In This Climate

In this week's Air Check, Janet explains how and why the EPA is hurrying to finalize rules before a shift in administration.

In this series, we ask, how can spiritual connection with our environment help us enter into right and restorative relationship with the earth, including human and nonhuman inhabitants? By talking with folks from different faith traditions, we investigate what spiritual connection is and how it happens, the composition of the environment, and the potential for spiritual connection to meaningfully affect the destructive human systems responsible for climate change. In this episode, the Rev. Mitch Hescox discusses his work with the Evangelical Environmental Network, understandings of creation care, and so much more.

Now deep in the holiday season, even in 2020, we have much to celebrate. But, in the U.S. especially, celebration can lead to a spike in emissions and waste from travel (despite CDC recommendations), obligatory gift-giving, temporary decorations, and feasts. In this episode, we don't tell you to sit alone in a dark room and gnaw on the stems from your windowsill herb garden. Mental and physical health are inseparable and important, so we outline ways to think and act more sustainably while still having a wonderful holiday time. Some resources!  Priya Cooks a Minimal-Waste Thanksgiving Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers Composting Is Way Easier Than You Think

In this extended Air Check, political scientist Thea Riofrancos joins us to discuss the historical context of Chilean lithium mining and how it relates to the global movement for a renewable energy future. We touch on the Latin American pink tide, the rise of Indigenous environmental movements, and how supporters of a Green New Deal could effectively maintain pressure on the Biden administration. Want to let us know what you think? Email us at itcpod@indiana.edu, review us, or message us on your favorite social media platform by searching @thisclimatepod.

In this bonus episode, we share just a little bit of The EPA at 50, an online event sponsored by the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and the Integrated Program in the Environment here at IU. It featured host Janet McCabe, Gina McCarthy, Jim Barnes, and Jody Freeman. The program is edited for time, but you can find the full recording on the O’Neill School Youtube channel. Also, coming up on December 2, we have a Facebook live show on the topic of spiritual ecology. This one is at 10 a.m. ET, and you can RSVP by going to our Facebook page. Do you also have questions? Do you have answers? Because we want to know! You can email us at itcpod@indiana.edu or message us on your preferred social media @thisclimatepod.

In the third episode of our post-election series, Bob Perciasepe explains how the Biden administration and the private sector could work together to decarbonize and build resilience. Bob is president of the nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and former Deputy Administrator of the EPA. If you have any thoughts or questions about the show, you can tweet at us or send an email to itcpod@iu.edu.

Jacob and Emily talk through the record-breaking catastrophic hurricanes Eta and Iota, which hit Central America only two weeks apart. We zero in on the why and the what now that could lead to a more resilient future. Resources: ‘The Ixil helping the Ixil’: Indigenous people in Guatemala lead their own Hurricane Eta response Storm Eta damage pushes small, indigenous farmers in Central America into hunger Humanitarian emergency in Central America

In the second episode of our post-election series, Claudia Jimenez discusses how participatory design has led to sustained community investment from Colombia to the Bay Area. As a new Richmond City Council member, she also speaks specifically to the California city's environmental challenges and potential. If you have any thoughts or questions about the show, you can tweet at us (@thisclimatepod) or send an email to itcpod@iu.edu.

In this Air Check, host Janet McCabe talks with IU professor and recently-named chair of the EPA's Science Advisory Board John D. Graham about his experience in the SAB and what he foresees for the Biden Administration's environmental work, including cost-benefit analysis and the electrification of motor vehicles.

In the first episode of our post-election series, we go live with Robinson Meyer of The Atlantic, Yessenia Funes of Atmos Magazine, Britt Wray of Gen Dread, Dharna Noor of Earther, and independent reporter/consultant Mythili Sampathkumar to discuss the environmental news you need to watch (and how to cope with the associated anxiety) as we move forward. If you have any thoughts or questions about the show, you can tweet at us or send an email to itcpod@iu.edu.