The Climate Pod

Another year has come to an end. In 2022, we saw a number of events unfold across the globe that further emphasized the need to address the climate crisis with greater urgency and accelerate the transition to clean energy. This is Part Two of our look back of the year with some of the biggest newsmakers we spoke to in 2022. We'll review the second of the year and some of the biggest developments i...

Another year has come to an end. In 2022, we saw a number of events unfold across the globe that further emphasized the need to address the climate crisis with greater urgency and accelerate the transition to clean energy. This is Part One of our look back of the year with some of the biggest newsmakers we spoke to in 2022. We'll review the first half of the year and remember how the conversation...

It's hard to see how the current meat industry is helping anyone but a handful of billionaires. In her new book, Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed, and the Fight for the Future of Meat , Forbes writer Chloe Sorvino reveals a fascinating look into this unsustainable system and how people are fighting to fix it. We discuss how the industry consolidated and crowded out competition, the sca...

How have capitalism, colonialism, racism, and other social factors impacted how humans interact with our environment? How will better understanding these connections allow us to create solutions to the climate crisis that not only decarbonize our economy but also make it a world that everyone wants to live in, not just a lucky few? Based on the teachings of Karl Marx, the study of Urban Political...

In the recent piece, " Secret files suggest chemical giant feared weedkiller's link to Parkinson's disease ," journalists Carey Gillam and Aliya Uteuova report on documents that show efforts to refute and downplay scientific research linking the chemical paraquat to Parkinson's. In this conversation, we discuss what they found, how the EPA has responded, and how this relates to the rapid rise in P...

This week, Nathaniel Stinnett , the founder and executive director of the Environmental Voter Project , is back on the show to discuss how environmental voters became the "silent surprise" of the US midterm elections and what that could mean for the runoff election in Georgia next week. We discuss how the numbers are changing for climate as a top issue, what it could mean for future races, and how...

COP27 has concluded and a historic agreement has been made on establishing a fund for loss and damage. What exactly happened at this year's conference - from the biggest achievements to disappointments - and where do we go from here? We have three expert guests who attended COP27 to help break it all down.  First, Oliver Milman , environment reporter for Guardian US and the author of The Insect Cr...

With COP27 still underway, this week, we talk to two young leaders at the conference pushing global efforts on climate action. Joining us this week: Azeez Abubakar, Partnerships and Engagement Chair of the Commonwealth Youth Climate Change Network, founder and executive director Climate Education Initiative Project. Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Climate justice activist with Youth Advocates for Climate Actio...

COP27 is underway and the World Leaders Summit has already come to a close. With this year's global climate gathering comes another reminder of just how far we are from actually curbing emissions to hit the goals of the Paris Agreement. Plus, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and energy prices spiking this year, we are confronting the cruel reality of how our reliance on coal, oil, and gas is l...

After a year of critical elections, global conflict, major climate policy decisions, and energy crises, world leaders will now gather at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt to discuss crucial issues at the heart of the climate crisis. On the show, this week, we take a look at many of those critical issues from the trajectory of global warming to the Global North's failure to meet climate finance commi...

In this wide-ranging conversation, Washington Post's Rio de Janeiro Bureau Chief Terrence McCoy joins the show to talk about some of the most pressing issues facing Brazil in its fight for a sustainable future. First, he gives us a breakdown of Brazil's upcoming runoff election for president and how it could dramatically impact climate policy. Then, we discuss McCoy's investigative project into de...

Upcoming elections, the Inflation Reduction Act, fights over permitting reform...a lot has been happening for the US Congress when it comes to climate action and more. As the representative of Washington's 7th district and is chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has been in the middle of all of it. She joins the show this week to discuss the big year in clim...

Let's be honest: there is no additional federal climate action coming anytime soon in the United States unless Democrats hold majorities in both houses of Congress with a Democratic president in the White House. The Republican Party still has made no substantial effort on climate action. So, this episode is a partisan one. With less than a month to go before the crucial 2022 midterm elections, we...

In more than three years doing this show, there have been few things as tragic and shocking as learning more about the impacts air pollution crisis we are living in. It seems that the more we learn about air pollution the more we understand just how much worse it is than we thought and how much it's costing us - with both our lives and economies. As part of a new study,  Professor Jennifer Burney...

Around the globe, people are on the move. This is nothing new. Throughout history, migration has been a vital part of human civilization. With an accelerating climate crisis, increased migration is inevitable. And it will not only be a necessary adaptation strategy, but also a way to improve nations around the world. But currently, very few nations are doing much to ensure that migration is safe,...

Jackson, Mississippi. Flint, Michigan. The local governments of countless other communities in America have failed at providing the most basic of public services - clean drinking water. What happens to the residents of those communities and similar communities across the country as they lose faith in government's ability to supply healthy water? What can Americans' growing demand for bottled water...

In his latest piece, Secret Data, Tiny Islands and a Quest for Treasure on the Ocean Floor , three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Eric Lipton reports on the Seabed Authority, an international agency tasked with regulating mining in parts of the Pacific Ocean, and its relationship to a Canadian mining company. Though the Seabed Authority is tasked with ensuring that mining in the Pacific Ocean will ben...

As war erupted in Ukraine earlier this year, the United Nations Environmental Assembly passed a historic resolution to negotiate the end of plastic pollution. As the Russian invasion continued, its ripple effects were felt throughout Europe and the rest of the world as Russian gas imports decreased, energy prices increased, and leaders were faced with balancing short-term energy needs with long-te...

After more than a decade of inaction, the Australian House of Representatives finally passed federal climate legislation that aims to cut the nation's emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030. But that target alone is far from enough to get Australia on track to meet its climate goals, according Australian Green party leader and Melbourne MP Adam Bandt . If Australia's May election proved anythin...

If we have any chance of staying under 2 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels, the United States and China will have to act aggressively to reduce emissions in the next few decades and support the rest of the world as it decarbonizes. And to achieve that, both nations will have to work together effectively, which has become increasingly uncertain in recent years. So how do we cha...

It's our 200th episode with David Roberts on the day the Inflation Reduction Act is signed into law! This is a very special one for us. One of our favorite guests, who was very cool to us early on when we were just getting started, is back to the talk about the biggest climate legislation in US history. Roberts is a longtime climate/energy writer that now runs the newsletter/podcast Volts , about...

On today's show, we're having some fun with one of our first in-person interviews with Adam Gardiner, guitarist/vocalist for Guster and co-founder of REVERB , which has helped lead the music climate revolution since 2004. We discuss why Adam started using his rock fame to promote climate action, how artists can green venues and help unite the music community to address the climate crisis, and what...

The Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act. The 2022 midterm elections are less than 90 days away. With historic investments in climate action almost signed into law and historic stakes for the upcoming elections, what should the climate movement do now? We asked two political experts on this week's show.  First, Nathaniel Stinnett , Executive Director of Environmental Voter Project , joins us...

This week, Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder , a theoretical physicist, a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, and the author of the new book " Existential Physics : A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions", joins us to discuss how understanding science can help us better understand the meaning of our own existence. We also talk about whether everything is actually happen...

It's been a crazy week. Less than two weeks after Sen. Joe Manchin appeared to put an end to all hope of new federal climate spending , everything changed on Wednesday. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin announced an agreement on the Inflation Reduction Act, which, if passed, will include $369 billion for climate and energy proposals - the biggest climate bill in US his...