CLIMATE ONE: This Year in Climate: 2025
Commonwealth Club of California Podcast
Joy as a Strategy in Climate Work
Pattie argues joy and celebration are strategic tools to mobilize diverse communities for environmental action.
2025 has been a doozy in so many ways. And climate news has been no exception. Climate One hosts Ariana Brocious and Kousha Navidar look back at what the year has meant for climate progress: the good, the bad, the ugly — and the joyful.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2025 will go down as one of the top three warmest years in the 176-year observational record. Climate-change-fueled extreme weather continues to wreak havoc on communities across the world. And yet, it’s not all bad news. As Bill McKibben points out, we now live on a planet where the cheapest form of energy basically comes from pointing a piece of glass at the sun. And globally, renewable energy surpassed coal for the first time ever.
Despite the federal government’s attacks on climate science and policy, local climate action is still happening across the country and globe, and each of us holds power to make change.
Guests:
Adrienne Heinz, Clinical Research Psychologist, Stanford University School of Medicine
Roxanne Brown, Vice President at Large, United Steelworkers
Pattie Gonia, Drag Queen and environmentalistFor show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org
Highlights:
00:00 - Intro
02:00 – 2025 has been the year of AI
04:30 – Trump admin attack on science, climate and environmental regs and rules
06:45 – Good news on renewables and the rise of China as an electrostate
08:30 – New York implements congestion pricing
10:00 – US has removed itself from global climate negotiations
12:45 – Remembering Jane Goodall
15:30 – Adrienne Heinz on how to support yourself and others after a weather disaster
25:30 – Roxanne Brown on how Trump’s pullback of IRA, BIL and CHIPS acts have hurt American workers and industry
34:00 – Growing threat of disinformation in climate conversations
36:30 – Pattie Gonia on how drag performance fits in with their climate and environmental activism
51:00 – How joy is strategic
53:30 – A look ahead at 2026
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