The Green Elephant in the Room: Solutions To Restoring the Health of People and the Living Planet

UPDATED INFORMATION : In this acclaimed classical rebroadcast we take the news-media to task for its appalling lack of coverage in this critical time of climate and ecological breakdown.  We need to hold the media accountable for their miserable record of reporting on our fossil fuel-driven climate emergency. The news media is powerful, influential and should be a substantial and reliable source i...

In this episode we revisit the complicated human emotion of FEAR . In our last episode we argued that fear could be the driving motivational factor for inciting eco-action.  We took another look human psychology of fear, and found out, even though we’re living through an unprecedented climate and ecological disaster, it is shocking that most Americans and global citizens aren’t cowering in fear ev...

We are caught in an economic and political system that encourages our collective participation in our planet’s daily disintegration. Why would we expect to feel good, and good about ourselves, while we are a part of the decimation of life on Earth, including ourselves and everyone we love?  On one hand, we are the victims. No one asked to be born into this broken system that treats human and other...

In our last episode we explored this question: Is it possible that individual actions will move the needle on large scale eco-issues such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and widespread habitat loss, or is individual action virtually pointless?  In researching this question, not surprisingly, we have uncovered a basic truth, our eco-issues are complex, and humans are complicated.   Covering a...

SHOW NOTES In this very special episode we are addressing, what may be, one the most conflictual. but essential issue concerning environmentalism and the planet.   There is a great conundrum that has gripped the environmental movement for decades. Many, many well-meaning people have bought into this controversy, including myself.  That is what is more meaningful, Individual Action or Systemic Clim...

The U.S. electrical grid that delivers energy to us is a marvel of engineering. It was designed to carry energy from coal and gas-powered quickly and cheaply to our homes and businesses.  But the system is old and antiquated. Although this power grid system supplies coal and gas-powered energy to homes relatively well, it is a major obstacle to supporting solar and wind energy capacity.  The deman...

What do you think is the most common form of human infrastructure in the world?  Not only does it cover vast tracts of the earth’s surface, but it is also virtually invisible. Worldwide, our wild lands are laced with countless stretches of fences.  The total length of all fencing around the globe is 10 times greater than the total length of roads. If our planet’s fences were stretched end to end,...

SHOW NOTES As societies get richer, they consume more resources. That also means they generate more pollution, driving climate change and destroying natural ecosystems. We need to somehow break this link between material wealth and environmental catastrophe.  There are no realistic scenarios to make the economic growth demanded by capitalism compatible with a safe climate. We can’t just grow our w...

SHOW NOTES For most of humanity, we have lived outside of cities. It has only been in the last decade where populations have split evenly between rural and urban living. As soon as 2030, 70% of us will live in cities.  There are now 33 megacities worldwide with over 10 million inhabitants — but by 2030, six new mega cities will arise, including in the U.S.  O nly a small percent of the total surfa...

This the third and final podcast episode covering the wake of destruction executed by the “Most Dangerous Organization in History: The U.S. Republican Party.   The Republicans in Congress and their brethren in state governments are using their power to sabotage democracy and eliminate any environmental protections – for good. It's hard to state how serious this is.   In this explosive episode...

Just a few years ago, the Republican Party was a thoughtful and important counterpoint to the Democrats, keeping American democracy strong. In less than 10 years they have radically altered into an organization that worships a mob-boss, traffics in the most absurd conspiracy theories, and wholly hallucinates about “tyranny” taking over their freedoms.  In Part 1 (episode 80) we expose the GOP’s cu...

One of the two major political parties in America has gone off the rails.  In the three hundred and fifty years of parliamentary democracy, there’s been nothing like what we’re seeing now in Washington. The GOP is redefining extremism. Republicans have become a party largely focused on symbolism, not substance. That’s easiest to see in their crusade against “woke” Democrats, which is almost entire...

1. Why is it so hard to fully address climate change? Is it because it is mind-crushingly beyond any human scale? Climate change is the ultimate hyper-object – something so vast that it is impossible to hold in our mind. A hyper-object, even as it surrounds us, we can’t perceive it – it is invisible, yet it exists. Climate change despite being so definitely caused by humans is so profoundly non-hu...

Why is Climate Change so Hard to Fix? Major obstacles are conflict of interests, vast cultural differences, competition between economies, infrastructure discrepancies, lack of information, climate-change denial, the economics of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, disagreement over sharing the burden of the climate change costs, and the politics of actively legislating climate laws and regulations...

There has never been a summer like this in recorded history. This is not the first time we have confronted the harsh realities of unrelenting planetary heat, but most would agree, this has been a summer like no other.                                                        The role of climate change in our lives now and in the future is revealing itself, and it’s absolutely terrifying. We’ve passed...

Most of us our very close to our pet pals, and often treat them like part of the family.  I personally am very fond of both fido and Felix, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore all the impacts that pets have so we can have an honest conversation about them. Pets have many benefits, but also a huge environmental impact. Most of that impact is from we feed them – meat.  If all the dogs and cats in...

The global economy is still so dependent on relatively inexpensive fossil fuels that a quick transition to renewable sources would likely be costly in the short term.  What that means, in effect, is that climate policy asks the present to sacrifice for the future. Human beings tend not to be very good at that kind of planning, even when their own future selves stand to benefit. That's why we...

The Two Overarching Goals of This Podcast Project: 1.  To raise awareness about the scope and scale of the twin evils, the climate and biodiversity crises. Because the extent of our eco-problems are global, we think most people don’t truly conceive of the magnitude of what is happening. After all, the sky is blue, and the birds are singing – what’s the issue? 2. To promote a better understanding t...

It appears when temperatures sizzle, so do tempers.  A new study has found that any unseasonably hot day— no matter the time of year—can lead to a rush of gun violence. A U.S. study has found a significant link between gun violence and high temperatures . With the epidemic of mass-shootings plaguing us, this study throws lighter fluid on the whole horrible mass murder phenomenon.   Along with ever...

The climate crisis is the biggest story of our time. So why isn’t the entertainment industry acting like it? This represents a disconnect between life as we know it and life as it appears on screen. Hollywood has not reflected the greatest drama of all of our lives. The climate crisis is virtually nonexistent in scripted entertainment.  You’d think liberal Hollywood types — with their Teslas and v...

Are Setting Climate Deadlines a Good Idea or Not? Have you noticed that almost all the climate deadlines end with “0”? 2030, 2050, 2100. So that means we either have 7 or 37, or 87 years to tidy up our atmosphere before catastrophe strikes.  There are groups of activists and scientists that swear by them. Motivational they say. While others tell us they are limiting and could be detrimental.    Th...

This episode is the fifth and last in a series focusing on proven and tested approaches resolving not only our climate and multiple environmental crises, but also the attacks on our democratic institutions and ideals. This is going to be critical if we are to any hope of dealing with the breadth and scope of these of these literally earth-shattering challenges for the planet’s living biosystems –...

SHOW NOTES This is the third in a series of podcasts that dynamically demonstrates a proven process for making rapid progress on climate, against the backdrop of an increasingly urgent timeline. How do you deal with problems as diverse as manatees starving in Florida, the ocean of plastic in our oceans, the staggering problem of food waste, the devastation of palm oil plantations, the heartbreakin...

Peaceful nonviolent protest by a small group of dedicated global citizens may be our greatest hope of slowing down the runaway train of climate and ecological change.  Research proves that with the right leadership and methods, it almost always succeeds. Not only that, but it has been utilized for environmental issues in the past and was spectacularly successful.   What are we waiting for?   In th...

How do you even begin to address diverse issues like habitat loss for African elephants, ocean microplastics, lead in drinking water, deforestation, invasive species, fires in the Amazon, climate migrants, electronic waste, sea-level rise, and air pollution in minority communities? We need an expansive, far-reaching platform that will not just treat the myriad of environmental issues individually,...