What on Earth?

After decades of scientific study and political wrangling the world has agreed—at least on paper—that 1.5C of heating must be the upper limit of our impact on the climate system. How could something that sounds so small matter so much?

Our friends at Threshold have thoughtfully explored these questions. They are a Peabody Award-winning podcast about what it means to be alive at a time of extraordinary planetary change, and today we’re sharing an episode from their latest season “Time to 1.5”.

This episode takes you inside the scientific and political origin story of 1.5C, from the holocene to the halls of COP26 in Glasgow.

Listen to the full season and learn more at thresholdpodcast.org.

Air purifiers can cost a lot, so why not make your own for less money? We meet a group of seniors in Vancouver’s Chinatown learning to build their own air cleaners – and hear why the workshop they’re attending does more than support physical health. Then – a historian unearths lessons about handling heat across centuries in the Middle East. He argues we need to make sweating sexy again.

From “packs of wolves” spreading disinformation online, to death threats, these women have paid a high cost for their climate advocacy work. As a family physician, Dr. Melissa Lem knew she could not stay silent on the dangers of climate change once she started to learn more. Climate advocate Tzeporah Berman waded into Alberta politics and got more than she bargained for. When Judy Wilson, former chief of the Neskonlith Indian Band, spoke out about a pipeline expansion, she says she started noticing strange things. We're re-sharing this documentary by producer Molly Segal, which recently won an international journalism award from Covering Climate Now.

As the fires rage on in Jasper National Park, we check in on a former firefighter about the battle beyond the flames. Meanwhile, Olympic organizers may have had green dreams for the 2024 Paris Games. But will those dreams melt away under the threat of extreme heat? Journalist and New York Times bestselling author, Jeff Goodell, says it’s a pivotal moment as the city adapts to a warming planet.

The Shíshálh Nation is transporting family homes from Vancouver to B.C.’s Sunshine Coast by barge with the help of a sustainable development company as a lower-emissions way to address its housing crisis. We find out how diverting houses from demolition and retrofitting them into duplexes can be a climate-friendly approach to building a subdivision. Next, we continue our search for greener ways to live by learning about tiny homes – and their (tinier) carbon emissions.

Come along to “La Chicanerie” – or The Conflict Cafe – in Montreal where What On Earth guest host Falen Johnson finds out why we need to get comfortable with uncomfortable discussions about climate change. And climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe shares some of her most awkward climate conversations and offers advice on how to talk to people in ways that lead to collaboration instead of division.

When Eli Milton started working on farms in Nova Scotia almost a decade ago, heat wasn’t an issue in the summer. Now, hot and humid conditions are just one of the climate impacts farm workers like her contend with. And – extreme weather has put safety and livelihoods at risk for migrant workers, from out in the fields to inside greenhouses. We hear from an advocate on what policies could improve conditions for seasonal workers.

This summer, we’re curating a few other climate podcasts that we think our listeners would love. 

Living Planet from DW News is a show that wants to help you reconnect with nature and make better decisions, every day. Today we’re sharing their eye-opening episode “The hidden toll of roadkill”.

For some species, being hit by a car is the number one cause of death — even above hunting and disease. In fact, the global roadkill toll is so high that it’s threatening entire species and warping the planet’s ecology. 

You can find Living Planet on your favourite podcast app, or here: https://pod.link/livingplanet

It's on rooftops. It's on top of old landfills. It's floating on lakes. The Dutch are all in on solar energy. CBC’s international climate correspondent Susan Ormiston takes us there to find out what’s behind the country’s strong solar adoption.

Caribbean coastlines might be taking a beating from Beryl, but coral reefs are fighting back. We speak to a NOAA representative on how these reefs act as natural defensive mechanisms against storms and how we can protect these ecosystems. And we hear from Caribbean leaders about the toll of this record-breaking hurricane.