Ben Christensen is the co-founder and CEO of Cambium, the largest seller of salvaged wood in America. Ben's problem is this: How can we turn the trees that are falling to the ground all around us, into usable wood?

In this episode, Ben explains: 
Why so much wood goes unused 
Why Cambium created demand before building the supply chain 
How building a data layer across the fragmented lumber industry reduces waste
Why salvaged wood can compete on price with conventional lumber
The best mantra to use 80 miles into an ultramarathon 

Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm 
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X 
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History 
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

Ben Christensen is the co-founder and CEO of Cambium, the largest seller of salvaged wood in America. Ben's problem is this: How can we turn the trees that are falling to the ground all around us, into usable wood?
In this episode, Ben explains:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Why so much wood goes unused&nbsp;</li>
<li>Why Cambium created demand before building the supply chain&nbsp;</li>
<li>How building a data layer across the fragmented lumber industry reduces waste</li>
<li>Why salvaged wood can compete on price with conventional lumber</li>
<li>The best mantra to use 80 miles into an ultramarathon&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Connect with us:
<ul>
<li>Follow Jacob Goldstein on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-goldstein-888a2441/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://x.com/jacobgoldstein?lang=en">X</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jacobjgoldstein/">Instagram</a></li>
<li>Email us at <a href="mailto:problem@pushkin.fm">problem@pushkin.fm</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Follow Pushkin on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pushkinpods/">Instagram</a>,<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/pushkin-industries/posts/?feedView=all"> LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://x.com/pushkinpods?lang=en">X</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Listen to Jacob&rsquo;s other show, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-history/id1844409167">Business History&nbsp;</a></li>
<li>To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin">Pushkin+</a></li>
</ul>

Every week on What's Your Problem?, former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein talks with entrepreneurs and engineers tackling the biggest challenges at the forefront of technology. How do you make a trip to space as routine as a plane flight? How do you turn solar energy into clean fuel? How do you use AI to stop deadly infections before they spread? We hear a lot these days about how the world is getting worse. What's Your Problem? learns from the thinkers and doers trying to make our future better.

iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.

Every week on What's Your Problem?, former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein talks with&nbsp;entrepreneurs and engineers&nbsp;tackling the biggest challenges at the forefront of technology. How do you make a trip to space as routine as a plane flight? How do you turn solar energy into clean fuel? How do you use AI to stop deadly infections before they spread? We hear a lot these days about how the world is getting worse. What's Your Problem? learns from the thinkers and doers trying to make our future better.
iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.

What's Your Problem?

Every week on What’s Your Problem, entrepreneurs and engineers talk about the future they’re trying to build – and the problems they have to solve to get there.

How do you take a drone delivery service you’ve built in Rwanda and make it work in North Carolina? How do you convince people to buy a house on the Internet? How do you sell thousands of dog ramps to weiner dogs all across America when a pandemic breaks the global supply chain? 

Hosted by former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein, What’s Your Problem helps listeners understand the problems really smart people are trying to solve right now.

iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushkin Industries.

Turning Waste Wood Into Buildings

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/260f0e49-f9a5-4c8c-b237-b42e00f0aa51/transcript

David Autor is a labor economist at MIT. He has written about how the arrival of personal computers increased inequality among American workers. But when it comes to AI, David thinks there could be a different outcome. 

Read David’s article about AI in Noema Magazine. 

In this episode, David explains: 
How computers increased the wage gap between college and non-college educated workers
Why AI’s ability to supplement expertise may open up expert fields to more people 
How AI could make healthcare and legal services cheaper
What fields will still experience rapid devaluation of skills due to AI 
The “no regrets” policies that the US could enact to help ease the impact of AI  

Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm 
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X 
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History 
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

David Autor is a labor economist at MIT. He has written about how the arrival of personal computers increased inequality among American workers. But when it comes to AI, David thinks there could be a different outcome.&nbsp;
Read David&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.noemamag.com/how-ai-could-help-rebuild-the-middle-class/">article about AI in Noema Magazine</a>.&nbsp;
In this episode, David explains:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>How computers increased the wage gap between college and non-college educated workers</li>
<li>Why AI&rsquo;s ability to supplement expertise may open up expert fields to more people&nbsp;</li>
<li>How AI could make healthcare and legal services cheaper</li>
<li>What fields will still experience rapid devaluation of skills due to AI&nbsp;</li>
<li>The &ldquo;no regrets&rdquo; policies that the US could enact to help ease the impact of AI&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Connect with us:
<ul>
<li>Follow Jacob Goldstein on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-goldstein-888a2441/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://x.com/jacobgoldstein?lang=en">X</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jacobjgoldstein/">Instagram</a></li>
<li>Email us at <a href="mailto:problem@pushkin.fm">problem@pushkin.fm</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Follow Pushkin on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pushkinpods/">Instagram</a>,<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/pushkin-industries/posts/?feedView=all"> LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://x.com/pushkinpods?lang=en">X</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Listen to Jacob&rsquo;s other show, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-history/id1844409167">Business History&nbsp;</a></li>
<li>To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin">Pushkin+</a></li>
</ul>

How AI Could Reduce Inequality

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/75648537-b67d-4779-8032-b47a01652ba9/transcript

John Mills is the CEO and co-founder of a nonprofit called Watch Duty. His problem is this: How do you build an app to warn people when they are in immediate danger from a natural disaster? Watch Duty has millions of users and played a key role in the Los Angeles fires of 2025. In the show, John talks about how he built his app with the help of an army of volunteers, and why the government hadn’t already built something like Watch Duty.

In this episode, John explains: 
Why one-quarter of Los Angeles residents downloaded Watch Duty during the 2025 fires
Why the all-clear message matters almost as much as the initial warning
How they are expanding into flood warnings
How to decode firefighter’s radio chatter, and his favorite bit of jargon 

Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm 
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X 
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History 
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

John Mills is the CEO and co-founder of a nonprofit called Watch Duty. His problem is this: How do you build an app to warn people when they are in immediate danger from a natural disaster? Watch Duty has millions of users and played a key role in the Los Angeles fires of 2025. In the show, John talks about how he built his app with the help of an army of volunteers, and why the government hadn&rsquo;t already built something like Watch Duty.
In this episode, John explains:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Why one-quarter of Los Angeles residents downloaded Watch Duty during the 2025 fires</li>
<li>Why the all-clear message matters almost as much as the initial warning</li>
<li>How they are expanding into flood warnings</li>
<li>How to decode firefighter&rsquo;s radio chatter, and his favorite bit of jargon&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Connect with us:
<ul>
<li>Follow Jacob Goldstein on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-goldstein-888a2441/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://x.com/jacobgoldstein?lang=en">X</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jacobjgoldstein/">Instagram</a></li>
<li>Email us at <a href="mailto:problem@pushkin.fm">problem@pushkin.fm</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Follow Pushkin on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pushkinpods/">Instagram</a>,<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/pushkin-industries/posts/?feedView=all"> LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://x.com/pushkinpods?lang=en">X</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Listen to Jacob&rsquo;s other show, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-history/id1844409167">Business History&nbsp;</a></li>
<li>To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin">Pushkin+</a></li>
</ul>

Racing Wildfires to Warn the Public

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/1bcf376e-f08c-4cbe-b5b3-b47400f386e7/transcript

Josh Tyrangiel is the author of “AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter.” On today’s show, Josh talks about some of these real people and the problems they’re working on: a professor trying to understand her nonverbal son, a general who delivered millions of Covid vaccines in 2021, and a hospital CEO trying to reduce the rate of deadly infections. 

In this episode, Josh explains: 
Where AI is helping to reduce hospital infections (and where it’s struggling)
Why distributing the Covid vaccine was almost as hard as creating it
Why convincing people to use AI is often the hardest problem to solve 
Why we should use nuclear weapons as a model for regulating AI

Connect with us:
Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram
Email us at problem@pushkin.fm 
Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn or X 
Listen to Jacob’s other show, Business History 
To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for Pushkin+

Josh Tyrangiel is the author of &ldquo;<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/AI-for-Good/Josh-Tyrangiel/9781668082508">AI for Good: How Real People Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Fix Things That Matter</a>.&rdquo; On today&rsquo;s show, Josh talks about some of these real people and the problems they&rsquo;re working on: a professor trying to understand her nonverbal son, a general who delivered millions of Covid vaccines in 2021, and a hospital CEO trying to reduce the rate of deadly infections.&nbsp;
In this episode, Josh explains:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Where AI is helping to reduce hospital infections (and where it&rsquo;s struggling)</li>
<li>Why distributing the Covid vaccine was almost as hard as creating it</li>
<li>Why convincing people to use AI is often the hardest problem to solve&nbsp;</li>
<li>Why we should use nuclear weapons as a model for regulating AI</li>
</ul>
Connect with us:
<ul>
<li>Follow Jacob Goldstein on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-goldstein-888a2441/">LinkedIn</a>, <a href="https://x.com/jacobgoldstein?lang=en">X</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jacobjgoldstein/">Instagram</a></li>
<li>Email us at <a href="mailto:problem@pushkin.fm">problem@pushkin.fm</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Follow Pushkin on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/pushkinpods/">Instagram</a>,<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/pushkin-industries/posts/?feedView=all"> LinkedIn</a> or <a href="https://x.com/pushkinpods?lang=en">X</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Listen to Jacob&rsquo;s other show, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-history/id1844409167">Business History&nbsp;</a></li>
<li>To listen to the show early and ad free, sign up for <a href="https://www.pushkin.fm/join-pushkin">Pushkin+</a></li>
</ul>

How AI Could Actually Make the World Better

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/7e40fe0f-ce12-481f-af8d-b46d00ecab2d/transcript

Turning Waste Wood Into Buildings

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