Cool Solutions: Stories of climate action from the bottom up

Sliding scale electric car shares and rising numbers of used EVs are making them more accessible. A startup is answering the question: How good is that used EV battery? 

Slow Streets barricades triggered trauma in Black East Oakland. Activists get city to address dangerous intersections instead. Brytanee Brown, Marquita Price, Warren Logan 

Personal stories from 3 activists fighting to preserve slow and car free streets in San Francisco. A little known federal manual is keeping streets car-centric while pedestrians and cyclists die in record numbers.  While activists battle for improvements block by block, Pete Buttigieg has a chance to rewrite the whole book and spur nationwide transformation.  So far, he's going with the Trump vers...

3 stories about the power of community to raise and multiply funding for climate action.  A town taxes itself for free transit. Communities crowdfund for composting (and more).  A Green Bank spurs 400 MW of solar.   Storytellers:  Robert Pollin-Political Economy Research Institute, Clark Gilman- Mayor ProTem Olympia WA  Ann Freeman Manzanares- InterCity Transit,  Abe Salorio- Sustainable CT,    Br...

There's a lot of farmland about to change hands. We can make sure it's distributed fairly to good stewards. This show looks at agricultural land trusts and conservation easements aimed at helping young and under-resourced farmers get access to land, and at the history of Black land loss and the Justice for Black Farmers Act. We also explore an anti trust provision in that land grant bill that woul...

Meet the women defending their Texas and Louisiana communities from petrochemical pollution; in the courtroom, on the water, and in the streets.

When Teaneck NJ Girl Scouts saw pictures of birds tangled in plastic bags, they got to work and sparked a movement that led to the strongest state plastic ban in the US. This is an engaging story about how big change happens when local efforts add up; with side trips into the chemistry of plastics, the importance of plankton poop, and comics as a metaphor for life. Storytellers: Judith Enck Beyond...

Food hubs are not just for foodies. These homegrown networks provide markets for farmers moving beyond corn,soy, and CAFOs to regenerative modes of farming. This past spring, when supply chains failed, those lifelines kept communities fed. Founders of two Virginia food hubs tell their stories.    

How do we turn farming from climate pollution to climate solution?  In Part 1 of this mini-series we learn how changes in farming and ranching could remove gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere. A carbon farmer and rancher tell their stories and we begin our search for ways to spread these farming innovations across the country. First we talk with the directors of two startups helping farmers sel...

You don't need solar panels to be part of greening the grid. Our refrigerators, hot water heaters, and air conditioners can shift energy use to when the sun is shining and decrease the need for fossil fuel.  

Climate and science super PACs are a donor's best bet for getting climate leaders elected to public office. While 50% of direct progressive campaign contributions go to waste, these super PACs focus resources where they can do the most good, training and supporting climate candidates.  We talk with RL Miller of Climate Hawks Vote, Shaunessy Naughton of 314 Action, and Mary Lynn Cesar of Blueprint...

There are millions of Americans who care deeply about climate change but rarely cast their ballots. A home-based army of volunteers is changing that.  The Environmental Voter Project and Vote Forward both target and motivate these infrequent voters. Their founders, Nathaniel Stinnett and Scott Forman, explain how this began, why it's working, and how you can join in.  

The best way to store more carbon in forests is to stop cutting down big trees.  Families own more US forest land than timber companies or the government. A new program pays them not to log their big trees and to help new trees grow. 

Reclaim Our Vote volunteers are sending millions of postcards to people purged from voting rolls in recent years, often in error and without their knowledge. NextGen America's young organizers look for ways to find and register young voters online while campuses are closed by the pandemic. 

Salt marshes absorb carbon and blunt climate impacts but we must heal them before they can protect us.  Local governments, non profits, and volunteers are racing sea level rise to get it done.

Climate conscious cooks turn discards into delicacies.  

Future hot streets will fry more than eggs and solutions won't come on their own. Los Angeles is using its streets as laboratories to test out new cool pavements. 

1500 electric school buses in Virginia will power the grid when parked, in the first US commercial application of vehicle to grid technology.      

In the face of rising temperatures and heavier rain, citizens wielding pry bars and thermometers turn parking lots into rain gardens and change city building standards to favor green space over asphalt.   The lower income east side of Portland is the hottest part of town. Citizen action is making it cooler.  Part 1.  We follow DePave Portland on one of their projects as they pry up asphalt and ins...

Two men treat their fear of climate change by sharing it with their entire cities.  They got their towns of Hoboken and Gainesville to declare a climate emergency. We hear the stories of their journeys from anxiety to activism, and explore the psychology of climate apathy and the limits of asking nicely.    

For the 3 out of 4 Americans who can't put solar panels on their roofs, community solar gardens are a way to save money now and be part of building our clean energy future. When Minnesota enacted policy to promote solar gardens, it became the national leader, unleashing 600 megawatts of community solar development, but obstacles persist in parts of the state where those policies don't apply. We co...

The solar cooperative movement began with two teenagers going door to door in their neighborhood in Washington DC. Their work grew into a national organization helping neighbors around the country go solar together, and building a grassroots movement for clean energy for all. Solar United Neighbors works alongside community organizations, providing the technical expertise to simplify solar for pro...

Vermont's ultra rural Northeast Kingdom and small towns in Sonoma County California find that fare free is the way to go. It's filling bus seats; connecting residents to jobs, healthcare, education, shopping, and social opportunities; and even enticing drivers out of their cars. 

You don't have to be an extrovert to do something big for the planet.  Food Rescue US is a smartphone app developed by a pastor and a programmer that harnesses our collective good intentions to solve the difficult problem of food waste. The app connects businesses and farms with food to donate,  agencies feeding the hungry, and volunteers into efficient community networks that direct edible food a...

Health researchers are planting 8000 trees in Louisville, one of the fastest warming cities in the US, in an effort to discover why trees appear to prevent heart disease.  We talk with members of the research team from the University of Louisville, the City of Louisville's urban forester, the Nature Conservancy, and Louisville Grows, a local group which plant some of the trees.