How to Save a Planet

We asked for your weirdest alternative energy ideas, and you delivered. This week, Alex — plus climate journalists and experts Brian Kahn and Amelia Urry — vet some wacky new ways we could power our planet in the future. Join us as we assess the good, the bad, and the viable… in our very first HTSAP game show.

Oregon State University's wave energy testing site

The Detroit Zoo’s biodigester updates (plus, this NPR segment on the Brooklyn wastewater treatment site Alex mentioned, and the EPA’s list of far digester projects)

Adam Boesel’s Green Microgym initiative

Miguel Wattson on Twitter

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This week, we’re talking about oil pipelines. From the fight against Keystone XL to Standing Rock, pipeline protests have been central to the climate movement in the U.S. But they’ve always been about more than just the climate -- they’ve also been a battle for Indigenous rights, demanding that Native American people and Tribes should have a say over what happens in their historic territories. This week, we look back at how pipeline protests have transformed climate activism in the U.S., and we go to the front lines of the latest protests, where organizers are fighting, in their words, “For water. For treaties. For climate.” (This episode originally aired on April 15, 2021).

Guests: Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Joye Braun, Jenni Monet, Jamie Henn and Tara Houska.

Learn More

• For more about Tara and her work, you can: 

• Check out the Giniw Collective on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram 

• Watch Tara’s TED Talk: The Standing Rock resistance and our fight for Indigenous rights

• You can find more information, including ways to get involved from home, here: https://linktr.ee/stopline3

• You can find the link to a petition asking the Biden administration to step in and do what they can to stop this project here: https://www.stopline3.org/biden

• You can find out about the divestment campaign aimed at companies that fund fossil fuel infrastructure here: https://stopthemoneypipeline.com/

Further Reading

• You can read or listen to Tara’s essay in the anthology co-edited by Ayana, All We Can Save

• Check out the ongoing reporting on Line 3 from Minnesota Public Radio and Indian Country Today. There’s also great reporting from The Guardian, and Emily Atkin at Heated.

• Read Louise Erdrich’s essay about Line 3 in The New York Times

Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we’ve recommended on the show. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Rachel Waldholz. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis and Anna Ladd. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.

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A common piece of career advice is to bring your whole self to work. But what if your whole self includes a deep concern for the climate? Can you bring that part of yourself to work, even if it makes your workplace uncomfortable? This week we talked to a couple of people, Emily Cunningham and Eliza Pan, who had that same question. They were deeply concerned about the climate crisis and they felt that their workplace, Amazon - yes that one - was part of the problem. So they, along with some of their coworkers, decided to bring their concerns about climate change into the office. This week we learn how Amazon workers pushed the company to act on climate change, how effective it was, and what lessons the rest of us can learn from them. (This episode originally aired May 27, 2021).

Guests: Emily Cunningham and Eliza Pan

Take Action

• Find out what your company is already doing to address climate change. How does what they are doing compare to other organizations in their space? Could they be doing more?

• Start talking to your coworkers about climate change. Find the people in your organization who are interested in finding ways to help your company lower its carbon footprint. 

• Connect with groups in your area that are organizing about climate change. Some places to start looking might be your local chapter of 350.org, and check out this list for more suggestions.

Learn More

• Read the open that Amazon Employees for Climate Justice wrote to Jeff Bezos

• Eliza recommends the book The Long Haul by Myles Horton (who we also mentioned in our episode, Where’s our Climate Anthem)

• Check out Amazon Employee’s for Climate Justice’s efforts on their website. You can get in touch with Amazon Employees for Climate Justice at [email protected]

• Read the full letter that former Amazon VP Tim Bray wrote about why he resigned in the wake of Amazon terminating some of its employees

• Read Amazon’s climate pledge

If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form.  We might use it in an upcoming episode. Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we’ve recommended on the show. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

Credits:

This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.Super special thanks to Rachel Strom for helping with this episode. 

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At the end of every episode of this show, we give you all calls to action – things that you, our listeners, can do to address climate change. This week, we’re giving ourselves some calls to action, and setting climate action New Year's Resolutions. Oddly enough, they have to do with rats, poutine, Delia’s jeans, and more. Also, Mr. Beast is back with another environmental stunt, and we’ve got an update for you.

Calls to Action

Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Anna Ladd. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz, and Hannah Chinn. Our supervising producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Our intern is Nicole Welch. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard and Lonnie Ro with original music from Peter Leonard and Emma Munger. Our fact checker for this episode was James Gaines.

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In public opinion polls, one group of Americans stand out, telling researchers they are particularly skeptical about climate change: white Evangelical Christians. That skepticism has had a major influence on American politics and policy. So how do we bring more people of faith into the climate movement? We talk to a Christian climate scientist about how she became a climate skeptic whisperer, by convincing others not only that climate change is real, but that taking action should be central to their faith. We also talk to a young Evangelical who shares what it’s like to come to believe in climate change...and have to tell your parents.

Guests: Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist at The Nature Conservancy, Abigail Zoccola

Calls to Action

Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Anna Ladd. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz, and Hannah Chinn. Our supervising producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Our intern is Nicole Welch. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard and Lonnie Ro with original music from Emma Munger. Our fact checker for this episode was James Gaines. Special thanks to Kyle Meyaard-Schaap and Tori Goebel.

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For decades politicians and other leaders have said that acting on climate change comes at too high a cost — to jobs, to business, to the economy. And they've used economics, the dismal science, to support their argument. But some climate activists have long said that those politicians have it all wrong. That there are no jobs on a dead planet. 

And increasingly, some economists agree. 

They say that if we're going to have any hope of addressing climate change we need to rethink our relationship to the economy - which is often how we measure a country's well being. And to that, we have to rethink economics. To understand their argument, we talk to Kate Raworth, an Oxford economist, and author of the book Doughnut Economics, about what economics gets right, what it gets wrong, what it needs to do differently to help sustain human life on this planet. And speak with Lead Councillor Susan Aitken, the head of Glasgow, Scotland's city government who is working to take the economic ideas that Kate Raworth has put forward to help her city transition to a healthier more sustainable future. 

Calls to Action

Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

This episode was produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis. Our reporters and producers are Rachel Waldholz, Anna Ladd and Hannah Chinn.  Our supervising producer is Lauren Silverman with help from Katelyn Bogucki. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Our intern is Nicole Welch. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard and Lonnie Ro with original music by Peter Leonard, Emma Munger, and Catherine Anderson. Our fact checker this episode is Claudia Geib.

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It’s important to talk about climate change. But how do you talk about it with friends and family who don't believe it's real, or don’t think we can do anything about it? We hear from a father and son who successfully navigated this conversation, and we bring you step-by-step tips from an expert on how to have a conversation where both sides actually hear each other. This episode originally aired in November of 2020.

Call to action

Talk about the climate! Here are the six steps outlined by Steve Deline with the New Conversation Initiative on how to have difficult conversations about climate change.

Step 1 – Set realistic expectations for yourself!

Your initial goal should be to lower the temperature around this issue. Even if you just succeed in attempting to talk to them one on one, or expressing a DESIRE to do so, that’s an important step forward! Do NOT set yourself an expectation that you will change how they feel about climate all in one go! 

Step 2 – Find a buddy!

Find someone you trust and feel comfortable with who’s down to be your support before and after having a challenging conversation with a friend or family member. Talk to them about what your fears are, and name some goals for what you’re doing to make this one go different. 

Step 3 – Find a quiet moment to talk to your family member

Ideally do it when you can be one on one, NOT surrounded by the whole family at the actual Thanksgiving table! Be direct and say “Hey, I’d love to find a time to talk more about this.” So that they have a chance to opt in.

Step 4 – Listen!

When the time comes to talk, start by letting them know that you really want to understand how they feel about climate change. Listen, and ask follow up questions “Tell me more? Why do you feel that way?” But importantly DON’T RESPOND. Don’t engage with the parts that you disagree with. Don’t try to debate or correct information, just give them a chance to talk it out and be heard. You don’t want this to go on forever, but you do want to let them get the crux of their feelings on the subject off their chest. 

Step 5 – Acknowledge that you disagree

Let them know what you think. For example “Got it. So you’re probably not surprised to hear it but I think climate change is real and human-caused” or “I think we should be responding to it in x/y/z ways.” But then most importantly, say “BUT I really want to find a way to talk to you about it openly, and better understand what each other thinks, even if we don’t agree.” In other words, name the elephant in the room – that you disagree – and name it without being upset about it! This helps make it OK to disagree, and be honest and vulnerable, without having to argue.

Step 6 – Make it personal.

Turn the conversation away from talking points and dueling facts, and towards their life and experiences, and your life and experiences. For example, I might share a story about my friend Laurel, whose sister lost her home to a wildfire in Paradise, CA, and how hearing her story was the first time I felt a knot of fear in my stomach, that my own community in Southern California could be in danger of the same thing. The key here is to share vulnerably, and then talk about how it made you FEEL.

And then (most importantly) invite them to do the same. Be prepared that their story could be about how environmentalists or Democrats have negatively impacted someone they know, like someone lost their job or is in danger of doing so. That’s OK too, as long as the story is specific and from their own life. Most importantly ask how that experience made them FEEL – bring emotion explicitly into the conversation.

If you have a conversation about climate change, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us at how to save a planet dot show / contact. 

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At the COP26 UN climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, nearly 200 countries signed a deal aimed at increasing efforts to tackle climate change. The goal? "Keep 1.5 alive" — that is, set the world on a credible path to limit warming to 1.5°C and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. So, did countries succeed? We take you inside COP26: from the protests at the gates to the late night negotiations — and the single word that almost brought the whole deal down.

Calls to action

Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Rachel Waldholz. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Anna Ladd, and Hannah Chinn. Our supervising producer is Lauren Silverman with help from Katelyn Bogucki. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Our intern is Nicole Welch. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard and Lonnie Ro with original music by Peter Leonard and Emma Munger. Our fact-checker this episode is Claudia Geib. The man you heard singing in the Darth Vader suit is Jamen Shively. 

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With flood risk increasing and flood insurance rates likely following suit, it seems like there’s got to be a better way to tackle the challenge. For example: could we make our homes float when the water comes? We’re sharing an episode of Life Raft from New Orleans Public Radio, who talked to an architect who has devoted her professional life to answering that question, and visited a Louisiana community where some people have decided that it makes more sense to temporarily float a house than to elevate it on stilts.

You can check out more episodes of Life Raft on Spotify, or wherever you listen.

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The Yurok tribe is reversing centuries of ecological damage to their land and making it more resilient to climate change by marrying two systems that might seem contradictory: indigenous land management practices and modern Western economics.

In this episode we talk to Yurok Tribe Vice-Chairman Frankie Myers about how the Tribe recovered stolen land with the help of a carbon offset program, the creative ways they're bringing the salmon back, and the role beavers play in the ecosystem. This episode originally aired in February of 2021.

Guest: Frankie Myers

Calls to Action

If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode.

Check out our Calls to Action archive here for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Felix Poon. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.

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