
Reversing Climate Change
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Reversing Climate Change is a podcast that bridges science, technology, and policy with the richness of the humanities. From the forefront of carbon removal and climatetech to explorations of literature, history, philosophy, and geopolitics, we dive deep into the people, ideas, and innovations shaping a better future for the planet and its inhabitants.
Latest episodes

Mar 31, 2020 • 50min
S2E6: California's big negative emissions opportunity—w/ Dr. Roger Aines of Lawrence Livermore Nat'l Lab
Dr. Roger Aines is the Chief Scientist of the Energy Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and coauthor of the LLNL report Getting to Neutral: Options for Negative Carbon Emissions in California. On this episode of the Reversing Climate Change, Roger joins Ross and Christophe to discuss how the California study came about and walk us through the three carbon removal strategies outlined in the report—natural solutions, waste biomass and direct air capture.

Mar 24, 2020 • 1h 6min
S2E5: Ayahuasca, shamanism, & the climate crisis—w/ Sophia Rokhlin, author of When Plants Dream
Sophia Rokhlin is the coauthor of When Plants Dream: Ayahuasca, Amazonian Shamanism and the Global Psychedelic Renaissance. She also serves as the director of the sustainable ayahuasca cultivation program at the Temple of the Way of Light, a traditional plant medicine retreat center in the Peruvian Amazon. This episode Sophia joins Ross and Alexsandra to introduce us to the traditions of shamanism and discuss the fundamentals of ayahuasca, and how ayahuasca tourism impacts indigenous communities.

Mar 17, 2020 • 42min
S2E4: A climate change prequel—w/ Nathaniel Rich, author of Losing Earth: A Recent History
Nathaniel Rich is a writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine and the author of three novels. His nonfiction book, Losing Earth: A Recent History, is an account of the 10-year period from 1979 to 1989 when we ‘almost stopped climate change.’ On this episode of the podcast, Nathaniel joins Ross to give us an overview of the story behind the book, explaining how climate change was a bipartisan issue at the time and what eventually moved Republicans into a much more hostile posture.

Mar 10, 2020 • 1h 18min
S2E3: We ask Vox's David Roberts if we're naive about conservatives and climate
David Roberts is a staff writer for Vox, and his work focuses on energy, politics and climate change. On this episode of the podcast, David joins Ross and Aldyen to share his take on the disappearance of the center-right as a faction of the Republican Party and discuss the role social trust plays in the health of a society. Aldyen introduces the idea of a common goal as key to the survival of an empire, and David explains why climate change is unlikely to serve as our national purpose here in the US.

Mar 3, 2020 • 56min
S2E2: Open Borders: immigration, climate change, & economic growth—w/ Dr. Bryan Caplan
Dr. Bryan Caplan is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University and New York Times Bestselling author. His most recent release is a collaboration with Zach Weinersmith called Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Bryan joins Ross and Paul to discuss the thesis of his new nonfiction graphic novel and explain his view that open borders would ultimately double the productivity of humankind.

Feb 25, 2020 • 42min
S2E1: What can carbon removal learn from cleantech?—w/ Jigar Shah of Generate Capital
Jigar Shah is the Cofounder and President of Generate Capital, a financial services firm dedicated to building the infrastructure necessary to deliver affordable and reliable resource solutions. A luminary in the realm of financing renewable energy, Jigar is also the author of Creating Climate Wealth: Unlocking the Impact Economy. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Jigar joins Ross and Christophe to discuss his mission to help entrepreneurs and companies scale up proven climate solutions.

Feb 4, 2020 • 24min
Have humans earned the Anthropocene?—with Peter Brannen
Peter Brannen is the award-winning science journalist and deep time aficionado behind the book, The Ends of the World. On this bonus episode of Reversing Climate Change, he comes back on the show to discuss his recently published articles in The Atlantic, ‘The Anthropocene is a Joke’ and ‘What Made Me Reconsider the Anthropocene.’ We discuss why deep time is such a foreign concept to the general public and Peter explains how the term Anthropocene has evolved to encompass all human activity.

Jan 21, 2020 • 28min
Is the Climate Crisis a Secular Eschatology?—with Dr. Evan Kuehn
Dr. Evan Kuehn is a theologian and academic librarian at North Park University, conducting research around modern religious thought. His forthcoming book is called Troeltsch’s Eschatological Absolute. On this bonus episode of Reversing Climate Change, Evan joins Ross to discuss his recently published article, "Is the Climate Crisis a Secular Eschatology?", introducing us to eschatology as an account of how our world ends and explaining how climate change qualifies as a secular eschatology.

Dec 31, 2019 • 1h 6min
107: A dedicated introduction to communitarianism—w/ Jeffrey Howard of Erraticus
Jeffrey Howard is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief at Erraticus, an online publication focused on human flourishing. On this episode, Jeffrey joins Alexsandra and Ross to discuss the ideas in Deneen’s book and compare how communitarians and liberals see the world.

Dec 3, 2019 • 59min
103: The critical left & carbon removal—with Dr. Holly Jean Buck of UCLA
Dr. Holly Jean Buck is a postdoctoral research fellow at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the author of After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair and Restoration. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Dr. Buck joins Ross to discuss how her take on climate solutions differs from traditional left-leaning views, explaining the aspects of geoengineering that should be in the hands of the people and the risks associated with Nori’s premise of treating carbon as a commodit