What do we owe the land that supports us? For those of us who enjoy going outside, among other things, it's an especially big and important question. So, that's why we're bringing on a professional athlete to talk about it.

Graham Zimmerman joins the show this episode. He's a professional climber and alpinist who holds the first ascent of Link Sar — a towering peak over 23,000 feet in Pakistan. Graham has literally traveled the world as an outdoor athlete, and that has helped lead him into climate activism. His memoir, "A Fine Line: Searching for Balance Among Mountains" is available now.

Special thanks this week to Protect Our Winters, where Graham is the director of athlete alliances (not the captain, as Alex says on the pod).

Producer (and resident Minnesotan) Cody joins Alex and Simona for another election episode where they do the unthinkable: 35 minutes of politics talk without a single Charli xcx reference. Instead, they talk about the politicization of the word “climate,” why good solutions are boring, and how to think about stains on a candidate’s record.

Here are some of the pieces we were reading before recording:

https://time.com/7006717/tim-walz-kamala-harris-vp-climate-change/

https://heated.world/p/tim-walzs-green-resume-has-an-oily?utm_medium=web

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4815990-mike-johnson-ira-clean-energy-tax-credits/

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/07/us/politics/tim-walz-kamala-harris-2024.html

We're back with our second of two episodes on scarcity. This time, we're joined by award-winning journalist (and former rafting guide) Heather Hansman. She's the author of "Downriver: Into the Future of Water in the West," a book chronicling her trip down the Green River. The Green is the Colorado River's largest tributary. And, as Heather learned, an excellent window into understanding the cultural and environmental landscapes of water in the Western United States: "I got my assumptions busted pretty quickly on the trip about what was good and what was bad and what was fair."

We're tackling scarcity on the next two episodes, specifically as it relates to water in the western U.S.

Everything from shortsighted alfalfa farmers to the Lockean proviso to floating icebergs to England, there's really something for everyone here. And no, we aren't gonna remind you to turn off the water while brushing your teeth.

First, Alex and Simona outline some philosophical frameworks for understanding the issues and solutions with water scarcity.

Then we chat with John Berggren, a regional policy manager with Western Resource Advocates, about all things Colorado River.

On this episode, producer Cody joins Simona and Alex to chat about some recent headlines including:

-whether climate change is going to cost us literally a second of time every year,

-climate policy (or lack thereof) in the U.S. presidential race,

-and Dune 2.

Some related reading that informed the discussion:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/timekeepers-may-subtract-a-second-from-clocks-as-soon-as-2029-as-planet-spins-slightly-faster

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/27/climate/biden-climate-campaign.html

https://cires.colorado.edu/news/us-voters-climate-change-opinions-swing-elections

https://atmos.earth/in-dune-part-two-the-poison-of-fascism-is-on-full-display/

PS: Cody is sorry and embarrassed for forgetting to put a pop filter on his microphone. So, aPologies for those Plosives. Won't happen again.

Something strange is happening in Arctic rivers — they’re turning the color of rust. And their waters are becoming acidic through a combination of mainly iron and sulfuric acid leaching into the waters.

Ultimately, the cause for these rusting rivers is climate change. Researchers are still pinning down the specifics, but there is already concern that this is happening across the Arctic, causing widespread ecosystem damage.

Our very own Alex Lee was part of a team who has researched this phenomenon on the ground in a remote part of the Brooks Range in Alaska. Through an essay, Alex will take us to the Arctic where we’ll explore the nature of change. We’ll also hear from one of the top researchers looking into the rusting rivers.

Guest: Paddy Sullivan, ecologist and director of the Environment and Natural Resource Institute at the University of Alaska, Anchorage.

Read Alex’s essay on Protect Our Winters' blog and listen to M. Harlan Engelmann music on Bandcamp.

The annual “Conference of the Parties,” which you probably know as COP, is the biggest multilateral climate negotiation of all time. It’s led to landmark climate deals like the Kyoto Protocol or Paris Accords.

But lately, COP has been under fire for giving fossil fuel interests a big seat at the table, among other things. Plus, the actual effects of the climate deals set at COPs past are hazy at best.

On this episode, Simona and Alex explore whether these big, multinational climate discussions are useful, or just political handwringing by talking with a writer who has covered COP and two academics who have attended past conferences.

Guests: Alexandria Herr, climate writer and researcher; Kian Mintz-Woo, permanent lecturer at the Department of Philosophy at University College Cork; and Laura Marsiliani, economics professor at Durham University.

Visit our website at ahostileclimate.com

Climate change is an inherently uncertain thing. And that can seep into how we deal with and think about it. Do we have the best information on what’s going to happen? Does that even matter, and shouldn’t we start doing the most we can now? 

To explore the uncertain nature of climate change, Alex and Simona will take us skiing on a glacier and into conversation with some of today’s top climate thinkers. 

Guests: Roman Dial, adventurer and Alaska Pacific University professor; Emma Marris, author and environmental writer; and Elizabeth Kolbert author and New Yorker staff writer. 

All three of these folks have books for sale that you can purchase by googling their name or, better yet, checking with your local bookstore or library. 

Visit our website at ahostileclimate.com

Understanding what we can do about climate change is not just about taking the temperature, but also about communicating across place, culture, and experience. And that’s where philosophy can help.

On "A Hostile Climate," co-hosts Simona Capisani and Alex Lee will use environmental ethics to explore the values and passions behind climate science, policy, and problem solving. Through a mix of conversation, in-depth interviews, and on-the-ground reporting, they'll explore how we think about nature and our place in a warming world. Think of it as your guide for how to live well on a rapidly changing planet.

Visit our website at AHostileClimate.org. Episodes launching soon.