In early August, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report unequivocally connecting global warming and extreme weather to human-driven greenhouse gas emissions, and warning of much more dramatic climate futures if we don’t change course soon.Since the 2020 election, Rich Thau’s Swing Voter Project has been querying those who shifted from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020 about a range of issues. How will their views affect the 2022 midterms and the 2024 election? Where does climate rate on their list of issues? And does the accelerating climate crisis matter enough to affect their votes?Guests:Rich Thau, Moderator, The Swing Voter Project; Co-founder and President, Engagious Andrew Freedman, Climate and Energy Reporter, AxiosVenkatachalam “Ram” Ramaswamy, Director of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In October 2020, California Gov. Newsom announced a plan to protect 30% of his state by 2030. In 2021, the Biden Administration announced its own 30x30 plan, later dubbed America the Beautiful. With 12% of the U.S. already under some form of protection, where will the other 18% come from? In states like Nebraska, nearly all the land is in private hands — and the owners are worried.With increased focus on the climate crisis, it’s easy to think we have enough to worry about without considering species other than our own. But the natural world provides critical resources that counteract the damaging impacts of climate change and sustain all life — including human life. About one million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction. How much land does nature need to survive?Guests:Paula Ehrlich, CEO, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity FoundationWoody Lee, Executive Director, Utah Diné BikéyahJennifer Norris, Deputy Secretary for Biodiversity and Habitat, California Natural Resources AgencyCatherine Semcer, Research Fellow, Property and Environment Research Center Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Washington State, voters defeated initiatives to put a price on carbon ― twice. Governor Jay Inslee himself then lost his personal bid for the White House. Yet his bold ideas have proven staying power. The state legislature recently passed a carbon cap and invest bill that will reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 95 percent by 2050. “We’ve got to wake up every morning figuring out ‘how can I disrupt the status quo.’ Because the status quo is deadly, it’s fatal, it will destroy economies and the biology that we exist on,” Inlsee says. Even big oil, which spent tens of missions to defeat the 2018 carbon pricing proposal, seems to be changing its tune, with BP now supporting a price on carbon. How might Washington State be a bellwether for Washington DC? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From clearing land for pasture to building dams, humans have long changed the face of the Earth. But Indian eco-feminist Vandana Shiva is highly critical of how we’ve changed our relationship with the land through industrial monocrop agriculture. She firmly opposes genetically modified crops, and has called seed patents “bio-piracy.” But it’s not just the technology she’s critical of. “I’m critical of the world view of arrogance. The worldview that came with colonialism, the mechanistic mindset of the conquering man being the creator of the earth and creator of the wealth,” Shiva says. Shiva argues for a renewed focus on biodiversity and regenerative agriculture to help solve the climate crisis.Guests:Vandana Shiva, director of the Foundation for Science, Technology & Ecology Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The podcast explores the history of America's car culture and the resistance to cars in cities. It delves into the challenges and issues in building public transit, including funding and community interference. The impact of regulation, unions, and staffing on transit costs is discussed. Disparities in public transit ridership based on socioeconomic and racial backgrounds are explored. The success of Los Angeles' light rail system is highlighted. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the potential impact of electric vehicles and the need to address historical harm caused by highways.

Pathways for reducing carbon emissions include electrifying transportation and replacing fossil fuels with wind and solar power. But in this time of national reckoning on racial and economic disparities, there is growing support for a more holistic approach. This view holds that the climate crisis won’t be resolved until we first address the systemic imbalances that have fueled it – racism, capitalism, white supremacy and patriarchy. In their recent book, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, co-editors Katharine Wilkinson and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson bring together the voices of women artists, writers and change-makers who are at the forefront of climate action.“The work that we’re doing is instigating or nurturing a feminist climate renaissance,” says Johnson, “which is what we feel the climate movement so desperately needs right now.”Guests:Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologistKatharine Wilkinson, Vice President, Project DrawdownCo-editors, All We Can Save:Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis (One World, 2020)Christine Nieves Rodriguez, Co-founder and President, Emerge Puerto Rico.Sherri Mitchell, author, Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change (North Atlantic Books, 2018)Heather McTeer Toney, National Field Director, Moms Clean Air ForceJainey Bavishi, Director, Mayor's Office of Resiliency, New York City Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When we think of action on climate change, we usually think of what individuals can do, what governments can do, and maybe what businesses can do. But what about the broader economic levers that affect behaviors? Can we get companies to walk away from billions of dollars they’ve already invested in a fossil fuel-based economy? Insurers are on the front lines of climate disruption; it’s their business to put a price on risk. So how can the financial and insurance sectors create better-aligned incentives for companies, businesses and even governments to get on the ever-narrowing path to net zero carbon emissions before it’s too late?Guests:Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For over two decades, carbon offset programs have promised individuals and businesses that they can reduce their overall carbon footprint by paying someone else to reduce their carbon emissions. Yet many programs have been plagued by scandal – like shady accounting and paying forest owners not to cut down trees they weren’t planning to log anyway.A new nonprofit called Climate Vault wants to buy emissions permits from regulated markets and lock them away so other polluters can’t buy and use them. Will this finally be an approach that works? Or are all carbon offset programs just smoke and mirrors? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extreme heat causes more deaths than any other weather-related hazard in the U.S., wreaking quiet havoc on the health and economic well-being of billions of people across the world. But it’s rarely given the same billing or resources as other, more dramatic, natural disasters. Because of racist and discriminatory housing and development practices, extreme heat also disproportionately impacts poorer and minority communities.Recognizing a growing need for local responses to a global problem, the mayors of Miami-Dade, Athens, Greece and Freetown, Sierra Leone recently announced they are appointing the world’s first Chief Heat Officers. How can we prepare for and address the impacts of extreme heat? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From activism to political campaigns to corporate advertising, the power of music and images is undeniable. So how can the arts inspire and advance the climate conversation? For more than three decades, Shepard Fairey’s work has provoked thought and controversy in the art and political spheres. Now, with a public weary of climate charts and apocalyptic images of melting glaciers and emaciated polar bears, we explore how the arts can provoke a more productive conversation with Fairey and Grammy-nominated hip hop artist Mystic.Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our work. Go to climateone.org/donate to help us reach our goal of $10,000 by July 1. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices