Greetings Earthlings!
I’m Amy. I make the podcast Threshold.
We are living through an incredibly high-stakes time for our species and the whole biosphere. And yet, it’s possible to move through our days mostly ignoring that. I don’t want to do that. I want to show up, and try to be useful. To learn and understand. To feel and feed my appreciation for this planet—the only place in the universe that we know for sure supports life. If you feel the same, this might be the newsletter for you.
What this is
Letters to Earthlings is a home for all of us who are listening to what our planet is telling us and want to think deeply about it together. That could mean stretching our minds around different time scales, boning up on Earth science concepts we all know we should know (but maybe don’t), or finding moments of connection in every day adventures.
You’ll find some intellectual heft here, but also some play. I’ll be experimenting with different topics and modes of communication; text, pictures, voice memos, whatever happens to feel right in the moment. I’ll share things I’m learning as I work on Threshold and other projects, and take paid subscribers behind the scenes to watch things evolve. I’ll also respond to current events sometimes, because what’s happening now matters to what happens to our planet in the future.
In all of my work, I’m seeking to grow space for ecological thinking—habitats where we can come together to do the hard and exciting work of shifting the paradigms that shape our minds and our actions. I know there are legions of us who are eager to make transformative change and unsure how to do it. I’m hopeful this can be a place where we can think about that together. And not just think; your feelings are welcome here too. Grief, fear, confusion, wonder, love.
That last one’s important. When we love something, we want to listen to it. Pay attention to it. Show it the respect and care it deserves.
Other Things I Do
My main gig is leading the creation of Threshold, a documentary podcast rooted in all these same instincts: an urge to make a space where people can come together to think deeply about the realities of our ecological situation. Threshold has won a Peabody Award, a national Edward R. Murrow Award, and other honors. We’ve released four seasons and are currently releasing the fifth, Hark.
Every season of Threshold is a massive writing project in and of itself, but I write other things too. My work has been published in The Guardian and Scientific American, and I’m brewing up a book.
I haven’t done news pieces in a while, but in the past my radio reporting has been heard on All Things Considered, Reveal, Here and Now, The World, and other programs.
I was raised on an Iowa farm, and currently divide my time between Missoula, Montana and Umeå, Sweden.
As this community grows, I’ll be looking for opportunities for us to connect outside of the digital realm. Let me know if you have ideas for places where that could happen—public events, private gatherings, workshops, conferences, festivals. You can find me on Bluesky or LinkedIn, or through the comments here.
Thank you for stopping by!
If all of this sounds interesting to you, please subscribe for free today, or consider a paid subscription (coming soon!) for a deeper experience. I look forward to hearing from you!
