more resources to help with climate anxiety, we highly recommend this list from the team at All We Can Save.

🌎 For photos of our contributors and further reading, check the full show notes.

📞 We'd love to hear from you! Submit to the show.

📱 To join the Commons community, download the app.

📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits

• Listener contributions: Adyasha, Artie Sadahiro, Camille, Liv, Natalie Pullen, Nick Blocha, Savannah Vize
• Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
• Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham