

Climate One
Climate One from The Commonwealth Club
We’re living through a climate emergency; addressing this crisis begins by talking about it. Co-Hosts Greg Dalton, Ariana Brocious and Kousha Navidar bring you empowering conversations that connect all aspects of the challenge — the scary and the exciting, the individual and the systemic. Join us.Subscribe to Climate One on Patreon for access to ad-free episodes.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jun 19, 2020 • 54min
Empowering Women: The Climate Solution We Don’t Talk About
As the global population approaches eight billion, humans continue to test the number of bodies that can fit onto a planet of finite resources. Empowering women through access to education and family planning may be at the core of establishing a healthy population balance, not just for the planet’s sake, but for ours. So why aren’t we talking about it more? How big a role can gender equity play in reducing our global carbon footprint — and who gets to decide?
Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode.
Guests:
Musimbi Kanyoro, Former President & CEO, Global Fund for Women; Chair of the Board, United World Colleges
Ertharin Cousin, Visiting Scholar, Stanford Center on Food Security and the Environment; Former Director, World Food Programme
Corrine Sanchez, Executive Director, Tewa Women United
Additional Interview:
Evelyne Ajwang, Programme Manager MNCH/FP at Pathfinder International
This program was recorded via video on May 21, 2020.
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Jun 12, 2020 • 55min
Will Climate Matter in the Election?
With less than four months before early voting begins in the presidential election, America is enraged and inflamed across the country. People of all races are expressing their anger and solidarity in the streets and on social media.
Separately, COVID infection rates are rising in over 20 states including South Carolina, Georgia, Utah and Washington. Still, primary voting continues apace. So how will the turmoil across America impact the November election? How will voters cast their ballots? And how will climate concerns rank amid racial strife and the global pandemic?
Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode.
Guests:
Vanessa Hauc, Journalist, Telemundo
Jeff Nesbit, Executive Director, Climate Nexus
Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder and Executive Director, Environmental Voter Project
Additional interviews:
Antony Leiserowitz Director, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
Natasha Kennedy, graphic designer in Seattle
This program was recorded via live stream on June 3, 2020.
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Jun 5, 2020 • 55min
A Decade of Oil: From Deepwater Horizon to Deflation
America's latest oil boom began with a bang, literally, on Earth Day, 2010. That’s when an offshore oil rig owned by BP exploded, killing eleven workers and spilling nearly five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. John Hofmeister, co-founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy, was in Washington D.C. at the time.“We simply have to get what are called negative emissions. The oil and gas industry, I think, is supremely qualified to have the scale, to have the engineers, to have this expertise, to undertake problems like that.” But can this tiger change its stripes? Heather Richards, who follows the oil industry for Energy & Environment News, is not so sure.“Even though [the oil and gas business] has expertise, I don't think it's necessarily quite as easy to shift this industry,” she says. “It's difficult I think from this seat to say with great confidence ‘we’re just gonna move into the offshore wind, we’ll just do that.’”Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode.Guests: John Hofmeister, Former President, Shell Oil Company; Founder and Chief Executive, Citizens for Affordable Energy William K. Reilly, Former U.S. EPA Administrator; Co-Chair, National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Heather Richards, Energy Reporter, Energy & Environment NewsThis program was recorded via video on May 19, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 29, 2020 • 53min
REWIND: Fate of Food / Plate to Planet
How do we go about feeding a planet that’s hotter, drier, and more crowded than ever? The connection between global warming and the dinner table isn’t always obvious when we go to the grocery store. But our choices about how we put food on our plates, and what we do with the waste, contribute to as much as one third of total greenhouse-gas emissions. How can we continue to feed the planet without destroying it in the process? Can a clean, climate-resilient food system be built to distribute calories in a way that is efficient and equitable?
Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode.
Guests (Part 1):
Twilight Greenaway, Contributing Editor, Civil Eats
Amanda Little, Professor of Journalism, Vanderbilt University
Guests (Part 2):
Mark Kurlansky, Author, MILK! A 10,000-Year Food Fracas
Anna Lappé, Author, Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork)
Part 1 was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on June 18, 2019.
Part 2 was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on May 16, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 22, 2020 • 55min
COVID-19 and Climate: The Future of Energy
After decades of relying on imported oil, the U.S. achieved the unthinkable and became the world’s largest producer. Production has doubled over the past decade, and in February reached its highest level ever - thirteen million barrels a day. But as it turns out, all of that overabundance has led to a different kind of oil crisis. “We’re producing more oil and gas than ever,and this industry’s stocks are tanking,” says Amy Harder, energy reporter for Axios. Meanwhile, renewables are experiencing unprecedented growth. What will be the lasting impact of the COVID-19 recession? What is the future of energy in a post-pandemic world? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Amy Harder, Energy Reporter, Axios Jason Bordoff, Founding Director, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University Scott Jacobs, CEO and Co-founder, Generate Capital Julia Pyper, Host and Producer, Political Climate Podcast Additional interview: Chris Rawlings, founder of Veteran L.E.D. This program was recorded via video on May 6, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 15, 2020 • 55min
Storytelling Through the Climate Crisis
How do we confront the reality of a future that will be hauntingly different from today? Some authors are using fiction to create relatable narratives while sparing us from a deluge of sobering facts that can make audiences feel detached. The dystopian worlds in the films Mad Max and The Hunger Games do the same to both entertain and distance viewers from the realities of an increasingly destabilized climate. Can fiction give access to hopes and fears that we can’t handle in our daily lives? How are authors like Jenny Offill and Roy Scranton using stories that let readers experience climate change, while also keeping it at arms’ length? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Jenny Offill, Author, Weather Roy Scranton, Author, Learning to Die in the Anthropocene This program was recorded via live stream on April 10, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 8, 2020 • 55min
Zero-Emission Cities
Can we solve the climate crisis by reimagining our cities? Climate activists have long envisioned the zero-carbon cities of the future. Now, with COVID-19 shutting down congested urban areas, city dwellers from Los Angeles to New Delhi are getting a rare taste of clean air and blue skies. But the view is also more clear of things more painful to see - social inequalities that have existed for generations. “This is an opportunity to think about what kind of systems do we actually want, what kind of future do we envision for our cities and for our economy,” says sustainability expert Eva Gladek. “And how do we actually try to address multiple challenges at once when looking toward that future.” Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Ani Dasgupta, Global Director, World Resources Institute, Ross Center for Sustainable Cities Eva Gladek, Founder and CEO, Metabolic Lauren Faber O'Connor, Chief Sustainability Officer, Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti, City of Los Angeles Additional interview: Lubna Ahmed, Director of Environmental Health, WE ACT for Environmental Justice This program is generously underwritten by ClimateWorks Foundation and was recorded via video on April 20, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 1, 2020 • 55min
Fossil Fuels in the Ground and in Your Portfolio
When institutional investors divest from fossil fuel companies, does it make a difference, or is the impact merely symbolic? Some advocate keeping your stock and your influence, using investor dollars to encourage change from within. We’re not all managing billions in assets, but how can we use our nest eggs to help finance a green economy?
Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode.
Guests:
Brian Deese, Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainable Investing, BlackRock
Lori Keith, Portfolio Manager, Parnassus Investments
Pratima Rangarajan, CEO, Oil and Gas Climate Initiative
Anne Simpson, Director of Board Governance & Strategy, CalPERS
This program was recorded via video on April 16, 2020.
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May 1, 2020 • 55min
COVID-19 and Climate: Economic Impacts
The COVID-19 recession is unfolding at historic speed and depth. New jobless claims reached a record 10 million in just two weeks. Wall Street’s fear gauge closed at an all-time high in mid-March. Environmentally, though, the shutdown has come with some temporary benefits — decreased travel, cleaner water, a plunging demand for oil. But crashing the economy isn’t exactly a climate solution.
How will the coronavirus recession reshape the economy and prospects for addressing climate in a post-pandemic world? How does this economic crisis compare to others in history?
Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode.
Guests:
Kathleen Day, Finance Lecturer, Johns Hopkins University; Author, Broken Bargain: Banks, Bailouts, and the Struggle to Tame Wall Street
Amy Myers Jaffe, Director, Energy Security and Climate Change Program, Council on Foreign Relations
Matt Rogers, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
Additional interviews:
Shubhayu Saha, Health Scientist, Climate and Health Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Phil Ting, California State Assembly Member
This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on April 15, 2020.
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Apr 17, 2020 • 55min
COVID-19 and Climate: Implications for Public Health
What can the spread of coronavirus teach us about the spread of climate change? Both crises have global reach, invisible perpetrators, and require aggressive, early action for containment. But while an infectious disease is acute and deeply personal, the impacts of a changing climate are systemic and vague. Scientists point out that the coronavirus family — which includes COVID-19 and SARS — originated as an animal disease that can be passed along to humans. With increased human development encroaching into wildlife areas, should communities be preparing for more pandemics?
Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode.
Guests:
Brian Allan, Associate Entomology Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Aaron Bernstein, Interim Director, The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard C-CHANGE)
Barbara Gottlieb, Director of Environment and Health, Physicians for Social Responsibility
Additional interviews:
Jason Rohr, Professor at the University of Notre Dame
This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on April 3, 2020.
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