Climate & Clean Energy Episodes

If our mission is to help people, everyone, answer the most important question, what can I do? Then at some point we need to talk to the people who help really wealthy people, help people. So today's question, what can I do about high net worth philanthropy? And look, hey, maybe you're among the vast majority who just heard that and you're like, well, this one doesn't apply to me, but hear me out. We have some of the worst billionaires of all time, but if billionaires are gonna continue to exist...

Things are a little tough out there. So you, want, no need, more examples of fight and progress you can actually see and touch and feel. And in these series of conversations, in partnership with our best friends at Run for Something, we are giving you exactly what you asked for. Each episode features two guests, both sourced from the Run for Something pipeline and graduating classes, the next generation of American leaders. First, I'll introduce one young elected official at the state or local l...

Turns out it's our 200th episode. It has been a journey. The show is now called The Most Important Question, and I can't think of a better answer than just fucking run for something. What can I do about anything? Run for something. And so obviously the best guest to answer that question, is returning guest, Amanda Litman . If you are new here, she is the co-founder and president of Run For Something, which recruits and supports young, diverse progressives running for down-ballot office, state an...

Congress just jammed the brakes on America's clean energy boom, however short-lived it may have been. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law after a lot of debate in the House and the Senate and in public. It will wipe out most of the wind, solar, and EV tax credits. It's directing agencies to unwind renewable energy support, much less the mass electrification we need to do. These are changes the industry warns could kill new projects and spike electricity costs for homeowners and re...

Toilet paper. You use it. I use it. Sometimes, even my children use it. The point is, toilet paper is everywhere. Almost everyone needs it, and so much of it still comes from actual forests, and yet 2 billion people don't have access to even basic sanitation, much less readily available and recycled toilet paper. That's about 40% of the global population . 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrheal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's almost 800 children per day , ...

You've heard people say it. It shouldn't have been called Earth. It should have been called Ocean, but it is simultaneously a planet of trees . As Richard Powers put it in The Overstory : We live in a world of trees. Once something like 6 trillion trees, and humanity are the late arrivals. So how do we reconnect with trees to stop using them for toilet paper? How do we learn more about why they're suffering and in some unexpected places surviving to know them, to care for them, and maybe even kn...

Picture a city that beats brutal heat waves with cool tree-lined streets, slashes household energy bills, and cuts carbon pollution by as much as 80%, without waiting for these miracle technologies. That future-positive vision is already taking shape in fast-growing places like Ahmedabad, India, where community-designed cooling plans and demand-side innovations are proving that climate action can double as a public health and equity upgrade. It's co-benefits. You've heard it a thousand times. We...

In every flood scarred bend of an Appalachian river sits a chance to rebuild something stronger, cleaner water for people, and room for a 160 million-year salamander to thrive again. Hurricane-shaped chaos is unveiling a surprising truth when we restore stream banks, fund green storm water projects, and protect keystone species like the Eastern Hellbender, we don't just rescue wildlife, we buffer towns and farms and drinking water intakes against the next big storm. The same fixes that help a sn...

Sometimes you buy organic, sometimes you hit a restaurant that's plant-based, or at least you choose the veggie option. Maybe the fish option at the market or the restaurant is marketed as being sustainable. Maybe you compost. It's all useful. But we've been doing it for a while and it's not moving the needle for climate, for restaurants, for farmers, for our health. So anyone who gives a shit wants to know, what can I actually do to scale regenerative agriculture to benefit everyone? My guest t...

One of the ways this Trump administration is different from the last is, relatively at least, how much more unconstitutional, how much more organized and comprehensive the attacks on our institutions, particularly the scaffolding we built for ourselves the most precious parts of of our societies: immigration, agriculture, the VA, NIH, the CDC, the NSF and humanitarian work around the globe. Do some of these need reform? Of course, they do. Is this the way to do it? No, it is not. These instituti...

We didn't always call our work science for people who give a shit. But ever since we did, we've welcomed at least two types of people to our flock. The first is people who are deeply invested in science, but are unsure how to tie it into measurable action on the human level. And the second is people already fighting for a healthier, more equitable society, but who are curious about the evolving science behind our complex systems. They all want to know a version of the most important question, wh...

What can we do about land power? It's the most important question and my guest today is Mike Albertus . Mike is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago . He's the author of the new book, Land Power . Who has it? Who doesn't? And how that determines the fate of societies. In the book, Mike examines how land became power, how it shapes power today still, and how who holds that power determines the fundamental social problems that societies grapple with. Mike studies how count...

What's the missing link in local journalism? That's today's big question, and my guest is Lyndsey Gilpin . Lyndsey is the Senior Manager of Community Engagement at Grist. Lyndsey was the founder and executive editor at Southerly , a nonprofit media organization that equipped people who face environmental injustices and are at most at risk of climate change effects with journalism and resources on natural disasters, pollution, food, energy, and more. It was very groundbreaking, and now she's brou...

Is multisolving the future? Is it today? Should we do more? That's all today's big question and my guest is Dr. Elizabeth Sawin . Dr. Sawin is the Founder and Director of the Multisolving Institute , which is convenient for our conversation. She's an expert on solutions that address climate change while also improving health, well being, and economic vitality. She developed multisolving to describe such win win win solutions. Beth writes and speaks about multisolving, climate change, and leaders...

There’s no word for “conservation” in many Indigenous languages. Some come close, but mean something more like “taking care of” or “looking after.” And that’s probably because the very idea of conservation, to “prevention the wasteful use of a resource”, would have been, and continue to be, foreign to many of North America’s Indigenous peoples, who lived in an entirely different, co-dependent relationship with nature. That is to say, to have had a relationship at all. A relationship with the ver...

What if we get it right? That's today's big question, and my returning guest is Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson . Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist. She is a policy expert, a writer, and a teacher working to help create the best possible climate future. She co-founded and leads the Urban Ocean Lab , a think tank for the future of coastal cities, and is the Roux Distinguished Scholar at Bowdoin College. Ayana authored the forthcoming book, What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate F...

How did our planet come to life? Is it alive? And where are we as part of that? Those are today's big questions and my guest is Ferris Jabr. His new book, Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life , is one of the most compelling, beautiful, timely, and important reads I've ever got to underline throughout. Ferris is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and Scientific American . He has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper's, National Geographic, Wired, Outside,...

How do we tackle huge systemic intersectional environmental justice issues at the local level? That's today's big question, and my guest is Jacqui Patterson . Jacqui is the Founder and Executive Director of the Chisholm Legacy Project , which helps connect Black communities that are being disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis with the resources they need to create systemic change across connected challenges. Jacqui was recently named to Time Magazine's 2024 list of Women of the Year ...

Why is it so important that we share the science of fiction, and what do we do with it once we have it? That's today's big question, and my guest is Maddie Stone . Maddie is a prolific science journalist. She is a doctor of earth and environmental sciences. She's the former science editor of the technology website Gizmodo , which I love, and the founding editor of Earther , Gizmodo's climate focused vertical, which I love. Maddie has edited articles for The Verge, Polygon , and Grist , and her o...

What have we learned from millennia of water insecurity, of climate changes and disasters, of building along freshwater ways and the ocean, that we can apply today? That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Amber Wutich . Dr. Wutich is an ASU President's Professor , Director of the Center for Global Health , and 2023 MacArthur Fellow. She's an expert on water insecurity, and directs the Global Ethnohydrology Study , a cross cultural study of water knowledge and management in over 20 count...

The climate clock is ticking faster and faster. How can we use capitalism to undo the bad stuff that capitalism did and maybe even make things better? That's today's big (loaded) question, and my returning guest is Akshat Rathi . Akshat is a London-based senior reporter, newsletter writer, and podcaster for Bloomberg News. Akshat has a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Oxford , and a BTech in Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai . Akshat was prev...

What are reverse coattails, and how might they slow climate change, prevent the next pandemic, and keep Nazis off of school boards? That's today's big question, and my returning guest is Amanda Litman . Amanda is one of my favorite people. She is the co-founder and co-executive director of Run for Something , which recruits and supports young, diverse progressives running for down-ballot office, state, and local, and all those fun levels. Since launching in 2017 , a thousand years ago, Run for S...

How's your mental health around climate change? That is today's big question, and my guest is Britt Wray. Britt and I recorded this conversation in 2022. It is an all-time favorite of mine and of our listeners. Britt is the author of the fantastic book, Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis . She has a passionate generational perspective on how to stay sane amid climate disruption. Britt has a PhD in science communication from the University of Copenhagen . She's the auth...

Has there ever been a more important time, a more consequential time, to lead with ethics? That's today's big question, and my guest is Dr. Susan Liautaud . Susan is the author of The Power of Ethics and of the Little Book of Big Ethical Questions . She teaches cutting-edge ethics courses at Stanford University . She is the C hair of the Council Trustees at the London School of Economics and Political Science . She's the Vice Chair of the Global Partnership for Education , and is Chair of the St...