Gulf Streams

Plastics are ubiquitous. From our toothbrushes to surgical equipment, plastics have reshaped life on Earth in ways both good and bad. Today we talk with Dr. Heather Davis, Assistant Professor of Cultre and Media at the New School, about her book Plastic Matter and the history – and future – of plastic. 

We spend a lot of time talking about transistions: clean energy transitions, carbon-free futures, green economies. But less often do we take time to sit down and visualize the future world we want, rather than the solution to the problem (climate change, environmental injustice) that we are confronting. Today, we're joined by Dr. Joseph Campana (Director of Rice University's Center for Environment...

Jackie Medcalf, founder and Executive Director of Texas Health and Environment Alliance, joins us to discuss superfund sites in Houston, ongoing pollution challenges, and the risks of these sites to human health. 

Today we're talking to Environmental Journalist and Pulitzer Prize Finalist Abrahm Lustgarten about his new book, On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America. Lustgarten argues that the coming decades will redefine where human beings can live on the Earth, and that this change will fundamentally reshape both population centers around the globe and the US. We'll dig into what th...

Young people are leading the way on environmental action and building resilience. On today's episode, we sit down with American Youthworks: an organization working across Texas and Louisiana to build a climate corps of young people, giving them valuable job training and skills for a life in conservation and environmental repair work. We speak with four of their corps members and learn about how th...

We sit down with Award Winning Chef Anita Jaisinghani, chef and co-owner of Pondicheri Cafe in Houston and author of Masala: Recipes from India, the Land of Spices, to talk about the role our diets play in climate change and our environment. We discuss the importance of reducing our meat intake for our health and our planet, ways of doing so, and how restaurants can lead the way in lowering food w...

Repurposed empty downtown buildings have become a constant talking point post-pandemic. What can we use this valuable real estate for now that office spaces are downsizing? We talk to Cath Conlon (CEO Blackwood Educational Land Institute) about the SkyFarm on top of POST Houston and Bart Womack (CEO Eden Grow Systems) about indoor farming in the historic Esperson Building.

This week we have two stories focused on energy. Up first, we speak with Christ Tomlinson (Houston Chronicle Business Columnist) about the annual CERAweek energy conference which just concluded in Houston. Then we talk to Elizabeth Monoian and Robert Ferry (Founding Co-Directors of Land Art Generator) about their international design competition Land Art Generator ( www.landartgenerator.org ) comb...

As climate change shifts industries and economies, how can we ensure that labor has a seat at the table? We sit down with Dr. Claire Ravenscroft (International Christian University, Tokyo) and Dr. Casey Williams (Rice University) to discuss what labor activism can teach the environmental movement, and how we can work to ensure good clean jobs in a new economy. Later in the hour our researcher Sien...

Pork is the most produced meat globally, and is only growing in popularity. On today's episode, we sit down with Dr. Alex Blanchette (Tufts University) and Dr. Mindi Schneider (Brown University) to discuss how the global pork market is evolving and the consequences for our environment based on the way we raise our pigs. 

The second in our series on meat production, we dive into the history of beef production. How did America create the modern industrial beef industry and how does this history help us reimagine what the future of industrial agriculture could be? I'm joined by our researcher Jadyn Bray-Boyce who joins me in a conversation with Dr. Joshua Specht, Associate Professor of History at Notre Dame and autho...

In the second piece in our series on plastics, we're discussing PFAs (Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances): a type of so called "Forever Chemical" that are in a remarkable breadth of consumer products, and, increasingly, our food, water, and blood. On today's episode we discuss what these substances are, why the use of them is growing, and what's being done to address these materials and the plast...

Pulling the carbon out of the air and storing it underground may sound like a dream solution to Climate Change, but 50 years into attempts it still isn't economically viable as a solution, and increasingly advocates worry about potential risks to human health and our environment related to carbon storage. We talk with Becky Smith of Clean Water Action and Paige Powell of Commission Shift to learn...

In the first of a multi-episode series on the ramifications of meat production (on the environment, on animals, and on humans) we start by thinking of the cultural and spiritual importance of meat in society – and the important role that animals play in our ecosystem. Indigenous experts Lucille Contreras (Founder and CEO of Texas Tribal Buffalo Project) and Huatse Gyal (Assistant Professor of Anth...

Prairie was once the dominant landscape throughout Houston and along the Texas coast. Today only a fraction remains. But local advocates are working to help restore the prairie throughout our landscapes and help us reimagine our relationship to our local (and urban) environments. We speak with Prof. Maggie Tsang of Rice University and Jaime Gonzalez of The Nature Conservancy to learn more about re...

As the climate changes habitable landscapes are changing. Coasts are moving underwater, hot places are becoming unliveable, and formerly arable land is losing access to water. These changes are, and will, force migrants to seek new homes across the globe. We talk with Leticia Guiterrez (Air Alliance Houston), Aaron Ambroso (Houston Climate Justice Museum), and Kairn Klieman (University of Houston)...

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has been in the news this week across Texas for a story that exposes how industry polluters have managed to avoid regulation by misrepresenting their emission levels and going through less comprehensive regulatory processes than should be required. We sit down with three reporters who broke the story, Dylan Baddour (Inside Climate News), Martha Pskowsk...

Petrochemicals are everywhere, but their use and manufacture involves highly toxic processes that endanger nearby communities across the globe. Gulf Streams host Dr. Weston Twardowski is joined by Chaney Hill (PhD Candidate at Rice University) to talk with Dr. Alice Mah (University of Glasgow) and Dr. Joseph Russo (Purchase College) about what petrochemicals are, how they impact local communities,...

Recycling has a lot of positive connotations, after all, it's the green thing to do right? But with the prospect of a new advanced recycling plant opening in Houston – one that doesn't seem to be recycling – what are the risks around something most of us think of as an unqualified good. We talk with James Bruggers (Investigative Reporter at Inside Climate News), Jennifer Haidaya (Executive Directo...

Putlizer Prize Finalist Elizabeth Rush joins us to discuss her recent book The Quickening: Creation and Community and the Ends of the Earth. In a conversation about her work we discuss her adventure to Antarctica, the dangers represented by a rapidly disintegrating glacier, and what it means to bring a child into the world in an age of uncertainty. 

We sit down with Jim Blackburn, an Environmental Lawyer and Co-Director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disasters (SPEED) Center at Rice University. Jim walks us through what the future holds regarding severe storms, and what we can and should be doing to better prepare the region for what might come.

Where does our food come from? How are local farmers bringing food to us directly from our neighborhoods. Tommy Garcia-Prats (Co-Founder and Executive Director of Small Places), Rachel Lockhart Folkerts (Farm Programs Director of Plant It Forward), and Erin Cooney (Instructor in Rice's Environmental Studies Program) join us for a conversation all about food. 

Universities are like small cities, often encapsulating at a minimum of 5,000 students, faculty, and staff but frequently reaching populations as large as 50,000 or even 70,000. Richard Johnson, Senior Executive Director for Sustainability at Rice University, Elizabeth Clark, Sustainability Coordinator at the University of Houston, and Kristianna Bowles, a doctoral candidate in Higher Education Ad...

Houston is changing fast. It's a city famous for the fact it doesn't stay the same, but what does the future hold as the city continues to grow, and how can it do so sustainably. Margaret Wallace Brown, Director of Planning and Development for the City of Houston, and David Fields, Chief Transportation Office for the City of Houston, sit down join us for a conversation on what the future of urban...

We're joined by three expert Rice University sociologists focused on disaster recovery: Dr. Rachel Kimbro (Dean of Social Sciences at Rice and author of In Too Deep: Class and Mothering in a Flooded Community), Dr. James R. Elliott (author of Sites Unseen: Uncovering Hidden Hazards in American Cities), and Dr. Anna Rhodes (co-author of Soaking the Middle Class: Suburban Inequality and Disaster Rec...