Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously instilled optimism with his proclamation that, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” He was speaking in relation to the long struggle for racial equity, but the words are also applicable to the advancement of civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Kevin Jennings, the CEO of Lambda Legal, one of the nation’s leading advocacy groups for the LGBTQ community. We look at some of the key legal battles unfolding in courtrooms around the country, discuss the political ramifications of social wedge issues, and examine the efficacy of hate crime legislation.

Narrator  0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I’m Alex Wise.

Kevin Jennings  0:18  They picked a convenient scapegoat that they can paint any way they want. Because most people don’t have tremendous knowledge about trans people, most non trans people, I should say, cisgender people, and they’re taking advantage of the fact that there hasn’t been the kind of education that needs to happen in our country around that issue to demonize and terrified people, even if it is based in myth, like the idea that somehow trans people are running around in bathrooms, assaulting people, which there’s no criminal evidence of any kind to support.

Narrator  0:49  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Famously instilled optimism with this proclamation that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. He was speaking in relation to the long struggle for racial equity. But the words are also applicable to the advancement of civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Kevin Jennings, the CEO of Lambda Legal, one of the nation’s leading advocacy groups for the LGBTQ community. We look at some of the key legal battles unfolding in courtrooms around the country, discuss the political ramifications of social wedge issues, and examine the efficacy of hate crime legislation.

Alex Wise  1:41  I’m joined now on Sea Change Radio by Kevin Jennings. He’s the CEO of Lambda Legal. Kevin, welcome to Sea Change Radio.

Kevin Jennings 1:49  It’s nice to be here with you, Alex. Thanks for having me on.

Alex Wise  1:52  So Lambda Legal is one of the foremost organizations of its kind to protect LGBTQ rights. Why don’t you tell us a brief history of the organization and what the mission of your organization is?

Kevin Jennings 2:08  Sure, Lambda Legal is actually America’s oldest LGBT rights organization. We were founded in 1973. And we work to achieve full legal and lived equality for all LGBTQ people and everyone living with HIV. We do this through three means what we’re most famous for is our impact litigation, where we bring lawsuits to make new law to protect the rights of LGBTQ people and everyone living with HIV. We have been doing this for almost 50 years. And one of the things that I think most listeners might be interested to learn is that most of the major advances for LGBTQ rights that have happened over the last 50 years have come through litigation, not legislation. For example, the right to marry which Lamba legal was co counsel before the Supreme Court and the Obergefell versus Hodges case in 2015, six years ago, was one through an impact litigation lawsuit that was heard by the Supreme Court, it was not passed by legislatures. So Lambda Legal has been a part of virtually every major advance for LGBTQ rights Since our founding in 1973, including such things as winning the rights of students to have college LGBT student groups,

You may not have seen them running through your yard, but just wait. Feral pigs are everywhere and they’re a growing problem. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Susanne Rust, an environmental reporter from the Los Angeles Times. She talks about the millions - yes,  millions of wild pigs roaming the countryside, and the multitude of problems they bring: eating like pigs and breeding like rabbits, these wild swine trample fragile habitats and imperil other animals, ecosystems, and even humans.

Narrator  0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.

Susanne Rust  0:27  Just about everybody except for animal rights activists really see that there's a problem and believe that whether it's expanding hunting, although there are concerns about doing that, that you could miss align the incentives there, or having the state just go in and do a massive assault. But something needs to be done because there's so much at stake.

Narrator 0:49  You may not have seen them running through your yard, but just wait. Feral pigs are everywhere, and they're a growing problem. This week on Sea Change Radio we speak with Susanne Rust, an environmental reporter from the Los Angeles Times. She talks about the millions - yes, millions of wild pigs roaming the countryside and the multitude of problems they bring. Eating like pigs and breeding like rabbits, these wild swine trample fragile habitats and imperil other animals, ecosystems and even humans.

Alex Wise  1:42  I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Susanne Rust. She is an environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Susanne, welcome back to Sea Change Radio.

Susanne Rust  1:50  Hey, thanks for having me.

Alex Wise  1:51  So you have a really interesting piece that just came out in the LA Times about feral pigs and the problems they present. Why don't you first explain what a feral pig is and how it might differ from a domesticated pig, obviously, and a truffle pig or a wild boar.

Susanne Rust  2:09  Alright, so feral pigs in California, are a hybrid of wild domestic pigs. So pigs that were brought by the Spanish missionaries in about the 1700s, who then were sort of let loose, and they became kind of wild and feral themselves. But what happened in California and has happened in a few other places around the United States. People then brought in wild boars in the 1900s as something fun to shoot, right to hunt. And then those boars got free and started breeding with the feral domestic population. So what we have now is this kind of cross between a wild boar and a feral domesticated pig. And biologists sort of refer to them as a super pig, because they're this cross but they seem they're smart. They're wily. They're incredibly what's the word I'm looking for here? But their ability to procreate is is quite astounding. I mean, we use we use the expression to breed like rabbits think it should be turned to breed like pigs, because they can have up to four litters a year, about 18 each in each litter. And females are mature, sexually mature by the age of four months,

Alex Wise  3:35  Four months - wow! That's incredibly efficient.

Susanne Rust  3:39  Yeah. So what we have is this super pig again, which is really a cross between a domestic pig that was set free and a and a wild boar.

Alex Wise  3:51  And do they cross pollinate the wild boars and the domestic pigs and these feral pigs, like in terms of their groups are these feral pigs are kind of unto themselves generally in California.

According to a study conducted by Quantis International, footwear production is responsible for about 700 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, or 1.4% of total global climate emissions. The negative impact of athletic footwear in particular includes problematic waste stream and labor practices, as well. So what can you do when you want to be responsible but you need new kicks? This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with the founder of Rens Original, Jesse Tran, about his company’s unique method of manufacturing shoes from spent coffee grounds and recycled plastic. Then, we revisit our discussion with independent journalist Brett Simpson as we imagine a world without traffic cops.

Narrator 0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.

Jesse Tran  0:26  Me and my co-founder we are from Vietnam,which is one of the largest coffee producers in the world while Finland consumes the most coffee in the world per capita. And so that is like a great marketing message and we just combined them and created Rens' Coffee Shoes

Narrator 0:43   According to a study conducted by Qantis International footwear production is responsible for about 700 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, or 1.4% of total global climate emissions. The negative impact of athletic footwear in particular includes problematic waste stream and labor practices as well. So what can you do when you want to be responsible, but you need new kicks. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with the founder of Rens original Jesse Tran about his company's unique method of manufacturing shoes from spent coffee grounds and recycled plastic. Then we revisit our discussion with independent journalist Brett Simpson as we imagine a world without traffic cops.

Alex Wise I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Jesse Tran. Jesse is the CEO of Rens original and he joins us from Helsinki, Finland. Jesse, welcome to Sea Change Radio.

Jesse Tran  2:00  Hey, Alex. Hey everyone, thanks for having me today.

Alex Wise 2:04  So, what makes Rens original shoes unique from a Nike or Adidas sneaker they might buy in a sporting goods store, Jesse?

Jesse Tran  2:14  Yes. So like I think that is to start like with the brand. So, like, you know, we started Rens as like a sustainable brand for the young consumers. So all of our products actually made from sustainable materials. And so, currently we have two product lines and and so both are shoes and they are like you know sneakers made from coffee waste and recycled plastic. So, I think that it is a really cool combination you know of like coffee ways and functionalities with the size for the young people. That is where this is how we you know, we tried to build our brands to be.

Alex Wise 2:55  And explain the origin of this idea was wrens the first to come up with this idea of taking coffee waste and applying it to the shoe industry are there other companies that have done something like this?

Jesse Tran  3:08  So as far as we know so we had a first one that that do something similar to like something like this you know, I think that there are a few companies do something quite similar to us afterwards. But of course you know, we had our first one but of course before us I think that there are a few companies that you know use like coffee scene scent and but you know, like different parts of our coffee waste. So for just to be clear, our coffee waste is the newest coffee grounds after you boil the coffee and then you throw the coffee grounds away. We took it and mix it with recycle plastic polye...

America loves to blame the President when gas prices are high but the fact is the U.S. President has very little control over the price we pay at the pump. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to oil expert Daniel Dicker to discuss the politicization of gas prices, how Russia's invasion of Ukraine is rattling global prices and, in a very useful lesson on the complex world of commodities, we learn how oil markets are not that dissimilar from buying hand-woven baskets in a Turkish bazaar.

Narrator 0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability, I'm Alex Wise.

Dan Dicker  0:24  It would take years for traditional sanctions to have the kind of effect on Vladimir Putin and his machine that this oil ban and the resulting curtailment of energy sales from Russia will have they'll be bankrupt by July.

Narrator 0:57  America loves to blame the President when gas prices are high. But the fact is the US president has very little control over the price we pay at the pump. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to oil expert Daniel Dicker to discuss the politicization of gas prices. How Russia's invasion of Ukraine is rattling global prices. And in a very useful lesson on the complex world of commodities, we learn how oil markets are not that dissimilar from buying hand woven baskets in a Turkish bazaar.

Alex Wise  1:47  I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Daniel Dicker. Dan is an energy expert, and folks can find his work at DanDicker.com. Dan, welcome back to Sea Change Radio.

Dan Dicker  1:59  Well, thanks, Alex. Always good to talk.

Alex Wise  2:01  It's been too long. And we'd love to get your insights into oil and gas industry happenings. And there haven't been happenings like this in quite some time with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Why don't we first talk about what's on everybody's mind? Why are gas prices so high?

Dan Dicker  2:25  Even though oil prices have kind of leveled off, it's always hard for people to remember. But oil prices were already at a fairly, significantly high level before stuff started happening in Ukraine. And that was a function of things I've spoken to you in the past about. And that was about, you know, an oil industry that had been decimated by low prices for five straight years. And, you know, the 500 bankruptcy 600 bankruptcies that happened in the industry. And the true shortage of supply that kind of was created during those years, that all of a sudden made itself felt as the entire, you know, global economy was coming out of a pandemic. So what you have is you have a lot of pent up demand for fossil fuels. And you saw that first in a European energy crisis. Well, before anything started in Ukraine that had been driving prices here in the United States and elsewhere, you know, already to $90-95 a barrel.

Alex Wise  3:28  Yes. And there's a lot of misinformation disinformation going on. People don't necessarily know how this all works. So why don't you kind of spell it out? When oil prices went from 80 to $150 a barrel, all of a sudden, gas prices like in my neighborhood in San Francisco went from four to five and a half $6 pretty quickly. And then we see that it's kind of settled back down around the $100 a barrel range. And yet, gas prices still stay the same. So a lot of people say, well, the gas companies are just gouging us. But there's more to it than that, isn't there?

Dan Dicker  4:08  Yeah. And it's it gets very complex, but understand that, you know, the, the timeline of turning oil into gasoline, and then getting it into pumps is not instantaneous. And therefore some of the prices that are being reflected the pumps are reflecting crude oil prices that are two weeks old already. And so you know, when you see oil prices dropped by 15,

Imagine you go to graduate school for a bunch of years, conscientiously studying the nuanced interactions of the variables that underlie the globe's climate. Then, as you publish findings that demonstrate what's happening to our planet, you hear your work debated and unheeded by legislators across the country who couldn't tell a stratospheric temperature profile from a hole in the wall. This week on Sea Change Radio we speak with climate scientist, Adam Sobel, a professor at Columbia University, to get a glimpse into the mind of a climate scientist. We learn about the difference between climate adaptation and climate mitigation, talk about extreme weather events in the context of climate change, and look at ways the science community can fight back against political hemming and hawing.

Narrator 0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.

Adam Sobel  0:17  The question we have to ask ourselves is, did we make this article or this TV news segment or whatever, better and more accurate by participating than it would have been otherwise? Rather than asking ourselves, did they get it completely right like in my peer reviewed paper, because if you ask the second question, you're always going to be disappointed and, and you won't ever do it and you're doing everybody a disservice.

Narrator  0:39  Imagine you go to graduate school for a bunch of years, conscientiously studying the nuanced interactions of the variables that underlie the globe's climate. Then, as you publish findings that demonstrate what's happening to our planet, you hear your work debated and unheeded by legislators across the country who couldn't tell a stratospheric temperature profile from a hole in the wall. This week on Sea Change Radio we speak with climate scientist, Adam Sobel, a professor at Columbia University, to get a glimpse into the mind of a climate scientist. We learn about the difference between climate adaptation and climate mitigation, talk about extreme weather events in the context of climate change, and look at ways the science community can fight back against political hemming and hawing.

Alex Wise 1:40  I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Adam Sobel. Adam is a professor and climate scientist at Columbia University. Adam, welcome back to Sea Change Radio.

Adam Sobel  1:48  Thanks, Alex. Pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Alex Wise 1:51  So you have a paper in Climatic Change, which is entitled "Usable Climate Science is Adaptation Science." It's a great jumping off point to talk about the problems that we're facing in the climate science arena and trying to apply those into real world solutions. This was one of your pet projects over that your sabbatical? Why don't you explain the inspiration behind it?

Adam Sobel  2:16  Right, I guess you could call it inspiration. Maybe frustration is a better term. Sure. This paper grows out of what I've been calling a midlife crisis. Although it's a professional one, not a personal one. I'm not getting a divorce or a sports car, or anything like that. But what it is, is, you know, I've been working in climate science, or atmospheric science for my whole career. I've been a faculty member here at Columbia for over 20 years now. And although a lot of my work is on the basic science of how the atmosphere works, increasingly course it's about climate change. And I've been doing a lot of communicating publicly about that in the last 10 years. If you'd asked me, at any point, including many years ago, and I was young, I would have expressed great concern about the state of the climate and the direction of it, and also about US politics, I would have all through my career, I've been concerned about those things. But yet,

Historian T.J. Jackson Lears once said, "All history is the history of unintended consequences." This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Ted Nordhaus, the Founder and Executive Director of The Breakthrough Institute, about when laws designed to protect the environment are misused in order to block efforts that would combat climate change. We look at some recent examples where wealthier communities have exploited environmental regulatory loopholes, stymieing progress toward renewable energy and thwarting the protection of vulnerable populations.

Narrator 0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.

Ted Nordhaus  (TN) 0:28  You know, the kind old narrative is that no, this is sort of this tool, we have to stop these corporate bad guys from doing terrible things to the environment. But it's actually quite the opposite. Now it's being used by powerful interests, to stop public institutions and government from building infrastructure that we need to protect the environment and do a lot of other things that are just very, very clearly in the public interest.

Narrator 0:56  Historian T.J. Jackson Lears once said, "All history is the history of unintended consequences." This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Ted Nordhaus, the Founder and Executive Director of The Breakthrough Institute, about when laws designed to protect the environment are misused in order to block efforts that would combat climate change. We look at some recent examples where wealthier communities have exploited environmental regulatory loopholes, stymieing progress toward renewable energy and thwarting the protection of vulnerable populations.

Alex Wise (AW) 1:55  I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by the Founder and Executive Director of The Breakthrough Institute, Ted Nordhaus. Ted, welcome to Sea Change Radio.

TN  2:04  Thanks for having me. Good to be here.

AW  2:07  So yes, we spoke around five years ago, it's good to check back in with you, you have a piece, an op ed in the Wall Street Journal that I found very thought provoking that I wanted to discuss with you. It's entitled for a clean energy future, we need deregulation, give us kind of the executive summary first, and then we'll dive into the details.

TN  2:27  Yeah, you need to build a to have a clean energy future. I mean, America is still 70 plus percent dependent on fossil fuels, you hear a lot about the sort of renewable energy clean energy revolution, we've been talking about it for a long time, we've made some progress. But still, 70% plus of our total energy consumption is still fossil fuel base. So if you want to really do something about that, you want to really quickly cut emissions, you've got to build a whole lot of stuff really fast. And it's not just going to be solar panels on people's roofs, and even that, in a lot of places, is really slow and hard to do. Because of various permitting and approval issues, things like that. We've gotten a little bit better at it. But you know, as soon as you start talking about even building like a big solar or wind facility, out in the California desert, or wherever you're going to build it. I mean, it can take, you know, a decade plus to get that permitted and built. And and that's just a small number of things we've built so far, when you look at the scale of renewable energy, nuclear energy, electric vehicle, charging systems, all of the things that it would take to really deeply cut emissions in this country. It's just a huge infrastructure project, we have to build the entire infrastructure from scratch with a clean energy economy.

War has suddenly returned to Europe. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been swift, shocking, and devastating. In addition to killing thousands of civilians and soldiers, the incursion has rocked global financial markets and galvanized the West against Russia in ways not seen since the Cold War. This week on Sea Change Radio, we talk to Russian foreign policy expert Dr. Anne Clunan to learn more about this unilateral act of military aggression. We examine Vladimir Putin’s possible motivations in invading a sovereign nation like Ukraine, look at the ways the war will affect energy markets, and talk about how Russia’s massive nuclear arsenal may influence diplomatic and military strategy.

Narrator  0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise.

Anne Clunan  0:23  Putin has created the thing that he fears which is he's personally turned the Ukrainian people against Russia and against him personally.

Narrator  0:41  War has suddenly returned to Europe. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been swift, shocking and devastating. In addition to killing 1000s of civilians and soldiers, the incursion has rocked global financial markets and galvanize the West against Russia in ways not seen since the Cold War. This week on Sea Change Radio, we talked to Russian foreign policy expert and Clunan. To learn more about this unilateral act of military aggression. We examined Vladimir Putin's possible motivations in invading a sovereign nation like Ukraine, look at the ways the war will affect energy markets, and talk about how Russia's massive nuclear arsenal may influence diplomatic and military strategy.

Alex Wise  1:41  I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by my friend Anne Clunan - Anne is as a Russian foreign policy expert, am associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, California and a faculty affiliate at the Center for Security and International Cooperation at Stanford University. Anne,  welcome to Sea Change Radio.

Anne Clunan  2:02  Thank you, Alex. It's great to be here.

Alex Wise  2:04  Well, I'm very fortunate to have Russian foreign policy expert friends like you at a time like this. We are in very crazy times, as we've seen the Ukrainian people fight back. Most of the reports have that Vladimir Putin has overplayed his hand did not expect this kind of resistance, had bad intelligence, thought that this would be kind of a cakewalk, is that accurate?

Anne Clunan  2:32  First, I just need to say that the views that I expressed here are my own views and not those of the Department of Defense or the Department of the Navy or the Naval Postgraduate School. I think it's safe to say that Vladimir Putin badly miscalculated the war in Ukraine he he has surrounded himself with just a few individuals. And that has formed an echo chamber where they sort of repeat to him the things he wants to hear. And so he did not understand that the main result of his annexation of Crimea and invasion of Dombas in 2014, has created a lot of animosity amongst the Ukrainian population towards the Russian government, animosity that wasn't there prior to their aggression in 2014. And so they had believed that they would be greeted by a number of you know, Russian speaking Ukrainians who would welcome the Russian army in. And as a result, they thought that they would be able to quickly take the capital, and achieve their goal of capturing the government and installing a puppet government of their own. And that is clearly failed.

Alex Wise  3:44  Now, no one can think that the Russian military can't, quote unquote, take Ukraine. But there's much more to it than that, like once you've occupied this country,

In 1970, the economist Milton Friedman wrote a controversial piece for the New York Times Magazine entitled “The Social Responsibility of Business Is To Increase Its Profits." During the ensuing “greed is good" era of runaway American capitalism, many a titan of industry has quoted these words to rationalize dubious business practices. With a planet in peril and investors and consumers better informed than ever, isn't it time big business develop a conscience? Our guest this week on Sea Change Radio is Andrew Winston, a sustainability expert and author whose latest book, “Net Positive,” maps corporate social responsibility trends through a case study of the multinational Unilever. We examine the path forged by former Unilever CEO (and Winston's co-author) Paul Polman, discuss how the pandemic has affected corporate sustainability efforts, and look at the nexus of government, business, and philanthropy in the evolution of social impact.

Narrator  0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise

Andrew Winston   0:23 We're facing bigger and bigger challenges, which means you need large scale action that's public and private. It's not one or the other business has to be part of the solution, but it's can't do it alone and vice versa.

Narrator 0:36  In 1970, the economist Milton Friedman wrote a controversial piece for the New York Times Magazine entitled “The Social Responsibility of Business Is To Increase Its Profits." During the ensuing “greed is good" era of runaway American capitalism, many a titan of industry has quoted these words to rationalize dubious business practices. With a planet in peril and investors and consumers better informed than ever, isn't it time big business develop a conscience? Our guest this week on Sea Change Radio is Andrew Winston, a sustainability expert and author whose latest book, “Net Positive,” maps corporate social responsibility trends through a case study of the multinational Unilever. We examine the path forged by former Unilever CEO (and Winston's co-author) Paul Polman, discuss how the pandemic has affected corporate sustainability efforts, and look at the nexus of government, business, and philanthropy in the evolution of social impact.

Alex Wise  1:53  I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Andrew Winston. He's an author, advisor and speaker on sustainability. Andrew, welcome back to Sea Change Radio.

Andrew Winston   2:02  Good to be here, Alex. Thanks for having me.

Alex Wise  2:04  So your new book that you co wrote with former Unilever CEO Paul Polman is called net positive, how courageous companies thrive by giving more than they take. Why don't you give us the genesis of the project, if you will?

Andrew Winston   2:19  Yeah, well Paul reached out to me and it was fall of 2019, like climate week in New York, and we had dinner and you know, he, he had never really wanted to write a book. And he talks about this in the, in the preface, because he kind of felt like sometimes CEOs are just out there like tooting their horn, and it's not really his style. But we spent a couple years we started we started having meetings, and then you know, for a few months, and then the pandemic hit. And I don't know if it really changed the content that much. But it certainly you know, framed the urgency or the role of business in society, I think that's what's really changed pretty dramatically in the last, it's been changing for years, but the last two years have really accelerated it. So I think it kind of framed, you know why we need this really badly why we need to be providing a map for how do you build a company that serves the world? And that's fundamentally what net positive is about, you know, how do you?

Back in 2016 the US Supreme Court established that the University of Texas could continue to consider race as a factor in admissions, in order to ensure a diverse student body. At that time Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg declared, "I don’t expect that we’re going to see another affirmative action case, at least in education." But Justice Ginsburg hadn't anticipated the current Court and its appetite for re-examining established law. Later this year the Court will hear challenges to affirmative action at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Given the right-leaning makeup of this Court, the decision may well deliver a major blow to affirmative action at this country's institutions of higher learning. This week on Sea Change Radio, we discuss the state of affirmative action with Prof. Rod Graham, a sociologist at Old Dominion University. We look at the recent history of racial preference in educational policies, talk about why it would be a mistake to abandon affirmative action, and ponder the impact that such a decision could have on legacy preference in school admissions.

Narrator 0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability, I'm Alex Wise.

Rod Graham  0:19  So symbolically saying you know, we want you from the black community here because you bring something unique as a black person has power.

Narrator  0:30  Back in 2016 the US Supreme Court established that the University of Texas could continue to consider race as a factor in admissions, in order to ensure a diverse student body. At that time Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg declared, "I don’t expect that we’re going to see another affirmative action case, at least in education." But Justice Ginsburg hadn't anticipated the current Court and its appetite for re-examining established law. Later this year the Court will hear challenges to affirmative action at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Given the right-leaning makeup of this Court, the decision may well deliver a major blow to affirmative action at this country's institutions of higher learning. This week on Sea Change Radio, we discuss the state of affirmative action with Prof. Rod Graham, a sociologist at Old Dominion University. We look at the recent history of racial preference in educational policies, talk about why it would be a mistake to abandon affirmative action, and ponder the impact that such a decision could have on legacy preference in school admissions.

Alex Wise I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Rod Graham. Rod is a Professor of Sociology at Old Dominion University, writes for the Editorial Board, has his own Substack and his work can be found at RoderickGraham.com. Rod, welcome back to Sea Change Radio.

Rod Graham 2:12  Thanks for having me.

Alex Wise 2:14  Well, I wanted to have you on because we recently learned that the Supreme Court was going to reopen affirmative action, if you will, on the docket - it's a pretty ominous concept for those who believe that affirmative action is a good thing for our educational system. Knowing the makeup of the court, this could be the end of affirmative action in higher learning as we know it. What was your first reaction when you heard that the case was coming before the Supreme Court?

Rod Graham 2:48  I guess it was the same as yours, this this sense that, okay, it's, it'll probably be struck down because of the composition of the court. That's unfortunate, because I'm a supporter of affirmative action for a lot of not just race, this is the thing that that's going to be up at the Supreme Court discrimination against Asian A...

When momentum starts to build, people like to exclaim, "Now we're cooking with gas!" Well, a recent study out of Stanford University might have us re-thinking that expression. The study found that methane leaking from stoves inside U.S. homes has the same climate impact as about half a million gasoline-powered cars and, furthermore, that these stoves expose household members to respiratory disease-triggering pollutants. Findings like these are prompting some jurisdictions, like the US's largest urban center, New York City, to ban gas hook-ups in new buildings. Keep in mind that approximately 2000 new buildings are erected there each year. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Eric Lebel, part of the Stanford research team that conducted the study, to learn more about their methods and findings. We discuss the impact that America’s 40 million gas stoves might be having on the air we breathe (both inside and out of our homes), how to transition away from these types of appliances, and why in many ways it’s an environmental justice issue.

Narrator  0:01  This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability, I'm Alex Wise

Eric Lebel  0:25  The big take home message I would like people to take away from this study is that it's the gas stove is when considering its impact. It's not just a climate impact. It's not just a health impact, but it's really the two together and I hope the narrative around the gas bands will be able to use these data in tandem with each other to advance the narrative that the gas stoves are both a hazard to climate and to health.

Narrator 0:50  When momentum starts to build, people like to exclaim, now we're cooking with gas. Well, a recent study out of Stanford University might have us rethinking that expression. The study found that methane leaking from stoves inside us homes have the same climate impact as about a half a million gasoline powered cars. And furthermore, that these stoves exposed household members to respiratory disease triggering pollutants. Findings like these are prompting some jurisdictions like the US is largest urban center New York City to ban gas hookups in new buildings. Keep in mind that approximately 2000 new buildings are erected there each year. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Eric Lebel, part of the Stanford research team that conducted the study. To learn more about their methods and findings. We discussed the impact that America's 40 million gas stoves might be having on the air we breathe, both inside and out of our homes, how to transition away from these types of appliances, and why in many ways, it's an environmental justice issue.

Alex Wise  2:19  I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by Eric Lebel. He's a senior scientist at PSE healthy energy in Oakland. And as a graduate student, he worked on the Stanford gas stove project. Eric, welcome to Sea Change Radio.

Eric Lebel  Thank you for having me, Alex.

Alex Wise  So I wanted to talk to you about the research that's been in the news recently about gas stoves and ovens and the methane and gas released that accompanies these appliances. Why don't you first kind of take a step back and tell us about what piqued your scientific curiosity as a collective?

Eric Lebel 3:07  Sure. So this project started as part of a larger project looking at methane emissions from home appliances. And looking at the methane emissions that are leaked from natural gas appliances in homes. And one of the reasons why scientists are interested in methane emissions from homes is that as a potential source of methane emissions, especially in urban environments, where they haven't been calculated and quantified. In certain areas, there was a paper in 2015 that came out in Boston, for instance, that showed that there was a big gap in emissions when you try and total the so...