"Plant-Based Dishes, Raw Food (29103285347)" by Ella Olsson from Stockholm, Sweden is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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One principle of media literacy involves stepping back from a favored topic and doing a deep dive to figure out what motivates our interest in that topic. Known as metacognition, gaining such critical distance asks us to reflect on our self-knowledge and evaluate the sources that contribute to our perspectives. As part of recent work with the Media Education Lab at the University of Rhode Island, I had an opportunity to delve into some metacognitive analysis with Jane DeMarines of Climate Diet. Using a question-and-answer format, Jane and I reviewed a 2025 podcast we had taped together.
We were keenly aware of the many social changes that had taken place a year+ after our interview. As we looked back, we came to understand the profound effects of incremental and subtle societal shifts.
The first section of this essay introduces Jane’s work with the Climate Diet and our original 2025 YouTube podcast. Then the Q & A follows, which uses an ecomedia lens to interpret food systems today. The back-and-forth is quite remarkable and distinguishes two very time periods, even though they were just a year apart.
