The Climate Pod

Latest Episodes:

Alex Steffen On The Climate Conversation's Necessary Snap Forward | Evlondo Cooper On Environmental Justice In Broadcast TV Coverage Jun 04, 2021

Show notes

Two great guests discuss a few of the most important aspects of the climate crisis conversation. First, Alex Steffen, author, speaker, and futurist, talks about his new newsletter, podcast, and book project called The Snap Forward. He discusses what he's most passionate about exploring in his writing after 30 years of covering the space, how we should reimagine our future and present as we face the climate crisis, our current discontinuity with the planet, and how to push past predatory delay efforts.

Then, Evlondo Cooper, senior writer with the climate and energy program at Media Matters, discusses his new report, How broadcast TV news covered environmental justice over the past four years. He explains why broadcast TV often ignores or inadequately examines the most critical issues in environmental justice, how the most prominent stories were covered, and what news organizations should be doing to improve.

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As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our new YouTube channel! Join our Facebook group. Check out our updated website!

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Naomi Oreskes On Exxon's Decades-Long Doubt Campaign And Big Oil's Bad Week Jun 02, 2021

Show notes

Last week, we saw massive news break for some of the world's biggest fossil fuel companies. ExxonMobil was one of the companies that received backlash for climate inaction and our guest this week, Dr. Naomi Oreskes, has been following the company for a long time. Her recent paper with Dr. Geoffrey Supran, "Rhetoric and frame analysis of ExxonMobil's climate change communications" looks at the company's decades-long campaign to sow climate doubt. We discuss their findings as well as the major developments last week and what it could mean for the future.

Dr. Naomi Oreskes is the Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. She is the author of 7 books, including the groundbreaking and widely popular "Merchants of Doubt". Dr. Oreskes has authored or co-authored over 150 papers.

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Further Reading:

Why Big Oil should be worried after a day of reckoning

Exxon May Be Corporate America's Canary in the Coal Mine

ExxonMobil Shareholders to Company: We Want a Different Approach to Climate Change

How Do We Live With Hotter 'Climate Normals'? (w/ Dr. Aaron Bernstein, Kathy Baughman McLeod, and Dr. Laurence S. Kalkstein) May 28, 2021

Show notes

Recently, NOAA released their new U.S. Climate Normals map, which is updated every ten years. It's yet another reminder that we are living in an increasingly warm world. So how will we adapt? Three expert guests join us for a roundtable discussion on how we deal with the health, economic, justice, and climate repercussions of a hotter country and planet. Kathy Baughman McLeod is the Senior Vice President and Director of the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center at the Atlantic Council and leads the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance (EHRA), a global group that has proposed naming and ranking heat waves.

Dr. Laurence S. Kalkstein is the President of Applied Climatologists, Inc., a climate scientist, and member of EHRA. He also serves as principal investigator and co-founder of the Los Angeles Urban Cooling Collaborative (LAUCC)

Dr. Aaron Bernstein is the Interim Director of The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE) — also a member of EHRA, pediatrician at Boston Children's Hospital, and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

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Preventing Pandemics In A Time Of Science Denial And Climate Change (w/ Dr. Peter J. Hotez) May 26, 2021

Show notes

How do we prevent future pandemics? As COVID-19 has continued to rage across the globe, Dr. Peter J. Hotez has been working tirelessly to answer that question - in addition to leading efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and explain crucial details about the current pandemic to the public. In his new book, Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science , Dr. Hotez explains the biggest drivers behind the spread of disease across the globe, including climate change, war and conflict, extreme poverty, and widespread science denial. This week, he joins the show to talk about the book and the power of vaccine diplomacy in the 21st century. He discusses the commonalities in fighting both climate denial and vaccine denial and what he hopes for in a post-COVID-19 pandemic world.

Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, is a professor of pediatrics and molecular virology and microbiology. He is the founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, where he is also the co-director of the Texas Children's Center for Vaccine Development.

Buy Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science

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Why Protecting Land Is Critical To Rescuing the Planet (w/ Tony Hiss) May 19, 2021

Show notes

This week, Tony Hiss joins the show to talk about his new book, Rescuing the Planet: Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth. Tony talks about the history of conservation biology and highlights several people who have led conservation efforts in North America over the last 100 years.

Tony Hiss is the author of 15 books, including the award-winning book, The Experience of Place. Previously, Hiss was a staff writer at The New Yorker for more than thirty years and a visiting scholar at New York University for twenty-five years.

Buy Rescuing the Planet

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How Policymakers Can Make Better Decisions To Avoid Catastrophe (w/ Cass Sunstein) May 12, 2021

Show notes

This week, Cass Sunstein joins the show to discuss his new book, Averting Catastrophe: Decision Theory for COVID-19, Climate Change, and Potential Disasters of All Kinds. His book lays out how policymakers can make decisions that avoid our natural biases and result in better outcomes, especially in the face of catastrophic outcomes like those posed by the climate crisis.

Cass Sunstein is a professor at Harvard Law School, Advisor of the World Health Organization, and Senior Counselor and Regulatory Policy Officer in the Department of Homeland Security. Previously, he was the Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs during the Obama Administration.

Buy Averting Catastrophe: Decision Theory for COVID-19, Climate Change, and Potential Disasters of All Kinds

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Parker Molloy On Right-Wing Media Climate Lies | Tyler J. Kelley On Living With American Rivers In A Climate Crisis May 05, 2021

Show notes

This week, Parker Molloy, editor at large at Media Matters For America, joins the show to discuss how recent lies about Biden's climate plans became widespread on right-wing media outlets. We discuss the bogus origins of Biden's #Burgergate, how it took hold on Fox News, and why some mainstream media outlets accepted the false premise in their coverage.

Then, Tyler J. Kelley, a journalist who has written for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker, talks about his new book Holding Back the River - The Struggle Against Nature on America's Waterways. We talk about the long, complex history of river management in America, how that's been impacted by climate change, how government leaders in The Netherlands have more effectively implemented adaptation measures, and the true stories of the people that are most affected by river flooding and the struggle of those attempting to manage our waterways.

Buy Holding Back the River - The Struggle Against Nature on America's Waterways

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Is Capitalism Overheating The Planet? (w/ Kate Aronoff) Apr 28, 2021

Show notes

This week, Kate Aronoff, staff writer at The New Republic and author of the new book, Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet- And How We Fight Back, joins the show to discuss neoliberalism's influence over bad climate policy and how America can combat the climate crisis best by building a more democratic society that benefits the lives of everyone. We also talk about how a Green New Deal can create a just transition that helps build a larger, stronger coalition for Democrats.

Buy Overheated: How Capitalism Broke the Planet- And How We Fight Back

Subscribe to our Substack newsletter "The Climate Weekly": https://theclimateweekly.substack.com/

Rep. Earl Blumenauer On Making Polluters Pay | Dr. Robbie Shilliam On Decolonizing Politics Apr 21, 2021

Show notes

This week, Rep. Earl Blumenauer joins the show to discuss his new legislation to reinstate superfund taxes and make polluters pay for toxic cleanup. He discusses why eliminating tax breaks are essential to the cleanup of toxic and hazardous waste sites throughout the United States.

Then, Dr. Robbie Shilliam discusses his new book Decolonizing Politics: An Introduction and how international political scholars need to recontextualize, reconceptionalize, and reimagine some of the most prominent political ideas to discontinue colonial logic and improve international relations for just policies.

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