This week’s episode is the second in a multipart series called Climate Hits Home, in which guests discuss the effects of climate change in US cities and towns and how local communities are addressing those effects. In this episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Kathryn Sorensen about how the city of Phoenix, Arizona, has been preparing for uncertainty around water availability. Sorensen is a professor of practice at Arizona State University and a former director of Phoenix Water Services. Sorensen discusses how climate change is affecting the desert Southwest, how Phoenix encourages responsible water use, the importance of water-delivery infrastructure, and water-related lessons that other cities can learn from Phoenix. References and recommendations: “A Quiet Revolution: Southwest Cities Learn to Thrive Amid Drought” by Jim Robbins; https://e360.yale.edu/features/a-quiet-revolution-southwest-cities-learn-to-thrive-amid-drought “The Unreasonable Virtue of Fly Fishing” by Mark Kurlansky; https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/unreasonable-virtue-of-fly-fishing-9781635578751/ “Khrushchev Remembers” by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev; https://books.google.com/books?id=a4YjAQAAIAAJ

This week’s episode is the first in a multipart series called Climate Hits Home, in which guests discuss the effects of climate change in US cities and towns and how local communities are addressing those effects. In this episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Skip Stiles, executive director of the nonprofit Wetlands Watch, about how the coastal city of Norfolk, Virginia, is adapting to sea level rise, frequent flooding, and other effects of climate change. Stiles discusses how flooding and other climate impacts affect daily life in Norfolk; how wetlands can help mitigate the effects of climate change on the coast; and how local, state, and federal policies can support efforts to help communities adapt to climate change. References and recommendations: “The Future of Life” by Edward O. Wilson; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/191845/the-future-of-life-by-edward-o-wilson/ “A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold; https://www.aldoleopold.org/about/aldo-leopold/sand-county-almanac/ “The Land Ethic” essay by Aldo Leopold; https://www.aldoleopold.org/about/the-land-ethic/

In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Peter Harnik, cofounder of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, about grassroots and legislative efforts to repurpose abandoned railroad lines as recreational trails. Harnik discusses why the United States has so many abandoned railroad lines, the process of converting a railroad line into a trail, and the legislation that provides funding for trail projects. References and recommendations: “From Rails to Trails: The Making of America’s Active Transportation Network” by Peter Harnik; https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496222060/ Rails-to-Trails Conservancy; https://www.railstotrails.org/ “Stolen Focus” by Johann Hari; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/634289/stolen-focus-by-johann-hari/

In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Carol O’Donnell, executive director of the Smithsonian Science Education Center in Washington, DC, about educating students in kindergarten through grade 12 about sustainability and environmental issues. O’Donnell discusses how the Sustainable Development Goals, formulated by the United Nations, provide a global framework for youth education; how working with educational material in a local context can help students gain data literacy skills; and how the Smithsonian Science Education Center tailors curricula on environmental issues and climate change to different age groups. References and recommendations: “Data, discourse, and development: Building a sustainable world through education and science communication” by Heidi Gibson, Mary E. Short, and Carol O’Donnell; https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2023.981988/full Smithsonian Science Education Center; https://ssec.si.edu/ Smithsonian Science for Global Goals Project; https://ssec.si.edu/global-goals EJScreen: Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool, from the US Environmental Protection Agency; https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen “Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It” by Gale Sinatra and Barbara Hofer; https://academic.oup.com/book/39889

In this week’s special Earth Day episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Amer Jandali, founder and CEO of Future Meets Present and a consultant to the New York City Office of Nightlife, about climate solutions for the nightlife industry in New York City. Jandali discusses how major metropolises can promote sustainable practices in the service industry and advocate for climate policy, how the New York City Office of Nightlife is engaging nightclubs in climate efforts, and the climate solutions that the nightlife industry in New York has been pursuing to date. References and recommendations: “Climate Solutions at Work” from Project Drawdown; https://drawdown.org/publications/climate-solutions-at-work “New York’s Scoping Plan for Climate Action, with Maureen Leddy” from the “Resources Radio” podcast; https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/new-yorks-scoping-plan-for-climate-action-with-maureen-leddy/ “Leave Looking Up” podcast; https://www.leavelookingup.com/ “Atomic Habits” by James Clear; https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits “We need the right kind of climate optimism” by Hannah Ritchie; https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23622511/climate-doomerism-optimism-progress-environmentalism

In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Lara Aleluia Reis, a scientist at the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment, about the extent of progress that’s been made internationally on climate goals that aim to limit global warming to below 2°C. Reis discusses the significance of the Conference of the Parties meetings in Paris and Glasgow (which were held in 2015 and 2021, respectively), how national climate pledges compare with the goals in the Paris Agreement, and how economic models can incorporate and inform climate policy. References and recommendations: “Glasgow to Paris—The impact of the Glasgow commitments for the Paris climate agreement” by Lara Aleluia Reis and Massimo Tavoni; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422300010X “The Last of Us” television show; https://www.hbo.com/the-last-of-us “In the Country of Last Things” by Paul Auster; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/301190/in-the-country-of-last-things-by-paul-auster/

In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Katie McGinty and Jim Connaughton about how to accelerate the permitting process for clean energy projects. McGinty is vice president and chief sustainability and external relations officer at Johnson Controls, and Connaughton is chair of Nautilus Data Technologies and a member of the board of directors at Resources for the Future. McGinty and Connaughton discuss why project delays are a central challenge in the clean energy transition, how clean energy projects can support environmental justice communities, and the types of permitting reforms that can help deploy funding for clean energy that’s available through recent laws such as the Inflation Reduction Act. References and recommendations: “Building Cleaner, Faster: Creating Permitting Systems that Enable Decarbonization Infrastructure Deployment” from the Aspen Institute, by James L. Connaughton, Katie McGinty, Brent Alderfer, Roger Ballentine, Donnel Baird, Dan Esty, Roger Martella, Manisha Patel, Nancy Pfund, Rich Powell, Bill Ritter, Emily Schapira, and Michael Skelly; https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/building-cleaner-faster-report/ “Termination Shock” by Neal Stephenson; https://www.harpercollins.com/products/termination-shock-neal-stephenson Princeton faculty member Jesse Jenkins; https://cpree.princeton.edu/people/jesse-jenkins Donnel Baird and BlocPower; https://www.blocpower.io/

In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Adewale OgunBadejo, vice president for workforce development at GRID Alternatives, the largest nonprofit installer of solar panels in the United States. OgunBadejo and Hayes discuss how an organization can recruit and train people effectively in the solar industry, how partnerships with organizations in clean energy industries can bolster workforce development, and how the clean energy transition offers important opportunities for positive socioeconomic change. References and recommendations: “Key Recommendations: Cultivating a Diverse and Skilled Talent Pipeline for the Equitable Transition” from the Interstate Renewable Energy Council; https://irecusa.org/resources/key-recommendations-cultivating-a-diverse-and-skilled-talent-pipeline-for-the-equitable-transition/ “National Solar Jobs Census 2021” from the Interstate Renewable Energy Council; https://irecusa.org/resources/national-solar-jobs-census-2021/

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Andrew Leach, a professor at the University of Alberta, about the oil and gas industry in Alberta, Canada. Leach discusses how oil and gas are extracted in Alberta’s oil sands region, the environmental liabilities that result from this type of extraction, tensions between provincial and national leaders over environmental policies and emissions-reduction goals, how First Nations participate in the decisionmaking related to energy development, the energy transition, and more. “The Patch” by Chris Turner; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Patch/Chris-Turner/9781501115103 “How to Be a Climate Optimist” by Chris Turner; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/668167/how-to-be-a-climate-optimist-by-chris-turner/9780735281974

In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Grace Wu, an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, about the intersection of land use change and the adoption and implementation of clean energy technologies. Wu discusses the impacts of land use change on species and ecosystems, the land use requirements of different clean energy technologies, and strategies that can help us meet net-zero energy targets while minimizing negative impacts on habitats and ecosystems. References and recommendations: “Minimizing habitat conflicts in meeting net-zero energy targets in the western United States” by Grace C. Wu, Ryan A. Jones, Emily Leslie, James H. Williams, Andrew Pascale, Erica Brand, Sophie S. Parker, Brian S. Cohen, Joseph E. Fargione, Julia Souder, Maya Batres, Mary G. Gleason, Michael H. Schindel, and Charlotte K. Stanley; https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2204098120 “Clean Energy Solutions that Protect People and Nature in the West” from The Nature Conservancy; https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-priorities/tackle-climate-change/climate-change-stories/power-of-place/ “Does the world need hydrogen to solve climate change?” by Simon Evans and Josh Gabbatiss; https://www.carbonbrief.org/in-depth-qa-does-the-world-need-hydrogen-to-solve-climate-change/ “Carbon Brief” website; https://www.carbonbrief.org/ “How green are biofuels? Scientists are at loggerheads” by Dan Charles; https://knowablemagazine.org/article/food-environment/2022/how-green-are-biofuels “Knowable” Magazine; https://knowablemagazine.org/