Climate One

As heat waves, storms, droughts and wildfires continue to worsen, talking can seem like a seriously insufficient climate solution. It’s fair to ask: Are we just engaged in blah, blah, blah?

Too often, talking is one sided – more of a lecture aimed at conveying information or solely stating one's own point of view. And yet, when done right, real conversations and true listening can help us find common ground, which can then lead to collective action and change. So how do we make those conversations really count? In this week’s episode, we delve into some of our most insightful interviews, looking for the answer.

Guests:

Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist, The Nature Conservancy  

Meera Subramanian, Journalist

Faith Kearns, Scientist, California Institute for Water Resources; Author, “Getting to the Heart of Science Communications”

Anand Giridharadas, Author, “The Persuaders” 

Chloe Maxmin, Co-Executive Director, Dirt Road Organizing

John Cook, Senior Research Fellow, Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change 

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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Kumi Naidoo is a world renowned activist and climate leader. Before going on to lead Greenpeace International then Amnesty International, Naidoo was a 15 year old anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. The boycotts he organized led to him being a target of the Security Police. He fled South Africa and lived in exile in the UK. 

As a climate activist, Naidoo has been arrested for scaling oil rigs, has negotiated with heads of state, and rubbed shoulders with the most powerful people at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Now he’s a visiting scholar at Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, where he’s focusing on how activism can win bigger and faster. 

Guests: 

Kumi Naidoo, Human Rights and Environmental Justice Activist

Alex Ajose Nixon, Spoken Word Poet

Mystic, Hip Hop Artist and Educator

Dana R. Fisher, Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland

Tamara Toles O’Laughlin, President and CEO, Environmental Grantmakers Association

📞 Have you moved within the United States for climate-related reasons? Tell us about it! 

For the chance to have your climate migration story shared on Climate One, give us a call at 650 382-3869. Please keep your voicemail under two minutes and include your name and contact information so we know how to reach you if we decide to feature your story.

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By joining Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and even periodic engagements with Climate One staff. Join today for just $5/month.

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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If you’re a climate-conscious person, you likely already know some of the main ways you can reduce your contribution to greenhouse gasses: buy less, eat less meat, ride your bike.

But there are other, less obvious methods we don’t always think of: voting, having climate conversations, engaging with your local government, changing where your money is invested. And while our role as individuals does matter, we’re more powerful when we work together in collective action. 

Guests: 

Jon Foley, Executive Director, Project Drawdown

Eliza Nemser, Executive Director, Climate Changemakers

This episode also features excerpts from Cory Booker, Anna Lappé, Frances Moore Lappé, Saul Griffith, Monique Figueiredo, Jonathan Chapman, Jennifer Anderson, Tanya Gulliver Garcia, Vernon Walker, Abrar Anwar, Slater Jewell-Kemker, Kyle Gracey and Alec Loorz.

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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When most people hear the phrase renewable energy, they imagine fields full of solar panels or giant spinning wind turbines. But another source may be heating up: geothermal. Twenty years ago it was thought that geothermal could provide at most 10% of any given area’s electricity, and only in very limited regions. There were also environmental concerns about depleting groundwater.

But new technological advances may have unlocked the potential for scalable geothermal energy just about anywhere. And in a bit of irony, those technological advances came from the oil and gas industry.

Guests: 

Amanda Kolker, Laboratory Program Manager for Geoscience and Geothermal Technologies, NREL

Jamie Beard, founder of Project InnerSpace

Lauren McLean, Mayor of Boise

Contributing Producer: David Condos

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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As fossil fuels are phased out, shuttered coal plants, contaminated landfills, and abandoned mine lands across the U.S. are finding new life as renewable energy projects. More than 23 states have 100% clean energy goals, and in order to reach those goals, some states are starting to convert what was once considered “dirty” into “clean” energy generation.

But what happens to the infrastructure, workers, and community after a coal plant shuts down? And as billions are dispersed through policies like the Inflation Reduction Act, what is being done to ensure that the same communities who have been historically left behind are included in the energy transition?

Guests: 

Mary Anne Hitt, Senior Director, Climate Imperative

Thomas Ramey, Commercial Home Evaluator, Solar Holler

Nick Mullins,  Energy Systems Technology Instructor, Tri-County Technical Center and Former Coal Miner

Delmar Gillus, COO, Elevate

This episode also features a reported piece by Jordan Gass-Pooré from the "Hazard NJ" podcast, an investigative podcast and multimedia project from NJ Spotlight News.

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By joining Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and even periodic engagements with Climate One staff. Join today for just $5/month.

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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A settlement for the largest civil penalty resulting from the Clean Air Act has just been reached. The EPA, DOJ and the State of California have agreed to a $1.7 billion fine for engine maker Cummins Inc. The fine is the result of Cummins being caught using “defeat devices” to fool emissions testers into thinking the engines pollute less than they really do.

Does that sound familiar? It’s exactly what Volkswagen was caught doing nearly 10 years ago. VW and Cummins aren’t the only ones; it’s an industry wide problem. So how do we stop the deception? What have we learned since the infamous VW “Dieselgate” scandal? 

Guests: 

Rachel Muncrief, Acting Executive Director, ICCT

Hector De La Torre, Member, California Air Resources Board

Margo Oge, Former Director, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, U.S. EPA

Alberto Ayala, Executive Director, Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By joining Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and even periodic engagements with Climate One staff. Join today for just $5/month.

For show notes and related links, visit our website.

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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. 

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? Revisit our discussion with this activist icon today.

Guest:

Jane Fonda, actor, activist

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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.

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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.

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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.

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