The Climate Pod

Latest Episodes:

Why Climate Needs You To Run For Office (w/ Run For Something's Amanda Litman) Jan 27, 2021

Show notes

This week, Amanda Litman, executive director of Run For Something, joins the show to talk about why running for local office matters greatly to climate issues and how you can get involved now. We discuss the importance of electoral politics in climate action and what the new generation of activists might mean for the movement.

Co-hosts Ty Benefiel and Brock Benefiel also discuss how democracy and climate action are inextricably linked.

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

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!

Further Reading:

The Capitol Riot and Climate Disinformation

Tom Steyer On What Biden's Victory and Georgia Senate Wins Mean For Clean Energy Jobs Jan 13, 2021

Show notes

This week, Tom Steyer is back! We talk about the Georgia Senate wins, upcoming Biden Administration, renewed Trump impeachment calls, and how better leadership sets the stage for a renewed effort for spurring clean energy jobs.

Co-hosts Ty Benefiel and Brock Benefiel also discuss what a Democratic majority in the Senate means for climate action.

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

Further Reading:

What Democrats Should Do On Climate Now

What the Georgia Senate wins do (and don't) mean for climate policy

Michael Grunwald On Clean Energy Lessons From The Obama Era Jan 06, 2021

Show notes

This week, Michael Grunwald, senior writer for Politico Magazine and author of The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era, joins the show to discuss how the Obama Administration transformed clean energy with the 2009 stimulus package and what President-elect Joe Biden is likely to learn as a result of leading the effort.

Co-hosts Ty Benefiel and Brock Benefiel also discuss their lessons learned from Obama Administration's climate efforts and what executive actions Biden can take on Day One.

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

Further Reading:

Day One Actions to Fulfill Biden Pledges on Climate and the Environment

"A Children's Bible" Author Lydia Millet On Climate Fiction And Envisioning Crisis Dec 30, 2020

Show notes

This week, Lydia Millet, author of "A Children's Bible", a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and one of the New York Times' Ten Best Books of the Year, joins the show to talk about why she wanted to explore intergenerational responses to the climate crisis in her new novel. We discuss coping mechanisms, the role of religion, parenting, and much more.

Co-hosts Ty Benefiel and Brock Benefiel also talk about their expectations for what may drive climate politics in 2021.

Further Reading:

An Epic Storm Turns a Summer Holiday Into Potent Allegory

Rise Up and Save Us, Joe Biden

Ian Haney López On Building Multiracial Coalitions For Climate Action Dec 23, 2020

Show notes

This week, Ian Haney López, author of Merge Left: Fusing Race and Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America and Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley, joins the show (3:30) to explain the race and class narrative, dog whistle politics, and how defeating racism is essential to combat the climate crisis. We discuss strategies for building a broad, multi-racial progressive coalition, how this compares to historical efforts, and how we got here.

Co-hosts Ty Benefiel and Brock Benefiel also discuss the new climate cabinet picks by President-elect Joe Biden and the clean energy benefits in a recent spending bill.

Link to Race Class Academy

Further Reading and Watching:

Michael Regan, Biden's E.P.A. Pick, Faces 'Massive Reconstruction and Rebuilding'

Class Left Episode on the Race Class Academy

Biden To Pick North Carolina Regulator Michael Regan To Lead EPA

With Biden's Boost, 2 Obama Veterans Are 'Ready To Run' Climate Efforts

The Senate Agrees to a Plan to Phase Out a Dangerous Greenhouse Gas

Who is Ali Zaidi? He might be Biden's climate adviser

What a Joe Biden Cabinet Pick Might Mean for Native Americans—and Democrats

Biden to Pick Brenda Mallory to Run White House Environment Office

Why Native Americans are celebrating Rep. Haaland's nomination

Climate Change In 2020: America Confronts Compounding Crises Dec 16, 2020

Show notes

America faced an inflection point in the climate crisis in 2020. Record-setting fires and environmental devastation were inescapable sights on the news, as the tragic consequences of a warming planet were on display at home and abroad. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic showed us the reality of living under multiple ecological disasters and the murder of George Floyd and ongoing police and environmental violence further demonstrated the importance of an intersectional approach to environmental justice. And finally, how would American respond? With a historic presidential election and sharp contrasts between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, it was clear much was at stake with the result.

This week, host Ty Benefiel takes you through this year in climate change with excerpts from 2020 guests like Dr. Michael Mann, Dr. Robert Bullard, Jamie Margolin, Bill Nye, Julian Brave Noisecat, Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, Rainn Wilson, Rep. Kathy Castor, John Podesta, Dr. Leah Stokes, Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, Catherine Coleman Flowers, Tom Steyer, Dr. Gavin Schmidt, and many more.

Learn More From This Episode

Hear the full interview with Dr. Michael Mann

Hear the full interview with Bill Nye

Hear the full interview Dr. Robert Bullard

Hear the full interview with Jamie Margolin

Hear the full interview with Rainn Wilson

Hear the full interview with Julian Brave Noisecat

Hear the full interview with Tamara Toles O'Laughlin

Hear the full interview with Tom Steyer

Hear the full interview with Dr. Leah Stokes

Hear the full interview with Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali

Hear the full interview with Ted Danson

Hear the full interview with Dr. Gavin Schmidt

Hear the full interview with Catherine Coleman Flowers

Hear the full interview with John Podesta

Hear the full interview with Rep. Kathy Castor

Hear the full interview with Sonia Aggarwal

Hear the full interview with Dr. Stuart Blanch

Hear the full interview with Dr. Daniel Swain

Hear the full interview with Sharon Kelly

What Motivates Environmental Voters? (w/ Nathaniel Stinnett of Environmental Voter Project) Dec 09, 2020

Show notes

This week, Nathaniel Stinnett, founder and executive director of the Environmental Voter Project, joins the show to answer one basic question: what the hell is going on with environmental voters? Just kidding...kinda. We dig into the facts with Nathaniel to better understand what motivates environmentally-friendly voters, why it matters that many don't vote, and how to build long-term change in the electorate.

Co-hosts Ty Benefiel and Brock Benefiel also discuss the Trump Administration's soot rule and the selection of Xavier Becerra to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

Further Reading:

Trump Administration Refuses to Update Soot Rule, Condemning Thousands to Death

Xavier Becerra Brings Environmental Justice to Forefront

Catherine Coleman Flowers On The Sanitation Inequality At The Heart Of "Waste" Dec 02, 2020

Show notes

Catherine Coleman Flowers is the author of "Waste: One Woman's Fight Against America's Dirty Secret" and the founder and current director of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice. Since 2008, Catherine has been the rural development manager at the Race and Poverty Initiative of the Equal Justice Initiative. She also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Climate Reality Project, and as a Senior Fellow for the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary.

This week, she joins the show to talk about her career as an environmental justice advocate and her fight against sanitation inequality and the devastating impacts caused by the inability to provide affordable means to properly dispose of waste. We discuss the widespread and harmful problem of wastewater, how it stems from structural racism and class inequality, why it's been a long overlooked issue, and how to address the problem.

Co-hosts Ty Benefiel and Brock Benefiel also discuss 2020's historically active Atlantic hurricane season.

Further Reading:

The 2020 Hurricane Season in Rewind