In This Climate

This week, Jim and Gabe discuss their reaction to the American Jobs Plan, which claims to aim to "unify and mobilize the country to meet the great challenges of our time: the climate crisis and the ambitions of an autocratic China." They talk budget sufficiency, electric vehicles, and more. They also lament the brown goo that a late frost made of their magnolia blossoms. The American Jobs Plan Fact Sheet: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan/ 

Dr. Jason Bradford, board president of the Post Carbon Institute and co-host of the Crazy Town podcast, joins us to talk about their third season and his work in/around sustainable agriculture. We discuss humor's role in dealing with environmental harms, hidden drivers like discount rate, and what it'll take to get more of us involved in local sustainable agriculture. Crazy Town podcast: https://www.postcarbon.org/crazytown/

What does it mean for policy to be quiet, for policy to successfully tip-toe its way through the U.S. legislative system and contribute to greater sustainability and resilience? Which parts can or should make more noise, and what informs our understanding of what is pragmatic and reasonable? In this Air Check, Jim and Emily try to work through the concept of quiet climate policy, recently outlined in the context of a post-Covid world by the Breakthrough Institute (https://thebreakthrough.org/articles/saying-the-quiet-part-loud).

We kick off our mental health series with Dr. Susan Clayton, professor of psychology and environmental studies and chair of the psychology department at the College of Wooster. Together, we work to complicate our understanding of emotional engagement with climate, within and beyond the frame of grief and anxiety. Watch the conversation on Facebook: https://fb.watch/4bJ0fGhrqe/

In this Air Check, professor and biogeochemist Gabriel Filippelli joins us again to talk about what a year in the pandemic has taught us about greenhouse gas emissions and our capacity to change systems. From the graphs to the big ideas, we cover a lot of ground in 15 minutes.

In this Air Check, professor and biogeochemist Gabriel Filippelli joins us again to talk about ice, ocean currents, and what makes the Arctic so different from the Antarctic. We also briefly discuss lobsters. Listen to find out how it's all connected! Our next live show explores the intersection of climate change and mental health: https://fb.me/e/3zP82ubFf 

As utility operators across the country move to weatherize power grids and projections show another dry year for the Western U.S., what should we look out for? What questions should we be asking? Jim and Emily start the conversation.

How do you understand freedom and connection? Responsibility and the anthropocene? And how can we explain them to future generations? Nathaniel Popkin, author of To Reach the Spring: From Complicity to Consciousness in the Age of Eco-Crisis, helps us think about these questions and more, offering moral, social, and psychological potential for a path to a future spring. Nathaniel's website: http://nathanielpopkin.net/ 

What does climate change have to do with freezing temperatures, heavy snows, and overwhelmed utilities? Professor and biogeochemist Gabriel Filippelli joins us to explain. An Arctic Blast from the Polar Vortex | IUPUI Explains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AcubjRHzwY 

Jim Shanahan and guest host Ben Kravitz talk with environmental law expert Michael Gerrard and climate engineering researcher Douglas MacMartin about the ins and outs of geoengineering. See the video: https://www.facebook.com/thisclimatepod/videos/765649801024000