A Climate Change with Matt Matern

Today, Matt speaks with Marci Zaroff - founder of ECOfashion Corp and one of the pioneers of the sustainable fashion movement - about the real cost of what we wear. They cover how 60% of the cotton plant ends up in our food supply, why organic and regenerative fibers matter for human health, the difference between greenwashing and genuine certification, and how the industry is shifting toward trac...

Today, Matt speaks with Annie Leonard and André Carothers, co-authors of Protest: Respect It, Defend It, Use It, published by Patagonia Books. Annie is the creator of The Story of Stuff and former Executive Director of Greenpeace USA. André is a four-decade activist and co-founder of the Rockwood Leadership Institute. They discuss why peaceful protest is foundational to democracy - and how it's un...

Today, Matt speaks with Doug Weir, Director at the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS), about the environmental toll of armed conflict - and why it rarely gets the attention it deserves. They cover CEOBS’s real-time tracking of 300+ environmental incidents from the Iran war, including the Tehran oil fires and threats to the Persian Gulf’s fragile marine ecosystems. Doug also explains how...

Today, Matt speaks with Peter Reinhardt, co-founder and CEO of Charm Industrial, about one of the most ambitious bets in climate tech: putting carbon back underground permanently. Peter explains how Charm takes wood from wildfire thinning projects in the Colorado Rockies, converts it into bio-oil through a process called pyrolysis, and injects that carbon-rich liquid deep into sandstone formations...

Today, Matt checks back in with Michelle Moore, CEO of Groundswell and author of Rural Renaissance, nearly a year after the EPA canceled Groundswell's $156 million Solar for All contract. Michelle shares how Groundswell is pressing forward anyway, building a new financing model around corporate off-takers and utility partnerships to keep 20MW of community solar alive. They also dig into the full-b...

Note: This episode was recorded on March 23, 2026. The situation is fast-moving — some details may have evolved, but the underlying story hasn't.   Today, Matt speaks with award-winning investigative journalist Miranda Green about the fossil fuel dimensions of the U.S.-Iran conflict. Miranda - author of The Understory, Atmos Magazine's weekly climate-culture newsletter - traces how the conflict ha...

Today, Matt speaks with Nathaniel Stinnett, returning guest and Founder and Executive Director of the Environmental Voter Project (EVP), about the climate movement’s political power problem. Nathaniel explains why tens of millions of environmentalists don’t vote — and why the number one answer people give for how to address the climate crisis is recycling. He shares how EVP uses predictive modelin...

Today, Matt speaks with Katie Surma, reporter at Inside Climate News and one of the world’s leading journalists covering the rights of nature movement. Katie has covered the movement across four continents, and in this conversation she and Matt take stock of where things stand: the wins, the rollbacks, and the road ahead.   They discuss the groundbreaking Indigenous-led treaty recognizing whales’...

Today, Matt speaks with award-winning journalist and author Michael Grunwald about his new book, We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate. Grunwald makes the case that food and land use are responsible for roughly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions — a massive blind spot in most climate conversations. They discuss why the world is on track to eat 70% mo...

Today, Matt speaks with Jennifer Pitt, Colorado River Program Director at the National Audubon Society, about the deepening water crisis facing the American West. Jennifer explains how the Colorado River's reservoirs — once full just 25 years ago — now sit at roughly one-third capacity, and why the expiration of the existing water management agreements at the end of 2026 creates an urgent governan...

Today, Matt Matern speaks with Amelia Southern-Uribe, Director of Global Organizing at Zero Hour, about building youth-led climate power in the American South. Amelia shares how frontline communities shaped their activism and how organizing, storytelling, and coalition-building drive change.   Read more about Zero Hour: https://thisiszerohour.org Follow Zero Hour on Instagram: https://www.instagra...

Today, Professor Michael Gerrard joins Matt to share his journey into environmental law, inspired by growing up amid pollution and attending the first Earth Day in 1970. He explains the mission of Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and outlines the most effective legal tools to combat climate change. They also explore the need for federal climate legislation, the role of sta...

Today, Matt speaks with Dr. Catherine Weetman about why recycling alone cannot solve the environmental crisis and why businesses must adopt circular and regenerative models. She explains how finite resources, critical materials, and geopolitical pressures collide with rising demand from green technology and AI. She also shares her journey from corporate supply chains to sustainability and discusse...

Today, Matt is joined by environmental filmmaker Matt Podolsky, co-founder of Wild Lens Collective. They discuss the power of storytelling in the climate and conservation movement. Podolsky reflects on his Sundance-winning documentary Sea of Shadows, which chronicles the near-extinction of the vaquita due to illegal fishing, and his more recent work on bat populations threatened by white-nose synd...

Today, Matt Matern speaks with Doug Parsons, host of the America Adapts, about why climate adaptation is becoming as urgent as emissions reduction. They discuss how the Department of Defense continues adaptation work despite political shifts, why states and cities are now leading resilience efforts, and how better storytelling can turn adaptation from a niche policy concept into a public movement...

Today, Matt speaks with Dr. Marcius Extavour about the role of innovation in addressing climate change, drawing on his background in physics, energy systems, and climate-focused technology. They explore why solar energy has become economically dominant, how carbon removal technologies can reduce long-term climate risk, and how data, design, and AI can empower communities and policymakers to act. D...

Happy New Year! Hope your 2026 is off to a great start!    We have a special episode for you today. Matt speaks with Dr. James Danoff-Burg about innovative, community-centered conservation in South Africa. Dr. Danoff-Burg is a conservation biologist with The Living Desert, where he works on wildlife conservation, education, and global anti-poaching initiatives. He discusses the Black Mambas Anti-P...

Today, Matt speaks with sustainability podcaster and Georgetown graduate Cecilia Rios about her path into climate work and environmental communications. Cecilia shares how early exposure to environmental science shaped her career, her focus on the intersection of business and sustainability, and her experience taking over the Sustainability Defined podcast . She also highlights the importance of s...

This week, Matt Matern speaks with Nick Wise about how satellite technology and artificial intelligence are transforming ocean protection and climate accountability. Wise shares his personal journey from ocean exploration to founding OceanMind and co-founding Climate TRACE, explaining how space-based data can detect illegal fishing, monitor shipping emissions, and support enforcement of existing r...

Today, Matt Matern speaks with Cora Stryker, co-founder of BrightSaver, about expanding access to clean energy through plug-in “balcony solar.” Cora shares her personal journey from tropical biology and nonprofit leadership to climate entrepreneurship, emphasizing equity, affordability, and empowerment. She also discusses how small, modular solar systems can bypass regulatory barriers, lower elect...

Pollinators are declining fast - here’s why it matters. This week, Matt speaks with Kelly Bills, Executive Director of Pollinator Partnership, who explains why pollinators are critical to global food systems and ecosystem health. She discusses declining bee and insect populations, the role of climate change in habitat loss and disrupted plant–pollinator timing, and how agriculture, communities, an...

Leah Thomas (aka Green Girl Leah) is an award-winning environmentalist, writer, and founder of the Intersectional Environmentalist nonprofit. She hosts the new season of As She Rises and writes the newsletter Earth Anxious. Leah also created an eco-friendly holiday guide to help people shop sustainably. A leading voice in climate justice, she blends storytelling, activism, and accessible environme...

In this episode, Matt speaks with climate writer and researcher Stephen Lezak about Bill Gates’s recent essay arguing that climate change is serious but will not lead to humanity’s demise and that global policy should focus more on poverty and disease. Lezak explains why he challenged that framing in his New York Times op-ed, noting that Gates downplays risks like runaway warming and ignores how c...

Matt speaks with Harvard historian of science Naomi Oreskes about the long-standing scientific consensus on climate change and the political forces undermining it. Oreskes explains how Congress understood climate risks as early as the 1960s, why the EPA’s endangerment finding remains crucial, and how powerful interests have attacked science as climate change shifted from prediction to observable r...

In this week’s episode of  A Climate Change , host Matt Mattern welcomes comedian and writer Bill Kessler for a spirited, no-filter take on the intersection of climate politics, policy, and everyday life. Blending wit with insight, they dissect the week’s environmental headlines, from viral AI spectacles to the deeper economic and moral choices shaping our planet’s future.   Matt and Bill unpack t...