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Non-Toxic: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Daniel Penny
From the manosphere to the atmosphere, Non-Toxic is devoted to understanding the intersections between the crisis of masculinity and the climate crisis. Join us for conversations with experts, journalists, and regular guys on topics ranging from how to blow up a pipeline to why incels are obsessed with the idea of alphas to why meatfluencers may not have your best interests at heart.Hosted by critic and journalist Daniel Waite Penny. nontoxicpodcast.substack.com
Latest Episodes
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- 5 days ago10 min
"I got two sperms"
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 Times Magazine about the week I spent with those boys. Felix, I thought, was a super interesting character, and he shows up in the piece, but I didn't really get to go as deep in the article as I wanted to. I had some amazing tape that just was sitting around, and I thought, “People need to really hear his full story.”What follows is a selection from the scene when Felix first looked at his sperm under a microscope with his friend Manu, and then a conversation that Felix and I had afterwards, where he talks to me a bit about the different enhancements that he’s using and his thoughts about the effects on his fertility and why he’s decided to pursue chemical enhancement at such a young age. I think you’ll enjoy it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nontoxicpodcast.substack.com/subscribe
- Apr 21, 202627 min
The real winner of the war in Iran will be solar power
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 public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nontoxicpodcast.substack.com/subscribe
- Apr 3, 202624 min
How to break the rightwing chokehold on gym culture
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nontoxicpodcast.substack.comIn 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 their own digital spaces and speak their language. We get into the surprising links between empathy and physical strength, while Colin deconstructs some of my own biases about gym culture. It’s a wide-ranging, candid conversation that feels like a long-overdue hang.Non-Toxic Newsletter is supported by listeners like you. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today.
- Mar 20, 202638 min
The Dark Side of the Battery Supply Chain
Is our “green” future being built on a global sacrifice zone?In this episode, I’m joined by my former New Yorker colleague Nicolas Niarchos to discuss his revelatory new book, The Elements of Power. It’s a globe-spanning investigation into the battery supply chain—stretching from the Congo and Indonesia to Israel, China, and the US—revealing how the promise of clean energy is often built on violence, child labor, and systemic corruption.With conflict in the Middle East driving up oil prices, many EV owners are feeling a sense of moral (and economic) superiority. But as Nicholas explains, the supply chain powering those batteries is just as ethically fraught as the oil and gas industry, if perhaps a bit more functional at the moment.We dive into Nicolas’s firsthand accounts of Congolese mining “crevasses,” where hand-dug pits collapse on workers with terrifying frequency. We also discuss how mineral wealth dictates Congolese politics and why cobalt has become the “new oil” in a high-stakes geopolitical tug-of-war between the US and China.Don’t miss the end of our talk: Nicolas shares the harrowing story of his detention by the Congolese secret police while investigating the ties between mining interests, the presidential family, and separatist militias. It is an absolutely insane, must-hear account.PS: Nicolas has just launched a brilliant new magazine with another New Yorker alum called Now Voyager. Their first issue is available now, both online and at newsstands. If you value the kind of deep-dive, boots-on-the-ground reporting we discuss today, you definitely need to check it out.This epsiode is sponsored by Bluecorn Candles. Use the code NONTOXIC20 for 20% off your first order.Non-Toxic Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nontoxicpodcast.substack.com/subscribe
- Feb 20, 202628 min
The doctor who was helping Jeffrey Epstein live (and creep) forever
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 protein and do strength training. We get into the emails showing Attia’s years-long post-conviction relationship with Epstein, and we also touch on Epstein’s broader interest in genetics and eugenics (including a proposed sperm bank of Nobel laureates). And of course we gotta talk about masculinity’s role in all this—especially the obsession with testosterone replacement therapy in the longevity space. Because it’s really all about erections at the end of the day.Non-Toxic Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nontoxicpodcast.substack.com/subscribe
- Feb 11, 202625 min
Moggers, Gigachads, and Neo-Nazis
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 part because of his buddy, neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.I decided to go deeper on looksmaxxing, so I invited a new pal onto the show, Madeline Peltz, who’s got a great Substack called Number Two Pencil, where she writes about the far-right, Gen Z, and popular culture. Previously, she covered rightwing internet and pop culture for Media Matters. Her forthcoming book, Good Girls and Alpha Males, is about the conservative movement’s campaign to recruit Gen Z and is slated for publication in Spring 2027.Come ascend with us.The discourse won’t detoxify itself. To keep the show going, become a paid Non-Toxic subscriber today. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nontoxicpodcast.substack.com/subscribe
- Jan 23, 202612 min
Why Climate Denial Feels So Good
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nontoxicpodcast.substack.comIn 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 discuss how all this is playing out beyond the US, touching on disaster nationalist movements in India, Brazil, Hungary, and more. It’s a real corker!Want to learn more? You can buy a copy of Richard’s book through Verso. He’s also the author of numerous other books about politics, including Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics and The Twittering Machine. His writing appears in the The New York Times, the London Review of Books, the Guardian, Prospect, Jacobin, and lots of other places.Want to listen to the whole episode? The discourse won’t detoxify itself. To keep the show going, become a Non-Toxic patron today.
- Jan 7, 202622 min
From the vault: Starting the new year with a burning Christmas Tree
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. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nontoxicpodcast.substack.com/subscribe
About Non-Toxic
From the manosphere to the atmosphere, Non-Toxic is devoted to understanding the intersections between the crisis of masculinity and the climate crisis. Join us for conversations with experts, journalists, and regular guys on topics ranging from how to blow up a pipeline to why incels are obsessed with the idea of alphas to why meatfluencers may not have your best interests at heart.Hosted by critic and journalist Daniel Waite Penny. nontoxicpodcast.substack.com
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