Climate One

Finding one's voice in climate action can come in many forms. Author and activist Taylor Brorby grew up in Center, North Dakota as a fourth-generation member of a fossil-fuel family. He struggled to find his place as a young gay kid who loved art, music, nature and poetry. Over time, he turned that tension into writing that challenges the fossil fuel industry, makes space for others stuck in a broken system, and inspires a more just future.  Suzie Hicks felt the weight of climate concerns but after college, didn’t know what to do with those feelings. After doing an internship at the New England Aquarium, they realized they could merge their love of performing with a career focused on climate. With the help of a sunflower puppet named Sprout, Suzie created a children’s show that teaches kids about climate change through a frame of possibility and hope, not doom and gloom.  Guests Taylor Brorby, Activist, Author, “Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land” Suzie Hicks, Climate Media Maker and Educator For show notes, transcript, and related links, visit ClimateOne.org/podcasts. 00:00 – Intro 02:20 – Taylor Brorby describes the N.D. town where he grew up 05:00 – What he learned from the prairie landscape 07:30 – Other queer writers from the Great Plains 13:30 – Influential environmental writers  17:00 – Writing optimistically rather than dystopian narratives 20:00 – Getting arrested protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline 25:30 – Why we need to be supporting rural writers  30:00 – Project Tundra, a carbon capture project near Center, N.D. 34:00 – Origins of Suzie Hicks, the Climate Chick 36:30 – It’s okay to have complicated feelings about climate change 40:00 – Working with kids' existing love for nature in educating them about climate change 42:00 – Why introduce kids to climate change? Because it’s already happening. 47:00 – How Hicks sees their role as a positive storyteller around climate change ********** Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today at patreon.com/ClimateOne.  Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are living through a time where big positive change seems unachievable, but there are two instances from the recent past that prove change is possible. For over a century, Indigenous people along the Klamath River fought to protect their way of life, and the salmon they depend on. Their persistence helped remove four dams and restore hundreds of miles of river. In Los Angeles, decades of science, activism, and policy turned toxic smog into cleaner air.  Both stories reveal that progress takes persistence, coalition-building, and time. But when communities push and institutions respond, meaningful change is possible. Guests:  Amy Bowers Cordalis, Yurok Tribe member, Author, The Water Remembers Ann Carlson, Professor of Environmental Law, UCLA; Author, Smog and Sunshine: The Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/podcasts 00:00 – Intro 02:26 – Amy Bowers Cordalis on the river and salmon  06:63 – Amy Bowers Cordalis on Uncle Ray  12:53 – Amy Bowers Cordalis on witnessing the effects of the dams  16:04 – Amy Bowers Cordalis on the lowest salmon run  2218  – Amy Bowers Cordalis on getting to destroy the dams 28:18 – Amy Bowers Cordalis on seeing the river come back to life  34:13 – Ann Carlson on the state of LA air 37:58 – Ann Carlson on the first steps towards cleaning the air  40:14 – Ann Carlson on getting from pineapples to smog 44:27 – Ann Carlson on the Mothers of East LA  52:40 – Ann Carlson on why it the book is important now ********** Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today at patreon.com/ClimateOne.  Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About half the global population spends some amount of their leisure time playing games, whether it’s a board game after dinner with friends or online role-playing experience through an alternate world. While many video and board games have long incorporated elements we can imagine in a climate-altered future — such as resource scarcity, conflict, and survival — some in the industry are working to shift players’ mindsets towards protecting nature and reducing their own climate impacts in the process.  Daybreak is a cooperative board game about stopping climate change. Cities: Skylines lets players do urban planning with climate-friendly policies such as offering free public transportation or implementing congestion pricing. And the UN’s Environment Programme is backing the Playing for Planet Alliance, which awards games that spark engagement while delivering an environmental message. How can games encourage  people to explore climate realities and possible futures in a way that allows greater engagement, rather than anxiety and despair? Guests: Jacob Geller, Author; Video Essayist Laura Carter, CEO and Founder, TreesPlease Games Sam Barratt, Chief of Youth, Education and Advocacy, UN Environment Programme For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/podcasts Highlights: 00:00 – Intro 00:30 – Kousha and Ariana play a video game 05:00 – Jacob Geller on video games and climate themes 11:00 – World-building games that employ climate solutions and strategies 21:30 – Laura Carter on her early love of games and environmental issues 26:00 – LongLeaf Valley and storytelling in games 33:30 – Why build tree-planting into the gameplay 40:00 – Sam Barratt on why video games medium is so critical for engagement  46:30 – Playing for the Planet Alliance and Green Games Jam 52:00 – Why it’s important for games industry to decarbonize 58:00 – Climate One More Thing ********** Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today at patreon.com/ClimateOne.  Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a moment when nearly everything feels polarized, Benji Backer is trying to carve out a different path, one where caring about the natural world isn’t a partisan issue. As the founder of Nature Is Nonpartisan, he’s bringing together voices from across the political spectrum who might disagree on climate policy, but still share a desire to preserve public lands, wildlife, and the outdoors.  Can conservation still serve as common ground in a divided country? What does it take to make environmentalism resonate beyond traditional audiences? Is a bipartisan movement possible in today’s political climate? Guests:  Benji Backer, Founder and CEO, Nature is Nonpartisan Skyler Zunk, Founder and CEO, Energy Right  For show notes, transcript, and related links, visit ClimateOne.org/podcasts. Highlights: 00:00 – Intro 03:30 – Benji Backer on his relationship with nature 05:54 – Benji Backer on how Nature is Nonpartisan came to be 09:29 – Benji Backer on making conservation culturally relevant  16:44 – Benji Backer on the hard work of moving policy forward  21:19 – Benji Backer on why political leanings are labeled on staff page 24:16 – Benji Backer on bringing more people into the tent 31:45 – Benji Backer on where there is bipartisan support 34:30 – Benji Backer on where his work has had the most impact  39:23 – Skyler Zunk on his time working for the first Trump administration 44:31 – Skyler Zunk on a farmer who has solar panels on the sheep farm 49:26 – Skyler Zunk on the importance of being able to relate to locals ********** Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today at patreon.com/ClimateOne.  Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades we’ve seen nations exercise geopolitical dominance tied to their production and control of fossil fuels – especially oil. But that leverage may be changing. Last year, China installed nearly twenty times the amount of wind and solar as the United States. In this essay in The National Interest, the authors lay out a global political and economic realignment already underway. Petrostates, like those in OPEC, are increasingly at odds with electrostates like China and many in the EU. This isn’t to say that electrostates are not without resource challenges – they’re seriously dependent on mineral supply chains – but the challenges are different, as are the opportunities. When 70% of the world’s population lives in fossil-fuel-importing countries, how are these diverging resource paths shaping the global balances of power?  Guests: Tatiana Mitrova, Global Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Global Energy & Climate Innovation Editor, The Economist Li Shuo, Director, China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit https://climateone.org/podcasts Highlights: 00:00 – Intro 04:30 – Tatiana Mitrova on petrostates and the idea of electrostates 10:00 – Electrostates are already taking market share from petrostates 13:30 – How Mitrova sees balance of power shifting as world electrifies 17:15 – Vijay Vaitheeswaran on the concept of an electrostate 26:00 – How cheap electricity could allow developing nations to skip over fossil fuels 34:00 – Vaitheeswaran on how U.S. should take on industrial policy in this moment 38:00 – Li Shuo: China’s latest 5-year plan suggests it will double down on clean tech sector 41:00 – China installed nearly twenty times wind and solar as U.S. last year 49:30 – China is on track to become firs ********** Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today at patreon.com/ClimateOne.  Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices