Welcome to Carpathia, a podcast about saving what’s left.

Carpathia explores the fragility of life on Earth, global catastrophic risk, and existential risk to humanity. The mission of Carpathia is to raise awareness about the many threats facing humanity, while highlighting the people and organizations working on solutions to save the world. As we build solutions to save humanity — and all life on Earth — from an uncertain fate, we are building our own Carpathia. 

At Carpathia, we look for the light!

These are dark times. Humanity has made some catastrophic mistakes. Let’s face it — we fucked up. The worst thing about this self-made disaster is, we don’t have a Planet B. As Carl Sagan once said, this pale blue dot is our only home. So we have to fix our mistakes as best we can. It can feel overwhelming and it’s easy to lose hope. I think a lot of us have. Why save the world when you can sit on your couch doomscrolling and waiting for the inevitable collapse? I get it. But hear me out as I offer you a cliche’ full of truth: In dark times, we have to look for the light. So that’s what we are doing here at Carpathia. Our podcast host, Leilani Münter, will take you with her as she searches the world for stories of hope.

What are global catastrophic risks? 

A global catastrophic risk is an event that could cause an irreversible collapse of human civilization. Existential risks are the most extreme category of global catastrophic risk that result in the most severe consequence: human extinction. Global catastrophic risks include natural and cosmic risks such as super volcanoes, asteroid or comet impact, geomagnetic storms, gamma-ray bursts, and supernovas. We cannot stop natural risks, so Carpathia will primarily focus on what we can control — human-caused risks:

• Environmental — ecosystem instability due to climate change, loss of biodiversity, overpopulation, and pandemics.

• Technological — nuclear war, bioterrorism, and artificial intelligence.

• Societal — The systemic and calculated rise of inequality, the demonization of science, and the rise of misinformation is causing political instability and conflict across the globe. If humans cannot agree on something as simple as what is true and what is false, how can we possibly expect to work together to solve any of these other threats we face?

Why is it called Carpathia?

Does the name ring a bell? It should. At 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, an iceberg was spotted immediately ahead of the RMS Titanic. Less than three hours later, at 2:20 a.m., the “unsinkable” ocean liner sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The RMS Carpathia received Titanic’s distress call and navigated dangerous ice fields to come to the rescue. In the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, Carpathia pulled 705 survivors from the life boats left behind by Titanic. 

The RMS Carpathia was named after the Carpathian Mountain Range, which is speculated to have originated from an Old English word meaning “to turn or change,” perhaps referring to the way the mountain range bends. This symbolizes our species changing, adapting, and evolving in order to survive. Either that, or we crash straight into the iceberg. It’s up to us.

Sounds great, when can I listen?

The first episodes of Carpathia will be released in April 2027.

Instead of screaming into the void, call us!

We want our listeners to participate in this project. Share your internal dialogue with us. How will it end? Can we solve it? What message do you want to leave behind? Send us your postcard from the edge.