Zach Green is the president of BeAlive Studios in Bozeman, Montana, and the co-founder of Rivers are Life. He began his career on CBS’s Survivor and oversaw production of the hugely successful survival series Alone. In this episode, Zach shares his experiences navigating the entertainment industry, emphasizing the importance of persistence, risk-taking, and passion-driven work. He also discusses the importance of storytelling in conservation and how multimedia can inspire outdoor adventure and environmental stewardship, highlighting his projects’ focus on brand-funded content and partnerships with organizations to protect and preserve global river systems.

Transcript available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QhJODqZD4Kb3pOYnY53ML8rAhn28KzcidY66dMzpJV0/edit?usp=sharing

In this month’s installment of Incentives & Instincts, our recurring series with economist Bryce Ward, Justin and Bryce dive into the changing perceptions of the teaching profession over the last 50 years. They explore how the status, prestige, and public perception of K-12 teachers have shifted, focusing on the decline since the Great Recession. The co…

This week we’re re-airing a conversation with John Adams, executive director at Montana Free Press. With Adams as its founder, Montana Free Press launched in 2016 as an independent nonprofit. In this episode Justin and John talk about the Montana Free Press model, the state of journalism in general, and its future here in Montana. Justin asks John how the rise of Facebook and Google changed the business model for online newspapers.

Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KWQkKNw2tQI_7y596hVCR3mIIfyH6RyFjHSpqgCX-MA/edit?usp=sharing

Nick Mott is an award-winning journalist and host of a new podcast The Wide Open. The first season, Threatened, explores the complex legacy of the Endangered Species Act and new episodes are dropping weekly right now. Mott discusses the Act’s history, its powerful legal teeth, and the social and political challenges surrounding species protection, particularly with predators like grizzly bears in Montana. He shares insights into the ethical and practical debates about wildlife conservation, the social question of what constitutes species recovery, and how the Act has become such a contentious issue in modern politics.

Listen to The Wide Open here: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/1254361510/the-wide-open

Transcript available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qUoJLIlgD0hjwDrXz3ndxLu7-X7Xr1EyAYTQDBmXgkw/edit?usp=sharing

Mallory Phillips and Nathan Dugan co-founded Shelter WF, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating housing options for low to middle-income earners, in 2022. In this episode, they discuss the housing challenges in the Flathead Valley, the history of zoning and its implications on class and race, the state of housing legislation in Montana, and the barriers to affordable housing development.

Learn more about Shelter WF here: www.shelterwf.org

Transcript available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-jMxFSdZXgFFNU409lH0p84e6M9OBxlEBNfl_bkQuj0/edit?usp=sharing

In a previous episode of Incentives & Instincts, Justin and economist Bryce Ward discussed a concerning rise in the need for chaos — a mentality in which individuals across the ideological spectrum, feeling disaffected by the system, seek its destruction. This week, they attempt to square that trend with the rise of a productive form of centrism in Wash…

Here’s part two of our conversation with Heidi Wallace and Rajiem Seabrook of EmpowerMT, an organization dedicated to creating a more just and inclusive world through leadership development and education. Heidi serves as executive director and Rajiem is director of equity and impact. In this episode, they discuss the challenges of systemic oppression, the impact of social media on youth, and grapple with whether or not our society is actually making progress.

Learn more about EmpowerMT here: https://www.empowermt.org/

Transcript available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13baFFSE4sXeFS6gtuzdY-mrUdY9y6UaHvCdKJqPkNTg/edit?usp=sharing

This week we’re bringing you an encore presentation of Justin’s conversation with Mara Silvers about Shared State, a collaborative reporting effort between the Montana Free Press, Montana Public Radio, and Yellowstone Public Radio. Shared State explores the strange political moment we’re living through, and as we approach this next election, this conversation seems like a good reminder that truth – whatever version of it we can find – usually lies in the middle.

Access the Shared State archive here: https://www.mtpr.org/podcast/shared-state

Episode transcript available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O8G3b6912AvHufml849rfc9YJ5HnZD4DMwk2LrU0SS4/edit?usp=sharing