Climate One

By Climate One at The Commonwealth Club

What's Climate One about?

Greg Dalton is changing the conversation on energy, economy and the environment by offering candid discussion from climate scientists, policymakers, activists, and concerned citizens. By gathering inspiring, credible, and compelling information, he provides an essential resource to change-makers looking to make a difference.

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Law and Disorder: Climate C...

10.18.2019

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 ...

Climate One episodes:

10.18.2019 Law and Disorder: Climate Change in the Courts 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 ...
10.11.2019 Scorched Earth: Culture and Climate Under Siege 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 ...
10.08.2019 Jonathan Safran Foer: We Are the Weather 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 — ...
09.26.2019 Heavy Weather: Balancing Joy and Despair 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 ...
09.20.2019 My Climate Story: Terry Root 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 ...
09.19.2019 A Tale of Two Cities: Miami and Detroit 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 ...
09.17.2019 My Climate Story: Ben Santer 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 ...
09.13.2019 From Wheels to Wings: Our Flying Car Future 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 ...
09.06.2019 How Pro Sports Can Be a Player in Climate From stadiums packed with energetic fans to food, beer, and waste, athletics 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 ...
08.30.2019 Carbon Offsets: Privileged Pollution? Carbon offsets have been called everything from a band-aid solution to “the best thing a consumer can do right now.” A new service even offers customers a monthly subscription to offset their carbon footprint. Meanwhile, offset providers are scrutinized for ...
08.23.2019 Tom Steyer: Power Disruptor? 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 ...
08.16.2019 Superpower: How Renewables are Transforming America’s Energy Future 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 ...
08.09.2019 The Land of Dreams and Drought 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 ...
08.02.2019 Drawdown: Do We Have What It Takes to Solve Climate Change? 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 ...
07.26.2019 The Art of the Green Deal 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 ...
07.19.2019 The Fate of Food 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 ...
07.12.2019 Cities for the Future 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 ...
07.05.2019 Climate Winners and Losers 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 ...
06.28.2019 David Wallace-Wells: The Uninhabitable Earth 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 ...
06.20.2019 Can a Circular Economy Salvage the Climate? 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 ...
06.14.2019 Jay Inslee: The Climate Candidate 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 ...
06.07.2019 Mindful Travel in the Age of Climate Change 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 ...
05.31.2019 If You Won't, We Will: Youth Action on Climate 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 ...
05.31.2019 David Gergen on Climate Politics and Public Opinion “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 ...
05.24.2019 David Gergen on Climate Politics and Public Opinion Former presidential advisor David Gergen on the Green New Deal, InsideClimate News reporter Marianne Lavelle on the latest climate action proposals, and Republican political strategist Lori Weigel on how conservation and conservatism can go hand-in-hand.
05.17.2019 Republicans and a Democrat on Climate The Democrats’ proposed Green New Deal is shaking things up in Washington, and with more and more of their communities feeling the effects of climate change, Republican lawmakers find they ignore the topic at their peril. Is there such a ...
05.10.2019 Sea Changes: Why Oceans Play a Bigger Role in Climate Change Than You Think 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 ...
05.03.2019 How Climate Broke California’s Biggest Utility 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 ...
04.25.2019 Oppressive Heat: Climate Change as a Civil Rights Issue 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 ...
04.20.2019 Fighting Fossil Fuels All the Way to Prison 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 ...
04.12.2019 Climate One at Harvard With Obama’s Climate Team 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 ...
04.05.2019 The New Surf and Turf 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 ...
03.29.2019 Insane Mode: Tesla’s Wild Ride 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 ...
03.22.2019 Naturally Wired: Getting Outside in the Digital Age 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 ...
03.15.2019 EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler on Cars, Coal, and Climate 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 ...
03.08.2019 If Global Warming Exists, Why is it so Cold Outside? 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 ...
03.01.2019 Weathering the Storm in America's Cities 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 ...
02.22.2019 Donor Power: The Influence of Climate Philanthropy 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 ...
02.15.2019 Can California Go Carbon Neutral? 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 ...
02.08.2019 Katharine Hayhoe: Why We Need to Talk About Climate Change 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 ...
02.01.2019 How Some Countries Are Solving Climate Change 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 ...
01.25.2019 Cool Clean Tech 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 ...
01.20.2019 We’re Doomed – Now What? 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 ...
01.18.2019 We’re Doomed – Now What? 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 ...
01.13.2019 The Hidden Health Hazards of Climate Change 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 ...
01.03.2019 The Paris Agreement at Three: Floundering or Flourishing? 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 ...
12.28.2018 Going Carbon Negative 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, ...
12.21.2018 The Big Climate Stories of 2018 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 ...
12.14.2018 Mind Over Chatter: Exploring Climate Psychology 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 ...
12.07.2018 Fire and Water: A Year of Climate Conversations 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 ...

Older episodes

Climate One

What's Climate One about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Climate One episodes:

Law and Disorder: Climate Change in the Courts

Scorched Earth: Culture and Climate Under Siege

Jonathan Safran Foer: We Are the Weather

Heavy Weather: Balancing Joy and Despair

My Climate Story: Terry Root

A Tale of Two Cities: Miami and Detroit

My Climate Story: Ben Santer

From Wheels to Wings: Our Flying Car Future

How Pro Sports Can Be a Player in Climate

Carbon Offsets: Privileged Pollution?

Tom Steyer: Power Disruptor?

Superpower: How Renewables are Transforming America’s Energy Future

The Land of Dreams and Drought

Drawdown: Do We Have What It Takes to Solve Climate Change?

The Art of the Green Deal

The Fate of Food

Cities for the Future

Climate Winners and Losers

David Wallace-Wells: The Uninhabitable Earth

Can a Circular Economy Salvage the Climate?

Jay Inslee: The Climate Candidate

Mindful Travel in the Age of Climate Change

If You Won't, We Will: Youth Action on Climate

David Gergen on Climate Politics and Public Opinion

David Gergen on Climate Politics and Public Opinion

Republicans and a Democrat on Climate

Sea Changes: Why Oceans Play a Bigger Role in Climate Change Than You Think

How Climate Broke California’s Biggest Utility

Oppressive Heat: Climate Change as a Civil Rights Issue

Fighting Fossil Fuels All the Way to Prison

Climate One at Harvard With Obama’s Climate Team

The New Surf and Turf

Insane Mode: Tesla’s Wild Ride

Naturally Wired: Getting Outside in the Digital Age

EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler on Cars, Coal, and Climate

If Global Warming Exists, Why is it so Cold Outside?

Weathering the Storm in America's Cities

Donor Power: The Influence of Climate Philanthropy

Can California Go Carbon Neutral?

Katharine Hayhoe: Why We Need to Talk About Climate Change

How Some Countries Are Solving Climate Change

Cool Clean Tech

We’re Doomed – Now What?

We’re Doomed – Now What?

The Hidden Health Hazards of Climate Change

The Paris Agreement at Three: Floundering or Flourishing?

Going Carbon Negative

The Big Climate Stories of 2018

Mind Over Chatter: Exploring Climate Psychology

Fire and Water: A Year of Climate Conversations

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