Climate Sense

The climate implications of our “stuff” economy—appliances, cars, clothes, roads, buildings and more—are enormous. The industrial sector that makes all this stuff accounts for 30 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. In this episode, host Samantha Gross talks with Rebecca Dell, senior director for industry at ClimateWorks Foundation, about ways to make the industrial economy—from steel to chemicals to plastics—cleaner.

Show notes and transcript

Climate Sense is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

The world needs emissions-free electricity that is available when and where we want it, rather than on Mother Nature’s schedule as wind and solar generation are. Nuclear power has the potential to be that source. In this episode, host Samantha Gross talks with former U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernie Moniz, who says that fission reactors, the kind in use today, have the potential to become safer and less expensive. And fusion reactors, long the holy grail of carbon-free energy, are quickly moving from science fiction toward reality.

Show notes and transcript

Climate Sense is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

The first episode of season two of Climate Sense, hosted by Samantha Gross, is all about hydrogen. Hydrogen will have an important role in a zero carbon energy system, enabling decarbonization of energy end-uses that cannot easily use electricity. Hydrogen is made today by splitting molecules of either water or natural gas, using significant energy in the process, so it’s important to reserve hydrogen for its highest and best uses. However, future production of geologic hydrogen could be game-changing, giving us a zerocarbon fossil fuel.

Show notes and transcript

Climate Sense is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

In season two of Climate Sense, host Samantha Gross focuses on how to transition to a clean, zero-carbon energy system—the technical, political and social challenges in getting from here to there. She'll talk to leading experts and government officials on a range of approaches to this zero-carbon goal, including hydrogen, nuclear, and securing critical minerals as well as climate finance, the role China plays in pursuing global emissions reductions, and whether climate activism is moving the needle on climate action.

Climate Sense is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

This episode of Climate Sense is a Q&A with host Samantha Gross, including questions sourced from our listeners on a wide range of topics from climate as a national emergency, to electrification, bipartisan action, and adaptation versus mitigation. Concerns about the speed and consequences of climate change are valid and at times quite scary, but that doesn’t mean we should not talk about the energizing and hopeful potential of climate solutions.

Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3G6klix

Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

This episode of “Climate Sense” is about U.S. policy—the challenges of implementing climate legislation in the U.S. and recently enacted laws. Climate change and other environmental issues are caught up in our country’s increasingly polarized politics. Nonetheless, new climate legislation will bring real benefits to people—with emphasis on financing existing technologies, innovation for new solutions, and promoting U.S. industry.

Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3FduycD

Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

In this episode of “Climate Sense,” Samantha Gross explores the issue of justice and fairness in global climate action. Many of the world’s poorest countries have contributed the least to existing greenhouse gases but are on the front lines of the changing climate. It is not enough to have science, knowledge, and resources. What is essential to climate justice is making sure that climate change is not an excuse to let the developing world shoulder the work and costs of reducing emissions.

Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3hYl6k0

Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

Americans love cars, and trucks, and SUVs. Our country is designed around the automobile. This episode of Climate Sense, hosted by Samantha Gross, is about transportation–an important part of our culture, our energy use, and our greenhouse gas emissions. She talks with two experts on the use of electric vehicles and seeks answers to the transportation challenge. What is the solution? Expanding our perceptions on the way we get around.

Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3Ggy5I6

Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

This episode of “Climate Sense” is about electricity—the stuff that comes out of the outlet in your wall. Electricity is the future, but many of us don’t think about it beyond the wall plug. In this episode, Samantha Gross explains that electricity is central to transforming our energy system. The costs of wind and solar electricity have plummeted in recent years, making them no longer cool and expensive, but now cool and cheap, in many cases cheaper than the fossil fuel electricity they replace. And electricity is a clean, quiet, and very efficient method for using energy in everything from homes to transportation to industry.

Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3E1c9ir

Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

Addressing climate change must be a global undertaking, even though the world’s wealthy nations have been responsible for most of the global warming to date. In this episode of “Climate Sense,” Samantha Gross speaks with experts on why climate is such a challenging political problem, what it took to get an agreement in Paris in 2015, and how the world can collaborate on this thorniest of global problems.

Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3DNlE4L

Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].