Climate One

A recent poll shows that in 2021, for the first time, a majority of Americans personally felt the effects of climate change. But has that growing awareness translated into action? This week, Climate One hosts Greg Dalton and Ariana Brocious review the top climate stories of the year – from Joe Biden’s climate agenda to the extreme weather events so many experienced, to the recent international climate summit in Glasgow, to the passage and signing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. This special episode features excerpts from some of Climate One’s most profound interviews of 2021, including conversations with such luminaries as Jay Inslee, Mark Carney, and Katharine Hayhoe.For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests:Kathy Baughman-McLeod, Senior Vice President and Director, Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience CenterJay Inslee, Governor, State of WashingtonCarla Frisch, Principal Deputy Director, Office of Policy, U.S. Department of EnergySasha Mackler, Executive Director, The Energy Project, Bipartisan Policy CenterBeth Osborne, Director, Transportation for AmericaRich Thau, Moderator, The Swing Voter ProjectJiang Lin, Adjunct Professor, University of California BerkeleyAlbert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, Bloomberg New Energy FinanceAmanda Machado, Writer and Social Justice FacilitatorMark Carney, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and FinanceKatharine Hayhoe, Climate ScientistSister True Dedication, Thich Nhat Hanh studentSupport our work:climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change science isn’t taught accurately — or equally — across the country. Investigative reporter Katie Worth dug into textbooks and talked with dozens of children and teachers to find out why. In her book, Miseducation: How Climate is Taught in America, Worth unpacks the influence of the fossil fuel industry, state legislatures and school boards on school curricula in their effort to spread confusion and misinformation about the climate crisis. Some organizations skip the textbook battle entirely and try to reach children directly through assemblies and social media. How do teachers navigate these dynamics in the classroom? How can we ensure our children are learning to be engaged, educated and climate-aware citizens?For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests:Katie Worth, investigative journalist, author, Miseducation: How Climate is Taught in AmericaLea Dotson, Campaigner, Action for the Climate EmergencyAnn Reid, Executive Director, National Center for Science EducationBen Graves, former science teacher in Delta County, COSupport our work:climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Biden recently signed the biggest piece of climate legislation in U.S. history into law. To be sure, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act got pared down significantly from what was first put on the table, but the final measure still contains five times more money for projects aimed at mitigating the climate crisis than the best legislation the Obama administration could get through. What did it take to get 19 Republican senators (not to mention Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema) to vote with the Democrats? And with the states being given great latitude over how to spend the money, will the billions available for highways negate any positive climate impacts?For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests:Carla Frisch, Principal Deputy Director, Office of Policy, U.S. Department of Energy Sasha Mackler, Executive Director, The Energy Project, Bipartisan Policy CenterBeth Osborne, Director, Transportation for AmericaMichael Grunwald, journalist, author, The New New DealSupport our work: climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever have a difficult conversation about climate? Pretty much everyone has. Knowing all the facts and figures only goes so far when talking to someone who just doesn’t agree. So how do we break through the barriers? Scientists trained to present information in a one-way lecture format face a particular challenge: they first need to unlearn old habits.“Everybody's trying to figure out ‘how do we move past this idea that just arming people with facts will lead to a better world,’ right, because we’ve just seen that that’s absolutely not true,” says Faith Kearns, author of Getting to the Heart of Science Communication. Kearns argues that we all need to move from an “information deficit” model of communication – where it’s assumed that the audience simply needs more information – to a relational model, where the science communicator does as much listening as talking in order to first find empathy and common ground.Guests:Faith Kearns, author, Getting to the Heart of Science CommunicationKaterina Gonzales, doctoral research fellow, Stanford UniversitySupport our work:climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2015, delegates from 196 nations entered into the legally binding treaty on climate change known as the Paris Agreement, which set a goal of limiting global warming to “well below 2 and preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.” Yet in August of this year, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new assessment report that starkly illustrated the world’s collective failure to meet that target. Delegates from across the globe have just met in Glasgow for the international climate summit known as COP26, with the hope of strengthening commitments to keep emissions targets at that 1.5 degree level. After two weeks of negotiations, presentations and protests in Glasgow, COP26 is a wrap. This week we discuss what was achieved - and what wasn’t - at the summit. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests:Vanessa Nakate, Ugandan climate activistJiang Lin, Adjunct Professor, University of California BerkeleyAlbert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, Bloomberg New Energy FinanceSupport our work:climateone.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rick Ridgeway estimates he’s spent about five years of his life sleeping in tents, often in the world’s most remote places alongside fellow outdoor adventure luminaries. Ridgeway worked for Patagonia for 15 years and was behind the company’s infamous “Don’t Buy This Jacket” ad campaign, which paradoxically advocated sustainability and increased sales. Outdoor companies like Patagonia may push for sustainability, but they largely still present a mostly white, wealthy experience with nature, which can be off-putting for people of color. “You know if you can't see yourself in those spaces then it’s hard to feel invited or welcome in that movement,” says writer and social justice facilitator Amanda Machado.  What is the role of corporations in conservation? And how can the outdoor industry help make nature more safe, accessible and welcoming for all?For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests:Rick Ridgeway, former Vice President of Public Engagement, PatagoniaAmanda Machado, writer and social justice facilitator Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to the latest IPCC Assessment Report, we’re currently on course for at least 3°C (5.4°F) of warming by 2100 even if all of the voluntary Paris Agreement emissions pledges are fulfilled. Clearly the world needs to do more to reduce emissions. But what if that’s still not enough?Solar geoengineering – such as putting sulfate aerosols into the stratosphere to reduce the amount of the sun’s heat from reaching the earth – could be one tool to slow warming temporarily. But it has become so politically fraught that even research into the subject is contentious. Who decides who should control our atmosphere? And what global governance structures should be put in place before any experimentation begins?This program is generously underwritten in part by the Laney and Pasha Thornton Foundation.For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcastsGuests:Janos Pasztor, Executive Director, Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative, former Assistant Secretary General, United Nations Sheila Jasanoff, Professor of science and technology studies, Harvard Kennedy SchoolAlbert Lin, Professor, University of California Davis School of Law David Keith, Professor of applied physics and public policy, Harvard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fully electrifying our homes, cars and industries could cut the amount of total energy we need by half, says Saul Griffith, an entrepreneur, inventor and author of Electrify: An Optimist’s Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future. This electric revolution would mean significantly scaling up our solar, wind and battery storage and reorienting the electric grid – but could also mean “thousands of dollars in savings in every household, every year.” President Biden wants half the cars sold in the US to be electric by 2030. And automakers are increasingly putting money and marketing muscle behind EVs. When Ford announced its all-electric F-150, it sent a powerful jolt through the transportation industry. Pre-orders for the F-150 Lightning surpassed 100,000 within three days, signalling that EVs are no longer just for kale-eating coastal elites. Note: Ford Motor Co. is among Climate One’s sponsors. This program was underwritten in part by ClimateWorks Foundation.For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests:Saul Griffith, author, Electrify: An Optimist Playbook for Our Clean Energy FutureCynthia Williams, Global Director, Sustainability, Homologation and Compliance, Ford Motor Co.Sara Baldwin, Director of Electrification Policy, Energy Innovation Josh Nassar, Legislative Director, United Auto Workers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People around the world have been experiencing unprecedented extreme weather events – raging wildfires, killer heatwaves and catastrophic floods. In August, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new Assessment Report, which UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called “code red for humanity,” adding that alarm bells are deafening and the evidence is irrefutable. Against this backdrop, delegates from across the globe are set to convene for the international climate summit known as COP26, where they’re expected to hammer out commitments to reduce carbon emissions in hopes of avoiding the worst impacts of climate disruption. Six years on from the Paris agreement, is there finally enough urgency to turn ambition and promises into action? For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests:Kate Larsen, Director, International Energy & Climate, Rhodium GroupAlbert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, Bloomberg NEFMitzi Jonelle Tan, Climate Justice Activist, Youth Advocates for Climate Action PhilippinesCarlon Zackhras, Marshall Islands youth climate activist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do we manage our own anxiety around an uncertain climate future – let alone help our children work through their feelings and fears? In his latest book, Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet, internationally renowned Zen Master and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thich Nhat Hahn argues that addressing the intersection of ecological destruction, rising inequality, racial injustice, and the lasting impacts of a devastating pandemic requires us to strengthen our clarity, compassion, and courage to act. “The power of Zen and the power of mindfulness is that it roots us in the present moment so we can be alert to what is going on, we can be responsive, we can be the master of our mind and awareness in any given situation,” including climate disruption, says Sister True Dedication, contributor and editor of Thich Nhat Hahn’s book.Psychotherapist Leslie Davenport, author of All the Feelings Under the Sun: How to Deal With Climate Change, provides thoughtful, practical exercises to help young readers process their feelings about climate change. For transcripts and other information, visit: https://www.climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts Guests:Sister True Dedication, Zen Buddhist nun, editor of Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Zen and the Art of Saving The Planet Leslie Davenport, author, Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change; All the Feelings Under the Sun: How to Deal With Climate Change Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices