The Sweaty Penguin

It’s in the news all the time, but what actually is fracking, and why is it under such heavy scrutiny? To kick off season three, we’re diving into one of the most high profile climate issues, examine how fracking adversely impacts climate, water, land, health, justice, and the economy, and considering some directions we can go to improve the practice and/or sensibly transition away from it. With special guest Dr. Kate Neville: Assistant Professor of Global Environmental Politics at the University of Toronto.

The Sweaty Penguin is presented by Peril and Promise: a public media initiative from PBS flagship station The WNET Group in New York, reporting on the issues and solutions around climate change. You can learn more at pbs.org/perilandpromise.

Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin.

Sometimes, climate change IS a laughing matter. Every week, The Sweaty Penguin cuts through the noise and the doom-and-gloom of the climate conversation with late-night-comedy-style monologues and in-depth conversations with leading global experts on a variety of environmental issues. Through a nonpartisan approach, The Sweaty Penguin makes environmental issues less overwhelming and politicized and more accessible and fun. In partnership with Peril and Promise, a PBS/WNET public media initiative on climate change, The Sweaty Penguin invites you to join the hottest conversation in town.

Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin.

After some of the latest environmental news updates, Ethan sits down with The Sweaty Penguin’s Producers Shannon Damiano, Frank Hernandez, and Caroline Koehl to recap season 2. They’ll share favorite episodes, biggest takeaways, best behind the scenes moments, plus a surprise bonus segment and some exciting updates about season 3.

When we talk about natural resource issues whether they be food, water, energy, land, or materials, we typically discuss them one at a time and craft policy for them one at a time. Because of that, it’s easy to forget that all these resources are interconnected and interdependent. As climate change worsens, those interconnections become more important than ever, as resource scarcity issues can lead to global conflict and even violence. Today, we discuss why resources are so intertwined and what that means for our future. With special guest Dr. Stacy VanDeveer: the Chair of the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, home to 427 mammal species, 1,300 bird species, 378 reptile species, over 400 amphibian species, and 30 million people. It’s also a massive carbon sink, pulling an amount of CO2 out of the atmosphere that’s equivalent to around three years worth of global emissions. But due to cattle ranching and soybean farming among other industries, the Amazon is being chopped down at breakneck speeds, spelling danger for the climate, millions of plants and animals, the economy, and the livelihoods of Indigenous communities that live there. Today, we cover why the Amazon is so important, in what ways it’s threatened, and where we could go from here. With special guest Dr. Adriane Esquivel-Muelbert: Lecturer in Global Forest Ecology at the University of Birmingham.

In 1962, Rachel Carson published the famous book “Silent Spring,” which explored the impacts of the pesticide DDT on the environment and human health and catalyzed a movement that led to the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act, establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the ban of DDT in the U.S. in 1972. But DDT is still poses problems today: all the DDT we used to spray still persists in the environment, and some parts of the world still need to use DDT to control malaria and don’t yet have a viable alternative. Today, we discuss why we’ve used DDT, what impacts it’s had, and how we might improve. With special guest Dr. Jessica Templeton: Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Social Science at the London School of Economics.

It’s the most produced food commodity in the United States, but only 1% of it is actually sweet corn eaten by humans. The rest is turned into ethanol, animal feed, processed ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, and exported. And making that much corn causes a slew of environmental, economic, and health issues. Today, we cover why corn got so popular, what problems corn agriculture creates, and how we might improve. With special guest Dr. Natalie Hunt: Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering at the University of Minnesota.

After some of the latest environmental news updates, Ethan sits down with Leo Brother and Velina Georgi for a bipartisan conversation on episode 17: “Vanilla.”

Spanning over 100,000 square miles off the coast of Australia, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, providing a home to thousands of marine species, sequestering millions of tons of carbon, and creating 64,000 jobs and 56 billion dollars in economic value. But it’s under threat, from climate change, coastal development, and a coral-eating starfish whose population is out of control. Today, we discuss why the Great Barrier Reef is important, what challenges it faces, and what we can do about them. With special guest Dr. Michael Kingsford: Distinguished Professor of Marine Biology at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia.

As climate change becomes more and more pressing, educators have faced the challenge of how to teach it to young children. The Next Generation Science Standards have started to push the needle with a few climate standards, but with many states not adopting the standards or even deleting out the climate ones and many teachers not receiving the training and support they need to teach new information, climate education still has a ways to go. Today, we’ll discuss some of the challenges in integrating climate change into elementary education, and consider some ways to further teach students about climate moving forward. With special guest Kottie Christie-Blick: an Instructor at the University of San Diego and a Climate Education Consultant who helps educators design lesson plans on climate change and sustainability.