Introduction

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

A man named david buckle took his life at sunrise in brooklyn's prospect park. David had been a successful lawyer, but he left the law to become an environmental advocate. He decided that the way to force the world to pay attention was to take his life in a public and very unusual way - by setting himself on fire. We're going to talk toDavid's husband about his despair, and we're going to talks to a climateactivist who has also struggled with despair, about how not to lose hope.

Climate change has driven some environmental activists to extremes. We talk about overcoming despair with Terry Kaelber, whose husband David Buckel took his life to protest inaction, and Tim DeChristopher, who was imprisoned for his activism.

This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Mounsey with help from Christian Ayala, and hosted by Noel King.

Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained

Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices