The Sweaty Penguin

In 1962, Rachel Carson published the famous book “Silent Spring,” which explored the impacts of the pesticide DDT on the environment and human health and catalyzed a movement that led to the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act, establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the ban of DDT in the U.S. in 1972. But DDT is still poses problems today: all the DDT we used to spr...

It’s the most produced food commodity in the United States, but only 1% of it is actually sweet corn eaten by humans. The rest is turned into ethanol, animal feed, processed ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, and exported. And making that much corn causes a slew of environmental, economic, and health issues. Today, we cover why corn got so popular, what problems corn agriculture creates, a...

After some of the latest environmental news updates, Ethan sits down with Leo Brother and Velina Georgi for a bipartisan conversation on episode 17: “Vanilla.”

Spanning over 100,000 square miles off the coast of Australia, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, providing a home to thousands of marine species, sequestering millions of tons of carbon, and creating 64,000 jobs and 56 billion dollars in economic value. But it’s under threat, from climate change, coastal development, and a coral-eating starfish whose populati...

As climate change becomes more and more pressing, educators have faced the challenge of how to teach it to young children. The Next Generation Science Standards have started to push the needle with a few climate standards, but with many states not adopting the standards or even deleting out the climate ones and many teachers not receiving the training and support they need to teach new information...

Mangroves are the only type of tree that can grow in saltwater, but that barely scratches the surface of why they’re special. These tropical coastal forests protect the adjacent land from storms, provide nurseries for young fish, and sequester enough carbon to account for 10% of global emissions. But mangroves are being destroyed left and right from sources like coastal development, wood harvestin...

It’s the environmental issue everyone’s talking about, with companies and cities banning plastic straws all over the world. But while it’s often played up as either a super simple environmental issue that cities and companies can get tons of clout for single handedly fixing or a stupid issue that we should stop wasting our time on, the reality is that neither of those are really the case. Plastic...

After some of the latest environmental news updates, Ethan sits down with episode 3’s Velina Georgi and Leo Brother for a bipartisan conversation on episode 21: “ADHD.”

Artificial intelligence is most often discussed in the environmental world as a sustainability solution capturing invasive starfish and detecting the sound of illegal loggers. But in addition to these exciting developments, AI has the potential to cause environmental problems and inhibit environmental progress. Today, we discuss a few of the many challenges AI poses for the environment, and consid...

For many living on or by mountains, cliffs, or other slopes, landslides pose a huge risk. The ground itself can come crashing down or slip out from under you. Globally, landslides kill thousands of people per year and rack up costs in the billions. And while they are a natural phenomenon, human activities like deforestation, mining, and climate change could make them more frequent. Today, we discu...

International environmental treaties are a fantastic start, but they also regularly struggle because even when a country signs a treaty, they still don’t actually have to do anything. There is no global governing body to enforce agreements, meaning countries often fail to uphold their end of agreements, which is concerning since environmental issues are not isolated to any one country—everyone con...

Maple syrup is a staple for every breakfast on Christmas morning, but with climate change harming the health of maple trees, maple syrup is under threat. Today, we’ll break down how climate change affects maple syrup production, what that could mean for maple syrup’s messy economic situation largely run by a maple syrup cartel wrought with illegal activity (one such crime becoming the largest poli...

After some of the latest environmental news updates, Matt Grottkau and Christian Alberga sit back down with Ethan for a bipartisan chat about episode 13: “Wild Salmon.”

Airplanes are a really tricky issue. They emit greenhouse gases, create air and noise pollution, and operate in a ridiculously unstable business model leading airline after airline to go bankrupt. But airplanes are obviously important too, and certainly don’t need to be banished from existence or be a source of guilt for travelers. Today, we’ll highlight a few of the challenges facing aviation, an...

Powering everything through clean, carbon-free energy to mitigate climate change requires not just decarbonizing electricity, but actually making several things like cars, furnaces, and factories electric. But with the positives of electrification comes some questions. How do you store and transmit clean energy? How do you meet the skyrocketing demand for electricity? How do you avoid blackouts? T...

To help prevent the indoor spread of coronavirus, buildings around the world have been checking up on their ventilation systems, often for the first time in a while. And unfortunately, many will find old, poorly designed, or otherwise inefficient HVAC systems that waste energy and money. Today, we’ll cover how many ventilation systems are inefficient, why they’re important for preserving indoor ai...

When organizations and governments create climate plans, they often contain the same phrase: carbon neutral. And carbon neutrality is a major piece of mitigating climate change. But carbon neutrality plans regularly fail to act quickly on more feasible short-term objectives, offset the amount of carbon they intend to, and actually count every single source of emissions. Today, we’ll discuss some o...

As promised, the bipartisan discussion bonus episodes are here! Today, Ethan sits down with episode 1’s Christian Alberga and Matt Grottkau to hear their first impressions and find some common ground on episode 20: “Economic Recovery from Coronavirus.” Plus, some environmental news and yet another update on the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant.

Certifications such as organic and fair trade are great ways to quickly inform consumers that a product they want to buy was made at a high environmental and ethical standard and give producers meeting those standards an edge in the market… that is, if the certifications use proper, well-enforced criteria, producers can actually obtain the certification, and consumers actually know what the labels...

Old-growth forests provide a lot of services that are unique from their younger counterparts, from increased carbon storage capabilities to homes for several endangered species. And on Wednesday, the United States announced the rollback of a rule preventing commercial logging and road construction in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, opening up 9.3 million acres of land in the United States’...

We often hear about light pollution preventing us from seeing the night sky, but it is responsible for so much more, from massive economic costs to catastrophic human health impacts to disrupting mating and migrations of birds, frogs, and insects to causing the deaths of baby sea turtles. Today, we break down why light pollution causes all these issues, and discuss some ideas for how to mitigate t...

October is ADHD Awareness Month, and in addition to genetic and biological causes, ADHD is partly caused by toxins in the environment such as BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene), lead, and mercury, which all have distinct impacts on brain functionality. Today, we’ll break down why these neurotoxins contribute to ADHD, why ADHD costs the U.S. economy hundreds of billions of dollars per ye...

In the final episode of season 1, Ethan sits down with The Sweaty Penguin Researchers Olivia, Megan, and Dain to discuss the most recent four episodes and their reflections on the season. After that, he chats with the Producers Shannon, Frank, and Caroline to recap season 1 and preview season 2, which begins next week on Friday, 10/16. We’ve also got some new environmental news, and some updates o...

The coronavirus plunged the world deep into an economic recession, and to recover from a recession, governments typically start spending a lot  of money. Where that money goes has a lasting effect on the economy and the environment, and historically, due to investments in fossil fuels,  neither the environmental nor economic impacts of these stimulus  packages have been stellar. Tod...

John Oliver seems quite taken by Danbury, Connecticut’s history as the Hat City, but hatmaking came at a price: the mercury used to make felt  for hats caused mercury poisoning. The resulting tremors were even  nicknamed “the Danbury shakes.” But while Connecticut banned mercury for  hatmaking, the mercury previously emitted never actually left the  environment, and new sources...