Supercool

How do cities become great places to walk? What moves people to ditch their cars and use their own feet? According to Jeff Speck, the key is that the walk itself has to be as good as a drive. Jeff wrote the book on walkability—literally. Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America One Step at a Time is the best-selling city-planning title of the 21st century and a classic on making cities pedestrian-friendly.

Jeff’s “General Theory of Walkability” spells out exactly what it takes: walking needs to be useful, safe, comfortable, and interesting—all at once. He’s transformed communities across America, proving that towns and cities everywhere can rewrite the rules and reshape their streets.

Creating walkable communities is essential for cutting carbon emissions and sustaining economic vitality. A 2023 Smart Growth America report reveals that merely 1.2% of land in the top 35 U.S. metros is walkable, yet these urban neighborhoods contribute 20% of the nation’s GDP.

On today’s show, Jeff breaks down what makes a place truly walkable, the maddening obstacles standing in the way, and how to clear the path—one thoughtful step at a time.

“If you organize your city around cars, you end up with a car city. If you organize your city around people and places, you have a people and places city. It’s a choice we make as we design cities.” — Jeff Speck

Show Notes

Are we better off today as a nation than we were four years ago in our efforts to decarbonize the economy and build a more equitable society?  With the election on the horizon, we’re taking stock of the strides made since the Biden-Harris Administration took office and prioritized the clean energy transition.

David Turk, Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy, joins the conversation. As the DOE’s second-in-command and Chief Operating Officer, he has played a key role in implementing President Biden’s landmark clean energy legislation, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

In just one Presidential term, the U.S. has shifted its trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions reductions from 20% to 40% by 2030, bringing us closer to our 2030 target of a 50% reduction on our path to full decarbonization by 2050.

Here’s the kicker: cutting carbon emissions isn’t dragging down the economy. Clean energy jobs are surging, expanding at twice the job growth rate of the broader U.S. economy. With over 900 projects funded nationwide, communities in every state are seeing tangible benefits from this transition.

As we prepare to cast our votes and shape the future of our nation and the world, this conversation is important to consider.

Show Notes

Bitcoin mining frequently faces criticism in climate circles for its voracious energy appetite. But what if that narrative is over-generalized or maybe even entirely misses the mark?

This week, we venture into the world of Bitcoin with Matthew Schultz, the founding CEO and now Executive Chairman of CleanSpark—the fourth largest publicly traded Bitcoin miner by market capitalization, valued at $3.2 billion. CleanSpark’s roots in renewable energy predate its entry into Bitcoin mining. A decade ago, Schultz and his team were pioneering advanced solar microgrids on U.S. military bases in California and partnering with the South African government and the World Bank to eradicate energy poverty through solar-plus-storage solutions.

CleanSpark began Bitcoin mining in 2020 and has been on a meteoric rise ever since. Operating in rural communities across America, the company primarily utilizes emissions-free nuclear energy and has cultivated a strong reputation as a community partner—boosting local tax revenue, strengthening grid resilience, and creating high-tech jobs far away from traditional tech and innovation hubs.

Today, CleanSpark mines between 3-4% of all new Bitcoin globally, making their strategic moves profoundly impactful. Ready for an eye-opening journey? Tune in to discover how CleanSpark seamlessly blends clean energy with cryptocurrency to forge a sustainable future.

Bringing climate tech into the mainstream means pulling off the near-impossible: replacing familiar, conventional choices with something cheaper, better, and easier to adopt. That’s precisely what Dandelion Energy has accomplished with home geothermal energy.

Kathy Hannun spun Dandelion out of Google X—Alphabet’s lab for moonshot ideas—in 2017, aiming to make geothermal a no-brainer for homeowners: easy to install, cheaper than traditional heating and cooling, and so seamless you barely notice it—except when you see the monthly savings.

How Hannun and her team pulled it off is a testament to their grit, tenacity, and commitment to iterative improvements that led to industry-shifting breakthroughs.

Homes that use geothermal for heating and cooling slash their carbon emissions by up to 75%. Plus, energy prices and grid emissions dip as utilities rely less on high-cost, high-emission peaker plants during peak demand. 

Having launched in the Northeast, with several thousand residential installations completed, Dandelion is now scaling nationally, partnering with installers and production homebuilders like Lennar, one of the largest in the U.S. Soon, geothermal energy will be the standard heating and cooling solution for many thousands of new homes.

Welcome to a supercool future where geothermal comes with the house.

Startling research from the U.S. Forest Service reveals that urban trees are more than just climate champions. They're playing a pivotal public health role in cities. The more trees in your neighborhood, the less violent crime, fewer prescriptions for antidepressants, and lower rates of asthma, childhood leukemia, and other immune diseases. These leafy giants affect everything from improved pregnancy outcomes to longer life expectancy. While saving the Amazon grabs headlines, the trees right outside your door shape your life in important ways.

Vital to public health, urban trees are also a smart investment. By boosting property values, they generate enough tax revenue to cover planting and maintenance costs three times over. Thanks to a historic $1.5 billion from the Inflation Reduction, earmarked for the U.S. Forest Service's Urban and Community Forest Program, cities nationwide are accelerating tree planting.

This week, Geoffrey Donovan, an urban forester and economist with the U.S. Forest Service, joins the show. His groundbreaking research over the past two decades is reshaping how urban planners and policymakers think about the essential role of trees in city life.

Whether you're deciding where to live or thinking about your neighborhood's vibrance and vitality, it’s time to start asking about the quantity, diversity, and maturity of your local trees.

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