Climate & Clean Energy Episodes
Everything climate. And we mean everything.
June 16, 2025
Taking Care of Business (Sustainably)
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 hav...
June 9, 2025
We Live In A World of Trees
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 som...
May 26, 2025
Climate Solutions That Make Everything Better
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 visio...
May 19, 2025
How Saving Salamanders Could Save Us All
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 surp...
April 14, 2025
Table To Farm
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...
March 24, 2025
Don't Move The Goalposts
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 scaffol...
March 17, 2025
Going Quietly Is Not An Option
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...
March 3, 2025
No Country for Poor Men (or Women)
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...
Nov. 11, 2024
Bridging Misinformation Gaps with Local Journalism
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 Southe...
Oct. 28, 2024
Thinking In Systems To Save An Indivisible World
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 o...
Oct. 7, 2024
Best of: Fresh Banana Leaves
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...
Sept. 16, 2024
Finding Joy In Climate Solutions
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 ...
July 22, 2024
Everything Is Connected (No, Seriously)
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 compe...
June 10, 2024
Bring A Folding Chair
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 Legac...
June 3, 2024
(Climate Solutions) Are Only Impossible Until They Are Not
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 e...
April 8, 2024
The Social Infrastructure of Water
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 Wutic...
March 4, 2024
Can Capitalism (Justly) Solve the Climate Crisis?
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 Rat...
Feb. 19, 2024
Saving Democracy From The Bottom Up
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 fa...
Jan. 1, 2024
Best of: Internal Activism
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 a...
Dec. 4, 2023
How To Make Ethical Decisions
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...
Oct. 16, 2023
Do You Know Where Your Water Comes From?
Every single one of us needs air, water, food, shelter, and energy. So why are the infrastructure that provides them, the systems we are most reliant on hidden in plain sight? How can we reconnect with them, appreciate them, ...
Sept. 18, 2023
Best of: Peer Pressure Works
Over the past few years, more and more voters have cited “action on climate” as a reason for voting the way they do. But here’s the thing: lots of voters who are registered, and even those who do vote in presidential election...
July 24, 2023
⚡️Electrify Everything: What Does The Pace of Progress Look Like?
Sure, we've got to electrify everything, including 1 billion machines by 2050 . But where are we now and how do we get there? That's today's big question, and my guest is Cora Wyent from Rewiring America . Cora is the Directo...
July 17, 2023
Transit For A Habitable Planet
Why the hell is America's public transportation so terrible? That's today's big question, and my guest is Nicholas Dagen Bloom . He's the author of the subtly titled new book, the Great American Transit Disaster . Nicholas is...