The Waverley Street Foundation, founded by Laurene Powell Jobs in 2016, aims to attack climate related issues through funding community-led programs, leading to community action against climate change. The Waverley Street Foundation specifically funds programs related to renewable energy and regenerative agriculture, as these sectors have an immense impact on the environment and vulnerable communities. The Foundation’s approach to achieving climate-related goals is unique, as their solutions revolve around investing in prominent community institutions in order to benefit the entire community, showing people that we all benefit from a healthy planet.

Regenerative agriculture is the practice of using farming and agricultural techniques to help reverse climate change, including some techniques that date back to Native American cropping systems and the way in which they interact with the soil. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the goals of the practice include helping to “mitigate climate change, improve soil health, restore biodiversity, enhance ecosystems, and contribute to human health.” By focusing on the larger community impacts of sustainable farming practices, the Waverley Street Foundation promotes a close connection between people and their food systems. As an example,  the Foundation established agreements with local school districts to support fresh and nutritious lunches, bringing  local regenerative farmers into the supply chain, thereby improving farmers’ economics, and allowing them to decide to continue planting regenerative crops. 

The Waverley Street Foundation is also currently working on converting health clinics from being run on diesel fuel to solar in India. This not only reduces pollution and carbon emissions, but can also help make healthcare more affordable for residents, while providing new local jobs installing, fixing, and financing the panels. In order to evade the most devastating climate change impacts, emissions need to be reduced by almost half by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050. 

The ultimate goal of the Waverley Street Foundation is to approach climate change with a new outlook: “Cultivating Health, Justice and Joy,”  emphasizing the role that climate change has in harming vulnerable communities’ everyday lives rather than solely focusing on technical solutions. Jared Blumenfeld, the president of the Waverley Street Foundation, argues that “unless we can make the case to them, that climate action is going to support and make their communities stronger, I don't think we win many of the other arguments.”

Jared Blumenfeld is the former Secretary of CalEPA and current President of Waverley Street Foundation, the climate philanthropy funded by Laurene Powell Jobs. Blumenfeld also served as Director of San Francisco’s Department of Environment. Currently, at Waverley, he is working on critical environmental issues, such as oil litigation, renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, and food systems.

• Waverley Street Foundation, Work
• Waverley Street Foundation, What if lunchrooms served the freshest food in town? 
• Regeneration International, Why regenerative agriculture?
• California Department of Food and Agriculture, Defining Regenerative Agriculture
• for State Policies and Programs
• United Nations, Renewable energy – powering a safer future
• Waverley Street Foundation, About

For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/climate-action-through-community-driven-philanthropy-with-jared-blumenfeld/

Single-use plastics are extremely harmful to the environment, both in terms of their production and disposal. All plastic creates issues regarding fossil fuel emissions and waste, but single-use plastics are specifically detrimental because they contribute to the immense amounts of waste piling up on our planet. Because these plastics are not biodegradable, according to EarthDay, “79% of plastic that has ever been made still sits in landfills or the natural environment.” 

While numerous efforts have been made to reduce the amount of single use plastics available, the amount of plastic entering our landfills has yet to substantially decrease. For example, in 2014, California enacted a ban on thin plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other stores, but allowed customers to purchase bags made with thicker plastics, which retailers argued would make them recyclable and reusable. In reality, consumers were not reusing or recycling the thicker plastic, ultimately leading to an increase in the poundage of plastic trashed per person. 

Lotus Sustainables aims to eliminate single-use plastic by providing eco-friendly alternatives, with reusable grocery bags and food storage pouches. Founded by Jennifer and Farzan Dehmoubed in 2017, the company aims to eliminate the need for single use plastic. Since its founding, they have been able to divert 5 billion bags from landfills. Lotus also prioritizes ethical and sustainable manufacturing efforts by closely monitoring the production and studying the life cycle of their products. The bags are made with eco-friendly materials such as recycled plastic bottles for fabric and renewable resource products like jute, a plant based fiber. Using these materials ensures that the product is durable and reusable. The process reduces the amount of waste that enters landfills both by using recycled products, and creating a long-term, reusable alternative.

Lotus’ mission also contains environmental justice initiatives. In pursuit of these goals, Lotus donates 10% of their profits to likeminded companies, including The Plastic Pollution Coalition, the Surfrider Foundation, and Project New Village. Further, according to co-founder Jennifer Dehmoubed, the company donates to “Black-created organizations that focus on food justice, the preservation of land, and enriching agriculture,” with hopes to “repair horrific injustices imprinted in the Earth and bring ownership of the land and agriculture education into the hands and lives of Black people.”

In order to realize Lotus’ goals, consumer demand and legislation must respond to the planet’s growing need to eliminate single-use plastic. Without the support of consumers, no amount of legislation or innovation can have an impact. According to Jesse Langley, CEO of Lotus Sustainables, “ Legislation doesn't happen unless there's people behind it…And same thing with businesses, these businesses are not gonna get behind an initiative if Consumers are not looking for it.” 

Jesse Langley is the CEO of Lotus Sustainables and a seasoned entrepreneur in the environmental space, helping to develop climate action plans and greenhouse gas reductions for local governments in California. Lotus Sustainables is a certified B-corp on a mission to eliminate single-use plastic bags.

• National Resource Defense Council: Single-Use Plastics 101
• EarthDay: Fact Sheet: Single-Use Plastics
• UConn: Lifecycle of Single Use Plastics
• ABC7: California passed a ban on plastic bags in 2014. Here's why Gov. Newsom has now signed a similar law
• Lotus Sustainables: About Us
• Lotus Sustainables: Environmental and Social Justice
• San Diego Business Journal: Lotus Sustainables Offers Plastic Bag Alternative Ahead of New Regulation

For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/eliminating-single-use-plastic-bags-with-jesse-langley

Pumped Storage Hydropower as a Climate Solution

Pumped storage hydropower, also known as water batteries, are often used as a means to store excess renewable energy. For example, solar and wind may generate more energy than is needed during certain times of the day and less than what is needed at other times.  As a result, water batteries are extremely useful as a way to store and release energy during peak demand periods or when renewable sources are unavailable (i.e, when the sun is down). This form of energy storage is used in many places across the country, and across the world, including Tennessee, Kentucky, and San Diego. 

Current and Future Use of Pumped Storage Hydropower

In San Diego County, a proposed pumped storage hydropower project would connect a lake to large underground pipes which will “connect this lake to a new reservoir… 1100 feet higher in elevation” so that “when the sun is high in the sky, California’s abundant solar power will pump water into that upper reservoir.” When the sun is down, the water would be released to the lower lake, generating around ”500 megawatts of electricity for up to eight hours” which is “enough to power 130,000 typical homes.”

At Tennessee’s Raccoon Mountain, TVA stores the excess energy as gravitational potential energy and produces about “1700 megawatts of electricity” when in demand during the day. It takes extremely long for these projects to get approved because the investment is “more than 2 billion dollars for a large plant”.  The project consists of three components: a lower reservoir “bounded by a 62 meter high dam” and “replenished as need to make up for evaporation;” an underground powerhouse which is “a 137-meter-long cavern” housing “three pump turbines;” and an upper reservoir which “would be some 600 meters across and bounded by a 53 meter high dam.”

All currently operating pumped storage hydropower projects in the U.S. are “open-loop” facilities, meaning the lower reservoir is a natural water source such as a lake or river. This is the case with the San Diego and Racoon Mountain projects. In contrast, “closed-loop” pumped storage is built offstream and operates independently of natural waterways. For example, at a proposed pumped storage facility in Kentucky, an old coal mine is being repurposed to be used as a water battery. This land has “hosted mining for at least 70 years” and this “project would deliver up to 287 megawatts of power for up to 8 hours, giving it more storage in the tank than the biggest lithium battery plants built thus far”. Closed-loop pumped storage is generally viewed more favorably than open-loop systems by many environmental groups, tribes, and modern hydropower developers because it avoids continuous interaction with natural waterways and can reduce impacts on fish and river ecosystems.

Benefits of Water Batteries

Water batteries are incredibly useful for long-duration energy storage and can help balance fluctuations in renewable energy sources like solar and wind by providing power during peak demand periods. For instance, in San Diego, “the San Vincente project would store roughly as much electricity as batteries in 50,000 of Tesla’s long range Model 3 cars” and does not need materials like cobalt and lithium which are not only hard to find but create a lot of e-waste (and side effects with mining). Moreover, these projects fuel the economy and can create an abundance of construction jobs.

Challenges of Implementation

Pumped hydropower requires a lot of land, and flooding impacts habitat, and in some cases areas protected by indigenous tribes. The land and local ecosystem impacts can be very substantial. Moreover, water batteries require significant elevation difference between reservoirs to be effective so there are often geographic limitations to deployment. It can be extremely challenging to find places to build water batteries because they require specific topography as well as impacting the surrounding landscape. On top of this, these “facilities are expensive to build and take years to develop”. However, once they are in full structural integrity, they “store energy for far longer than lithium-ion batteries… and they last for many decades with minimal deterioration.”

Erik Steimle emphasizes that pumped hydropower/water batteries are a great way to generate energy in a more sustainable manner, however, he acknowledges that there are some downfalls of it. For example, pumped hydropower/water batteries must undergo extensive regulatory practices involving federal agencies that other types of energy storage and renewables do not, posing a barrier to widespread accessibility. Another benefit is the durability of this equipment, which can be useful for hundreds of years.

About our guest

Erik Steimle is the Chief Development Officer of Rye Development (tapped by DOE for the Kentucky project) and he is on the board of directors of the National Hydropower Association. Moreover, he has over twenty years of management experience in developing large-infrastructure renewable energy projects (especially in regards to hydropower). 

Resources

• NPR: ‘Water batteries’ could store solar and wind power for when it’s needed
• Canary Media: This Kentucky Coal mine could transform into pumped-hydro grid storage
• Science: How giant ‘water batteries’ could make green power reliable | Science | AAAS
• Stanford University: UnCommon Dialogue

For a transcript, please visit: https://climatebreak.org/water-batteries-with-erik-steimle/. 

What is the Earth Species Project?

Can we talk to animals, or at least understand what they are saying to each other?  That’s a question that researchers hope to answer with the help of AI. Earth Species Project, a non-profit that develops sophisticated AI technologies, hopes its software can help. Specifically, they have developed Nature-LM audio which is an audio-language machine learning algorithm with the potential to decipher animal communications.

How does it work?

By gathering and evaluating huge amounts of audio information from different species, Nature-LM audio can identify  “individuals in recordings”, and evaluate patterns.  For software users, it does not require the user to have any programming skills. Specifically “analyzing animal sounds… [allows for] decoding complex communication and behaviors to monitor the health of entire ecosystems.”

This AI model was trained on “bioacoustic archives like Xeno-canto, iNaturalist, the Watkins Marine Mammal Sound Database, and the Animal Sound Archive” along with “general audio, human speech, and music data” while connecting this ”audio encoder to a leading language model.”

Benefits of this approach

NatureLM “can classify or detect thousands of species across diverse taxa including birds, whales, and aurans–without the need to retrain the model for each task.”. It has other capabilities like “predicting life-stage and simple call-types of birds, and captioning bioacoustic audio” which are useful when trying to analyze the behavior of different species and their associated cues. The software enables evaluation of large amounts of animal sounds and allows evaluation of that data “freely via human language text”.

According to a benchmark that they established, called the Beans-zero, which “provides a standardized way to measure… performance across various bioacoustic tasks, enabling consistent comparisons and fostering progress in the field”, NatureLM-audio “achieves state-of-the-art performance on most tasks”. This is especially true in regards to bird and marine mammal sounds, which they are able to identify without fine-tuning–an extremely gruesome task in machine learning to change pre-existing models which better fit your data and train it for specific tasks.

Potential Drawbacks

Like all AI models, Nature LM-audio could impact employment opportunities, in this case for  animal biologists and researchers, and by using substantial amounts of energy to run the model.  And, like all AI programs, any conclusions and decisions made through the program need to be carefully evaluated.  It will take time and effort to determine how valuable the model is.   

Conclusion

Raskin believes that the creation of NatureLM has many positive implications because it allows humans to listen to the voices of animals. It gives us an understanding of their behavior to not only learn more about them, but also by giving insights on how to help them with conservation efforts. Moreover, it can alert researchers to what exactly is endangering certain species, prevent these efforts, and create a lot of more data necessary to analyze trends. 

About our guest

Aza Raskin is a trained mathematician and a dark matter physicist and  Co-Founder/President of the Earth Species Project.

Resources

• Earth Species Project, Introducing NatureLM-audio: An Audio-Language Foundation Model for Bioacoustics
• Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, What opportunities and risks does AI present for climate action? 
• Forbes, The 15 Biggest Risks Of Artificial Intelligence

Further Reading

• Earth Species Project, About Us
• University of Cincinnati, 9 Benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 2025

For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/earth-species-with-aza-raskin

CONGRATULATIONS DR. OMAR YAGHI ON WINNING THE 2025 NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY FOR COF 999!

What is COF 999?

UC Berkeley chemistry professor Dr. Omar Yaghi recently led a study which has the potential to be revolutionary in reducing the quantity of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere. “Covalent organic framework number 999,” or COF 999, is a yellow, powder-like material that has billions of tiny holes. Inside of these holes, researchers in Dr. Yaghi’s lab have installed molecular units that can seek out carbon dioxide, enabling the substance to suck in and capture the carbon dioxide. COF 999 has a huge capacity for absorbing emissions; half a pound of the powder can absorb as much carbon dioxide as a tree captures in a year.

The carbon dioxide problem

The quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached an all-time high, with a global average in 2023 of 419.3 parts per million. This immense amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere comes from a number of human sources, the most common of which is the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas for energy. Carbon dioxide is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, and contributes significantly to global warming and other environmental issues, including ocean acidification.

Applying COF 999 

In an interview with Forbes, Dr. Yaghi described the way he sees COF 999 being implemented as a solution. The powder can be made into pellets or a coating, and then integrated into facilities where flue gas –the gas that is released from industrial processes –is released. “This flue gas would pass through the material and because it just plucks out CO2, it cleans CO2 from that flue before it reaches the atmosphere.” According to the San Francisco Standard, Dr. Yaghi says that the powder “requires no energy, shows no signs of degradation even after 100 uses, and is made from inexpensive, commercially available materials.”  Another benefit is that the material only needs to be heated to 50 or 60 degrees Celsius, rather than to 120 like many other traditional materials necessary for carbon capture.

In order to see significant change in the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide concentration, we will need to couple preventing carbon dioxide emissions with direct air capture, which COF 999 can also do. According to Zihui Zhou, a UC Berkeley graduate student who worked in Dr. Yaghi’s lab says, “Currently, the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is more than 420 ppm, but that will increase to maybe 500 or 550 before we fully develop and employ flue gas capture. So if we want to decrease the concentration and go back to maybe 400 or 300 ppm, we have to use direct air capture.” It will take time, however, for scientists to be able to use COF 999 effectively. This is because the powder has not been tested in real-life scenarios, and therefore the costs and risks from the powder are largely unknown; for example, the powder might restrict air flow through filters when applied, reducing the practicality of the powder.  

About our guest

Dr. Omar Yaghi is a professor of chemistry at the University of California Berkeley, and the Founding Director of the Berkeley Global Science Institute, whose mission is to build centers of research in developing countries and provide opportunities for young scholars to discover and learn. He is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences as well as the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. 

Resources

• Climate.gov: Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
• Forbes: This Powder Could Be A Gamechanger For Capturing CO2
• The San Francisco Standard: The new solution to climate change? A yellow powder you can hold in your fingers
• UC Berkeley News: Capturing carbon from the air just got easier
• Smithsonian Magazine: This New, Yellow Powder Quickly Pulls Carbon Dioxide From the Air, and Researchers Say ‘There’s Nothing Like It’

For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/cof-999-carbon-capture-with-dr-omar-yaghi/

As ocean temperatures increase due to climate change, an emergent crisis known as coral bleaching is on the rise. Coral bleaching poses the largest threat to coral reefs, which are some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Coral reef habitats occupy less than one percent of the ocean floor, but constitute more than 25% of all marine life, providing habitats for a vast array of species from small organisms to large fish and sharks. Additionally, biodiverse reefs provide a variety of economic benefits, supporting jobs, tourism, and fisheries. Reefs also protect lives and property in coastal areas, absorbing 97% of a wave’s energy while buffering against currents, waves, and storms.

However, when ocean temperatures rise, corals become stressed and expel the marine algae living inside their tissues, known as zooxanthellae. Typically, coral live synergistically with zooxanthellae, meaning the algae provide food for the coral while the algae use the coral as shelter. Due to stress, corals expel zooxanthellae, causing them to become a white skeleton. If the temperatures remain high, the coral won’t allow the algae back and the coral will die. Once corals die, reefs rarely come back. As climate change progresses with its warming trend, corals endure greater stress, and experience longer and more intense bleaching events. Between 2014 and 2017, 30% of the world’s reefs experienced heat-stress leading to coral bleaching. In 2005, the US lost half of its coral reefs in the Caribbean in one year due to a massive bleaching event. Fortunately, marine biologists have been working on a new strategy to restore damaged coral reefs, known as Coral IVF (in vitro fertilization), which entails taking healthy coral eggs and sperm, crossing them in a supervised pool, and returning the mature coral to a damaged coral reef. Importantly, IVF coral are often bred to be resilient to heat-induced bleaching, making Coral IVF a successful strategy in fortifying reefs against bleaching.

Coral IVF begins with biologists collecting spawn, or coral eggs and sperm, from heat-tolerant corals that have survived coral bleaching events. With these spawn, biologists can rear millions of baby corals in tanks and coral nursery pools before repopulating damaged reefs for restoration. So far, coral IVF has proven successful. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Foundation planted 22 large colonies of new baby corals off Heron Island in 2016. Four years later, the researchers found that the corals had survived a bleaching event and grown to maturity. The next year, the corals had reproduced and spawned babies of their own. 

In 2016, 81% of the northernmost section of the GBR was severely bleached, including mass bleaching in other sections. The GBR provides an estimated economic value of $56 billion, including 64,000 jobs stemming from the reef. Losing the reef would be a major economic loss for Australia, which has already lost 50% of its coral since 1995. With coral IVF, there is hope for an eventual repopulation of the reef with healthy corals. Beyond the GBR, coral IVF is taking place in reefs across the US, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Approximately 90% of IVF-created corals survived 2023’s heat wave, holding on to the algae that sustain them.

Coral IVF not only mitigates short term reef loss, but also strengthens reefs in the long term. One study revealed that corals in the GBR that survived bleaching in 2016 had twice the average heat tolerance the following year. Research reveals that corals can pass on their adaptive strategies to their offspring. Experiments also reveal that heat-adapted corals can thrive in new environments and be an important source of reef regeneration globally. This technique can therefore be applied to any coral population. Further, the IVF process also can be done quickly, allowing scientists to respond to coral damage in an emergency.

Unfortunately, climate change still poses a threat to IVF created coral reefs. By 2049, annual bleaching events will become the norm in the tropics. Research reveals that as global temperatures rise, coral will become less tolerant to heat related stress. In Australia, there has been a massive bleaching event every other year for six years. Due to the frequency of such events, coral's ability to reproduce is compromised for a number of years. As global emissions continue to rise, temperatures will continue to rise, inducing further heat-related stress. Eventually, coral may not be able to live in excessively hot ocean waters. Coral IVF is an effective strategy to prepare corals for future temperatures, but likely only up to a certain point.

Dr. Saskia Jurriaans is a marine scientist working on the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program, a multi-organizational partnership between the Australian Institute Of Marine Science, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, and others. On her team, she optimizes coral breeding techniques, as well as developing asexual coral reproduction methods to support the Great Barrier Reef.

• Australian Marine Conservation Society, What is Coral Bleaching?
• Coral Guardian, Why are coral reefs so important?
• Coral Reef Alliance, Biodiversity of Coral Reefs
• Great Barrier Reef Foundation, What is Coral IVF?
• NOAA, Get Involved with the NOAA Coral Reef Watch

• NOAA, Why are coral reefs important?
• Time, The Great Barrier Reef Is Being Depleted by Pollution and Climate Change. Could ‘Coral IVF’ Save It?
• The Guardian, The Great Barrier Reef: a catastrophe laid bare
• The Guardian, Why there is hope that the world's coral reefs can be saved
• The Guardian, Scientists’ experiment is ‘beacon of hope’ for coral reefs on brink of global collapse

For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/breeding-heat-resilient-coral-to-restore-at-risk-coral-reefs-with-dr-saskia-jurriaans/.

Through the rise in pop culture, climate change awareness has increasingly been integrated into the entertainment industry. Particularly in the Black community, multimedia cultural campaigns are used to increase interest in environmental movements with the use of light-hearted, fun content. Artists, musicians, and influencers are leveraging their platforms to highlight the impacts of climate change and promote sustainable practices, which, in turn, provides easily accessible resources and information to marginalized communities that empower them to participate in the fight against climate change. 

Populations of color face disproportionate energy burdens caused by climate change. A study conducted by Rice University found that Black communities were more prone to live in vulnerable areas, a generational problem caused by the history of Black gentrification. Even now in 2024, Black communities in Georgia are forced to pay higher electricity bills, despite having lower rates compared to other states, due to old and inefficient household systems. According to the National Black Environmental Justice Networks, African Americans were also found to breathe in 56% more pollution than they cause, whereas their White counterparts breathe in 17% less pollution than generated. African Americans are also 75% more likely than White Americans to live in polluted communities, leading to 13.4% of African American children suffering from asthma, compared to 7.3% of White children. 

Starting in the 1970s, some black musicians included environmental themes in their productions. Artist Marvin Gaye released “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” to tackle discussions about oil spills and mercury waste; funk group Earth, Wind, & Fire released “Burnin’ Bush” to bring awareness about the global destruction of Mother Earth. Those themes continue today in  music produced by Black artists, such as in the popular single “Feels Like Summer” by Childish Gambino, which conveys worries about uncertain impacts caused by global warming. Additionally, artists such as SZA have partnered with brands to promote sustainable merchandise, encouraging a societal paradigm to rely on eco-friendly products. 

With more than 50% of the world’s population active on social media, people are continuously exposed to the influx of information circulated by entertainment. Through the entertainment industry, climate news has become increasingly accessible and engaging, allowing communities to educate themselves on sustainability and mobilize action. Although hip-hop and rap were once considered controversial music genres due to themes of violence, drugs, and misogyny, there is a growing effort to utilize the storytelling aptitude of these genres for social and environmental commentary. Artists use rhymes and flow in hip-hop and rap to effectively share the living conditions, natural disasters, and climate injustice that people face. This empowerment of entertainment has motivated marginalized people to strengthen their community bonds and collaborate in fighting against climate change. The widespread influence of entertainment is fostering inspiration for a new culture promoting climate equity and agency, as well as the normalization of environmentalism in society.  

Corey Dennard and Michael Hawthorne Jr. (Akachè Marcino) are the co-founders of Klean Energy Kulture, a non-profit environmental entertainment company. Corey Dennard, popularly known as Mr. Hanky, is a hit producer who has worked with top charting artists, including Snoop Dog, Usher, and Soulja Boy. Michael Hawthorne Jr., also known as Akachè Marcino, is an environmentalist and political organizer. Hawthorne has worked on Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign and Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. Together, they lead Black communities towards climate resiliency through campaigning for clean energy.

Further Reading

• Canary Media: This Atlanta duo has a theory to drive climate action: Make it cool
• Medium: How Michael Hawthorne Jr Of Klean Energy Kulture Is Helping to Promote Sustainability and Climate Justice
• American Lung Association: Disparities in the Impact of Air Pollution
• Atmos: Composing Climate Change: The Radical Legacy of Black Musicians
• Climate Reality Project: Environmental Racism

For a transcript of this episode, please visit https://climatebreak.org/promoting-clean-energy-through-pop-culture-with-klean-energy-kulture-co-founders-michael-hawthorne-jr-and-corey-dennard/.

Historically, India has faced challenges with persistent air pollution as a result of industrial development. One key approach to combat this has been to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example, Indian policymakers have been pushing for the commercialization of electric vehicles which has unlocked various incentives for companies like Vision Mechatronics to develop electric vehicles run by lithium-ion batteries. 

India “seeks to attain a 30% share of electric vehicles, in the total vehicles sold, by 2030” and accelerating the market for it by “moving from incentives to mandates” like a Zero Emission Vehicle policy (NITI Aayog). Taking advantage of this political support, Vision Mechatronics “aims to develop a complete domestic ecosystem around EVs” which have “zero tailpipe emissions” (Vision Mechatronics). 

Many electric vehicles are driven by lithium ion batteries which “can contain hundreds of individual cylindrical battery cells that are the same shape as common AA and AAA batteries” (Edmunds). They are extremely energy efficient and can store a multitude of energy; on full battery, electric cars powered by lithium-ion batteries can drive over 200 miles–although it may depend on the specific car model. Compared to their precursor, lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries have higher energy density which increases the mileage of a car. They are also extremely lightweight and this ensures that EVs aren’t too heavy. Moreover, the electricity used to refuel the EVs come from renewable energy sources like solar power. 

There are various concerns that lithium-ion battery powered cars take a long time to charge. Although this may be true for some models, recent developments have led to an increase in charging efficiency and overall energy storage. For instance, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 can be charged “from 10% to 80% in just 18 minutes” (Edmunds).

Moreover, the environmental impact that the creation of lithium-ion batteries has is detrimental as “the mining process for lithium and other materials used in these batteries can… lead to water pollution and habitat destruction” (Tara Electronics). Although this is the undeniable truth, it is promising to know that due to advancements in technology it has been shown that electric car batteries can “last 12 to 15 years in moderate climates”, meaning that they don’t have short lifespans (Edmunds). Moreover, “instead of ending up in a scrapyard like most internal combustion engines do, electric vehicle batteries can be repurposed, refurbished, or recycled when they fail” (Edmunds).

Rashi Gupta, an advocate for clean energy, is the Founder & Managing Director of Vision Mechatronics Private Limited which is a battery company in India.

• Edmunds, What You Need to Know About Electric Vehicle Batteries
• Vision Mechatronics, Renewable Energy Solutions for Electric Vehicles
• NITI Aayog, “Unlocking a $200 Billion Opportunity: Electric Vehicles in India”
• Tara Electronics, Why Do Electric Cars Use Lithium Batteries Exploring the Advantages and Challenges

• EV Mechanica, Understanding Lithium-Ion Battery Technology in Electric Vehicles
• IBEF, Electric Vehicles: Electric Vehicle Industry in India and its Growth

For a transcript of this episode, please visit https://climatebreak.org/lithium-ion-batteries-for-indias-clean-energy-future/. 

In Indiana, evangelical churches are finding new ways to live out their faith through environmental action. With support from the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN), congregations are installing solar panels, planting native gardens, creating nature play areas for preschoolers, and even adding electric vehicle charging stations. This initiative, often referred to by Christians as “creation care,” positions environmental stewardship and climate action as a biblical responsibility.

EEN is a biblically-based ministry and the environmental arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, dedicated to mobilizing Christians around climate action. By collaborating with churches, universities, and seminaries, the organization offers education on how creation care is a collective mission among evangelicals. In Central Indiana, this has meant congregations and Christian universities working together on eco-friendly infrastructure and community events such as Indy Creation Fest, an Earth Day-like celebration that joyfully highlights humanity’s duty to conserve and steward the beauty God bestowed on us.

A central theme of EEN’s work is showing Christians that defending the poor and vulnerable also means addressing pollution — including from plastic, methane, and mercury — and climate change. Low-income communities often face the harshest impacts of extreme climate disasters, poor air quality, and contaminated water. By making this connection clear, EEN reframes environmentalism as an act of justice and compassion for humanity, aligning climate action with evangelical priorities. Their programs highlight not only environmental threats but also human health risks, from asthma linked to air pollution to the dangers of unsafe drinking water.

Creation care is still a growing movement and remains a minority position within American evangelicalism. Some believers continue to prioritize human welfare over environmental stewardship without recognizing that the two are inseparable. Historically, evangelicals have been among the groups least likely to regard climate change as urgent and express wariness about climate science. While the visible progress in Indiana is promising, it remains only a small step in the broader effort to normalize creation care across the evangelical community. 

Nonetheless, by centering their approach on shared religious values, EEN helps evangelical Christians see climate action not as a burden, but as a natural extension of their mission to honor God and all of creation.

Rev. Dr. Jeremy Summers, the Director of Church and Community Engagement at EEN, emphasizes that caring for the environment and caring for people are one in the same. He works with churches, universities, and local communities to connect biblical principles with climate action, advancing the creation care movement within evangelical circles. Within these spaces, he urges Christians to understand that protecting ecosystems is necessary to protect the people who live in them, especially those from marginalized groups who suffer most from pollution, climate change, and environmental injustice. 

• EEN, The Evangelical Environmental Network
• NAE, National Association of Evangelicals

• The New York Times, In Indiana, Putting Up Solar Panels Is Doing God’s Work
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Evangelical Environmental Network: Mobilizing Religious Groups for Climate Action
• The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The ‘Eco-Right’ Is Growing. Will Bipartisanship Follow?
• University of Arizona News, Researchers explore how to protect the environment while helping those living in poverty

For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/evangelical-christians-taking-environmental-action-with-rev-dr-jeremy-summers/.

As climate change accelerates, climate risks are beginning to impact every aspect of society from infrastructure and transportation to health, biodiversity, and air and water quality. A climate risk is the potential for climate change to have adverse consequences for a human or ecological system. Climate risks have implications for property and infrastructure, posing a threat to the global financial system at large. 

The rate at which climate change and its associated risks are increasing can be reduced through mitigation and adaptation actions such as investing in green infrastructure and implementing energy efficiency standards. The assessment of climate risk involves the identification and quantification of the potential impacts of climate change on an organization, region, or community. Many organizations utilize climate risk assessments, which involve evaluating current and future vulnerabilities to climate-related hazards, taking into account factors such as infrastructure resilience, economic stability, and social vulnerability. To quantify those impacts, assessments typically estimate the level of damage in financial terms. In order to streamline this process and make it easier for companies to identify their potential risk, riskthinking.AI has developed a platform to leverage climate change risks and impacts through AI software.

Riskthinking.Ai integrates AI technology with climate change data to evaluate financial risk management through their development of the ClimateEarthDigitalTwin (CDT). The CDT integrates physical asset data with the latest climate projections like extreme weather and temperature shifts. Rather than using deterministic forecasts, CDT relies on probabilistic distributions to simulate a range of future scenarios and project changes in an asset's value over time. The CDT platform quantifies exposure and impacts from climate change. Riskthinking.Ai identifies which specific risk factors, such as extreme heat and floods, contribute to overall exposure. This approach can guide decision-making and help assess the complex risks posed by climate change and inform future infrastructure investments, risk mitigation, and climate adaptation strategies.

Riskthinking.Ai enables organizations to evaluate future financial impacts of climate change, integrating climate risks into business decisions. Countries especially vulnerable to climate change may benefit from this algorithm, as it allows for a better understanding of the threats they face due to a changing climate. By providing countries, governments, and corporations with a better understanding of how they may be at risk due to their geographical location and respective climate vulnerability, AI technology can guide decision-making to inform proper adaptation and mitigation into the future. 

Although Riskthinking.Ai provides a tangible strategy in informing proper adaptation and mitigation, many argue that the use of AI technology to address environmental crises is counterintuitive due to AI’s negative impacts on the environment. By 2040, it is predicted that the emissions from the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry will amount to 14% of global emissions, with the majority being driven through ICT infrastructure, specifically data centers and communication networks which AI relies upon to operate. In addition to the significant energy consumption required to power AI technology, a large amount of water is needed for cooling data centers. Further, AI relies on critical minerals and rare elements which are mined for unsustainability and the rapidly increasing data centers contribute to the growing body of electronic waste. However, as AI becomes increasingly applied to environmental problems, it can prove to be a valuable tool in combating climate change. Thus, working to reduce the environmental impact of AI technology will not only be vital in its application for climate risk assessments, but in mitigating the harmful effects brought about by its rapidly increasing societal demand.

Dr. Ron Dembo, founder and CEO of Riskthinking.Ai, has utilized his multi-factor scenario modeling expertise to create a data platform and analytics engine for measuring and managing climate financial risk. Dr. Ron Dembo has been an Associate Professor at Yale, visiting professor at MIT, and has received many awards for his work in risk management, optimization, and climate change.

• Earth Scan, What is climate risk and what does it mean for your organization
• IBM, What is climate risk?
• NOAA, Climate Change Impacts
• Riskthinking.AI, Climate Data & Analytics that Power Enterprise Risk, Research and Reporting
• Earth.Org, The Green Dilemma: Can AI Fulfil Its Potential Without Harming the Environment?

• MIT News, Explained: Generative AI's environmental impact
• NASA, The Effects of Climate Change
• UN, AI has an environmental problem. Here’s what the world can do about that.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit https://climatebreak.org/using-ai-for-climate-risk-assessment-with-dr-ron-dembo/.