- As single-use plastics vanish, how will restaurants have to adapt their takeout?
Friday, January 6th 2023
This year marks the beginning of a delayed phase-out of single-use plastics, mandated by Canada's federal government. As the rules change over the coming months, restaurants are trying to figure out what to do—with plastic cutlery, plastic bags and most importantly with the takeout containers themselves.
Over decades, plastic takeout containers have been adapted to hundreds of different meals, from soups, to burgers, curry dishes and products that must stay really hot or really cold. So now, they're experimenting, and you might find your food looking different from one week to the next as they hunt down solutions. So what will the end result be? Can restaurants afford it? And ... will any of this really make a difference to the glut of plastic clogging the planet?
GUEST: Rosa Saba, business reporter, The Canadian Press
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- Will 2023 bring a federal election, and will Pierre Poilivere's big plan work?
Thursday, January 5th 2023
Unlike the most recent Conservative Party of Canada leaders to attempt to win a federal election, Pierre Poilievre has a new strategy. Since he won the job last fall, he has avoided the typical shift to the centre that his predecessor's have attempted. How does he plan to win by holding firm to the right? Can he win without centrist suburban support?
What would it take to get an election this year, anyway? And what would the campaign look like if one were called?
GUEST: Stephen Maher, writing in The Walrus with Frank Graves
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- Is it even possible to budget for this economy?
Wednesday, January 4th 2023
This is the time of year when many people try to organize their finances for the coming year—how much things will cost, how much to spend, how much to save, all of that. But after one of the most turbulent economic years in recent memory, 2023 is shaping up to be even more unpredictable.
What should Canadians expect from their economy this year? How can you make financial plans in an age of inflation and interest rates, when everything from everyday groceries to the stocks in your portfolio are volatile? Should we still be worried about filling our RRSPs and savings accounts, or just stashing anything possible to try and get by? What does a 2023 budget look like?
GUEST: Shannon Lee Simmons, certified financial planner, chartered investment manager, founder of the New School of Finance and author of No-Regret Decisions
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- Can humans hibernate their way to Mars?
Tuesday, January 3rd 2023
One of the biggest problems facing humans attempting to travel anywhere in space that's farther than the moon is the years it will take to get there. A small ship simply can't support normal human life for that long. We need too much food, water, exercise and stimulation. But ... what if we didn't? What if we could shut ourselves down, the way animals do in the middle of winter, needing limited supplies and passing months as though they were days?
This used to be the realm of science fiction. It's not anymore.
GUEST: Brendan I. Koerner, contributing editor at WIRED, author of The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking
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- Staff pick #6: What happened to our attention spans?
Friday, December 30th 2022
We asked different Frequency staff members which TBS episodes resonated most with them in 2022. As we take a break from releasing new episodes over the holidays, we felt this was the perfect time to revisit these old favourites, and give you a bit of a glimpse into all the work that goes into making your favourite shows.
In the sixth and final instalment of our Staff Picks series, TBS host Jordan Heath-Rawlings explains why he selected an episode from July about our ever-decreasing attention spans, and what he's been doing to help regain his focus.
—ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES—
Have you by any chance been struggling to focus recently? Maybe you used to read long books, or dive into old hobbies and learning new things, and now that feels a lot harder than it should. You are not alone. Research shows that we are suffering through a profound loss of attention, and it's getting worse every day.
So what happened to us? Did we lose ourselves in our new devices, or has our attention been deliberately stolen? And what can we do to get it back?
GUEST: Johann Hari, journalist and author of Stolen Focus
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