Gulf Streams

We sit down with Dr. Kyle Shelton, Director of the University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, to talk about his book, Power Moves and the history of Houston's transit infrastructure. Throughout, we discuss the environmental consequences of car dependency, when alternative movements in transit have proved successful, and why Houston is a leading example for understanding how sprawl...

Today in our series on energy pasts and futures, we're delving into nuclear energy. On one hand, nuclear represents the future of science and technology, inspiring thinkers during the "Atomic Age." On the other hand, nuclear's capacity for devastation makes it among the most feared sources of power ever. On today's show we're delving into the history of nuclear energy, and especially why it is so...

In our ongoing conversation around the pasts and futures of energy, today we're talking about Geothermal. Heat from deep under the Earth's surface, geothermal offers a possible route to energy storage and creation around the world. We sit down with Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems, to learn about new companies seeking to bring geothermal power to more places around the globe. Later in the hour w...

In a wide-ranging conversation, my cohost this week, Dr. Casey Williams (Rice University) and I sit down with Dr. Nikki Luke (University of Tennessee Knoxville) to talk all about energy transitions, especially as to how the coming changes to the sector could impact laborers, and how to ensure we can keep the lights on for everyone. Later in the hour our researcher Sophia shares another critter cor...

Jeff VanderMeer is the author of sixteen books, a wide range of short stories, as well as the co-editor of multiple anthologies. He is widely regarded as a leader in the "New Weird" movement, and his best-selling novels, such as Hummingbird Salamander and the Southern Reach Series have helped open new directions in contemporary science fiction. His novel Annihilation was turned into a 2018 film di...

How are young people learning about the environment and climate change? On today's episode we talk to three Houston students who are behind SEE (Students for Environmental Education) and have been teaching other, younger students, the things they'd wished they'd know sooner. Then we speak with Dr. Judy Dickey about the state of climate education more broadly. 

What happens to an oil rig after it's past its prime? On today's show, we sit down with Dolly Jørgensen (University of Stavanger, Norway) to talk all about the Rigs to Reefs programs throughout the Gulf Coast. Later in the hour, our researcher Jadyn talks with Taylin Nelson (Rice University) about the environmental origins and ideas in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. 

Solastalgia, or the distress of feeling the loss of home from environmental change, is the subject of a new art exhibit at San Jacinto College (South Campus). A collaboration between artists and theatremakers, we're talking about what a series of projects (including the theatrical work The Pitts) with three of the artists behind the shows: Bradly Brown, Jonelle Walker, and Sarah Welch.  You can le...

Transportation accounts for about a 28% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US alone. Much of our transportation system also exacerbates related problems like air pollution and flooding. But increasingly there are calls to build our urban areas in ways that reduce these problems – chiefly, by reducing auto-dependency. On today's program we talk through questions of car-centric design with two local...

Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) has been making news across the region over the last year with new export terminals authorized and then revoked. On today's show, we sit down with two advocates, Naomi Yoder of Texas Southern University, and James Hiatt of For a Better Bayou, who walk us through the environmental risks around these developments.

A new exhibit at Diverseworks, a multi-disciplinary artist space and producer in Houston, exploring environmental and climate justice has just opened. Inspired by the 30th anniversary of the San Jacinto River Fire, the exhibit thinks across, Houston, the Gulf Coast, and the globe. We're joined by the exhibit's curator, Ashley Dehoyos-Sauder , and three of the artists in the exhibit: Kristi Rangel...

On today's show we sit down with three historians at Maastricht University (Dr. Cyrus Mody, Dr. Simone Schleper, and Dr. Odinn Melsted) to discuss how the 1970s Energy Crisis remade global energy history and how the legacies this period shape the modern energy system in ways we rarely consider.  

Today we sit down with Boyce Upholt, the author of the new book The Great River which covers both the long history and future outlook of the Mississippi River. Recounting the ways the river has shaped America and we've tried to shape it, Upholt walks us through how this critical body of water has shaped both to our environmental and cultural worlds – and what the river's future tells us about our...

The Gulf of Mexico dead zone, an area where algae blooms deprive parts of the gulf of oxygen killing off plant and animal life, has become a frightening summer phenomenon in recent years. We sit down with three experts working to address this issue and discuss what can be done to resolve it in the future. 

We're bringing you three stories tied to infrastructure this week. First, we sit down with Jamie Padgett, Professor in Engineering at Rice University, who studies infrastructural weaknesses and solutions. Then we talk to Leticia Gutierrez, the Government Relations and Community Outreach Director of Air Alliance Houston, about concerns regarding flaring incidents along the ship channel over the las...

Today Dr. Scot McFarlane, a Texas historian expert in the history of early oil production in the state, joins us to talk about how the origins of the oil industry helped shape the modern industry. This will be the first in a series of stories focused on the history of the oil industry and the unexpected ways that it has shaped the Gulf Coast. 

In a "back to basics" episode, we dive into climate change. What is it, what is causing it, and what can be done about it? Dr. Sylvia Dee, Assistant Professor and Climate Scientist at Rice University, along with two members of her lab, Charlie Marshall and Kelsey Murphy, join us to talk through all things climate change. Later in the hour our researcher Jessica Xu shares a piece on flood resilienc...

We sit down with the team behind Close Parish Coal, a grassroots movement to transition the WA Parish Generating Station to cleaner energy production. Parish is among the deadliest plants in the country and sit just outside Houston in Ft. Bend County. Donna Thomas and Vero Pina of the Fort Bend Environmental Organization, Haley Schultz of Public Citizen, and Alondra Torres of Air Alliance Houston...

What happens when a refining plant is grandfathered in to standards that precede the Clean Air Act? An incentivized structure for pollution. We talk with two Grist reporters who share their story of digging into the Oxbow Calcining Plant in Port Arthur Texas to discover a history of evading regulators and polluting carcinogenic chemicals at otherwise impermissible levels. 

For many worried about the changing climate, fear of displacement – being forced to leave home – tops the list of concerns. Yet humans have adapted to climate circumstances for millennia, and, with preparation, can maintain much of what they love moving from place to place. On today's show, we sit down with three of the authors of a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering,...

Today we're chatting with Chris Wood and Ashley Fitzpatrick of Moonshot Compost, along with Kristianna Bowles of Rice University, to talk all about compost: what it is, how it works, and how you can do it at home or encourage your neighbors and colleagues to compost collectively. 

In this show we feature two stories concerning research initiatives around the Gulf Coast. First is the forming of two new environmental institutes at Rice University in Houston (the WaTER Institute and the Rice Sustainability Institute), and second is a dive into work on coral reefs in the Gulf. Together these show some of the important work being done to protect local environments throughout the...

Today with sit down with ecologists and authors Suzanne Simpson and John Williams who wrote the field guide to Houston's wildlife, Wild Houston: Explore the Amazing Nature in and around the Bayou City. Together we talk through some of the nature beauty of the city, the wide range of species found around town, and some of the best places to reconnect to nature. 

Oysters are something of a miracle food – they clean the water, help reduce storm damage, and offer habitat for other species. But in the last decades, oyster populations have plummeted. Today I sit down with our two new researchers, Alex Little and Caroline Pollan, to talk with Seth Blitch (Director of Conservation at The Nature Conservancy, Louisiana) all about oysters. 

On today's show our researchers Jadyn Bray-Boyce and Sienna Yiin talk about the ways we design our transportation systems, the environmental impacts these choices make, and how improving transit builds a better world for everyone. Jadyn and Sienna sit down with Veronica Davis (former Director of Transportation and Drainage Operations for Houston Public Works; author of Inclusive Transportation: A...