PODCAST · society
Ways & Means
by Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
Ways and Means features bright ideas for how to improve human society. The show is produced by the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
Episodes
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S9 Episode 1: Missing Votes
Why many college students' ballots are getting tossed — and what could be done about it. --- In this episode of Ways & Means – as we head into the 2024 elections – why lots of North Carolina college students' votes did not count in the last election, or the time before that, or the time before...
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S8 Episode 8: Goodbye, Cloud Factory
In this episode: how a crusade shut down a coal-fired Chicago power plant for good. What the closing of that plant meant for children's health and the environment. And what it didn't mean. This is the eighth and final episode in our "Climate Change Solutions" series, where we look at…
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S8 Episode 7: Climate Migration: Why People Leave and What Might Help Them Stay
In this episode of Ways & Means: the hidden role that climate plays in the story of migration. How a changing climate is driving thousands of people to enter the U.S. each year. And how relatively small, inexpensive changes on the ground could make a difference with a daunting geopolitical…
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S8 Episode 6: The Tiny Packaging Tweak That Could Help The Planet
In this episode: kicking America's multi-billion-dollar food waste habit. How tons of wasted food contribute to climate change, and how one simple change – better food date labels – just might help make a dent in the problem. This is the sixth episode in our "Climate Change Solutions" series…
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S8 Episode 5: Bringing Water to Thirsty Fields With Help From the Sun
In this episode of Ways & Means – New research into how solar mini-grids could change lives for farmers in Ethiopia, and why that matters for the climate as a whole. This is the fifth episode in our Climate Change Solutions series, where we look at surprising answers to the question of what we…
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S8 Episode 4: How Cleaner Cookstoves Can Help Build a Healthier Planet
Upgrading stoves for people in the developing world could bring about a double win: improving people's lives while making a big contribution to fighting climate change. We follow along with Duke Professor Subhrendu Pattanayak on a research trip to rural Kenya, and are invited into people's homes…
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Welcome Lauren Rosenthal
We are thrilled to welcome Lauren Rosenthal to the Ways & Means host chair! Lauren is an award-winning reporter and audio producer. Recently she's been focused on climate stories. (Check out her work on Season 2 of "In Deep," a podcast from APM Reports + American Public Media which explored "one...
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S8 Episode 3: Greener Pastures: The search for climate-friendly ways to raise animals.
In this episode of Ways & Means, we explore the impacts of meat production. Can we find a better way to raise animals as food and help the planet at the same time? This is the third in our series Climate Change Solutions, a look at surprising answers to the question of what we can do to help cool…
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S8 Episode 2: Getting Strategic with Solar
Location, location, location. Place matters a lot when it comes to the impact solar panels can have on the environment. The biggest environmental benefit comes from regions powered by coal. If your local electric utility runs on coal and you install solar panels on your home, it means that the...
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S8 Episode 1: Paying for a Healthy Planet
The Amazon has been called the lungs of the planet. Its dense jungles play a key role in absorbing the Earth's greenhouse gases, but the forest is disappearing quickly. In this episode: research from Colombia, Africa and China illustrates how economics can help slow deforestation and combat the...
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Debugger Presents: Begged and Borrowed
Special Takeover: The Debugger podcast has taken over the Ways & Means feed for a three-part series: Defending Democracy (and Us!) from Big Tech. This episode is the third of the series. Large technology companies are so powerful they now threaten democracy. They are too big to sue, and current...
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Debugger Presents: What Hasn't Worked
Special Takeover: The Debugger podcast has taken over the Ways & Means feed for a three-part series: Defending Democracy (and Us!) from Big Tech. This is episode two of that series. Very large tech companies fit into a special tech category called "platforms." Companies like Facebook, Google,...
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Debugger Presents: Too Big to Sue
Special Takeover: The Debugger podcast has taken over the Ways & Means feed for a three-part series: Defending Democracy (and Us!) from Big Tech. In this episode: It's critical to understand just how hard it is to tell big tech companies what to do. The United States' legal system is set up for a...
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Season 7 is coming
Season 7 launches Wednesday March 2 with a series: "Defending Democracy (And Us!) From Big Tech." The three-part series explores how powerful big tech companies are, and what governments can do to keep them accountable. The series is hosted by journalist Bob Sullivan, and is a collaboration with...
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S6 Episode 6: A Conversation About Reparations
Throughout history, the U.S. and other countries have paid reparations to a wide range of people and groups, for a variety of wrongs. But reparations to African Americans have not been paid to date. In the final episode of the series The ARC of Justice – From Here to Equality, listen in on a live...
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S6 Episode 5: White Brutality
Throughout the nation's history, time and again, promising signs of African American progress have been shattered by acts of violence serving the interests of white supremacy. The extent of that violence is widespread and ongoing. This is the fifth installment of the series "The ARC of Justice -...
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Upcoming Episodes
Episode 5 premieres April 7. It will explore white violence against Black people through the decades. Episode 6 premieres April 15 (Live!) Join us for a discussion with William A. "Sandy" Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen as well as other reparations experts. Don't forget to register for the live...
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S6 Episode 4: Whitening the Middle Class
In this episode: The GI Bill was a conveyor belt into the middle class for millions of white WWII veterans, but many African American veterans were excluded. Subsequent generations continue to feel the effects. This is the fourth installment of the series "The ARC of Justice - From Here to...
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S6 Episode 3: A Tale of Two Cities
In this episode: how the federal government promoted housing segregation and thwarted African American home ownership. This is the second installment of the series "The ARC of Justice – From Here to Equality." Get show notes, credits and transcript. Produced with North Carolina Public Radio WUNC....
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S6 Episode 2: This Land is My Land
A tale of two promises made by the government – one kept, one broken. What happened, and what does this have to do with the existing wealth gap between African Americans and white Americans? This is the second installment of the series "The ARC of Justice – From Here to Equality." Get show notes,...
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S6 Episode 1: Not So Long Ago
We're dedicating the entire season of the podcast to this topic: what could have been done, and what could still be done, to start to close the wealth gap between white and Black Americans? The series "The Arc of Justice – From Here to Equality" is inspired by the research of professor William...
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Live: Climate Whistleblowers
Live event for Duke Energy Week 2020. Guests: Hilton Kelley, Goldman Environmental Prize winner. A former Hollywood stuntman, Kelley returned home to Port Arthur, Texas to battle for environmental justice. Karen Torrent of The National Whistleblower Center and Duke Prof. Tim Profeta discuss the…
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S5 Episode 6: Reparations: How it Could Happen
The question of whether and how to compensate descendants of people formerly enslaved in the United States has hung over the country since the end of the Civil War. It's getting new traction in the 2020 election. Duke Professor William "Sandy" Darity has created a Reparations Planning Committee…
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S5 Episode 5: Secrets of Great Political Leadership
What makes a great political leader in a deeply divided time, and what can we learn from one of the most striking examples in history? Listen to the story of Nelson Mandela and learn about the surprising strategies that made his leadership work. This season of Ways & Means is supported by Polis,...
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Welcome to Our New Host, Lindsay Foster Thomas
Today, we're announcing a new chapter in Ways and Means - we have a new host! Lindsay Foster Thomas is a content director at WUNC and has worked at NPR's Marketplace, On Second Thought at Georgia Public Broadcasting with host Celeste Headlee, and was also part of the national production team at...
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S5 Episode 4: When Local News Dries Up
The decline in local news is having a real effect on democracy. A look at why local news is struggling -- and what can be done about it. This season of Ways & Means is supported by Polis, the Center for Politics at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy. Find out more at polis.duke.edu
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S5 Episode 3: The Battle Over Guns in America - What's Changed
On this episode we ask – how did the gun control movement become a force in American politics after being overshadowed for so long by the NRA? In a word: money. This season of Ways & Means is supported by Polis: the Center for Politics at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy
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S5 Episode 2: Why Young People Don't Vote – And How to Change That
For some reason there's a big gap between young Americans' intention to vote and the chance that they will actually do it. In this episode: why so few young people in the United States vote. This season of Ways & Means is supported by Polis: the Center for Politics at Duke University's Sanford...
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S5 Episode 1: How Afterschool Programs Can Empower Parents
We explore research into how government-funded afterschool programs for poor families are empowering politically motivated parents. Hear from staff and parents about how these programs have inspired change in their community and learn what elements build effective programs. This season of Ways &...
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Season 5 Relaunch
Season 5 of Ways & Means relaunches Thursday, August 20, 2020. The season is dedicated to issues in U.S. politics and civic life and hot topics in the 2020 elections. The season originally premiered in the spring of 2020, but was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season is a...
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Season 5 Postponed
We've decided to pause in releasing new Ways & Means episodes for now. With the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone's attention is on the coronavirus and that's as it should be. So we've decided to take a break. We will be back this fall with the complete series of stories on ideas for sealing the cracks...
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Season 5 Preview
Season 5 of Ways & Means returns Wednesday February 19, 2020. This season we are partnering with Polis, the Center for Politics at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy to look at big ideas related to the 2020 election.
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S4 Episode 6: Beyond Elmo: How Puppets Teach Preschoolers Self-Control
Four-year-olds are expected to be able to behave in the classroom, but more and more preschools are kicking children out for bad behavior. In this episode: new research into how to best help children control themselves in the classroom. Read a transcript of this episode. Music: Theme music by…
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S4 Episode 5: Answering New Parents' Cries for Help
On this episode we go inside an innovative, free public program that helps new moms and dads adjust to life with a newborn. In each location where the Family Connects program is offered, all families, rich and poor, are eligible to have a visiting nurse come right to the home after the birth of a...
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S4 Episode 4: Adding Up the Bill for Climate Change
Climate change is affecting both nature and the economy. Who will take the hardest hit financially as the world heats up, and can anything be done about it? We meet a commercial clammer in Maine who is figuring out how to deal with the effect climate change is having on his industry. And...
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S4 Episode 3: A Small Green Idea to Power Rural Nepal
A research team from Duke University treks into the Himalayas to investigate why a promising way to deliver electricity to those who need it, the micro-hydro minigrid, sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. This is the third of a four-part series on understanding and dealing with a changing...
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S4 Episode 2: A Greener Commute: One City's Story
What motivates commuters to leave their cars behind, and take the bus or a bike to work instead? A government innovation team in Durham, North Carolina recently tested several ideas with real commuters. The best one was so effective, it landed a million-dollar prize from Bloomberg Philanthropies....
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S4 Episode 1: How Parenthood Affects Climate Change Skeptics
There is about a 40-percentage point gap between Democrats and Republicans in their concern for climate change. New research suggests a solution for working around this deep-seated partisanship. PhD candidate Emily Pechar has found that when parents think about parental identity rather than...
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Season 4 Preview
Season 4 of Ways & Means returns Wednesday, February 20, 2019. We're kicking off with a miniseries on climate change. We'll look at new research into what it takes to turn climate change skeptics into climate change believers. Also, how can cities can nudge commuters into doing the right thing…
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Season 4 is coming
Season 4 of Ways & Means will be available in January. (Music: Blue Dot Sessions)
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S3 Episode 6: Life After Loss for Orphans in Africa
For more than a decade, a multinational team of researchers has been exploring ways get mental healthcare to nearly 50 million orphans in Africa. With a new, five-year $3.4 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, a team led by professors Kathryn Whetten at Duke and Shannon...
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S3 Episode 5: Childbirth, Babies & Bonuses
More than 800 women die in childbirth every day in the developing world - often because doctors know what to do, they just don't do it. (There's even a name for this: the know-do gap.) In this episode, testing different types of incentives for getting doctors to do the right thing during the…
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S3 Episode 4: How Sputnik Sent Women to College
Before the 1960s, colleges routinely used gender quotas to suppress the number of women on campus. Some colleges excluded women entirely. There's a curious backstory to how more women ended up in college, and it starts with the Soviet's launch of the satellite Sputnik in 1957. In this episode:...
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S3 Episode 3: How Do Criminals Get Their Guns?
Duke professor Philip J. Cook has been tracking the underground gun market in the U.S. for the last 15 years. For one project, his team went to one of the largest jails in the country and asked the inmates a simple question: "Where do you get your guns?" Also, former Chicago gang member "Samuel"...
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From the Archives: Bootstraps and Silver Spoons
We will be back next month with a new episode. In the meantime, take a listen to the most popular episode we've produced so far. If you're black with a college degree, your household will likely have $10,000 less in net worth than your white neighbor who didn't finish high school. A look at the...
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S3 Episode 2: Robots, WikiLeaks & the Fight Against Human Trafficking
How diplomacy and public shaming are helping shine a light on a problem that depends on secrecy to survive. This episode is the second of a three-part series, New Ideas for Policy in the Developing World.
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S3 Episode 1: Slum Detectives
Today, for our Season 3 premiere, we begin a three-part series, New Ideas for Policy in the Developing World. In this episode, high-tech meets high-need. How researchers are using Google Earth to find the undocumented slums of India. Series supported by the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial…
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Season 3 is coming
Season 3 will launch in October with a three part series - New Ideas for Policy in the Developing World. In the season premiere, we'll hear about how researchers are using Google Earth to find hidden slums in India.
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S2 Episode 7: Secret Life of Muslims
Ahmed Ahmed is an American-Muslim comedian who was typecast as a terrorist. Khalid Latif is a Muslim chaplain for the NYPD who was saluted in uniform, but harassed as a civilian. Mona Haydar and Sebastian Robins fought Islamophobia with doughnuts and conversation. Episode also features David...
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S2 Episode 6: Flimflams, Scams and Ripoffs
John Rusnak was a currency trader in Baltimore when he was convicted of one of the largest bank frauds in American history. When he was finally discovered, the bank had lost close to $700 million dollars. We look at John Rusnak's case through an historical lens. It turns out fraud has been a key...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Ways and Means features bright ideas for how to improve human society. The show is produced by the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
HOSTED BY
Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Ways & Means have?
Ways & Means currently has 61 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Ways & Means about?
Ways and Means features bright ideas for how to improve human society. The show is produced by the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.
How often does Ways & Means release new episodes?
Ways & Means has 61 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Ways & Means?
You can listen to Ways & Means on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Ways & Means?
Ways & Means is created and hosted by Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University.
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