A Matter of Degrees

Katharine wrote a book! It's called  Climate Wayfinding: Healing Ourselves and the Planet We Call Home , and it's out on May 5th. Through journaling prompts, practical exercises, wisdom from climate leaders, and even art and song, the book takes readers from climate ache to action and from doubt to possibility.  This week on A Matter of Degrees , Leah interviews Katharine on how our grief and fear...

Gina McCarthy has been at the center of nearly every federal climate fight of the last two decades. She led the EPA during the Obama years. Then, under President Biden, she became the first ever White House National Climate Advisor.  In this episode of A Matter of Degrees , we sit down with Gina for a sweeping conversation about the victories, the setbacks, and why the climate story is much longer...

Back in December,  the Trump administration sent thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into Minnesota. They terrorized communities, took people from their homes, and murdered two American citizens. Climate groups helped lead the resistance.  In this episode of A Matter of Degrees , a city stands up to state violence. We bring on Aru Shiney-Ajay , the executive director of the Sun...

Dr. Kate Marvel builds climate models — digital worlds that simulate our possible futures. They can tell us how hot it will get, how high the seas will rise, and which forests will burn. But they can't tell us what humans will do next — or how we'll feel as the planet transforms. In this episode of A Matter of Degrees , we talk with Kate about her new book, Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Ou...

 "In the midst of a lot of big, bad things happening, there's one big good thing happening on planet Earth right now." Today on A Matter of Degrees , we're bringing back the podcast's very first guest — legendary activist and author Bill McKibben . Bill's latest book, Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization , shows how clean energy can create a healthi...

Donald Trump's so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" took a sledgehammer to U.S. climate policy, including tax credits for clean cars and appliances. These incentives were helping people cut pollution, lower their energy bills, and make their homes more comfortable. Trump's bill eliminates the credits by the end of this year.  Wait, don't change the channel—because these incentives haven't expire...

Thousands of people lost their homes in the Los Angeles wildfires. Now, they're looking to their insurance companies to help them rebuild. But as the world warms, disasters like these are becoming more frequent and more severe, exposing an insurance system that isn't equipped to cover the rising damages. In Los Angeles, people who lost everything were left to fend for themselves. This is just the...

This week we are sharing a special bonus episode from Boiling Point , a new podcast produced by the LA Times and hosted by climate columnist Sammy Roth . This new audio series explores how climate change is impacting California and the American West.  The first episode focuses on the recent wildfires in Los Angeles and what they mean for the future of the city. Sammy talks with Kelly Sanders , an...

In this episode of A Matter of Degrees , we partner with Climate One to share an inspiring conversation between Dr. Leah Stokes and Greg Dalton , the founder and co-host of Climate One, when Leah received the 2024 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication in December. And as a double feature, this episode also includes a conversation between writer, historian, and ac...

The industrial sector makes all of our physical stuff – the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the buildings we live in, and much more. It's also one of the biggest sources of U.S. climate pollution. In this episode of A Matter of Degrees , we bring on guest host Dr. Eric Masanet , world-leading industrial decarbonization expert, to break down how we can clean up this sector. We are also joined b...

In this live episode of A Matter of Degrees , Dr. Katharine Wilkinson joined Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson for a conversation on Ayana's new book, What If We Get It Right, Visions of Climate Futures. The need to build community and the imperative to imagine the futures we want are now more important than ever. These topics are at the heart of this discussion, which took place before the election at...

The election is over, but climate progress doesn't have to be. How can we continue to push for equitable climate policies and defend current investments in clean energy? What are the state and local avenues for addressing the climate crisis?  In this live episode of A Matter of Degrees , Dr. Leah Stokes is joined by Adrian Deveny , the Former Director of Energy and Environmental Policy for Senate...

On this episode of A Matter of Degrees , we tell the story of how a powerful grassroots movement, ambitious lawmakers, and Governor Tim Walz turned Minnesota into a climate leader. Then, we talk about using the Minnesota blueprint to make change everywhere else. It's election season, but the federal government isn't the only venue for climate action. States also play a huge role in our path to hea...

Project 2025 has been all over the news lately. But what exactly is this conservative playbook for the Federal government? And what does it mean for climate policy?  This week, A Matter of Degrees dives into the Heritage Foundation's plan for the next conservative presidential administration. Just weeks away from a pivotal election, we lay out what Project 2025 would mean for the climate movement...

Welcome back for a special bonus episode of A Matter of Degrees ! In this episode, we are taking a look back at our live conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris. Since we are once again at a pivotal moment for the climate, we wanted to kick off our new season by looking back at this incredible climate leader who has played a key role in getting us where we are today. We are excited to share...

Welcome back for a bonus episode of A Matter of Degrees ! We were lucky enough to sit down with Rebecca Solnit — author, historian, and climate activist — to talk about her newest climate anthology, Not Too Late . Leah and Nikayla Jefferson both wrote essays for the book and joined Rebecca onstage for this live episode. Not Too Late gets at the tough, vital work of culture change and features dive...

In our season three finale, we're transporting listeners to the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world and a vital carbon sink: the Tongass.  Katharine and Leah investigate the impact of decades of industrial logging in Southeast Alaska and political debates pitting ecology against economy. We learn from the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people, who have lived on and with these lands for...

In his early days in office, President Biden took executive action to deliver environmental justice. Are those policies delivering justice in practice? This episode, we talk to EJ activists and federal policymakers about Biden's Justice40 Initiative, which directs 40% of the overall benefits of climate investments toward disadvantaged communities. We explore the decades of organizing that led to t...

Electric utilities are falling short on climate action. To explain why, we're bringing back our season one finale. This episode features former utilities regulator Kris Mayes, who recently won a nail-biting election to become the second woman and first openly LGBTQ attorney general of Arizona. Go, Kris! Since season one, Leah has been busy investigating utilities' past and present role spreading c...

In this episode, we explore the growing impact of heat on people and the planet. We talk to scientists and "climate detectives" trying to hold the perpetrators of this unprecedented global temperature increase accountable. Leah and Katharine speak with Neza Xiuhtecutli , executive director of the Farmworker Association of Florida ; Kate Marvel , climate science writer and physicist at Columbia Uni...

At the start of 2023, we're reflecting on past progress and setting climate intentions, both small and large, for the year ahead. And we want to hear from you! Has A Matter of Degrees shifted your perspective or moved you to action? Do you have climate goals for 2023? Share your story with us. To inspire and ground us for the new year, we share a powerful audio essay from the bestselling anthology...

The fossil fuel industry is banking its future on petrochemicals — the toxic precursor to plastics. In this episode, Katharine and Leah speak with activists who are fighting back against petrochemicals in "sacrifice zones" across America, from the Ohio River Valley to the Gulf Coast. Learn where petrochemicals come from, how they harm people, places, and the climate, and why the fossil fuel indust...

In this episode, we investigate corporate climate commitments and how to make them stronger. We get to the root of zero-emissions pledges and greenwashing — specifically in the oil and gas industry.  Dr. Paasha Mahdavi , associate professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, joins us to report this story. Paasha talks with Louise Rouse , a consultant who teams up...

This episode delves into the murky world of cryptocurrency and its impact on our planet. Join Katharine and Leah as they discover how digital currencies are breathing new life into previously shuttered coal plants across the United States.  This episode features Alex de Vries , data scientist and founder of Digiconimist , an online platform that tracks Bitcoin's energy consumption; Anne Hedges , t...

This episode is all about feelings. You've heard the phrase "climate grief," right? But how do we deal with what it does to our hearts, minds, and bodies? And how might it impact the climate action we take? This episode features Dr. Britt Wray , a Stanford-based author and researcher on climate and mental health; somatic coach and climate grief worker, Selin Nurgün ; and Zen priest and Environment...