How We Build This
How We Build This
Podcast Description
How We Build This is a podcast how we can take action in a time of rising authoritarianism and shrinking rights. Hosted by longtime climate and movement leader, May Boeve, each episode finds May in conversation with with organizers, activists, and changemakers as they try to make sense of how movements are born, and how they grow, and what we can do right now.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores themes of social justice, activism, and the dynamics of organizing in a time of authoritarianism, with specific episode topics such as the origins of Black Lives Matter, the impact of the Ferguson uprising, and the role of personal experiences in shaping movements. Each episode includes discussions on building power for marginalized communities and navigating political landscapes.

How We Build This is a podcast how we can take action in a time of rising authoritarianism and shrinking rights. Hosted by longtime climate and movement leader, May Boeve, each episode finds May in conversation with with organizers, activists, and changemakers as they try to make sense of how movements are born, and how they grow, and what we can do right now.
May Boeve talks with author Michael Pollan about the surprising ways writers can help spark movements. Pollan reflects on how his work on food systems and psychedelics moved him from journalist to reluctant advocate, and what it means to use storytelling to make vast systems feel human, urgent, and changeable. Together, May and Michael explore the food movement’s cultural impact, the power and limits of “voting with your fork,” unlikely cross-partisan openings around pesticides and ultra-processed food, and the emerging politics of attention in an era of social media, AI, and Trump’s command of our consciousness. Along the way, Pollan makes the case for pleasure as an underrated political force.
How We Build This is created and hosted by May Boeve
Producer: Phil Surkis
Theme music: ‘Within’, composed by Ruthie Dineen, and performed by Negative Press Project.
Instagram & Bluesky: @hwbtpod
Find us on Linkedin and Substack at How We Build this Pod.
Thank YOU for taking the time to tune in and helping build the movement!

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