Non-Toxic

In light of today’s run-off election results in Brazil, I decided to go back into the archives and bring you a conversation with photographer and filmmaker Richard Mosse. It’s all about his film Broken Spectre, which documents the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and was filmed during the height of Brazilian far-right president Jair Bolsonaro’s reign.

Using infrared film, ultraviolet cameras, and multispectral satellite imaging, Mosse makes visible the illegal mining, logging, and wholesale burning of the Amazon that was tacitly encouraged under Bolsonaro. This was dangerous work. Indigenous peoples and activists who have oppose...

Are young men secretly optimistic about the American Dream while believing everything is falling apart? In this election special, I sit down with returning guest Charlie Sabgir from the Young Men Research Project to unpack a massive new survey of 1,000 young men (ages 18–29) and 500 young women — and the findings are all over the place.

There’s nostalgia for a past that probably never existed, a hardening of traditional gender roles, a grift economy that’s absolutely eating young men alive, and a genuinely surprising streak of “I’ll be fine though” individual optimism. Plus: what the Cornell Seven case rev...

Summer is officially over. Put away your linen and your bathing suits and unpack your sweaters. To salute the last glimmers of the season, I’m bringing you a special bonus episode featuring an essay by my friend, Abraham Storer. It’s called “Getting It Up” about a summertime tradition on the Outer Cape of a crew of young guys finding a big log on the beach and trying to plant it upright in the sand.

…At least tonight, the boys seemed alright. Maybe their task was pointless, but there was strength, ingenuity, determination, brotherhood, and even a bit of h...

 In May, I met the biohacker and wellness entrepreneur Bryan Johnson while I was in Las Vegas reporting a story about the Enhanced Games for Now Voyager. The article, called “Gear and Doping in Las Vegas,” is in issue four of the magazine, which comes out today.

A former tech bro who sold his company, Braintree, to PayPal, Johnson has dedicated the last five years of his life to trying every therapy and intervention possible in an effort to reduce his biological age, sharing his findings on social media and rolling out a line of supplements through his ne...

 Today I’m bringing you a conversation I had with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who is one of the two Democratic candidates facing off in a primary tomorrow to represent Michigan in the US Senate.

I talked to Dr. El-Sayed about a year ago for Carbon Bros., the miniseries I did with Amy Westervelt and Drilled. In this conversation, we get into why Democrats lost young men in 2024, and whether it’s possible to win them back. El-Sayed's argument is basically that corporations are engineering addiction—through things like sports betting, porn, social media—and that Democrats have failed to...

Throughout “Just Keep Swimming,” we’ve been connecting the dots between the chemicals hiding in everyday life and what they're doing to male fertility, and it’s not looking good. To catch you up:

* Phthalates are everywhere — your cologne, your aftershave, even milk — silently interfering with the hormonal signals your body uses to produce healthy sperm.

* Flame retardants migrate out of your furniture and into household dust — which sounds whatever until you realize how much dust you’re actually ingesting and inhaling on the daily, and how persistent these compounds are once they’re in your body.

...

You’ve likely heard the horror stories about lead-contaminated fast fashion, airline uniforms triggering severe allergic reactions or sweaters bursting into flames. Maybe you’re worried about the chemicals lurking in your own closet or have stared at a tag while shopping, wondering what’s actually safe and reliable versus what’s just marketing BS.

In this special episode of Non-Toxic’s summer miniseries, “Just Keep Swimming,” we’re diving into the world of textiles—specifically, the hidden chemicals in our clothes and how they make their way into our bodies. We’ll be talking azo dyes, PFAS coatings, heavy...

Thinking of having children? Wondering whether your sperm has been compromised by years of eating lunchables and drinking from a battered Nalgene?

A growing body of evidence suggests sperm counts may have dropped by nearly half since the 1970s. Commentators have blamed obesity, nutrition, even feminism. But the more I dug into the research, the more one culprit kept coming up: the endocrine disrupting chemicals hiding in plain sight in our food packaging, furniture, products with fragrances, and even children’s toys. This isn’t some MAHA conspiracy, it’s well documented, and there’s even a Netflix...

Western Europe has been experiencing its hottest temperatures in the history of humanity this week, so it felt like a good time to resurface this episode I recorded way back with my old co-host Andrew Lewis, and our guest Eric Dean Wilson, author of After Cooling: On Freon, Global Warming, and the Terrible Cost of Comfort.

We take a look back at the history of air conditioning (it’s weird and wild), and try to understand how we almost managed to destroy all life on earth in our quest for personal comfort. And don’t miss Eric’s jour...

 I’m bringing you the first episode of a series I’m doing called “Just Keep Swimming.” It’s a Non-Toxic miniseries about male infertility and chemical exposure, exploring how chemicals in our environment (or chemicals we choose to inject into our bodies) can have an enormous impact on our individual health and even the future of humanity.

This episode is a conversation that I had with the Dutch looksmaxxer, Felix van der Heiden, when I was visiting the offices of the biotech startup, Sperm Racing. For the full story there, you can read my article in The New York...

A fifth of the world’s oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a sliver of ocean between Iran and the Gulf States. Since the beginning of the US Israeli war in Iran, that traffic has slowed to a trickle, which has sent the price of oil skyward. Countries around the world are doing everything they can to accelerate the transition because whether they care about the climate crisis or not, they recognize that there is no choke point on the sun.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nontoxicpodcast.substack.com

In this episode of Non-Toxic, I’m joined by fitness influencer Colin Davis to explore the intersection of muscle hypertrophy, masculinity, and climate activism. You might remember Colin from the Carbon Bros finale, but a brief cameo didn’t do him justice—so we’re diving into the full, extended conversation here.

Colin is breaking the mold by proving bodybuilding isn’t just for the right wing. He argues that to reach men today, the left needs to meet them in th...

Is our “green” future actually being built on a global sacrifice zone?

In this episode, I’m sitting down with my former New Yorker colleague Nicolas Niarchos to break down his wild new book, The Elements of Power. It’s a massive, globe-spanning investigation into the battery supply chain—tracking the line from the Congo and Indonesia to Israel, China, and the US—to show how clean energy’s big promises often rely on violence, child labor, and deep corruption.

With conflict in the Middle East driving up gas prices, plenty of EV drivers are feeling pretty...

If you’ve been reading the latest batch of the Epstein files, you may have noticed an unlikely name from the world of longevity and “Medicine 2.0”: Dr Peter Attia. To understand the connection between Jeffrey Epstein and Attia, I sat down with Sami Reiss, author of the Super Health. An expert in “dark wellness,” Sami interviewed Attia way back for GQ and has been following his rise (and fall) for a long time now.

In our chat, he breaks down the history of longevity medicine and Attia’s kind of basic approach to the science of aging. Hint: eat pr...

Are you a genetic loser with a recessed maxilla? Have you been brutally framemogged? Will you ever ascend? Welcome to the world of looksmaxxing, where all your problems can be solved with specially crafted fitness protocols that will change your life, or at least mutilate your face.

In this episode of Non-Toxic, we’ll be talking about one squarejawed looksmaxxer in particular, Clavicular, whose advice on fitness, skincare, and more extreme methods of changing your appearance have been ricocheting around the internet the past few months. At only 20 years old, Clav has recently risen to fame in pa...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nontoxicpodcast.substack.com

In this subscriber-only episode, I talk to writer and broadcaster Richard Seymour about his recent book Disaster Nationalism. Richard breaks down how his concept of disaster nationalism is different from the Coke Classic version of nationalism, and how real and imaginary disasters play into the hands of the far-right. We get into how to exploit social crises and conspiracies and what role masculinity plays in this pyschic morass. And in case you’re sick of hearing about Trump, we zoom out to...

Every year on January 7th, the artist Jay Critchley holds a ceremony inviting attendees to “re-root” themselves to the earth. He also pushes a flaming Christmas tree into the harbor. In this episode from the vault, I visit Jay’s Provincetown studio to discuss everything from his conceptual patriotic condom company to the problem with “carbon captured broligarchs.” And you’re on the Cape and happen to catch it, this year’s theme is “Crypto Himflation”. Enjoy!

The discourse won’t detoxify itself. To keep the show going, ⁠become a Non-Toxic patron today⁠.

 Amy and I are back after a little hiatus to bring you our long awaited Carbon Bros mailbag episode.  We received so many interesting responses from people around the world. Thanks for sharing your stories, sparking ideas, and raising pivotal questions.

Carbon Bros is a collaboration between Drilled Media and Non-Toxic, written and co-hosted by Amy Westervelt and me, Daniel Penny.

If you want to listen to more amazing climate reporting by Amy, head to Drilled’s vast archive. The investigations they’ve done—on everything from the history of greenwashing to dirty oil deals in Guyana—...

Democrats did surprisingly well in the recent spate of elections. One of the key pieces of that story was that young men came back to the party after supposedly abandoning them in 2024 for Trump and the far right. So what happened in that intervening year to change their minds?

With insights from Charlie Sabgir of Young Men Research Project, this episode unpacks the surprising political trends among young male voters, the impact of affordability issues, the long tail of COVID, and the gender divide when it comes to anxiety about AI. Are we witnessing a true change...

Democratic pundits have been wringing their hands about how they lost young men in 2024 and how to win them back. With Election Day comming up, I thought I’d share this bonus episode of Carbon Bros, in which I talk to Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed about what the Democratic establishment is getting wrong and how to redirect young men’s anger towards the people actually making their lives worse. From stagnant wages to sports gambling addictions to poison in our air and water, El-Sayed thinks there’s only one group we should actually be blaming: billionaires. Some folks...

The kings of the manosphere love to talk about “integrating” a man’s warrior and civilized self, but how about integrating men, and new ideas of masculinity, into the climate movement instead? What does that look like, who’s doing it, and where are there opportunities for repair and progress?

Want to help detoxify the discourse? Smash that like and subscribe!

Carbon Bros is a collaboration between Drilled Media and Non-Toxic, written and co-hosted by Amy Westervelt and me, Daniel Penny.

If you want to listen to more amazing climate reporting by Amy...

In this eye-opening episode of Carbon Bros, my co-host Amy Westervelt talks with special guest Vivian Taylor. A veteran of both trans rights activism and climate policy (and a literal veteran), Vivian reveals the shocking connections between fossil billionaires and anti-trans campaigns. Turns out, it’s easy to distract people with genital inspectors so you don’t have to deal with methane leakage inspectors.

In this episode, Amy and Vivian break down the disturbing overlap between anti-trans, anti-climate, and other right-wing movements, as well as the critical need for unity in tackling these pressing issues. It’s a powe...

Stop listening to hysterical Swedish teenagers and start listening to reasonable men! Some dudes do have solutions to the climate crisis; they just don’t involve messy interpersonal stuff, changing their lifestyles, or reorganizing the global economy. From techno quick fixes and visions of abundance to carbon capture and geoengineering to doomerism and colonies on Mars, we’ll take a look at how gendered notions of the climate crisis have led to individualized, “masculine” approaches to solving it.

Loving what we’re doing with Non-Toxic? Smash that like and subscribe!

Carbon Bros is a collabor...

In this bonus episode of Carbon Bros, we present an extended conversation with Cara Daggett, who coined the term "petro-masculinity." Daggett delves into the implications of this idea that far-right ideologies, misogyny, and climate denial are all tied together in the macho obsession with big old trucks. We also zoom out and discuss global perspectives on fossil fuels and masculinity, examining the intersection between petro-cultures and nationalism—because this isn’t just an American thing.

Next week, we'll be back with episode 3 of Carbon Bros, and in the meantime, we're soliciting some thoughts from our listeners to incl...

When it comes to powering the US, “energy dominance” has become a favorite phrase of the Trump administration. But who or what are they trying to dominate with all that oil and gas? In this episode, we zoom out from climate change to trace how gender became so embedded in our collective understanding of nature. How did we go from worshipping Gaia and indigenous earth-mother figures to extracting “natural resources” from private property? And how did oversized gas-guzzlers become a symbol of proud American … manhood? It all goes back to dominance.

Non-Toxic Newsletter is a reader-supported publicatio...

Manosphere figures like Andrew Tate, Joe Rogan, and Jordan Peterson aren’t just telling men how to treat their girlfriends or train for MMA fights; they’re also blasting their listeners with climate denial talking points. Which isn’t a coincidence. The fossil fuel industry has known since at least the 1990s that certain types of men are more susceptible to climate disinformation than other segments of the public. We take a look at how climate denial has seeped into the manosphere, how those messages are shaping men’s views of the climate crisis, and how the results are playing...

In just over two weeks, Carbon Bros, a collaboration between Non-Toxic and Drilled, will be making its long-awaited debut on July 25. Here’s the gist:

You’ve heard it from cable news pundits, Democratic strategists, and your favorite YouTuber: young men swung the last U.S. election for Trump. Understanding what’s driving “the manosphere” and how to reach the young men in its grips is on everyone’s mind right now, but we’re zooming in on a different corner of it: the intersection between male grievance culture and climate denial. Why are American men less likely than wo...

Join me in the studio of artist and activist Jay Critchley, a Provincetown legend known for his provocative work at the intersection of masculinity, environmental degradation, and consumption. Each year in his annual RE-ROOTER Ceremony, the artist includes the public in an attempt to discard the objects and experiences that prohibit us making from a deeper connection with the earth and human life, and to “re-root” ourselves to the earth. He also pushes a flaming Christmas tree into the Cape Cod Bay.

Down in Jay's former septic system we literally get deep, discussing everything from Jay's long hist...

In this episode, I’m joined by Malcolm Harris, author of Kids These Days, Palo Alto, and What's Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis, out April 15, 2025 and available for pre-order.

His new book is a survey of left political-economic thought, broken down into what Malcolm sees as the three viable strategies for addressing the climate crisis. To end our economic addiction to fossil fuels, we can use the dark magic of marketcraft, build muscular public power, or we can go full communism. Or perhaps we will need all three, he says. “A strategy of strategies.”

Malc...

Like a rhizomatic network, Non-Toxic is linking and building with investigative climate journalist Amy Westervelt. She and the Drilled podcast team will be helping out with a special mini-season of Non-Toxic x Drilled, launching summer 2025.

For those of you who aren’t already devoted Drilled listeners, it’s one of the best climate podcasts out there. They’ve covered everything from the birth of climate denial to the criminalization of climate protest to Exxon’s corrupt efforts to secure deep sea drilling rights off the coast of Guyana. While working on Non-Toxic, I’ve always looked to Drilled as...

On this bonus episode, we're joined by environmental reporter and former Non-Toxic co-host, Andrew Lewis, to discuss the first weeks of the Trump administration's climate policy. We've also got some personal life updates like moving to Cape Cod, and trying to build a house without wrapping it in plastic. Listen in for insights on FEMA investigations, woke weather, future climate predictions, and our wobbily food system.

⁠⁠Support the show⁠⁠ via Patreon andfollow us ⁠⁠on Substack⁠. And for more detailed doomscrolling, check outDrilled's tally of Trump's enviromental executive orders.

On this episode of Non-Toxic, we're going Hollywood, breaking down the PR wars and legal wrangling between the stars of the domestic violence drama, It Ends With Us. Justin Baldoni, the director and co-star of the film, is facing serious allegations  of sexual harassment, inappropriate on-set behavior–and a coordinated PR campaign to destroy the reputation of the film's leading actress, Blake Lively. (Notably, he's also the host of the podcast Man Enough.) Now, he's filed countersuits of his own. With insights from journalist Emily Kirkpatrick and gender justice researcher Dr. Will McInerney, this episode unpacks how PRs take adva...

For this end of year episode of Non-Toxic, we dive back into the vault to revisit a fascinating conversation with Alec Leach, a sustainability strategist and author of The World is on Fire but We're Still Buying Shoes. (He's also ⁠got a great substack.)

Alec shares his eye-opening journey from a high-flying fashion editor to an advocate for mindful consumption. We discuss the myths around sustainability, the psychological grip of fashion marketing, and practical steps to deprogram from excessive buying habits. Alec also talks about the pervasive influence of "hype culture" on contemporary fashion, his own wa...

Things are heating up in this episode of Non-Toxic. I'm talking to Clare Boerigter, a fire research fellow, science writer, and former wildland firefighter who has been on the front lines of America's increasingly out of control wildfires. Clare shares stories from her three seasons fighting fires, the impact of climate change on wildfires, and the challenges faced by women in the firefighting community. We also explore the science of fire behavior, human encroachment on places likely to burn, and the problem with trying to prevent all wildfires. And Clare generously shares an except from her forthcoming memoir from...

In this episode of Non-Toxic, I dive into the world of extreme muscularity with Dr Roberto Olivardia, a researcher and clinician who helped coin the term “muscle dysmorphia.” Dr Olivardia charts the rise of muscle dysmorphia among men and his own journey into studying eating disorders and OCD through the lens of masculinity.

His book, The Adonis Complex, came out in 2000, and we look back at how body image issues among men have evolved from the 1970s to the present day. While social media and steroid use have accelerated the problem, Dr. Olivardia isn’t so sure they’r...

In this election special, we're diving deep into the not so surprising rightward shift among young men. Our guest, Shauna Daly, co-founder of the Young Men Research Initiative and a seasoned Democratic campaign operative, provides insights into why many young men turned to Trump in 2024.

We explore the widening gender gap, the unique media consumption habits of young men, and the broader implications for the Democratic Party. From the rise of podcasts like Joe Rogan's to the underlying issues men face in America, this conversation is packed with critical analysis and future strategies. Tune in for...

In this episode of Non-Toxic, we’re talking with beauty critic Jessica DeFino about the evolving culture of male beauty standards. Jessica DeFino is an award-winning beauty reporter whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and more. A former editor for the Kardashian-Jenner apps, she now writes the newsletter Fleshworld and has been called “the woman the beauty industry fears the most” by the Sunday Herald. From the rise of the metrosexual to the booming trend for unisex products to the intricacies of hair plugs, we explore how the beauty industry is making money by shi...

In this episode of Non-Toxic, we're traumatizing our egos in nature's vastness and exploring the roots of the term "toxic masculinity" in the mythopoetic men's movement. Through a conversation with Ian MacKenzie, host of The Mythic Masculine Podcast, we delve into the history, core concepts, and key figures of that largely forgotten (yet hugely influential) moment. We also examine how the mythopoets reacted to second-wave feminism, and how the current incarnation of Men's Work has been influenced by the #MeToo movement.

Whether you’ve been to a Sacred Sons convergence or prefer your psychodramas to take pl...

In episode 1 of Season 3, I talk to one of the main figures responsible for the spread of the term “toxic masculinity,” Dr Terry Kupers, an academic, psychiatrist, expert witness, and former doctor for the LA chapter of the Black Panthers. (He’s led quite the life.)

Terry’s research on the violent conditions he saw in US prisons helped spread the term “toxic masculinity” beyond its hippie origins (more on those origins later this season). While I was only able to include a few quotes from him in a recent article I wrote for GQ, I knew I wante...

This week we have a special Earth Day bonus episode. The intrepid producer of our show, Andrew Lewis, is reporting from the Society for Environmental Journalists. Andrew gives us an update on Money Island, the community at the center of his first book, who refused to sell their land to a New Jersey flood program.

He also shares so very interesting polling data for the 2024 election that came out during SEJ. Apparently there are hundreds of thousands of self-declared evironmentalists who have never voted, and perhaps as many young conservatives who say climate change is one...