Climate One

Our brains have evolved over millions of years to deal with immediate and direct challenges, but they’re not so great at processing large existential threats, like the climate crisis. Understanding why people behave the way they do could be a critical step in bringing about more meaningful climate action. Despite having the technical ability we need to stay under 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, we’re on a path to surpass that number by the early 2030s. Yet doom and gloom framing can drive people away from even thinking about the climate crisis. How can we use our understanding of behavior to incorporate happiness into meaningful climate action?  Guests: Ann-Christine Duhaime, Pediatric Neurosurgeon, Author of Minding the Climate: How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental CrisisJiaying Zhao, Associate Professor, University of British ColumbiaFor show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to the United Nations Development Program, 54 countries, accounting for half the world’s population, face such critical debt burdens that they simply cannot finance climate adaptation and mitigation on their own. Most of these same countries are in the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world, setting them up for compounding disasters. At the same time, every nation on earth is being asked to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels — which enabled the richest countries to develop their economies. So how can those in the developing world make the transition to a clean energy economy while centering economic justice? This episode is a collaboration with Foreign Policy’s Heat of The Moment podcast.Guests:Ani Dasgupta, President and CEO, World Resources InstituteThis episode features stories from Amy Booth and Elna Schütz for Heat of The Moment podcast For show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every place we inhabit has its own tapestry of sound, whether you’re hiking through the woods or sitting in a cafe with a friend. And not only are sounds a part of our sensory experience, but they can give us vital information about the health of our ecosystems. As the planet warms and we lose biodiversity, those sounds are changing. The natural world isn’t the only space where the soundscape is changing. Electrifying everything will have a direct effect on the sound of urban centers. What will cities sound like in the future? Will we listen to the messages our world is sending us, or will we tune them out? Guests: Bernie Krause, Soundscape EcologistDan Hill, Director, Melbourne School of DesignFor show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not long ago, it was said that “hydrogen is the fuel of the future - and always will be.” Now, with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law tagging $9.5 billion for developing a domestic hydrogen economy, this simplest of all elements is increasingly being discussed as a viable pathway for long-distance trucking, shipping, and hard-to-decarbonize industries like cement and steel. But how clean is clean hydrogen, really? And what will it take to make green hydrogen a cost-competitive option in applications like manufacturing, transportation, and grid-scale energy storage?Guests:Julio Friedmann, Chief Scientist, Carbon DirectSunita Satyapal, Director, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office, DOE Alan Krupnick, Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The lack of affordable housing in the U.S. has contributed to a homelessness crisis and has forced people to move farther away from urban centers. Inevitably, that increases car travel and emissions. One solution is to increase density in areas where jobs and infrastructure exist to accommodate more people. But some aren’t comfortable with the idea of their neighborhoods growing, and building multi-story apartments in urban cores usually costs more per square foot than one or two-story houses where land is cheaper. So how do we address both the need for affordable housing and the climate crisis? Guests: Scott Wiener, California State SenatorJennifer Hernandez, Partner, Holland & KnightBen Bartlett, Berkeley Vice MayorFor show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Agriculture is responsible for around 11% of U.S. carbon emissions. And yet soil holds the potential for massive carbon sequestration. Conventional agriculture focuses more on crop productivity than soil health, relying on pesticides, fertilizer, and other practices that contribute to climate-changing emissions rather than reduce them. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack advocates for a federal initiative focused on supporting “climate smart” agriculture for commodity crops that comprise the bulk of what’s grown on American farms: corn, soybeans, wheat. Meanwhile, the restaurateur behind Zero Foodprint is working to create change from table to farm, by crowdsourcing funds from customers to support regenerative farming practices directly. Guests:Tom Vilsack, Secretary, US Department of AgricultureJeremy Martin, Senior Scientist, Union of Concerned ScientistsAnthony Myint, Executive Director, Zero FoodprintFor show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2022 was a banner year for climate – both in terms of climate-fueled disaster and historic federal investments in clean energy, electric vehicles and home electrification. The questions now: How will the programs be implemented ? How will the money be spent – and who will benefit? This week, we examine the coming trends in raw material prices, the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act, new investments in clean tech, tighter rules on pollution and western water negotiations.Guests: Felicia Marcus, Visiting Fellow, Stanford University Nat Bullard, Senior Contributor, Bloomberg NEF, Bloomberg GreenCatherine Coleman Flowers, Vice Chair, White House Environmental Justice Advisory CouncilFor show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who cleans up and rebuilds our communities after floods, fires, and hurricanes? COVID redefined America's definition of “essential workers,” but many who help communities recover from climate disasters remain underpaid and overlooked. In 2006, labor organizer Saket Soni got an anonymous call from an Indian migrant worker in Mississippi who had scraped together $20,000 to apply for the “opportunity” to rebuild oil rigs after Hurricane Katrina. The caller was only one of hundreds lured into Gulf Coast labor camps, surrounded by barbed wire, and watched by armed guards. Since then, the frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters has only increased – and disaster recovery has become big business. How are the lives of people displaced by disasters intertwined with those helping to rebuild?Guests:Saket Soni, Founder and Director, Resilience ForceDaniel Castellanos, Director Of Workforce Engagement, Resilience ForceFor show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blue carbon, the process of storing carbon dioxide in coastal and marine ecosystems, has the potential to remove more carbon than trees. Seagrasses cover less than 0.2% of the ocean floor yet store about 10% of the carbon buried in the oceans annually. The podcast explores the economic value of seagrasses, the importance of coastal ecosystems in carbon sequestration, and the challenges and solutions in investing and restoring mangroves as blue carbon ecosystems.

Art can inspire community and conversation, provide fresh insights into understanding history, and cultivate connection. It can challenge your worldview and shift perspectives. This week we discuss how art and activism can work together to elevate some of the vast inequities that exist between those who benefit from fossil fuel energy and resource extraction and those who suffer its impacts.Guests:Ladonna Williams, Program Director, All Positives PossibleDoug Harris, documentary filmmakerChristine Abadilla Fogarty, Associate Director, Global Museum at San Francisco State UniversitySofía Córdova, multimedia artist and musicianFor show notes and related links, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices