Big Take

Green bonds are surging in popularity across the globe, as companies and governments want to show they’re investing in environmentally friendly projects–and people want to feel good about where they’re putting their money. The thing is, it’s not always easy to tell if a green bond is actually going toward a cleaner future–or if it’s mostly a marketing ploy.

Aaron Rutkoff, Executive Editor at Bloomberg Green, joins this episode to spell out what green bonds are, how they work and how to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s hype.

Wes also speaks to Hong-Kong based Bloomberg reporter Rebecca Choong Wilkins, who worked on a big story about the explosion of green bond spending in China.  And producer Federica Romaniello takes us to a construction site in London to look at how green bonds are being used to fund a project to clean up the River Thames.

Learn more about this story here: https://bloom.bg/3i6bRye 

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

This podcast is produced by the Big Take Podcast team: Supervising Producer: Vicki Vergolina, Senior Producer: Kathryn Fink, Producers: Mo Barrow, Rebecca Chaisson, Michael Falero and Federica Romaniello, Associate Producers: Sam Gebauer and Zaynab Siddiqui. Sound Design/Engineers: Raphael Amsili and Gilda Garcia.

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A growing number of workers at Apple Stores across the US believe the company they once loved to work for is changing–and they’re not happy about it. They say the famously low-key, no-pressure showcases for Apple’s products have turned into just another retail floor, where associates at some stores and technicians at the Genius Bar are expected to upsell customers–or encourage them to buy new devices instead of fixing their current ones. Apple retail workers at two stores have already voted to unionize, and others may follow.

Josh Eidelson, Bloomberg’s senior labor reporter, joins this episode to look at the state of play for Apple workers who are frustrated with “Big Apple” and why some see the union drive as a way to persuade the company to return to its roots.

Wes and Josh also zoom out to look at how Apple’s retail challenges are similar to those of other big-name US companies where workers have unionized, and how the bosses are pushing back.

Learn more about this story here: https://bloom.bg/3V8usIs 

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

This podcast  is produced by the Big Take Podcast team: Supervising Producer: Vicki Vergolina, Senior Producer: Kathryn Fink, Producers: Mo Barrow, Rebecca Chaisson, Michael Falero and Federica Romaniello, Associate Producers: Sam Gebauer and Zaynab Siddiqui. Sound Design/Engineers: Raphael Amsili and Gilda Garcia.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shein is one of the biggest fast-fashion brands in the world. Young women and girls film their “Shein hauls” for TikTok — showing off piles of trendy, cheap clothes they bought from the Chinese company. It’s on track this year for sales around $8 billion in the US alone.

But a new investigation traces the origin of the cotton in some Shein clothing to the Xinjiang region of China, where the US and other Western nations say the Chinese government has imprisoned Uyghur Muslims and carried out a campaign of forced labor.

Bloomberg senior writer Sheridan Prasso joins this episode to talk about her investigation–and about the downsides of the world’s demand for more and more cheap clothes. Ayesha Barenblat of Remake, a group that advocates for stronger ethics in the fashion industry, also comes on the podcast.  She explains how to find out if your favorite clothing brands are acting responsibly–or cutting corners.  

Learn more about this story here: https://bloom.bg/3XjC24E 

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when a small country all of a sudden strikes it fantastically rich? The South American country of Guyana, is finding out in a big way. A nation of just 800,000 people, its economy centered on agriculture and mining–until 2015, when Exxon discovered a massive oil field beneath Guyana’s territorial waters.

Now, Guyana is flush with oil riches. Monte Reel, a Bloomberg investigative reporter, joins this episode to tell the story of the unusual way the government plans to spend some of it– future-proofing the country from rising water that threatens its shores. But in 2015, Guyana — more specifically Exxon — struck oil. Billions and billions of barrels worth of oil. Now the country is going all in on its oil discovery — even as it navigates a warming planet. 

Monte Reel is an investigative reporter for Bloomberg and recently spent time in Guyana. He joins this episode to share how this small country is navigating this massive influx of oil money.

Learn more about this story here: https://bloom.bg/3UMLv2P

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Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Russia’s military has targeted libraries and museums across Ukraine that housed irreplaceable books and documents and works of art. 

Now, with the help of advanced digital modeling and other technology, Ukrainians are documenting what’s been destroyed — and preserving what can be salvaged for future generations.

This episode features Marc Champion, senior reporter for International Affairs at Bloomberg, who gives an up-close view of what’s happening in Ukraine now and where the war is headed.  We also hear from Sergey Revenko, an architect in Kiev who constructs 3D digital models of destroyed cultural sites. And Bloomberg graphics reporters Marie Patino and Rachael Dottle tell us about an immersive interactive story they created that allows you to virtually walk through these buildings and see the war’s terrible toll.

Learn more about this story here: https://bloom.bg/3OaQYOg 

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

High prices for just about everything are making us all suffer–and there’s no end in sight. Why is inflation hanging on for so long, and when will it finally let go? The answer is…complicated. Fortunately Tom Orlik, Bloomberg’s chief economist, is here to cut through the confusion. He joins Wes to explain what’s happening to the economy in the US and around the world, and where things are headed.

Plus, Wes heads to the Rose Avenue Bakery in Washington DC to see firsthand how a small business is getting creative to stay afloat–and even thrive–during these chaotic times.

Learn more about this story here: https://bloom.bg/3Uw5PW4

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re talking about heat in this episode. That might strike you as a bit odd, especially if you live in the northern hemisphere where summer’s long gone by now. But it’s easy to put out of your mind that the Earth is getting hotter in the winter, too.

Extreme heat from climate change is now a major health threat that is sickening and killing more and more people.

This has led some cities — just a handful of them so far — to do something pretty interesting. They’ve hired  “heat officers,” and two of them join Wes to talk through what it means to make a living battling rising temperatures–and why it’s a year round job.

Linda Poon with Bloomberg’s CityLab also joins Wes to explain why extreme heat has become top of mind, regardless of the season.

Read more here: https://bloom.bg/3TGrKZk 

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that Americans have a Second Amendment right to keep guns in their homes for self-defense and to carry them in public. But the Court has also been clear that the federal government and states can require background checks and place certain restrictions on who can buy guns and where they can be carried. States can also limit or outlaw certain firearms for public safety. 

In this episode, we look at how a rapidly growing number of small gunmakers are testing some of these restrictions–and finding a lucrative new market.

Jason Grotto, an investigative reporter for Bloomberg, joins to talk about the popularity of guns by niche manufacturers.

We also head to Denver to hear from Rob Pincus, a firearms safety instructor, former law enforcement officer and vocal gun rights advocate, who’s getting ready to bring his first gun to market.

Learn more about this story here: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-gun-manufacturing/

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ever wonder what actually happens to all the plastic you dutifully toss in the recycling bin? Kit Chellel, an investigative reporter for Bloomberg, set out to answer that very question. And what he found out is…well we’re not gonna give it away.  Then, Wes picks up with reporter Matthew Campbell, who went to see for himself where a lot of that plastic piles (and piles and piles) up.

This episode also features Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics, who explains why it’s so hard to recycle this stuff.

Learn more about this story here: https://bloom.bg/3tqqP4p

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The mighty Mississippi River cuts the United States essentially in half from Northern Minnesota all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. It has a lot of history and romance around its waters, and is also one of America’s most important routes for commerce. More than 1 trillion pounds of goods travel down the river each year.

But, as water levels have dropped significantly in key parts of the river, it’s stopped some ships cold. The river is now backed up with billions of dollars of corn, wheat, fertilizer and steel, waiting for water levels to rise again. What happens when one of the most important rivers in the world’s largest economy can’t keep a boat afloat?

Michael Hirtzer, an agriculture reporter for Bloomberg in Chicago, joins this episode to answer that question. Wes also checks in with Captain E. Michael Bopp, a Mississippi River pilot and President of the Crescent River Port Pilot Association, and Clint Willson, Director of the LSU Center for River Studies,. for more on what it’s like to work on and study this critical river.

Learn more about this story here: https://bloom.bg/3ToEljC

Listen to The Big Take podcast every weekday and subscribe to our daily newsletter: https://bloom.bg/3F3EJAK 

Have questions or comments for Wes and the team? Reach us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.