Climate One

Laughter can be good medicine, but when is it okay to laugh at something as deadly serious as the climate crisis? Jokes help us remember information that otherwise might not be retained. A snappy punchline can be a powerful way to get a message through to an audience. Comedy can also be a way for performers and audiences alike to cope with a shared societal problem, like climate or social justice. Humor has a way of slipping through our perceived biases and giving us a new way of looking at challenges. How can we all learn to use humor both as a coping tool and a tool for change? 

Guests: 

Rollie Williams, Comedian, Host, Climate Town

Caty Borum, Provost Assoc. Professor, American University

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Disasters caused by burning fossil fuels are becoming more frequent, and in the aftermath of hurricanes, floods and wildfires, federal and state responses are often slow or insufficient. There is a growing body of research showing that neighborhood ties can be the difference between life and death: Socially connected neighbors are less likely to die from excessive heat or other extreme weather events. Community-based action, like mutual aid, can bring resources to people overlooked by overburdened governments. What tools can a community use to prepare for fossil fueled disasters? 

Guests:

Tanya Gulliver Garcia, Director of learning and partnerships, Center for Disaster Philanthropy

Chenier “Klie” Kliebert, Executive Director, Imagine Water Works

Amee Raval, Research and Policy Director, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)

Justin Hollander, Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy Planning, Tufts University

Reverend Vernon K. Walker, Climate Justice Program Director, Clean Water Action

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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For thousands of years, the American buffalo evolved alongside Indigenous people who relied on them for food and shelter, and, in exchange for killing them, revered the animal. For millennia, this totemic animal lived in symbiotic relationship with grasslands throughout North America, then – in less than 100 years – new settlers and hunters brought their numbers from 30 million to the mere hundreds, while in the same era glorifying them as our iconic national animal. It’s a classic and cautionary tale of our ability to destroy the natural world – and potentially, to bring it back. 

Guests:

Ken Burns, Director, The American Buffalo

Rosalyn LaPier, Indigenous environmental historian and ethnobotanist

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Congressman Ro Khanna has made a name for himself as a pragmatic progressive and critic of Big Oil. He grilled oil company CEOs under oath and helped negotiate with Senator Joe Manchin to keep climate policy in the Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest piece of climate legislation ever passed in the United States.

Despite being one of the more progressive voters in Congress, Khanna has a reputation for coalition building; he got more bills passed than any other Democrat during the previous administration. Now that Republicans control the House of Representatives and are looking to claw back climate provisions of the IRA, what levers can he still pull to address the climate crisis? 

Guest:

Ro Khanna, U.S. Congressman

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Jane Fonda has spent the last several decades fighting for Indigenous peoples' rights, economic justice, LGBTQ rights, peace, gender equality and more. Now, she is devoting herself to the climate emergency, beginning with Fire Drill Fridays, the national movement to protest government inaction on climate change she started in October 2019.

Now, through the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, she is focused on defeating political allies of the fossil fuel industry. At 85, Fonda continues to fight for the most vulnerable among us, consistently pointing out the intersection between the myriad of causes. What keeps the iconic Jane Fonda going strong?

Guest:

Jane Fonda, actor, activist

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/jane-fonda-lifetime-activism

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The climate crisis can be difficult to cover in a way that most people can relate to. The mechanism of harm goes from a person's gas car or stove to the Earth's atmosphere and back again in the form of floods and fires. That's why true stories of individuals and families experiencing the fallout of the climate crisis can be so impactful. They help us relate to each other on a more direct level, the way humans naturally do: person to person. Covering Climate Now Journalism Award winners Naomi Klein and Carolyn Beeler bring those stories to light. 

This episode was produced in collaboration with Covering Climate Now.

Guests: 

Carolyn Beeler, Environment Reporter, Editor, The World

Naomi Klein, author, social activist

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/naomi-klein-and-carolyn-beeler-covering-big-ideas-and-personal-stories

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We’re living through a climate emergency; addressing this crisis begins by talking about it. Join us.

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Fourteen years after receiving its permit, the nation’s first new nuclear reactors in decades just fired up in Georgia. Massive, traditional nuclear reactors like this have faced so many cost overruns and construction delays that the investment market for them all but vanished. Despite a handful of recent technical breakthroughs in fusion power, its promise of virtually limitless power remains just a promise. But could a new wave of small, modular fission reactors bring new carbon-free power onto the market faster and cheaper (and safer?) than traditional nuclear plants in time to help the world decarbonize?

Guests:

Melissa Lott, Senior Research Scholar and the Senior Director of Research at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University

Jacopo Buongiorno, TEPCO Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, MIT 

Allison MacFarlane, Director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, University of British Columbia; Former Chair, Nuclear Regulatory Commission

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/nuclear-option

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Since the industrial revolution, the global north has seen massive economic growth. Yet that growth has been linked to increasing greenhouse gas emissions. We also live on a planet with finite resources, so it's hard to believe that we can continue to consume resources and release emissions and not sail right past our collective climate goals. That’s why some people are starting to rethink perpetual economic growth as the best measure of a healthy economy. But what would an economy focused on metrics other than growth look like?  

Guests: 

Anuna De Wever, Climate and Social Justice activist

Leigh Phillips, journalist and author of Austerity Ecology & The Collapse-Porn Addicts

Marieke van Doorninck, Director, Kennisland, former Deputy Mayor, Amsterdam

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/rethinking-economic-growth-wealth-and-health

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Stories are the way we remember, the way we share knowledge, the way we play out possible outcomes. Climate fiction imagines dark or bright futures depending on how we address the climate crisis. And there’s a healthy debate about what kind of stories move more people to act: dark tales of a scary climate future or positive versions of a greener, more just world. “I think that if you want to create change in a democratic society, people have to believe that there is actually a threat,” says author Paolo Bacigalupi.

Telling inclusive fictional stories of climate realities can also help us process the disruptions our world is experiencing, explore avenues for solutions, and become inspired to take our own form of action. 

Guests:

Paolo Bacigalupi, author, “The Water Knife” 

Denise Baden, Green Stories Project; Professor of Sustainable Business at the University of Southampton; author, “Habitat Man”

Tory Stephens, Climate Fiction Creative Manager, Grist

This episode also features an excerpt of the audio recording of “The Cloud Weaver’s Song,” written by Saul Tanpepper and recorded by Curio.

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/fairytales-and-fear-stories-our-future

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As the build out of infrastructure for electric passenger vehicles gets underway, another segment of transportation is just starting down the road to electrification: heavy duty trucks. It’s one of the hard-to-decarbonize parts of our economy. Right now, nearly all long-haul trucks run on fossil fuels. And if we continue with business as usual, freight will become the highest-emitting part of the transportation sector by 2050. That’s why seven states, led by California, have mandated that an increasing number of zero-emission trucks be sold between now and 2035. What does the road to zero emissions trucking look like? 

Guests: 

Ray Minjares, Heavy-Duty Vehicles Program Director, International Council on Clean Transportation 

Mike Roeth, Executive Director, North American Council for Freight Efficiency

Chris Shimoda, Senior Vice President, California Trucking Association

Adam Browning, Executive VP, Forum Mobility

Rudy Diaz, CEO, Hight Logistics

This episode features a freelance piece from Emily Cohen in Wyoming on trucker views on EVs

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/road-zero-emissions-trucking

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This year is shaping up to be the hottest year in 125,000 years. It may also be the coolest year a child born today will ever see. In “The Quickening,” science writer Elizabeth Rush documents her journey to Antarctica's infamous “doomsday” glacier as she contemplates what it would mean for her to have a child at this time of radical change. In “Humanity’s Moment,” IPCC climate scientist Joëlle Gergis wrestles with their own questions of how we can all find enough hope to restore our relationships with ourselves, each other and the environment. 

Guests:

Elizabeth Rush, Author, “The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth” 

Joëlle Gergis, IPCC Climate Scientist, author, “Humanity’s Moment: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope” 

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/audio/navigating-science-and-feelings-destabilized-planet

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Can you imagine if everything you needed in your everyday life was just a walk or bike ride away? That’s the goal of the 15-minute City, a new name for an old idea. Reducing the need for cars cuts emissions and gets autos off of the roads, which is a boon for safety, air quality and the climate. But, as is often the case, good ideas become a lot more difficult when you have to implement them in real places, with real people, who don’t always share the enthusiasm for the idea. What will it take to make compact, walkable cities a reality in the U.S., where the car is king?

Guests: 

Beth Osborne, Director, Transportation for America

David Miller, Former Mayor of Toronto

Justin Bibb, Mayor of Cleveland

Henry Grabar, Author of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World.

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org

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From the climate movement’s earliest days, young people have been at the forefront of activism. But the first major international climate conferences took place 30 years ago. The first cohort of youth activists are now adults, some with children of their own. The emotional cost of seeing so little payoff for years spent fighting can be agonizing at any age, but perhaps more so for young people who put so much of themselves into the effort. Many youth activists burned out along the way, frustrated by participating in actions that rarely led to meaningful and lasting change. How do former youth activists now view the work of their younger selves? And what advice do they have for the next generation?

Guests:

Alec Loorz, Writer, Photographer, former youth climate activist

Slater Jewell-Kemker, Director, “Youth Unstoppable;” former youth climate activist

Victoria Loorz, Founder, Center for Wild Spirituality; Author, “Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred” 

Abrar Anwar, Chief Technology Officer, Rebel Force Tech Solutions; former youth climate activist

Kyle Gracey, Strategy Consultant, Future Matters; former youth climate activist

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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Batteries are a critical part of the transition away from fossil fuels. From electric vehicles to grid scale storage for wind and solar, demand for batteries is expected to grow 500% by 2030. In order to meet that demand, we’re going to need a lot more batteries. And while companies like JB Straubel’s Redwood Materials are building capacity for recycling, for now that means a lot more mining. How do we build a battery supply chain that meets demand and reduces harm?  

This episode is underwritten by ClimateWorks.

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In a democracy, meaningful change often requires adapting views and building coalitions. Some believe finding common ground and building rapport is the best way to change minds. Others believe activism and protests are key to raising awareness. Increasingly, however, the acts of listening and persuasion are left out, as each side is convinced that the other is unmovable. 

Anand Giridharadas is a journalist, columnist, on-air political analyst, and author. His latest book, “The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy,” explores how the tactics of persuasion can help strengthen democracy and foster positive societal change.

Guests:

Anand Giridharadas, Journalist, Author, “The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy”

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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Billions of dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act have started flowing into renewable energy projects and manufacturing. That’s bringing jobs and revenue back to the country and to some areas abandoned by the oil, coal and gas industries. Despite the massive investments in their districts, some Republican politicians aren’t fans of the green energy companies moving into their backyards and are doing everything they can to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act – putting them at odds with their constituents. How do we advance the clean energy transition when it’s seen as a partisan issue?

Guests:

Emma Dumain, Reporter, E&E News

Heather Reams, President, Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions

Terry Weickum, Mayor, Rawlins WY

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The last several years have seen a big increase in the number of lawsuits focused on the climate crisis. Some lawsuits challenge governments for their support for fossil fuels and for their failure to take climate action, while other cases target the fossil fuel companies themselves for knowingly misleading the world about the climate disrupting impacts of burning their products. Some of these cases seek monetary damages, others seek to hold governments accountable to their emissions reduction pledges. As more of these cases get their time in court, how powerful can litigation be in forcing action around the climate emergency?

Guests:

Delta Merner, Lead Scientist, Science Hub for Climate Litigation, Union of Concerned Scientists

Korey Silverman-Roati, Senior Fellow, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School

Lucy Maxwell, Co-Director, Climate Litigation Network, Urgenda Foundation

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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No elemental force has done more to shape life on this planet than water, from originating the earliest forms of life, to sculpting our landscapes, to determining patterns of human civilization. Humans have tried to control water for thousands of years, and access to this precious resource has caused conflict and also unlikely partnerships. In an era defined by climate disruption, the control, access, and quality of water will continue to determine our ability to survive and thrive. How can we ensure a future where clean water exists for all who need it – including the ecosystems we depend on – and navigate the challenges of too little or too much? 

Guests:

Peter Gleick, co-founder, The Pacific Institute; author, “The Three Ages of Water”

Contributor: Luke Runyon, Managing Editor & Reporter, Colorado River Basin, KUNC Radio

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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Our food and agricultural systems are helping fuel the climate emergency. But climate isn’t the only harm; these systems also impact local economies, human dignity, and animal welfare. The upcoming Farm Bill presents an opportunity to infuse more climate-smart practices in American agriculture, which accounts for about 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But doing so involves confronting industrial practices that focus on short-term gains and commodity subsidies that have deep support in both parties. 

Senator Cory Booker has a plan to address our broken food system. He introduced legislation that would challenge large industrial beef and pork packagers and tilt the balance of power in our industrial agriculture system, giving family farmers, ranchers, and workers a better deal. But what chance do these elements have of passage? And what other options are there for decreasing the concentration of power in Big Ag?

Guest: 

Cory Booker United States Senator, New Jersey

Contributor:

Elizabeth Rembert

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Who cleans up and rebuilds our communities after floods, fires, and hurricanes? COVID redefined America's definition of “essential workers,” but many who help communities recover from climate disasters remain underpaid and overlooked. 

In 2006, labor organizer Saket Soni got an anonymous call from an Indian migrant worker in Mississippi who had scraped together $20,000 to apply for the “opportunity” to rebuild oil rigs after Hurricane Katrina. The caller was only one of hundreds lured into Gulf Coast labor camps, surrounded by barbed wire, and watched by armed guards. Since then, the frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters has only increased – and disaster recovery has become big business. How are the lives of people displaced by disasters intertwined with those helping to rebuild?

Guests:

Saket Soni, Founder and Director, Resilience Force

Daniel Castellanos, Director Of Workforce Engagement, Resilience Force

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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Extreme heat kills more people per year than any other climate disaster. It preys on the poor, exacerbates racial inequalities, and there is a growing body of evidence that shows women and girls are increasingly susceptible to heat-health effects. Globally, women and girls represent 80% of climate refugees. They are more likely to be displaced, suffer violence and die in natural disasters. As temperatures rise, children’s test scores decrease, gender violence increases, and miscarriage rates go up. But preventing heat deaths is possible. From Europe to Africa, Chief Heat Officers throughout the world are implementing projects to make cities more climate-adaptive. 

Guests:

Kathy Baughman McLeod, Director, Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center; Senior VP, Atlantic Council 

Eleni Myrivili, Global Chief Heat Officer, UN Habitat

Eugenia Kargbo, Chief Heat Officer, Freetown, Sierra Leone 

Freelance piece from Hellen Kabahukya on mud wattle construction in Uganda

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Land use, pollution and the climate crisis are driving what may be the largest mass extinction event since the dinosaurs. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that the planet has seen an average 68% drop in mammal, bird, fish, reptile and amphibian populations since 1970. In order to help address species collapse, over 190 countries – signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Biodiversity – recently agreed to an ambitious new plan, called 30x30, which aims to conserve 30% of the world’s land and waters by 2030. Will the framework be enough to bring biodiversity back from the breaking point? 

This episode is supported in part by Resources Legacy Fund.

Guests:

Tanya Sanerib, International Legal Director, Center for Biological Diversity

Ian Urbina, Director and Founder, The Outlaw Ocean Project 

Jennifer Tauli Corpuz, Managing Director of Policy, Nia Tero 

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

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Many on the left say that the growing climate crisis is the inevitable result of unbridled capitalism – industries seeking profits above all else. In “The Big Myth,” Naomi Oreskes (who brought us “Merchants of Doubt”) points to a concerted effort from American business groups to propagate the myth that only markets free of government regulation can generate prosperity and protect political freedom. 

“If we actually had appropriate regulations, appropriate rules of the road, we wouldn't be in this position of having to beg corporate leaders not to destroy the planet,” Oreskes says.

This myth has grown so pervasive that American citizens now put more faith in CEOs than in religious leaders, according to David Gelles, author of “The Man Who Broke Capitalism.” What should be done to change the narrative?

Guests:

Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science, Harvard 

David Gelles, Reporter, The New York Times

Kate Khatib, Co-Director, Seed Commons

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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Making the necessary changes to address climate disruption will take massive collective action. But sometimes, a single individual can make an extraordinary difference. At age nine, Nalleli Cobo, suffering headaches, heart palpitations, nosebleeds, and body spasms, became an activist, driven to fighting to shut down the local oil well responsible for her ailments. Separately, Marjan Minnesma brought a historic lawsuit holding the Dutch government accountable for its failure to protect its citizens from climate change. For these activists, addressing climate disruption isn’t just about preventing future harm, it’s about instigating change now. 

Guests: 

Nalleli Cobo, Cofounder, People Not Pozos

Marjan Minnesma, Founder, Urgenda Foundation

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

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Amy Westervelt has made a career out of exploring the underbelly of the oil industry through complex and compelling storytelling. Through her investigative series Drilled, including her latest season Light Sweet Crude, focused on the new wave of oil colonialism, Westervelt dives deep into the true crimes of the fossil fuel industry’s biggest players, including their misinformation and PR campaigns about the climate emergency, their unfair dealing and record of environmental disasters. Her narrative podcasts shine a light on stories oil companies would rather keep in the dark, and on those individuals who try to hold them accountable. 

Guest:

Amy Westervelt, Investigative Journalist; Executive Producer, Critical Frequency Podcast Network

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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From the Boston Tea Party to the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter, activists have long sought to bring pressing issues into the public consciousness. Climate activism is no different. This past Earth Day spawned a new ripple of climate activism. Activists protested at the headquarters of BlackRock in New York City, smeared paint on the casing around an Edgar Degas statue and even tried to block the entrance of the White House Correspondents dinner in DC. But that’s not the only style of activism that’s happening. Some are working from within big institutions to effect change. So what actions really move the needle?

Guests: 

Dana Fisher, Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland 

Rose Abramoff, Earth Scientist and Climate Activist  

Ilana Cohen, Lead Organizer, Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

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Hollywood has been slow to include climate in its stories. Executives fear it won’t sell – that it’s too overwhelming or depressing. Apple TV+ has just released the series Extrapolations, which revolves entirely around the climate crisis. But it’s an outlier. We ask writer, producer and director Scott Z. Burns – who also worked on the films Contagion and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth – and Anna Jane Joyner of the climate story consultancy Good Energy about why climate doesn’t play a more prominent role in scripted entertainment. 

Guests:

Scott Z. Burns, Writer, Director, Producer

Anna Jane Joyner, Founder and CEO, Good Energy

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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Thousands of renewable energy projects are ready to be built and start producing fossil-free power, but they’re stuck in a long limbo for one essential piece of the puzzle: getting connected to the grid. A slow and inefficient federal permitting process and insufficient transmission capability are prohibiting renewable energy projects from going online. To make matters even more difficult, the U.S. lacks a centralized grid. That means adding layers of complexity to an already slow process. The Biden administration is focused on streamlining the permitting process, boosting funding and helping navigate this new energy future. What will it take to modernize our multiple grids?

Guests:

Pat Wood III, CEO, Hunt Energy Network

Jennifer Gardner, Vice Chair, Western Energy Imbalance Market

José Zayas, Executive Vice President of Policy and Programs, American Council on Renewable Energy

L. Michelle Moore, CEO, Groundswell

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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Studies estimate that global bitcoin mining uses more electricity than most countries, and that bitcoin mining may be responsible for about 65 megatons of carbon dioxide a year, comparable with the emissions of Greece. Some bitcoin operations are bringing old coal plants back on line, even as lobbyists for the bitcoin mining industry argue that mining operations can have a positive impact on the climate by creating more demand for carbon-free power. But even if all of the power were derived from green sources, is bitcoin mining really the best use of renewable electricity? 

This episode features a report by multimedia journalist Lily Jamali of the public radio program Marketplace, who takes us inside a crypto mining facility in upstate New York.

Guests:

Rolf Skar, Senior Advisor, Greenpeace USA

Brittany Kaiser, Chair of the Board, Gryphon Digital Mining

Thomas Cmar, Senior Attorney, Earthjustice 

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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It’s easy to write off people outside our own ideological bubbles, even when we may have many goals in common. But as the effects of the climate crisis become more apparent, we need leaders from all political and industrial perspectives to work together. In the U.S., climate is a polarizing issue where it’s too easy to assume that one side is working to reduce emissions and the other side is defending the status quo. But that’s only a caricature of reality. There are people from many ideological backgrounds trying to address the climate crisis. So how can common ground be found between environmentalists on the left and Republicans on the right? And what does an EV-driving member of the ConocoPhillips board have to say about reducing emissions?  

Guests: 

John Curtis, U.S. Representative (R-UT)

Arjun Murti, Partner, Veriten; Director, ConocoPhillips board

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

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Biden’s policy wins have secured vast amounts of funding for the energy transition, and that money is just beginning to flow, with new programs becoming available to everyday Americans. With hundreds of billions tagged for chip and battery plants, climate smart agriculture, rail, modernizing the electric grid, and tax incentives for citizens to run their homes and cars on electricity, ensuring these dollars and programs have real impact is now the name of the game.

White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi plays a leading role in coordinating the implementation of the biggest investments in clean energy the U.S. has ever made. This week he joins us to discuss the complicated maze of industrial policy intended to create a more just economy while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Guest:

Ali Zaidi, White House National Climate Advisor

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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Our brains have evolved over millions of years to deal with immediate and direct challenges, but they’re not so great at processing large existential threats, like the climate crisis. Understanding why people behave the way they do could be a critical step in bringing about more meaningful climate action. Despite having the technical ability we need to stay under 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, we’re on a path to surpass that number by the early 2030s. Yet doom and gloom framing can drive people away from even thinking about the climate crisis. How can we use our understanding of behavior to incorporate happiness into meaningful climate action? 

Guests: 

Ann-Christine Duhaime, Pediatric Neurosurgeon, Author of Minding the Climate: How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis

Jiaying Zhao, Associate Professor, University of British Columbia

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

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According to the United Nations Development Program, 54 countries, accounting for half the world’s population, face such critical debt burdens that they simply cannot finance climate adaptation and mitigation on their own. Most of these same countries are in the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world, setting them up for compounding disasters.

At the same time, every nation on earth is being asked to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels — which enabled the richest countries to develop their economies. So how can those in the developing world make the transition to a clean energy economy while centering economic justice? 

This episode is a collaboration with Foreign Policy’s Heat of The Moment podcast.

Guests:

Ani Dasgupta, President and CEO, World Resources Institute

This episode features stories from Amy Booth and Elna Schütz for Heat of The Moment podcast 

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Every place we inhabit has its own tapestry of sound, whether you’re hiking through the woods or sitting in a cafe with a friend. And not only are sounds a part of our sensory experience, but they can give us vital information about the health of our ecosystems. As the planet warms and we lose biodiversity, those sounds are changing. The natural world isn’t the only space where the soundscape is changing. Electrifying everything will have a direct effect on the sound of urban centers. What will cities sound like in the future? Will we listen to the messages our world is sending us, or will we tune them out? 

Guests:

Bernie Krause, Soundscape Ecologist

Dan Hill, Director, Melbourne School of Design

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

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Not long ago, it was said that “hydrogen is the fuel of the future - and always will be.” Now, with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law tagging $9.5 billion for developing a domestic hydrogen economy, this simplest of all elements is increasingly being discussed as a viable pathway for long-distance trucking, shipping, and hard-to-decarbonize industries like cement and steel. But how clean is clean hydrogen, really? And what will it take to make green hydrogen a cost-competitive option in applications like manufacturing, transportation, and grid-scale energy storage?

Guests:

Julio Friedmann, Chief Scientist, Carbon Direct

Sunita Satyapal, Director, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, DOE 

Alan Krupnick, Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future 

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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The lack of affordable housing in the U.S. has contributed to a homelessness crisis and has forced people to move farther away from urban centers. Inevitably, that increases car travel and emissions. One solution is to increase density in areas where jobs and infrastructure exist to accommodate more people. But some aren’t comfortable with the idea of their neighborhoods growing, and building multi-story apartments in urban cores usually costs more per square foot than one or two-story houses where land is cheaper. So how do we address both the need for affordable housing and the climate crisis? 

Guests: 

Scott Wiener, California State Senator

Jennifer Hernandez, Partner, Holland & Knight

Ben Bartlett, Berkeley Vice Mayor

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

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Agriculture is responsible for around 11% of U.S. carbon emissions. And yet soil holds the potential for massive carbon sequestration. Conventional agriculture focuses more on crop productivity than soil health, relying on pesticides, fertilizer, and other practices that contribute to climate-changing emissions rather than reduce them. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack advocates for a federal initiative focused on supporting “climate smart” agriculture for commodity crops that comprise the bulk of what’s grown on American farms: corn, soybeans, wheat. Meanwhile, the restaurateur behind Zero Foodprint is working to create change from table to farm, by crowdsourcing funds from customers to support regenerative farming practices directly. 

Guests:

Tom Vilsack, Secretary, US Department of Agriculture

Jeremy Martin, Senior Scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists

Anthony Myint, Executive Director, Zero Foodprint

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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2022 was a banner year for climate – both in terms of climate-fueled disaster and historic federal investments in clean energy, electric vehicles and home electrification. The questions now: How will the programs be implemented ? How will the money be spent – and who will benefit? This week, we examine the coming trends in raw material prices, the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act, new investments in clean tech, tighter rules on pollution and western water negotiations.

Guests: 

Felicia Marcus, Visiting Fellow, Stanford University 

Nat Bullard, Senior Contributor, Bloomberg NEF, Bloomberg Green

Catherine Coleman Flowers, Vice Chair, White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

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Who cleans up and rebuilds our communities after floods, fires, and hurricanes? COVID redefined America's definition of “essential workers,” but many who help communities recover from climate disasters remain underpaid and overlooked. 

In 2006, labor organizer Saket Soni got an anonymous call from an Indian migrant worker in Mississippi who had scraped together $20,000 to apply for the “opportunity” to rebuild oil rigs after Hurricane Katrina. The caller was only one of hundreds lured into Gulf Coast labor camps, surrounded by barbed wire, and watched by armed guards. Since then, the frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters has only increased – and disaster recovery has become big business. How are the lives of people displaced by disasters intertwined with those helping to rebuild?

Guests:

Saket Soni, Founder and Director, Resilience Force

Daniel Castellanos, Director Of Workforce Engagement, Resilience Force

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts

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When most of us think about using nature to remove carbon dioxide from the air, we think of trees. Yet blue carbon, a new name for storing carbon dioxide in coastal and marine ecosystems where it can no longer trap heat in our atmosphere, may have even greater potential. Salt marshes and mangroves have carbon-capturing capacity that may surpass that of terrestrial forests. Seagrasses, for example, currently cover less than 0.2% of the ocean floor, but store about 10% of the carbon buried in the oceans each year.

How can natural, ocean-based solutions benefit both the planet and the people who live in and depend on coastal ecosystems? 

Guests: 

Ralph Chami, Assistant Director, Western Hemisphere Division, Institute for Capacity Development, IMF

Emily Pidgeon, Vice President, Ocean Science And Innovation, Conservation International

Irina Fedorenko-Aula, Founder, Co-CEO, Vlinder

Isabella Masinde, CEO, Umita

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Art can inspire community and conversation, provide fresh insights into understanding history, and cultivate connection. It can challenge your worldview and shift perspectives. This week we discuss how art and activism can work together to elevate some of the vast inequities that exist between those who benefit from fossil fuel energy and resource extraction and those who suffer its impacts.

Guests:

Ladonna Williams, Program Director, All Positives Possible

Doug Harris, documentary filmmaker

Christine Abadilla Fogarty, Associate Director, Global Museum at San Francisco State University

Sofía Córdova, multimedia artist and musician

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Music and social movements have historically gone hand in hand. Folk music played a unifying role for the labor movements in the United States. Music was central to the protests against the Vietnam War and in favor of Civil Rights. As more people become aware of the climate crisis, music is starting to reflect that.

But there is still no one song or artist inspiring climate action the way music catalyzed other movements. Why aren’t more musical artists raising the alarm over the growing climate catastrophe? And for the artists who are, how do they express the anxiety and grief that they and their listeners are experiencing? 

Guests:

Tamara Lindeman, Musician, The Weather Station

Jayson Greene, Contributing Editor, Pitchfork

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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After a 20-year career as a tech reporter for CNET, the New York Times, and the public radio program Marketplace, Molly Wood has come to see the climate crisis as an engineering problem requiring an acceleration of investment. And so, after producing the acclaimed climate podcast “How We Survive” for Marketplace, she left that program to begin a new career in venture capital. What are the limits of media in changing human behavior? And what is the role of capital in addressing the climate crisis, even while considering that capitalism itself may be incompatible with survival? 

Guests:

Molly Wood, Climate Solutions Investor, Podcaster

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For years, fossil fuel companies have claimed to support climate science and policy. Many have recently pledged to hit net zero emissions by midcentury. Yet behind the scenes, they fight those very same policies through industry associations, shadow groups, and lobbying – all while spending vast sums on advertising and PR campaigns touting their climate commitments. This week we focus on the PR and consultancy firms helping fossil fuel companies delay the transition to clean energy while claiming they are on the side of climate protection.

Guests: 

Michael Forsythe, Reporter, New York Times

Dr. Benjamin Franta, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Climate Litigation Lab, Oxford Sustainable Law Programme.

Jamie Henn, Founder and Director, Fossil Free Media

Christine Arena, former Executive Vice President, Edelman; Founder, Generous Films

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

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Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine sent shockwaves through global energy markets, destabilized international food security, and continues to keep the world wondering whether the war will accelerate the transition to clean energy or lead to renewed dependence on fossil fuels. Climate One hosts Greg Dalton and Ariana Brocious review the top climate stories of the year, from the war’s global impacts, to the passage and signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, to the recent international climate summit in Egypt. This special episode features excerpts from some of Climate One’s most profound interviews of 2022, including conversations with such luminaries as Jamie Raskin, Wanjira Mathai, and Anand Giridharadas.

Guests:

Roman Zinchenko, Co-founder, Greencubator

Amy Myers Jaffe, Director of NYU’s Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab

Gina McCarthy, Former White House Climate Advisor, Former EPA Administrator 

Jamie Raskin, U.S. Representative, Maryland’s 8th Congressional District 

Anand Giridharadas, Author, The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy 

Chloe Maxmin, Maine State Senator

Wanjira Mathai, Vice President and Regional Director for Africa, World Resources Institute 

David Munene, Programs Manager, Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa 

Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson, Reporter, The Guardian; Host of An Impossible Choice podcast 

David Wallace-Wells, Columnist, New York Times Magazine; Author of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming 

Gavin McCormick, Co-founder, Climate TRACE

For show notes and related links, visit www.climateone.org

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Every year, Climate One grants an award in memory of pioneering climate scientist Steve Schneider, who fiercely took on the denial machine from the 1970s until his death in 2010. This year's recipient is German physicist and ocean expert Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf. Dr. Rahmstorf says we’re running toward a cliff in a fog. What can science tell us where that cliff is – and how to avoid it? 

In a time of oceanic changes happening at an unprecedented pace, Dr. Rahmstorf exemplifies the rare combination of superb scientist and powerful communicator. He works to convey the impact of climate disruption on ocean currents, sea level rise, and increasing extreme weather events fueled by warmer oceans. 

We also talk with past Schneider Award winner Ayana Elizabeth Johnson about the need for broader inclusion among climate leaders. What can the study of past ice ages tell us about our climate future? And what should be the role of scientists in the public sphere?

Guests: 

Stefan Rahmstorf, Co-Head of Research, Department on Earth System Analysis of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK); Professor of Physics of the Oceans, University of Potsdam

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist, writer

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org

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It’s become common for homeowners to install solar panels to provide themselves with emission-free electricity. But increasingly more attention is being paid to decarbonizing things inside the home – the machines that heat and cool water and air, dry our clothes and cook our food. The Inflation Reduction Act includes many ways for homeowners and renters to start to electrify their lives. And in some places, builders are developing highly efficient, all electric homes from the get-go. What more is needed to make our buildings greener and get away from fossil fuels?

Guests:

Mark Chambers, Sr. Director Building Emissions & Community Resilience, White House Council on Environmental Quality

Bruce Nilles, Executive Director, Climate Imperative

Contributing Producer: Cody Short, WBHM

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org

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Over a 20-year period, methane is 80 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Yet those responsible for releasing methane into the atmosphere often don’t even know how much they themselves are emitting. And methane is only one of many harmful air pollutants that result from our dependence on burning fossil fuels. 

Now, research coalitions, citizen scientists and activists are using a slate of new tools to detect and report emissions. They’re also using many of the same tools to shine a light on exactly how and where other deadly fossil fuel pollutants, like nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, are affecting community health. Such data could become a critical tool for regulation, leading to greater emissions reductions.  

Guests:

Davida Herzl, Co-founder and CEO, Aclima

Kendra Pinto, Four Corners Indigenous Community Field Advocate, Earthworks 

Gavin McCormick, Co-founder, Climate TRACE

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org

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Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard made headlines recently when he announced that he and his family had transferred their $3 billion stake in the storied outdoor gear company to a special purpose trust and nonprofit that would give away $100 million a year, specifically to environmental causes. Patagonia has a long history of donating at least one percent of its profits – and 100% of profits made on Black Friday – to grassroots environmental non-profits.

Yet even with this massive gift, and Laurene Powell Jobs’ own recent $3.5 billion pledge, climate philanthropy still only accounts for a small fraction of all charitable giving. This Thanksgiving weekend, we look back to our 2016 interview with Yvon Chouinard and bring the story up to date with Inside Philanthropy’s Michael Kavate.

Guests:

Yvon Chouinard, Founder, Patagonia

Michael Kavate, Staff Writer, Inside Philanthropy

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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