You're listening to The Great Simplification with Nate Higgins.

That's me.

On this show, we try to explore and simplify what's happening with energy, the economy,

the environment, and our society.

Together with scientists, experts, and leaders, this show is about understanding the

bird's eye view of how everything fits together, where we go from here and what we can

do about it as a society and as individuals.

John Erickson is the David Blittersdorf professor of sustainability science and policy at the University of Vermont.

John is published widely on energy and climate change, land conservation, watershed planning, public health, and the theory and practice of ecological economics.

He advised presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on economic and energy policy,

and John also happens to be my PhD advisor. When I record these podcasts, I get an immediate

gut feel on how good the episode was. And this conversation with John was great.

We talked about his new book, The Progress Illusion, reclaiming our future from the fairy

tale of economics, where we plumbed the depths of the human predicament and outlined what

a reality-based economic structure and future might look like.

Please welcome my friend, colleague, and Ph.D. advisor, John Erickson.

Hey, John.

Nathan John Higgins, how are you?

I am well.

Good to see you.

You too.

Although we're very old friends, I do feel some small psychological trepidation on seeing your face that I didn't turn in a paper or

...