Planet Money: A Narrative Approach to Storytelling

Today's guest is Alex Blumberg, who is most recently the co-host of the climate change-focused podcast, How to Save a Planet. Alex was co-founder and CEO of Gimlet Media, which was acquired by Spotify in 2019. 

Alex has a history of unpacking incredibly complex systemic issues and making them digestible for mass audiences. Prior to Gimlet, he was co-host of the podcast Planet Money, which had its origins in unpacking the intricacies of the financial crisis of 2008 and the role of the housing market, therein.

Planet Money went on to do investigative work on a myriad of economic and financial stories. And then Gimlet Media emerged with a similar focus on broader cultural topics. On this pod, we've talked to a few different entrepreneurs who've tackled the challenging problem of climate communications, from Climate Town's comedy, to Pique Action’s positivity, to The Cool Down’s attempts to hook new audiences into caring about climate via individual choices. How to Save a Planet, focused on helping people find their personal agency on the Venn diagram of the intersection of "What brings you joy, what you are good at, and what work needs doing."

Alex and Cody have a conversation about how his own Venn diagram has changed as his skills have shifted from being good at podcasting to being experienced a company building. And they talk about how the broader narrative on climate change has changed over the last few years and why. They also cover the intersection of money and climate and the role of policy and politics therein. This discussion has great takeaways for those who are thinking about plugging themselves into climate-related efforts while leveraging their own skill, and for those working on communicating complex climate issues.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [3:11] Overarching thoughts about the housing crisis and the climate crisis
• [8:41] Public opinion and general awareness of climate change and the issues
• [13:10] The action side of climate communications and how Alex approached it on How to Save a Planet
• [17:10] Listener stories inspired by the podcast
• [19:00] Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson's Climate Action Venn Diagram 
• [22:39] How Alex used his skills in podcasting  to drive climate action
• [24:57] His background in radio and narrative storytelling
• [32:44] How Gimlet Media came to be and an overview of Startup Podcast
• [38:28] Learnings from Alex's journey starting Gimlet through its acquisition by Spotify in 2019
• [43:45] How to harness personal agency while building a company
• [47:11] Situations where using climate change or climate benefits actually hurts business
• [51:39] Alex's thoughts on ESG and corporate action
• [57:26] What's next for Alex

Get connected: 
Cody Simms Twitter / LinkedIn
Alex Blumberg Twitter
MCJ Podcast / Collective

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Episode recorded on December 13, 2022. 

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant