Climate One

Often described as the father of environmental justice, Dr. Robert Bullard has written several seminal books on the subject and is known for his work highlighting pollution on minority communities and speaking up against environmental racism in the 1970-1980s. Climate One honors Robert Bullard with the ninth annual Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Robert Bullard, Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy, Texas Southern University Adrianna Quintero, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Energy Foundation This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on December 12, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2019 saw a number of significant events in the climate world. Wildfires, floods, wind and extreme weather continued to batter the nation from California to Florida. There were firestorms in Congress and Tweetstorms from the White House. The rise of the youth climate movement, the advance of electric cars...and the emergence of climate as a top-tier campaign issue. Two reporters who cover the climate beat discuss the stories dominated their news feeds this year - and the ones that aren’t getting heard. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Coral Davenport Reporter, Energy and Environmental Policy Reporter, New York Times David Roberts, Energy and Climate Change Reporter, Vox This program was recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2018 Camp Fire was one of the most destructive in California’s history, resulting in over eighty deaths and destroying the town of Paradise. Dry weather and hot winds fanned the flames - but the spark that lit them came from a faulty transmission line. That and other wildfires have been found to be the result of negligence on the part of California’s biggest utility, PG&E. Their solution? Pulling the plug on millions of customers. But who pays the bill? And with PG&E facing bankruptcy, how will California power its future? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Russell Gold, Reporter, Wall Street Journal JD Morris, Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Catherine Wolfram, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Chair of the Faculty; Cora Jane Flood Professor of Business Administration, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley Emily Wimberger, Climate Economist, Rhodium Group Loretta Lynch, Former Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission Danny Kennedy, Managing Director, California Clean Energy Fund Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A look back at conversations with two writers confronting the climate challenge in 2019. In The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, David-Wallace Wells allows fear — along with a storyteller’s appreciation for the human drama involved — to move him out of climate complacency. In We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast, Jonathan Safran Foer asks how individuals can change their behavior to create new climate-sensitive social norms. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Katharine Hayhoe, Professor and Director, Climate Science Center, Texas Tech University Jonathan Safran Foer, Author, We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast David Wallace-Wells, Deputy Editor, New York Magazine; Author, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming Helene York, Chief Procurement Officer, Guckenheimer Enterprises; Faculty Member, Food Business School, Culinary Institute of America Portions of this program were originally broadcast on June 28, 2019 and October 4, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2019 has been a year of climate rising. Youth activists skipped school and took to the streets, the Green New Deal thrust climate equity into the spotlight, and Democratic presidential candidates were forced to respond. Even a few Republicans dared to suggest climate is a concern that needs to be addressed. Join us for a look back on the big ideas that shaped some of our favorite episodes from 2019. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests (in order of appearance): Isha Clarke, Student Activist Ed Markey, U.S. Senator (D-MA) David Gergen, Founding Director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School Andrew Wheeler, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Carlos Curbelo, Former U.S. Representative (R-FL) Tom Steyer, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate, Activist, Businessman Valencia Gunder, Founder, Make the Homeless Smile David Wallace-Wells, Deputy Editor at New York Magazine; Author of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming Katharine Hayhoe, Professor and Director, Climate Science Center, Texas Tech University Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Murder, love, and the human experience are the stuff of great stories, as podcasts like Serial and RadioLab have shown us. But climate change? Not so much. The story is overwhelming and the ending is predictable and depressing, say radio producers. But coverage in national newspapers has increased since President Trump took office. It’s also expanded from science and environmental beats to culture, health and finance. And as the conversation shifts further toward companies’ role confronting climate impacts, the story of business and climate is gaining prominence and ramping up pressure on corporations. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Aron Cramer, CEO, BSR Amy Harder, Reporter, Axios Ellen Horne, Radio/podcast producer; former Executive Producer, Radiolab Patrick Temple-West, Reporter, The Financial Times Portions of this program were recorded at the BSR 2019 Conference in San Jose, California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change has become a major risk factor for corporations. With groups like the Carbon Disclosure Project grading companies on their carbon footprint, employees, consumers and investors are taking note -- and woe to those CEOs who are slow to pick up the ball. “We’re gonna start to see some efforts where silence is complacency and it’s no longer acceptable,” says Joel Makower of Greenbiz. “You’re gonna have to get off the sidelines, to use the football metaphor, and get into the game one way or the other. And companies that aren’t, I think, are gonna find themselves facing some new pressures.” Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Sarah Read, User Experience Researcher for Prime Video, Amazon; Amazon Employees for Climate Justice Member Jacob Adamson, Software Development Engineer, Amazon; Amazon Employees for Climate Justice Member Joel Makower, Chairman and Executive Editor, GreenBiz Group Andrew Winston, Author, Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build a Competitive Advantage (Yale University Press, 2006) Sara Law, Head of Global Initiatives, Carbon Disclosure Project Swami Venkataraman, Senior VP and Manager, ESG Analytics and Integration at Moody's Investors Service Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can oil companies reinvent themselves as clean energy providers? John Browne attempted it over more than a decade as CEO of British Petroleum, where he led the company's “Beyond Petroleum” rebranding campaign. In his new book, Make, Think, Imagine: Engineering the Future of Civilization, Browne argues that the solution to reducing emissions and addressing climate change is a mass deployment of engineered technology — and that the tools we need to get there already exist. Join us for a conversation on the potential of energy incumbents to become innovators. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guest: Lord John Browne, Former CEO, British Petroleum; Author, Make, Think, Imagine: Engineering the Future of Civilization This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 30, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

California has long led the country in environmental action. It established strong automobile emission standards; it preserved fragile lands from development; it set energy efficiency standards for buildings and appliances. But as climate change fuels megafires across the state and the state’s largest electric utility shuts off power to more than a million residents, can the state’s legacy of environmental leadership save it from climate disaster? In a state already accustomed to swinging wildly between drought and flood, what will become of the California dream? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: David Vogel, Professor Emeritus of Business and Politics, UC Berkeley; Author, California Greenin’ How the Golden State Became an Environmental Leader Huey Johnson, Founder, The Trust for Public Land; former California Secretary of Natural Resources. Jason Mark, Editor, Sierra Magazine; Author, Satellites in the High Country: Searching for the Wild in the Age of Man Mark Arax, Author, The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California Diana Marcum, Reporter, Los Angeles Times Faith Kearns, Scientist, California Institute for Water Resource This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California on July 24, 2018 and July 17, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America’s most popular alcoholic beverages are about to take a hit from climate. Mild, sunny growing conditions have made California king of a $62 billion wine industry, and more than 7,000 breweries in the U.S. rely on barley, a key ingredient in beer that is partial to the cool temperatures of northwestern states and Canada. But both grapes and barley are sensitive to a changing climate. And years of disruptions from drought, fires, and rising temperatures have brewers and winemakers wondering: will business as usual survive into the next generation? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Esther Mobley, Wine Critic, The San Francisco Chronicle Dan Petroski, Winemaker, Larkmead Vineyards Katie Wallace Director of Social & Environmental Impact, New Belgium Brewing This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California on October 15, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cities around the world are bracing for a growth spurt. With over half of the global population living in urban centers, and another 2.5 billion expected to join them by 2050, it’s time to rethink the traditional car-centric cityscape. How do we redesign our cities to withstand the challenges of cars, climate change and rapid population growth? This week on Climate One, one of our favorite summer 2019 episodes on building sustainable cities that make public life healthier, more inclusive and more dynamic. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Liz Ogbu, Founder and Principal, Studio O Laura Crescimano, Co-Founder/Principal, SITELAB Urban Studio Jan Gehl, Architect and Founding Partner, Gehl Architects, author, “Cities for People” (Island Press, 2010) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on June 3, 2019 and first broadcast on July 12, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The jury is out on whether our legal system is equipped to deal with climate change. While some parts of the country are inundated by floods, others are resisting the growth of oil and gas infrastructure — and both are running into the law. Do youth have a constitutional right to a clean environment? At what point should disaster preparedness become disaster law? Does water have legal rights? A discussion on how many facets of the climate challenge are pushing, and changing, the law. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Michael Gerrard, Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia Law School Laura Tuggle, Executive Director, Southeast Louisiana Legal Services Tanisia Reed Coachman, Resident, Arbor Court Apartments Nicholas Kusnetz, Reporter, InsideClimate News Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the Amazon to the Congo to California, our planet’s forests are being decimated. And along with them, the stability of our climate. Why? Because trees are among our most effective weapons against carbon emissions. The Amazon alone is responsible for removing five percent of the world’s 40 billion tons of CO2 emissions from the air each year. When forests burn, carbon storage is lost -- along with biodiversity, indigenous culture, and more. Join us for a conversation about the climate factors and the global consumerism driving deforestation, as well as the seeds of change being planted by organizations, corporations, governments and individuals. Guests: Paul Paz y Miño, Associate Director, Amazon Watch Tara O’Shea, Director of Forest Programs, Planet Corey Brinkema, President, Forest Stewardship Council U.S. This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on September 24, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is clinging to habits and cravings destroying our future? An outspoken critic of factory farming and animal-centric diets, Jonathan Safran Foer writes that stopping climate change begins with a close look at what we eat — and don’t eat — at home for breakfast. At the office, industry leaders like Google are taking steps toward veggie-forward diets by reducing meat, rather than cutting it out entirely. But when it comes to global food habits, are societies up for changing norms — individually and collectively — at a scale ambitious enough to meet the challenge? Guests: Jonathan Safran Foer, Author, "We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast" Helene York, Chief Procurement Officer, Guckenheimer Enterprises; Faculty Member, Food Business School, Culinary Institute of America For more information on this episode, visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts. This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 24, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can we still find happiness in our daily lives without ignoring the dark reality of climate chaos? Author and meditation teacher Mark Coleman recalls experiencing just that juxtaposition of joy and sadness working on an article on a ridgetop north of San Francisco during the wildfires of late 2018. “It was just such a poignant moment of going into nature for refuge and solace and at the same time being reminded of the fires and the climate crisis,” Coleman says, noting the irony that he the article he’d been asked to write was about meditation and nature. Love and grief are at the center of Coleman’s practice for coping with climate anxiety. “We love this planet, we love this Earth, we love all of the abundance and the beauty and the diversity and complexity,” he explains, “[and] because we love, we feel the pain we feel the grief. The grief is a natural, healthy immune system response to a problem.” Mica Estrada, a professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California San Francisco, agrees that feeling grief is a valuable coping mechanism – even if it hasn’t always been encouraged. “I think for a long time that [grief] was seen as a weakness and I think we’re finally hitting an age where grief is seen as a strength,” she says. “I think we have lived in a time when the dominant culture says don’t feel too much. And I do feel like we’re finally growing up and saying listen, real strength is being able to feel what we’re feeling.” Guests: Mark Coleman, Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher; Author, Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery Mica Estrada, Associate Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California on September 5, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientist Terry Root’s research has helped reveal how climate change puts bird and animal species at risk for extinction. For Root, the climate connection is also personal: she was married to the late Steve Schneider, a Stanford professor and pioneer in communicating the impacts of climate change, who died suddenly in 2010. “It's been a fabulous career, but it has been very painful at times, very painful,” says Root, who was the lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 when it was co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Vice President Al Gore. This piece is published in partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Guest: Terry Root, Senior Fellow Emerita, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University Related Links: 10 years after he monkey-wrenched a Utah oil and gas lease auction, Tim DeChristopher is ‘feeling demoralized' by ‘the state of the world’ but sees hope in humanity (The Salt Lake Tribune) Stephen Schneider, a leading climate expert, dead at 65 (Stanford News) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change is upending Miami’s real estate markets, turning one of its poorest neighborhoods into some of the most desirable real estate around. It’s a phenomenon known as “climate gentrification,” a term coined by urban studies professor Jesse Keenan. In a 2018 paper, Keenan writes that while gentrification is most often driven by supply – that is, a surplus of devalued property that invites development and transformation – climate gentrification is the opposite. “[It]is really about a shift in preferences and demand function,” says Keenan. “And that's a much broader phenomenon in terms of geography and physical geography or markets in some markets than any kind of localized gentrification in a classic sense.” In other words, as people are attracted to areas of lower vulnerability, developers see an opportunity to make a killing. Valencia Gunder, a community organizer and climate educator in Miami, recognizes the irony. She says that in that city’s earliest days, Haitian, Bahamian and Caribeean immigrants were barred from living in the tony beachfront areas. “Black people had to live in the center of the city, which is different than most America, because usually low income black communities are in lower lying areas…and so everything they did that they thought they were doing to hurt us, actually ended up helping us in the long run.” But there’s only so much Little Haiti to go around. As longtime residents are being priced out of their community, climate change isn’t helping matters. “Once the water comes in, Little Haiti will be beachfront property,” Gunder predicts. “Bottom line, it’s gonna be beachfront property, it’s going to be the new shore. So it's become like the hottest toy on the shelf.” Guests: Valencia Gunder, Founder, Make the Homeless Smile Jesse Keenan, Lecturer, Harvard University Graduate School of Design Guy Williams, President and CEO, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice Portions of this program were recorded at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1995, Ben Santer authored one of the most important sentences in the history of climate science: “the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.” While one of the first statements to identify humans’ role in driving climate change, the vitriol that followed was personal and malicious, impacting both Santer’s career and family. “If you spend your entire career trying to advance understanding, you can't walk away from that understanding when someone criticizes it or criticizes you,” says Santer, now a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Berkeley. With his research contingent upon government funding, Santer is concerned about the future of climate science under an administration that does not prioritize it. This piece is published in partnership with Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Guest:: Ben Santer, Climate Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Related Links: At Hot Center of Debate On Global Warming (New York Times) Yes, humans are causing climate change. And we've known for 40 years. (Popular Science) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can we beat the traffic by taking to the skies? For more than a century, the automobile has ruled our city streets, chaining us to grid-shaped streets choked with lines of traffic. And for many of us, seemingly endless hours of daily commuting. “But what if we can remove those chains?” asks JoeBen Bevirt of Joby Aviation. “What do our lives, what do our cities, how does the world look 20 years from now or 50 years from now? That's what gets me up everyday. “So my mission is to save a billion people an hour a day in their daily commutes.” The ability to sail above the freeways in a flying car, getting to work in minutes instead of hours, has long been the stuff of science fiction. But JoeBen Bevirt is already on his way towards making it a reality. He’s raised more than $100 million to develop a five-seater that he claims will be faster, cheaper and quieter than helicopters. And not just as a plaything for the rich, Bevirt promises. “We really want to be able to launch this at an affordable price point that’s accessible to everyone,” he says. “That is similar cost to taking a taxi on a cost per passenger mile. And then our ambition is to get it to the cost of personal car.” Other startups around the world are also developing drones or flying cars. Urban air mobility – or UAM -- is coming. For now, there are still many challenges to getting those flying cars off the ground, from infrastructure to regulatory issues, from air traffic to zoning. Not to mention mechanics and design – what will the flying car of the future look like? Auto industry consultant Charlie Vogelheim says what comes to mind for most consumers is a cross between the Jetson’s family-sized space capsule and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. “The thing that people keep thinking about when they think about flying cars is, ‘where is that car that I can drive and then the wings come out?’” Guests: JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO, Joby Aviation Uma Subramanian, CEO, Aero Technologies Jennifer Richter, Partner, Akin Gump CharlieVogelheim, Principal, Vogelheim Ventures Related Links: Air-Taxi Startup has a Working Prototype (Bloomberg) How Airbus is working to take urban mobility airborne (Pitchbook) Bringing Urban Mobility into the Third Dimension (Urban Future) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on August 20th, 2019, and was made possible by the ClimateWorks Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From stadiums packed with fans, to food, beer, and waste – pro sports can have a big carbon footprint. But could the core values of athletics — integrity, teamwork, and commitment — be the same values we need to tackle the climate challenge? ”Doing sports the right way is more important now than ever,” says Jim Thompson, Founder of the Positive Coaching Alliance. “We spent a lot of time as adults trying to get kids to do certain things. What if we spend our time trying to encourage them to become the kind of people who want to do the right thing?” Thompson, whose PCA trains youth sports coaches around the country, is a newly converted climate evangelist. “Our country, the whole world is gonna need leaders – people who do the right thing when it matters,” he says. “That's my definition of character, when you do the right thing when it matters, and what happens in the next 10 years matters a lot.” So do pro athletes have a special role in getting their fans and teams to talk about climate? “I think somebody needs to prompt the questions out of them, because I don't think most people aren’t going to just come out and just start talking about climate change,” says Dusty Baker, a special advisor with the San Francisco Giants who had a 19-year career as a hard-hitting outfielder and a 20-year career as a big-league manager. Baker, who is also an avid bird hunter and solar power entrepreneur, admires the star athletes who do speak out on climate or other social issues, but he understands why others may be reluctant to do so. “You spend all your life trying to get to this goal” he explains,”and you realize it's a very limited period of time and also there's somebody always trying to take your job.” Ultimately, the best agents for climate action in the sports arena might be the businesses and the customers – that is, teams and their fans. “Through sport and food we have a huge opportunity to influence the world in a positive way,” says Roger McClendon, Executive Director with the Green Sports Alliance, an association of teams and venues employing sports as a vehicle to promote healthy sustainable communities throughout the world. McClendon previously served as the first chief sustainability officer with Yum! Brands, whose holdings include Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC restaurants, where he challenged the company to run cleaner. “[Pro teams] are businesses but they have the responsibility to serve their consumers and their consumers are fans,” he says. “When the fans or the customers start saying this is important to them, then usually businesses start to listen. Guests: Dusty Baker, Special Advisor, San Francisco Giants Roger McClendon, Executive Director, Green Sports Alliance Jim Thompson, Founder, Positive Coaching Alliance. Related links: Positive Coaching Alliance Baker Energy Team Green Sports Alliance NBA Green How climate change is affecting outdoor skating (NHL.com) San Francisco Giants reclaim the Green Glove Award (MLB.com) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A carbon offset is a credit – a way to offset a unit of pollution created in one place by, say, planting a tree, or otherwise sequestering carbon, somewhere else. But in the race to bring carbon emissions to zero, are offsets a legitimate tool, or a delusion that allows heavy emitters a way out of taking real action? “I just need to recruit everybody to make sure the forests remain forests and the farmlands have as many trees as possible,” says Pauline Kalunda, Executive Director of Ecotrust Uganda, a non-governmental conservation organization in Uganda. She uses money from carbon offsets purchased in wealthy countries to help build environmental resilience at the community level. Buying offsets can help fund carbon-reduction projects in developing economies with limited funding – but they don’t help reduce dirty air back home. “We ultimately need to get to a point where it is really, really expensive to pollute so that people pollute a lot less,” maintains Kahlil Baker, Executive Director of Taking Root, a Canada-based group which also works with the offset market to promote economic development among smallholder farmers in Nicaragua. Voluntary offsets are great for eco-conscious consumers who want to ease their climate guilt. Do they run the risk of letting individuals think they’re off the hook for their carbon sins? “I’m a lot less worried about offsets from individuals than I am about Chevron offsetting,” says Zoe Cina-Sklar, a climate justice campaigner with the advocacy group Amazon Watch. She worries about corporations and other large polluters using offsets to avoid accountability under state climate policies. Barbara Haya, a research fellow at UC Berkeley’s Center for Environmental Public Policy, who studies California’s offsets program, echoes this worry. “We’re allowing businesses in California like Chevron and Phillips and other large emitters to continue to emit,” she claims, “because they're buying these credits that many of which don't actually represent real emissions reductions.” But Rajinder Sahota, who leads the Cap and Trade program for the California Air Resources Board, disagrees with the takeaways of Haya’s research. “The offsets don't play a specific line item in reducing emissions towards our target,” she counters, “they are a compliance currency under the cap and trade program.” Ultimately, carbon offsets work best, as Derik Broekhoff from the Stockholm Environmental Institute puts it, as the icing on the cake and not the cake itself. “The advice for voluntary offset has always been reduce your own emissions first,” he suggests, “and then turn to offsets as a kind of additional even charitable contribution that you can make towards both helping the climate and making the world a better place.” Guests (in order of appearance): Pauline Kalunda, Executive Director, Ecotrust Uganda Kahlil Baker, Executive Director, Taking Root Pennie Opal Plant, Co-Founder, Idle No More Bay Area Zoe Cina-Sklar, Climate Justice Campaigner, Amazon Watch Barbara Haya, Research Fellow, Center for Environmental Public Policy Rajinder Sahota, Assistant Division Chief, Industrial Strategies Division, California Air Resources Board Derik Broekhoff, Senior Scientist, Stockholm Environmental Institute Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would you vote for the candidate who says he’ll declare climate change a national emergency on Day One of his presidency? Businessman and activist Tom Steyer says his willingness to use emergency powers to deal with the climate crisis sets him apart from the crowded field of Democratic candidates. “You have to start on day one, urgently – it's an emergency, treat it like an emergency,” Steyer urges. “I would give the Congress a 100 days … to pass something like the Green New Deal, but they've had 28 years to pass something like the Green New Deal, and actually we don't have the luxury of waiting any longer.” Steyer also cites his record fighting the corporate takeover of the US government as another mark of distinction. “I am the person who spent 10 years as an outsider organizing coalitions of American citizens to take on corporate interests and to register voters engage voters and turn them out at the polls,” he notes, while also affirming that his grassroots organizing will continue independently of his campaign and the election. But as the Democratic Party moves to the left, with a more diverse candidate pool than ever, is now the right time for another wealthy white man to insist he’s the best person for the job? “I think there's a very simple challenge for everybody who wants to be the Democratic nominee,” says Steyer,” and that’s to have something to say that people want to hear ... I think that if I'm saying something that touches people and they believe that I'm a credible messenger, then they'll respond.” Guest: Tom Steyer, Activist, Businessman, 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on August 19, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s new in renewable energy? In April, 23 percent of America’s electricity came from renewables, surpassing coal for the first time. Ten states, and Puerto Rico and Washington DC, have policies in place to run on 100 percent clean power in coming decades. Achieving that presents a host of challenges, from updating an aging electricity grid to financing energy innovation to figuring out how to transport and store the renewable power. Fortunately, says author Russell Gold, we have the talent to take those challenges on. “There's a lot of creativity in the space right now,” says Gold. “There's creativity on reducing demand, there's creativity in how we aggregate solar… and frankly, given what's going on with the climate, we sort of need to be trying them all -- simultaneously.” And if we succeed, we stand to gain a lot more than just cleaner air, a stable planet and lower electricity bills. Guests: Russell Gold, Reporter, the Wall Street Journal; Author, Superpower: One Man's Quest to Transform American Energy (Simon & Schuster, 2019) Jigar Shah, Founder, SunEdison; Co-Host, The Energy Gang podcast Lynn Doan, Team Leader, Power and Gas-Americas, Bloomberg News This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on August 5, 2019. For full show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The California dream, with its promise of never-ending sunshine, fertile soil and rivers running with gold, has been beckoning people west for over two hundred years. But making that dream come true for an ever-increasing population has taken its toll on the landscape. Is the California dream coming to an end? When its current water system was built in the 1960s and ‘70s, California’s population was about half of the forty million who live there today. And every one of its citizens needs water to drink, bathe and cook. Add to that the demands of agriculture, livestock and the natural ecosystem, and the pool of available water gets smaller and smaller. “When the resource is finite then you have to make choices,” says author Mark Arax. “And so in the San Joaquin Valley they're gonna have to choose which land deserves that water. It's alfalfa, it's Holsteins.” In his new book, The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California, Arax pulls back the curtain on the backroom deal-making between billionaire investors and regulators that has, in some cases, stolen the water right out from under our feet. Faith Kearns, a scientist with the California Institute for Water Resources, says it’s been going on for years. Even she has trouble keeping up. “I think there is a lot of stuff that goes on really behind the scenes and that is completely inaccessible to most of us, even those of us who work on this topic professionally,” says Kearns. California now experiences regular weather whiplash, amplified by climate change, careening between record drought and extreme rainfall. Diana Marcum won a Pulitzer Prize for her series of articles on California’s central valley farmers during the drought. Years of parched weather have taught her to appreciate the green times we do get. “I think that’s one thing I took away from the drought,” Marcum recalls. “During it I kept thinking, I wish I would've paid more attention. I wish I could picture the snow. I wish I could picture the grass. So right now I'm trying to look so hard that it almost hurts” Guests: Mark Arax, Author, “The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California” (Knopf, 2019) Diana Marcum, Reporter, Los Angeles Times Faith Kearns, Scientist, California Institute for Water Resources This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on July 17th, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to solving climate change, where do we start? The organization Project Drawdown has published a list of top solutions for climate change – impactful actions already in existence that not only reduce carbon emissions, but also improve lives, create jobs and generate community resilience. “If you’re thinking about how to solve climate change here's where you start,” says Jonathan Foley, Project Drawdown’s executive director. “Electricity is about a quarter of the problem. Food, agriculture and forest are also a quarter of the problem...then you’ve got buildings, industry and transportation. Those are the five things we’ve got to change.” One item that might surprise many is dealing with global overpopulation. And that starts with improving education and reproductive freedom for the world’s girls and women. “If women have the opportunity to be able to have a voice and be agents in their community and their country globally, we have the opportunity to have the kind of innovation that we need to be able to combat this,” says Lois Quam of Pathfinder International. “That human right to decide whether and when and how many and with whom we want to have a child, the ability to exercise that right is…one of the top strategies to combat climate change.” It’s quite a to-do list – and it’s only the beginning. How to sort through the many daunting tasks ahead of us? Don’t be discouraged, says Foley. It almost doesn’t matter where we start, as long as we’re doing something. Corporations, policy makers, communities and individuals all have a part to play in achieving climate drawdown. This point was driven home to the audience and panelists alike by an additional guest, 13-year old Kea Morshed. His YouTube channel, Movies with Mic1, demonstrates the many ways we can all challenge ourselves to take action on climate change. “At the end of the day, it's gonna be behavior change by all of us that’s necessary,” Foley tells Climate One. “It’s gonna be policy change, business operations change and changes in capital, money. “So don’t pick one lever, pull them all, you know - everybody bloody one you can find!” Guests: Kate Brandt, Sustainability Officer, Google Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, Project Drawdown Lois Quam, U.S. Chief Executive Officer, Pathfinder International This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on July 11, 2019. For complete show notes, visit our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The climate conversation in Washington has changed enough that Democrats and Republicans are talking climate deals. A lot of that change can be attributed to the Green New Deal, a Democratic resolution introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey. “What we're doing with the Green New Deal is we’re putting together an army that won't just be a resolution, it's a revolution,” boasts Markey, who has served over 40 years in Congress and co-authored the last big legislative push for national climate policy a decade ago. Markey says that he and AOC “share a passion to create a movement which is going to change the relationship between the American people and the fossil fuel industry.” That relationship is also targeted in the Green Real Deal, a market-based alternative to the Green New Deal put forward by Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. “Fossil fuels are not our future. They just aren’t,” proclaims Gaetz, very much out of step with GOP orthodoxy in general and the current administration’s policies in particular. Less surprising than a Republican proposing to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies is that a GOP call for climate action is coming from Florida. Gaetz, whose district in the Florida panhandle was battered by Hurricane Michael in 2018 is an ardent supporter of President Trump – except when it comes to climate science. “You can either believe the climate deniers, or you can believe your lying eyes,” he says, “and I'm from the pro-science wing of the Republican Party.” But are there really any prospects for a legislative deal passing while a pro-fossil fuel climate denier occupies the White House? “It's more likely to see ideas like this passing as ballot initiatives in states as test kitchens that can then kind of branch out to other states than something really holistically passing through Congress before 2020,” says Miranda Green, an energy and environment reporter covering Congress for The Hill. Still, Green is impressed with Gaetz’s fossil fuel iconoclasm and even with Trump’s apparent need to address climate – if never actually by name – in a recent White House speech. “It shows that the issue of climate change has really put itself at the center of politics right now,” she says, “at the center of the political debate.” Guests: Senator Ed Markey, D-MA Representative Matt Gaetz, R-FL Miranda Green, Energy and Environment Reporter, The Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How will we feed a planet that’s hotter, drier, and more crowded than ever? Much of it starts with innovators who are trying to re-invent the global food system to be more productive and nutritious. Vanderbilt University Journalism professor Amanda Little chronicles some of these efforts in her new book, The Fate of Food: What We'll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World. “We see disruption in the auto industry, we see disruption in tobacco – disruption is coming in the meat industry,” says Little, noting how conventional meat companies have been investing in technologies to produce cell-based meat without animals. Other technological innovations, such as robots that can deploy herbicide with sniper-like precision, can help push agriculture toward more sustainable practices. But she also notes the difficulties that food startups face in getting their products to scale – which often means selling to large, industrial producers. “We need the sort of good guys and bad guys to collaborate,” she says. “It doesn't mean that that is disrupting the, you know, the rise of local food webs and farmers markets and CSAs and locally sourced foods. It means maybe this is a way of bringing more intelligent practices to industrial ag.” Twilight Greenaway, a contributing editor with Civil Eats, amplifies these concerns about tech disruption in the food space. “Will there be some [technology] that really can feed into a more democratic food system that allows for different types of ownership less concentrated ownership,” she asks, noting that some startups start out with the goal of selling to a large company. She likens the current conversation to earlier discussions about the organic farming movement leading to little more than an organic Twinkie. “There’s a lot to say about changing practices on the land and what organic means in terms of pesticides and other environmental benefits,” she cautions, “but on the other hand, you’ll still end up with the Twinkie.” Guests: Twilight Greenaway, Contributing Editor, Civil Eats Amanda Little, Professor of Journalism, Vanderbilt University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Ridley Scott envisioned the dystopian Los Angeles of 2019 in “Blade Runner,” he probably didn’t think about how much energy would be needed to run those flying cars and sky-high animated billboards. Or what all those carbon emissions would be doing to the climate. We’re now living in the world of 2019. Flying cars are still in the future. But with over half of the global population living in urban centers, and another 2.5 billion expected to join them by 2050, maybe it’s time to take a step backward when it comes to getting around the city. “We know that if you invite more cars, you get more cars,” says architect and urban planner Jan Gehl. “If you invite and make streets you get more traffic. And if you can make more bicycle lanes and do it properly, you get more bicycles. “And if you invite people to walk more and use public spaces more, you get more life in the city. It's the same mechanism -- you get what you invite for.” The cities of today have to prepare for a future that includes more heat, more flooding and more people. This means confronting the infrastructure they run on, and making some upgrades. That could have a bigger impact than most people realize. “Approaching climate change, particularly when it comes to our cities, is this opportunity to do pretty major investments in a sort of significant retooling of cities,” says urbanist Liz Ogbu. “Not just in the U.S., but around the world.” But large urban projects have historically ended up displacing communities of color by building freeways through their communities or by pricing them out of their own homes and businesses. Some well-known examples of this are Detroit, Miami and Los Angeles. Ogbu warns that it’s important to keep from repeating the mistakes of the past. “I think it's time that we talk about how do we be intentional about those investments and who benefits,” Ogbu continue. “Because I think the idea that we don't consider it doesn't mean that people don't get harmed.” Can we create a Tomorrowland that is sustainable, livable and inclusive? Guests: Liz Ogbu, Founder and Principal, Studio O Laura Crescimano, Co-Founder/Principal, SITELAB Urban Studio Jan Gehl, Architect and Founding Partner, Gehl Architects, author, “Cities for People” (Island Press, 2010) Related Links: SPUR: Ideas + Action for a Better City SITELAB Urban Studio Studio O Liz Ogbu TED Talk: What if gentrification was about healing communities instead of displacing them? (Youtube) Cities for People (Jan Gehl) Jan Gehl TED Talk: In Search of the Human Scale (Youtube) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on June 3, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you live somewhere that might actually benefit from climate change? Rising temperatures and seas will produce losers and winners. Some parts of the world will see more moderate weather and economic gains, while others are already seeing sagging property prices and economic losses. “Many people think oh it’s just the temperature, but actually temperature affects everything,” says Solomon Hsiang of UC Berkeley. Hsiang co-authored a 2017 paper in the journal Science that outlines the impacts of a warmer world on human health and migration, violent crime, food production and wealth distribution. The study shows that hot days are associated with increased violence as well as with reduced incomes. Hsiang and his colleagues have followed actual U.S. counties over time and found that if the diurnal average is above 85 Fahrenheit, people earn roughly $20 less per year. So who does come out ahead? “We do spend a lot of resources trying to cope with the cold,” Hsiang notes. “There are many parts of the world where if you get a little bit warmer…you actually can take those resources that you were spending on shoveling your driveway or paying someone to plow it, and you can invest those in something much more productive.” But would any of these benefits inevitably offset by the social costs? “Risk in a changing climate is not just about the climate – that human side of the picture is unbelievably important,” says Katherine Mach, formerly with Stanford University and now at university of Miami. “The huge inequities among countries of the world and the way that impacts that are happening in terms of impacts for food security or water insecurity…will mean different things when you're in a low income country” without state support to keep the economy moving. Guests: Solomon Hsiang, Chancellor's Associate Professor of Public Policy, UC Berkeley Katherine Mach, Senior Research Scientist, Stanford University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At what point does Planet Earth become inhospitable to life – let alone a flourishing human civilization? In his new book The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, David Wallace-Wells explores how climate change will impact not just the planet, but human lives – including how a five degree increase in temperatures would make parts of the planet unsurvivable. “The more I learned about the science the deeper I got into it… the more scared I was,” he admits, “and from where I sat as a journalist the importance of telling that story so that other people have the same reaction have the same response. Paradoxically, though he has only been writing about it for a few years, Wallace-Wells has found climate change to invigorate him as a storyteller. “It's an epic saga,” he says. “It's the kind of thing that we only used to see in mythology and theology. We really do have the fate of the world and the species in our hands.” Another climate communicator, Katherine Hayhow from Texas Tech University, recognizes the need for storytellers like Wallace-Wells to translate the work of scientists like her. “We’re not missing the apocalyptic vision of the future, I think we've got that in spades,” she says. “What David’s book does is it takes what we've been saying in scientific assessments for years and even decades, and it rephrases in a way that’s hopefully more accessible for people to understand how bad this could be.” That said, Hayhoe also recognizes a need for other writers and creative artists to tell climate stories that move us beyond doom-and-gloom. “We scientists are terrible at positive visions of the future, all we’re good at is diagnosing the problem in greater and greater detail,” she laments. “We need others to help us see what that future looks like. Because when you look at something that’s better than what we have today, you can’t hold people back from moving in that direction.” Guests: David Wallace-Wells, Deputy Editor, New York Magazine; Author, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming Katharine Hayhoe, Professor and Director, Climate Science Center, Texas Tech University This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on May 6, 2019 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Produce, consume, discard; we all know the routine. Raw materials are extracted, produced into goods, and used – sometimes only once – before turning into waste. And maybe we think that recycling that Starbucks cup or Smartwater bottle is the best we can do for the planet. But that’s the wrong way to think about it, says John Lanier of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. “Recycling is not the answer or the solution to advancing the circular economy,” Lanier asserts. It's an answer, but actually one of the weakest ones. It’s what we should do as a last result before we throw something in a landfill.” Like his grandfather Ray Anderson, a pioneer in corporate sustainability, Lanier advocates for a mindset in which products are designed and manufactured with a focus on permanence, rather than disposability. “In this vision for the future we become owners of things…not consumers of them,” Lanier explains. “That’s a big and radical shift.” Rethinking our manufacturing methods and energy resources is another key element, says Beth Rattner of the Biomimicry Institute. “When we start talking about pulling carbon out of the air, taking it from source emitters, pulling methane off of farms and creating new kinds of stuff, new kinds of plastic…that’s the recycling story we should be telling.” Finding ways to imitate nature’s most efficient methods, such as structural color, is an exciting new development in product design. “Imagine if everything we made was functionally indistinguishable from nature,” Rattner says. “That's the goal. “Because when you walk into a forest, that whole forest is working toward a single common good, which is the protection of the forest; that is its survival strategy.” And as more and more corporations and consumers embrace the concept of a “circular economy,” it may turn out to be ours as well. Guests John Lanier, co-author, Mid-Course Correction Revisited: The Story and Legacy of a Radical Industrialist and his Quest for Authentic Change (Chelsea Green, 2019) Beth Rattner, executive director, Biomimicry Institute Peter Templeton, president and CEO, Cradle to Cradle Product Innovation Institute Mike Sangiacomo, president and CEO, Recology Related Links: Ray C. Anderson Foundation Biomimicry Institute Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute Recology Nathaniel Stookey's Junkestra: A Symphony of Garbage | The Kennedy Center (Youtube) The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability (Paul Hawken) This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on May 7, 2019 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the 2020 presidential election approaches, Greg Dalton will be sitting down with some of the candidates to talk about their plans for a clean energy supply, a greener economy, and their specific strategies for addressing the climate crisis as President of the United States. Keep your eyes out for those episodes on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Washington Governor Jay Inslee is a notable departure from other Democratic presidential hopefuls who regularly mention, but rarely prioritize climate change. Yet in a recent poll of public policy priorities, Americans ranked climate change next to last. Could a climate-focused candidate nudge the Democratic platform toward bolder action – let alone become the Climate President? “I've now passed some of the most meaningful climate legislation in American history,” says Governor Inslee. “I’m very confident that I have a unique ability to lead this nation [and] I favor and I appreciate anybody following my leadership.” Inslee pulls no punches in touting his environmental accomplishments as governor as a model for national climate action. “The kind of thing that we’ve done in Washington State that I believe is a template for success in Washington [DC],” he says, “so we ought to believe that we can have 100% clean electricity that ought to be something that we can tell Americans that they can have because I have told Washingtonians they can achieve that goal.” The governor is also unequivocal about why he is running for President as the climate candidate. “I just decided that I wanted on my deathbed to be able to look at my grandchildren and tell them I did every single thing I could to prevent climate change from destroying their future and that includes running for president of the United States.” Guest: Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on May 2, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guests: Jennifer Palmer, Founder, Women for Wildlife James Sano, Vice President for Travel, Tourism and Conservation, World Wildlife Fund Norbu Tenzing, Vice President, American Himalayan Foundation We’ve all heard that hopping on a plane is one of the worst things we can do for the climate. So how do we justify the environmental costs of world travel? Seeing the effects of global warming for yourself could be one argument for getting on that flight. For James Sano of the World Wildlife Fund, things got real on a trip to Antarctica. “I was expecting lots of crevasses and big chunks of ice,” Sano recalls. “But then I suddenly found myself with my skis on a beach. And in the ensuing hundred or so years, the glacier had receded significantly so that there was no ice fall.” Jennifer Palmer of Women for Wildlife has traveled the world spreading awareness about global warming. She believes that helping to connect those who are being hit hardest by it makes the carbon cost worthwhile. “There is a piece of me that sits on a plane and says I’m contributing to this,” Palmer admits. “[But] when you think about it in the grand context of the people that I'm helping have the experiences, and they’re becoming ambassadors for these places. They're coming back and they’re telling stories and they’re creating videos and they’re having dialogues. And they’re creating change.” One memorable experience for Palmer was sharing the film “Chasing Ice” with a community of Bajau people in Indonesia. “We actually screened the film in the middle of the ocean on their settlement on stilts,” she remembers. “We tied up bed sheets…and they were literally hanging out on boats.” “To see the looks on their faces as they learned about what is a glacier and how that’s connected to the issues that they’re going on and seeing…to make that connection and to be able to have a dialogue with that community was very special and heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.” Jim Sano had some travel advice for those who want to lighten their carbon travel footprint. Take fewer, long trips if you can, he suggests. Avoid flying first class. And consider your routing: “Many people don't know that a great majority of your carbon footprint is associated with takeoffs and landings,” he reminded the audience. “So while your airfare may be less if you do a one stop, if you take a direct flight, your footprint would be far less.” Norbu Tenzing, whose father was one of the first people to reach the top of Mt. Everest in the company of Sir Edmund Hillary, welcomes travelers, trekkers and tourists to his beloved Himalayas,“.unequivocally, the highest and most beautiful mountains in the world.” But, he adds, it’s vital to travel responsibly. “You go to places like Nepal, Tibet or the Himalayas where we have massive problem with global warming,” he says, “it's important to go over there and see firsthand what the issues are, and to come back and try and do something about it.” Whether we’re scaling Mount Everest or diving with sea turtles in the Galapagos Islands, it’s important to tread lightly – and respectfully – on every corner of our planet. And ideally, use the experience to make the world a better place This program was recorded live at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on March 19, 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Although many climate conversations talk about impacts on future generations, all too often those younger generations are not at the table or in the room. So how are young people taking charge of their climate future? For Isha Clarke, a high school student and activist from Oakland, California, by speaking truth to the senior U.S. Senator from her state. “I think that truth is respectful and that you can speak truth in a way that is compassionate and authentic,” says Clarke, who recently gained fame for a viral video in which she confronts Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein over the Green New Deal. “I think the conversation now isn’t really about Senator Feinstein anymore,” Clarke says as she reflects on that experience and the ensuing coverage, “it's really about politicians in general and power holders in general, who aren’t and haven't been taking the necessary steps to reverse this climate crisis. Feeling a similar frustration at her elders’ failure to act more urgently, 14-year old Sarah Goody organized a climate strike in San Francisco. “Why study for a future that’s not gonna exist?” says Sarah in response to passers-by who question why she’s sitting on a sidewalk rather than in a classroom, “I need to be here now and fighting now for my future.” Sitting alone outside iconic buildings can be a lonely endeavor, so other slightly-less young activists have found their climate calling by getting involved in more organized movements. “I see [it] as a civic duty to be involve to be socially engaged in whatever way I can,” says Morrisa Zuckerman, Bay Area chapter coordinator for the Sunrise Movement, the grassroots organization behind the Green New Deal. She and her colleagues have been pressing lawmakers and candidates to make climate action a top priority – and it’s working. “This Democratic presidential primary is talking about climate change in a way that I don't think any of us necessarily expected,” enthuses Ben Wessel, Youth Vote Director at NextGen America, the environmental advocacy organization founded by billionaire activist Tom Steyer. Wessel has been impressed by the diversity of motivations that have recently been drawing young people to climate politics. “This is one intersectional movement that has to address our racial injustices our climate injustices and our economic injustices,” Wessel says, “I actually think the Democratic primary electorate is recognizing that more than ever before.” Elections have consequences; but without more fundamental changes, shifting political winds can erase hard-fought carbon reductions. That’s why for Julia Olson, Executive Director of Our Children's Trust, the most effective climate solution lies in judicial rather than legislative action. Olson is chief legal counsel for plaintiffs in Juliana versus United States, the lawsuit brought by 21 young people accusing the federal government of violating their fundamental rights under the Fifth Amendment to life, liberty and property by knowingly promoting and subsidizing an energy system that damages climate. “What we hope to do through our case in lifting up the voice of youth in the Judiciary,” Olson explains, “is to secure the binding constitutional mandate that forces the people in the presidency and in the legislature to actually adopt laws and policies that comply with its constitutional obligation.” Guests: Isha Clarke, Student Activist Sarah Goody, Student Activist Julia Olson, Executive Director at Our Children's Trust; Chief Legal Counsel for plaintiffs in Juliana v. U.S. Ben Wessel, Director, NextGen Rising Morissa Zuckerman, Bay Area Chapter Coordinator, Sunrise Movement Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“This is turning out exactly the way scientists predicted, with one exception: it’s happening faster than they thought,” says political analyst David Gergen, who served in four presidential administrations. “The question is what can we do rapidly that would alleviate this and be fair to all.” “There’s a lot of signs that voters, you know, they may not completely agree with the Green New Deal,” says Marianne Lavelle, a reporter with InsideClimate News, “but they’re not very happy with having politicians who are just not paying attention to climate and just not doing anything.” Ultimately it is Republican voters who are pushing their legislators to act, since many of them, especially in western states, find their views on energy and conservation at odds with the current administration’s environmental policies.“The vast majority of western voters say we need to make sure that we protect [public lands] for all Americans,” notes Lori Weigel, a GOP pollster. “It shouldn't be something where economic value or resource extraction is taking priority over the uses that we’re most familiar with." Guests: David Gergen, Professor of Public Service and Founding Director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School Marianne Lavelle, Reporter, InsideClimate News Lori Weigel, Partner, Public Opinion Strategies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on April 30, 2019. During the 2016 presidential election, climate change barely surfaced as a campaign topic. This cycle it’s a different story. “It’s gonna be the first election where it's a major issue,” predicts former congressman Carlos Curbelo (R-FL). “I don't support it, but we can thank the Green New Deal for that.” Democrats have rallied around the Green New Deal and its lofty promise of a clean energy future. How will it realize its ambitious goals? Still unclear. But there can be no doubt that the tide of climate change awareness is rising among the nation’s voters. And more and more, as their constituents feel the effects of global warming in their own districts, Republicans find that they ignore the topic at their peril. “In every single community in this country, you are able to identify a few changes to the detriment of all as a consequence of a changing climate,” says Ryan Costello, former U.S. representative from Pennsylvania. Costello, a Republican, now manages Americans for Carbon Dividends, an advocacy group that is supported by oil companies and promotes a price on carbon emissions. “If you’re along the coast, rising sea levels,” Costello continues. “If you're in the Midwest, the land that you can grow on has shrunk; your crop season has shrunk. If you're in Oregon and Northern California the wildfires -- and on and on and on. “This is really where the conversation has to go now in the next few years to come -- what the cost of climate change truly is.” In 2018, Curbelo proposed legislation that would impose a carbon tax, which garnered the support of many of his GOP colleagues. What inspired him to act on an unpopular cause? For the South Florida community that first sent him to congress in 2015, the issue has become very close to home. “In my community, an area that is at about sea level and where most people live near the sea, the threat is real, it's imminent. We get tidal flooding; our drinking water supply is threatened by saltwater intrusion. “So that's why I decided to get involved.” Still, even some Democrats have found themselves caught between the threat of a destabilized climate and other, more immediate, concerns. Christine Pelosi of the Democratic National Committee says that, from her perspective, the conversation is more regional than partisan. “It has a lot more to do with a couple of things,” she says. “One is the existential threat that climate change presents, and the other is the dialogue in which people from poorer communities - frontline communities, indigenous communities, mining communities, industrial communities - say, ‘well, it may be true that the ecology as we know it is going to change in a dozen years. But your change is gonna change my family's economy in two years.” As 2020 looms, many Republicans still fear that voicing support of climate solutions could torpedo their chances for reelection. Curbelo, who co-founded the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in Congress, believes it’s time to put country ahead of career. “If you are an elected leader of this country, you have a fiduciary responsibility to your constituents and to the country and to no one else,” Curbelo says. “So, yeah, perhaps leading on climate could make some Republicans vulnerable in a primary, perhaps negotiating with Republicans could make some Democrats vulnerable in a primary. “Too bad -- that's what you signed up for, and we need you to do your job.” Guests: Ryan Costello, Former U.S. Representative (R-PA) Christine Pelosi, Executive Committeewoman, Democratic National Committee Carlos Curbelo, Former U.S. Representative (R-FL) Related Links: Climate Solutions Caucus The Green New Deal The Green Real Deal Americans for Carbon Dividends The Market Choice Act Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Global temperatures would be soaring even higher were it not for a powerful heat-trapping ally: oceans. From regulating the temperature of the planet to generating half of the oxygen we breathe, oceans are a vital part of sustaining life on Earth. Increasing their temperature as little as two degrees, however, has an opposite effect, threatening marine biodiversity and turbocharging dangerous hurricanes and typhoons. But there are bright prospects on the horizon for humans and oceans. Join us for a conversation exploring how oceans play a bigger role in climate than you may think. Guests: Sara Aminzadeh, Commissioner, California Coastal Commission Ken Caldeira, Climate Scientist, Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University Daniela Fernandez, Founder and CEO, Sustainable Ocean Alliance Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

PG&E has had a bad few years. A series of record-breaking wildfires culminating with 2018’s devastating Camp Fire propelled the California utility giant into lawsuits, $30 billion in liabilities and, ultimately, bankruptcy. Under new state laws, regulated utilities will have a hard time avoiding blame in fires where their equipment is involved—so what’s ahead for PG&E’s peers and their shareholders when a deadly blaze could spell bankruptcy? What happens when the California dream of living near nature is in direct conflict with disruptive tragedies fueled by climate change? Guests: Dian Grueneich, Former Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission J.D. Morris, Energy Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle Mark Toney, Executive Director, The Utility Reform Network Alex Ghenis, Policy and Research Specialist, World Institute on Disability Hunter Stern, Business Representative, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 Loretta Lynch, Former Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission Laura Wisland, Senior Manager, Western States Energy, Union of Concerned Scientists Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the environmental movement is typically associated with upper-class white folk, it is also a civil rights issue. Communities of color often live closest to factories and refineries that spew toxic pollution. That’s one reason why polls show more African Americans and Latinos say climate is a serious concern than whites. So why do environmental movements lack diversity, and why has it been so difficult for nonprofits to reach communities of color? Guests: Ingrid Brostrom, Assistant Director, Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley, Board Member, Interfaith Power and Light Mystic, Musician, Bay Area Coordinator, Hip Hop Caucus Visit our website for complete show notes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How far would you go to make your voice heard on climate change? College student Tim DeChristopher disrupted an auction for oil and gas leases - and landed in prison. Georgia Hirsty and other Greenpeace activists suspended themselves from a Portland bridge to protest an oil rig bound for the Arctic. Such extreme activism gets headlines, and sometimes results. But is radical civil disobedience the most effective weapon for change? Or is collaborating with corporations to encourage sustainable practices a better way to make a difference? Guests: Tim DeChristopher, Founder, Climate Disobedience Center Georgia Hirsty, National Warehouse Program Manager, Greenpeace Brendon Steele, Director of Stakeholder Engagement, Future 500 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the Green New Deal in the national spotlight, a vigorous debate is happening: how ambitiously and broadly must the U.S. act on climate? Are issues like economic equity, job security and public health outside the frame of climate action — or fundamental to its success? Greg Dalton welcomes two key members of President Obama’s climate team: former White House Science Advisor John Holdren and former U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, in a special program recorded at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts. John Holdren, Former Science Advisor to President Obama, Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government Gina McCarthy, Former U.S. EPA Administrator; Director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Production of animal protein is producing vast amounts of climate-eating gases. But a new generation of companies are creating innovative food products that mimic meat and have much smaller environmental impacts. Some of this mock meat is derived from plants with ingredients designed to replicate the taste and pleasure of chomping into a beef hamburger. Others are growing meat cells that come from a laboratory and not a cow. Could these and other culinary innovations wean Americans away from their beloved hot dogs, hamburgers and tuna melts, reduce our impact on the planet, and help feed the world’s growing population? Guests: Patrick O. Brown, CEO and Founder, Impossible Foods Carolyn Jung, Journalist/Blogger, Foodgal.com Mike Selden, CEO and Co-founder, Finless Foods Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite having the top-selling luxury car in 2018, and a loyal if not rabid customer base, Tesla has been facing major challenges. In August, maverick CEO Elon Musk was slapped with SEC charges over some rather misleading tweets. That move cost him and the company millions in fines and forced Musk to step down as chairman. Other skidmarks for Tesla include production delays, shareholder skittishness and some well-publicized workplace complaints. Host Greg Dalton invites three journalists and Tesla-watchers to assess the health of Tesla, its overall impact on the auto industry and its future as a leader in the green economy. Guests: Hamish McKenzie, Author, “Insane Mode: How Elon Musk's Tesla Sparked an Electric Revolution to End the Age of Oil” (Dutton, 2018) Lora Kolodny, Tech Reporter, CNBC Katie Fehrenbacher, Senior Writer & Analyst, GreenBiz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it take to get people off their phones and into the outdoors? Research has shown the deleterious effects of electronics on weight, sleep, and cognitive development in children, who in 2018 spend four hours or more each day glued to screens. Other barriers like income and proximity to nature make access to the outdoors extremely challenging for some families. Meanwhile, doctors have started prescribing hikes over medications, and terms like “forest schools” and “unstructured playtime” are new buzzwords. So how do we encourage outdoor curiosity and conservation in a generation raised on screen time? Guests: Phil Ginsburg, General Manager, San Francisco Recreation and Parks Rebecca Johnson, Co-Director, Citizen Science at the California Academy of Sciences Nooshin Razani, Pediatrician and Founder/Director of the Center for Nature and Health at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg Dalton sits down for a rare interview with newly-confirmed U.S. EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler on cars, coal, and climate. Mary Nichols, Chair of the California Air Resources Board, responds to Wheeler’s position on vehicle standards, and discusses her agency’s role leading a group of states in contesting the Trump administration’s revised auto emissions rules. Also featuring Albert Cheung of Bloomberg New Energy Finance on the future of personal mobility, and Helen Clarkson of The Climate Group on getting some of the world’s biggest companies to commit to 100% renewable energy. Guests: Andrew Wheeler, Administrator, U.S. EPA Albert Cheung, Head of Global Analysis, Bloomberg New Energy Finance Mary Nichols, Chair, California Air Resources Board Helen Clarkson, CEO, The Climate Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The last five years have been the hottest on record globally. But this past winter, plunging temperatures, snowstorms and torrential rains throughout the country have a lot of people questioning the reality of climate change. If the planet is warming up, why is the Midwest suffering record cold temperatures? Climate scientists, communicators and educators join us to talk about about why, after one of the hottest years on record, the country has suddenly gone into deep freeze. On today’s Climate One: climate science explained, and climate myths debunked. Guests: Katharine Mach, Senior Research Scientist, Stanford University Ben Santer, Climate Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory David Fenton, Founder, Fenton Communications Ann Reid, Executive Director, National Center for Science Education Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From floods and fires to heavy snow and hurricanes, recent years have brought a raft of extreme weather disasters costing the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars in damages. How do we fight back? The mayors of three cities on the front lines of climate change – Houston, Miami, and Columbia, South Carolina – discuss what their cities are doing to recover, rebuild and prepare for the next mega-storm. And Seattle Times reporter Jon Talton explains why he thinks fighting climate change should be our biggest priority. Guests: Jon Talton, Economics Reporter, Seattle Times Steve Benjamin, Mayor, Columbia, SC Francis Suarez, Mayor, Miami, FL Sylvester Turner, Mayor, Houston, TX Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fighting climate change isn’t cheap. Where’s the money coming from? Major philanthropic organizations like Hewlett and Bloomberg are at the forefront of addressing climate change, but could smaller funders be more in touch with grassroots needs? Are big donors out of touch – or just stretched too far? Where is the money coming from, where is it going, what are the biggest wins and what missteps are being made along the way? Greg Dalton is joined by donors big and small for a discussion on harnessing the power of the purse in the fight against climate change. Guests: Tate Williams, Science and Environment Editor, Inside Philanthropy Larry Kramer, President, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Farhad Ebrahimi, Founder, Chorus Foundation Sarah Shanley Hope, Executive Director, The Solutions Project Dan Chu, Executive Director, Sierra Club Foundation Joe Speicher, Executive Director, Autodesk Foundation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just ten years ago, an entire state running on 100% renewable electricity seemed fanciful. But this dreamy vision became reality when, with the backing of big utilities, California committed to 100% use of zero-carbon electricity by 2045. A statewide pledge to go carbon-neutral by 2045 raised the stakes even higher. So what will it take for California to achieve such a feat? Will Governor Gavin Newsom embrace climate initiatives started by former Governor Jerry Brown? Join us in a discussion of California’s surprise gambit to take the world’s fifth largest economy to net zero. Guests: John Hofmeister, Former President, Shell Oil Company; Founder and Chief Executive, Citizens for Affordable Energy Bob Holycross, Global Director, Sustainability and Vehicle Environmental Matters, Ford Motor Company Mary Nichols, Chair, California Air Resources Board Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many of us find it daunting to talk with our neighbors, colleagues and family members about climate change. But climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe says that having those difficult conversations is the first step towards solving the problem. Hayhoe is known as a “rock star” in the climate world for her ability to talk to just about anyone about global warming. She is joined by Stanford atmospheric scientist Noah Diffenbaugh for a conversation about communicating climate change in transparent, engaging, and accessible ways. Guests: Katharine Hayhoe, Professor and Director, Climate Science Center, Texas Tech University Noah Diffenbaugh, Kara J. Foundation Professor and Kimmelman Family Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices