The Planet Today

Matt and Giselle go over the U.S. Supreme Court hearing oral arguments that could weaken the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to mitigate climate change. They discuss the oral arguments, what this could mean for our climate goals, whether Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to replace Stephen Breyer makes a difference, and how they feel about this news in general. Source material for today...

Matt and Nick talk about businesses reporting their greenhouse gas emissions and how climate change is impacting their business ( The SEC unveils historic climate disclosure rules for companies : NPR ), Widespread coral bleaching across the Great Barrier Reef ( Dead coral found at Great Barrier Reef as widespread bleaching event unfolds | Great Barrier Reef | The Guardian ), How hot it is in Antar...

Matt interviews Dave Johnson of Stanford Law School and the Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. Dave is a lawyer, teacher, and writer, who is currently working on a book titled Climate Activism by Design . You can go to www.climate-activist.com for more of Dave’s work and how you can become a better climate activist.

Matt and Nick talk about a Coyote killing contest in Pennsylvania ( 34 Coyotes Killed For Cash & "Prizes" During Annual Killing Contest In Pennsylvania; Sign Lady Freethinker's Petition To End Appalling Event - World Animal News ), The United States’ leader in nitrous oxide emissions ( A Florida Chemical Plant Has Fallen Behind in Its Pledge to Cut Emissions of a Potent Greenhouse Gas - Inside...

Matt and Giselle talk about the second part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerabilities. Part two of the report outlines adaptation strategies and climate resilience. Source material for today’s show: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability | Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (ipcc.ch) IPCC rep...

Matt is joined by Dan Walsh to talk about Brazil’s mangrove forest along its coast storing more carbon than the Amazon ( A more potent CO2 sink than the Amazon, Brazil’s mangroves remain overlooked (mongabay.com) ), Basking sharks to be protected in Ireland ( Basking sharks to be granted 'protected wild animals' status (thejournal.ie) ). Ocean pollution’s impact on human health ( New Study Finds O...

Matt and Nick review the 2016 documentary A Beautiful Planet on Hulu. The documentary’s description says “A Beautiful Planet is a breathtaking portrait of Earth from space. Made in cooperation with NASA, the film features stunning footage of our magnificent blue planet -- and the effects humanity has had on it over time..” Matt and Nick read a summary of the documentary before discussing.

Matt and Nick talk about saving money by cutting fossil fuels ( Government climate advisers say cut fossil fuels to lower energy bills - BBC News ), The Nairobi Plastic Summit ( Plastic summit could be most important green deal since Paris accords, says UN | Environment | The Guardian ) A massive offshore wind deal off the coast of New York and New Jersey ( Offshore wind lease sale nets record $4....

Matt and Nick discuss the latest news of lead exposure for Bald Eagles in the United States. The guys cover the history of Bald Eagles in the U.S., a previous conservation challenge turned conservation success story for the bird, what lead exposure can do to eagles, and how lead exposure impacts humans by briefly talking about the Flint Water Crisis! Sources for today’s episode: Nearly Half of Bal...

Matt and Nick talk about The Central Park Conservancy, the Yale School of the Environment, and New York City’s Natural Areas Conservancy teaming up to open the Central Park Climate Lab ( Central Park Is Opening a Lab to Study Climate Change - Bloomberg ), Solar panel canopies over canals in the U.S. ( First-in-the-nation project will cover canals with solar panel canopies | TheHill ), An update on...

Matt interviews Sandy Gibson, the founder of Better Place Forests to talk about BPF and the idea of a conservation memorial forest, leaving a legacy of environmentalism, and sustainable business. Check out www.betterplaceforests.com for more!

Matt and Nick discuss Gray wolves being protected in most of the U.S. again, aside from the northern Rocky Mountains of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming ( Gray wolf federal protections removed by Trump restored across much of US | Endangered species | The Guardian ), Some unfortunate news about Koalas conservation status coming out of Australia ( Koalas are now officially endangered in Australia (zmesc...

Matt and Nick discuss the European Union’s decision to call Nuclear Energy and Natural Gas “green.” Is natural gas clean energy? Is natural gas even cleaner than coal? Should nuclear energy truly be considered “sustainable”? The guys talk about natural gas and then break down both sides of the nuclear debate. Source material for today’s episode if you want to read more: EU taxonomy: Commission pre...

Matt and Nick talk about Scotland’s plans to protect their wild salmon ( Scotland hopes to save wild salmon by planting millions of trees next to rivers | Fishing | The Guardian ), Glacial melt on Mount Everest ( Mount Everest: Mountain's highest glacier melting rapidly, new study shows - BBC News ), Another look at the link between fossil fuels and plastics ( How the fossil fuel industry is pushi...

Matt and Nick review National Geographic’s 2020 documentary The Last Ice on Disney+. The documentary’s description says “As climate change rapidly melts Arctic sea ice between Canada and Greenland, the entire Inuit way of life is at stake.” Matt and Nick read a summary of the documentary before discussing the environmental impacts of sea ice melting, what they learned about Inuit culture, and how...

Matt and Nick break down California returning guardianship of hundreds of acres of redwood forestland to a group of Native American tribes ( California redwood forest returned to Native American tribes : NPR ), A big blow to 80 million acres worth of oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico ( A federal judge canceled major oil and gas leases over climate change : NPR ), Moose populations in Minnes...

Matt, Nick, and Giselle recap 2021’s climate status! They talk about how hot it was globally and the temperature records set in the United States. They also bring up the rebound of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and how that compares to 2020’s decrease in emissions. Finally, they discuss the state of global ocean warming, what that means for climate change, glaciers melting, and wha...

Matt, Nick and Giselle talk about how biodiversity impacts the development of pandemics ( Opinion: Why protecting the planet is essential to preventing future pandemics - CNN ), Countries moving cities in response to climate change ( Indonesia Sets 2024 Deadline to Move Its New Capital to Borneo - Bloomberg News ) Chemicals, plastics, pesticides, and other pollution impacting global ecosystems ( C...

Matt talks with Ryan Godolphin, an industrial designer based out of London. They discuss product design and smart grid technology before getting into plastics - why plastic is so widely used, what's good about plastic, and what's so bad about plastic?

Matt and Nick’s Quick Hits of the week cover a heatwave in Argentina’s impact on the grid ( Power grid fails as Argentina hit by record-breaking heatwave | The Independent) , The deforestation issue with Big Business ( A third of commodity-hungry firms have no deforestation policy - report | Reuters ), Climate inequity ( World’s poorest bear brunt of climate crisis: 10 underreported emergencies |...

Matt and Nick discuss The International Energy Agency’s 2021 Renewables report, including how 2021 looked for the renewable energy sector, projections up to 2026, and more! If you’d like to check out the report, you can find the executive summary here: Executive summary – Renewables 2021 – Analysis - IEA . The full 175-page report is also available here: Renewables 2021 - Analysis and forecast to...

Matt and Nick’s Quick Hits of the week include how climate change is impacting food prices ( Food prices remain high into 2022 on shortages due to extreme weather | Financial Times (ft.com) ), The UK’s government protecting fossil fuel interests ( invites fossil fuel companies to help write rulebook on climate-busting new oil drilling | The Independent ), Rilu the Snow Leopard’s death ( Snow leopa...

Matt and Nick break down some of the stories from the end of 2021, including reducing livestock in the Netherlands ( Netherlands announces €25bn plan to radically reduce livestock numbers | Netherlands | The Guardian ), Fact checking Senator Joe Manchin’s opposition to climate measures ( Manchin's take on climate measures are misleading : NPR ), The relationship between Texas Climate Deniers, New...

Matt and Nick are back for their first episode of 2022. Quick Hits Friday features a solar farm in Kentucky ( Coming Soon to This Coal County: Solar, in a Big Way - The New York Times (nytimes.com) ), Food waste in California ( New California law creates opportunities to waste less food (ktnv.com) ), A wind farm in Montana ( Montana's largest wind farm underway near Miles City | State & Region...

Matt and Nick kick off their last show of 2021 with a few extra Quick Hits before their Holiday Sendoff. The boys talk about what TPT and their listeners have meant to them this year and their goals for the show in 2022! Their Quick Hits include are greenhouse gases for vegetarians ( https://www.ecowatch.com/vegetarian-meat-greenhouse-gases-2655937991.html ), Helping manatees in Florida ( https://...