The Climate Pod

After years of obstruction from their Republican colleagues, Minnesota Democrats used their state trifecta to pass one of the most aggressive clean energy bills in America. Last week, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed the 100% Clean Energy by 2040 bill which makes The North Star State one of just 5 American states with a goal of decarbonizing its electricity sector by 2040. We spoke with Minnesota House Majority Leader and chief author of the bill, Rep. Jamie Long, about how the bill came to pass, what Minnesota voters think of clean energy policy, and how other states can fill the void created by a federal government that's currently being held back from passing more climate legislation by Republicans unwilling to address the climate crisis. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly" As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group.

Adam McKay wants you to make him regret his most recent decision to help boost climate action. Teaming up with Climate Emergency Fund, McKay is auctioning off a walk-on role in his next film project, many of his prized comic book and basketball card collectibles, and yes, the screen used Sex Panther prop from Anchorman. Why? McKay and Climate Emergency Fund Executive Director Dr. Margaret Klein Salamon join the show to discuss how they plan to use the auction to raise awareness of the climate crisis in 2023, the role of entertainment and activists, and why getting people to understand that the climate crisis is an emergency is so critical.  Take part in the auction here: https://www.charitybuzz.com/theme/MakeAdamMcKayRegretIt/lots Check out Climate Emergency Fund Follow Adam McKay on Mastodon Subscribe to our Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly" As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group.

Anyone serious about the climate crisis knows that we need to create a world powered free of carbon pollution sources. But how do we get there? Professor Mark Z. Jacobson has a plan and in his new book, No Miracles Needed: How Today's Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air, he puts forth a plan for getting there. This is one of the most interesting and optimistic conversations you'll hear on the hope for a renewable energy future. Jacobson is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, where he also serves as the Director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program, and Senior Fellow of both the Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for Energy. Jacobson is also the co-founder of The Solutions Project and 100.org.  Read No Miracles Needed: How Today's Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air Subscribe to our Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly" As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group.

As the planet warms, droughts will be prolonged and communities around the world are going to be without the most critical resource to sustaining human life – water. By 2030, global demand for freshwater will exceed supply by 40 percent and two-thirds of the world's population will face regular water shortages. At the same time, as the planet warms, glaciers, which currently contain two thirds of all the freshwater in the world, are calving new icebergs at an alarming rate. This has lawmakers, scientists, and corporations asking "Can we harvest these icebergs for freshwater?" This week we're joined by Dr. Matthew Birkhold, associate professor at the Ohio State University, and author of the new book "Chasing Icebergs: How Frozen Freshwater Can Save the Planet". Our conversation goes into how iceberg harvesting could work, how soon that it might become a viable option, and what the potential risks are to the environment and surrounding communities. Buy 'Chasing Icebergs' Subscribe to our Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly" As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group.  

In mainstream media, environmental justice issues are often poorly covered or overlooked altogether. Even in 2022, when we saw extreme weather disproportionately impact frontline communities and the Jackson, Mississippi water crisis expose injustices in our public infrastructure, the environmental justice angle was often unexplored in major media coverage. How do we improvement environmental justice coverage and provide better context in mainstream media? To discuss this, two expert guest return to the show. Evlondo Cooper, a researcher with the climate and energy program at Media Matters. and Yessenia Funes, climate director for Atmos, discuss where mainstream media outlets are failing now, how coverage can improve, and cite examples of expert reporting that can serve as an inspiration for other reporters.  Follow Evlondo Cooper's work at Media Matters Follow Yessenia Funes' work at Atmos Subscribe to our Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly" As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group. Further Reading: Education Culture Wars Didn’t Stop Midterms Climate Wins How 2022's best extreme weather segments point the way forward for national TV news' extreme weather coverage 10 Environmental Justice Wins in 2022 to Celebrate The Jackson water crisis is an environmental justice story. National TV news missed an opportunity to cover it that way Protecting Our Elders From Hurricane Ian and Beyond

If 2023 is anything like its predecessor, this year will be full of transformative events that change the trajectory of climate action across the globe. So what might happen this year that ends up defining our transition to clean energy transition and climate fight in 2023? To help us answer this question, this week we feature a conversation with Tom Standage, Editor of The Economist's The World Ahead 2023. Tom also serves as Deputy Editor of The Economist and is the author of several books, including most recently “A Brief History of Motion."  In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss how the war in Ukraine will continue to be a major driver of international change, both in the energy sector and beyond. We also talk about the future of democracy across the globe, inflation and recessions, how the perception of tech leaders is changing, and why Tom is optimistic about the future of climate action.  Check out the full The World Ahead 2023 as well as Tom's editor note here. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly" As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group.

Another year has come to an end. In 2022, we saw a number of events unfold across the globe that further emphasized the need to address the climate crisis with greater urgency and accelerate the transition to clean energy. This is Part Two of our look back of the year with some of the biggest newsmakers we spoke to in 2022. We'll review the second of the year and some of the biggest developments in the climate fight to happen in 2022 - from the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act to establishment of an international loss and damage fund to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and critical elections around the globe. Featuring excerpts from our 2022 interviews with White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Bill McKibben, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Sen. Tina Smith, Rep. Ro Khanna, David Roberts, Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Saleemul Huq, Harjeet Singh, Brian Tyler Cohen, Gernot Wagner, Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Oliver Milman, and Norwegian Climate Minister Espen Barth Eide.  Subscribe to our Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly" As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group.

Another year has come to an end. In 2022, we saw a number of events unfold across the globe that further emphasized the need to address the climate crisis with greater urgency and accelerate the transition to clean energy. This is Part One of our look back of the year with some of the biggest newsmakers we spoke to in 2022. We'll review the first half of the year and remember how the conversation around the climate crisis evolved and responded to rapidly changing world events - from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to spiking inflation, new IPCC reports, a promise of a major climate bill in the US and the potential for complete failure. Featuring excerpts from our 2022 interviews with White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Paul Krugman, Bill McKibben, Rep. Ro Khanna, Don't Look Up co-writers Adam McKay and David Sirota, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Dr. Marshall Shepherd, IPCC co-authors Joern Birkmann, Paulina Jaramillo, and Stephanie Roe, climate reporters David Roberts and Robinson Meyer, Gernot Wagner, and Norwegian Climate Minister Espen Barth Eide.  Subscribe to our Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly" As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group.

It's hard to see how the current meat industry is helping anyone but a handful of billionaires. In her new book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat, Forbes writer Chloe Sorvino reveals a fascinating look into this unsustainable system and how people are fighting to fix it. We discuss how the industry consolidated and crowded out competition, the scandals that have rocked the meat industry, and how innovation may come from more than just alternative protein products.  Chloe Sorvino is head of food and agriculture coverage for Forbes Read Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat Subscribe to our Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly" As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group.

How have capitalism, colonialism, racism, and other social factors impacted how humans interact with our environment? How will better understanding these connections allow us to create solutions to the climate crisis that not only decarbonize our economy but also make it a world that everyone wants to live in, not just a lucky few? Based on the teachings of Karl Marx, the study of Urban Political Ecology seeks to answer these questions and more. On this week's episode, we speak with Dr. Tait Mandler, a co-editor of the new book "Turning Up the Heat: Urban Political Ecology for A Climate Emergency". "Turning Up the Heat" is a collection of essays from leading Political Ecologists that help frame the multitude of crises humans and the environment face today as a direct result of the politics of our time. Buy "Turning Up the Heat" Check out this article featured in The Conversation Subscribe to our Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly": https://theclimateweekly.substack.com/ As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group.