A Matter of Degrees

What the Election Means for Climate Policy Nov 14, 2024

The election is over, but climate progress doesn’t have to be. How can we continue to push for equitable climate policies and defend current investments in clean energy? What are the state and local avenues for addressing the climate crisis?

In this bonus live episode of A Matter of Degrees, Dr. Leah Stokes is joined by Adrian Deveny, the Former Director of Energy and Environmental Policy for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer. Leah and Adrian talk through what the results of the 2024 election mean for the future of our planet and how we can keep moving forward.

Mentioned in this episode is the All We Can Save Project’s facilitation guide for coming together in community during this moment.

Minnesota’s Climate Breakthrough Oct 24, 2024

On this episode of A Matter of Degrees, we tell the story of how a powerful grassroots movement, ambitious lawmakers, and Governor Tim Walz turned Minnesota into a climate leader. Then, we talk about using the Minnesota blueprint to make change everywhere else.

It’s election season, but the federal government isn’t the only venue for climate action. States also play a huge role in our path to healing the planet. Beyond just cutting pollution within their borders, states implement our big federal climate laws, test new innovative policy ideas, and build momentum for nationwide progress. And the center of gravity for state-level climate action isn’t California, or Washington, or Massachusetts. It’s Minnesota. Over the past few years, Minnesota has done more on climate than perhaps any other state, anchored by a nation-leading clean electricity standard that requires 100% carbon-free power by 2040.

But these wins didn’t happen overnight, and they didn’t come easy. To tell Minnesota’s success story, we spoke to Aimee Witteman, the Vice President of Investment and Network at Rewiring America, Chris Conry, the Managing Director of 100 Percent MN, and Rep. Jamie Long, the Majority Leader of the Minnesota State House of Representatives.

Project 2025 Oct 07, 2024

Project 2025 has been all over the news lately. But what exactly is this conservative playbook for the Federal government? And what does it mean for climate policy?

This week, A Matter of Degrees dives into the Heritage Foundation's plan for the next conservative presidential administration. Just weeks away from a pivotal election, we lay out what Project 2025 would mean for the climate movement and how it threatens to unwind all the progress we’ve made. This 900+ page document covers a lot of ground and, as we found out, the devil is in the details. In this episode, we walk through the policies that define Project 2025’s vision for a Federal government that’s fundamentally anti-government, anti-science, and anti-equity and justice. We also take a hard look at just exactly how we got here: who wrote Project 2025, who benefits from it, and what we can learn from it.

To discuss all of this, and much more, we spoke to Abbie Dillen, the President of EarthJustice, Zoya Teirstein, a staff writer at GRIST, and Jade Begay, a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Also referenced in this episode is Zoya’s article on Project 2025 and climate policy and The Second Half Of The Decisive Decade: Potential U.S. Pathways On Climate, Jobs, And Health report by Energy Innovation, which models the impact of different climate and energy policy pathways starting in January 2025.

A Look Back at Vice President Kamala Harris on Climate Leadership, Justice, and Solutions Aug 26, 2024

Welcome back for a special bonus episode of A Matter of Degrees! In this episode, we are taking a look back at our live conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris. Since we are once again at a pivotal moment for the climate, we wanted to kick off our new season by looking back at this incredible climate leader who has played a key role in getting us where we are today. We are excited to share this inspiring conversation with you one more time…

“We must understand that we are in a very specific moment in time, and this window is going to shut on us. But it doesn’t have to shut on us, if we act.” — Vice President Kamala Harris on A Matter of Degrees

Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, we had the honor of joining Vice President Harris live in San Francisco for a conversation about climate leadership, justice, and solutions. She underlined the critical importance of the current moment, and the need to act with urgency in service of what’s still possible.

This episode covers a lot of ground, from electric school buses and job creation to the direct link between reproductive justice and climate justice. Vice President Harris shares her personal motivation for doing environmental work, and explains what the Biden-Harris administration is doing on the policy front. Leah cites this academic study on the intergenerational impacts of prenatal exposure to air pollution and points us to a tool for calculating EV and heat pump rebates in the Inflation Reduction Act. Katharine references the Pentagon’s 2014 report describing climate change as a “threat multiplier.”

We hope you find the conversation informative and inspiring. Fun fact, this is our first appearance in front of a live audience!

Live Episode: A Climate Book Talk with Rebecca Solnit Jul 20, 2023

Welcome back for a bonus episode of A Matter of Degrees! We were lucky enough to sit down with Rebecca Solnit — author, historian, and climate activist — to talk about her newest climate anthology, Not Too Late. Leah and Nikayla Jefferson both wrote essays for the book and joined Rebecca onstage for this live episode.

Not Too Late gets at the tough, vital work of culture change and features diverse climate voices from around the world. In this episode, Leah, Nikayla, and Rebecca hold an expansive conversation about hope, love, and how to stay engaged in the climate movement.

Rebecca has written over twenty books on a diverse range of topics, including feminism, history, social change, and of course climate change. Our listeners may also recognize Nikayla as a guest host from our episodes on “The Stages of Black Climate Grief” and “The Journey of Justice40”.

Read up on the top ten social drivers of climate change that Nikayla mentions in the episode. For more inspiration, visit the Not Too Late website, created by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua to shift the climate story from despair to possibility. Discover meaningful ways to take climate action via The All We Can Save Project.

The Tongass: A Way Forward For The Forest Mar 02, 2023

In our season three finale, we’re transporting listeners to the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world and a vital carbon sink: the Tongass.

Katharine and Leah investigate the impact of decades of industrial logging in Southeast Alaska and political debates pitting ecology against economy. We learn from the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian people, who have lived on and with these lands for more than 10,000 years. And we discover how a new chapter for the Tongass is taking root.

This episode features Marina Anderson, deputy director of the Sustainable Southeast Partnership, and President Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson of the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Marina and Richard describe the boom-and-bust extractive economy of the past, and they share new collaborative approaches that are now moving Southeast Alaska towards a regenerative economy — in which the forest and local communities can thrive.

Along the way, we learn about key moments in the history of the Tongass: its designation as a National Forest in 1907, major pulp mill contracts in the 1950s, the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, the 1990 Tongass Timber Reform Act, the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, and now, the modern-day Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy. It’s a powerful tale that ultimately points to so much possibility.

As this season comes to a close, we’re curious: Have the stories on our show inspired you to take climate action or set new climate goals? We’d love to know! Please take a moment to fill out our first-ever listener survey.

Thank you to all our guests, listeners, supporters, production team, and amazing guest hosts, Nikayla Jefferson and Paasha Mahdavi, for a great season! While we’re away, you can discover more meaningful ways to take part in the climate story via The All We Can Save Project.

The Journey of Justice40 Feb 16, 2023

In his early days in office, President Biden took executive action to deliver environmental justice. Are those policies delivering justice in practice? This episode, we talk to EJ activists and federal policymakers about Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which directs 40% of the overall benefits of climate investments toward disadvantaged communities. We explore the decades of organizing that led to this moment, and what it will take now to fulfill the promise of the Justice40 Initiative.

Our special guest host Nikayla Jefferson is back for this episode! She speaks with former People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH Buffalo) Executive Director Rahwa Ghirmatzion; Evergreen Action policy lead Rachel Patterson; and Shalanda Baker, Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), who leads the agency’s Justice40 implementation.

In this episode, Rachel cites the Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool that aims to identify “disadvantaged communities.” Nikayla names the nonprofit, Justice 40 Accelerator, which is helping community groups building capacity to access government funding. Check out the NY Renews coalition, also mentioned in this episode, and listen to another episode hosted by Nikayla, The Stages of Black Climate Grief.

Next time we follow Katharine on her journey to the Tongass, a vast temperate rainforest in Alaska and a massive carbon sink, alongside the people and creatures who call it home. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and don’t miss a single episode this season!

The ‘Darth Vader’ of Electric Utilities Feb 02, 2023

Electric utilities are falling short on climate action. To explain why, we’re bringing back our season one finale. This episode features former utilities regulator Kris Mayes, who recently won a nail-biting election to become the second woman and first openly LGBTQ attorney general of Arizona. Go, Kris!

Since season one, Leah has been busy investigating utilities’ past and present role spreading climate denial, doubt, and delay. You can read the paper she co-wrote on the topic last fall, and discover the dirty truth about your electric utility and their climate plans in the report she released with Sierra Club. Spoiler alert, Arizona Public Service is one of the top offenders. We can’t wait to share the whole sordid tale with you one more time…

In 2013, a series of attack ads blitzed television sets across Arizona. They warned of a dire threat to senior citizens. Who was the villain? Solar energy.

These ads came from front groups funded by Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest utility. It was part of a years-long fight against rooftop solar that turned ugly.

“I mean, for Star Wars fans, APS became the Darth Vader of electric utilities in America. I mean, I think you would be hard-pressed to find a utility that behaved as badly as APS did in the last decade,” explains former regulator Kris Mayes.

But APS isn’t alone. It’s a prime example of how monopoly utilities abuse their power to influence regulatory decisions and slow clean-energy progress.

What happens if your electric utility starts doing things you don’t agree with? What if they start attacking solar and proposing to build more and more fossil gas plants? What if they actively resist clean energy progress?

Well, you don’t get a choice. You have to buy electricity, and you have to buy it from them. As a customer you’re funding that.

In this episode, we’ll detail how it happened in Arizona – and how public pressure forced APS to come clean.

Featured in this episode: Ryan Randazzo, Kris Mayes, David Pomerantz.

The Case of the Killer Heat Jan 19, 2023

In this episode, we explore the growing impact of heat on people and the planet. We talk to scientists and “climate detectives” trying to hold the perpetrators of this unprecedented global temperature increase accountable.

Leah and Katharine speak with Neza Xiuhtecutli, executive director of the Farmworker Association of Florida; Kate Marvel, climate science writer and physicist at Columbia University and NASA; and Richard Heede, co-founder and director of the Climate Accountability Institute.

Kate mentions the very first climate attribution study, which links human activity to the deadly 2003 European heat wave. Leah references two big lawsuits using attribution science to hold polluters accountable: one in Germany against RWE, and another against fossil fuel corporations in Hawai’i. Last, Leah mentions her home state of California, which just passed a cutting-edge law to improve early warnings for extreme heat.

To learn more about Neza’s research, watch this video on how heat impacts farm workers, and find out how the piece-rate system works (or doesn’t work) for these laborers. Explore climate action in the courts with the Climate Change Litigation Database tool. And if you want to get involved in your own political sleuthing for climate, consider joining the Documenters.

Next time, we’ll explore the history, meaning, and challenges of the Justice40 Initiative — an unprecedented federal effort to promote environmental justice. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and don’t miss a single episode this season!

New Year’s Reflections, Resolutions, and Inspiration from Sherri Mitchell Jan 05, 2023

At the start of 2023, we’re reflecting on past progress and setting climate intentions, both small and large, for the year ahead.

And we want to hear from you! Has A Matter of Degrees shifted your perspective or moved you to action? Do you have climate goals for 2023? Share your story with us.

To inspire and ground us for the new year, we share a powerful audio essay from the bestselling anthology All We Can Save: “Indigenous Prophecy and Mother Earth” by Sherri Mitchell, Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset. Sherri points humanity back toward life in this powerful piece, read by Alfre Woodard.

Sherri Mitchell is a Native American attorney, teacher, activist, and change maker. Check out her book Sacred Instructions and all the programs of the nonprofit Land Peace Foundation. Alfre Woodard is an award-winning performer, as well as a political activist and producer. In 2020, The New York Times listed her as one of “The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century.”

Don’t miss the whole All We Can Save audiobook, a rich collection of essays, poetry, and art created by women leading on climate and co-edited by Katharine and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. It’s available on Apple Books, Audible, Google Play, Libro.fm (which supports local, independent bookstores!), or anywhere else you get audiobooks.

Next time, we look at how a hotter planet impacts people everywhere. We search for answers to the question everyone’s asking: “Who’s culpable for all of this?” Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and don’t miss a single episode this season!

Petrochemicals and Plastics: A Fossil Fuel Lifeline? Dec 15, 2022

The fossil fuel industry is banking its future on petrochemicals — the toxic precursor to plastics. In this episode, Katharine and Leah speak with activists who are fighting back against petrochemicals in “sacrifice zones” across America, from the Ohio River Valley to the Gulf Coast. Learn where petrochemicals come from, how they harm people, places, and the climate, and why the fossil fuel industry wants them as a lifeline.

We hear from three guests who are leading us to a world beyond petrochemicals and plastics: Michele Fetting, program director at the Breathe Project in Pittsburgh; Shilpi Chhotray, co-founder and executive director of People Over Plastics, a BIPOC storytelling and environmental justice power-building collective; and Yvette Arellano, founder and director of a Houston-based environmental justice organization, Fenceline Watch.

Katharine mentions the Clean Air Council’s fact sheet on the Shell Appalachia Ethane Cracker plant and cites data from the OECD on projected global plastic emissions. Leah references a study on cancer rates in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.” If you want to dive deeper on the many problems with plastics, explore the bounty of resources from Beyond Plastics. Check out the comprehensive policy solutions proposed in the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act.

Next time, we’ll bring you a special holiday episode, featuring an audio essay from the bestselling anthology All We Can Save: “Indigenous Prophecy and Mother Earth” by Sherri Mitchell. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and don’t miss a single episode this season!

Bold vs. BS in Corporate Climate Pledges Dec 01, 2022

In this episode, we investigate corporate climate commitments and how to make them stronger. We get to the root of zero-emissions pledges and greenwashing — specifically in the oil and gas industry.

Dr. Paasha Mahdavi, associate professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, joins us to report this story. Paasha talks with Louise Rouse, a consultant who teams up with investors to push corporations for climate accountability. He also speaks with The Science Based Targets Initiative’s head of standards, Emma Watson, and Jill Courtenay, director of communications and project management at the shareholder advocacy nonprofit, As You Sow.

Leah, Katharine, and Paasha look at how we can get to a decarbonized economy through policy and shareholder activism — a tool that can be used by anyone with a retirement account. They learn about the SEC’s proposed mandatory disclosure rules, shareholder resolutions, and the difference between buzzwords like “carbon neutral” and “net zero.” Paasha also mentions three different categories, or “scopes,” of corporate emissions. You can read about scope one, “burn,” scope two, “buy,” and scope three, “beyond.”

Corporations that keep this info hidden can face serious blowback from their investors. Check out this earth-shaking vote by ExxonMobil shareholders to reshape the company’s board of directors in 2021 (which Jill Courtenay mentions in the episode).

Next time, we’ll enter the worlds of three activists working across the country to fight petrochemical pollution within their communities. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and don’t miss a single episode this season!

Crypto Has a Climate Problem Nov 17, 2022

This episode delves into the murky world of cryptocurrency and its impact on our planet. Join Katharine and Leah as they discover how digital currencies are breathing new life into previously shuttered coal plants across the United States.

This episode features Alex de Vries, data scientist and founder of Digiconimist, an online platform that tracks Bitcoin’s energy consumption; Anne Hedges, the director of policy and legislative affairs at watchdog organization Montana Environmental Information Center; and New York State Assemblymember Anna Kelles, who sponsored a bill to establish a two-year moratorium on crypto mining in New York.

Leah mentions this White House report about the climate impacts of cryptocurrency. Alex points out how famous cryptographer Hal Finney foresaw crypto’s huge emissions from the start. Anne mentions how China cracked down on cryptocurrency, which has pushed companies to operate in other nations, including the United States. Assemblymember Kelles warns that Bitcoin won’t deliver on equity or access to wealth: roughly 0.01% of wallets hold 27% of the currency. On the bright side, Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, just reduced its energy consumption 99% by switching to proof-of-stake.

Next time, we’ll look at the fight for climate accountability within corporate America. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and don’t miss a single episode this season!

How To Cope with All the Climate Feels Nov 03, 2022

This episode is all about feelings. You’ve heard the phrase “climate grief,” right? But how do we deal with what it does to our hearts, minds, and bodies? And how might it impact the climate action we take?

This episode features Dr. Britt Wray, a Stanford-based author and researcher on climate and mental health; somatic coach and climate grief worker, Selin Nurgün; and Zen priest and Environmental Defense Fund senior scientist, Dr. Kritee Kanko. Check out Britt’s weekly newsletter Gen Dread and her recent book Generation Dread. And learn more about the grief rituals Kritee facilitates through Boundless in Motion and the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center.

In this episode, we discuss Joanna Macy and The Work That Reconnects, as well as public rituals such as the glacier memorial created by Dr. Cymene Howe and Dr. Dominic Boyer. And we quote some wise folks whose work you should check out: Resmaa Menakem, Sherri Mitchell, and Dr. Susi Moser.

If you’re struggling with climate distress, you might want to explore the Climate Psychology Alliance’s directory of climate-aware therapists, the Good Grief Network’s 10-step program, Plum Village’s online retreats, or the embodied approaches of Generative Somatics. If you’re looking for an approach based in conversation and community, try All We Can Save Circles, Climate Cafes, or Climate Awakening (created by Dr. Margaret Klein Salamon).

The guided meditation at the end of the episode was created by Katharine for The All We Can Save Project’s Climate Wayfinding program.

Next time, we’ll look at the climate impact of crypto. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and don’t miss a single episode this season.

Live Episode: Vice President Kamala Harris on Climate Leadership, Justice, and Solutions Oct 20, 2022

"We must understand that we are in a very specific moment in time, and this window is going to shut on us. But it doesn’t have to shut on us, if we act.” — Vice President Kamala Harris on A Matter of Degrees

Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, we had the honor of joining Vice President Harris live in San Francisco for a conversation about climate leadership, justice, and solutions. She underlined the critical importance of the current moment, and the need to act with urgency in service of what’s still possible.

This episode covers a lot of ground, from electric school buses and job creation to the direct link between reproductive justice and climate justice. Vice President Harris shares her personal motivation for doing environmental work, and explains what the Biden-Harris administration is doing on the policy front. Leah cites this academic study on the intergenerational impacts of prenatal exposure to air pollution and points us to a tool for calculating EV and heat pump rebates in the Inflation Reduction Act. Katharine references the Pentagon’s 2014 report describing climate change as a “threat multiplier.”

We hope you find the conversation informative and inspiring. Fun fact, this is our first appearance in front of a live audience!

“What Can I Do?” Part 3 — The Political Oct 13, 2022

The third and final installment of our miniseries considers the question “What can I do?” from a political perspective. Our expert guests share stories of nailbiter elections for local office and the victorious legislative campaign to ban gas in new buildings in New York City. We lay out a four-step guide to getting pro-climate candidates elected, supporting them in office, and keeping them accountable.

This episode features Caroline Spears, founder and executive director of Climate Cabinet, which helps local leaders run, win, and legislate on the climate crisis, and Sonal Jessel, the director of policy at WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

We cite this Canadian study on the carbon emissions reductions of a single vote. We also hear about Erin Zwiener in Texas and Lauren Kuby in Arizona as examples of local climate policy leaders. You can find more state and local climate champs at Climate Slate.

Subscribe to A Matter of Degrees wherever you get your podcasts and don’t miss a single episode this season!

“What Can I Do?” Part 2 — The Professional Sep 29, 2022

In this episode, we continue to unpack the question “What can I do?” The second installment of our miniseries zeroes in on our professional lives — ways to approach climate action within the workplace. We learn that almost any job can be a climate job. And, if need be, we can pursue “career divestment.”

This episode features Amanda Suter Gallardo, deputy petroleum administrator for the City of Los Angeles and former Terra.do fellow, and Jamie Alexander, founding director of Drawdown Labs at the climate solutions nonprofit Project Drawdown.

For more info on the online climate school Amanda attended, head to Terra.do. For more info on making your job a climate job, check out Jamie’s TEDx Talk and Drawdown Labs’ guide to Climate Solutions at Work. Want to build community and seed climate action with colleagues? Try All We Can Save Circles tailored for the workplace. Need help glimpsing your professional future? Take the Green New Careers assessment from the Sunrise Movement.

We also mentioned The Drawdown Review (free to download!), Dr. Beth Sawin’s Twitter wisdom, the company Canopy (formerly RightHandGreen), the Instagram account Future Earth, co-curated by Max Moinian, and UndauntedK12, started by Jonathan Klein.

Next time, our miniseries will turn from the realm of The Professional to the realm of The Political. Are you digging the show? Be sure to subscribe, and leave us a rating or review!

“What Can I Do?” Part 1 — The Personal Sep 15, 2022

As climate people, we hear this question again and again: “What can I do?” Many of us are trying to figure out how to help address the climate crisis. So, we’re taking on that critical question in a three-part miniseries. The first episode is all about The Personal — key ways we can act on climate in our own lives and create meaningful, durable change. Hint: it involves stoves and cash.

This episode features Sarah Lazarovic, artist, writer, and head of communications and brand at Rewiring America, and Marilyn Waite, managing director of the Climate Finance Fund and author of Sustainability at Work.

For more info on electrifying your home, head to Rewiring America’s guide to Electrify Everything in Your Home. For more info on moving your money, turn to Marilyn’s guide to Sustainable Banking and Investing. Also mentioned: Carbon Collective, Sphere, Atmos Bank, and Earth Equity Advisors.

Be sure to check out Sarah’s comic “100 Things You Can Do to Help in the Climate Crisis,” her book A Bunch of Pretty Things I Did Not Buy, and her newsletter Minimum Viable Planet. We quoted from Leah’s essay “A Field Guide for Transformation,” in the anthology All We Can Save that Katharine co-edited, and Bill McKibben’s invaluable newsletter The Crucial Years.

Next time, our miniseries will turn from the realm of The Personal to the realm of The Professional. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and don’t miss a single episode this season!

Welcome to Season 3 of A Matter of Degrees Sep 08, 2022

Welcome back, climate-curious friends — it’s time for Season 3 of A Matter of Degrees. This season we’ll tackle some critical topics and big questions, starting with one we’re all asking when it comes to the climate crisis: “What can I do?”

Season 3 kicks off (September 15!) with a three-part miniseries to answer that question. We’ll talk with some brilliant folks and illuminate what we can do personally, professionally, and politically. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg...in a good way. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and don’t miss a single episode this season!

You can follow us on Twitter @degreespod, @leahstokes, and @DrKWilkinson, and on Instagram @drkwilkinson.

This is a Big (Climate) Deal: What’s in the Inflation Reduction Act? Aug 03, 2022

Welcome back to A Matter of Degrees! While we’ve been hard at work producing season three of the show, the climate movement has been going through a lot of twists and turns. Most recently, after announcing he would not support climate investments in a budget reconciliation deal, Senator Joe Manchin abruptly made a historic climate deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA).

The bill includes $369 billion of climate investments. We can’t overstate the significance of this opportunity — modeling shows the IRA, if passed, would cut emissions 37-41% below 2005 levels by 2030. That gets us 80% of the way to cutting emissions in half this decade and meeting President Biden’s climate goals. In this bonus episode, we acknowledge the harmful flaws in the deal, lay out the modeling of its climate impacts, and call on first the Senate, then the House of Representatives to vote and pass it now.

This episode features a live conversation co-hosted by Evergreen Action, featuring Senator Ed Markey, Representative Pramila Jayapal, and Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr.

Resources:

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How Gender Equality Can Save The Planet Sep 29, 2021

This episode is a collaboration between A Matter Of Degrees and the Gimlet podcast How To Save A Planet.

Take a look at many of the spaces where climate-related decisions are being made — from government to business to media — and you'll notice a numbers problem. Despite being roughly half the people on the planet, women rarely have equal representation in critical climate decision-making spaces. This isn’t just bad for women. It’s bad for everyone.

In this episode, Dr. Katharine Wilkinson (our host) and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (host of Spotify's How To Save A Planet) take a deep dive into the data behind this idea. They speak with two sociologists about how gender inequality in climate leadership can deepen the harmful impacts of climate change, and also hinder policy changes.

They also speak with someone who has seen firsthand how women can transform an entire nation when they lead on climate.

This episode features Dr. Christina Ergas, Anne Karpf, and Wanjira Mathai.

Resources:

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio. For more episodes, visit our website.

Paid in Blood Sep 16, 2021

In the jungles of the Brazilian Amazon, groups of farmers and their families get by on what they can grow with the land beneath their feet. They're known in Brazil as “landless workers,” a social movement with the goal of increasing land access and ownership for the country’s rural poor.

These landless workers -- sometimes called land guardians or protectors -- are a symbol for the power imbalances that have destroyed the Amazon.

Atmos Climate Editor Yessenia Funes brings us a story about one landless worker named Fernando dos Santos Araújo.

In 2017, Fernando witnessed the massacre of his fellow landless workers on a small farm in Pará, Brazil. His story illustrates the violent tactics that the government and wealthy landowners use to protect their power.

This episode features Ana Aranha, a documentary filmmaker in Brazil, and Ivi Oliveira from the nonprofit Frontline Defenders.

Resources:

The Print Version Of Yessenia’s Story
Frontline Defenders
Global Witness 2020 Environmental and Land Defenders Report
The Frontline, Yessenia’s bi-weekly newsletter

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio. For more episodes, visit our website.

The ‘Win-Win-Win’ Strategy To Retire Coal Aug 30, 2021

This episode is a collaboration between A Matter Of Degrees and the Gimlet podcast How To Save A Planet.

Coal-fired power plants are closing at record rates. But many are still scheduled to remain operational for the foreseeable future -- despite losing lots of money every year.

How do we shut these uneconomic coal plants down faster? One answer: coal debt securitization.

Coal debt securitization is like refinancing a mortgage. States across the country are considering policies that would make it easier for owners of coal-fired power plants to restructure their debt.

In this episode, A Matter Of Degrees Host Leah Stokes and How To Save A Planet Host Alex Blumberg team up to explore how securitization would work -- and why utilities are getting behind it.

This episode features Ashok Gupta, a Senior Energy economist for the Natural Resources Defense Council and Jason Klindt, the Senior Director Of Government Affairs for Evergy.

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio. For more episodes, visit our website.

The ‘Bond Vigilante’ Exposing Fossil Fuel Risk Aug 16, 2021

Since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed in 2015, banks and large investors have dumped $3.8 trillion into fossil fuels.

It's a staggering number. This is why writer and activist Bill McKibben calls money the "oxygen" that fuels the fire of global warming. While the wildfires burning around the world are getting worse each year, it’s like the world's bankers are blowing on those fires, making them even bigger.

For this episode, we have a story about two people who are trying to cut off that supply of oxygen to global lenders and the insurance companies backing them. It comes from our executive editor, Stephen Lacey.

We’ll hear from Ulf Erlandsson, founder and chief executive of a non-profit called the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute. Ulf is a former bond trader who calls out deals in corporate and government lending that would be a disaster for the climate. He’s helping bond traders “short” these bad investments.

We’ll also hear from Elana Sulakshana, an energy finance campaigner with the Rainforest Action Network, about why insurance companies are enabling trillions of dollars to pour into new fossil fuel infrastructure.
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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio. For more episodes, visit our website.

The Devious Plan to Keep Us Hooked on Gas Aug 09, 2021

Advocates are turning their attention to a new front in the climate war: the fossil-gas hookups in our homes that fuel burners, boilers, and other household appliances.

If we want to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we need to electrify the hundreds of millions of machines inside our homes and buildings as fast as possible. But the gas industry won’t go down without a fight.

Gas industry front groups are infiltrating neighborhood groups, hiring social media influencers, and barraging citizens with messages in order to stir up controversy around local bans on new fossil gas connections. That’s exactly what happened to the residents of Santa Barbara, California last year.

This week, we'll hear from activists, reporters, and industry professionals who are following the gas industry’s battle to keep fossil fuels in our homes.

How far will gas companies go to stop electrification? And where does the electrification movement stand?

Leah Stokes speaks with Sierra Club's Santa Barbara Chapter Chair Katie Davis; EarthJustice Senior Attorney Matt Vespa; Earther Staff Writer Dharna Noor; and Former BlocPower Senior Strategist Associate Rose Stephens-Booker.

Resources:

RMI research on the dangers of gas stoves
Dharna Noor on why gas is so problematic in our homes
Saul Griffith on electrifying everything, starting now

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio. For more episodes and transcripts, visit our website.

A Farming Solution for a Hotter, Less Stable World Aug 02, 2021

When Hurricanes Maria and Irma hit Puerto Rico in 2017, they destroyed the island’s fragile food system. Farms of all sizes were battered, with around 80 percent of the island's crop value wiped out.

But a group of Puerto Rican farmers practicing an old way of farming, called agroecology, saw their operations bounce back much faster than conventional farms. What does their experience tell us about how to build and protect food systems in a rapidly warming world?

Producer Dalvin Aboagye brings us a story about a collective known as Guakia in Puerto Rico working to clean up the food system as a part of a larger worldwide movement to adapt farms to local ecosystems.

We’ll also talk to an expert about how agroecology works as a climate solution. At scale, agroecology could help us shrink the 24 percent share of global emissions attributed to food, agriculture, and land use. And it's an important line of defense in protecting our ability to feed people as extreme weather makes food systems more vulnerable.

Resources:

Puerto Rico’s agroecology revolution after Maria
Agroecology’s impact on European emissions

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio. For more episodes and transcripts, visit our website.

Green Jobs...For All? Jul 26, 2021

President Biden’s American Jobs Plan promises big investments in the clean-energy economy, including clean energy workforce and education programs. Economic progress and clean climate action are inextricably linked.

But how can we make sure that those dollars go to communities of color who have already been most impacted by climate change and consistently shut out of past federal programs promising transformational change? And to gender minorities who are underrepresented in certain green fields?

This week, we hear from folks in government, the nonprofit sector, the renewable energy space and academia about what it will really take to usher in a just transition.

Katharine Wilkinson speaks with solar entrepreneur Bob Blake; The Partnership for Southern Equity’s Chandra Farley; New Jersey Deputy Secretary For Higher Education Diana Gonzalez; and Brooking Institute Fellow Christina Kwauk.

Resources:

More on Bob Blake’s Company, Solar Bear
The Partnership for Southern Equity
More about Diana Gonzalez and her work in NJ
Christina Kwauk’s Green Learning Agenda
Christina’s ‘Education Moonshot’ Plan

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio. For more episodes and transcripts, visit our website.

Healing the Soil, Healing Ourselves Jul 19, 2021

Abuse of soil, the atmosphere, and communities of color have gone hand in hand. Through reclaiming ancestral connection to the soil, Black farmers are healing the entangled harms of colonization, capitalism, and White supremacy and moving agricultural climate solutions forward in the process.

In this episode, we feature an audio essay that wrestles with these themes. The essay is titled “Black Gold” by Leah Penniman, an activist, farmer, and founder of Soul Fire Farm.

As Leah puts it: “In healing our relationship with soil, we heal the climate, and we heal ourselves.”

This is an excerpt from the audiobook version of All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, an anthology of essays, poetry, and art co-edited by Katharine Wilkinson and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson.

The audiobook version of this essay is read by award-winning audiobook narrator Bahni Turpin.

Resources:

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio. For more episodes and transcripts, visit our website.

‘Let’s Go Get Us A Clean Electricity Standard’ Jul 12, 2021

Baked into the American Jobs Plan is an ambitious proposal to set a federally-mandated Clean Electricity Standard of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035. It would put the US on track to get emissions under control and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. That is, if it gets through Congress.

In this episode, Co-host Leah Stokes speaks with a variety of guests who are part of the broad coalition supporting the proposal. What would this ambitious policy mean for America's energy system and climate movement?

The episode features Jamie DeMarco and Quentin Scott from Chesapeake Climate Action Network; Lauren Maunus from The Sunrise Movement; Hip Hop Caucus CEO Rev. Lennox Yearwood; and West Virginia Rivers Coalition Director Angie Rossers.

Resources:

The #Call4Climate homepage
Chesapeake Climate Action Network Homepage
The Data For Progress Poll Results on Voter Support for a CES

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio. For more episodes and transcripts, visit our website.

The ‘Prestige Problem’ Making Fossil Fuels Powerful Jul 01, 2021

Fossil fuel companies are tapping into America’s “best and brightest” at top banks, public relations and advertising firms, law firms, and strategy consulting firms.

These organizations supply critical services to keep the fossil fuel industry humming: creative work, strategy, legal representation, financing. They’re services that oil and gas companies need to remain powerful.

In this episode (our first of the second season!) Dr. Katharine Wilkinson and Dr. Leah Stokes explore the different ways this “prestige problem” influences America’s white-collar workforce. And they’ll explore efforts to push back.

Katharine speaks with Camila Bustos, the co-founder of Law Students for Climate Accountability. She also speaks with Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media.

Resources:

Law Students for Climate Accountability scorecard
NY Times: How One Firm Drove Influence Campaigns Nationwide for Big Oil
DeSmog: The Climate-Conflicted Directors Leading the World’s Top Banks

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio. For more episodes and transcripts, visit our website.

Biden's Climate Plan Could Reshape America (Live w/ Julian NoiseCat) May 13, 2021

We're back with another live edition of the show! So much is happening in the Biden era. We didn't want to wait until our second season to unpack all the activity.

This week, we feature a conversation with Julian Brave NoiseCat that we recorded at the Crosscut Festival.

Julian is a writer, activist, and policy expert with a deep understanding of Washington climate politics. Julian was actually a guest correspondent in season one — go episode 7 from our first season: “Changing Woman: One Navajo’s Fight for a Just Transition."

The protagonist of amazing episode, Wahleah Johns, is now working in the Biden Administration as a senior official at the Department of Energy!

Julian is the Vice President of Policy & Strategy at the think tank Data For Progress and a Fellow at the Type Media Center. He’s also a journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, Vox, Vice and many other outlets.

In this episode, we look at all the action happening in Washington on climate change: big-name hires, big-ticket policies, and the potential high-impact outcomes.

The State of Global Climate Talks (Live w/ Mary Robinson) May 02, 2021

As we work on season 2, we're sharing a live episode of the show that we just recorded at the Bloomberg Green Summit.

The conversation is all about where things stand in the lead-up to global climate talks in the fall.

We were fortunate to get Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland, to talk about this topic with us. Mary served as the President of Ireland from 1990-1997 and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997-2002. She’s now the chair of the Elders.

Mary has dedicated much of her career to solving the climate crisis. She’s the author of two moving memoirs, “Everybody Matters” which was from 2012 and “Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience and the Fight for a Sustainable Future,” was published in September 2018. She is also co-host of a podcast on the climate crisis, called “Mothers of Invention.”

In this episode, we go deep with Mary on what we can expect from this year's international climate negotiations.

The ‘Darth Vader’ of Electric Utilities Jan 07, 2021

In 2013, a series of attack ads blitzed television sets across Arizona. They warned of a dire threat to senior citizens. Who was the villain? Solar energy.

These ads came from front groups funded by Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest utility. It was part of a years-long fight against rooftop solar that turned ugly.

“I mean, for Star Wars fans, APS became the Darth Vader of electric utilities in America. I mean, I think you would be hard-pressed to find a utility that behaved as badly as APS did in the last decade,” explains former regulator Kris Mayes.

But APS isn’t alone. It’s a prime example of how monopoly utilities abuse their power to influence regulatory decisions and slow clean-energy progress.

What happens if your electric utility starts doing things you don’t agree with? What if they start attacking solar and proposing to build more and more fossil gas plants? What if they actively resist clean energy progress?

Well, you don’t get a choice. You have to buy electricity, and you have to buy it from them. As a customer you’re funding that.

In this episode, we’ll detail how it happened in Arizona -- and how public pressure forced APS’ to come clean.

Featured in this episode: Ryan Randazzo, Kris Mayes, David Pomerantz.

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio.

For more episodes and transcripts, visit our website.

Presenting: How to Save a Planet Dec 22, 2020

We're pleased to introduce an episode of "How to Save a Planet," produced by our friends at Gimlet and Spotify. The show is co-hosted by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Alex Blumberg.

"How to Save a Planet" has a lot of similarities to our own, so we think our listeners will like the stories they tell. In this week's episode: a story about the Black Lives Matter Movement and how the fight for black lives connects with the struggle for climate justice.

Find more of their episodes here. And stay tuned for our final episode of the season, coming soon.

The Stages of Black Climate Grief Dec 15, 2020

This week, we have a special episode featuring activist and researcher Nikayla Jefferson.

Most of us are in the first stage of climate grief: denial.

But what does it feel like to enter the stage of grief? And how is that grief different for black people?

Even if you’ve seen the impacts of climate change up close, even if you’ve felt the tropical winds whip your cheeks, stood in floodwater knee deep in your own home, watched a fire come down the ridge line, said “wow, I can’t remember a summer this hot” -- you are likely stuck in some state of denial.

In this episode, Nikayla shares her journey breaking through denial and into grief. She also talks with

As a black person, grieving for the planet can look different, feel heavier and more immediate.

Featured in this episode: Nikayla Jefferson, Jacqueline Patterson, and Princella Talley.

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio.

For more episodes and transcripts, visit our website.

Changing Woman: One Navajo’s Fight for a Just Transition Dec 08, 2020

This week, we have a special episode about the long and winding energy transition in an often overlooked place: the Navajo Nation—the largest Indian reservation in the United States.

Journalist and climate policy expert Julian Brave NoiseCat is our guide.

Ten percent of Navajos lack access to electricity. Some spend up to $700 per month on fuels to travel to places with electricity, or charge electronics in their cars and trucks.

But the Navajo Nation isn’t exactly an energy-poor place. In fact, until recently, the reservation was home to two of the largest coal strip mines in the world. In recent decades as many as five coal-burning power plants surrounded Navajo lands. For many Navajo, power lines connecting coal to major cities like Phoenix and Los Angeles, have come to symbolize this vastly unequal system.

We’ll look at the deep history of energy extraction and colonialism that led to the current clean-energy transition for the Navajo people.

Featured in this episode: Wahleah Johns and Andrew Curley.

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio.

For more episodes and transcripts, visit our website.

Cleaning Up the Carbon Mess Nov 19, 2020

We’ve made a carbon mess. How do we clean it up?

Imagine the atmosphere as an overflowing bathtub. The water keeps gushing from the tap. Clearly, we need to turn it off. We have to bring emissions of heat-trapping gases down to zero, stat.

But even after we do that, we still have a mess on our hands. So, we need to open the drain, let some water out.

In this episode, we’ll explore the different ways we can manage carbon emissions with natural and technological solutions. What are their benefits and drawbacks? And how do we think about them in our broader solutions toolkit?

Featured in this episode: Lisa Song, Judith Schwartz, Jane Zelikova, and Etosha Cave.

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio.

For more episodes and transcripts, visit our website.

After Trump: The Silver Linings Playbook Nov 08, 2020

It’s official. Joe Biden will be the next president. And he ran on a platform that put climate at the top of the agenda.

There’s still a lot of tension. What will happen to the balance of power in Congress? Can we make progress on climate, even with Democrats losing down-ballot races?

Even with so much uncertainty, there's actually a lot of good news. In this episode, Leah and Katharine dig into what this moment means for the future of the planet.

We were joined by two heavy-hitters this week: Heather McTeer Toney and Sam Ricketts.

Heather is the Senior Director at Moms Clean Air Force. She’s a former EPA regional administrator. And she was the first African-American, first woman, and youngest person ever elected mayor of Greenville, Mississippi. She knows the ins and outs of what a Biden Administration could do to pursue a “just” climate agenda.

Sam Ricketts is a senior fellow for Energy & Environment at the Center for American Progress. And he was climate director for Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s presidential campaign. He co-founded Evergreen, an organization at the forefront of developing detailed, progressive climate policies.

Resources mentioned on the show about the Georgia runoff:

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The Big Fossil Fuel Bailout Oct 29, 2020

In July, the FBI charged Larry Householder, Ohio’s Republican Speaker of the House, with a conspiracy to pass a $1.5 billion bailout in return for $61 million in dark money. The racketeering was allegedly orchestrated by Householder and the utility FirstEnergy to kill Ohio’s renewable energy law and prop up aging coal and nuclear power plants.

What’s happening in Ohio is part of a broader story playing out under the Trump Administration. Fossil-fuel companies like FirstEnergy have used their ties to the Trump regime to push massive bailouts for dirty energy. And the pandemic was the perfect opportunity for the industry to grab more money.

In this episode, we’ll detail how these companies are raking in billions of government dollars in the wake of the $2 trillion covid stimulus package -- while millions of Americans struggle financially from the pandemic.

Featured in this episode: Neil Waggoner, Antonia Juhasz, Alexis Goldstein, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and Tamara Toles O’Laughlin.

Don't forget to read the climate change voter's guide before casting your ballot.

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An Electric Number: 2035 Oct 22, 2020

When talking about climate change, we often get deep into the weeds quickly and throw a lot of numbers around. And these numbers can feel really disconnected from our lives: Two degrees, 415 parts per million, 36 billion tons of carbon dioxide.

In this episode, we've got one number we really want to focus on: 2035. It’s a date that carries a lot of hope and opportunity. If we can make progress by 2035, then we can actually make a lot of changes to our energy system and really our entire economy.

And guess what? We have nearly all the tools to achieve that aim. In this episode, we’ll detail the reality of climate solutions -- they’re right here, right now.

Katharine and Leah will explain: why 2035? Where did this date come from? It’s a radical departure from what the clean energy community had been talking about. Up until last year, most people were planning for the electricity system to be cleaned up by 2050. And suddenly, that number has been pulled 15 years forward.

Featured in this episode: Tim Echols, Donnel Baird, Sonia Aggarwal, Jesse Jenkins, Bracken Hendricks and Sam Ricketts.

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio.

A Breakthrough Moment? Oct 15, 2020

Climate change is no longer a far-off scenario. It’s happening now. It’s getting more intense every year. And young people are seeing a scary future play out right in front of them.

In recent years, the youth climate movement has gained unprecedented strength. Borrowing from the civil rights movement and early environmental activists, young leaders are forcing politicians to grapple with climate change in new ways. Are we truly at a breakthrough moment? Or a breaking moment?

In this episode, we’ll hear stories from Erin Bridges, Isha Clarke, Varshini Prakash, and Mary Anne Hitt.

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio.

Give Up Your Climate Guilt Oct 14, 2020

The biggest climate stories blame “all of us,” or cast solutions as “impossible.” These narratives leave people feeling hopeless and confused about what we actually can do.

In our first episode: individual actions versus structural change. What’s the right way to think about the role they each have in addressing the climate crisis? We’ll explore the nuances and misperceptions.

Leah and Katharine dig into their own personal histories and revelations. Plus, we’ll hear from Bill McKibben about why plastic straws and lightbulbs do very little about the problem. And we’ll hear from Dr. Shahzeen Attari about how individual behavior can have an impact on the climate crisis.

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A Matter of Degrees is a production of Post Script Audio.

Introducing 'A Matter of Degrees' Oct 07, 2020

People don’t often hear the real story about climate change: it’s happening now; fossil fuel companies with money on the line have lied about it; and it doesn’t have to be this way.

This show is for the people who know climate change is a problem, but are still trying to figure out how we tackle it.

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