Most of the guests on this series are credentialed experts who are old, or at least not particularly young. But younger people research the climate, and reflect carefully on the situation. This week we have three students from the University of Liverpool who took a climate course last year that was taught by the producer of this show. One wrote her term paper about geoengineering, one about greenwashing, and one about plant-based diets. The conversation then moves to artificial intelligence, which is climate connected because it uses a huge amount of energy. It's compelling to hear the perspective of these students (aged 21, 21, and 22) who will have to live in a world that is not only climate changed but with omnipresent artificial intelligence.

Mike Berners-Lee, the author of There Is No Planet B and other books, joins us to talk about his newest release: A Climate of Truth: Why We Need It And How To Get It. He makes the case for a no-tolerance attitude to dishonesty in politics, media and business. We explore and critique this with him. His core claim is that enforcing the highest standards of honesty in public discourse is the best chance of getting the necessary global action to address climate change and the other crises we're facing.

We're talking about Tesla vandalism: why the Trump administration's response is over the top, crazy, and absurd, and why the vandalism itself is a terrible idea. Electric cars and electric charging stations are the wrong target.

In this episode, we look at the Trump administration's actions through the lens of our climate crisis and ask: how can we find ways to care for one another through the GOP's disastrous dismantling of our democratic institutions? In many ways, the effects of Trump's policies are (or certainly will be) as devastating to people's lives as hurricanes. Access to food, health care, housing, and other needs are being upended, along with the government institutions we have relied up to help us through such crises. What can our responses to natural (and climate) disasters teach us about the kind of mutual aid we need not only to survive, but also to thrive?

We ponder what an extinction rebellion looks like under this new iteration of American politics, this new iteration of executive power, this new iteration of world affairs. The same basic dynamic of the climate crisis goes on: mass burning of fossil fuels cooks the planet and threatens extinction. But what we do in response might look different. What is mutual aid in the time of a so-called 'unitary executive'? How do we go through and beyond the Trump administration to a constructive future instead of reacting in panic to each shocking development?

Alycee rejoins the show discussing how USAID (the U.S. Agency for International Developmen) was doing climate mitigation work before it was ripped apart last week by the Trump Administration. We also cover some recent climate news and commentary including a report from a financial modeling company saying that $1.4 trillion in real estate value will be destroyed by the climate crisis. That's real estate only: how much value is going to be wiped out.

Whiplash on tariffs! Why did President Trump immediately reverse himself on tariffs, first with Colombia, then with Mexico and Canada? It's because he needs their oil. Colombia exports $5.4 billion in oil to the U.S, an amount that's dwarfed by Mexico and Canada. In fact the U.S. gets 60% of its oil from Canada. The tariff postponement has little if anything to do with border 'security' and everything to do with needing those fossil fuels. Fossil fuel dependence explains the tariff drama.

There have been two major presidential addresses in the last two weeks and both had climate change at the center of them. Joe Biden's Farewell Address warned of a developing oligarchy bent on un-doing climate progress, and Donald Trump's Second Inaugural Address stoked outrage at our failure to recover from climate disasters. This episode explains how the way both presidents think and talk about climate could be fundamental to American politics for years to come.

The fires around Los Angeles are obviously caused by climate change, Why wasn't there a better plan for combating them? I'm working on the theory that NO PLAN would have worked. It was not possible to respond quickly and effectively. There's a profound water shortage throughout the region, so they simply don't have enough groundwater to pump. The fire fighters may be well trained but if they don't have water there's not much they can do. No amount of planning can fix that. It's like this for climate disasters elsewhere too.

This episode updates climate news from various points in 2024 that we haven't covered yet. The Biden administration is foregoing some emissions cuts they could have had from regulating car pollution. And some good news: Cat lovers will rejoice to hear that the Iberian Lynx, a medium size cat with gorgeous features, is no longer critically endangered. An iconic Hawaiian Banyan tree is reflowering after a fire, in a hopeful metaphor for the climate crisis.