Best The Walrus Lab Podcasts (2025)

1
Promises Unkept: Treaty 8 and the Battle for Indigenous Rights 31:20

3M ago31:20

31:20

125 years after the signing of Treaty 8, many of the promises made to Canada's northern First Nations remain unfulfilled. In this episode, we explore the history, impact, and ongoing struggles surrounding one of Canada’s largest treaties. Charmaine Willier-Larsen, a descendant of a Treaty 8 signatory, shares how reconnecting with her heritage led h…

1
Nunavut Turns 25: Land, Language, and Self-Determination 28:55

4M ago28:55

28:55

At just 25 years old, Nunavut is still finding its footing—but it’s come a long way since its historic creation on April 1, 1999. In this episode, we dive into the past, present, and future of Canada’s youngest territory. Historian Kenn Harper, known to Nunavummiut as Ilisaijikutaaq (the tall teacher), shares stories from his time learning Inuktitu…

1
Frozen Frontiers: Canada, NATO, and the Defence of the North 24:49

5M ago24:49

24:49

On April 4, 1949, Canada became a founding member of NATO, marking the beginning of our influential role in collaborating toward global security. But as the world changes, some critics say Canada’s involvement in NATO isn't what it used to be. In this episode, Canadian Ranger Allen Pogotak talks of his life in the Canadian Arctic, and questions why…

1
Pens, Pixels, and Protections: A Century of Canadian Copyright 32:21

6M ago32:21

32:21

In 1924, the Canadian Copyright Act was born—laying the groundwork for a century of protecting creativity in Canada. But 100 years later, is it keeping up with the times? How do 100-year old laws govern new innovations like AI? This episode unpacks the Act’s fascinating history, its evolution, and the urgent challenges posed by modern technology. C…

1
Songs of the Rock: Newfoundland & Labrador's Confederation in 1949 25:54

6M ago25:54

25:54

In 1949, Newfoundland and Labrador officially joined Canada, becoming the country's youngest province—but not without fierce debate and resistance. In this episode, we explore the unique journey of Newfoundland and Labrador to Confederation, including the two heated referendums that divided the province. We'll hear from Mark Manning, lead singer of…

1
In the Shadow of Green Gables: L.M. Montgomery's Life and Legacy 15:23

7M ago15:23

15:23

It’s been 150 years since Lucy Maud Montgomery’s birth, and her legacy continues to captivate. Best known for Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery crafted characters who embody resilience and imagination. In this special episode, we're joined by her granddaughter, Kate Macdonald Butler. Kate shares family stories, preserving her grandmother’s legacy, a…

1
Wings of Change: 100 Years of the Royal Canadian Air Force 20:28

7M ago20:28

20:28

In this episode, we’re celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and its contributions to global security. We speak with Billy Flynn, a former RCAF commanding officer, who highlights key moments in RCAF history, from its formation to World War II and advancements in aviation safety. We'll also hear from Major General …

1
Introducing Canadian Time Machine: Season 3 1:05

8M ago1:05

1:05

Why did Newfoundland and Labrador resist joining Canada until the 40s? What's it like to fly a tactical helicopter for the Royal Canadian Air Force? Plus... could Anne of Green Gables be an early representation of a common neurodivergence? Welcome to season three of Canadian Time Machine – a podcast that unpacks key milestones in our country’s hist…

1
Go With the Flow: Erica Gies on Embracing Water's Natural Path 30:56

11M ago30:56

30:56

What happens when we change our relationship to water? Can we stop trying to control water and just go with the flow? Erica Gies, environmental journalist, National Geographic Explorer, and author of Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age of Drought and Deluge sits down with host Jay Famiglietti to discuss how the engineered control of water sometim…

1
Sewage Spillover in 'Mexico's Toilet Bowl': The Endhó Dam Crisis 27:30

11M ago27:30

27:30

The Endhó Dam north of Mexico City has been called “the largest septic tank in the world” and “Mexico’s toilet bowl”. Once designed to solve water problems in the region, it now receives wastewater from local industry and Mexico City. Arizona State University doctoral students Raquel Neri, in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Envi…

1
John Fleck on the Inconvenient Science of the Colorado River 31:26

11M ago31:26

31:26

What happens when science gets in the way of ambition, politics, and progress? With a look back at the historical figures and forces that led to the overallocation of the Colorado River, and the consequences that continue to play out today, John Fleck joins Jay Famiglietti on What About Water? Fleck is a Water Policy Researcher at the Utton Center,…

1
Tapped Out: The Dire State of America’s Groundwater 33:26

11M ago33:26

33:26

Humans are burning through our fossil fuels, and we're burning through our groundwater at an alarming rate. But are the powers that be even listening? On this episode, Dr. Upmanu Lall joins host Jay Famiglietti to discuss why we’ve reached an “all hands on deck” moment with our groundwater crisis. Lall and Famiglietti discuss (along with Dr. Bridge…

1
Water Costs Money: How Gary White and Matt Damon are Bridging the Gap 33:11

11M ago33:11

33:11

The World Bank estimated in 2016 it would take $1.7 trillion USD to achieve universal access to clean water and sanitation by 2030. By other estimates that amount is now even higher. Gary White is the CEO and Co-founder, along with Matt Damon, of Water.org and WaterEquity. The two also co-wrote the book The Worth of Water: Our Story of Chasing Solu…

1
Quenching Desert Thirst: What Will It ‘Take’? 38:05

11M ago38:05

38:05

What is the true price of water? Considering growth and climate, how do we address the gap between demand and supply? Could we achieve water security by moving it across borders to dry regions like the American Southwest? John Take, Chief Growth & Innovation Officer at Stantec, discusses importing water, desalination efforts, and whether no infrast…

1
Season 5 Trailer 1:50

11M ago1:50

1:50

Freshwater is essential for life on Earth, but analysts at the World Bank say more often than not, there's either too little, too much, or the water is contaminated and polluted. We look at whether desalinating ocean water and piping it across the desert would really solve water scarcity, why some cities and towns keep flooding, and how much is too…

1
Of Films and Phonetics: The Digitization of Yukon History 31:26

1y ago31:26

31:26

In today’s episode, we’re commemorating over 125 years of the creation of the Yukon Territory. We speak with Paul Caesar-Jules, a Kaska youth from Watson Lake. He tells us about his work at Liard First Nation’s Language Department, where he digitizes tapes of elders communicating in Dene languages. We also hear from Yukon historian Michael Gates, w…

1
Champagne in Charlottetown: PEI and the Road to Confederation 24:59

1+ y ago24:59

24:59

In this episode, we travel back to the moment Prince Edward Island entered Confederation, over 150 years ago. Historian Dr. Edward MacDonald takes us back to the Charlottetown Conference, where it’s said that discussions about the Dominion of Canada flowed over several glasses of champagne. He’ll also help us understand why PEI joined the country s…

1
Canada’s surprising relationship to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 27:44

1+ y ago27:44

27:44

In 1947, Canadian lawyer John Peters Humphrey worked with other members of the Commission on Human Rights to write the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On December 10, 1948, it was adopted by the UN General Assembly in Paris. It’s been over 75 years since this definitive moment, one in which world leaders pledged to do ever…

1
Of fugitives and orators: The characters behind the RCMP’s complicated history 29:37

1+ y ago29:37

29:37

In May 2023, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) commemorated its 150th anniversary. The federal police force – which originally started out as the North-West Mounted Police – is almost as old as the Dominion of Canada itself. This episode examines the complex and painful history of an institution that has historically mistreated Indigenous pe…

1
‘Humiliation Day’, A Look Back at the Impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act 20:19

1+ y ago20:19

20:19

Chinese-Canadians have a long history in Canada. In the 1880s, thousands of Chinese men helped build the Canadian Pacific Railway for a fraction of the wages paid to other labourers. Immediately after the railroad's completion, the Canadian government imposed the head tax, a fee that was exclusively applied to most people arriving from China. Soon …

1
Introducing Canadian Time Machine 1:12

1+ y ago1:12

1:12

Why did the Yukon split from the Northwest territories? Who were the first inhabitants of Prince Edward Island? Plus… what does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights mean for Canadians? Welcome to season two of Canadian Time Machine – a podcast that unpacks key milestones in our country’s history. To read the episode transcripts in French and E…

1
Drilling Deeper Won't Fix This 55:33

2y ago55:33

55:33

People in the lower Colorado River basin are now witnessing drastic cuts to their allotments. In many cases, developers find alternate sources of water by drilling into underground aquifers. But in places like Pinal County, Arizona, that groundwater is already becoming scarce. We hear from Stephen Q. Miller, who sits on both the Pinal County Board …

1
The Colorado River's Alfalfa Problem 48:18

2y ago48:18

48:18

The meat and dairy industries are some of the biggest water users in the American West, thanks to one of cows' favorite foods – alfalfa. As aridification continues across the American southwest, water is becoming far more scarce on the Colorado River. A critical source of water for roughly 40 million Americans, we look at why so much of the Colorad…

1
50th anniversary of the Decorations for Bravery 47:54

2y ago47:54

47:54

In 2022, Canada celebrated its 50th anniversary of the Decorations for Bravery. The medals recognize courageous Canadians who risk their lives trying to save others from imminent danger. In this episode, we speak with former Governor General, Madame Adrienne Clarkson, about what she's learned from the everyday heroes she awarded during her tenure. …

1
World Water Day 2023 with Autumn Peltier 18:17

2y ago18:17

18:17

When Autumn Peltier was eight, she learned the tap water on a neighbouring reserve wasn’t safe to drink, or even to use for hand-washing. That injustice triggered her decade-long advocacy campaign for safe drinking water. She made headlines as a 12 year-old, admonishing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at an Assembly of First Nations event for the cho…

1
175e Anniversaire De la Migration Irlandaise au Canada Pendant La Grande Famine 35:22

2+ y ago35:22

35:22

En 1845, la grande famine a frappé en Irlande. Pendant les années qui ont suivi, plusieurs Irlandais ont quitté leur pays, créant un exode. Cette migration massive a changé profondément le visage de la culture irlandaise. À l’époque, le Canada était une destination de choix pour les migrants qui arrivaient d’Irlande. Dans cet épisode, nous discuton…

1
Will Sarni: Can We Tech Our Way Out of Wicked Water Problems? 30:01

2+ y ago30:01

30:01

Can we really “tech” our way out of freshwater shortages, scarcity, and pollution? In our Season 4 finale, we’re asking the big question of the season – will new water technology be enough to solve wicked water problems? Will Sarni joins Jay for a look back at the bright ideas and inventions we’ve heard about this year, sharing his view on technolo…

1
50th Anniversary of the Ugandan Asian Resettlement 44:41

2+ y ago44:41

44:41

In August 1972, Ugandan President Idi Amin announced that all residents of Asian descent had to leave the country within 90 days. The expulsion impacted over 50,000 people — many of whom had ties to East Africa for several generations. Canada played a crucial role in helping resettle over 7,000 Ugandan asylum seekers. In this episode, we’ll hear fr…

1
What Lurks Beneath: How Robots Can Save City Plumbing with Vanessa Speight 26:37

2+ y ago26:37

26:37

In this episode, we’re going underground, undersea and into your water and sewer pipelines with science fiction’s favorite problem-solvers…robots! Jay sits down with Vanessa Speight, a professor of Integrated Water Systems at the University of Sheffield, to learn how new, spider-like robots have the potential to locate and fix leaks in aging water …

1
75th Anniversary of the Canadian Citizenship Act 42:15

2+ y ago42:15

42:15

On January 3rd, 1947, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King became the first person to ever be granted Canadian citizenship. So, how did people in Canada identify before this law came into effect? And how did the law impact people differently? Lawyer and professor Audrey Macklin joins host Angela Misri to help unpack the significance of this a…

1
An AI Fix for Aging Water Systems with Seyi Fabode 27:52

2+ y ago27:52

27:52

On this episode of What About Water? an entrepreneur in Austin, Texas turns his dishwasher sensor into a tech startup that’s feeding water utilities snapshots of their water quality in real time. Jay sits down with Seyi Fabode, the CEO and co-founder of Varuna, to discuss how his company’s cloud-based software is helping cities keep track of their …

1
Chemical Cocktails: What’s in our Groundwater? with John Cherry 30:42

2+ y ago30:42

30:42

If it’s not stuck in glaciers or polar ice, 99 per cent of the world’s freshwater is groundwater. Water underground supplies nearly half of the world’s drinking water. But what happens when dangerous chemicals and waste – polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), oil, gasoline and road salts – percolate down into that supply? On this episode of What About…

1
Dirty Laundry: Water and the World of Fast Fashion 34:31

2+ y ago34:31

34:31

Call the fashion police! In this special holiday edition of What About Water? we dive into the apparel industry’s dirty secret: its water use. Behind oil and gas, fashion is the single most polluting industry on the planet. It accounts for 8 per cent of all carbon emissions and 20 per cent of global wastewater. We start by catching up with shoppers…

1
Into Thin Air: A Smarter Way to Water Crops, with A.J. Purdy 26:12

2+ y ago26:12

26:12

How can we measure water when it disappears into thin air? On this episode of What About Water? we’re looking at evapotranspiration, or “ET” for short. It’s the combination of water evaporating from the soil, combined with the measure of water transpiring through crops’ leaves. Accounting for this water loss helps farmers know exactly how much wate…

1
Submerged 40:43

2+ y ago40:43

40:43

In the quest to find clean, renewable sources of energy, we turn to a familiar method: hydroelectricity. Today, the ancient method of harnessing the power of flowing water is hitting enormous new heights. Hydroelectric dams are some of the biggest human-made structures in the world. As humans dam more and more rivers, the scale and sheer size of th…

1
Field Smarts: Protecting Farmers’ Wallets and Our Water, with Bruno Basso 30:00

2+ y ago30:00

30:00

It’s estimated that by 2050, we’ll have over 9 billion people on earth. To feed everyone, we will need to produce 60 per cent more food - and we'll need to grow it using less water. On this episode of What About Water? we’re looking at new technology that can make that shift possible. Jay sits down with colleague and friend Bruno Basso, an agro-eco…

1
Under the Sea: Hidden Freshwater Reserves with Brandon Dugan 29:13

2+ y ago29:13

29:13

By 2025, experts predict over half the world’s population will live in water-stressed areas. With a number of our freshwater resources on land receding, is it time to look to the ocean - or, rather, underneath it for fresh water? Jay sits down with Brandon Dugan, the Associate Department Head and Baker Hughes Chair in the Department of Geophysics a…

1
Running Dry: Nik Kowsar on Iranian Censorship and Water Scarcity 29:54

2+ y ago29:54

29:54

For Nik Kowsar, civil unrest in Iran is not new. As a geologist and journalist, he's been sounding the alarm about water shortages and censorship in his home country for decades. After being arrested and jailed for one of his cartoons and receiving death threats from pro-regime Islamists, Kowsar fled Iran in 2003. Today, he is an award-winning Iran…

1
Water Affects Your Pension: Cate Lamb at World Water Week 28:13

2+ y ago28:13

28:13

Can water risk disclosure move the needle on corporate water stewardship? And what does that risk mean for our own retirement funds? In this very special episode of What About Water? - recorded on location at World Water Week - Jay sits down with Cate Lamb in Stockholm, Sweden to discuss valuing water. We hear how companies with high water-related …

1
Don't Mess With the Data: Virginia Burkett on Louisiana's Vanishing Coastline 29:46

3y ago29:46

29:46

In the first episode of our fourth season, Jay sits down with renowned scientist and IPCC author, Virginia Burkett, to talk about technology, its pitfalls and its promises for a water-secure future. Burkett is the Chief Scientist for Climate and Land Use Change at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), where she’s worked for over three decades. She is …

1
Season 4 Trailer 1:18

3y ago1:18

1:18

Our planet is in crisis. When it comes to water, there are many promising solutions. But in a world full of new technologies, what innovations should we pay attention to? And will they be enough? On Season 4 of What About Water? we're diving into New Technologies, Water Realities. Host Jay Famiglietti will sit down with the experts, innovators and …

1
Can Peace and Prosperity Flow from Water? 17:18

3y ago17:18

17:18

What happens when tensions over water reach their boiling point? In our final bonus episode of the summer season, we explore the causes of water conflicts and what we can do to stop them. We start with the Middle East, a water-scarce region where conflict brews over shared water resources. We then turn to Latin America, where migrants are spurred b…

1
Engineering a New Water World 16:25

3y ago16:25

16:25

In our third bonus episode of the summer season, we look back at the innovative ways people are sourcing their freshwater, from building home water systems on the Navajo Nation to engineering a state of the art wastewater treatment facility in Orange County. We hear what improvements need to be made to America's aging water infrastructure. And we l…

1
Going to Extremes: Heat, Water Scarcity and Food 17:31

3y ago17:31

17:31

From farmer’s fields to the high arctic, from your morning cup of coffee to a glass of wine – everything we eat and drink depends on water. In the second episode of our summer mini season, we draw from our past interviews about water scarcity and its effect on our food supply. We take a look at last year’s drought and withered crops on the Canadian…

1
At Its Essence: What Indigenous Teachings Tell us About Water 14:09

3y ago14:09

14:09

In our first mini-episode of the summer season, we turn to three guests from our past seasons to explore Indigenous ways of knowing, and to look more closely at the sacred nature of water -- how various people understand it, conserve it and co-exist with it. Janet Pitsiulaaq Brewster shares how climate change is affecting Indigenous reconciliation …

1
Summer Season Trailer (Bonus Episodes) 1:22

3y ago1:22

1:22

This summer on What About Water? we bring you some of our most compelling interviews from the past three seasons. We're releasing four mini episodes spanning four different themes that continue to resonate in the world of water. This special summer edition of What About Water? launches May 18, with one episode dropping each month.…

1
Digital Media Literacy: Empathizing with the Internet 32:14

3y ago32:14

32:14

The Internet is an amplifier. It flattens space and time to amplify information, connections, and access around the world. On the other side of the coin, it can amplify perspectives that are generally considered unhelpful in today's society, including disinformation and hate speech. As the Director of Research for MediaSmarts, Kara Brisson-Boivin s…

1
The Girl Who Wanted To Swim: Tackling Sewage At The Source 26:05

3y ago26:05

26:05

On our final episode of Season 3, we hear how a 6th grade science fair project led to receiving the Order of Nova Scotia for youth environmentalist and clean water advocate, Stella Bowles. At just 11 years old, Stella learned about the 600 straight pipes flushing unprocessed sewage from homes directly into the LaHave river behind her home. What sta…

1
Water Pipes to Water Rights: Protecting Water with Newsha Ajami and Carolina Vilches 29:33

3+ y ago29:33

29:33

This week on What About Water?, we look at water infrastructure – from broken water pipes across America to the redistribution of water rights in Chilé – and what role governments play in fixing the systems that distribute our water. Newsha Ajami, Chief Development Officer for Research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, joins us as our first re…

1
Digital News: Decolonizing Journalism 26:27

3+ y ago26:27

26:27

Indigenous perspectives have historically been underrepresented and misrepresented in Canadian news. Journalist Emilee Gilpin says the source of the problem is a lack of accountability and diversity within Canadian newsrooms and journalism schools. In this episode, host Mohit Rajhans sits down with Emilee to discuss how newsrooms can decolonize Can…

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