General readers want straight answers on climate. But climate science is complex and full of nuance. This excites scientists, whose research explores the leading edge. But it makes climate reporting difficult. Journalists must understand the science, then competently simplify it for readers, no easy feat. We’ll discuss with two editors: Dr. Michael White from Nature, and Justin Worland from Time.

The US natural gas pipeline network carries gas from where it’s produced to the many places it's used: power plants, factories and millions of homes. Proponents want more pipelines, to replace more coal here and abroad. Opponents worry about methane leakage and local environmental impacts. We discuss with former Congressman Tim Ryan and Gillian Giannetti from Natural Resources Defense Council.

Plastic is cheap, lightweight, strong and versatile, so we use it in millions of products. But there are challenges with disposal and recycling, meaning plastic is increasingly in our oceans, our water, our food, even our bodies. We’ll talk about all this, and plastic’s energy and emissions footprints, with Dr. Anja Brandon from the Ocean Conservancy and Holli Alexander from Eastman.

In part 1, we talked about the size of planned offshore wind farms, and potential impacts to fisheries, marine mammals and property values. Now we discuss the cost to build offshore wind farms, the role of subsidies to do so, and how much these projects may or may not reduce US CO2 emissions. Our guests again are Peder Hansen from PH Consulting and Lisa Linowes of Industrial Wind Action.

The US is contemplating massive new offshore wind projects. Proponents see these as part of decarbonizing our electricity system. Opponents worry about impacts to fisheries, marine mammals, tourism and property values, plus the challenges of onshoring the electricity. Lisa Linowes from Industrial Wind Action and Peder Hansen from PH Consulting debate.