Writing to you from beautiful, cloudy San Francisco! I spent yesterday speaking at and attending a little conference for people who make and fund public media. You might expect this to be a pretty dreary affair, considering that the thing that created public media in America (the Corporation for Public Broadcasting) was dissolved this year. And, indeed, there was a lot of frustration and fear around the event. Organizations discussed how they have restructured in order to make themselves less vulnerable to attack by the Trump Administration, and newsrooms discussed how they're keeping reporters and sources safe from retaliation by our government.

The fact that those conversations are necessary is, on its own, very unsettling.

At the same time, there was a great deal of looking forward. There was absolute and constant awareness that we don't get through this by doing nothing or by going backward. Old, stodgy funders and organizations were coming up to me, asking about the strategies and processes of YouTubers and other creators. People were aware of the threats while, in the same moment, thinking about how to build something better. And I heard a new term... not just "public media" (a term coined for the broadcast licensing era) but "public interest media," meaning media that serves the public good. That might be government-chartered, or it might be nonprofit or even commercial.

This is going to sound super weird, but I was reminded of my early YouTube career, when I wrote a song about Harry Potter and then a bunch of other people who did that were like, "You know you're a Wizard Rocker, right??" and I was like, "No, I did not know that existed," and they were like, "Well, welcome." And I did indeed feel welcomed into a really beautiful and loving subculture.

It turns out that John and I, with this community, have been making public interest media for a long time, but we had to wait for a few things to happen before we realized it and before we were welcomed into that community. One thing I felt from that community was an absolute drive to not look back but to move forward, build great things, and not let antagonistic government or seemingly all-powerful media platforms scare us off our goal of making stuff that makes public life and individual lives better.

OH, BY THE WAY…

This is literally your last chance to get the Crash Course Coin. If you were putting it off, please do not do that. If you can, help us make the world a better place with great information that builds people's curiosity... the one emotion I know the world always needs more of.

Thanks y'all,

Hank

Coffee is part of daily life for millions of people around the world. It’s also a key source of income and employment in many countries. In this chart, I want to focus on the shift in where it is grown over the last six decades.

The chart shows the breakdown of global green coffee bean production by region, from 1961 to 2024. Green coffee beans are those that haven’t yet been roasted.

South America has been the largest producing region throughout this period, but its share of global output has fallen, as has Africa’s. The biggest story is the growth of coffee production in Asia: it went from producing less than 5% of the world’s coffee in the early 1960s to about 32% today.

Much of Asia’s growth comes from Vietnam, where production rose from around 5,000 tonnes in the early 1980s to about 2 million tonnes today. It now produces more than all African countries combined.

This expansion was driven largely by the spread of Robusta, a hardier and higher-yielding variety than Arabica, which is the type that dominates Latin American production.

Brazil is the world’s largest producer, while Vietnam is now second. Colombia used to be in that position, but Vietnam overtook it in 1999.

It’s The Final Countdown!

In an attention economy driven by algorithms, at Crash Course, we’re not choosing what stories to tell based on what's gonna make the algorithm happy. We're choosing to teach what needs to be taught. Many of the topics we cover are undertaught and underfunded — subjects where teachers and students have limited access to high-quality resources. And each video is worked on by 20+ human people who are absolutely devoted to quality and integrity. And that’s why we need you.

We don’t need everyone to contribute, but we need everyone to consider if they can. We would be so grateful if you could take a minute right now just to consider if you have the willingness and capacity to help support accessible education. Purchasing a Crash Course Coin is not a small or symbolic contribution– it quite literally enables the work of Crash Course to continue. (And it’s even tax-deductible!).

If you consider it and the answer is yes, go to crashcoursecoin.com right now before the campaign ends!

We know humans evolved in Africa. But that's a big place, so do we know where on this massive continent our ancestors first became, well, us? Let's unpack the evidence by talking about the oldest known lineage of humans and tracking their migration and ours all across Africa and the world.

Glyph

Spellcheck (by Answer in Progress)

Download Gubbins on iOS or Android!

If you post your results on social media, we’d love it if you post a link for folks to subscribe to “We’re Here” (https://werehere.beehiiv.com/subscribe)

PIH’s article series exploring the MCOE through the "five S's": staff, stuff, space, systems, and social support, continues. This week, we focus on stuff: the critical tools and resources that staff rely on to deliver safe and effective care.

Learn more: Building Care with Stuff

Last week, we asked what you’re looking forward to. Thank you to everyone who shared their plans with us!

What’s an example of public interest media (media that serves the public good) that you love? We’d like to learn about it!

Send your public interest media to [email protected].