How to Save a Planet

By GimletSociety & Culture News Science

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How to Save a Planet episodes

April 15, 2021The Fight to Stop Oil Pipelines: "For Water. For Treaties. For Climate."
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.”
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 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. 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 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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52 min
April 08, 2021 Presenting: Stolen
This week, we’re sharing a Spotify Exclusive from another Gimlet podcast, Stolen: The Search for Jermain. In 2018, a young Indigenous mother named Jermain Charlo left a bar in Missoula, Montana, and was never seen again. After two years and thousands of hours of investigative work, police believe they are close to solving the mystery of what happened to her. Stolen goes inside the investigation, tracking down leads and joining search parties through the dense mountains of the Flathead Reservation, while examining what it means to be an Indigenous woman in America.
Next week we’ll be back with an episode of How to Save a Planet that takes you to the front lines of a pipeline protest.
In the meantime, 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.
How to Save a Planet is reported and produced by Rachel Waldholz, 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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54 min
April 01, 2021 Presenting: Outside/In
It's one of the most important Supreme Court cases you may never have heard of: Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency. The ruling held that the U.S. government could regulate greenhouse gases. Today we’re sharing the wild backstory of this critical Supreme Court case, from a podcast we love,“Outside/In,” from New Hampshire Public Radio. If you don’t believe a legal case in all its intimate details can be riveting, take a listen.
And be sure to check out all the other great episodes from Outside/In.
We'll be back next week with a new episode of How to Save a Planet. In the meantime, check out our Calls to Action archive here 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.
How to Save a Planet is reported and produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis, 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.

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1 hr 9 min
March 25, 2021The Beef with Beef
A quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture and land use – and a big portion of those emissions come from producing meat. Adopting a plant-based diet is one of the biggest steps an individual can take to reduce their own carbon footprint. So, should we all stop eating meat? Or is it more complicated than that? This week, we take a tour through the bodily functions of cows, millions of acres of corn, and the hidden policy that shapes the American food system to answer that question once and for all.
Guests: Marco Springmann, Tom Philpott and Matthew Hayek
Calls to Action
Sign up to track the latest U.S. Food & Agriculture bills, and contact Agriculture Committee members (House and Senate) about supporting a climate-friendly Farm Bill.
Contact the places you eat regularly about providing beef-less options – maybe it’s the cafeteria at work or school, or a community gathering space. Meatless Monday has resources for institutions that want to provide more climate-friendly meals.
Get involved with a local organization fighting food insecurity, a mutual aid group, a community garden, or a co-op. We also talk about mutual aid in our Unnatural Disasters episode!
Learn More
Read the World Resources Institute’s report on Creating a Sustainable Food Future.
Read this study about regenerative methods in beef production.
Read this study about red seaweed reducing methane in beef production.
Check out this data visualization on land use in the U.S.
Listen to the Science Vs. episode on vegan diets.

Check out our Calls to Action archive here 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 Felix Poon. 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.
Update 4/13/21
An earlier version of this episode incorrectly said that the regenerative practices described by researcher Paige Stanley require more than twice as much land as we already use for grazing. While it is true that this regenerative grazing method requires more land to produce the same amount of beef that is conventionally grazed and later fed at a feedlot, there is a trade off – regenerative grazing would result in more healthy soil that sequesters carbon, and less cropland growing corn that releases it. The episode has been updated.

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44 min
March 18, 2021Is Your Carbon Footprint BS?
This week we tackle a sibling debate: Do your individual actions matter when it comes to climate change? Or is it all about big, systemic change? In this episode, we break down both sides of the argument. We lay out the actions that have the biggest impact on your carbon footprint – and then ask if there's a better way to think about our individual roles.
Guests: Katharine Wilkinson, Anthony Leiserowitz and Steve Westlake
Calls to Action
Draw your Climate Action Venn Diagram – what are you good at? What is the work that needs doing? What brings you joy? Post your Venn diagram to social media (Twitter / Instagram) and tag us @How2SaveAPlanet.
Looking for a job? Climatebase has a jobs directory and organizations directory that can be filtered by Project Drawdown sectors and solutions.
Check out the How to Save a Planet Calls to Action document. All of our episode CTAs can be found there.
Talk to people about climate change, but don’t be annoying about it! For tips, listen to our episode, Trying to Talk to Family about Climate Change? Here's How, and read the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication’s Attaining Meaningful Outcomes from Conversations on Climate.
Learn More
Check out Project Drawdown to learn more about the Drawdown Framework, and to see their Table of Solutions that breaks down solutions by sector(s) and their impact on reducing heat-trapping gases.
Listen to related How to Save a Planet episodes – Party Like It’s 2035, Trying to Talk to Family About Climate Change? Here’s How, and Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Climate?
Listen to the climate podcast A Matter of Degrees, co-hosted by Dr. Katharine Wilkinson and Dr. Leah Stokes.
Check out the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication to learn more about the widespread support for climate policy solutions in America, and other research.
Check out the research paper that provides a comparison of emissions reductions from various individual actions.

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.
Special thanks to our guests: Katharine Wilkinson, Anthony Leiserowitz and Steve Westlake.
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 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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47 min
March 11, 2021Solving a Rooftop Solar Mystery, and What’s a Nurdle?
If you put a plastic bag in a bin outside your grocery store - will it really end up being recycled? Are some utilities trying to sabotage the solar industry? We've got answers to these questions and more incredible info about kelp (we are glad you love it as much as we do!) If you have a burning climate-themed question, send us a voice memo to our Listener Mail Form!
Guests: Tatiana Homonoff
Calls to Action
Find a drop off location for the plastic bags collecting under your sink by visiting PlasticFilmRecycling.org (and where possible, refuse new plastic bags and bring your own)
Look up if your city or state has a plastic bag ban or tax legislation in the works through PlasticBagLaws.org and share your thoughts with your representative(s)
Register for the The Climate Reality Project free virtual training centering ecojustice in climate leadership to engage with climate change on a broader level
Learn More
Listen to our original episode about recycling on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts
Listen to 99% Invisible’s episode on China’s National Sword policy to learn more about the plastic recycling market
Home or business owner? The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has a Homeowners guide to going solar, as well as a calculator that can help you estimate the costs of going solar
North Carolina State University's Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency can help you figure out what solar incentives and tax credits are available where you live If you want to learn more on the policy side, the National Conference of State Legislators has a Solar Policy Toolkit that covers fees (and incentives), net metering (it's under rates), and financing among other topics

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.

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50 min
March 04, 2021 Presenting: A Matter of Degrees
Presenting: A Matter of Degrees
What happens if your electric utility starts doing things you don’t agree with? What if they start attacking solar and proposing to build more and more fossil gas plants? What if they actively resist clean energy progress? Today we’re sharing an episode of a podcast we love, called “A Matter of Degrees.” Co-hosts Dr. Leah Stokes and Dr. Katharine Wilkinson detail how Arizona Public Service became the Darth Vader of electric utilities — and how public pressure forced APS to come clean.

Calls to Action
Get involved with your local public utility commission: Figure out what the heck they're doing and how you can support more climate friendly policies.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again! get involved with your local public utility commission, figure out what the heck they're doing and how you can support more climate friendly policies.
Please check out other episodes from A Matter of Degrees: Co-hosts Dr. Katharine Wilkinson and Dr. Leah Stokes have done a bunch of interesting and compelling reporting. You can find their show on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Check out our Calls to Action archive here 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.

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1 hr 1 min
February 25, 2021Kelp Farming, for the Climate (Part II)
So, what do you do with 579 pounds of seaweed? In our last episode, we ventured into the ocean to learn how seaweed farming can help solve climate change. In part II, we ask: What do we do with all that kelp? Plus our team does some seaweed R&D of its own and discovers...green scones?
Calls to action
Check out the New York State Assembly Bill A4213 on seaweed cultivation and for residents of New York, check out the petition.
Encourage innovation with kelp: Whether you work in fertilizers, plastics, cosmetics, or any industry, you can encourage your company to do R&D with kelp. Maybe it could serve as a substitute for less climate-friendly ingredients and materials. And if you need a middleman to source from, check out The Crop Project, founded by Casey Emmett whom we interviewed this episode.
Consider kelp products: If you are interested in making any kelp flour recipes, do a search for online retailers and don’t forget to share what you make! Send photos, video or audio to [email protected]
Learn more
Read Dune Lankard’s amazing piece in the GreenWave newsletter, A Native Perspective on Regenerative Ocean Farming. Also check out Dune’s organization, Native Conservancy.
Emily Stengel, Bren Smith’s co-founder and co-executive director of GreenWave, also wrote about regenerative ocean farming in Ayana’s anthology All We Can Save. Go have a read (or listen)!
Watch “The Future of Seafood,” a discussion that Ayana moderated with Bren Smith and Sean Barrett of Dock to Dish.

Check out our Calls to Action archive here 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.
Special thanks to our guests: Bren Smith and Casey Emmett
This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by our senior producer Lauren Silverman. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.

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44 min
February 18, 2021Kelp Farming, for the Climate
Seaweed and giant kelp are sometimes called “the sequoias of the sea.” Yet at a time when so many people are talking about climate solutions and reforestation — there aren’t nearly enough people talking about how the ocean can be part of that. In part one of our two-part series, we go out on the water to see how seaweed can play a role in addressing climate change, and how a fisherman named Bren Smith became kelp’s unlikely evangelist.
Guests: Bren Smith and Casey Emmett
Calls to action:
Check out Bren Smith's book called “Eat Like a Fish”

Check out Bren’s nonprofit GreenWave: A simple and direct way to help is to support GreenWave’s work, whose team is building 10 reefs and sponsoring 500 farms in the next five years.

Start your own hatchery, farm, or underwater garden: Check out the University of Connecticut and Ocean Approved manuals and GreenWave’s Regenerative Ocean Farming toolkit.

Study ocean agriculture through the Algae Technology Education Consortium (ATEC) at the community college level or through Coursera courses Intro to Algae and Algae Biotechnology.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
53 min
February 11, 2021Party Like It's 2035
President Biden has set a goal of reaching 100% clean electricity in the U.S. by 2035. That means cutting all carbon emissions from the entire electricity sector in just 15 years. So... is that even possible? And if so, how do we pull it off? This week, we talk to experts who say that goal just might be in reach – if we act now.
Calls to action:
Read up on clean electricity standards! It’s the policy approach advocated by some of this week’s guests, including Dr. Leah Stokes, who laid out her vision along with Sam Ricketts of Evergreen Action in a recent Vox article: This popular and proven climate policy should be at the top of Congress’s to-do list: The case for a national clean electricity standard
You can find their full report advocating a national clean electricity standard here: A Roadmap to 100% Clean Electricity by 2035
Want to read up on a zero-carbon grid? You can find the studies mentioned in this week’s episode, here:
The 2035 Report, from The Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, Grid Lab and Energy Innovation
The Net-Zero America Project, from Princeton University

And don’t forget to check out A Matter of Degrees, the climate podcast hosted by Dr. Leah Stokes and Dr. Katharine Wilkinson.
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.
Special thanks to our guests: Leah Stokes, Sonia Aggarwal, Jesse Jenkins and Chris Greig.
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 Felix Poon. 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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
48 min

About How to Save a Planet

From the publisher's feed

Climate change. We know. It can feel too overwhelming. But what if there was a show about climate change that left you feeling... energized? One so filled with possibility that you actually wanted to listen? Join us, journalist Alex Blumberg and a crew of climate nerds, as we bring you smart, inspiring stories about the mess we're in and how we can get ourselves out of it.