Climate One

We often talk about a “just transition” from dirty to clean energy as if the term means the same thing to everyone. Indigenous people have seen their resources extracted and exploited to further the wealth of others for centuries. Now renewable energy is looking to expand to Indigenous land. How can renewable energy help Tribes leapfrog the twentieth century technologies that put them at the end of the line for corporate-controlled electricity? How can we, as Chéri Smith, Founder of the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy, says, “make sure that Tribes are not only having a seat at the table, but they're building the table and inviting everyone else to it?” Guests: Chéri Smith, President & CEO, Founder at Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy Steven Wadsworth, Vice Chairman, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Raylene Whitford, Founder, Canative Energy Maui Solomon, Executive Chairman, Moriaori Imi Settlement Trust For show notes and related links, visit our website. This episode was produced in collaboration with On Shifting Ground with Ray Suarez, featuring Suarez as a guest host. Additionally, Sarah Howard provides field reporting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What we wear defines us in so many ways. But in recent decades we’ve moved away from long-lasting, quality pieces in favor of disposable fast fashion, with major consequences for our climate and environment. From mechanized farming and pesticides to grow fiber crops, to energy for manufacturing and transportation, fossil fuels are embedded in the clothing industry at every step of the process. Companies large and small are working against this trend, with some setting lofty goals for reducing carbon emissions and water use. But achieving those goals is hard. So what are the solutions? Buy less? Design new fibers and materials? Thrifting and repurposing existing clothing? New business models? How can we make low-impact clothing? This episode was supported by BMO. Guests: Aja Barber, Author, “Consumed: The Need for Collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change and Consumerism” Jason Kibbey, President and Founder, Worldly Molly Morse, CEO, Mango Materials Jonathan Chapman, Professor, Carnegie Mellon University School of Design For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The climate crisis can feel distant — like it’s someone else’s problem — until your town is flooded, your home is damaged by storms, or you're struggling to pay electricity bills as the summers get hotter. Figuring out the specifics of how a region is vulnerable to climate impacts can be the difference between adaptation or disaster, especially for communities that don’t have a lot of climate or environmental expertise among their members. Community science — defined as communities and scientists working together to address climate and environmental threats — can protect local communities before disaster strikes. Guests: Natasha Udu-gama, Director, Thriving Earth Exchange Daniel Wildcat, Professor, Haskell Indian Nations University; Rising Voices Steering Committee Angela M. Chalk, Executive Director, Healthy Community Services For show notes and related links, visit our website. This episode was produced in collaboration with the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and features a segment from Contributing Producer Graycen Wheeler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 our website. 📞 Call us at (650) 382-3869 to share your clothing story for a chance to be featured on an upcoming episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Santer has spent decades researching and identifying the human fingerprints on the climate system changes we’re now all seeing. He was lead author on the historic 1995 conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which proclaimed that “the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.” That was the first time the IPCC authoritatively stated humans are causing climate change. At the time, Stephen Schneider told Ben Santer that the sentence he wrote would change the world. Santer’s foundational work also laid the groundwork for the expanding field of attribution science, which enables activists and lawyers to ascribe proportionate blame to specific polluters in lawsuits demanding damages for climate-disrupting emissions. Climate One is delighted to present the 2023 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication to atmospheric scientist Ben Santer. Guests: Ben Santer, Fowler Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Woods Hole; Visiting Researcher, UCLA Kassie Siegel, Director, Climate Law Institute, Center for Biological Diversity For show notes and related links, visit our website. 📞 Call us at (650) 382-3869 to share your clothing story for a chance to be featured on an upcoming episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been a year of weather extremes — again. But there’s also been cause for renewed hope about our climate future. On the heels of this year’s international climate conference held in the oil-rich Middle East, Climate One hosts Greg Dalton and Ariana Brocious review major climate stories of the year, both lows and highs. This special episode features excerpts from some of Climate One’s most surprising, moving and compelling interviews of 2023, including conversations with luminaries Rev. Lennox Yearwood and Rebecca Solnit, White House Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi, climate activist Nalleli Cobo and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker. A previous version of this episode incorrectly stated that the COP28 agreement includes a transition from fossil fuels this decade. While the deal calls for the transition to happen in “a just, orderly and equitable manner,” it does not include a timeframe. We regret the error. Guests: Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., CEO, Hip Hop Caucus Kathy Baughman-McLeod, Director, Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center; Senior VP, Atlantic Council Ali Zaidi, White House Climate Advisor Jane Fonda, Activist, Actor Nalleli Cobo, Cofounder, People Not Pozos Ralph Chami, Assistant Director, Western Hemisphere Division, Institute for Capacity Development, IMF Bernie Krause, Soundscape Ecologist Paolo Bacigalupi, author John Curtis, U.S. Representative (R-UT) Cory Booker, United States Senator, New Jersey Rebecca Solnit, Writer, Historian, Activist For show notes and related links, visit our website. 📞 Call us at (650) 382-3869 to share your clothing story for a chance to be featured on an upcoming episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we’re reporting from Dubai, where the 28th UN climate change conference (COP28) is now underway. Ever since the Paris Agreement was signed at COP21, the central issue has remained the same: How do the nations of the world keep global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels? This year marks the first “global stocktake,” where the data on how well we’re collectively doing on meeting the Paris targets are front and center. Across the board, countries are failing. How much will this harsh dose of reality affect the negotiations? Perhaps more importantly, how does what happens at these international summits affect the people most at risk for flooding and extreme heat? Guests: Claire Stockwell, Senior Climate Policy Analyst, Climate Analytics Nisreen Elsaim, Sudanese Climate Activist; Former Chair, UN Secretary General’s Youth Advisory Group Abigael Kima, Host and Producer, Hali Hewa Podcast Chautuileo Tranamil, Co-Founder, Indigenous Liberation and Aralez Myrna Cunningham, Chair, Guiding Committee, Pawanka Fund For show notes and related links, visit our website. 📞 Call us at (650) 382-3869 to share your clothing story for a chance to be featured on an upcoming episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 28th annual Conference of the Parties, COP28, opens this week in Dubai. For the 28th time, the nations of the world have gathered to see what progress they can make on addressing the increasingly global climate crisis. It’s fair to wonder why, after three decades, we still haven’t taken the collective action necessary. And it’s equally fair to wonder why diplomats continue to bother with what Greta Thunberg famously called “blah, blah, blah.” This year’s COP marks the first “Global Stocktake,” an assessment of how the nations of the world are doing compared to the emissions-cutting commitments they made in Paris. The answer? Not well. And with COP28 being hosted by a major oil and gas producing nation and led by an industry executive, what hope is there for progress? Guests: Daniel Esty, Professor of Environmental Law & Policy, Yale Law School Ben Stockton, Investigative Reporter Aisha Khan, Chief Executive, Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change This episode features a segment from Contributing Reporter Rabiya Jaffrey. For show notes and related links, visit our website. 📞 Call us at (650) 382-3869 to share your clothing story for a chance to be featured on an upcoming episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most Americans support climate action, but you wouldn’t know it from Congress or the courts – or from most of the media. People on both the left and the right experience the same devastating floods, the same life-threatening heatwaves and the same catastrophic wildfires. Yet individuals tend to socialize within insulated political tribes, operate in completely different information bubbles and see the problems and solutions through different lenses. How can we learn to bridge ideological divides, develop trust, and find the common ground needed to rebuild respectful civil discourse? 📞 Call us at (650) 382-3869 to share your clothing story for a chance to be featured on an upcoming episode! Guests: John Curtis, U.S. Rep., Utah (R) Joan Blades, Co-founder, LivingRoomConversations.org John Gable, Co-founder, AllSides.com For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From The Coolest Show: The City of Atlanta has leased 381-acres of Weelaunee Forest, stolen Muscogee land, to the Atlanta Police Foundation for a police military facility funded by corporations. This would be the largest police training facility in the US in a primarily Black community who overwhelmingly oppose the project. Despite over fifteen hours of public comments against the project, the City Council has approved $67 million in public funding for Cop City. The plans include military-grade training facilities, a mock city to practice urban warfare, dozens of shooting ranges, and a Black Hawk helicopter landing pad. Residents have petitioned the municipal court of Atlanta to gather signatures for a binding referendum. With enough signatures, this would put whether or not Cop City gets built up for a vote on November’s ballot box. In this 2 part episode of The Coolest Show, Rev Yearwood speaks with community organizer Rev. Keyanna Jones, economist Dr. Gloria Bromell Tinubu, and community advocate Shar Bates. They discuss the history of the area surrounding the Weelaunee forest, the legacy of environmental racism, the community’s work to get signatures, and “the Atlanta Way.” Support the Stop Cop City movement: https://www.copcityvote.com/ For more from The Coolest Show: https://thecoolestshow.com/ This episode was originally produced by The Coolest Show, a Hip Hop Caucus Think 100% production, and was used by Climate One with permission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the most common questions people ask about climate is: what can I do? Since time is one of our most valuable resources – and we spend so much of our time at work – changing jobs may be the most effective individual climate action a person can take. Those changes could be big or small: Leaving the oil and gas industry for geothermal, or helping to bring down the emissions where you already work. The truth is, almost any job can be a climate job. But how do people actually make the transition from dirty jobs to clean? What do climate positive job transitions really entail? Guests: Caroline Dennett, Director, CLOUT Ltd Arvind Ravikumar, Co-Director, Energy Emissions Modeling and Data Lab, University of Texas, Austin Jennifer Anderson, Carbon Removal Geologist, Charm Industrial Emma McConville, Development Geoscience Lead at Fervo Energy Nathanael Johnson, Electrician For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate affects everyone, but not equally. Those affected first and worst are often the same communities that suffer from housing and income inequality, and climate and societal injustice. Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. has made striving for social, economic, and climate justice his lifelong pursuit. Rising to prominence in the Hip Hop community, Yearwood brought like-minded artists and creatives together to advocate for justice with the Hip Hop Caucus by harnessing the power of film, podcasts and comedy. We discuss the role of his faith, his partnership with billionaire Michael Bloomberg, and the underlying belief in our human ability to keep improving that drives his activism. Guests: Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., CEO, Hip Hop Caucus Jacqueline Patterson, Executive Director, Chisholm Legacy Project For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit has been examining hope and the unpredictability of change for over 20 years. In 2023 she co-edited an anthology called, “It’s Not Too Late,” which serves as a guidebook for changing the climate narrative from despair to possibility. How can we find hope on a warming planet? Guests: Rebecca Solnit, Writer, Historian, Activist For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re living through a climate emergency; addressing this crisis begins by talking about it. Join us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate One has been at this year's UN climate summit, COP27, where one of the issues at the forefront of the conversation has been “loss and damage” – the idea that rich countries who have historically emitted the vast majority of climate-disrupting pollution should have to pay for the resulting suffering borne by those least responsible for the problem. At the same time, the whole world needs to drastically reduce its emissions and transition to clean energy – and that costs money, too. When even wealthy countries struggle to meet self imposed goals to cut down on carbon pollution, how can developing countries, who are already suffering the effects of the climate crisis, fund their own moves to clean energy? Guests: Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, UN Climate Change High-Level Champions’ Special Advisor, Africa Director Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, Council on Energy, Environment and Water Alastair Marsh, Reporter, Bloomberg Johnson Cerda, DGM Global For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 27th UN convention on climate change, known as COP27, is now underway in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. When Climate One spoke with Egyptian Ambassador Wael Aboulmagd in October, he argued that progress at this year’s summit would be more rapid than in past years, because this year, the focus is on implementation rather than negotiation. And for the first time, loss and damage — what richer nations owe poorer ones for the climate impacts their emissions have caused — is on the agenda. How will these issues play out during the conference? Are countries increasing their ambition as promised, and keeping the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees alive? Climate One brings us interviews with those on the ground pushing for meaningful change in Egypt. Guests: Preety Bhandari, Senior Advisor, Global Climate Program and the Finance Center, World Resources Institute Claire Stockwell, Senior Climate Policy Analyst, Climate Analytics David Munene, Programs Manager, Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been a big year for U.S. climate policy. Three major pieces of legislation: the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act have all become law, ushering in the largest commitment of federal money toward the climate crisis to date. In a bipartisan vote, the Senate also finally ratified the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which will help phase out some of the most potent greenhouse gasses. Gina McCarthy has helped shepherd these achievements in her former role as White House Climate Advisor, and joins us to discuss her time leading climate action under President Biden. We also feature a special interview about the Biden administration’s climate priorities between Vice President Kamala Harris and the hosts of the podcast A Matter of Degrees, Katharine Wilkinson and Leah Stokes. Guests: Kamala Harris, Vice President, United States Gina McCarthy, former U.S. White House National Climate Advisor, former U.S. EPA Administrator Guest Hosts: Katharine Wilkinson, Co-host, A Matter of Degrees, Co-Founder and Executive Director of The All We Can Save Project Leah Stokes, Co-host, A Matter of Degrees, Associate Professor of Environmental Politics, UC Santa Barbara For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twenty of the world’s richest countries – mostly in the Global North – are responsible for 80 percent of the carbon pollution that’s driving extreme weather and supercharging natural disasters. Yet poorer countries in the Global South are experiencing climate-induced disasters first and worst. Wealthier and whiter countries in the Global North are being hit by climate disruption as well, but they also have more resources to adapt. We talk with two award-winning journalists, one from each hemisphere, about covering climate change in their part of the world and bridging the disconnect that exists between North and South. Guests: Lauren Sommer, Reporter, NPR Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson, Reporter for The Guardian, Host of An Impossible Choice. For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Paris Agreement requires every country to declare their own nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, for reducing emissions. Last year at COP26 in Glasgow, it became clear that even the updated targets would – at best – limit warming to 2.4°C, almost a full degree above the 1.5° goal. But even more important than goals or promises is how every country turns policy into reality. This year’s COP27, hosted by the Arab Republic of Egypt, is being framed as “the implementation COP,” where the stated goal is to move from negotiations to action. In this special episode, Climate One Host Greg Dalton speaks one-on-one with Egyptian Ambassador and Special Representative of the COP27 President, Wael Aboulmagd, about how Egypt plans to close the gap between promises and implementation. Guest: Wael Aboulmagd, Egyptian Ambassador, Special Representative of the COP27 President For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades, scientists and activists have called for action to slow the pace of global warming. The political process has struggled and largely failed to keep up with the growing climate crisis. But through annual summits known as the United Nations Conference of the Parties, or COP, countries have finally started to commit to reducing their emissions. At last year’s climate summit, nations that make up about two thirds of the global economy committed to reducing emissions enough to try to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees celsius. At this year’s 27th COP in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, central questions will focus on how to pay for climate adaptation and mitigation. And, since the world’s 20 biggest economies are responsible for 80% of all climate disrupting emissions, how much money do those nations owe poorer countries suffering from a problem they didn’t create? Guests: Jonathan Pershing, Former Special Envoy for Climate Change, U.S. Department of State Omnia El Omrani, COP27 Youth Envoy Ambassador Wael Aboulmagd, Special Representative of the COP27 President Contributing Producer: Rabiya Jaffery For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the US midterm elections looming, the window for enacting meaningful climate policy may be closing. November’s elections will determine which party controls Congress, and that will have far reaching implications for the planet. Historically, the midterms have been bad news for the party in control of the White House, but the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act may have changed that calculus. Where do voters stand going into the midterms, and how does climate factor into their decisions? Guests: Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder & Executive Director, Environmental Voter Project Chelsea Henderson, Director of Editorial Content, RepublicEN Jean Chemnick, Climate Reporter, E&E News For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recent years, hundreds of thousands of people in high-risk disaster areas across the US have been dropped from their insurance policies, leaving them both physically and financially vulnerable. At the same time, premiums have sky-rocketed, making insuring homes and businesses out of reach for many. And federal insurance and relief programs have come under scrutiny for payouts that contribute to inequality. The insurance industry wasn’t set up to account for climate change, which is increasing the frequency, scale and severity of disaster claims. From Hurricane Ian flooding communities across the coast of Florida to fires in the Pacific Northwest, and further storm damage from Puerto Rico to Nova Scotia, we’ve seen frequent and fierce weather take lives and devastate communities. As more people and property face loss due to extreme weather events, who will pay to protect and rebuild communities? And what policies are being constructed to help the insurance industry stay afloat? Guests: Junia Howell, Urban Sociologist, University of Illinois Chicago Simon Young, Senior Director, Climate and Resilience Hub, Willis Towers Watson Carolyn Kousky, Associate Vice President for Economics and Policy, Environmental Defense Fund; author of Understanding Disaster Insurance: New Tools for a More Resilient Future Umair Irfan, Climate and Covid Reporter, VOX Eric Letvin, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Mitigation, FEMA For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In August, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. The IRA allocates around $370 billion over ten years to invest in renewable energy, make EVs more affordable, address climate inequities, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help mitigate the climate crisis. But like any law, the way the money is doled out matters, and the law’s implementation will ultimately determine its success. Some of the IRA money moves through state governments, including some that are outright hostile to the law. Consumers will have access to a suite of rebates and credits designed to electrify their lives, if they can get the necessary support to take advantage of them. How can government agencies, companies, investors and individuals take the law from words on a page to real functioning programs? Guests: Carla Frisch, Principal Deputy Director, Office of Policy for the U.S. Department of Energy Ryan Panchadsaram, Advisor to the Chairman at Kleiner Perkins Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Berkeley Law Dan Bowerson, Senior Director, Energy & Environment, Alliance for Automotive Innovation For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 recently left that program to begin a new career in venture capital. Now, in conversation with Climate One Host Greg Dalton, Molly Wood explores the limits of media in changing human behavior and the role of capital in addressing the climate crisis, even while considering that capitalism itself may be incompatible with survival. Guests: Molly Wood, Investor, Podcaster For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the tech world, there’s a common belief that once a new device hits 5% market penetration, it rapidly goes from a niche to mass adoption. According to Bloomberg, the US has just passed that critical 5% tipping point for new EV purchases. Norway, an oil-rich country, was first to hit that 5% mark in 2013 and today boasts a stunning 86% of new cars being fully electric. Now California is driving the US along a similar road away from gasoline and diesel by passing a new law that will only allow emission free vehicles to be sold by 2035. Even with that California law, how confident can we be that all new American cars will be running clean? What does the 5% tipping point mean for other clean tech adoption? Guests: Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, BloombergNEF For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most Americans support climate action, but you wouldn’t know it from Congress or the courts – or from most of the media. People on both the left and the right experience the same devastating floods, the same life-threatening heatwaves and the same catastrophic wildfires. Yet individuals tend to socialize within insulated political tribes, operate in completely different information bubbles and see the problems and solutions through different lenses. How can we learn to bridge ideological divides, develop trust, and find the common ground needed to rebuild respectful civil discourse? Guests: Chloe Maxmin, Maine State Senator Joan Blades, Co-founder, LivingRoomConversations.org John Gable, Co-founder, AllSides.com For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused horrific damage and casualties, in spite of Ukraine’s remarkable efforts to defend itself. The conflict has disrupted energy markets, grain shipments and is still destabilizing the global economy. All of this has shoved climate further down the list of international priorities, as has happened so many times before. Yet within conflict zones, many brave individuals and organizations work every day to stave off the even greater threat of climate catastrophe. We talk with climate activists in Ukraine and the Middle East about the realities of operating environmental organizations in conflict zones, and how to balance immediate needs with working toward a better future. Guests: Roman Zinchenko, Co-Founder, Greencubator Nada Majdalani, Palestine Director, EcoPeace Middle East For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For those of us who love to travel, climate guilt weighs heavily. Civil aviation accounts for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and that number is going up. But while electrifying cars and trucks is already well underway, flying planes on anything other than liquid fuels remains devilishly difficult. Despite that difficulty, there are options. Sustainable aviation fuels, or SAFs, hold the most promise, as they can theoretically drop right into existing engines and infrastructure. Beyond that, a number of startups are tinkering with electric battery-powered aircraft, as well as hydrogen-powered electric planes. But how sustainable are these options, and are they really ready for prime time? Guests: Fred Ghatala, Director of Carbon & Sustainability, Advanced Biofuels Canada Stephanie Searle, Fuels Program Director, ICCT Scott Cary, Project Manager, NREL Christina Beckman, Co-creator, Tomorrow’s Air; Vice President, Adventure Travel Trade Association Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For nearly six decades, the US government passed no comprehensive climate legislation. Now that’s changed. The Inflation Reduction Act contains approximately $370 billion of investments in clean energy and climate solutions. But not everyone is happy. To get through the Senate, the bill offered carrots to entrenched fossil fuel interests, along with investments in renewable power. Many in disadvantaged communities, who so often bear the brunt of climate-induced disasters, feel they’ve been left out yet again. Guests: Chelsea Henderson, Director of Editorial Content, RepublicEn Sam Ricketts, Co-Founder, Evergreen Action Ozawa Bineshi Albert, Co-Executive Director, Climate Justice Alliance Somini Sengupta, International Climate Reporter & Anchor, Climate Forward Newsletter, New York Times For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rick Ridgeway estimates he’s spent about five years of his life sleeping in tents, often in the world’s most remote places alongside fellow outdoor adventure luminaries. Ridgeway worked for Patagonia for 15 years and was behind the company’s infamous “Don’t Buy This Jacket” ad campaign, which paradoxically advocated sustainability and increased sales. Outdoor companies like Patagonia may push for sustainability, but they largely still present a mostly white, wealthy experience with nature, which can be off-putting for people of color. “You know if you can't see yourself in those spaces then it’s hard to feel invited or welcome in that movement,” says writer and social justice facilitator Amanda Machado. What is the role of corporations in conservation? And how can the outdoor industry help make nature more safe, accessible and welcoming for all? Guests: Rick Ridgeway, former Vice President of Public Engagement, Patagonia Amanda Machado, writer and social justice facilitator For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the CEO of the California utility giant PG&E, Patti Poppe is charged with navigating the company through massive wildfires, disrupted energy markets, and lingering public distrust of the utility. The company is undergrounding 10,000 miles of electric lines, working with GM and Ford on incorporating power from electric vehicles into homes and the grid, deploying batteries at large power plants, and pushing to change net metering rates that pay homeowners for electricity generated on their roofs. How can utilities like PG&E reinvent themselves and modernize the electric grid to deliver renewable power when their own systems are threatened by catastrophic climate change? Guests: Patricia Poppe, CEO, PG&E Katherine Blunt, Reporter, Wall Street Journal For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Along with aviation, the construction industry is one of the hardest to decarbonize sectors in the global economy. Cement and steel production together are responsible for about 15% of global CO2 emissions. But look around our modern world and it’s hard to imagine doing without these materials. Carbon-negative cement has been talked about for years, and innovations in steel production show promise as well, but is either technology ready for primetime? And what about replacing these materials with engineered wood, which could also store carbon for decades? Guests: John Fernández, Professor of Architecture, MIT Chathurika Gamage, Manager, Climate Aligned Industries, RMI Radhika Lalit, Chief Strategy Officer, RMI For complete show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The climate crisis is a growing driver of human migration, exacerbating the misery of already struggling communities. According to the UN Refugee Agency, climate change typically creates internal displacement within countries before it pushes people across national borders. While much of this displacement is involuntary, many with wealth and foresight are able to move before they personally feel the most devastating effects. How well are governments prepared to handle an influx of people driven from their homes – and support those who are left behind? Guests: Abrahm Lustgarten, Senior Reporter at ProPublica Colette Pichon Battle, Esq., Co-Executive Director, Taproot Earth Kayly Ober, Senior Advocate and Program Manager, Climate Displacement Program, Refugees International Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re on track for yet another summer of record wildfires in the western U.S., endangering lives, displacing communities, and sending unhealthy smoke across the nation. The science is clear: human-caused climate change is making lands more conducive to burning, and we are increasingly living in flammable landscapes. Forest experts say there are tools to help reduce the risk of catastrophic fires, keep forests alive as valuable carbon sinks and make communities more resilient to megafires. But we may also have to become accustomed to more fire – and smoke – in our lives. How can we better live with fire, including using it as a tool, rather than always fighting it? This week, we also take a deep dive into the recent Supreme Court case West Virginia v. EPA with Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of Berkeley Law. Guests: Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Berkeley Law Stephen Pyne, author, The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next Susan Husari, member of the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection Chad T. Hanson, author, Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate Jaime Lowe, author, Breathing Fire: Female Inmate Firefighters on the Front Lines of California’s Wildfires Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Africa is responsible for only less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet its people are already suffering some of the world’s most devastating climate impacts. For Wanjira Mathai, Regional Director for Africa and Vice President at the World Resources Institute, and the daughter of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, this raises a central moral question: When those most affected are those least responsible, how can those most responsible address that injustice? Guest: Wanjira Mathai, Vice President and Regional Director for Africa, World Resources Institute Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

83% of people in the United States live in urban areas. And these days that’s where important climate progress is happening. Cities all over the country and globe are experimenting with climate resilience projects specific to their local environments and challenges. In many cases, these projects also look to address historic injustices and provide more equitable models for transportation, housing, green space, and more. This week, we feature stories from a few different cities around the country working to address climate challenges. Guests: Tamika L. Butler, Founder + Principal, Tamika L. Butler Consulting, LLC Donnel Baird, Founder, BlocPower J. Morgan Grove, Research Scientist and Team Leader, US Forest Service Contributing Producer: Aubrey Calaway Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change science isn’t taught accurately — or equally — across the country. Investigative reporter Katie Worth dug into textbooks and talked with dozens of children and teachers to find out why. In her book, Miseducation: How Climate is Taught in America, Worth unpacks the influence of the fossil fuel industry, state legislatures and school boards on school curricula in their effort to spread confusion and misinformation about the climate crisis. Some organizations skip the textbook battle entirely and try to reach children directly through assemblies and social media. How do teachers navigate these dynamics in the classroom? How can we ensure our children are learning to be engaged, educated and climate-aware citizens? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Katie Worth, investigative journalist, author, Miseducation: How Climate is Taught in America Lea Dotson, Campaigner, Action for the Climate Emergency Ann Reid, Executive Director, National Center for Science Education Ben Graves, former science teacher in Delta County, CO Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roughly every five years, the U.S. designs and implements a new farm bill, which sets federal policy on agriculture across a huge swath of programs, including subsidies, food assistance, land practices and more. As the discussion around what to include in the 2023 farm bill intensifies, many are pushing for climate mitigation and adaptation measures to be a primary focus of the legislation. Then there’s equity. Since the 1930s, the Federal Government has supported farmers with subsidies, credit, and crop insurance. Yet historically, Black, Indigenous, and other farmers of color have been excluded from these benefits. Can we make progress on equity and climate today that we couldn’t in the past? Guests: Chuck Conner, President and CEO, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives Scott Faber, Senior VP, Government Affairs, EWG Jonathan Coppess, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois John W. Boyd, Jr., President, National Black Farmers Association Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other economic pressures disrupt global energy markets, even insiders are scrambling to make sense of this moment. Ahead of the midterm elections, the Biden administration has signaled it wants more oil and gas now to ease the pain of surging fuel prices while maintaining support for cutting carbon emissions. Oil and gas aren’t the only commodities affected by market chaos. The supply chain, including for clean energy technology, has also been disrupted. How are surging fossil fuel prices, changes in policy, and supply chain turmoil affecting US climate goals? Guests: Kate Larsen, Partner, Rhodium Group David M. Turk, Deputy Secretary, US Department of Energy Justin Guay, Director, Global Climate Strategy, Sunrise Project Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to the World Bank, land managed by Indigenous peoples is associated with lower rates of deforestation, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and better biodiversity protection. But in many places, Indigenous people have been displaced from their ancestral lands through outright theft, land grabs, violence and war — sacrificing both indigenous livelihoods and the traditional knowledge that has protected their lands for centuries. Still, across the U.S. we can find examples of land access, stewardship and ownership being restored to Indigenous people – and more efforts being made to involve tribal nations in conservation and climate resilience. “Climate change isn't just about protecting the natural world; it’s also about protecting our culture and who we are because we've resisted against so many colonial forces for so long,” says Julia Fay Bernal, director of the Pueblo Action Alliance. Guests: Jessica Hernandez, author, Fresh Banana Leaves Priscilla Hunter, Board Chairwoman, Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council Sam Hodder, President and CEO, Save the Redwoods League Julia Fay Bernal, Director, Pueblo Action Alliance Contributing Producer: Sam Schramski Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russ Feingold became a household name co-authoring the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, more commonly known as McCain-Feingold. It’s the only major piece of campaign finance reform legislation passed into law in decades. Today he is using his experience navigating the levers of power to tackle alarming biodiversity loss and the worsening climate crisis. Feingold believes, “The threats posed to people from the destruction of nature are just as serious as those posed by climate change.” Guests: Russ Feingold, President of the American Constitution Society, former Senator from Wisconsin Jean Su, Energy Justice Director and Senior Attorney, Center for Biological Diversity Dan Farber, Professor of Law, Faculty Director, Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment, University of California, Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than half of Americans are invested in the stock market, either directly or through their retirement funds, but individual investors rarely think about how their money is actually being put to use. And even if they decide to take a stand and divest from fossil fuels, that may not translate into a single molecule less carbon being released into the atmosphere. On the other hand, large institutional investors - like those that manage individuals’ retirement funds - can wield huge influence over the companies in their portfolios. So how are asset managers accounting for climate risk? And how can they drive corporate leaders to be more accountable for their emissions today, and cut emissions tomorrow? This episode was supported in part by The ClimateWorks Foundation. Guests: Cynthia McHale, Senior Director, Ceres Dylan Tanner, Executive Director, Influence Map Shane Khan, Head of Research, JUST Capital Yasmin Dahya Bilger, Head of ETFs, Engine No. 1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A fundamental injustice of the climate crisis is that those who have contributed to it least are already bearing the brunt of the impacts, and that will continue as global temperatures rise. Like many other environmental and societal challenges, we can’t make real progress if certain groups are left behind. How might a new model for working together to solve interconnected crises, by tracing the origins of ecofeminism, environmental justice and other movements that center the voices and experiences of Black, Indigenous and people of color, work? Guests: Leah Thomas, author, Founder, The Intersectional Environmentalist Hop Hopkins, director of organizational transformation, The Sierra Club Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) took the national spotlight as the lead manager for the second impeachment trial of the former president. As a member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, he has grilled fossil fuel executives on the industry’s long history of intentionally misleading the public. And as a constitutional law professor, he has offered deep insight into the connections between an informed citizenry and a robust democracy. At a time when many Americans doubt Congress’s ability to get anything done, what are the government’s strongest levers for climate action? And what are the connections between climate and democracy? This story is part of ‘Climate & Democracy,’ a series from the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now. Guests: Jamie Raskin, U.S. Representative, Maryland’s 8th Congressional District Heather McGhee, Board Chair, Color of Change; author, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together Rebecca Willis, Professor, Lancaster University; author, Too Hot to Handle? The Democratic Challenge of Climate Change Visit our website for show notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fossil fuel companies and others have spent decades casting doubt on climate science to allow them to continue to profit. As documented by climate communication expert John Cook and others, these strategies have taken many forms: deny, dismiss, delay, deflect; and they have evolved over time. They’ve also included a concerted effort to recast political speech, banned and regulated in some contexts, as protected free speech, giving corporations more leeway in broadcasting their messages. In a special collaboration with Amy Westervelt of Drilled, we trace the origins of this free speech argument and break down the tactics used to spread misinformation. Guests: Amy Westervelt, journalist, Founder and Executive Producer, Drilled, Critical Frequency Podcast Network John Cook, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Global sales of electric vehicles more than doubled in 2021. Projections for this year are for another huge gain as more automakers introduce more models with increasing range. This is all good news for transitioning to a clean energy economy. But sourcing the materials needed for clean energy might not be so clean. Mining is the leading industrial polluter in the U.S., but the climate crisis demands a transition to technologies that require raw materials to be extracted. How can the world get the minerals it needs to mitigate the climate crisis without creating other ecological disasters in the process? Guests: Morgan Bazilian, Director, Payne Institute, Colorado School of Mines Payal Sampat, Mining Program Director, Earthworks Maureen Penjueli, Coordinator, Pacific Network on Globalisation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this year, California regulators were set to propose significant changes to the incentives that drive rooftop solar installations. After widespread opposition from industry and climate advocates, the California Public Utilities Commission paused the effort. The issue centers on how much rooftop solar customers pay to use the grid and what rewards they get for selling their excess power. But California is far from the only state where net metering is a hotly contested issue. While utility-scale projects may offer more bang for the buck in some contexts, rooftop solar offers distributed generation and a tool for resilience. This week, we explore the debate between rooftop and utility-scale solar. Guests: Adam Browning, Co-Founder and Executive Director Emeritus, Vote Solar Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director, California Solar and Storage Association Tom Beach, Principal Consultant, Crossborder Energy Emily Sanford Fisher, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Sr. Vice President, Clean Energy, Edison Electric Institute Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since March 2020, the global community has grappled with an unprecedented pandemic. At first, most people were willing to do what it takes to keep themselves and others safe. Two years in, pretty much everyone feels exhausted by the effort and by the general anxiety of living with COVID. The global community simultaneously faces an even greater existential threat: climate change. For those fighting to stave off this slower-moving catastrophe, fatigue is a familiar feeling. What have we learned from two years of COVID disruption that can inform how we deal with climate fatigue? Guests: David Wallace-Wells, Editor-At-Large, New York Magazine Britt Wray, Human and Planetary Health Fellow, Stanford University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The IPCC released its latest report the same day as the U.S. Supreme Court heard the most environmentally significant case in a decade, all while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has rattled global energy markets. It’s a lot to take in all at once. Will the disruption of methane gas supplies to Europe give it the extra push it needs to decarbonize, or will some countries always be beholden to untrustworthy partners for the resources they need? What other options exist to power our economies more sustainably in the short and long term? Guests: Amy Myers Jaffe, Managing Director, Climate Policy Lab, Tufts University Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Berkeley Law Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It has been 3 million years since there’s been this much CO2 in the atmosphere. Even if we stop all burning of fossil fuels today, humans have already emitted enough CO2 that we’ll continue experiencing extreme weather events for years to come. Not only do we need to stop emitting greenhouse gasses, but according to the IPCC, we also need to accelerate the removal of CO2. With forests burning faster than we can grow them, nature-based solutions may not be enough. What role might tech-based solutions play? Can they be implemented in a just, equitable way that does not give license for fossil fuel interests to continue business as usual? Guests: Marcius Extavour, VP, Energy & Climate, XPRIZE Angela Anderson, Director of Industrial Innovation and Carbon Removal at World Resources Institute Rachel Glennerster, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Chicago Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humans must dramatically rein in greenhouse gas emissions in order to slow the planetary warming caused by centuries of fossil fuel combustion. But even if we accomplish that through major reforms to our power supply, food systems, industrial industries and more, we still need to remove huge amounts of carbon already in the atmosphere to stave off the worst impacts of climate disruption. This is no easy task. We need to explore every option – both nature-based solutions and tech solutions. In a two-part series, we look at both categories. First up, the natural mechanisms for carbon capture and storage, from forests to peat bogs to kelp beds. Guests: Ugbaad Kosar, Deputy Director of Policy, Carbon180 Edward Struzik, author, Swamplands: Tundra Beavers, Quaking Bogs and the Improbable World of Peat Bren Smith, Co-Executive Director and Owner, Thimble Island Ocean Farm Benjamin Preston, Senior Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a 20-year time frame, methane is 80 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide. Nationally, 37% of methane emissions come from cows. 17% of all US methane emissions come from food waste rotting in landfills. More than 100 countries, including the US, signed The Global Methane Pledge, promising to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030. In California, a new law went into effect directly addressing the state’s methane emissions from organic waste and dairy farms. The law targets a 40% reduction in the same time frame. That’s ambitious. What effect will this law have on industrial agriculture, and the general population? Guests: Neil Edgar, Executive Director, California Compost Coalition J Jordan, Policy Coordinator, Leadership Council for Justice and Accountability Michael Boccadoro, Executive Director, Dairy Cares Monique Figueiredo, Chief Executive Officer / Founder / Co-Owner, Compostable LA Allen Williams, Understanding Ag Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For years, scientists, activists, and politicians have tried to warn the world of the potential catastrophic consequences of dumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere: Think of An Inconvenient Truth in 2006. Or NASA scientist James Hansens’ testimony before the U.S. Senate in 1988, in which he said that “the greenhouse effect has been detected and it is changing our climate now.” Or go all the way back to 1856, when Eunice Newton Foote first warned the world that an atmosphere heavy with carbon dioxide could send global temperatures soaring. Writer and climate campaigner Alice Bell lays out the history of evolving climate science and our forays into different energy technologies in Our Biggest Experiment: An Epic History of the Climate Crisis. Despite our current emissions trajectory, Bell says there’s still reason to hope: “We have been left a lot of opportunities and we still have got some time to seize them.” Guests: Alice Bell, climate campaigner, author, Our Biggest Experiment: An Epic History of the Climate Crisis Meera Subramanian, environmental journalist Katerina Gonzales, climate scientist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 law firms helping fossil fuel companies delay the transition to clean energy while claiming they are on the side of climate protection. Guests: Benjamin Franta, PhD candidate in History of Science, Stanford University. Jamie Henn, founder and director, Fossil Free Media Kathryn Lundstrom, sustainability editor, Adweek Christine Arena, former Executive Vice President, Edelman; founder, Generous Films Michaela Anang, law student, UC Davis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The climate crisis seems to be unfolding faster than ever before — with catastrophic floods, winter wildfires, and last summer’s killer heat. It’s becoming increasingly hard to mentally set climate aside as a future problem — it is here, real in our present moment. How do we grapple with the weight of these changes, and process our fear for what is coming for us, and for the next generation? And how do those emotions affect our decisions about whether or not to have children, who in many ways represent an embodied version of our hope for the future? Guests: Daniel Sherrell, Author, Warmth, Coming of Age at the End of Our World Seb Gould, physics teacher Irène Mathieu, pediatrician and poet Virginie Le Masson, co-director of the Centre for Gender and Disaster at University College London Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With expanding electrical infrastructure and some jurisdictions beginning to ban gas appliances in new construction, the transition to a clean energy economy is already happening. Understandably, labor unions that represent workers tied to the fossil fuel infrastructure are digging in their heels. While recognizing that climate change is a threat, the Laborers’ International Union of North America and the Utility Workers Union of America are skeptical of promises of a just transition, saying green jobs are typically non-union and pay far less. So how can we transition to a low-carbon economy while protecting good-paying jobs? Guests: Austin Keyser, Assistant to the International President for Government Affairs at International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Yvette Pena-O'Sullivan, Executive Director, Office of the General President, LiUNA Lee Anderson, Director of Government Affairs, Utility Workers Union of America Carol Zabin, Director, Green Economy Program, UC Berkeley Labor Center Norman Rogers, Second Vice President of United Steelworkers, California Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Corporate pledges of reaching net zero carbon emissions have quickly become commonplace. Critics argue that such pledges are mere greenwashing, and even if pledges are fulfilled, the balance sheets usually utilize carbon offsets, which can be of questionable quality and accountability. Proponents of corporate net zero pledges say we’ll never get to net zero emissions without corporate action, and pledges represent legitimate ramping up of ambition and commitment. How can consumers, investors and policy leaders distinguish between stalling and increased ambition? Can third party auditors hold companies accountable? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If corporations can be legal persons, why can’t Mother Earth? In 2017, New Zealand granted the Whanganui River the full legal rights of a person. India granted full legal rights to the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, and recognized that the Himalayan Glaciers have a right to exist. In 2019, the city of Toledo passed the Lake Erie Bill of Rights with 61 percent of the vote, but then a year later, a federal judge struck it down. As Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin, an attorney who represented Lake Erie, explains, the problem stems from a 500-year history of Western property law. Our legal system grants rights to property owners, but not to property itself. “If we’re treating ecosystems as property, then ultimately, we as property owners have the right to destroy our property and that fundamentally has to change,” Schromen-Wawrin says. Rebecca Tsosie, a law professor focused on Federal Indian law and Indigenous peoples’ human rights, says there are other rights frameworks to consider. “If we go into Indigenous epistemology, many times it’s a relational universe that comes with mutual responsibility.” Guests: Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin, attorney, formerly with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund Rebecca Tsosie, Regents Professor of Law at the University of Arizona; Co-Chair, Indigenous Peoples’ Law and Policy Program Carol Van Strum, author of A Bitter Fog, activist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beyond his position as chairman of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, John Doerr rose to global prominence in the business world with his popularization of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), which he promoted in his best-selling book, Measure What Matters. Could the same set of management tools be applied to preventing the growing climate crisis? In Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now, John Doerr and Kleiner Perkins advisor Ryan Panchadsaram argue that it can. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: John Doerr, Chairman, Kleiner Perkins Ryan Panchadsaram, Advisor, Kleiner Perkins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Each year, Climate One gives an award to a natural or social scientist for excellence in science communication. This year’s recipient of the Stephen H. Schneider Award is marine biologist Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, co-founder of the Urban Ocean Lab and co-creator of the All We Can Save project. “What gets me out of bed in the morning, what makes this work of communicating about climate science and policy so important, is that we have such a huge spectrum of possible futures available to us. And which one we get depends on what we do,” Johnson says. This episode also features past award winner and noted climate historian Naomi Oreskes discussing sexism in the sciences and the ongoing disinformation campaigns perpetrated by fossil fuel companies. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist, writer Naomi Oreskes, Professor, History of Science, Harvard University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Southeastern Virginia currently experiences the fastest rate of sea level rise on the Atlantic seaboard, and that’s only projected to accelerate. For many neighborhoods, it’s not a question of if they will go underwater, but when. On the west coast, between $8 billion and $10 billion of existing property in California is likely to be underwater by 2050, with an additional $6 billion to $10 billion at risk during high tides. Increasingly, local and regional governments are considering – and starting – buyouts of flood-prone properties. How will we manage the homes, farms, naval bases and infrastructure destined to go under water? How do federal and private insurance programs hamper or help moves away from climate-disrupted regions? And what are the equity issues with managed retreat? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Sam Turken, reporter, “At A Crossroads” series for WHRO Amy Chester, Managing Director, Rebuild By Design Kia Javanmardian, Senior Partner, McKinsey and Company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent poll shows that in 2021, for the first time, a majority of Americans personally felt the effects of climate change. But has that growing awareness translated into action? This week, Climate One hosts Greg Dalton and Ariana Brocious review the top climate stories of the year – from Joe Biden’s climate agenda to the extreme weather events so many experienced, to the recent international climate summit in Glasgow, to the passage and signing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. This special episode features excerpts from some of Climate One’s most profound interviews of 2021, including conversations with such luminaries as Jay Inslee, Mark Carney, and Katharine Hayhoe. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Kathy Baughman-McLeod, Senior Vice President and Director, Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center Jay Inslee, Governor, State of Washington Carla Frisch, Principal Deputy Director, Office of Policy, U.S. Department of Energy Sasha Mackler, Executive Director, The Energy Project, Bipartisan Policy Center Beth Osborne, Director, Transportation for America Rich Thau, Moderator, The Swing Voter Project Jiang Lin, Adjunct Professor, University of California Berkeley Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, Bloomberg New Energy Finance Amanda Machado, Writer and Social Justice Facilitator Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist Sister True Dedication, Thich Nhat Hanh student Support our work: climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change science isn’t taught accurately — or equally — across the country. Investigative reporter Katie Worth dug into textbooks and talked with dozens of children and teachers to find out why. In her book, Miseducation: How Climate is Taught in America, Worth unpacks the influence of the fossil fuel industry, state legislatures and school boards on school curricula in their effort to spread confusion and misinformation about the climate crisis. Some organizations skip the textbook battle entirely and try to reach children directly through assemblies and social media. How do teachers navigate these dynamics in the classroom? How can we ensure our children are learning to be engaged, educated and climate-aware citizens? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Katie Worth, investigative journalist, author, Miseducation: How Climate is Taught in America Lea Dotson, Campaigner, Action for the Climate Emergency Ann Reid, Executive Director, National Center for Science Education Ben Graves, former science teacher in Delta County, CO Support our work: climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Biden recently signed the biggest piece of climate legislation in U.S. history into law. To be sure, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act got pared down significantly from what was first put on the table, but the final measure still contains five times more money for projects aimed at mitigating the climate crisis than the best legislation the Obama administration could get through. What did it take to get 19 Republican senators (not to mention Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema) to vote with the Democrats? And with the states being given great latitude over how to spend the money, will the billions available for highways negate any positive climate impacts? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Carla Frisch, Principal Deputy Director, Office of Policy, U.S. Department of Energy Sasha Mackler, Executive Director, The Energy Project, Bipartisan Policy Center Beth Osborne, Director, Transportation for America Michael Grunwald, journalist, author, The New New Deal Support our work: climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever have a difficult conversation about climate? Pretty much everyone has. Knowing all the facts and figures only goes so far when talking to someone who just doesn’t agree. So how do we break through the barriers? Scientists trained to present information in a one-way lecture format face a particular challenge: they first need to unlearn old habits. “Everybody's trying to figure out ‘how do we move past this idea that just arming people with facts will lead to a better world,’ right, because we’ve just seen that that’s absolutely not true,” says Faith Kearns, author of Getting to the Heart of Science Communication. Kearns argues that we all need to move from an “information deficit” model of communication – where it’s assumed that the audience simply needs more information – to a relational model, where the science communicator does as much listening as talking in order to first find empathy and common ground. Guests: Faith Kearns, author, Getting to the Heart of Science Communication Katerina Gonzales, doctoral research fellow, Stanford University Support our work: climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2015, delegates from 196 nations entered into the legally binding treaty on climate change known as the Paris Agreement, which set a goal of limiting global warming to “well below 2 and preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.” Yet in August of this year, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new assessment report that starkly illustrated the world’s collective failure to meet that target. Delegates from across the globe have just met in Glasgow for the international climate summit known as COP26, with the hope of strengthening commitments to keep emissions targets at that 1.5 degree level. After two weeks of negotiations, presentations and protests in Glasgow, COP26 is a wrap. This week we discuss what was achieved - and what wasn’t - at the summit. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Vanessa Nakate, Ugandan climate activist Jiang Lin, Adjunct Professor, University of California Berkeley Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, Bloomberg New Energy Finance Support our work: climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rick Ridgeway estimates he’s spent about five years of his life sleeping in tents, often in the world’s most remote places alongside fellow outdoor adventure luminaries. Ridgeway worked for Patagonia for 15 years and was behind the company’s infamous “Don’t Buy This Jacket” ad campaign, which paradoxically advocated sustainability and increased sales. Outdoor companies like Patagonia may push for sustainability, but they largely still present a mostly white, wealthy experience with nature, which can be off-putting for people of color. “You know if you can't see yourself in those spaces then it’s hard to feel invited or welcome in that movement,” says writer and social justice facilitator Amanda Machado. What is the role of corporations in conservation? And how can the outdoor industry help make nature more safe, accessible and welcoming for all? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Rick Ridgeway, former Vice President of Public Engagement, Patagonia Amanda Machado, writer and social justice facilitator Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to the latest IPCC Assessment Report, we’re currently on course for at least 3°C (5.4°F) of warming by 2100 even if all of the voluntary Paris Agreement emissions pledges are fulfilled. Clearly the world needs to do more to reduce emissions. But what if that’s still not enough? Solar geoengineering – such as putting sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere to reduce the amount of the sun’s heat from reaching the earth – could be one tool to slow warming temporarily. But it has become so politically fraught that even research into the subject is contentious. Who decides who should control our atmosphere? And what global governance structures should be put in place before any experimentation begins? This program is generously underwritten in part by the Laney and Pasha Thornton Foundation. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Janos Pasztor, Executive Director, Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative, former Assistant Secretary General, United Nations Sheila Jasanoff, Professor of science and technology studies, Harvard Kennedy School Albert Lin, Professor, University of California Davis School of Law David Keith, Professor of applied physics and public policy, Harvard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fully electrifying our homes, cars and industries could cut the amount of total energy we need by half, says Saul Griffith, an entrepreneur, inventor and author of Electrify: An Optimist’s Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future. This electric revolution would mean significantly scaling up our solar, wind and battery storage and reorienting the electric grid – but could also mean “thousands of dollars in savings in every household, every year.” President Biden wants half the cars sold in the US to be electric by 2030. And automakers are increasingly putting money and marketing muscle behind EVs. When Ford announced its all-electric F-150, it sent a powerful jolt through the transportation industry. Pre-orders for the F-150 Lightning surpassed 100,000 within three days, signalling that EVs are no longer just for kale-eating coastal elites. Note: Ford Motor Co. is among Climate One’s sponsors. This program was underwritten in part by ClimateWorks Foundation. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Saul Griffith, author, Electrify: An Optimist Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future Cynthia Williams, Global Director, Sustainability, Homologation and Compliance, Ford Motor Co. Sara Baldwin, Director of Electrification Policy, Energy Innovation Josh Nassar, Legislative Director, United Auto Workers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People around the world have been experiencing unprecedented extreme weather events – raging wildfires, killer heatwaves and catastrophic floods. In August, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new Assessment Report, which UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called “code red for humanity,” adding that alarm bells are deafening and the evidence is irrefutable. Against this backdrop, delegates from across the globe are set to convene for the international climate summit known as COP26, where they’re expected to hammer out commitments to reduce carbon emissions in hopes of avoiding the worst impacts of climate disruption. Six years on from the Paris agreement, is there finally enough urgency to turn ambition and promises into action? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Kate Larsen, Director, International Energy & Climate, Rhodium Group Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, Bloomberg NEF Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Climate Justice Activist, Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines Carlon Zackhras, Marshall Islands youth climate activist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do we manage our own anxiety around an uncertain climate future – let alone help our children work through their feelings and fears? In his latest book, Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet, internationally renowned Zen Master and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thich Nhat Hahn argues that addressing the intersection of ecological destruction, rising inequality, racial injustice, and the lasting impacts of a devastating pandemic requires us to strengthen our clarity, compassion, and courage to act. “The power of Zen and the power of mindfulness is that it roots us in the present moment so we can be alert to what is going on, we can be responsive, we can be the master of our mind and awareness in any given situation,” including climate disruption, says Sister True Dedication, contributor and editor of Thich Nhat Hahn’s book. Psychotherapist Leslie Davenport, author of All the Feelings Under the Sun: How to Deal With Climate Change, provides thoughtful, practical exercises to help young readers process their feelings about climate change. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Sister True Dedication, Zen Buddhist nun, editor of Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Zen and the Art of Saving The Planet Leslie Davenport, author, Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change; All the Feelings Under the Sun: How to Deal With Climate Change Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve experienced yet another summer of record wildfires in the western U.S., endangering lives, displacing communities, and sending unhealthy smoke across the nation. The science is clear: human-caused climate change is making lands more conducive to burning, and we are increasingly living in flammable landscapes. Forest experts say there are tools to help reduce the risk of catastrophic fires, keep forests alive as valuable carbon sinks and make communities more resilient to megafires. But we may also have to become accustomed to more fire – and smoke – in our lives. How can we better live with fire, including using it as a tool, rather than always fighting it? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests: Stephen Pyne, author, The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next Susan Husari, member of the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection Chad T. Hanson, author, Smokescreen: Debunking Wildfire Myths to Save Our Forests and Our Climate Jaime Lowe, author, Breathing Fire: Female Inmate Firefighters on the Front Lines of California’s Wildfires Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite her identity as an evangelical, climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe doesn't accept global warming on faith; she crunches the data, analyzes the models, and helps engineers, city managers and ecologists quantify the impacts. In her new book, Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, Hayhoe argues that when it comes to changing hearts and minds, facts are only one part of the equation. “The biggest problem we have is not the people who willfully decide to reject 200 years of basic science,” she says. “The bigger problem is the number of people who say, ‘it's real’ but they don’t think it matters to them.” Hayhoe says we need to find shared values with others to drive conversations and collective action on climate disruption. Guest: Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist and chief scientist, The Nature Conservancy; author, Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed structural weaknesses and inequities that existed long before 2020. Like COVID-19, climate change is another “threat multiplier,” with the power to disrupt many of our social systems. In her new book, The Fight for Climate After COVID-19, Alice Hill says we need to adapt our thinking and our policies to combat the ever-increasing threat of climate change. Especially when we see more compound disasters – like a wildfire followed by a mudslide. “We need to come together to understand the risks, understand the vulnerabilities and then start making decisions with the support and the aid of the federal government to have better outcomes,” Hill says. What changes can we make now to better prepare for future risks and climate disasters? Guests: Alice Hill, author, The Fight for Climate After COVID-19, Senior Fellow for Climate Change Policy, Council on Foreign Relations Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Thomas P. Bostick, Former Commanding General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Francis Suarez, Mayor of Miami Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This September marks the 50th anniversary of the seminal work Diet for a Small Planet, in which Frances Moore Lappé argued that cattle constitute “a protein factory in reverse.” Lappé’s book inspired countless people to adopt vegetarian diets for environmental reasons. But in the last 50 years the industrial food systems in America have only grown bigger and more concentrated, and – as the Lappés would argue – more powerful. Together with her daughter Anna Lappé, author of Diet for a Hot Planet, the two now focus on the intersections between democracy, environment, food, and justice. “It's really important that we understand that in order to change our food environment, we need to really work to get money out of politics, and we really need to work on how to take on that kind of consolidated power in the industry,” Anna Lappé says. Guests: Frances Moore Lappé, author, Diet for a Small Planet Anna Lappé, author, Diet for a Hot Planet Analena Hope Hassberg, Associate Professor, Ethnic and Women's Studies Department, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Ruth Richardson, Executive Director, Global Alliance for the Future of Food Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Water is essential for life, and throughout history we have sought to control and make use of it. As Giulio Boccaletti explores in his new book, Water: A Biography, that relationship with water has underpinned human civilization, forming an integral part of society, government and land use systems. But despite its essential nature, access to water has never been equal or entirely fair. Climate disruption will further destabilize the systems we’ve built to control water in our environment – even as it remains a public good without fair and equal public access. What can 10,000 years of history teach us about how we should handle water in our current and future climate? Guests: Giulio Boccaletti, Author, Water: A Biography Sara Aminzadeh, Vice President of Partnerships, U.S. Water Alliance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hundreds of people have been arrested in Minnesota in ongoing protests against Line 3, a pipeline that will move Canadian tar sands oil, and which could be operational as soon as this month. Pipeline advocates, like Mike Fernandez of Enbridge (Line 3’s builder), argue that as long as people are still using oil, we need a way to transport it — and pipelines are the safest, least carbon-intensive means of doing so. Opponents, like Sierra Club’s Kelly Sheehan Martin, argue that oil companies bolster markets for oil and gas as a way to justify continued profits from building pipelines and extracting oil. Sheehan Martin argues that to seriously address the climate crisis, we need to keep the oil in the ground, and listen to the voices of those worried about harm to waterways and tribal lands. Why have oil pipelines become such a point of contention in the environmental movement? And what can all sides agree on to work toward the same less-carbon-reliant future? Guests: Mike Fernandez, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability, Enbridge Daniel Raimi, Fellow, Resources for the Future Kelly Sheehan Martin, Senior Director of Energy Campaigns, Sierra Club Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listener Advisory: This episode contains some content related to a suicide. If you or someone you love is thinking about suicide, the National 24-hour Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. This summer, the climate crisis seems to be unfolding faster than ever before — with catastrophic floods, huge wildfires, and killer heat. It’s becoming increasingly hard to mentally set climate aside as a future problem — it is here, real in our present moment. How do we grapple with the weight of these changes, and process our fear for what is coming for us, and for the next generation? And how do those emotions affect our decisions about whether or not to have children, who in many ways represent an embodied version of our hope for the future? Guests: Daniel Sherrell, Author, Warmth, Coming of Age at the End of Our World Seb Gould, physics teacher Irène Mathieu, pediatrician and poet Virginie Le Masson, co-director of the Centre for Gender and Disaster at University College London Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In early August, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report unequivocally connecting global warming and extreme weather to human-driven greenhouse gas emissions, and warning of much more dramatic climate futures if we don’t change course soon. Since the 2020 election, Rich Thau’s Swing Voter Project has been querying those who shifted from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020 about a range of issues. How will their views affect the 2022 midterms and the 2024 election? Where does climate rate on their list of issues? And does the accelerating climate crisis matter enough to affect their votes? Guests: Rich Thau, Moderator, The Swing Voter Project; Co-founder and President, Engagious Andrew Freedman, Climate and Energy Reporter, Axios Venkatachalam “Ram” Ramaswamy, Director of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In October 2020, California Gov. Newsom announced a plan to protect 30% of his state by 2030. In 2021, the Biden Administration announced its own 30x30 plan, later dubbed America the Beautiful. With 12% of the U.S. already under some form of protection, where will the other 18% come from? In states like Nebraska, nearly all the land is in private hands — and the owners are worried. With increased focus on the climate crisis, it’s easy to think we have enough to worry about without considering species other than our own. But the natural world provides critical resources that counteract the damaging impacts of climate change and sustain all life — including human life. About one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction. How much land does nature need to survive? Guests: Paula Ehrlich, CEO, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation Woody Lee, Executive Director, Utah Diné Bikéyah Jennifer Norris, Deputy Secretary for Biodiversity and Habitat, California Natural Resources Agency Catherine Semcer, Research Fellow, Property and Environment Research Center Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Washington State, voters defeated initiatives to put a price on carbon ― twice. Governor Jay Inslee himself then lost his personal bid for the White House. Yet his bold ideas have proven staying power. The state legislature recently passed a carbon cap and invest bill that will reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 95 percent by 2050. “We’ve got to wake up every morning figuring out ‘how can I disrupt the status quo.’ Because the status quo is deadly, it’s fatal, it will destroy economies and the biology that we exist on,” Inlsee says. Even big oil, which spent tens of missions to defeat the 2018 carbon pricing proposal, seems to be changing its tune, with BP now supporting a price on carbon. How might Washington State be a bellwether for Washington DC? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From clearing land for pasture to building dams, humans have long changed the face of the Earth. But Indian eco-feminist Vandana Shiva is highly critical of how we’ve changed our relationship with the land through industrial monocrop agriculture. She firmly opposes genetically modified crops, and has called seed patents “bio-piracy.” But it’s not just the technology she’s critical of. “I’m critical of the world view of arrogance. The worldview that came with colonialism, the mechanistic mindset of the conquering man being the creator of the earth and creator of the wealth,” Shiva says. Shiva argues for a renewed focus on biodiversity and regenerative agriculture to help solve the climate crisis. Guests: Vandana Shiva, director of the Foundation for Science, Technology & Ecology Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The United States is famous for its car culture. But a hundred years ago, pedestrians didn’t want cars to take over the streets — and it took decades of pressure and lobbying by car companies to make them feel otherwise. Today, traffic jams, maintenance and pollution make cars more like the cigarette no one wants to quit. Urban areas have grown up and spread out along ever widening highways with parking spaces required for each new building, further entrenching the car into our lives and choking cities with smog. Public transit holds tremendous possibilities for reducing our transportation emissions while better moving people through cities. But there’s a lot to overcome when trying to change the mobility model in most American cities, starting with the lack of good public transit and the high costs of construction. How can we make good public transportation work in America? Guests: Peter Norton, associate professor of history at the University of Virginia; author of Fighting Traffic and Autonorama Eric Goldwyn, assistant professor at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management; co-founder of the Transit Costs Project Amanda Eaken, director of transportation for the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge at the Natural Resources Defense Council Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pathways for reducing carbon emissions include electrifying transportation and replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar power. But in this time of national reckoning on racial and economic disparities, there is growing support for a more holistic approach. This view holds that the climate crisis won’t be resolved until we first address the systemic imbalances that have fueled it – racism, capitalism, white supremacy and patriarchy. In their recent book, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, co-editors Katharine Wilkinson and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson bring together the voices of women artists, writers and change-makers who are at the forefront of climate action. “The work that we’re doing is instigating or nurturing a feminist climate renaissance,” says Johnson, “which is what we feel the climate movement so desperately needs right now.” Guests: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist Katharine Wilkinson, Vice President, Project Drawdown Co-editors, All We Can Save:Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis (One World, 2020) Christine Nieves Rodriguez, Co-founder and President, Emerge Puerto Rico. Sherri Mitchell, author, Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change (North Atlantic Books, 2018) Heather McTeer Toney, National Field Director, Moms Clean Air Force Jainey Bavishi, Director, Mayor's Office of Resiliency, New York City Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we think of action on climate change, we usually think of what individuals can do, what governments can do, and maybe what businesses can do. But what about the broader economic levers that affect behaviors? Can we get companies to walk away from billions of dollars they’ve already invested in a fossil fuel-based economy? Insurers are on the front lines of climate disruption; it’s their business to put a price on risk. So how can the financial and insurance sectors create better-aligned incentives for companies, businesses and even governments to get on the ever-narrowing path to net zero carbon emissions before it’s too late? Guests: Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For over two decades, carbon offset programs have promised individuals and businesses that they can reduce their overall carbon footprint by paying someone else to reduce their carbon emissions. Yet many programs have been plagued by scandal – like shady accounting and paying forest owners not to cut down trees they weren’t planning to log anyway. A new nonprofit called Climate Vault wants to buy emissions permits from regulated markets and lock them away so other polluters can’t buy and use them. Will this finally be an approach that works? Or are all carbon offset programs just smoke and mirrors? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extreme heat causes more deaths than any other weather-related hazard in the U.S., wreaking quiet havoc on the health and economic well-being of billions of people across the world. But it’s rarely given the same billing or resources as other, more dramatic, natural disasters. Because of racist and discriminatory housing and development practices, extreme heat also disproportionately impacts poorer and minority communities. Recognizing a growing need for local responses to a global problem, the mayors of Miami-Dade, Athens, Greece and Freetown, Sierra Leone recently announced they are appointing the world’s first Chief Heat Officers. How can we prepare for and address the impacts of extreme heat? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From activism to political campaigns to corporate advertising, the power of music and images is undeniable. So how can the arts inspire and advance the climate conversation? For more than three decades, Shepard Fairey’s work has provoked thought and controversy in the art and political spheres. Now, with a public weary of climate charts and apocalyptic images of melting glaciers and emaciated polar bears, we explore how the arts can provoke a more productive conversation with Fairey and Grammy-nominated hip hop artist Mystic. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our work. Go to climateone.org/donate to help us reach our goal of $10,000 by July 1. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Colorado River supplies water to more than 40 million people across seven states. Lake Mead has fallen to its lowest level since it was filled in the 1930s, which could trigger the first stage of real water cutbacks. For years, “much of the discussion in the Colorado River Basin has been who gets the next drop,” says journalist Luke Runyon. “The conversation very recently has shifted to who has to use less.” In the midst of long-term drought, warming temperatures and decreasing runoff, water managers are gearing up for the next round of negotiations to divvy up the Colorado River’s supply in the future. Tribal water users are hoping to have a bigger say in those basin-wide negotiations, and to finally correct an historic injustice by ensuring universal access to clean water for tribes. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our work. Go to climateone.org/donate to help us reach our goal of $10,000 by July 1. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever have a difficult conversation about climate? Pretty much everyone has. Knowing all the facts and figures only goes so far when talking to someone who just doesn’t agree. So how do we break through the barriers? Scientists trained to present information in a one-way lecture format face a particular challenge: they first need to unlearn old habits. “Everybody's trying to figure out ‘how do we move past this idea that just arming people with facts will lead to a better world,’ right, because we’ve just seen that that’s absolutely not true,” says Faith Kearns, author of Getting to the Heart of Science Communication. Kearns argues that we all need to move from an “information deficit” model of communication – where it’s assumed that the audience simply needs more information – to a relational model, where the science communicator does as much listening as talking in order to first find empathy and common ground. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If corporations can be legal persons, why can’t Mother Earth? In 2017, New Zealand granted the Whanganui River the full legal rights of a person. India also recently granted full legal rights to the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, and recognized that the Himalayan Glaciers have a right to exist. In 2019, the city of Toledo passed the Lake Erie Bill of Rights with 61 percent of the vote, but then a year later, a federal judge struck it down. As Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin, an attorney who represented Lake Erie, explains, the problem stems from a 500-year history of Western property law. Our legal system grants rights to property owners, but not to property itself. “If we’re treating ecosystems as property, then ultimately, we as property owners have the right to destroy our property and that fundamentally has to change,” Schromen-Wawrin says. Rebecca Tsosie, a law professor focused on Federal Indian law and Indigenous peoples’ human rights, says there are other rights frameworks to consider. “If we go into Indigenous epistemology, many times it’s a relational universe that comes with mutual responsibility.” Guests: Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin, attorney at Shearwater Law, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund Rebecca Tsosie, Regents Professor of Law at the University of Arizona, Indigenous Peoples’ Law and Policy Program Carol Van Strum, author of A Bitter Fog, activist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mapping has emerged as a powerful tool for helping humans combat climate disruption. Technology for measuring the totality of global carbon emissions, for example, is highly refined: we know that half of all the carbon pollution humans have dumped into the sky has happened in just the last three decades. But understanding the specific sources of those emissions at the scale of factories or communities has been more elusive. Riley Duren, CEO of Carbon Mapper, has said, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” Carbon Mapper, a public-private partnership that includes universities and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and is backed by philanthropists, uses satellites to pinpoint super emitters of both CO2 and methane in real time with the goal of reducing emissions. But this isn’t the only technology that may point the way toward a better understanding of climate threats and potential solutions. The Catholic Church, for example, holds vast tracts of land across the globe. But until Molly Burhans came on the scene, the Vatican had no real understanding of what they own. Burhans founded her nonprofit mapping organization Goodlands to provide the Church with the tools to use their landholdings to address issues ranging from erosion and biodiversity loss to climate migration. On the local level, Ariane Middel’s research uses a human-sized mobile weather station to look at variations in actual heat on the ground, chronicling how small differences in landscape and urban design can add up to major differences in heat impacts experienced by those who live and work in various built environments. Guests: Molly Burhans, Founder / Executive Director, GoodLands Riley Duren, CEO, Carbon Mapper Ariane Middel, Senior Sustainability Scientist, Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What motivates the activists? Grassroots activism can take many forms, from protests to letter-writing to citizen science to community organizing. But these often more local forms of activism can get short shrift compared to the more powerful, national players in climate and environmental movements. Nick Mullins, a former fifth-generation coal miner, grew up seeing multiple generations of his family endure hardships created by our nation’s demand for cheap coal. In search of decent pay, he became a miner himself – but he eventually left the industry in search of justice for his mountain communities. James Coleman started his career as a teenage climate activist before becoming the youngest elected public official in California in over 100 years. San Francisco activist Marie Harrison fought against environmental contamination of her community by the U.S. Navy and a fossil-fuel-burning power plant – and now her daughter, Arieann Harrison, has picked up her mantle to continue pushing for environmental justice. Mullins, Coleman, and dozens of activists featured in Audrea Lim’s book The World We Need, Stories and Lessons from America’s Unsung Environmental Movement represent just a fraction of those motivated to take action on climate. “The thing about grassroots activism, actually, apart from the stereotype is that it’s really just people in a community who see a problem and then they get together on their own and try to find a solution to it,” says Audrea Lim. What can grassroots activists do that national organizations can’t? And what can their stories and experiences teach us? Guests: Nick Mullins, former fifth-generation coal miner, blogger, Thoughts of a Coal Miner Audrea Lim, Journalist & Editor, The World We Need, Stories and Lessons from America’s Unsung Environmental Movement James Coleman, City Councilor, South San Francisco Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do our identities and values shape the way we listen to others’ climate experience? Author Nathaniel Rich and journalist Meera Subramanian cover the hopes, fears, and middle-of-the-night concerns affecting the people living closest to climate change. In Georgia, farmers were convinced that climate is a political issue — until too-warm winters began upending the Peach State’s prized crop. In a wealthy Los Angeles suburb, an invisible methane gas leak caused outrage and hysteria for local residents concerned about personal health and property values — but not the climate. “I think we've all gotten really used to telling our stories, putting them out there in the world, and it sometimes feels like maybe not so many people are actually listening to them,” Subramanian says. “And so I think sometimes showing up as a journalist and just being all ears can feel kind of profound.” Guests: Nathaniel Rich, Author, Losing Earth; Second Nature Meera Subramanian, Environmental Journalist Have you ever had a difficult conversation about climate? A disagreement, perhaps, or coming to terms with a new reality? We’d like to hear your stories. Please call (650) 382-3869 and leave us a voicemail about your toughest climate conversation. Or drop us a line at climateone@gmail.com. We may use your story in an upcoming episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the US, we’ve become accustomed to climate – like nearly everything else – being politicized. Even when potential solutions might benefit everyone, a zero-sum mentality has taken hold where there’s an “us” and a “them” and progress for them comes at the expense of us. “Racism in our politics and policymaking is distorting our ability to respond to big problems and to advance collective solutions,” says political strategist Heather McGhee. But does it have to be this way? Can we look to the UK and elsewhere for a different model? Is it even possible to make the whole planet a winner? Guests: Heather McGhee, Political Strategist & Author, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together Rebecca Willis, Researcher & Author, Too Hot to Handle? The Democratic Challenge of Climate Change We have been nominated for a Webby! Please give us your vote as the Best Science and Education Limited Series in the 25th Annual People's Voice Award below: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2021/podcasts/limited-series-specials/science-education Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guests: Tamara Conry, Camp Fire survivor Julia Fay Bernal, director of Pueblo Action Alliance Britt Wray, postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University focused on the intersection of mental health and the climate crisis The impacts of climate change may come fast or slow. A wildfire amplified by drought may rip through a town in a matter of hours, or rising seas may take years to destroy a neighborhood. Health impacts may show up in months, or take the form of devastating cancer rates that rise over a decade. Regardless of speed or intensity, the climate emergency will impact us all. How do we live alongside climate disruption? This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Related Links: Pueblo Action Alliance Eco-anxiety and Gen Dread We have been nominated for a Webby! Please give us your vote as the Best Science and Education Limited Series in the 25th Annual People's Voice Award below: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2021/podcasts/limited-series-specials/science-education Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many of us, the story of the American wilderness begins when Europeans arrived on these shores and began conquering it. The wide open spaces of the American West loom large in our country’s mythology. But what often gets written out is the history and culture of those native societies who were here to begin with — and whose relationship to this land is very different. And while one-percenters have contributed generously to preserve and protect the pristine wilderness they love, the people who work for them are often struggling, working two or three jobs. How are public and private land interests competing in the American West? Can conservation and recreation coalesce in a way that is inclusive of all communities? Guests: Dina Gilio-Whitaker, American Indian Studies Lecturer, California State University San Marcos Justin Farrell, Author, Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultra-Wealthy and the Remaking of the American West (Princeton University Press, 2020) Diane Regas, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Trust for Public Land Jessica Newton, Founder, Vibe Tribe Adventures For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speakers: Julian Brave NoiseCat, Vice President of Policy and Strategy, Data for Progress Julie Pullen, Director of Product, Jupiter Intelligence Alicia Seiger, Managing Director, Sustainable Finance Initiative, Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford University The COVID-19 shutdown has hit women and minorities hardest: four times as many women as men dropped out of the workforce in September 2020, with Latina and Black women seeing the highest levels of unemployment. The Biden Administration’s COVID recovery plans promise to prioritize climate and equity alongside economic growth—can those values carry over to a post-pandemic workforce that doesn’t leave anyone behind? “The solutions to climate expand far beyond simple carbon math,” says Alicia Seiger of Stanford University. How will climate resilience be built into America's economic recovery? Related Links: The American Rescue Plan Data for Progress Jupiter Intelligence Precourt Institute for Energy The All We Can Save Project Waterfront Alliance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guests: Sandra Kwak, CEO and Founder, 10Power Donnel Baird, CEO, BlocPower Andreas Karelas, Author, Climate Courage: How Tackling Climate Change Can Build Community, Transform the Economy, and Bridge the Political Divide in America Summary: As the spring of 2021 arrives, it would be hard to design a more challenging — or more promising — moment for implementing climate solutions. Americans are reeling from an economic shutdown that’s pushed many out of the workforce, and widened the gap between the wealthy and the poor. In this brave new post-Covid world, can President Biden step up where Obama couldn’t? “I'm delighted about what I'm seeing from the Biden-Harris team,” notes Donnel Baird, CEO of BlocPower. “Climate justice and racial equality are wedded together alongside employment, alongside public health and working our way out of these kinds of four simultaneous crises we’re dealing with.” From big tech to clean energy, what are the opportunities for scaling new solutions — and where do inequity and politics continue to set us back? Related links: 10Power BlocPower Climate Courage Re-volv Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Warmer, shorter winters may sound like an impact of climate change that would inspire more joy than despair. But rising temperatures and decreasing snowpack won’t just transform water supplies and species ranges. It will also disrupt a multi-billion dollar winter sport industry, including the jobs and local economies associated with them. “If we're not able to ski or snowboard anymore,” says Mario Molina, CEO of Protect Our Winters, “the least of our concerns will be the activities that we participate in.” So how are winter sports enthusiasts and others preparing to weather the storm? Speakers: Elizabeth Burakowski, Assistant Professor, Earth Systems Research Center, University of New Hampshire Kit DesLauriers, National Geographic Explorer; Skimountaineer Geraldine Link, Director of Public Policy, National Ski Areas Association Mario Molina, CEO, Protect our Winters Related Links: Protect Our Winters Higher Love: Climbing and Skiing the Seven Summits National Ski Areas Association Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guests: Céline Cousteau, Explorer and Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, Director, An Inconvenient Truth; Founder, Concordia Studio Cristina Mittermeier, National Geographic Photographer; Co-Founder, SeaLegacy While IPCC risk assessments and emission projections can help us understand climate change, they don’t exactly inspire the imagination or provoke a personal response to the crisis. But a growing league of storytellers is using photographs, films and the human experience to breathe life into the cerebral science of climate change and conservation. “It's not the blockbuster, big-splash film,” says explorer and filmmaker Céline Cousteau, “It's truth, it’s intimacy, and some of it is ugly and some of it is beautiful.” So how far can images and sound go to inspire a global climate response? Related Links: He Named Me Malala My Octopus Teacher SeaLegacy Tribes on the Edge Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

True to his campaign promise, President Biden dove right into the climate crisis on Day One, signing a stack of executive orders that signaled his determination. But how effective are they? “Executive orders, I think, are often very splashy when they're introduced, and they get a lot of attention,” notes Axios reporter Ben Gemen. “I think the better way to look at an executive order is sort of firing a starting gun for an extraordinarily long race.” But while he faces certain blowback from Republicans in Congress, there are signs that when it comes to conservative thought, the wind may be changing. What can the Biden Administration accomplish using existing authority? How much will conservatives and businesses step in and step up on climate? Guests: Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), Chair of House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Rich Powell, Executive Director, ClearPath Ben Geman, Energy Reporter, Axios For complete show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just two months into 2021, deadly winter temperatures left millions of Texans without water and power. Meanwhile, California is preparing for another year of intense drought, and Wall Street millionaires are moving their remote work to Florida, ground zero for flooding and sea-level rise. “We think about the Earth as a system,” says Marshall Shepherd, director of Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia, “so we can't understand climate change unless we understand changes in the Arctic, or in the ocean circulations, or in the biosphere, and so forth.” “Hope or waiting and seeing is no longer a valid risk mitigation strategy." Guests: Katharine Mach, Associate Professor, Marine Ecosystems and Society, University of Miami Marshall Shepherd, Director, Atmospheric Sciences, University of Georgia For complete show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The long-term energy future of America is not going to be written in fossil fuels,” declared John Kerry last April. President Biden recently appointed the former Secretary of State to a top position in his climate cabinet - United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. Joe Biden did not start his campaign as the “climate candidate.” But as he starts his second month as president, he is looking at everything through a climate lens – from jobs and infrastructure to international diplomacy, public health and social justice. “He really is a person who was engaged somewhat in climate, but I don't think it was as yet sort of ingrained into him,” said former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “Well, it is now!” McCarthy and Kerry are just two of the climate leaders that President Joe Biden has tapped to put his ambitious climate plan into action. In this program, we revisit conversations with these and other Climate One guests from the past year that have been named to prominent roles in the Biden-Harris administration. Speakers: Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington Gina McCarthy, Former President & CEO, NRDC Action Fund John Kerry, Former U.S. Senator and Former Secretary of State Sonia Aggarwal, Former Vice President of Energy, Energy Innovation Brian Deese, Former Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainable Investing, BlackRock Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the past decade, narratives of a dystopian climate future have helped connect people with heroes in worlds decimated by climate disruption and industrial expansion. In today’s real world, scientists are looking to geo-engineering and other human innovations to preserve the wellbeing of life on Earth. “What we’re missing is a way to galvanize people to support policies that are actually gonna change,” says Jeff Biggers, founder of The Climate Narrative Project. So how can climate storytelling help us reckon with our changing environment? Do we need a new climate narrative to help us understand and solve the climate emergency? Guests: Jeff Biggers, Founder, The Climate Narrative Project Elizabeth Kolbert, Staff Writer, The New Yorker Kim Stanley Robinson, Science Fiction Author Related Links: Climate Narrative Project Resistance: Reclaiming an American Tradition The Ministry for the Future Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Experts have warned us that COVID-19 is just one example of climate change-related diseases on the rise. And while climate disruption, environmental health and the current pandemic may seem like three distinct problems, to those in the health and environmental justice field, that’s not the case. "All of them are connected," says Adrienne Hollis of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "And the underlying cause is systemic racism." "If you want to address pandemics, and you want to address climate change, you’ve got to focus on equity," agrees Aaron Bernstein of the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. "And the solution, and the great news in some ways, is that these actions you need to take are one and the same." How are heat, lack of sanitation, and other environmental issues killing Americans in underserved communities? A conversation on what happens when climate, health, and poverty converge. Guests: Catherine Coleman Flowers, Founder, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice; Author, Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret (The New Press, 2020) Adrienne Hollis, Senior Climate Justice and Health Scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists Aaron Bernstein, Interim Director, Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health For complete show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With a new pro-science, pro-climate action administration in the White House, there are more pathways — and far greater political will — than ever before for the clean energy transition. The question is now less about what can be done to act on climate, and more about how soon. “We have the best opportunity in more than a decade now to see federal climate action through legislation,” says Leah Stokes from UC Santa Barbara. So how quickly can a new administration turn around a gutted EPA, myriad environmental law rollbacks, and a legacy of climate denial from fossil fuel companies? Guests: Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science, Penn State University Leah Stokes, Assistant Professor of Political Science, UC Santa Barbara Related Links: Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet Short Circuiting Policy: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A decade ago, a nationwide survey showed that only around twelve percent of Americans were seriously concerned about climate change. Today, public perceptions have changed. “The alarmed are between a quarter and 30% of the public,” says Edward Maibach. “That makes them the largest single segment of Americans…as their name implies, they’re alarmed about climate change.” How does understanding the perceptions of a broadly concerned public enable our leaders to create lasting change? How do climate concerns break down across political, economic, and regional divides? A conversation with Anthony Leiserowitz and Edward Maibach, recipients of the tenth annual Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication. At a time when understanding climate perceptions has never been more important, Dr. Leiserowitz and Dr. Maibach have exemplified the ability to be both scientists and powerful communicators through their work on the public’s understanding of climate change, including the seminal Global Warming’s Six Americas project. Guests: Anthony Leiserowitz, Director and Senior Research Scientist, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication Edward Maibach, Director, George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication Host: Greg Dalton Related Links: Global Warming’s Six Americas Yale Climate Connections Podcast Climate Matters – Jim Gandy Climate Matters in the Newsroom White House Fact Sheet: President Biden’s Executive Actions on Climate Change Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hopes and expectations are high for President Biden’s first weeks in office. His recovery plans promise to take on COVID-19, a battered economy, and a rapid clean energy transition in a way that doesn’t leave communities behind. But Navajo Nation, which until recently was home to the largest coal-fired power plant in the U.S., has been left out of economic and energy plans for a long time. “The community that has been the provider is the one that has the most homes that don't have access to electricity,” notes Wahleah Johns, Co-Founder and Director of Native Renewables. Can the incoming administration improve energy access for all Americans while phasing out fossil fuels? Guests Loretta Lynch, Former President, California Public Utilities Commission Wahleah Johns, Co-Founder & Director, Native Renewables Paula Glover, President, Alliance to Save Energy; former President and CEO, American Association of Blacks in Energy Jeremiah Baumann, Director of Federal Policy, Energy Innovation Visit our website for more information on today's episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Incoming President Biden faces an unimaginable set of challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, a gutted economy and a nation reeling from the recent capital attack. With all of that and more on his plate, what of Biden’s plans to fight climate change? “This President-elect has shown that he is absolutely committed to addressing the issue of climate,” says former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman. “Because it affects everything.” Advancing a bipartisan climate agenda will be a hard sell. But in his nearly four decades in the Senate, Biden has made friends and earned respect from his Republican peers. “That isn’t gonna fix everything, of course not,” admits former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. But if you start with that...there are enough Republicans in the Senate who will respond to that.” Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Christine Todd Whitman, former Governor of New Jersey, former EPA Administrator Chuck Hagel, former U.S. Secretary of Defense; former Republican Senator from Nebraska John Podesta, Founder, Center for American Progress; former Hillary Clinton Campaign Chairman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Questioning science, funding vocal climate denial groups, and encouraging the focus on personal carbon footprints are corporate America’s preferred tools for shifting the responsibility for action on climate from industry to the individual. “Companies that are very much pro-climate action, that are acting in their own operations, are mostly silent on public policy,” says Bill Weihl, former Sustainability Director at Facebook. But with more workers holding their employers accountable and the start of a departure from shareholder-first capitalism, is the role of the corporation shifting? Visit our website for more information on today's episode. Guests: Mike Toffel, Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management, Harvard Business School; Founder, Climate Rising Podcast Emily Atkin, Climate Journalist, Heated Newsletter & Podcast Bill Weihl, Founder and Executive Director, ClimateVoice; Former Sustainability Director, Facebook Barbara Freese, Author, Industrial-Strength Denial: Eight Stories of Corporations Defending the Indefensible, from the Slave Trade to Climate Change Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twenty years ago, Julia Roberts won an Oscar for her portrayal of maverick environmental activist Erin Brockovich in the film of the same name. These days, in addition to her work on water safety and toxins in communities, Brockovich has taken on the climate emergency. In her mind, the connection is fundamental. “Climate change is about too much water, not enough water, no water, drought, flooding,” Brockovich says, adding, “It’s becoming real because it's tangible, it's touchable. You're running from it, you’re breathing it. You're swimming in it. You could be drowning in it. I just think it's here.” Also, New York Times reporter Tatiana Schlossberg on how everyday choices – like deciding what to eat, wear or binge-watch – may impact the planet more than you think. And two experts on sustainable apparel uncover the hidden carbon footprint stuffed in our drawers, closets and gym bags. Visit our website for more information on today's episode. Guests: Erin Brockovich, Author, Superman's Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It (Pantheon, 2020) Tatiana Schlossberg, Author, Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have (Grand Central Publishing, 2019) Rebecca Burgess, Founder and Director, Fibershed Amina Razvi, Executive Director, Sustainable Apparel Coalition Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President-elect Joe Biden says he will infuse climate change into every corner of his agenda. That’s becoming evident looking at his emerging team. "You're already seeing signs from the nominees and the people they’re choosing that climate is going to be a part of every single agency," says Christy Goldfuss, Senior Vice President for Energy and Environment Policy at the Center for American Progress. But it will take more than staff buy-in to get the country to net-zero emissions. When he’s sworn in on January 20th, Biden will likely be facing a Republican-led Senate that opposes his climate goals. He’s announced an ambitious plan designed to achieve a one-hundred-percent clean economy and net-zero emissions by 2050, and is assembling a team of heavy hitters to get the job done. But he faces criticism from both sides. Republicans claim his plan is too expensive. Sunrise Movement and other progressives accuse him of not being ambitious enough. Join us for a discussion about the Biden climate agenda -- what he hopes to accomplish and what he can get done, with or without congressional support. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Scott Segal, Partner, Bracewell LLP Christy Goldfuss, Senior Vice President, Energy and Environment Policy, Center for American Progress J ared Blumenfeld, Secretary for Environmental Protection, California Amy Westervelt, Founder, Critical Frequency Podcast Network; Host, Drilled Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maintaining a consumption-driven economy while keeping emissions down seems more and more like a pipe dream -- is it time to re-think capitalism altogether? “The only thing it requires is a massive cultural and political movement changing the rules that constrain capitalism,” says Rebecca Henderson, author of Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire, “but as soon as we can do that we’re done.” Short of a whole new capitalism, can the stock market be used as a tool for climate action? We may not all be managing billions in assets, but can we use our nest eggs to help finance a green economy? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests (Part 1) Rebecca Henderson, John and Natty McArthur University Professor, Harvard University Hope Jahren, Researcher, Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics, University of Oslo This program was originally broadcast on June 26, 2020. Guests (Part 2) Brian Deese, Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainable Investing, BlackRock Lori Keith, Portfolio Manager, Parnassus Investments Pratima Rangarajan, CEO, Oil and Gas Climate Initiative This program was originally broadcast on April 24, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Throughout a 45-year career as an environmental regulator, Mary Nichols has been a powerful champion for climate action and cutting emissions. Having been called everything from “Trump's nemesis” to “the most influential environmental regulator of all time,” Nichols has both taken on automakers and collaborated with them. Environmentalists have cheered her moves to limit carbon emissions, while occasionally criticizing her for not doing enough for disadvantaged communities. So where does California’s climate leadership go from here, and what’s ahead for a new national climate agenda in 2021? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guest: Mary Nichols Chair, California Air Resources Board This program was recorded via video on November 17, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Unprecedented” is one of the most overused words of 2020, but it reflects the superstorm of disruption brought on by an overlapping pandemic, racial justice awakening, and presidential election. For the first time ever, climate change galvanized a record number of voters to elect Joe Biden to the Presidency. How has the focus on climate shifted in a year shaped by multiple social and economic crises? Join us for a look back on a year of climate conversations like no other. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests (in order of appearance): Justin Worland, Senior Climate Correspondent, TIME Katharine Wilkinson, Vice President, Project Drawdown Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Marine Biologist; co-author, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis Darryl Molina Sarmiento, Executive Director, Communities for a Better Environment Kevin de Léon, Los Angeles City Councillor; Former President, California State Senate Susan Clayton, Professor of Psychology; Chair of Environmental Studies, College of Wooster Peter Atwater, Adjunct Professor of Economics, College of William & Mary Aaron Bernstein, Interim Director of The Center for Climate Health and the Global Environment, Harvard School of Public Health Amy Jaffe, Director, Program on Energy Security and Climate Change, Council on Foreign Relations Kathleen Day, Finance Lecturer, Johns Hopkins University Tamara Toles O’Laughlin, North America Director, 350.org Gina McCarthy, President, NRDC Action Fund; Former Administrator, US EPA Saul Griffith, Founder and Chief Scientist, Otherlab Chase Purdy, Author, Billion Dollar Burger: Inside Big Tech’s Race for the Future of Food. Sophie Egan, Author, How to Be a Conscious Eater: Making Food Choices That Are Good for You, Others, and the Planet Hui He, China Regional Director, International Council on Clean Transportation Colin McKerracher, Head of Transport Analysis, BloombergNEF Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is this the end of the road for the internal combustion engine? California isn’t the first major economy to ban gas-powered cars and trucks, and it won’t be the last. Fifteen countries, including some of the world’s top auto markets, have announced plans to phase out gas-powered engines as a step toward a 100% zero-emission vehicle future. It’s a bold move, but a critical one for climate. Transportation emits more greenhouse gas than any other sector of the US economy, and 15% of all global emissions come from road transport. What does this mean for drivers, for automakers, for infrastructure and for businesses that depend on a gas-powered economy? Can we get to a zero-emission future quickly enough? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Part 1 Craig Scott, Group Manager, Toyota North America Katie Sloan, Clean Energy and Electrification Executive, Southern California Edison; Board Member, CalStart Emily Castor Warren, Senior Policy Advisor, Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Guests: Part 2 Colin McKerracher, Head of Advanced Transport analysis at BloombergNEF Hui He, ICCT China Regional Director This program was recorded in November 2020 and is underwritten by the ClimateWorks Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this program, we revisit two Climate One programs from earlier in the year. First, events of the past year, including the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black citizens by police, have shone a glaring spotlight on the racism embedded in every aspect of American society. How can we amplify and advocate for leaders of color in the fight against climate change? Can art help us process our changing climate? The story of climate change is typically told in the language of facts and figures, graphs and charts. But through dance, music, sculpture and other media, artists can reach people on a deeper and more emotional level, designing cultural moments that can bring us together - and bring us to tears. Choreographer Alonzo King sees the union of art and science as the perfect balancing act. “There is nothing that exists that you can create that does not have science -- it's impossible,” says King. “There's nothing that doesn't have music. It's impossible.” Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Part 1 Mustafa Santiago Ali, Vice President of Environmental Justice, Climate, and Community Revitalization, National Wildlife Federation Glynda Carr, CEO and Co-Founder, Higher Heights for America Robert Bullard, Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy, Texas Southern University This program was first broadcast on July 3, 2020. Guests: Part 2 Alonzo King, Choreographer and Founder, LINES Ballet Nora Lawrence, Senior Curator, Storm King Art Center Additional Speaker: Adam Schoenberg, Composer This program was generously underwritten by the Sidney E. Frank Foundation and was first broadcast on August 28, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harvest season is especially hard this year as the pandemic strains farmers and food systems, highlighting a deeply divided and often unjust America. Black farmers are no strangers to the intersection of these challenges, as structural racism in the food system makes it increasingly challenging for non-white farmers to own and profit from land. Is small-scale, regenerative agriculture a solution to climate disruption? How have years of redlining and discriminatory real estate policies shaped land ownership in the US? How is climate gentrification shaping access to land? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Amber Tamm, farmer and horticulturist Chris Newman, farmer and co-founder, Sylvanaqua Farms Andrew Kahrl, Professor of History and African-American Studies, University of Virginia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2020 campaign season has finally come to a close. And days after November 3rd has passed, the country is still reeling. About seventy percent of Americans - Democrats, Independents and Republicans - say the election caused a significant amount of anxiety and stress in their lives. That’s up from fifty percent four years ago. How should we process those difficult emotions surrounding the election? Climate psychologist Renée Lertzman recommends practicing self-awareness and self-care. “It’s very important for us each to know what our own thresholds are,” she says. “So knowing when it's time to sort of disengage and to take care of ourselves. To do what we need to do to restore our sense of being grounded, of being connected, of being in balance. So definitely, it’s a balancing act.” Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: David Roberts, Energy & Climate Change Writer, Vox Renée Lertzman, Climate Engagement Strategist, author and founder of Project InsideOut Eric Utne, Founder, Utne Reader; Author, Far Out Man: Tales of Life in the Counterculture (Penguin Random House, 2020) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the role of power in deciding the fate of a planet? 2020 has seen a reckoning with various forms of power embedded in racial, gender, and generational identities. As we think about a transfer of U.S. presidential power, what can we learn about how other types of power are shaping our climate and our future? “It is precisely for people when they vote to not just think of the vote as voting for health or voting for schools or libraries, but to start connecting the dots,” says Dorceta Taylor, an original leader of the environmental justice movement. “That's another dimension of power.” Guests: Dorceta Taylor, Professor, Professor of Environmental Justice, Yale School for the Environment Jamie Margolin, Co-Executive Director, Zero Hour; Author, Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use It This program was recorded via video on October 26, 2020 and September 15, 2020. Visit our website for full show notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can we break up the political logjam on climate? “The brokenness of our politics,” says Republican political strategist Stephen Schmidt, “is that we have 90% agreement on a dozen different solutions that we cannot get through the state or federal legislative processes -- because of the systemic brokenness of politics.” Not long ago, Democrats and Republicans basically agreed on climate change. Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzennegger put California at the head of the charge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Senator John McCain crossed the proverbial aisle to co-sponsor three versions of the Climate Stewardship Act -- none of which made it through the senate. In today’s ultra-partisan climate, when even wearing a face mask is seen as a political statement, can both parties ever get on the same page? “I do think that one of the aspects, if we want to move climate change forward as an issue,” Schmidt continues, “is that the two sides, they’re gonna have to learn to speak American to each other.” Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Steve Schmidt, Co-Founder, The Lincoln Project; Former Senior Presidential Campaign Strategist, John McCain Varshini Prakash, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Sunrise Movement, co-author, Winning the Green New Deal: Why We Must, How We Can (Simon & Schuster, 2020) This program was recorded on September 18 and September 24, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Environmental groups like NRDC, 350.org, and Greenpeace helped move climate onto the presidential agenda last year, pushing Joe Biden and other Democrats’ stance on bold action. Now organizers and advocates are backing recovery plans that bolster clean energy jobs, help strengthen communities, and dismantle systems that exploit people and the planet. “We’re not calling for a referendum on business as usual,” says Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, North America Director of 350.org, “we’re calling for the end of business as usual.” Can activism finally bring America’s political ambitions in line with climate science? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Annie Leonard, Executive Director, Greenpeace USA Gina McCarthy, President & CEO, NRDC Action Fund Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, North America Director, 350.org This program was recorded via live stream on September 22, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pathways for reducing carbon emissions include electrifying transportation, replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar power. But in this time of national reckoning on racial and economic disparities there is growing support for a more holistic approach. This view holds that the climate crisis won’t be resolved until we first address the systemic imbalances that have fueled it - racism, capitalism, white supremacy and patriarchy. In their new book, All We Can Save:Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, co-editors Katharine Wilkinson and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson bring together the voices of women artists, writers and changemakers who are at the forefront of climate action. “The work that we’re doing is instigating or nurturing a feminist climate renaissance,” says Johnson, “which is what we feel the climate movement so desperately needs right now.” Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist Katharine Wilkinson, Vice President, Project Drawdown Co-editors, All We Can Save:Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis Christine Nieves Rodriguez, Co-founder and President, Emerge Puerto Rico. Sherri Mitchell, author, Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change Heather McTeer Toney, National Field Director, Moms Clean Air Force Jainey Bavishi, Director, Mayor's Office of Resiliency, New York City Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Technology has helped the world survive, thrive and stay connected through the COVID-19 lockdown. As countries look toward re-opening in a post-pandemic world, does tech hold the same promise in the fight to solve climate change? From mapping weather patterns with pinpoint accuracy using artificial intelligence, to engineering algae that gobbles up carbon dioxide, climate tech is ripe with breakthroughs. “The technology is there,” says inventor and entrepreneur Saul Griffith, ”it’s now down to the politics and the financing.” Guests: Saul Griffith, Founder & Chief Scientist, Otherlab Valerie Shen, Chief Operating Officer, G2VP Michael Wilshire, Head of Strategy, Bloomberg NEF This program was recorded on August 18, 2020. For full show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twenty years ago, Julia Roberts won an Oscar for her portrayal of maverick environmental activist Erin Brockovich in the film of the same name. These days, in addition to her work on water safety and toxins in communities, Brockovich has taken on the climate emergency. “Climate change is about too much water, not enough water, no water, drought, flooding,” Brockovich says. “I think it's becoming real because it's tangible, it's touchable. You're running from it, you’re breathing it. You're swimming in it. You could be drowning in it. I just think it's here.” Superman’s not coming to protect our water or environment, writes Brockovich in her latest book — and neither are corporations, politicians or the “gutted” EPA. “Climate change will be about our response, our preparedness, our defending ourselves,” Brockovich maintains. “And not just thinking that because you can’t see it, it’s not going to happen.” An unfiltered conversation with an environmental icon. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Erin Brockovich, Author, Superman's Not Coming: Our National Water Crisis and What We the People Can Do About It (Pantheon, 2020) This interview was recorded via video on September 11, 2020 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From pipelines to clean power, the world’s biggest economies are brokering developments in oil, gas, and renewables that will shape climate and politics for years to come. But COVID, plummeting oil prices, and expectations for diversity and sustainability are changing the way successful industries must do business. “This isn't about supply and demand, this is about the economies being open or closed,” says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Yergn. Will the pursuit of energy and economic efficiency help solve our global dependence on fossil fuels — or leave many societies behind? Guests: Daniel Yergin, Author, The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations Roger Martin, Author, When More is Not Better: Overcoming America’s Obsession with Economic Efficiency This program was recorded on August 24 and September 14, 2020. Visit our website for more information on today's episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wildfires are nothing new – they’ve been part of the west’s ecology for millennia. But burning fossil fuels and suppressing the burning of forests over the past century have led to larger, more frequent and ever-more catastrophic wildfires. And burning trees release carbon dioxide. California’s fires now are so big and fierce that they threaten to erase the state’s progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And even for those miles from the flames, the smoke from raging wildfires presents an extra danger in the age of coronavirus. "How and when exposure to wildfire smoke increases the likelihood of infection with COVID-19, we’re still trying to figure that out," says Vin Gupta of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. "But there is a clear symmetry between exposure and the likelihood of infection." Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Part 1: Wade Crowfoot, California Secretary of Natural Resources Julie Cart, Reporter, CalMatters Part 2: Leroy Westerling, Professor of Management of Complex Systems, University of California Merced Part 3: Vin Gupta, Affiliate Assistant Professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington Additional speaker: Lenya Quinn-Davidson, Director of the Northern California Prescribed Fire Council. This episode was recorded in August 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The cost and health burdens of electricity production have long been higher for low-income communities of color than for wealthy white ones. But for many of those communities the fossil fuel industry is also a source of jobs, tax dollars, and cheap energy. “It makes it difficult for anyone to speak out against the hand that’s feeding them,” says Ivan Penn, Alternative Energy Reporter for the New York Times. “The NAACP would typically support the positions of the utility companies.” So is the industry an example of community leadership, manipulative greenwashing — or something in between? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Speakers: Derrick Hollie, President, Reaching America Jacqueline Patterson, Director, NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program Ivan Penn, Alternative Energy Reporter, The New York Times Vien Truong, Climate Justice Director, Tom Steyer PAC Additional Speaker: Andres Soto, Richmond Community Organizer, Communities for a Better Environment This program was recorded via video on August 11, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can art help us process our changing climate? The story of climate change is typically told in the language of facts and figures, graphs and charts. But through dance, music, sculpture and other media, artists can reach people on a deeper and more emotional level, designing cultural moments that can bring us together - and bring us to tears. Choreographer Alonzo King sees the union of art and science as the perfect balancing act. “There is nothing that exists that you can create that does not have science -- it's impossible,” says King. “There's nothing that doesn't have music. It's impossible.” A conversation about art, beauty and humanity in the age of climate disruption. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Alonzo King, Choreographer and Founder, LINES Ballet Nora Lawrence, Senior Curator, Storm King Art Center Additional Speaker: Adam Schoenberg, Composer This program was generously underwritten by the Sidney E. Frank Foundation and was recorded via video on August 6, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coronavirus outbreaks in food markets, food plants, and farmworker communities have impacted food access and put a spotlight on food insecurity. Farmers are hurting as supply chains for fresh, perishable foods shrivel, while food banks have seen a surge in demand that has required distribution support from the National Guard. “Farmers saw a lot of increased demand direct to consumer, which requires extra labor, extra packaging -- just so much time essentially creating a whole new business model,” says Lisa Held, Senior Reporter with Civil Eats. Will COVID-19 change our food system for good? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Lisa Held, Senior Policy Reporter, Civil Eats Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Food and Agriculture Helene York, Professor, Food Business School, Culinary Institute of America Additional speakers: Shay Myers, CEO, Owyhee Produce Gabriel Morales, Program Director, Brandworkers This program was recorded via video on July 30, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Miami may be the poster child of rising waters in the U.S., but further inland, states are grappling with torrential flooding that is becoming the new norm. The Great Flood of 2019 caused destroyed acres of farmland and caused billions in damage throughout the Midwest. And scientists predict that there’s more climate-related precipitation to come. What does that mean for America’s aging infrastructure? “It’s absolutely going to fail for future climate events,” warns Martha Shulski of the Nebraska State Climate Office. “If you're not planning for the climate of 2040 or 2060 then there's going to be failure. There's going to be impacts in a very extreme way perhaps.” What happens when there is too much water — or not enough? “The problem with water is we treat it as if it’s, you know, inexhaustible,” says Betsy Otto, Global Water Director at the World Resources Institute. How are companies and communities planning for a future of water saturation and scarcity? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Julia Kumari Drapkin, CEO and Founder, ISeeChange Ed Kearns, Chief Data Officer, First Street Foundation Martha Shulski, Director, Nebraska State Climate Office; Nebraska State Climatologist Betsy Otto, Global Water Director, World Resources Institute Additional interview: Jack Mulliken, farmer in Northeast Nebraska This program was recorded on July 28 and August 4, 2020, and is generously underwritten by the Water Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Long before the coronavirus began disrupting America’s trillion-dollar meat industry, lab-grown proteins were upending the way we consume chicken, pork, and beef. With an environmental footprint far smaller than traditional animal agriculture, are cell-cultured and plant-based meat products — now on the menus of major chains like Burger King — still the future of food? "While no one should reasonably be expected to eat a thousand dollar, million dollar burger, so too should we really be questioning the concept of a dollar burger," says Sophie Egan, author of How to Be a Conscious Eater: Making Food Choices That Are Good for You, Others, and the Planet. Will food science and tech help us make better-informed decisions for our bodies and the planet, or do we need to get back to basics? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Sophie Egan, Author, How to Be a Conscious Eater: Making Food Choices That Are Good for You, Others, and the Planet Chase Purdy, Author, Billion Dollar Burger: Inside Big Tech’s Race for the Future of Food Additional Speaker: Riana Lynn, CEO of Journey Foods This program was recorded via video on July 9, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Science has given us a realistic picture of what Earth will look like with unmitigated climate change: increased extreme weather events, crippled economies, and a world where those with the least are the hardest hit. By creating community and sharing feelings of fear and determination, “you can rely on each other and feed off each other…having an ecosystem of all these different people and entities and organizations that are involved in this great transformation effort is so critical,” says Project Drawdown VP Katharine Wilkinson. What would a radically re-envisioned future look like? What solutions do we need to replace tomorrow’s doom-and-gloom projections with thriving equitable cities, renewed political consciousness and carbon-free economies? A conversation on reimagining our role in creating climate solutions. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Eric Holthaus, Author, The Future Earth: A Radical Vision for What's Possible in the Age of Warming (HarperOne, 2020) Katharine Wilkinson, Vice President, Project Drawdown Additional Speaker: Michael Méndez, assistant professor of environmental planning and policy at the University of California, Irvine This program was recorded via video on July 21, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many of us, the story of the American wilderness begins when Europeans arrived on these shores and began conquering it. The wide open spaces of the American West loom large in our country’s mythology. But what often gets written out is the history and culture of those native societies who were here to begin with - and whose relationship to this land is very different. In some places like Jackson Hole, Wyoming, one-percenters contribute generously to preserve and protect the pristine wilderness they love, while the people who work for them are often struggling, working two or three jobs. “The idea of ...giving your time and philanthropy to protect nature is through this elite sort of white lens that can be based on, you know, this romanticized view of nature,” Farrell says. “And a nature that for example for Yellowstone had to remove certain people to create that Eden.” How are public and private land interests competing in the American West? Can conservation and recreation coalesce in a way that is inclusive of all communities? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Dina Gilio-Whitaker, American Indian Studies Lecturer, California State University San Marcos Justin Farrell, Author, Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultra-Wealthy and the Remaking of the American West (Princeton University Press, 2020) Diane Regas, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Trust for Public Land Additional interview: Jessica Newton, Founder, Vibe Tribe Adventures This program was recorded via video on July 7, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to cut U.S. carbon emissions by 7.5% in 2020 — exactly the rate needed globally to meet the climate goals outlined in the Paris Agreement. Can other major economies like China and Europe make plans to decarbonize at the same rate without throwing their economies over a cliff? What happens when the world’s top clean energy exporters are also the top greenhouse gas emitters? With post-COVID economic recovery plans taking precedence, will the transition to a clean economy be pushed to the back burner? Guests: John Kerry, Former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Justin Wu, Head of Asia-Pacific, Bloomberg NEF David Sandalow, Inaugural Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University Julia Poliscanova, Senior Director of Vehicles & E-mobility, Transport & Environment Lisa Fischer, Senior Policy Advisor, E3G This program was recorded between April 21 and June 26, 2020. Visit our website for complete show notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Racism, police and the pandemic are dominating hearts and headlines, but will they translate to votes in national and regional elections? One study found wavering Trump voters rank immigration and climate change as top reasons for a possible vote change, but it’s unclear if that will materialize. Other studies contend climate doesn’t even rank on the minds of swing voters. Young, liberal Americans are leading the charge on climate, but Bernie Sanders learned they are more likely to protest than vote. What issues are top of mind for Obama-Trump voters in swing states? How will the Coronavirus and racial justice crises of 2020 impact voters this cycle? Guests: Tiffany Cross, Co-Founder, The Beat DC; Author, Say It Louder! Black Voters, White Narratives, and Saving Our Democracy Rich Thau, President & Co-founder, Engagious Rick Wilson, Republican Political Strategist This program was recorded via video on June 23, 2020. For full show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The national uprising ignited by the murder of George Floyd has cast a spotlight on the country’s embedded, institutional racism, including the fraught relationship between environmentalism and communities of color. Air pollution, severe weather and the economic upheaval brought on by climate change impacts black and minority communities first and worst, yet their voices are often left out of policy responses and market solutions. How can we amplify and advocate for leaders of color in the fight against climate change? What can allies do to create a green movement that is inclusive and actively anti-racist? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Mustafa Santiago Ali, Vice President of Environmental Justice, Climate, and Community Revitalization, National Wildlife Federation Glynda Carr, CEO and Co-Founder, Higher Heights for America Robert Bullard, Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy, Texas Southern University This program was recorded via video on June 11, 2020 This program was recorded via video on June 11, 2020 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Expanding oil extraction and clean energy, supporting capitalism while fighting climate change: can humans ever really have it all? In their new books, authors Hope Jahren and Rebecca Henderson explore how a healthy climate might coexist with a consumption-driven economy — and what we need to change to get the best of both worlds. Meanwhile, is Norway the perfect example of having it all — or just a walking contradiction? Like “a drug dealer who doesn’t use its own product”, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is the largest in the world, supported exclusively by petroleum revenues. As they continue to explore new avenues for drilling, the country has also moved away from using the fossil fuels they produce, electrifying their economy and leading in climate friendly technologies. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests (Part 1): Hope Jahren, Researcher, Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics, University of Oslo Rebecca Henderson, John and Natty McArthur University Professor, Harvard University Guests (Part 2): Richard Milne, Nordic and Baltic Correspondent, The Financial Times Sveinung Rotevatn, Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment Part 1 of this program was recorded on April 7, 2020. Part 2 of this program was recorded on May 25, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the global population approaches eight billion, humans continue to test the number of bodies that can fit onto a planet of finite resources. Empowering women through access to education and family planning may be at the core of establishing a healthy population balance, not just for the planet’s sake, but for ours. So why aren’t we talking about it more? How big a role can gender equity play in reducing our global carbon footprint — and who gets to decide? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Musimbi Kanyoro, Former President & CEO, Global Fund for Women; Chair of the Board, United World Colleges Ertharin Cousin, Visiting Scholar, Stanford Center on Food Security and the Environment; Former Director, World Food Programme Corrine Sanchez, Executive Director, Tewa Women United Additional Interview: Evelyne Ajwang, Programme Manager MNCH/FP at Pathfinder International This program was recorded via video on May 21, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With less than four months before early voting begins in the presidential election, America is enraged and inflamed across the country. People of all races are expressing their anger and solidarity in the streets and on social media. Separately, COVID infection rates are rising in over 20 states including South Carolina, Georgia, Utah and Washington. Still, primary voting continues apace. So how will the turmoil across America impact the November election? How will voters cast their ballots? And how will climate concerns rank amid racial strife and the global pandemic? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Vanessa Hauc, Journalist, Telemundo Jeff Nesbit, Executive Director, Climate Nexus Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder and Executive Director, Environmental Voter Project Additional interviews: Antony Leiserowitz Director, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication Natasha Kennedy, graphic designer in Seattle This program was recorded via live stream on June 3, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America's latest oil boom began with a bang, literally, on Earth Day, 2010. That’s when an offshore oil rig owned by BP exploded, killing eleven workers and spilling nearly five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. John Hofmeister, co-founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy, was in Washington D.C. at the time. “We simply have to get what are called negative emissions. The oil and gas industry, I think, is supremely qualified to have the scale, to have the engineers, to have this expertise, to undertake problems like that.” But can this tiger change its stripes? Heather Richards, who follows the oil industry for Energy & Environment News, is not so sure. “Even though [the oil and gas business] has expertise, I don't think it's necessarily quite as easy to shift this industry,” she says. “It's difficult I think from this seat to say with great confidence ‘we’re just gonna move into the offshore wind, we’ll just do that.’” Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: John Hofmeister, Former President, Shell Oil Company; Founder and Chief Executive, Citizens for Affordable Energy William K. Reilly, Former U.S. EPA Administrator; Co-Chair, National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Heather Richards, Energy Reporter, Energy & Environment News This program was recorded via video on May 19, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do we go about feeding a planet that’s hotter, drier, and more crowded than ever? The connection between global warming and the dinner table isn’t always obvious when we go to the grocery store. But our choices about how we put food on our plates, and what we do with the waste, contribute to as much as one third of total greenhouse-gas emissions. How can we continue to feed the planet without destroying it in the process? Can a clean, climate-resilient food system be built to distribute calories in a way that is efficient and equitable? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests (Part 1): Twilight Greenaway, Contributing Editor, Civil Eats Amanda Little, Professor of Journalism, Vanderbilt University Guests (Part 2): Mark Kurlansky, Author, MILK! A 10,000-Year Food Fracas Anna Lappé, Author, Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork) Part 1 was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on June 18, 2019. Part 2 was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on May 16, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After decades of relying on imported oil, the U.S. achieved the unthinkable and became the world’s largest producer. Production has doubled over the past decade, and in February reached its highest level ever - thirteen million barrels a day. But as it turns out, all of that overabundance has led to a different kind of oil crisis. “We’re producing more oil and gas than ever,and this industry’s stocks are tanking,” says Amy Harder, energy reporter for Axios. Meanwhile, renewables are experiencing unprecedented growth. What will be the lasting impact of the COVID-19 recession? What is the future of energy in a post-pandemic world? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Amy Harder, Energy Reporter, Axios Jason Bordoff, Founding Director, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University Scott Jacobs, CEO and Co-founder, Generate Capital Julia Pyper, Host and Producer, Political Climate Podcast Additional interview: Chris Rawlings, founder of Veteran L.E.D. This program was recorded via video on May 6, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do we confront the reality of a future that will be hauntingly different from today? Some authors are using fiction to create relatable narratives while sparing us from a deluge of sobering facts that can make audiences feel detached. The dystopian worlds in the films Mad Max and The Hunger Games do the same to both entertain and distance viewers from the realities of an increasingly destabilized climate. Can fiction give access to hopes and fears that we can’t handle in our daily lives? How are authors like Jenny Offill and Roy Scranton using stories that let readers experience climate change, while also keeping it at arms’ length? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Jenny Offill, Author, Weather Roy Scranton, Author, Learning to Die in the Anthropocene This program was recorded via live stream on April 10, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can we solve the climate crisis by reimagining our cities? Climate activists have long envisioned the zero-carbon cities of the future. Now, with COVID-19 shutting down congested urban areas, city dwellers from Los Angeles to New Delhi are getting a rare taste of clean air and blue skies. But the view is also more clear of things more painful to see - social inequalities that have existed for generations. “This is an opportunity to think about what kind of systems do we actually want, what kind of future do we envision for our cities and for our economy,” says sustainability expert Eva Gladek. “And how do we actually try to address multiple challenges at once when looking toward that future.” Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Ani Dasgupta, Global Director, World Resources Institute, Ross Center for Sustainable Cities Eva Gladek, Founder and CEO, Metabolic Lauren Faber O'Connor, Chief Sustainability Officer, Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti, City of Los Angeles Additional interview: Lubna Ahmed, Director of Environmental Health, WE ACT for Environmental Justice This program is generously underwritten by ClimateWorks Foundation and was recorded via video on April 20, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When institutional investors divest from fossil fuel companies, does it make a difference, or is the impact merely symbolic? Some advocate keeping your stock and your influence, using investor dollars to encourage change from within. We’re not all managing billions in assets, but how can we use our nest eggs to help finance a green economy? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Brian Deese, Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainable Investing, BlackRock Lori Keith, Portfolio Manager, Parnassus Investments Pratima Rangarajan, CEO, Oil and Gas Climate Initiative Anne Simpson, Director of Board Governance & Strategy, CalPERS This program was recorded via video on April 16, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID-19 recession is unfolding at historic speed and depth. New jobless claims reached a record 10 million in just two weeks. Wall Street’s fear gauge closed at an all-time high in mid-March. Environmentally, though, the shutdown has come with some temporary benefits — decreased travel, cleaner water, a plunging demand for oil. But crashing the economy isn’t exactly a climate solution. How will the coronavirus recession reshape the economy and prospects for addressing climate in a post-pandemic world? How does this economic crisis compare to others in history? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Kathleen Day, Finance Lecturer, Johns Hopkins University; Author, Broken Bargain: Banks, Bailouts, and the Struggle to Tame Wall Street Amy Myers Jaffe, Director, Energy Security and Climate Change Program, Council on Foreign Relations Matt Rogers, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company Additional interviews: Shubhayu Saha, Health Scientist, Climate and Health Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Phil Ting, California State Assembly Member This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on April 15, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What can the spread of coronavirus teach us about the spread of climate change? Both crises have global reach, invisible perpetrators, and require aggressive, early action for containment. But while an infectious disease is acute and deeply personal, the impacts of a changing climate are systemic and vague. Scientists point out that the coronavirus family — which includes COVID-19 and SARS — originated as an animal disease that can be passed along to humans. With increased human development encroaching into wildlife areas, should communities be preparing for more pandemics? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Brian Allan, Associate Entomology Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Aaron Bernstein, Interim Director, The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard C-CHANGE) Barbara Gottlieb, Director of Environment and Health, Physicians for Social Responsibility Additional interviews: Jason Rohr, Professor at the University of Notre Dame This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on April 3, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nuclear power - revive it or allow a slow death? Today, about a hundred nuclear plants provide 20 percent of America’s electricity. Once touted as a modern power source, nuclear fell out of favor after a series of major accidents – most notably those at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. A handful of the plants that once dotted the landscape have been shuttered because they can’t compete with cheaper sources of power. By the end of the century, the industry was languishing. But the urgency of climate change causes some to advocate giving nuclear a new lease on life. A discussion about the health of the nuclear power industry today, and the 21st century innovations that could point to a new path forward. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Per Peterson, Professor of Nuclear Engineering, UC Berkeley Edwin Lyman, Acting Director, Nuclear Safety Project, Union of Concerned Scientists Ken Farabaugh, Former Employee, Vermont Yankee Jose Reyes, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, NuScale Power Jacob Dewitte, CEO, Oklo Christine Parthemore, Chief Executive Officer, The Council on Strategic Risks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why does an invisible, life-threatening virus prompt a nationwide emergency, but invisible, life-threatening gases don’t? Experts have been emphasizing the dangers of unchecked climate change for years, underscoring the need for rapid, bold action early-on to avoid the worst impacts. Now health experts are pushing the same level of global mobilization to quell the spread of the novel coronavirus. Why are humans wired to respond to some fears and emergencies more than others? Can the reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic teach us anything about how humans respond to other invisible, global threats? Guests: Peter Atwater, Adjunct Professor of Economics, College of William & Mary Susan Clayton, Whitmore-Williams Professor of Psychology, College of Wooster Robert H. Frank, Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Additional interviews: Shannon Osaka, Climate Reporter, Grist This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on March 24, 2020. For full show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“How do you move from a place of simply trying to stop bad things and asking instead how would you make products and services in a sustainable manner?” asks Adam Davis of Ecosystem Investment Partners. Is it possible to protect profits and the planet? Despite claims that a win for the environment is a loss for the economy, corporations are finding innovative ways to have it both ways, realizing that protecting watersheds and ecosystems can also protect their business. Now, innovative companies are “going circular” by transforming how their products are designed, used, and remade. Can a circular economy salvage the climate and save the planet? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests (Part 1): Gretchen Daily, Professor of Environmental Science, Stanford University Adam Davis, Managing Partner, Ecosystem Investment Partners Barbara Grady, Senior Writer, GreenBiz.com Guests (Part 2): John Lanier, co-author, “Mid-Course Correction Revisited: The Story and Legacy of a Radical Industrialist and his Quest for Authentic Change” (Chelsea Green, 2019) Beth Rattner, executive director, Biomimicry Institute Peter Templeton, president and CEO, Cradle to Cradle Innovation Institute “Aligning Profits with the Planet” was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on July 27, 2017 “Can a Circular Economy Salvage the Climate?” was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on May 7, 2019 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Addressing the climate challenge requires incremental and transformational change on both personal and systemic levels. That means altering our personal habits as citizens, consumers, employees and parents. At the same time, society needs to fundamentally modernize the food, transportation, building and energy systems. That mind-blowing amount of change is so daunting, it’s no wonder people want to skip away into the happy land of denial. How should we think about change — and how do our words shape our behavior? Where does change really begin? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: George Lakoff, Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Science and Linguistics, UC Berkeley Amanda Ravenhill, Executive Director, The Buckminster Fuller Institute Margaret Klein Salamon, Founder and Executive Director, The Climate Mobilization Additional interviews: Jonah Gottlieb, Student and Director of Schools for Climate Action This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on February 26, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For years, scientists have been saying that the climate battle will be won or lost in the next decade. The IPCC has stated that to avoid climate catastrophe, global emissions must be halved by 2030. Politicians and the media have picked up the message; some making it a rallying cry. But is a ten-year goal realistic? What is needed to get people to take notice of -- and take action on -- the climate deadline? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Chris Field, Faculty Director, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University David Fenton, Founder, Fenton Communications Renee Lertzman, Climate Engagement Strategist and Author This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on February 24, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does solving climate change mean re-thinking old top-down approaches and embracing big change at high speed? A half-century after the first Earth Day, some environmental advocates argue it’s time to challenge some of our basic assumptions about climate action. In the new book A Better Planet: 40 Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future, editor and Yale law professor Dan Esty showcases innovative ideas designed to push the boundaries of possible climate solutions from leaders in industry, government, business, and land management. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Daniel Esty, Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Yale Law School Andy Karsner, Former Assistant Energy Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on February 10, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tobacco companies, opioid suppliers, gun manufacturers and the fossil fuel industry -- all have been brought under fire, and into the courts, for knowingly causing public harm, and even death, with their products. Should corporations be held liable for harmful outcomes like mass shootings, the opioid crisis, and climate change? We all benefit from the energy fossil fuels provide, from the lights we turn on to around-the-world airline flights. How much responsibility falls on the product, and how much on the user? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Ann Carlson, Environmental Law Professor, Co-Director, Emmett Institute on Climate Change & Environment Co-Director, UCLA Ellen Gilmer, Senior Legal Reporter, Bloomberg News Ted Boutrous, Partner, Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher LLP Scott Segal, Partner, Bracewell Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California has been at the forefront of America’s climate fight since Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the country’s first major climate law in 2006. The state’s suite of policies for decarbonizing the economy survived industry-funded attacks in court and at the ballot box, and remained largely consistent under Democratic and Republican governors. But a recent report by Next 10, an independent think tank, indicates the state will meet its 2030 goals 30 years late. Is California really the climate leader it’s purported to be? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Rachel Becker, Environment Reporter, CalMatters Kate Gordon Director, California Governor's Office of Planning and Research; Climate Advisor to Governor Newsom F. Noel Perry Founder, Next 10 This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on January 23, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate-fueled floods, fires and droughts have devastated America’s cities and rural areas. Our natural response is to regroup, recover and rebuild. But should we instead be preparing for managed retreat? In her book Building a Resilient Tomorrow: How to Prepare for the Coming Climate Disruption, Alice Hill warns that the consequences of failing to prepare for further global warming will be staggering. How will we manage the costs of the growing climate threat? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Alice Hill, Senior Fellow for Climate Change Policy, Council on Foreign Relations, co-author, Building a Resilient Tomorrow: How to Prepare for the Coming Climate Disruption (Oxford University Press, 2019) Sherri Goodman, Senior Strategist, The Center for Climate & Security; Former U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Environmental Security) Janet Ruiz, Strategic Communication Director, Insurance Information Institute This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on January 27, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the first humans to venture out of Africa 60,000 years ago to the displaced refugees of today, migration has always been a part of human life. And in parts of the world where immediate threats include violence and poverty, climate change probably isn't a driving motivation to leave home. But with erratic weather, extended droughts, and resource scarcity fueling political conflict and pressures on vulnerable rural livelihoods, it's impossible to leave climate out of the conversation. How is climate change fueling the mass movement of humans around the world, and what does that mean for national security and economies? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Paul Salopek, Journalist and National Geographic Fellow Dina Ionesco, Head of the Migration, Environment and Climate Change (MECC) Division at the UN Migration Agency (IOM) Francesco Femia, Co-Founder, The Center for Climate and Security Oscar Chacon, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Alianza Americas Lauren Markham, Author, The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life Parts of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our nation’s dependence on fossil fuels has led to climate disruption and inequality. Underserved communities are the ones most harmed by pollution, lack of green space and heat-related illness. Transitioning to clean energy would seem to be the obvious answer. But in the process of trying to right old wrongs, do we risk leaving some communities behind? What does a just transition to a cleaner, greener economy look like? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Vien Truong, Principal, Truong & Associates Darryl Molina Sarmiento, Executive Director, Communities for a Better Environment Kevin de León, President pro Tempore Emeritus, California State Senate This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on January 14, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to cutting carbon pollution, where do we start? Today’s solutions are doable, but daunting: decrease global meat consumption, improve family planning, shut down coal-fired power plants, or expand solar energy. Some countries have taken concrete steps to replace fossil fuels with nuclear, hydro and renewable energy, but the absence of U.S. climate leadership is causing heads of state to ease off their goals. What are the most impactful steps we can take individually and collectively to reduce our impact on the planet? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Part One Kate Brandt, Sustainability Officer, Google Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, Project Drawdown Lois Quam, U.S. Chief Executive Officer, Pathfinder International Part Two Sonia Aggarwal, Vice President, Energy Innovation Joshua Goldstein, Professor Emeritus of International Relations, American University Staffan Qvist, Energy Consultant Part One of this program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on July 11, 2019, and originally aired on August 2, 2019. Part Two was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on January 17, 2019, and originally aired on February 3, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all know about the environmental effects of climate change. But what about its impact on our mental health? Therapists report that their patients are exhibiting symptoms of what they call “climate anxiety” – loss of sleep, changes in appetite, feelings of grief, anger and hopelessness. One way to cope with the stress and depression brought on by global warming is to get out into the natural world. Two Climate One discussions from the past year explore the psychology of climate change and highlight the importance of reconnecting with nature to maintain physical and mental well-being. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Part One: Renee Lertzman, Climate Engagement Strategist; Author, Environmental Melancholia: Psychoanalytic Dimensions of Engagement (Routledge, 2016) Leslie Davenport, Psychotherapist; Author, Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change: A Clinician’s Guide (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017) Bryant Welch, Clinical Psychologist; Author, State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind (2018) Part Two: Phil Ginsburg, General Manager, San Francisco Recreation and Parks Rebecca Johnson, Co-Director, Citizen Science at the California Academy of Sciences Nooshin Razani, Pediatrician and Founder/Director of the Center for Nature and Health at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Part One of this program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on November 29, 2018, and originally aired on December 16, 2018. Part Two was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on March 15, 2019, and originally aired on March 22, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyday choices – like deciding which shirt to buy or on which platform to binge-watch shows on – may impact the planet more than you think. Tatiana's Schlossberg's new book Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have, looks at how seemingly small choices can have a big impact on the climate. We sit down with experts in the fashion and energy sectors, two industries with a big carbon footprint, to see how far individual actions can take us – and when it's up to companies and producers to take the lead. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Miranda Ballentine, CEO, Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance Rebecca Burgess, Founder and Director, Fibershed Gary Cook, Senior Corporate Campaigner, Greenpeace Amina Razvi, Executive Director, Sustainable Apparel Coalition Tatiana Schlossberg, Author, Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have Parts of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Often described as the father of environmental justice, Dr. Robert Bullard has written several seminal books on the subject and is known for his work highlighting pollution on minority communities and speaking up against environmental racism in the 1970-1980s. Climate One honors Robert Bullard with the ninth annual Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Robert Bullard, Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy, Texas Southern University Adrianna Quintero, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Energy Foundation This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on December 12, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2019 saw a number of significant events in the climate world. Wildfires, floods, wind and extreme weather continued to batter the nation from California to Florida. There were firestorms in Congress and Tweetstorms from the White House. The rise of the youth climate movement, the advance of electric cars...and the emergence of climate as a top-tier campaign issue. Two reporters who cover the climate beat discuss the stories dominated their news feeds this year - and the ones that aren’t getting heard. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Coral Davenport Reporter, Energy and Environmental Policy Reporter, New York Times David Roberts, Energy and Climate Change Reporter, Vox This program was recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2018 Camp Fire was one of the most destructive in California’s history, resulting in over eighty deaths and destroying the town of Paradise. Dry weather and hot winds fanned the flames - but the spark that lit them came from a faulty transmission line. That and other wildfires have been found to be the result of negligence on the part of California’s biggest utility, PG&E. Their solution? Pulling the plug on millions of customers. But who pays the bill? And with PG&E facing bankruptcy, how will California power its future? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Russell Gold, Reporter, Wall Street Journal JD Morris, Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Catherine Wolfram, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Chair of the Faculty; Cora Jane Flood Professor of Business Administration, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley Emily Wimberger, Climate Economist, Rhodium Group Loretta Lynch, Former Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission Danny Kennedy, Managing Director, California Clean Energy Fund Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A look back at conversations with two writers confronting the climate challenge in 2019. In The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, David-Wallace Wells allows fear — along with a storyteller’s appreciation for the human drama involved — to move him out of climate complacency. In We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast, Jonathan Safran Foer asks how individuals can change their behavior to create new climate-sensitive social norms. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Katharine Hayhoe, Professor and Director, Climate Science Center, Texas Tech University Jonathan Safran Foer, Author, We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast David Wallace-Wells, Deputy Editor, New York Magazine; Author, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming Helene York, Chief Procurement Officer, Guckenheimer Enterprises; Faculty Member, Food Business School, Culinary Institute of America Portions of this program were originally broadcast on June 28, 2019 and October 4, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2019 has been a year of climate rising. Youth activists skipped school and took to the streets, the Green New Deal thrust climate equity into the spotlight, and Democratic presidential candidates were forced to respond. Even a few Republicans dared to suggest climate is a concern that needs to be addressed. Join us for a look back on the big ideas that shaped some of our favorite episodes from 2019. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests (in order of appearance): Isha Clarke, Student Activist Ed Markey, U.S. Senator (D-MA) David Gergen, Founding Director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School Andrew Wheeler, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Carlos Curbelo, Former U.S. Representative (R-FL) Tom Steyer, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate, Activist, Businessman Valencia Gunder, Founder, Make the Homeless Smile David Wallace-Wells, Deputy Editor at New York Magazine; Author of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming Katharine Hayhoe, Professor and Director, Climate Science Center, Texas Tech University Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Murder, love, and the human experience are the stuff of great stories, as podcasts like Serial and RadioLab have shown us. But climate change? Not so much. The story is overwhelming and the ending is predictable and depressing, say radio producers. But coverage in national newspapers has increased since President Trump took office. It’s also expanded from science and environmental beats to culture, health and finance. And as the conversation shifts further toward companies’ role confronting climate impacts, the story of business and climate is gaining prominence and ramping up pressure on corporations. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Aron Cramer, CEO, BSR Amy Harder, Reporter, Axios Ellen Horne, Radio/podcast producer; former Executive Producer, Radiolab Patrick Temple-West, Reporter, The Financial Times Portions of this program were recorded at the BSR 2019 Conference in San Jose, California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change has become a major risk factor for corporations. With groups like the Carbon Disclosure Project grading companies on their carbon footprint, employees, consumers and investors are taking note -- and woe to those CEOs who are slow to pick up the ball. “We’re gonna start to see some efforts where silence is complacency and it’s no longer acceptable,” says Joel Makower of Greenbiz. “You’re gonna have to get off the sidelines, to use the football metaphor, and get into the game one way or the other. And companies that aren’t, I think, are gonna find themselves facing some new pressures.” Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Sarah Read, User Experience Researcher for Prime Video, Amazon; Amazon Employees for Climate Justice Member Jacob Adamson, Software Development Engineer, Amazon; Amazon Employees for Climate Justice Member Joel Makower, Chairman and Executive Editor, GreenBiz Group Andrew Winston, Author, Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build a Competitive Advantage (Yale University Press, 2006) Sara Law, Head of Global Initiatives, Carbon Disclosure Project Swami Venkataraman, Senior VP and Manager, ESG Analytics and Integration at Moody's Investors Service Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can oil companies reinvent themselves as clean energy providers? John Browne attempted it over more than a decade as CEO of British Petroleum, where he led the company's “Beyond Petroleum” rebranding campaign. In his new book, Make, Think, Imagine: Engineering the Future of Civilization, Browne argues that the solution to reducing emissions and addressing climate change is a mass deployment of engineered technology — and that the tools we need to get there already exist. Join us for a conversation on the potential of energy incumbents to become innovators. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guest: Lord John Browne, Former CEO, British Petroleum; Author, Make, Think, Imagine: Engineering the Future of Civilization This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 30, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California has long led the country in environmental action. It established strong automobile emission standards; it preserved fragile lands from development; it set energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances. But as climate change fuels megafires across the state and the state’s largest electric utility shuts off power to more than a million residents, can the state’s legacy of environmental leadership save it from climate disaster? In a state already accustomed to swinging wildly between drought and flood, what will become of the California dream? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: David Vogel, Professor Emeritus of Business and Politics, UC Berkeley; Author, California Greenin’ How the Golden State Became an Environmental Leader Huey Johnson, Founder, The Trust for Public Land; former California Secretary of Natural Resources. Jason Mark, Editor, Sierra Magazine; Author, Satellites in the High Country: Searching for the Wild in the Age of Man Mark Arax, Author, The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California Diana Marcum, Reporter, Los Angeles Times Faith Kearns, Scientist, California Institute for Water Resource This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California on July 24, 2018 and July 17, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America’s most popular alcoholic beverages are about to take a hit from climate. Mild, sunny growing conditions have made California king of a $62 billion wine industry, and more than 7,000 breweries in the U.S. rely on barley, a key ingredient in beer that is partial to the cool temperatures of northwestern states and Canada. But both grapes and barley are sensitive to a changing climate. And years of disruptions from drought, fires, and rising temperatures have brewers and winemakers wondering: will business as usual survive into the next generation? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Esther Mobley, Wine Critic, The San Francisco Chronicle Dan Petroski, Winemaker, Larkmead Vineyards Katie Wallace Director of Social & Environmental Impact, New Belgium Brewing This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 15, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cities around the world are bracing for a growth spurt. With over half of the global population living in urban centers, and another 2.5 billion expected to join them by 2050, it’s time to rethink the traditional car-centric cityscape. How do we redesign our cities to withstand the challenges of cars, climate change and rapid population growth? This week on Climate One, one of our favorite summer 2019 episodes on building sustainable cities that make public life healthier, more inclusive and more dynamic. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Liz Ogbu, Founder and Principal, Studio O Laura Crescimano, Co-Founder/Principal, SITELAB Urban Studio Jan Gehl, Architect and Founding Partner, Gehl Architects, author, “Cities for People” (Island Press, 2010) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on June 3, 2019 and first broadcast on July 12, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The jury is out on whether our legal system is equipped to deal with climate change. While some parts of the country are inundated by floods, others are resisting the growth of oil and gas infrastructure — and both are running into the law. Do youth have a constitutional right to a clean environment? At what point should disaster preparedness become disaster law? Does water have legal rights? A discussion on how many facets of the climate challenge are pushing, and changing, the law. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Michael Gerrard, Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia Law School Laura Tuggle, Executive Director, Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Tanisia Reed Coachman, Resident, Arbor Court Apartments Nicholas Kusnetz, Reporter, InsideClimate News Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the Amazon to the Congo to California, our planet’s forests are being decimated. And along with them, the stability of our climate. Why? Because trees are among our most effective weapons against carbon emissions. The Amazon alone is responsible for removing five percent of the world’s 40 billion tons of CO2 emissions from the air each year. When forests burn, carbon storage is lost -- along with biodiversity, indigenous culture, and more. Join us for a conversation about the climate factors and the global consumerism driving deforestation, as well as the seeds of change being planted by organizations, corporations, governments and individuals. Guests: Paul Paz y Miño, Associate Director, Amazon Watch Tara O’Shea, Director of Forest Programs, Planet Corey Brinkema, President, Forest Stewardship Council U.S. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on September 24, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is clinging to habits and cravings destroying our future? An outspoken critic of factory farming and animal-centric diets, Jonathan Safran Foer writes that stopping climate change begins with a close look at what we eat — and don’t eat — at home for breakfast. At the office, industry leaders like Google are taking steps toward veggie-forward diets by reducing meat, rather than cutting it out entirely. But when it comes to global food habits, are societies up for changing norms — individually and collectively — at a scale ambitious enough to meet the challenge? Guests: Jonathan Safran Foer, Author, "We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast" Helene York, Chief Procurement Officer, Guckenheimer Enterprises; Faculty Member, Food Business School, Culinary Institute of America For more information on this episode, visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts. This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 24, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can we still find happiness in our daily lives without ignoring the dark reality of climate chaos? Author and meditation teacher Mark Coleman recalls experiencing just that juxtaposition of joy and sadness working on an article on a ridgetop north of San Francisco during the wildfires of late 2018. “It was just such a poignant moment of going into nature for refuge and solace and at the same time being reminded of the fires and the climate crisis,” Coleman says, noting the irony that he the article he’d been asked to write was about meditation and nature. Love and grief are at the center of Coleman’s practice for coping with climate anxiety. “We love this planet, we love this Earth, we love all of the abundance and the beauty and the diversity and complexity,” he explains, “[and] because we love, we feel the pain we feel the grief. The grief is a natural, healthy immune system response to a problem.” Mica Estrada, a professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California San Francisco, agrees that feeling grief is a valuable coping mechanism – even if it hasn’t always been encouraged. “I think for a long time that [grief] was seen as a weakness and I think we’re finally hitting an age where grief is seen as a strength,” she says. “I think we have lived in a time when the dominant culture says don’t feel too much. And I do feel like we’re finally growing up and saying listen, real strength is being able to feel what we’re feeling.” Guests: Mark Coleman, Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher; Author, Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery Mica Estrada, Associate Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 5, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientist Terry Root’s research has helped reveal how climate change puts bird and animal species at risk for extinction. For Root, the climate connection is also personal: she was married to the late Steve Schneider, a Stanford professor and pioneer in communicating the impacts of climate change, who died suddenly in 2010. “It's been a fabulous career, but it has been very painful at times, very painful,” says Root, who was the lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 when it was co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Vice President Al Gore. This piece is published in partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Guest: Terry Root, Senior Fellow Emerita, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University Related Links: 10 years after he monkey-wrenched a Utah oil and gas lease auction, Tim DeChristopher is ‘feeling demoralized' by ‘the state of the world’ but sees hope in humanity (The Salt Lake Tribune) Stephen Schneider, a leading climate expert, dead at 65 (Stanford News) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change is upending Miami’s real estate markets, turning one of its poorest neighborhoods into some of the most desirable real estate around. It’s a phenomenon known as “climate gentrification,” a term coined by urban studies professor Jesse Keenan. In a 2018 paper, Keenan writes that while gentrification is most often driven by supply – that is, a surplus of devalued property that invites development and transformation – climate gentrification is the opposite. “[It]is really about a shift in preferences and demand function,” says Keenan. “And that's a much broader phenomenon in terms of geography and physical geography or markets in some markets than any kind of localized gentrification in a classic sense.” In other words, as people are attracted to areas of lower vulnerability, developers see an opportunity to make a killing. Valencia Gunder, a community organizer and climate educator in Miami, recognizes the irony. She says that in that city’s earliest days, Haitian, Bahamian and Caribeean immigrants were barred from living in the tony beachfront areas. “Black people had to live in the center of the city, which is different than most America, because usually low income black communities are in lower lying areas…and so everything they did that they thought they were doing to hurt us, actually ended up helping us in the long run.” But there’s only so much Little Haiti to go around. As longtime residents are being priced out of their community, climate change isn’t helping matters. “Once the water comes in, Little Haiti will be beachfront property,” Gunder predicts. “Bottom line, it’s gonna be beachfront property, it’s going to be the new shore. So it's become like the hottest toy on the shelf.” Guests: Valencia Gunder, Founder, Make the Homeless Smile Jesse Keenan, Lecturer, Harvard University Graduate School of Design Guy Williams, President and CEO, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1995, Ben Santer authored one of the most important sentences in the history of climate science: “the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.” While one of the first statements to identify humans’ role in driving climate change, the vitriol that followed was personal and malicious, impacting both Santer’s career and family. “If you spend your entire career trying to advance understanding, you can't walk away from that understanding when someone criticizes it or criticizes you,” says Santer, now a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Berkeley. With his research contingent upon government funding, Santer is concerned about the future of climate science under an administration that does not prioritize it. This piece is published in partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Guest:: Ben Santer, Climate Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Related Links: At Hot Center of Debate On Global Warming (New York Times) Yes, humans are causing climate change. And we've known for 40 years. (Popular Science) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can we beat the traffic by taking to the skies? For more than a century, the automobile has ruled our city streets, chaining us to grid-shaped streets choked with lines of traffic. And for many of us, seemingly endless hours of daily commuting. “But what if we can remove those chains?” asks JoeBen Bevirt of Joby Aviation. “What do our lives, what do our cities, how does the world look 20 years from now or 50 years from now? That's what gets me up everyday. “So my mission is to save a billion people an hour a day in their daily commutes.” The ability to sail above the freeways in a flying car, getting to work in minutes instead of hours, has long been the stuff of science fiction. But JoeBen Bevirt is already on his way towards making it a reality. He’s raised more than $100 million to develop a five-seater that he claims will be faster, cheaper and quieter than helicopters. And not just as a plaything for the rich, Bevirt promises. “We really want to be able to launch this at an affordable price point that’s accessible to everyone,” he says. “That is similar cost to taking a taxi on a cost per passenger mile. And then our ambition is to get it to the cost of personal car.” Other startups around the world are also developing drones or flying cars. Urban air mobility – or UAM -- is coming. For now, there are still many challenges to getting those flying cars off the ground, from infrastructure to regulatory issues, from air traffic to zoning. Not to mention mechanics and design – what will the flying car of the future look like? Auto industry consultant Charlie Vogelheim says what comes to mind for most consumers is a cross between the Jetson’s family-sized space capsule and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. “The thing that people keep thinking about when they think about flying cars is, ‘where is that car that I can drive and then the wings come out?’” Guests: JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO, Joby Aviation Uma Subramanian, CEO, Aero Technologies Jennifer Richter, Partner, Akin Gump CharlieVogelheim, Principal, Vogelheim Ventures Related Links: Air-Taxi Startup has a Working Prototype (Bloomberg) How Airbus is working to take urban mobility airborne (Pitchbook) Bringing Urban Mobility into the Third Dimension (Urban Future) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on August 20th, 2019, and was made possible by the ClimateWorks Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From stadiums packed with fans, to food, beer, and waste – pro sports can have a big carbon footprint. But could the core values of athletics — integrity, teamwork, and commitment — be the same values we need to tackle the climate challenge? ”Doing sports the right way is more important now than ever,” says Jim Thompson, Founder of the Positive Coaching Alliance. “We spent a lot of time as adults trying to get kids to do certain things. What if we spend our time trying to encourage them to become the kind of people who want to do the right thing?” Thompson, whose PCA trains youth sports coaches around the country, is a newly converted climate evangelist. “Our country, the whole world is gonna need leaders – people who do the right thing when it matters,” he says. “That's my definition of character, when you do the right thing when it matters, and what happens in the next 10 years matters a lot.” So do pro athletes have a special role in getting their fans and teams to talk about climate? “I think somebody needs to prompt the questions out of them, because I don't think most people aren’t going to just come out and just start talking about climate change,” says Dusty Baker, a special advisor with the San Francisco Giants who had a 19-year career as a hard-hitting outfielder and a 20-year career as a big-league manager. Baker, who is also an avid bird hunter and solar power entrepreneur, admires the star athletes who do speak out on climate or other social issues, but he understands why others may be reluctant to do so. “You spend all your life trying to get to this goal” he explains,”and you realize it's a very limited period of time and also there's somebody always trying to take your job.” Ultimately, the best agents for climate action in the sports arena might be the businesses and the customers – that is, teams and their fans. “Through sport and food we have a huge opportunity to influence the world in a positive way,” says Roger McClendon, Executive Director with the Green Sports Alliance, an association of teams and venues employing sports as a vehicle to promote healthy sustainable communities throughout the world. McClendon previously served as the first chief sustainability officer with Yum! Brands, whose holdings include Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants, where he challenged the company to run cleaner. “[Pro teams] are businesses but they have the responsibility to serve their consumers and their consumers are fans,” he says. “When the fans or the customers start saying this is important to them, then usually businesses start to listen. Guests: Dusty Baker, Special Advisor, San Francisco Giants Roger McClendon, Executive Director, Green Sports Alliance Jim Thompson, Founder, Positive Coaching Alliance. Related links: Positive Coaching Alliance Baker Energy Team Green Sports Alliance NBA Green How climate change is affecting outdoor skating (NHL.com) San Francisco Giants reclaim the Green Glove Award (MLB.com) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A carbon offset is a credit – a way to offset a unit of pollution created in one place by, say, planting a tree, or otherwise sequestering carbon, somewhere else. But in the race to bring carbon emissions to zero, are offsets a legitimate tool, or a delusion that allows heavy emitters a way out of taking real action? “I just need to recruit everybody to make sure the forests remain forests and the farmlands have as many trees as possible,” says Pauline Kalunda, Executive Director of Ecotrust Uganda, a non-governmental conservation organization in Uganda. She uses money from carbon offsets purchased in wealthy countries to help build environmental resilience at the community level. Buying offsets can help fund carbon-reduction projects in developing economies with limited funding – but they don’t help reduce dirty air back home. “We ultimately need to get to a point where it is really, really expensive to pollute so that people pollute a lot less,” maintains Kahlil Baker, Executive Director of Taking Root, a Canada-based group which also works with the offset market to promote economic development among smallholder farmers in Nicaragua. Voluntary offsets are great for eco-conscious consumers who want to ease their climate guilt. Do they run the risk of letting individuals think they’re off the hook for their carbon sins? “I’m a lot less worried about offsets from individuals than I am about Chevron offsetting,” says Zoe Cina-Sklar, a climate justice campaigner with the advocacy group Amazon Watch. She worries about corporations and other large polluters using offsets to avoid accountability under state climate policies. Barbara Haya, a research fellow at UC Berkeley’s Center for Environmental Public Policy, who studies California’s offsets program, echoes this worry. “We’re allowing businesses in California like Chevron and Phillips and other large emitters to continue to emit,” she claims, “because they're buying these credits that many of which don't actually represent real emissions reductions.” But Rajinder Sahota, who leads the Cap and Trade program for the California Air Resources Board, disagrees with the takeaways of Haya’s research. “The offsets don't play a specific line item in reducing emissions towards our target,” she counters, “they are a compliance currency under the cap and trade program.” Ultimately, carbon offsets work best, as Derik Broekhoff from the Stockholm Environmental Institute puts it, as the icing on the cake and not the cake itself. “The advice for voluntary offset has always been reduce your own emissions first,” he suggests, “and then turn to offsets as a kind of additional even charitable contribution that you can make towards both helping the climate and making the world a better place.” Guests (in order of appearance): Pauline Kalunda, Executive Director, Ecotrust Uganda Kahlil Baker, Executive Director, Taking Root Pennie Opal Plant, Co-Founder, Idle No More Bay Area Zoe Cina-Sklar, Climate Justice Campaigner, Amazon Watch Barbara Haya, Research Fellow, Center for Environmental Public Policy Rajinder Sahota, Assistant Division Chief, Industrial Strategies Division, California Air Resources Board Derik Broekhoff, Senior Scientist, Stockholm Environmental Institute Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would you vote for the candidate who says he’ll declare climate change a national emergency on Day One of his presidency? Businessman and activist Tom Steyer says his willingness to use emergency powers to deal with the climate crisis sets him apart from the crowded field of Democratic candidates. “You have to start on day one, urgently – it's an emergency, treat it like an emergency,” Steyer urges. “I would give the Congress a 100 days … to pass something like the Green New Deal, but they've had 28 years to pass something like the Green New Deal, and actually we don't have the luxury of waiting any longer.” Steyer also cites his record fighting the corporate takeover of the US government as another mark of distinction. “I am the person who spent 10 years as an outsider organizing coalitions of American citizens to take on corporate interests and to register voters engage voters and turn them out at the polls,” he notes, while also affirming that his grassroots organizing will continue independently of his campaign and the election. But as the Democratic Party moves to the left, with a more diverse candidate pool than ever, is now the right time for another wealthy white man to insist he’s the best person for the job? “I think there's a very simple challenge for everybody who wants to be the Democratic nominee,” says Steyer,” and that’s to have something to say that people want to hear ... I think that if I'm saying something that touches people and they believe that I'm a credible messenger, then they'll respond.” Guest: Tom Steyer, Activist, Businessman, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on August 19, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s new in renewable energy? In April, 23 percent of America’s electricity came from renewables, surpassing coal for the first time. Ten states, and Puerto Rico and Washington DC, have policies in place to run on 100 percent clean power in coming decades. Achieving that presents a host of challenges, from updating an aging electricity grid to financing energy innovation to figuring out how to transport and store the renewable power. Fortunately, says author Russell Gold, we have the talent to take those challenges on. “There's a lot of creativity in the space right now,” says Gold. “There's creativity on reducing demand, there's creativity in how we aggregate solar… and frankly, given what's going on with the climate, we sort of need to be trying them all -- simultaneously.” And if we succeed, we stand to gain a lot more than just cleaner air, a stable planet and lower electricity bills. Guests: Russell Gold, Reporter, the Wall Street Journal; Author, Superpower: One Man's Quest to Transform American Energy (Simon & Schuster, 2019) Jigar Shah, Founder, SunEdison; Co-Host, The Energy Gang podcast Lynn Doan, Team Leader, Power and Gas-Americas, Bloomberg News This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on August 5, 2019. For full show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The California dream, with its promise of never-ending sunshine, fertile soil and rivers running with gold, has been beckoning people west for over two hundred years. But making that dream come true for an ever-increasing population has taken its toll on the landscape. Is the California dream coming to an end? When its current water system was built in the 1960s and ‘70s, California’s population was about half of the forty million who live there today. And every one of its citizens needs water to drink, bathe and cook. Add to that the demands of agriculture, livestock and the natural ecosystem, and the pool of available water gets smaller and smaller. “When the resource is finite then you have to make choices,” says author Mark Arax. “And so in the San Joaquin Valley they're gonna have to choose which land deserves that water. It's alfalfa, it's Holsteins.” In his new book, The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California, Arax pulls back the curtain on the backroom deal-making between billionaire investors and regulators that has, in some cases, stolen the water right out from under our feet. Faith Kearns, a scientist with the California Institute for Water Resources, says it’s been going on for years. Even she has trouble keeping up. “I think there is a lot of stuff that goes on really behind the scenes and that is completely inaccessible to most of us, even those of us who work on this topic professionally,” says Kearns. California now experiences regular weather whiplash, amplified by climate change, careening between record drought and extreme rainfall. Diana Marcum won a Pulitzer Prize for her series of articles on California’s central valley farmers during the drought. Years of parched weather have taught her to appreciate the green times we do get. “I think that’s one thing I took away from the drought,” Marcum recalls. “During it I kept thinking, I wish I would've paid more attention. I wish I could picture the snow. I wish I could picture the grass. So right now I'm trying to look so hard that it almost hurts” Guests: Mark Arax, Author, “The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California” (Knopf, 2019) Diana Marcum, Reporter, Los Angeles Times Faith Kearns, Scientist, California Institute for Water Resources This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on July 17th, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to solving climate change, where do we start? The organization Project Drawdown has published a list of top solutions for climate change – impactful actions already in existence that not only reduce carbon emissions, but also improve lives, create jobs and generate community resilience. “If you’re thinking about how to solve climate change here's where you start,” says Jonathan Foley, Project Drawdown’s executive director. “Electricity is about a quarter of the problem. Food, agriculture and forest are also a quarter of the problem...then you’ve got buildings, industry and transportation. Those are the five things we’ve got to change.” One item that might surprise many is dealing with global overpopulation. And that starts with improving education and reproductive freedom for the world’s girls and women. “If women have the opportunity to be able to have a voice and be agents in their community and their country globally, we have the opportunity to have the kind of innovation that we need to be able to combat this,” says Lois Quam of Pathfinder International. “That human right to decide whether and when and how many and with whom we want to have a child, the ability to exercise that right is…one of the top strategies to combat climate change.” It’s quite a to-do list – and it’s only the beginning. How to sort through the many daunting tasks ahead of us? Don’t be discouraged, says Foley. It almost doesn’t matter where we start, as long as we’re doing something. Corporations, policy makers, communities and individuals all have a part to play in achieving climate drawdown. This point was driven home to the audience and panelists alike by an additional guest, 13-year old Kea Morshed. His YouTube channel, Movies with Mic1, demonstrates the many ways we can all challenge ourselves to take action on climate change. “At the end of the day, it's gonna be behavior change by all of us that’s necessary,” Foley tells Climate One. “It’s gonna be policy change, business operations change and changes in capital, money. “So don’t pick one lever, pull them all, you know - everybody bloody one you can find!” Guests: Kate Brandt, Sustainability Officer, Google Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, Project Drawdown Lois Quam, U.S. Chief Executive Officer, Pathfinder International This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on July 11, 2019. For complete show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The climate conversation in Washington has changed enough that Democrats and Republicans are talking climate deals. A lot of that change can be attributed to the Green New Deal, a Democratic resolution introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey. “What we're doing with the Green New Deal is we’re putting together an army that won't just be a resolution, it's a revolution,” boasts Markey, who has served over 40 years in Congress and co-authored the last big legislative push for national climate policy a decade ago. Markey says that he and AOC “share a passion to create a movement which is going to change the relationship between the American people and the fossil fuel industry.” That relationship is also targeted in the Green Real Deal, a market-based alternative to the Green New Deal put forward by Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. “Fossil fuels are not our future. They just aren’t,” proclaims Gaetz, very much out of step with GOP orthodoxy in general and the current administration’s policies in particular. Less surprising than a Republican proposing to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies is that a GOP call for climate action is coming from Florida. Gaetz, whose district in the Florida panhandle was battered by Hurricane Michael in 2018 is an ardent supporter of President Trump – except when it comes to climate science. “You can either believe the climate deniers, or you can believe your lying eyes,” he says, “and I'm from the pro-science wing of the Republican Party.” But are there really any prospects for a legislative deal passing while a pro-fossil fuel climate denier occupies the White House? “It's more likely to see ideas like this passing as ballot initiatives in states as test kitchens that can then kind of branch out to other states than something really holistically passing through Congress before 2020,” says Miranda Green, an energy and environment reporter covering Congress for The Hill. Still, Green is impressed with Gaetz’s fossil fuel iconoclasm and even with Trump’s apparent need to address climate – if never actually by name – in a recent White House speech. “It shows that the issue of climate change has really put itself at the center of politics right now,” she says, “at the center of the political debate.” Guests: Senator Ed Markey, D-MA Representative Matt Gaetz, R-FL Miranda Green, Energy and Environment Reporter, The Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How will we feed a planet that’s hotter, drier, and more crowded than ever? Much of it starts with innovators who are trying to re-invent the global food system to be more productive and nutritious. Vanderbilt University Journalism professor Amanda Little chronicles some of these efforts in her new book, The Fate of Food: What We'll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World. “We see disruption in the auto industry, we see disruption in tobacco – disruption is coming in the meat industry,” says Little, noting how conventional meat companies have been investing in technologies to produce cell-based meat without animals. Other technological innovations, such as robots that can deploy herbicide with sniper-like precision, can help push agriculture toward more sustainable practices. But she also notes the difficulties that food startups face in getting their products to scale – which often means selling to large, industrial producers. “We need the sort of good guys and bad guys to collaborate,” she says. “It doesn't mean that that is disrupting the, you know, the rise of local food webs and farmers markets and CSAs and locally sourced foods. It means maybe this is a way of bringing more intelligent practices to industrial ag.” Twilight Greenaway, a contributing editor with Civil Eats, amplifies these concerns about tech disruption in the food space. “Will there be some [technology] that really can feed into a more democratic food system that allows for different types of ownership less concentrated ownership,” she asks, noting that some startups start out with the goal of selling to a large company. She likens the current conversation to earlier discussions about the organic farming movement leading to little more than an organic Twinkie. “There’s a lot to say about changing practices on the land and what organic means in terms of pesticides and other environmental benefits,” she cautions, “but on the other hand, you’ll still end up with the Twinkie.” Guests: Twilight Greenaway, Contributing Editor, Civil Eats Amanda Little, Professor of Journalism, Vanderbilt University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Ridley Scott envisioned the dystopian Los Angeles of 2019 in “Blade Runner,” he probably didn’t think about how much energy would be needed to run those flying cars and sky-high animated billboards. Or what all those carbon emissions would be doing to the climate. We’re now living in the world of 2019. Flying cars are still in the future. But with over half of the global population living in urban centers, and another 2.5 billion expected to join them by 2050, maybe it’s time to take a step backward when it comes to getting around the city. “We know that if you invite more cars, you get more cars,” says architect and urban planner Jan Gehl. “If you invite and make streets you get more traffic. And if you can make more bicycle lanes and do it properly, you get more bicycles. “And if you invite people to walk more and use public spaces more, you get more life in the city. It's the same mechanism -- you get what you invite for.” The cities of today have to prepare for a future that includes more heat, more flooding and more people. This means confronting the infrastructure they run on, and making some upgrades. That could have a bigger impact than most people realize. “Approaching climate change, particularly when it comes to our cities, is this opportunity to do pretty major investments in a sort of significant retooling of cities,” says urbanist Liz Ogbu. “Not just in the U.S., but around the world.” But large urban projects have historically ended up displacing communities of color by building freeways through their communities or by pricing them out of their own homes and businesses. Some well-known examples of this are Detroit, Miami and Los Angeles. Ogbu warns that it’s important to keep from repeating the mistakes of the past. “I think it's time that we talk about how do we be intentional about those investments and who benefits,” Ogbu continue. “Because I think the idea that we don't consider it doesn't mean that people don't get harmed.” Can we create a Tomorrowland that is sustainable, livable and inclusive? Guests: Liz Ogbu, Founder and Principal, Studio O Laura Crescimano, Co-Founder/Principal, SITELAB Urban Studio Jan Gehl, Architect and Founding Partner, Gehl Architects, author, “Cities for People” (Island Press, 2010) Related Links: SPUR: Ideas + Action for a Better City SITELAB Urban Studio Studio O Liz Ogbu TED Talk: What if gentrification was about healing communities instead of displacing them? (Youtube) Cities for People (Jan Gehl) Jan Gehl TED Talk: In Search of the Human Scale (Youtube) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on June 3, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you live somewhere that might actually benefit from climate change? Rising temperatures and seas will produce losers and winners. Some parts of the world will see more moderate weather and economic gains, while others are already seeing sagging property prices and economic losses. “Many people think oh it’s just the temperature, but actually temperature affects everything,” says Solomon Hsiang of UC Berkeley. Hsiang co-authored a 2017 paper in the journal Science that outlines the impacts of a warmer world on human health and migration, violent crime, food production and wealth distribution. The study shows that hot days are associated with increased violence as well as with reduced incomes. Hsiang and his colleagues have followed actual U.S. counties over time and found that if the diurnal average is above 85 Fahrenheit, people earn roughly $20 less per year. So who does come out ahead? “We do spend a lot of resources trying to cope with the cold,” Hsiang notes. “There are many parts of the world where if you get a little bit warmer…you actually can take those resources that you were spending on shoveling your driveway or paying someone to plow it, and you can invest those in something much more productive.” But would any of these benefits inevitably offset by the social costs? “Risk in a changing climate is not just about the climate – that human side of the picture is unbelievably important,” says Katherine Mach, formerly with Stanford University and now at university of Miami. “The huge inequities among countries of the world and the way that impacts that are happening in terms of impacts for food security or water insecurity…will mean different things when you're in a low income country” without state support to keep the economy moving. Guests: Solomon Hsiang, Chancellor's Associate Professor of Public Policy, UC Berkeley Katherine Mach, Senior Research Scientist, Stanford University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At what point does Planet Earth become inhospitable to life – let alone a flourishing human civilization? In his new book The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, David Wallace-Wells explores how climate change will impact not just the planet, but human lives – including how a five degree increase in temperatures would make parts of the planet unsurvivable. “The more I learned about the science the deeper I got into it… the more scared I was,” he admits, “and from where I sat as a journalist the importance of telling that story so that other people have the same reaction have the same response. Paradoxically, though he has only been writing about it for a few years, Wallace-Wells has found climate change to invigorate him as a storyteller. “It's an epic saga,” he says. “It's the kind of thing that we only used to see in mythology and theology. We really do have the fate of the world and the species in our hands.” Another climate communicator, Katherine Hayhow from Texas Tech University, recognizes the need for storytellers like Wallace-Wells to translate the work of scientists like her. “We’re not missing the apocalyptic vision of the future, I think we've got that in spades,” she says. “What David’s book does is it takes what we've been saying in scientific assessments for years and even decades, and it rephrases in a way that’s hopefully more accessible for people to understand how bad this could be.” That said, Hayhoe also recognizes a need for other writers and creative artists to tell climate stories that move us beyond doom-and-gloom. “We scientists are terrible at positive visions of the future, all we’re good at is diagnosing the problem in greater and greater detail,” she laments. “We need others to help us see what that future looks like. Because when you look at something that’s better than what we have today, you can’t hold people back from moving in that direction.” Guests: David Wallace-Wells, Deputy Editor, New York Magazine; Author, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming Katharine Hayhoe, Professor and Director, Climate Science Center, Texas Tech University This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on May 6, 2019 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Produce, consume, discard; we all know the routine. Raw materials are extracted, produced into goods, and used – sometimes only once – before turning into waste. And maybe we think that recycling that Starbucks cup or Smartwater bottle is the best we can do for the planet. But that’s the wrong way to think about it, says John Lanier of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. “Recycling is not the answer or the solution to advancing the circular economy,” Lanier asserts. It's an answer, but actually one of the weakest ones. It’s what we should do as a last result before we throw something in a landfill.” Like his grandfather Ray Anderson, a pioneer in corporate sustainability, Lanier advocates for a mindset in which products are designed and manufactured with a focus on permanence, rather than disposability. “In this vision for the future we become owners of things…not consumers of them,” Lanier explains. “That’s a big and radical shift.” Rethinking our manufacturing methods and energy resources is another key element, says Beth Rattner of the Biomimicry Institute. “When we start talking about pulling carbon out of the air, taking it from source emitters, pulling methane off of farms and creating new kinds of stuff, new kinds of plastic…that’s the recycling story we should be telling.” Finding ways to imitate nature’s most efficient methods, such as structural color, is an exciting new development in product design. “Imagine if everything we made was functionally indistinguishable from nature,” Rattner says. “That's the goal. “Because when you walk into a forest, that whole forest is working toward a single common good, which is the protection of the forest; that is its survival strategy.” And as more and more corporations and consumers embrace the concept of a “circular economy,” it may turn out to be ours as well. Guests John Lanier, co-author, Mid-Course Correction Revisited: The Story and Legacy of a Radical Industrialist and his Quest for Authentic Change (Chelsea Green, 2019) Beth Rattner, executive director, Biomimicry Institute Peter Templeton, president and CEO, Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute Mike Sangiacomo, president and CEO, Recology Related Links: Ray C. Anderson Foundation Biomimicry Institute Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute Recology Nathaniel Stookey's Junkestra: A Symphony of Garbage | The Kennedy Center (Youtube) The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability (Paul Hawken) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on May 7, 2019 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the 2020 presidential election approaches, Greg Dalton will be sitting down with some of the candidates to talk about their plans for a clean energy supply, a greener economy, and their specific strategies for addressing the climate crisis as President of the United States. Keep your eyes out for those episodes on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Washington Governor Jay Inslee is a notable departure from other Democratic presidential hopefuls who regularly mention, but rarely prioritize climate change. Yet in a recent poll of public policy priorities, Americans ranked climate change next to last. Could a climate-focused candidate nudge the Democratic platform toward bolder action – let alone become the Climate President? “I've now passed some of the most meaningful climate legislation in American history,” says Governor Inslee. “I’m very confident that I have a unique ability to lead this nation [and] I favor and I appreciate anybody following my leadership.” Inslee pulls no punches in touting his environmental accomplishments as governor as a model for national climate action. “The kind of thing that we’ve done in Washington State that I believe is a template for success in Washington [DC],” he says, “so we ought to believe that we can have 100% clean electricity that ought to be something that we can tell Americans that they can have because I have told Washingtonians they can achieve that goal.” The governor is also unequivocal about why he is running for President as the climate candidate. “I just decided that I wanted on my deathbed to be able to look at my grandchildren and tell them I did every single thing I could to prevent climate change from destroying their future and that includes running for president of the United States.” Guest: Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on May 2, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guests: Jennifer Palmer, Founder, Women for Wildlife James Sano, Vice President for Travel, Tourism and Conservation, World Wildlife Fund Norbu Tenzing, Vice President, American Himalayan Foundation We’ve all heard that hopping on a plane is one of the worst things we can do for the climate. So how do we justify the environmental costs of world travel? Seeing the effects of global warming for yourself could be one argument for getting on that flight. For James Sano of the World Wildlife Fund, things got real on a trip to Antarctica. “I was expecting lots of crevasses and big chunks of ice,” Sano recalls. “But then I suddenly found myself with my skis on a beach. And in the ensuing hundred or so years, the glacier had receded significantly so that there was no ice fall.” Jennifer Palmer of Women for Wildlife has traveled the world spreading awareness about global warming. She believes that helping to connect those who are being hit hardest by it makes the carbon cost worthwhile. “There is a piece of me that sits on a plane and says I’m contributing to this,” Palmer admits. “[But] when you think about it in the grand context of the people that I'm helping have the experiences, and they’re becoming ambassadors for these places. They're coming back and they’re telling stories and they’re creating videos and they’re having dialogues. And they’re creating change.” One memorable experience for Palmer was sharing the film “Chasing Ice” with a community of Bajau people in Indonesia. “We actually screened the film in the middle of the ocean on their settlement on stilts,” she remembers. “We tied up bed sheets…and they were literally hanging out on boats.” “To see the looks on their faces as they learned about what is a glacier and how that’s connected to the issues that they’re going on and seeing…to make that connection and to be able to have a dialogue with that community was very special and heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.” Jim Sano had some travel advice for those who want to lighten their carbon travel footprint. Take fewer, long trips if you can, he suggests. Avoid flying first class. And consider your routing: “Many people don't know that a great majority of your carbon footprint is associated with takeoffs and landings,” he reminded the audience. “So while your airfare may be less if you do a one stop, if you take a direct flight, your footprint would be far less.” Norbu Tenzing, whose father was one of the first people to reach the top of Mt. Everest in the company of Sir Edmund Hillary, welcomes travelers, trekkers and tourists to his beloved Himalayas,“.unequivocally, the highest and most beautiful mountains in the world.” But, he adds, it’s vital to travel responsibly. “You go to places like Nepal, Tibet or the Himalayas where we have massive problem with global warming,” he says, “it's important to go over there and see firsthand what the issues are, and to come back and try and do something about it.” Whether we’re scaling Mount Everest or diving with sea turtles in the Galapagos Islands, it’s important to tread lightly – and respectfully – on every corner of our planet. And ideally, use the experience to make the world a better place This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on March 19, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Although many climate conversations talk about impacts on future generations, all too often those younger generations are not at the table or in the room. So how are young people taking charge of their climate future? For Isha Clarke, a high school student and activist from Oakland, California, by speaking truth to the senior U.S. Senator from her state. “I think that truth is respectful and that you can speak truth in a way that is compassionate and authentic,” says Clarke, who recently gained fame for a viral video in which she confronts Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein over the Green New Deal. “I think the conversation now isn’t really about Senator Feinstein anymore,” Clarke says as she reflects on that experience and the ensuing coverage, “it's really about politicians in general and power holders in general, who aren’t and haven't been taking the necessary steps to reverse this climate crisis. Feeling a similar frustration at her elders’ failure to act more urgently, 14-year old Sarah Goody organized a climate strike in San Francisco. “Why study for a future that’s not gonna exist?” says Sarah in response to passers-by who question why she’s sitting on a sidewalk rather than in a classroom, “I need to be here now and fighting now for my future.” Sitting alone outside iconic buildings can be a lonely endeavor, so other slightly-less young activists have found their climate calling by getting involved in more organized movements. “I see [it] as a civic duty to be involve to be socially engaged in whatever way I can,” says Morrisa Zuckerman, Bay Area chapter coordinator for the Sunrise Movement, the grassroots organization behind the Green New Deal. She and her colleagues have been pressing lawmakers and candidates to make climate action a top priority – and it’s working. “This Democratic presidential primary is talking about climate change in a way that I don't think any of us necessarily expected,” enthuses Ben Wessel, Youth Vote Director at NextGen America, the environmental advocacy organization founded by billionaire activist Tom Steyer. Wessel has been impressed by the diversity of motivations that have recently been drawing young people to climate politics. “This is one intersectional movement that has to address our racial injustices our climate injustices and our economic injustices,” Wessel says, “I actually think the Democratic primary electorate is recognizing that more than ever before.” Elections have consequences; but without more fundamental changes, shifting political winds can erase hard-fought carbon reductions. That’s why for Julia Olson, Executive Director of Our Children's Trust, the most effective climate solution lies in judicial rather than legislative action. Olson is chief legal counsel for plaintiffs in Juliana versus United States, the lawsuit brought by 21 young people accusing the federal government of violating their fundamental rights under the Fifth Amendment to life, liberty and property by knowingly promoting and subsidizing an energy system that damages climate. “What we hope to do through our case in lifting up the voice of youth in the Judiciary,” Olson explains, “is to secure the binding constitutional mandate that forces the people in the presidency and in the legislature to actually adopt laws and policies that comply with its constitutional obligation.” Guests: Isha Clarke, Student Activist Sarah Goody, Student Activist Julia Olson, Executive Director at Our Children's Trust; Chief Legal Counsel for plaintiffs in Juliana v. U.S. Ben Wessel, Director, NextGen Rising Morissa Zuckerman, Bay Area Chapter Coordinator, Sunrise Movement Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“This is turning out exactly the way scientists predicted, with one exception: it’s happening faster than they thought,” says political analyst David Gergen, who served in four presidential administrations. “The question is what can we do rapidly that would alleviate this and be fair to all.” Gergen is in favor of urgent acting on climate, but is skeptical of the all-encompassing vision of the Green New Deal. “The last thing we need is another fight that leads to a big environmental bill that the minority won't vote for,” he says referencing the Affordable Care Act, “and it's only voted for by the majority, and then the minority spends the next five years trying to undo it.” At a minimum, Gergen believes Republicans would be in favor of getting the U.S. back into the Paris Accord and setting a reasonable price on carbon. So what keeps Republican lawmakers from signing on to meaningful climate legislation? “You have to think that the Republican Party takes a contrary view in part because of the money [from the fossil fuel industry],” he laments. As someone who grew up in tobacco country and lost his father to cancer, Gergen can’t help but see the parallels between that industry and oil companies. “The science… may not be 100% correct and maybe it's only 95% correct,” he says, “but whatever the number is we should have an insurance policy to protect our kids and our grandkids. I mean it’s just, that’s just obvious common sense.” That common sense, as more and more voters experience more frequent extreme weather, is serving to move the climate debate forward in Washington. “There’s a lot of signs that voters, you know, they may not completely agree with the Green New Deal,” says Marianne Lavelle, a reporter with InsideClimate News, “but they’re not very happy with having politicians who are just not paying attention to climate and just not doing anything.” Lavelle credits the proponents of the Green New Deal for the new momentum, though they are not necessarily following a radical new playbook. “The principle that really motivates the backers of the Green New Deal is considering climate change as an economic policy, not just an environmental policy,” she explains, adding that the U.S. had already signed on to an environmental and economic framework for addressing climate change at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. As an climate journalist, Lavelle is especially pleased to see Republicans no longer – or at least not as full-throatedly – denying climate change, even proposing solutions, however modest. “This is the thing that we have tried to get across in our coverage,” she says. “For so many years the discussion was stuck on is climate change happening or not and that is not going to be a productive discussion. But a debate on which approach would be better... is a discussion that could become productive.” Ultimately it is Republican voters who are pushing their legislators to act, since many of them, especially in western states, find their views on energy and conservation at odds with the current administration’s environmental policies. “The vast majority of Western voters say we need to make sure that we protect [public lands] for all Americans,” notes Lori Weigel, a GOP pollster. “It shouldn't be something where economic value or resource extraction is taking priority over the uses that we’re most familiar with. “When we talk about clean energy, when we talk about solar and wind and being more energy-efficient, honestly, we see very little partisan distinction on those things.” Guests: David Gergen, Professor of Public Service and Founding Director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School Marianne Lavelle, Reporter, InsideClimate News Lori Weigel, Partner, Public Opinion Strategies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on April 30, 2019. During the 2016 presidential election, climate change barely surfaced as a campaign topic. This cycle it’s a different story. “It’s gonna be the first election where it's a major issue,” predicts former congressman Carlos Curbelo (R-FL). “I don't support it, but we can thank the Green New Deal for that.” Democrats have rallied around the Green New Deal and its lofty promise of a clean energy future. How will it realize its ambitious goals? Still unclear. But there can be no doubt that the tide of climate change awareness is rising among the nation’s voters. And more and more, as their constituents feel the effects of global warming in their own districts, Republicans find that they ignore the topic at their peril. “In every single community in this country, you are able to identify a few changes to the detriment of all as a consequence of a changing climate,” says Ryan Costello, former U.S. representative from Pennsylvania. Costello, a Republican, now manages Americans for Carbon Dividends, an advocacy group that is supported by oil companies and promotes a price on carbon emissions. “If you’re along the coast, rising sea levels,” Costello continues. “If you're in the Midwest, the land that you can grow on has shrunk; your crop season has shrunk. If you're in Oregon and Northern California the wildfires -- and on and on and on. “This is really where the conversation has to go now in the next few years to come -- what the cost of climate change truly is.” In 2018, Curbelo proposed legislation that would impose a carbon tax, which garnered the support of many of his GOP colleagues. What inspired him to act on an unpopular cause? For the South Florida community that first sent him to congress in 2015, the issue has become very close to home. “In my community, an area that is at about sea level and where most people live near the sea, the threat is real, it's imminent. We get tidal flooding; our drinking water supply is threatened by saltwater intrusion. “So that's why I decided to get involved.” Still, even some Democrats have found themselves caught between the threat of a destabilized climate and other, more immediate, concerns. Christine Pelosi of the Democratic National Committee says that, from her perspective, the conversation is more regional than partisan. “It has a lot more to do with a couple of things,” she says. “One is the existential threat that climate change presents, and the other is the dialogue in which people from poorer communities - frontline communities, indigenous communities, mining communities, industrial communities - say, ‘well, it may be true that the ecology as we know it is going to change in a dozen years. But your change is gonna change my family's economy in two years.” As 2020 looms, many Republicans still fear that voicing support of climate solutions could torpedo their chances for reelection. Curbelo, who co-founded the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in Congress, believes it’s time to put country ahead of career. “If you are an elected leader of this country, you have a fiduciary responsibility to your constituents and to the country and to no one else,” Curbelo says. “So, yeah, perhaps leading on climate could make some Republicans vulnerable in a primary, perhaps negotiating with Republicans could make some Democrats vulnerable in a primary. “Too bad -- that's what you signed up for, and we need you to do your job.” Guests: Ryan Costello, Former U.S. Representative (R-PA) Christine Pelosi, Executive Committeewoman, Democratic National Committee Carlos Curbelo, Former U.S. Representative (R-FL) Related Links: Climate Solutions Caucus The Green New Deal The Green Real Deal Americans for Carbon Dividends The Market Choice Act Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Global temperatures would be soaring even higher were it not for a powerful heat-trapping ally: oceans. From regulating the temperature of the planet to generating half of the oxygen we breathe, oceans are a vital part of sustaining life on Earth. Increasing their temperature as little as two degrees, however, has an opposite effect, threatening marine biodiversity and turbocharging dangerous hurricanes and typhoons. But there are bright prospects on the horizon for humans and oceans. Join us for a conversation exploring how oceans play a bigger role in climate than you may think. Guests: Sara Aminzadeh, Commissioner, California Coastal Commission Ken Caldeira, Climate Scientist, Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University Daniela Fernandez, Founder and CEO, Sustainable Ocean Alliance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

PG&E has had a bad few years. A series of record-breaking wildfires culminating with 2018’s devastating Camp Fire propelled the California utility giant into lawsuits, $30 billion in liabilities and, ultimately, bankruptcy. Under new state laws, regulated utilities will have a hard time avoiding blame in fires where their equipment is involved—so what’s ahead for PG&E’s peers and their shareholders when a deadly blaze could spell bankruptcy? What happens when the California dream of living near nature is in direct conflict with disruptive tragedies fueled by climate change? Guests: Dian Grueneich, Former Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission J.D. Morris, Energy Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Mark Toney, Executive Director, The Utility Reform Network Alex Ghenis, Policy and Research Specialist, World Institute on Disability Hunter Stern, Business Representative, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 Loretta Lynch, Former Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission Laura Wisland, Senior Manager, Western States Energy, Union of Concerned Scientists Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the environmental movement is typically associated with upper-class white folk, it is also a civil rights issue. Communities of color often live closest to factories and refineries that spew toxic pollution. That’s one reason why polls show more African Americans and Latinos say climate is a serious concern than whites. So why do environmental movements lack diversity, and why has it been so difficult for nonprofits to reach communities of color? Guests: Ingrid Brostrom, Assistant Director, Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley, Board Member, Interfaith Power and Light Mystic, Musician, Bay Area Coordinator, Hip Hop Caucus Visit our website for complete show notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How far would you go to make your voice heard on climate change? College student Tim DeChristopher disrupted an auction for oil and gas leases - and landed in prison. Georgia Hirsty and other Greenpeace activists suspended themselves from a Portland bridge to protest an oil rig bound for the Arctic. Such extreme activism gets headlines, and sometimes results. But is radical civil disobedience the most effective weapon for change? Or is collaborating with corporations to encourage sustainable practices a better way to make a difference? Guests: Tim DeChristopher, Founder, Climate Disobedience Center Georgia Hirsty, National Warehouse Program Manager, Greenpeace Brendon Steele, Director of Stakeholder Engagement, Future 500 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the Green New Deal in the national spotlight, a vigorous debate is happening: how ambitiously and broadly must the U.S. act on climate? Are issues like economic equity, job security and public health outside the frame of climate action — or fundamental to its success? Greg Dalton welcomes two key members of President Obama’s climate team: former White House Science Advisor John Holdren and former U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, in a special program recorded at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts. John Holdren, Former Science Advisor to President Obama, Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government Gina McCarthy, Former U.S. EPA Administrator; Director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Production of animal protein is producing vast amounts of climate-eating gases. But a new generation of companies are creating innovative food products that mimic meat and have much smaller environmental impacts. Some of this mock meat is derived from plants with ingredients designed to replicate the taste and pleasure of chomping into a beef hamburger. Others are growing meat cells that come from a laboratory and not a cow. Could these and other culinary innovations wean Americans away from their beloved hot dogs, hamburgers and tuna melts, reduce our impact on the planet, and help feed the world’s growing population? Guests: Patrick O. Brown, CEO and Founder, Impossible Foods Carolyn Jung, Journalist/Blogger, Foodgal.com Mike Selden, CEO and Co-founder, Finless Foods Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite having the top-selling luxury car in 2018, and a loyal if not rabid customer base, Tesla has been facing major challenges. In August, maverick CEO Elon Musk was slapped with SEC charges over some rather misleading tweets. That move cost him and the company millions in fines and forced Musk to step down as chairman. Other skidmarks for Tesla include production delays, shareholder skittishness and some well-publicized workplace complaints. Host Greg Dalton invites three journalists and Tesla-watchers to assess the health of Tesla, its overall impact on the auto industry and its future as a leader in the green economy. Guests: Hamish McKenzie, Author, “Insane Mode: How Elon Musk's Tesla Sparked an Electric Revolution to End the Age of Oil” (Dutton, 2018) Lora Kolodny, Tech Reporter, CNBC Katie Fehrenbacher, Senior Writer & Analyst, GreenBiz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it take to get people off their phones and into the outdoors? Research has shown the deleterious effects of electronics on weight, sleep, and cognitive development in children, who in 2018 spend four hours or more each day glued to screens. Other barriers like income and proximity to nature make access to the outdoors extremely challenging for some families. Meanwhile, doctors have started prescribing hikes over medications, and terms like “forest schools” and “unstructured playtime” are new buzzwords. So how do we encourage outdoor curiosity and conservation in a generation raised on screen time? Guests: Phil Ginsburg, General Manager, San Francisco Recreation and Parks Rebecca Johnson, Co-Director, Citizen Science at the California Academy of Sciences Nooshin Razani, Pediatrician and Founder/Director of the Center for Nature and Health at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Dalton sits down for a rare interview with newly-confirmed U.S. EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler on cars, coal, and climate. Mary Nichols, Chair of the California Air Resources Board, responds to Wheeler’s position on vehicle standards, and discusses her agency’s role leading a group of states in contesting the Trump administration’s revised auto emissions rules. Also featuring Albert Cheung of Bloomberg New Energy Finance on the future of personal mobility, and Helen Clarkson of The Climate Group on getting some of the world’s biggest companies to commit to 100% renewable energy. Guests: Andrew Wheeler, Administrator, U.S. EPA Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, Bloomberg New Energy Finance Mary Nichols, Chair, California Air Resources Board Helen Clarkson, CEO, The Climate Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The last five years have been the hottest on record globally. But this past winter, plunging temperatures, snowstorms and torrential rains throughout the country have a lot of people questioning the reality of climate change. If the planet is warming up, why is the Midwest suffering record cold temperatures? Climate scientists, communicators and educators join us to talk about about why, after one of the hottest years on record, the country has suddenly gone into deep freeze. On today’s Climate One: climate science explained, and climate myths debunked. Guests: Katharine Mach, Senior Research Scientist, Stanford University Ben Santer, Climate Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory David Fenton, Founder, Fenton Communications Ann Reid, Executive Director, National Center for Science Education Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From floods and fires to heavy snow and hurricanes, recent years have brought a raft of extreme weather disasters costing the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars in damages. How do we fight back? The mayors of three cities on the front lines of climate change – Houston, Miami, and Columbia, South Carolina – discuss what their cities are doing to recover, rebuild and prepare for the next mega-storm. And Seattle Times reporter Jon Talton explains why he thinks fighting climate change should be our biggest priority. Guests: Jon Talton, Economics Reporter, Seattle Times Steve Benjamin, Mayor, Columbia, SC Francis Suarez, Mayor, Miami, FL Sylvester Turner, Mayor, Houston, TX Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fighting climate change isn’t cheap. Where’s the money coming from? Major philanthropic organizations like Hewlett and Bloomberg are at the forefront of addressing climate change, but could smaller funders be more in touch with grassroots needs? Are big donors out of touch – or just stretched too far? Where is the money coming from, where is it going, what are the biggest wins and what missteps are being made along the way? Greg Dalton is joined by donors big and small for a discussion on harnessing the power of the purse in the fight against climate change. Guests: Tate Williams, Science and Environment Editor, Inside Philanthropy Larry Kramer, President, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Farhad Ebrahimi, Founder, Chorus Foundation Sarah Shanley Hope, Executive Director, The Solutions Project Dan Chu, Executive Director, Sierra Club Foundation Joe Speicher, Executive Director, Autodesk Foundation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just ten years ago, an entire state running on 100% renewable electricity seemed fanciful. But this dreamy vision became reality when, with the backing of big utilities, California committed to 100% use of zero-carbon electricity by 2045. A statewide pledge to go carbon-neutral by 2045 raised the stakes even higher. So what will it take for California to achieve such a feat? Will Governor Gavin Newsom embrace climate initiatives started by former Governor Jerry Brown? Join us in a discussion of California’s surprise gambit to take the world’s fifth largest economy to net zero. Guests: John Hofmeister, Former President, Shell Oil Company; Founder and Chief Executive, Citizens for Affordable Energy Bob Holycross, Global Director, Sustainability and Vehicle Environmental Matters, Ford Motor Company Mary Nichols, Chair, California Air Resources Board Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many of us find it daunting to talk with our neighbors, colleagues and family members about climate change. But climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe says that having those difficult conversations is the first step towards solving the problem. Hayhoe is known as a “rock star” in the climate world for her ability to talk to just about anyone about global warming. She is joined by Stanford atmospheric scientist Noah Diffenbaugh for a conversation about communicating climate change in transparent, engaging, and accessible ways. Guests: Katharine Hayhoe, Professor and Director, Climate Science Center, Texas Tech University Noah Diffenbaugh, Kara J. Foundation Professor and Kimmelman Family Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to cutting emissions, there are many paths to success. Sweden, France, South Korea, and Ontario have all taken steps to replace fossil fuels with nuclear, hydro and renewable energy, while China is expanding electric car and battery production. But the absence of U.S. climate leadership is causing heads of state to ease off their goals, and violent protests in France against higher diesel taxes are casting a shadow over efforts to combat climate change. Join us for a discussion about who’s moving ahead and who’s moving backward in the transition to a clean energy economy. Guests: Sonia Aggarwal, Vice President, Energy Innovation Joshua Goldstein, Professor Emeritus of International Relations, American University Staffan Qvist, Consultant, Qvist Consulting Limited Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over a century ago, the industrial revolution brought wealth and opportunity to a generation of American innovators. It also brought us dirty coal power and a sky clogged with carbon emissions. The good news? There’s a new generation of entrepreneurs eager to make their fortune by fighting global warming. Creative start-ups are coming up with fresh, climate-friendly ideas for getting around town, powering your cell phones, and even eating breakfast. And there are a growing number of forward-thinking venture capitalist firms eager to seek out and nurture those innovative thinkers Guests: Lidiya Dervisheva, Associate, G2VP Davida Herzl, CEO and Co-Founder, Aclima Gabriel Kra, Managing Director, Prelude Ventures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can changing our consciousness hold off the climate apocalypse? When we think about the enormity of climate change and what it’s doing to our planet, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, even shut down, by despair. But is despair such a bad place to be? Or could it be the one thing that finally spurs us to action? A conversation about climate change, spirituality and the human condition in unsettling times. Guests: Roy Scranton, Author, We're Doomed. Now What? (Soho Press, 2018) Matthew Fox, Co-Author, Order of the Sacred Earth (with Skylar Wilson, Monkfish, 2018) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change isn’t just an environmental problem – it’s also a health hazard. Air pollution and changing weather patterns give rise to heat-related illnesses, asthma and allergic disorders. Hurricanes and other disasters leave hospitals scrambling to save patients without power and resources. According to the Centers for Disease Control, insect-borne diseases have tripled in the United States in recent years – and warmer weather is largely to blame. Jonathan Patz, of the Global Health Institute calls climate change “one of the most important public health challenges of our times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In its infancy, the Paris Agreement carried the promise of a truly global climate solution. Supporters still say the Agreement is the first step in setting the global economy toward a sustainable future, but U.N. reports now say current commitments are only a fraction as strong as they need to be, and critics say it's dangerously delusional to think the pact is ambitious enough to avoid catastrophic climate change. Katharine Mach, Senior Research Scientist at Stanford University, and Trevor Houser, Partner at the Rhodium Group, join host Greg Dalton for a Paris checkup, three years on. Guests: Katharine Mach, Senior Research Scientist, Stanford University Trevor Houser, Partner, Rhodium Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The math is clear: lowering greenhouse gas emissions is not enough to keep the earth below 1.5 degrees Celsius of post-industrial warming. The latest science states that actively removing carbon from the atmosphere — storing it in rocks, soil, trees, and even turning it into products like concrete — is critical to restore the carbon and energy balance. To keep our planet from dangerous levels of warming, we’ll need to go carbon negative. Which natural and technological approaches are the most promising? Three experts and host Greg Dalton discuss the necessary negatives for a stable climate. Guests: Noah Deich, Executive Director, Carbon180 Diana Donlon, Director, Soil Centric Mike Biddle, Managing Director, Evok Innovations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re making a list (and checking it twice) of 2018’s biggest climate stories, with the help of Vox reporter David Roberts. Roberts notes that while President Trump’s continued rollbacks of environmental protections made the news, the Green New Deal and ongoing decline in costs of clean energy technologies are the year’s big stories. For other parts of the country, wildfires and other extreme weather events made the biggest headlines. Greg Dalton talks to some of California’s leading wildfire experts about how to adapt to the “new abnormal” of more intense and more frequent wildfires. Guests (in order of appearance): David Roberts, Staff Writer, Vox J. Keith Gilles, Chair, California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection; Professor of Forest Economics, UC Berkeley Maggi Kelly Professor and Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Environmental Science, Policy and Management Department, UC Berkeley Thom Porter, Chief of Strategic Planning, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all know about the environmental and physical effects of climate change. But what about its impact on our mental health? Therapists report that their patients are exhibiting symptoms of what they call “climate anxiety” – loss of sleep, changes in appetite, feelings of grief, anger and hopelessness. How do we maintain our optimism in the face of a global existential crisis? And how do we talk with others about our fears without turning them off – or freaking them out? Three climate psychologists discuss how to cope with mounting anxiety brought on by climate change. Guests: Renee Lertzman, Climate Engagement Strategist; Author, Environmental Melancholia: Psychoanalytic Dimensions of Engagement (Routledge, 2016) Leslie Davenport, Psychotherapist; Author, Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change: A Clinician’s Guide (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017) Bryant Welch, Clinical Psychologist; Author, State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind (2018) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From fires and floods to hurricanes and hot temperatures, 2018 put climate on the front page in ways it hadn’t been before. Yet amidst the disruption, clean energy prices continued to fall, climate-conscious technologies continued to progress, and people living on the front lines of climate change found ways to adapt and thrive. Join us for a look back on some of our most memorable conversations of 2018. Guests (in order of appearance): Lizzie Johnson Scott Stephens Francis Suarez Steve Benjamin Sylvester Turner Solomon Hsiang Katherine Mach Arlie Hochschild Eliza Griswold Debbie Dooley Christine Pelosi Christiana Figueres Roy Scranton Davida Herzl Gabriel Kra Lydia Dervisheva Mike Selden Patrick Brown Sanjay Dastoor Megan Rose Dickey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stabilizing our climate is going to take some hard truths – and hard numbers. “If you look at 1.5 degrees, it's about 13 years,” says Stanford’s Arun Majumdar. “If you look at 2 degrees, it’s 20 years. And after that, it’s zero.” We can fight back with the power of zero: a zero-carbon grid, zero-emission vehicles, zero-net energy buildings and zero-waste manufacturing. Whether through massive technological breakthroughs or deployment of existing technologies, powering these opportunities will require funding and policy changes. Can a four-zero solution lead to a low carbon-future? Guests: Hal Harvey, CEO, Energy Innovation, Author, Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy (Island Press, 2018) Kate Gordon, Fellow, Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy Arun Majumdar, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Co-Director at the Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a holiday movie special as Climate One talks to the directors/producers of four recent documentaries that bring human drama to the climate story: Hillbilly, which explores the myths and realities of life in the Appalachian coalfields; My Country No More, the story of one rural community divided by the North Dakota oil boom; Saving the Dark, which focuses on the battle of dark-sky enthusiasts to fight light pollution; and Point of No Return, in which two pilots risk their lives flying around the world in a solar-powered plane that is as delicate as a t-shirt. Guests: Rita Baghdadi, Co-Director, My Country No More Noel Dockstader, Co-Director, Point of No Return Jeremiah Hammerling, Co-Director, My Country No More Quinn Kanaly, Co-Director, Point of No Return Sriram Murali, Director/Producer, Saving the Dark Sally Rubin, Co-Director, Hillbilly Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In their 1968 book The Population Bomb, Paul and Anne Ehrlich warned of the dangers of overpopulation. These included mass starvation, societal upheaval and environmental ruin. This and other dire predictions about humankind earned Ehrlich a reputation as a prophet of doom, and fifty years later he doesn’t see much in the way of improvement. Harvard cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker, on the other hand, prefers to look on the bright side: people are living longer, extreme poverty has been decreasing globally, worldwide literacy is on the rise. Is the glass half empty, or half full? Guests: Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University; author, “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress” (Penguin, 2018) Paul R. Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University; co-author, “The Population Bomb” (Ballantine, 1968) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. has surpassed Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world's biggest oil producer, largely due to the fracking revolution. Yet new development of fossil fuels is not consistent with the math of the Paris climate accord. So what's next for fossil fuels? Guests: Bethany McLean, Author, Saudi America: The Truth about Fracking and How It's Changing the World Kassie Siegel, Senior Counsel, Climate Law Institute Director at Center for Biological Diversity Severin Borenstein, E.T. Grether Professor, Haas School of Business, University of California Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Red states, blue states – when it comes to our environment, are we really two different Americas? New Yorker writer Eliza Griswold spent time in southwestern Pennsylvania to tell the story of a family living on the front lines of the fracking boom. Berkeley professor Arlie Hochschild traveled to Louisiana to escape what she calls the “bubble” of coastal thinking. Both writers emerged with books that paint an honest portrait of a misunderstood America. On today’s program, tales of the people whose lives have been impacted by America’s craving for energy, the choices they’ve made, and their fight to protect their families and their environment. Guests: Eliza Griswold, Journalist, The New Yorker; Author, “Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018) Arlie Russell Hochschild, Professor Emerita, University of California Berkeley; Author, “Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right” (The New Press, 2018) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a year of climate-amplified fires and hurricanes around the country, New York Times reporter Trip Gabriel tells host Greg Dalton how climate and energy issues are playing in the midterm elections. Nathaniel Stinnett, founder of the Environmental Voter Project, describes what his organization is doing to mobilize the more than 10 million Americans who cite environmental protection as a core value but who don't vote regularly. And Sam Arons, Director of Sustainability at Lyft, explains how his company is encouraging its employees and customers to get out and vote. Guests: Trip Gabriel, political reporter, The New York Times Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder & Executive Director, The Environmental Voter Project Sam Arons, Director Sustainability Lyft Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chinese factories churn out parts and products that end up in our cars, our kitchens and our cell phones. And all that productivity has improved the lives of its citizens, many of whom can now afford cars and cell phones of their own. It’s also made China the global leader in carbon emissions. But in her new book, “Will China Save the Planet,” Barbara Finamore says that China may well take the lead in saving the world from environmental catastrophe. How? By phasing out coal and investing in green energy to power its factories and keep its cities moving. With the US government cutting efforts to curb carbon pollution, is it possible that China is our best hope for saving the planet? Guests: Barbara Finamore, Asia Senior Strategic Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC); Author, "Will China Save the Planet?" (Polity, 2018) Carter Roberts, President and CEO, World Wildlife Fund, United States Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate used to have bipartisan support. Now that the Republican party is skeptical about fighting climate, companies are moving into a leadership void. On the show today we'll hear from two former white house spokesmen in Republican and Democratic administrations now working on climate from different angles. Robert Gibbs addresses what McDonald's is doing to cut its carbon emissions and environmental impact. Jeff Nesbit heads a communications organization trying to get the climate story covered more prominently in the mainstream news media. Guests Robert Gibbs, Executive Vice President and Global Chief Communications Officer, McDonald's Corporation Jeff Nesbit, Author and Executive Director, Climate Nexus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former UN climate negotiator Christiana Figueres credits Buddhist teachings both for helping her through a personal crisis, and for providing a source of inner strength that sustained her through negotiations at the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, and helped contribute to its success. “I realized my commitment and my task here is to change that global mood,” Figueres remembers. “And of course I can't change the global mood before I change myself, because as we know all change starts with self.” Can mindfulness practice help us cope with the realities of climate change? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Paris Climate Accord was successful in bringing together the entire world around a common goal, but the focus was on what could be done at the national level. In light of the U.S. abdicating their own leadership role, there is a growing chorus demanding that subnational leaders take on the issue of climate change. The goal of GCAS is to inspire and elevate the solutions from those leaders. This event is in partnership with Cool Effect, Capital Public Radio and in affiliation with the Global Climate Action Summit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wildfires have always been part of the landscape in the western states. But the size and intensity of fires over the last several years is something new. They are being called “megafires;” wildfires covering over 100,000 acres each. The higher temperatures and lower humidity, brought on by climate change, are whipping up these hotter and bigger wildfires. And people’s lives are being upended by the flames. Today we’re exploring the damage megafires are unleashing on life, property and natural ecosystems – and forest management solutions. Guests Rich Gordon President of the California Forestry Association Lizzie Johnson Staff Writer for the San Francisco Chronicle Scott Stephens Professor of Fire Science at University of California, Berkeley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can a menu at a fancy restaurant be a map for solving the climate challenge? A handful of high-end chefs are using their restaurants to show how innovative grazing and growing practices can cut carbon pollution. Anthony Myint, asks “What would it look like if you had ... environmentalism right up there with deliciousness, as your top priorities?” Dominique Crenn, a two Michelin star chef, pushes to move beyond the restaurateurs who she says only pay lip service to responsibly sourcing their food. Theirs is an uncompromising approach to cutting carbon while maintaining the best of the best. Gwyneth Borden Executive Director, Golden Gate Restaurant Association Dominique Crenn Chef and Owner, Atelier Crenn Anthony Myint Chef and Co-owner, The Perennial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the eve of the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS), we started the conversation about how solutions could be led by states, cities, businesses and NGOs. The Paris Climate Accord was successful in bringing together the entire world around a common goal. But as Gina McCarthy points out, “We need to get together and figure out how you address and drive solutions to climate that actually end up in not just a cleaner and healthier and more sustainable world, but one that’s more just.” This event is in partnership with Cool Effect, Capital Public Radio and the Global Climate Action Summit. Guests Marisa de Belloy CEO, Cool Effect; Executive Director, Overlook International Foundation Gina McCarthy Director, The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Bill McKibben Founder, 350.org Tom Steyer Founder and President, NextGen America Gloria Walton President and CEO, Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Solutions to the climate crisis include driving cleaner cars, planting more trees, eating less meat. But how do our housing choices factor into this? Where we build housing and how close it is to mass transit has a big impact on our carbon footprint. Plans to green our cities should include new, urban housing that’s convenient to transportation. But this runs the risk of boosting the real estate market and gentrifying the neighborhood out of the reach of all but the wealthy. Can we build smart and affordable at the same time? Guests Ann Cheng Transportation expert at TransForm Isela Gracian President of the East LA Community Corporation Rachel Swan City Hall reporter with the San Francisco Chronicle Scott Wiener State senator representing San Francisco, Daly City and Colma Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fossil fuels have helped bring people out of poverty around the world, and many people working in the industry are proud of their contribution. William Vollmann writes about the lives of laborers and executives in different parts of the vast fossil fuel system. Discussing an alternative path for these communities, National Director of Green for All Michelle Romero advocates, “for some, retraining is a viable option and for others nearing retirement...maybe providing a benefit package that will help.” Explore the lives of those who remain captives of an economy run on carbon. Guests Michelle Romero National Director, Green For All William Vollmann Author, No Good Alternative: Volume 2 of Carbon Ideologies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The reality of permanent change along the shoreline is starting to slowly sink in. Recent studies indicate that vulnerability to changing tides is starting to be reflected in property markets around the country. And now cities are grappling with how to build roads, airports and other infrastructure for a very uncertain future. How fast and how high will the tides rise? No one knows for sure but every new forecast tends to be faster and higher than scientists predicted just a few years ago. Elaine Forbes Executive Director, Port of San Francisco Nahal Ghoghaie Bay Area Program Lead, The Environmental Justice Coalition for Water Larry Goldzband Executive Director, Bay Conservation and Development Commission Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s the connection between climate change and national security? “Military commanders don't operate on the basis of fiction,” says Leon Panetta, who served as Secretary of Defense and Director of the CIA under President Obama. “Understanding climate change and what was happening had to be part and parcel of our effort to protect our security.” The military has long seen climate as critical to readiness, as Rear Admiral David Titley (Ret) explains. “If you’re directly connecting renewable energy to increasing our combat effectiveness,” explains Titley, “the military is all in.” Leon Panetta, Former Secretary of Defense Rear Admiral David W. Titley, USN (Ret) Director, Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk, Penn State University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California. Land of sunshine and seashore. In an effort to protect the state’s magnificent landscape, California has led the country in environmental action. It established strong automobile emission standards. It preserved fragile lands from development. But as climate change fuels megafires across the state and sea level rise threatens the coast, is California doing enough, fast enough? Huey Johnson Chair, Resource Renewal Institute Jason Mark Editor, Sierra Magazine David Vogel Author, California Greenin’: How the Golden State Became an Environmental Leader Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Production of animal protein is producing vast amounts of climate-eating gases. But a new generation of companies are creating innovative food products that mimic meat and have much smaller environmental impacts. Some of this mock meat is derived from plants with ingredients designed to replicate the taste and pleasure of chomping into a beef hamburger. Others are growing meat cells that come from a laboratory and not a cow. Will those options wean enough people from burgers and chicken wings to go mainstream? Guests Patrick O. Brown CEO and Founder, Impossible Foods Carolyn Jung Journalist/Blogger, FoodGal.com Mike Selden CEO and Co-founder, Finless Foods Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can changing our consciousness hold off the climate apocalypse? When we think about the enormity of climate change and what it’s doing to our planet, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, even shut down, by despair. But is despair such a bad place to be? Or could it be the one thing that finally spurs us to action? A conversation about climate change, spirituality and the human condition in unsettling times. Guests: Roy Scranton Author, We're Doomed. Now What? (Soho Press, 2018) Matthew Fox Co-Author, Order of the Sacred Earth (with Skylar Wilson, Monkfish, 2018) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Strategic Adviser for National Geographic, Andrew Revkin, has been writing about climate change since the 1980s, including 21 years for The New York Times. So what are some things he’s learned in those three decades? How has he learned to best tell the story? As New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert knows all too well, covering climate change is journey that can be a challenge. “On some level it’s the worst story ever. It’s sort of everything and nothing and so finding the narrative is very, very difficult,” says Kolbert. This is a conversation with those telling the story of our climate. Guests: Andrew Revkin Strategic Adviser for Environmental and Science Journalism, National Geographic Society Elizabeth Kolbert Journalist, The New Yorker David Roberts Staff Writer, Vox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Electric scooters, skateboards and bicycles are popping up all over in cities all over the country. Ride-hailing companies are also moving to two wheels. Uber bought the bike sharing company Jump, and Lyft followed suit by scooping up Motivate, which operates bike sharing services in San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, New York and other cities. Is an electric skateboard company next? As companies jockey to offer a suite of transportation options what is the future of urban mobility? Are these new urban toys really solving the notorious first-mile and last-mile problem? Guests: Stuart Cohen, Executive Director, TransForm Sanjay Dastoor, Co-Founder, Boosted Boards and CEO, Skip Scooters Megan Rose Dickey, Senior Reporter, TechCrunch This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on June 20, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you think of climate activism, Wall Street doesn’t immediately come to mind. But as investors are coming to realize, they do have a voice – and a vote – when it comes to corporate environmental action. Responsible investing is a concept that’s been around for many years, but it’s only recently that companies have begun to take notice. And who’s driving that change? Shareholders. Greg Dalton talks with three experts about the ways that market forces can turn the ship, inspiring awareness, transparency and in some cases, even change, in seemingly immovable corporations. Guests: Betty Cremmins, Director, Carbon Disclosure Project West Danielle Fugere, President & Chief Counsel, As You Sow John Streur, President & CEO, Calvert Research and Management Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a summer movie special as Climate One talks to the directors/producers of four recent documentaries that bring human drama to the climate story: Hillbilly, which explores the myths and realities of life in the Appalachian coalfields; My Country No More, the story of one rural community divided by the North Dakota oil boom; Saving the Dark, which focuses on the battle of dark-sky enthusiasts to fight light pollution; and Point of No Return, in which two pilots risk their lives flying around the world in a solar-powered plane that is as delicate as a t-shirt. Guests: Rita Baghdadi, Co-Director, My Country No More Noel Dockstader, Co-Director, Point of No Return Jeremiah Hammerling, Co-Directo, My Country No More Quinn Kanaly, Co-Director, Point of No Return Sriram Murali, Director/Producer, Saving the Dark Sally Rubin, Co-Director, Hillbilly Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are GMOs the answer to our planet’s food shortage? Or do they jeopardize our health, crops and climate by creating a destructive cycle of Roundup resistance? Like many issues these days, it depends on who you believe. Supporters of genetically modified organisms say that altering the DNA of corn and other crops is just another tool in the farmers’ toolbox - an innovation that will help feed a world whose food production has been disrupted by climate change. Opponents maintain that modified crops are dangerous to our health and are resistant to pesticides such as Monsanto’s Roundup, which has been linked to cancer. Join us for a lively conversation about the science and facts behind growing and eating GMOs. Guests: Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, Senior Scientist, Director Grassroots Science Program, Pesticide Action Network Scott Kennedy, Filmmaker, Food Evolution John Purcell, VP and Global R&D Lead, Monsanto Company Austin Wilson, Environmental Health Program Manager, As You Sow This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 25, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new climate reality means that even those living on a hill will be affected by flooding in the valley, and those living in the North will be affected by droughts in the South. There are many factors to consider how you will be affected by climate change. “I think this question of inequity is also really, really important,” states Katharine Mach. “And the flipside of that is that wealth is not necessarily protection.” Who will win and lose as climate disruption impacts agriculture, employment, crime, storms and human mortality. Do you live in the right place to come out ahead? Guests: Solomon Hsiang, Chancellor's Associate Professor of Public Policy, UC Berkeley Katherine Mach, Senior Research Scientist, Stanford University This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 30, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Looking for a movie that takes climate science to the masses? In the first part of this week’s episode, former Vice President Al Gore joins Climate One along with co-directors Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk to talk about the making of their 2017 movie AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER and the solutions that it offers. In the second part, TV’s Bill Nye is joined by director Jason Sussberg, who shadowed Nye as he goes toe-to-toe with outspoken climate deniers and travels the world to show the causes and effects of climate change in the 2017 documentary BILL NYE: SCIENCE GUY. Guests: Al Gore, former Vice-President of the United States Bonni Cohen, Filmmaker, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power Jon Shenk, Filmmaker, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power Bill Nye, Television Host, Science Educator Jason Sussberg, Filmmaker, Bill Nye: Science Guy Portions of this program were recorded live at the Marines' Memorial Theater in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Kurlansky and Anna Lappé are two of the country’s most prolific and influential authors writing about feeding a crowded planet with a destabilized climate. The connection between global warming and the dinner table isn’t always obvious when we go to the grocery store. But our choices about how we put food on our plates, and what we do with the waste, contribute to as much as one third of total greenhouse-gas emissions. How can we continue to feed the planet without destroying it in the process? A conversation about the climate costs of global food production – and some possible solutions. Guests: Mark Kurlansky, Author, "MILK! A 10,000-Year Food Fracas" (Bloomsbury, 2018) Anna Lappé, Author, "Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork" (Bloomsbury, 2011) This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 16, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For fifteen years, California Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown charted a steady bi-partisan course as climate leaders. Their combined legacies include reduced carbon emissions, a clean energy economy and forward-thinking electric transportation. During that time, the effects of climate disruption -- rising seas, shrinking aquifers, wildfires and drought - have become increasingly clear. Greg Dalton sits down with three of the leading gubernatorial candidates to ask them how they plan to take on California’s biggest environmental challenge. Guests: Travis Allen, California State Assemblyman (R-Huntington Beach) Gavin Newsom, California Lt. Governor; former mayor, San Francisco (D) Antonio Villaraigosa, former mayor, Los Angeles (D) Felicia Marcus, Chair, California State Water Resources Control Board Portions of this program were recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over a century ago, the industrial revolution brought wealth and opportunity to a generation of American innovators. It also brought us dirty coal power and a sky clogged with carbon emissions. The good news? There’s a new generation of entrepreneurs eager to make their fortune by fighting global warming. Creative start-ups are coming up with fresh, climate-friendly ideas for getting around town, powering your cell phones, and even eating breakfast. And there is a growing number of forward-thinking venture capitalist firms eager to seek out and nurture those innovative thinkers. A discussion about clean tech startups and how they could help save the world. Guests: Lidiya Dervisheva, Associate, G2VP Davida Herzl, CEO and Co-Founder, Aclima Gabriel Kra, Managing Director, Prelude Ventures This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 14, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In June 2017, President Trump announced his plan to withdraw the country from the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, claiming it disadvantaged the United States. The symbolism of the American government’s retreat overshadowed the reality that the U.S. business community has embraced a low-carbon future. “We committed under Paris to do nothing we weren’t gonna do anyway and that we aren’t doing anyway,” says former Sierra Club chairman Carl Pope. Many countries have also reaffirmed their commitments to the Paris agreement. But how much progress has really been made, both at home and abroad? Guests: Gil Duran, Former Spokesman for Gov. Jerry Brown and Sen. Dianne Feinstein Bill Hare, Founder and CEO, Climate Analytics Amy Myers Jaffe, Executive Director, Energy and Sustainability, UC Davis Graduate School of Management Carl Pope Former Executive Director, Sierra Club Jim Sweeney, Director, Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, Stanford University Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change isn’t just an environmental problem – it’s also a health hazard. Air pollution and changing weather patterns give rise to heat-related illnesses, asthma and allergic disorders. Disasters like Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irma leave hospitals scrambling to save patients without power and resources. According to the Centers for Disease Control, insect-borne diseases have tripled in the United States in recent years – and warmer weather is largely to blame. Guests: Jonathan Patz, Director, Global Health Institute Su Rynard, Filmmaker, Mosquito Chuck Yarling, Engineer, Triathlete Jessica Wolff, U.S. Director of Climate and Health, Health Care Without Harm This program was recorded at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The scientific consensus is that human activity is cooking the planet and disrupting our economies. Yet many people still don’t believe that climate change will affect them personally, or they deny the urgency of the problem. Can better communication help sell the science of climate change? “Only the repetition of simple messages changes public opinion and affects the brain,” says David Fenton, a four-decade veteran of PR campaigns for the environment, public health and human rights. “If you are not using effective messages that you repeat, repeat, repeat and are simple, then you get nowhere.” Guests: David Fenton, Founder and Chairman, Fenton Communications Renee Lertzman, Climate Engagement Strategist, Author and Speaker Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of Meteorology, Penn State University Cristine Russell, Freelance Science Journalist Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1968, the best-seller “The Population Bomb,” written by Paul and Anne Ehrlich (but credited solely to Paul) warned of the perils of overpopulation: mass starvation, societal upheaval, environmental deterioration. The book was criticized at the time for painting an overly dark picture of the future. But while not all of the Ehrlich’s dire predictions have come to pass, the world’s population has doubled since then, to over seven billion, straining the planet’s resources and heating up our climate. Can the earth continue to support an ever-increasing number of humans? On its 50th anniversary, we revisit “The Population Bomb” with Paul Ehrlich. Guest: Paul R. Ehrlich, President, Center for Conservation Biology, Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University; co-author, “The Population Bomb” (Ballantine, 1968) This program was recorded at Stanford University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an emergency, we’re told to “break the glass” and grab the fire extinguisher. If we’re in the midst of a climate emergency, is there a firehose we could spray into the sky to cool down our atmosphere? It may sound like science fiction, but some climatologists endorse research into such techniques known as geo-engineering. But could tinkering with the stratosphere in this way lead to a new ice age – or worse? What group of people could be trusted with such God-like powers? Join us for a discussion of the scientific, moral, economic and technological dimensions of geo-engineering. This program was recorded live at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the planet gets hotter, it’s affecting many of the foods we love – when and where they’re grown, how they get to the grocery store and how much we pay for them. On today’s program, we’ll talk about migrating crops, shrinking grasslands, and how food producers and restaurants are using technology to better predict and adapt to the new food normal. Ashley Allen, Senior Manager, Climate and Land, Mars Corporation Jason Clay, Senior Vice President, Food & Markets; Executive Director, Markets Institute, World Wildlife Fund Annie Cull, Director of Communications, The Good Food Institute Portions of this program were recorded live at Duke University in Durham, NC on March 22, 2018 and at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Volkswagen’s brazen cheating on air pollution rules rocked an industry with a history of skulduggery. The scandal has now cost the company $30 billion plus jail time for one. Furthering chaos in the auto industry is a Trump administration looking to roll back emissions standards while California and 12 additional states, making up 36% of the auto market, threaten to maintain theirs. Alberto Ayala, Air Pollution Control Officer, Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District Edward Niedermeyer, Auto Industry Analyst and Commentator, Autonocast Margo T. Oge Former Director, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, U.S. EPA This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on March 27, 2018 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve all heard that hopping on a plane is one of the worst things we can do for the climate. So how do we justify the environmental costs of world travel? Whether we’re scaling Mount Everest or diving with sea turtles in the Galapagos Islands, it’s important to tread lightly – and respectfully – on every corner of our planet. And ideally, use the experience to make the world a better place. Three veterans of adventure and eco travel talk about doing just that. Join us for a conversation about traveling mindfully and responsibly. Jennifer Palmer, Founder, Women for Wildlife James Sano, Vice President for Travel, Tourism and Conservation, World Wildlife Fund Norbu Tenzing, Vice President, American Himalayan Foundation This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on March 19, 2018 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her book “Dark Money: the Hidden History Behind the Rise of the Radical Right,” New Yorker writer Jane Mayer exposes the powerful group of individuals who bankroll our political system. Mayer traces the billions of dollars spent by the Kochs, the Mercers, and other wealthy conservative activists to influence policies related to climate change, the economy and more. And as the Trump administration rolls back regulations, the head of the US Chemical Safety Board, Vanessa Sutherland, wonders how much these billionaires will succeed in weakening government oversight of their business. Jane Mayer, Author, "Dark Money: The Hidden History Behind the Rise of the Radical Right" Vanessa Sutherland, Chairperson, US Chemical Safety Board Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tech companies are cleaning up their data centers and building shiny new buildings that sip water and energy. But are they really as green as they claim? Many companies issued statements in support of the Paris climate agreement, but their actions will be more important than their statements. According to guest Aron Cramer from BSR, the way we measure how green companies are needs an update. “Companies should be judged not only on what they do, which is more traditional,” Cramer says, “but also what they enable through their partnerships and what kinds of policy frameworks they seek to create.” Lynette Cameron, Vice President of Sustainability at Autodesk Aron Cramer, President and CEO, Business for Social Responsibility Patrick Flynn, Senior Director of Sustainability, Salesforce This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on March 6, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Executive Committeewoman of Democratic National Committee Christine Pelosi, as well as staunch Trump supporter and clean energy advocate, Debbie Dooley, join Climate One for a discussion about the politics of energy more than a year into the Trump presidency. Reviving fossil fuels and rolling back action on climate change has arguably been one area where his agenda has achieved the most traction. Debbie Dooley, President, Conservatives for Energy Freedom, Co-Founder, Tea Party Movement Christine Pelosi, Executive Committeewoman, Democratic National Committee This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on March 1, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the U.S slapped 30 percent tariffs on imported solar panels, headlines heralded bad times ahead for clean energy in this country. But the stock prices of solar installers increased because the hit could have been worse. Solar entrepreneur and advocate, Jigar Shah, said it was “good news.” Our guest and professor from University of California Berkeley, Severin Borenstein said, “there's no question, this is a policy that was designed to make renewables more expensive because it doesn't make any economic sense beyond that.” Listen to a conversation about the future of solar. Severin Borenstein, E.T. Grether Professor, Haas School of Business, University of California Scott Jacobs, CEO and Co-founder, Generate Capital Lynn Jurich, Chief Executive Officer, Sunrun This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on February 21, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After more than a century of ruling the roads, oil is starting to lose its dominance over the auto industry. More and more automakers are introducing electric models, and according to one report, sales of electric cars will surpass those of regular cars within twenty-five years. With Detroit embracing plug-in cars, electric utilities sense an opportunity to grow their business as the age of oil starts to sunset. A conversation exploring the future of the cars we love, the impact of robotic and electric vehicles, and the changing nature of how we get around town. Caroline Choi, Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Southern California Edison Andreas Klugescheid, Head of Steering Government and External Affairs, Sustainability Communications, BMW Group Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President, Western States Petroleum Association This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on February 13, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2017 brought a raft of extreme weather disasters costing the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars in damages, including hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. And those are just the ones with names – other areas of the country were hit by floods, fires and drought. How do we fight back? The mayors of three cities on the frontline of climate change – Houston, Miami, and Columbia, South Carolina - discuss what their cities are doing to recover, rebuild and prepare for the next mega storm. Steve Benjamin, Mayor, Columbia, South Carolina Francis Suarez, Mayor, Miami, Florida Sylvester Turner, Mayor, Houston, Texas This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What should climate-conscious people do to eat most sustainably? How people approach their diet is deeply personal and can be extremely controversial. Roughly 1 in 9 people in the world are undernourished. Addressing hunger while making the food chain more sustainable is critical for addressing climate change. John Purcell, VP and Global R&D Lead, Monsanto Company Austin Wilson, Environmental Health Program Manager, As You Sow Scott Kennedy, Filmmaker, Food Evolution Nicolette Hahn Niman, Author, Defending Beef Jonathan Kaplan, Director, Food and Agriculture Program, NRDC Kip Andersen, Founder, AUM Films and Media Brian Kateman, President and Co-Founder, The Reducetarian Foundation This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was in 1970, under President Nixon, that the Environmental Protection Agency was founded. While the Agency enjoyed tremendous bipartisan support for decades, the last 9 years have seen a decline in support from congressional Republicans. Recently, former EPA Administrator, Gina McCarthy, explained that she is not worried about protections being rolled back—she thinks they will withstand the assault—but rather about the budget cuts Lynda Deschambault, former EPA Staff Scientist Benjamin Franta, PhD candidate in History of Science, Stanford University Gina McCarthy, former EPA Administrator Portions of this program were recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The so-called hockey stick papers, published in 1999, ignited an assault on the science of climate change that still rages to this day. But lead author Michael Mann hasn’t backed off on his mission to educate the public on the science of global warming. Mann was awarded the seventh annual Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication, by Climate One. Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, California Academy of Sciences Dr. Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science, Penn State University This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA on January 16, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Consumption-crazed baby boomers are leaving millenials with a mountain of debt and a destabilized climate. In his book A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America, Gen-Xer Bruce Gibney argues that the aging baby boomers who still rule the roost politically are holding up progress -- and it’s time they got out of the way. Carleen Cullen, Founder and Executive Director, Cool the Earth James Coleman, Student Bruce Gibney, Author, A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America Corina MacWilliams, Student Michael Ranney, Professor of Psychology, UC Berkeley Wilford Welch, Speaker on Sustainability and Resilience This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

World-renowned primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall talks about her life’s work, the link between deforestation and climate change and why she sees reasons for hope. Yvon Chouinard, the reluctant entrepreneur who founded Patagonia, Inc., explains how charting his own path through the wilderness led him to create a multi-million dollar sporting goods company committed to environmentally responsible design and production. Jane Goodall, Founder, Jane Goodall Institute; U.N. Messenger of Peace Yvon Chouinard, Founder, Patagonia, Inc. This program was recorded by the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conservation begins at home – literally. Designing and operating a home that generates as much power as it uses is rapidly becoming a reality. Meanwhile, cities around the country have made zero waste a goal for their landfills. Can it be done? What steps can we take to reduce the trash on our collective backs? And what is it really like to live trash-free? Diana Dehm, Founder, Trash on Your Back Kevin Drew, Zero Waste Coordinator, San Francisco Department of the Environment Lauren Hennessy, Sustainability Outreach Manager, Stanford University Samuel McMullen, Co-Founder, Live Zero Waste Ann Edminster, Author, Energy Free: Homes for a Small Planet Daniel Simons, Principal, David Baker Architects Sven Thesen, Owner, Net Zero Home This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his new movie, “Human Flow,” artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei documents the plight of refugees struggling in a hot and crowded world. Greg also talks to an artist who uses music to convey emotional urgency around climate disruption. Bill Collins, Scientific Advisor, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Stephan Crawford, Founder, The Climate Music Project Ai Weiwei, Artist and Activist This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s safe to say that 2017 was not been the best of times when it came to climate. Record-breaking hurricanes, year-round wildfires, and a renewed commitment to fossil fuels all contributed to a chaotic first year under the Trump administration. Guests (in order of appearance): Bob Inglis, Former Republican U.S. Representative, South Carolina Jeremy Carl, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University Debbie Dooley, Co-Founder, Tea Party Movement May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.org Jim Sweeney, Director, Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, Stanford Amy Myers Jaffe, UC Davis Graduate School of Management Al Gore, Former United States Vice President Bonni Cohen, Filmmaker Bill Nye, Television Host, Science Educator Jane Goodall, Founder, Jane Goodall Institute James Coleman, Student Corina MacWilliams, Student Ashlee Vance, Reporter, Bloomberg Businessweek Emily Castor, Director of Transportation Policy, Lyft Amory Lovins, Co-founder and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute Jen Regan, Chief Sustainability Manager, We Bring It On Portions of this program were recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump once advocated for climate action. Now, he’s moving Barack Obama’s efforts in the opposite direction. Obama’s former science advisor, John Holdren, talks about the damage being done by today’s White House. For twenty years, Jerry Taylor ran the energy and climate programs for conservative organizations funded by the Koch brothers, before coming around on climate change. He recounts his journey, going from a climate denier to a climate mainstreamer. On this episode of Climate One, Holdren and Taylor join Greg to talk about climate science and politics. John Holdren, Former science advisor to President Obama; Professor of Environmental Policy at the Kennedy School of Government Jerry Taylor, President and Founder, Niskanen Center This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA in December, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do football, tobacco and oil have in common? A common narrative of deceit. When tobacco companies faced public scrutiny about the link between cancer and smoking the industry launched a campaign questioning the scientific evidence. Oil companies and the National Football League have used the same playbook to mislead the public. Listen to the stories of how industries endeavor to confuse. Adrienne Alford, Western States Director, Union of Concerned Scientists Steve Fainaru, Senior Writer, ESPN Investigative Unit; Co-Author, League of Denial Stanton Glantz, Director, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, UCSF This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA on November 29, 2017. Clip courtesy: Union of Concerned Scientists Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The coast line has been basically in the same place for all of human civilization and now that’s changing in very unpredictable and unsettling ways. Oceans will rise faster than the past but no one can say how fast that will happen or what’s the best strategy for protecting trillions of dollars in waterfront real estate. Kiran Jane, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, Neighborly John Englander, Author, High Tide on Main Street Will Travis, Sea Level Rise Planning Consultant This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA on November 13, 2017. Music courtesy: MINSTREL by Jason Shaw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sifting through the Trump administration’s misleading statements on climate change can be a daunting task. That’s where scientist Bill Nye comes in. The Science Guy is on a quest to set the record straight when it comes to anti-scientific thinking and climate denial. Bill Nye, Television Host, Science Educator Jason Sussberg, Filmmaker, Bill Nye: Science Guy This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Marines' Memorial Theater in San Francisco, CA on November 6, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rising waters represent the most visible and tangible impact of climate disruption. Protecting people and property from all that water, while simultaneously ensuring billions have enough to drink, will have unfathomable costs and alter the lives of most people living on earth. Jeff Goodell, Author, Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone Marco Kraples, Former VP, Tesla; Producer, Before the Flood Katharine Mach, Senior Research Scientist, Stanford University This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA on November 8, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Communities of color often live closest to factories and refineries that spew toxic pollution. That’s one reason why polls show more African Americans and Latinos say climate is a serious concern than whites. Ingrid Brostrom, Assistant Director, Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley, Pastor Emeritus, Providence Missionary Baptist Church of Atlanta, GA Mystic, Musician, Bay Area Coordinator, Hip Hop Caucus This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA on October 31, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When trying to fight a campaign of disinformation, who better to be on your side than a muckraking journalist like Amy Goodman and a lawyer running the Union for Concerned Scientists, Kenneth Kimmell. Between these two, they have seen it all. They know the lengths the oil industry will go to in order to keep drilling, and they are working to share that information with as many people as possible. Amy Goodman, Host, Executive Producer, Democracy Now! Kenneth Kimmell, President, Union of Concerned Scientists This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA on October 20, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate One goes to the front line of climate change - the high Arctic - to hear from the people there how their economies, communities and culture are changing due to global warming. Nancy Karetak-Lindell, President, Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada Catherine McKenna, Canada’s Minister for Climate Change Pascal Lee, Planetary Scientist, NASA’s Mars Institute Brendan Kelly, Former White House Scientific Advisor Kuupik Kleist, Former Premier of Greenland Danko Taboroši, Director Coral and Ice This program was recorded on a Students on Ice trip to the Arctic in August of 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rising temperatures are making hard outdoor jobs even harder. It is the kind of heat that will ground airplanes and melt rail lines, and health experts say agricultural workers are especially vulnerable, as they are already one of the most economically disadvantaged groups. This is a conversation on how rising temperatures are changing the way our food is grown and the choices we have at the grocery store. Blanca Banuelos, Co-Director, Migrant Unit, California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. Gabriel Thompson, Freelance Journalist and Author L. Ann Thrupp, executive Director, Berkeley Food Institute Dolores Huerta, Workers' Rights Activist This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA on September 19, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Communicating about climate change and convincing the public that something needs to be done about it is a complicated proposition, one that reporters Elizabeth Kolbert and David Roberts face daily in their jobs of covering the looming catastrophe. Elizabeth Kolbert Journalist, The New Yorker David Roberts Staff Writer, Vox This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA on September 22, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some environmentalists said the law extending California’s cap and trade system to 2030 is a sellout to the oil industry and it shortchanges disadvantaged communities that breathe the dirtiest air. How do California’s climate moves play into national politics and policy? Will climate and energy play a meaningful role in the upcoming midterm elections? Will companies make energy policy more of a priority? We look back at how Gov. Schwarzenegger set the tone and how his past leadership continues to influence California’s policies today. David R. Baker Energy Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Mike Mielke Sr. Vice President, Environment & Energy, Silicon Valley Leadership Group Parin Shah Senior Strategist, Asian Pacific Environmental Network Studio segment: US Senator Brian Schatz Portions of this program were recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA on August 29, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fossil fuels are in favor again in Washington. New opportunities are opening to mine coal and drill for oil despite the fact that the costs for fossil fuels continue to rise in real terms--and in terms of our health and environment. The markets ultimately drive investments, and while regulatory rollbacks and continued subsidies for fossil fuel may slow it down, our guests are certain the energy revolution is coming. Documentarian James Redford declared that, “You don’t have to worry about the future being green, that is inevitable.” He then added, “It is just a matter of when.” James Redford, Filmmaker Emily Kirsch, Co-founder & CEO, Powerhouse Gia Schneider, CEO Natel Energy This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, CA on September 6, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People who are involved in the sports world have seen the benefits of greening their professions. Many athletes and executives gathered at the Green Sports Alliance Summit in Sacramento, CA where they shared ideas for reducing food waste, running stadiums on clean energy and encouraging fans to reduce their carbon impact. Justin Zeulner, Executive Director of the Green Sports Alliance Julia Landauer, Championship NASCAR Driver Dusty Baker, Manager, Washington Nationals Jennifer Regan, Chief Sustainability Manager, We Bring It On Chris Granger, former president, Sacramento Kings Vivek Ranadive, owner, Sacramento Kings Portions of this program were recorded at the Green Sports Alliance Summit in Sacramento, CA on June 27, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Katrina and Sandy to Harvey, Irma and José - how is climate change fueling these increasingly destructive hurricanes? Greg Dalton and his guests delve into the politics, costs and human causes of the megastorms pummeling our planet. Brian Schatz, US Senator, (D-HI) Ben Santer, Climate Researcher, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory John Englander, Author, High Tide on Main Street: Rising Sea Level and the Coming Coastal Crisis (Science Bookshelf, 2012) Angela Fritz, Manager, Weather Underground Kathryn Sullivan, former NOAA Administrator Hunter Cutting, Director of Strategic Communications, Climate Nexus Don Cameron, Manager, Terranova Ranch Barton Thompson, Professor of Natural Resources, Stanford Law School Portions of this program were recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The explorer, climber, surfer and founder of sporting goods company Patagonia, Inc., has spent a lifetime welcoming adventure – and risk - of all kinds. Yvon Chouinard, Founder and Owner, Patagonia This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 27, 2016 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is possible to protect profits and the planet. Despite claims that a win for the environment is a loss for the economy, corporations are finding innovative ways to have it both ways. They are quickly realizing that protecting watersheds and ecosystems can also protect their business. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club on July 27, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who is bankrolling our political system? Jane Mayer takes us behind the scenes to expose the powerful group of individuals who are shaping our country. Jane Mayer, Staff Writer, The New Yorker and Author, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right (Doubleday, 2016) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Louis B. Mayer Theatre at Santa Clara University on April 4, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tesla is the most valuable car company in the US, recently surpassing even the auto giant, General Motors. But this high valuation is not due to the number of cars they make and it is certainly not due to profits which are incidentally non-existent. So what is it all about? Ashlee Vance has written the preeminent biography on the genius driving Tesla, SpaceX and Hyperloop, Elon Musk, with insights gained from his unprecedented access to the eccentric entrepreneur. Peter Henderson talks about Tesla’s make or break moment as with the arrival and scaling of the S model, aimed at average American families. Peter Henderson, West Coast Deputy Bureau Chief, Thomson Reuters Ashlee Vance, Reporter, Bloomberg Businessweek This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on July 12, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Noted conservationist Jane Goodall talks about her life’s work, the link between deforestation and climate change and why she sees reasons for hope. Jane Goodall, Founder, Jane Goodall Institute; United Nations Messenger of Peace Jeff Horowitz, Founder, Avoided Deforestation Partners This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 3, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former Vice President Al Gore joins Climate One to talk about his tireless fight, training an army of climate champions and influencing international climate policy. Joined by co-directors Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, this conversation covers the making of their new movie AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER and the solutions that it offers. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Marines' Memorial Club on July 24, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate denial has become both a psychological and a political problem. Can better communication help us expand common ground and move on to solutions? Renee Lertzman, Climate Engagement Strategist, Author and Speaker Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of Meteorology, Penn State University Cristine Russell, Freelance Science Journalist Tom Toles, Editorial Cartoonist, The Washington Post This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on December 12, 2016. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Getting out of a car and onto a bike is one of the best things you can do for the climate and your personal health. Bike lanes are growing in American cities from New York City to Houston, the country’s oil and gasoline capitol. Guests: Amy Harcourt, Co-Founder/Principal, Bikes Make Life Better, Inc. Caeli Quinn, Co-founder and Executive Director, Climate Ride Brian Wiedenmeier, Executive Director, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on June 8, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration’s determination to revive coal mining and domestic oil drilling is causing concern that international efforts to combat climate change will crumble. How much change will the Trump administration really bring to the climate change fight? Join a conversation about energy, the mainstream news media, and markets. Guests: Gil Duran, Former Spokesman for Gov. Jerry Brown and Sen. Dianne Feinstein Amy Myers Jaffe, Executive Director, Energy and Sustainability, UC Davis Graduate School of Management Jim Sweeney, Director, Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, Stanford This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on June 1, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are GMOs the answer to our planet’s food shortage? Or are they jeopardizing our crops by creating a destructive cycle of Roundup resistance? Like many issues these days, it depends on who you listen to. Supporters of genetically modified organisms say that altering the DNA of corn and other crops is just another tool in the farmers’ toolbox. While, opponents maintain that modified crops are dangerous to our health. Guests: Scott Kennedy, Filmmaker, ""Food Evolution"" John Purcell, VP and Global R&D Lead, Monsanto Company Austin Wilson, Environmental Health Program Manager, As You Sow Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, Senior Scientist, Director Grassroots Science Program, Pesticide Action Network This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 25, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Buffalo Springfield sang in 1967, “There’s something happening here…” But today’s youth revolution is happening far beyond the Sunset Strip. The Trump administration’s dismissal of climate change as a legitimate concern is energizing a new generation of teenage activists. Emboldened and supported by groups like Earth Guardians, Heirs to Our Oceans and the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE), young people are taking their knowledge of climate science into the streets and into the courts, pressing for environmental change and for more government action now to protect their future and ours. UPDATE: Since this discussion was held the fossil fuel trade association, which aligned itself with the federal government, changed their minds, and asked to withdraw from the case. Phil Gregory, one of the attorneys representing the 21 young people suing the federal government, explains what that withdrawal means. Guests: James Coleman, High School Senior; Fellow, Alliance for Climate Education Lou Helmuth, Deputy Director, Our Children's Trust Corina MacWilliams, Co-director, Earth Guardians 350 Club, South Eugene High School This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on March 16, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Californians are accustomed to living through wet times and dry times, but lately things are getting more extreme and much more difficult to predict. After five years of severe drought, Californians are now talking about what it means to have too much water at once. The end of the drought is a blessing, but the state may need to find $50 billion to repair dams, roads and other infrastructure threatened by floods. The damaged spillway at Oroville dam highlighted what happens when the state doesn’t keep its water system in good working order. How is California preparing for the whiplash of going from really dry to really wet years? What will it take to fix the system that delivers the water that keeps us alive and lubricates our economy? How will the state and federal governments work together to modernize the water system that grows food that lands on dinner tables across the country? This program is made possible by support from the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation. Guests: Don Cameron, General Manager, Terranova Ranch Inc. Felicia Marcus, Chair, State Water Resources Control Board Buzz Thompson, Director, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 24, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They were an unlikely group of activists; Native American youths concerned about teen suicide sparked the movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)—a movement which ultimately spread across the country. Veterans and others joined in, traveling to the construction site and showing solidarity with activists. Protesters objected to the $3.8 billion pipeline route, which they say threatens freshwater supplies and disrespects ancestral lands. Guests: Pennie Opal Plant, Co-founder, Idle No More SF Bay L. Frank Manriquez, Indigenous California artist and activist Lynn Doan, Bloomberg News This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 11, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do the baby boomers owe millennials a clean planet? Or is it every generation for itself? Consumption-crazed baby boomers are leaving their younger counterparts with a mountain of debt and a destabilized climate. Yet they still rule the roost politically. In his new book “A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America,” Gen-Xer Bruce Gibney argues that the aging baby boomers who make up most of congress are holding up progress -- and it’s time they got out of the way. How do we span the generation gap? What can boomers do to engage future generations and help empower them in the fight against climate change? Guests: Carleen Cullen, Founder and Executive Director, Cool the Earth Bruce Gibney, Author, A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America Professor Michael Ranney, Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Education, U.C. Berkeley Wilford Welch, Speaker on Sustainability and Resilience This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 8, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cities around the country are reshaping their economies for a greener future. Mayors and chambers of commerce are promoting smart growth and moving toward cleaner energy, cleaner cars, and cleaner buildings, with or without support from Washington. On today’s show we discuss how local businesses and political leaders in red states and blue states are growing their economies, cutting carbon pollution, and preparing for the challenges of climate disruption in their own communities. Guests: Diane Doucette Co-Founder and Executive Director, Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy Elizabeth Patterson, Mayor, Benicia, CA Carl Pope Former Executive Director, Sierra Club Rod G. Sinks City Council Member, Cupertino, CA This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on May 4, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Lone Star State leads the country in wind power, thanks to legislation signed by Governor Bush; clean energy has breathed fresh air into Texas’ economy. Kip Averitt, Former Chair, Texas Clean Energy Coalition Stephanie Smith. COO, Greencastle LLC Pat Wood III, Principal, Wood3 Resources This program was recorded in front of a live audience at the Commonwealth Club of California on April 25, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices