Climate One

With less than four months before early voting begins in the presidential election, America is enraged and inflamed across the country. People of all races are expressing their anger and solidarity in the streets and on social media. Separately, COVID infection rates are rising in over 20 states including South Carolina, Georgia, Utah and Washington. Still, primary voting continues apace. So how will the turmoil across America impact the November election? How will voters cast their ballots? And how will climate concerns rank amid racial strife and the global pandemic? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Vanessa Hauc, Journalist, Telemundo Jeff Nesbit, Executive Director, Climate Nexus Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder and Executive Director, Environmental Voter Project Additional interviews: Antony Leiserowitz Director, Yale Program on Climate Change Communication Natasha Kennedy, graphic designer in Seattle This program was recorded via live stream on June 3, 2020.

America's latest oil boom began with a bang, literally, on Earth Day, 2010. That’s when an offshore oil rig owned by BP exploded, killing eleven workers and spilling nearly five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. John Hofmeister, co-founder of Citizens for Affordable Energy, was in Washington D.C. at the time. “We simply have to get what are called negative emissions. The oil and gas industry, I think, is supremely qualified to have the scale, to have the engineers, to have this expertise, to undertake problems like that.” But can this tiger change its stripes? Heather Richards, who follows the oil industry for Energy & Environment News, is not so sure. “Even though [the oil and gas business] has expertise, I don't think it's necessarily quite as easy to shift this industry,” she says. “It's difficult I think from this seat to say with great confidence ‘we’re just gonna move into the offshore wind, we’ll just do that.’” Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: John Hofmeister, Former President, Shell Oil Company; Founder and Chief Executive, Citizens for Affordable Energy William K. Reilly, Former U.S. EPA Administrator; Co-Chair, National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Heather Richards, Energy Reporter, Energy & Environment News This program was recorded via video on May 19, 2020.

How do we go about feeding a planet that’s hotter, drier, and more crowded than ever? The connection between global warming and the dinner table isn’t always obvious when we go to the grocery store. But our choices about how we put food on our plates, and what we do with the waste, contribute to as much as one third of total greenhouse-gas emissions. How can we continue to feed the planet without destroying it in the process? Can a clean, climate-resilient food system be built to distribute calories in a way that is efficient and equitable? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests (Part 1): Twilight Greenaway, Contributing Editor, Civil Eats Amanda Little, Professor of Journalism, Vanderbilt University Guests (Part 2): Mark Kurlansky, Author, MILK! A 10,000-Year Food Fracas Anna Lappé, Author, Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork) Part 1 was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on June 18, 2019. Part 2 was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on May 16, 2018.

After decades of relying on imported oil, the U.S. achieved the unthinkable and became the world’s largest producer. Production has doubled over the past decade, and in February reached its highest level ever - thirteen million barrels a day. But as it turns out, all of that overabundance has led to a different kind of oil crisis. “We’re producing more oil and gas than ever,and this industry’s stocks are tanking,” says Amy Harder, energy reporter for Axios. Meanwhile, renewables are experiencing unprecedented growth. What will be the lasting impact of the COVID-19 recession? What is the future of energy in a post-pandemic world? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Amy Harder, Energy Reporter, Axios Jason Bordoff, Founding Director, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University Scott Jacobs, CEO and Co-founder, Generate Capital Julia Pyper, Host and Producer, Political Climate Podcast Additional interview: Chris Rawlings, founder of Veteran L.E.D. This program was recorded via video on May 6, 2020.

How do we confront the reality of a future that will be hauntingly different from today? Some authors are using fiction to create relatable narratives while sparing us from a deluge of sobering facts that can make audiences feel detached. The dystopian worlds in the films Mad Max and The Hunger Games do the same to both entertain and distance viewers from the realities of an increasingly destabilized climate. Can fiction give access to hopes and fears that we can’t handle in our daily lives? How are authors like Jenny Offill and Roy Scranton using stories that let readers experience climate change, while also keeping it at arms’ length? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Jenny Offill, Author, Weather Roy Scranton, Author, Learning to Die in the Anthropocene This program was recorded via live stream on April 10, 2020.

Can we solve the climate crisis by reimagining our cities? Climate activists have long envisioned the zero-carbon cities of the future. Now, with COVID-19 shutting down congested urban areas, city dwellers from Los Angeles to New Delhi are getting a rare taste of clean air and blue skies. But the view is also more clear of things more painful to see - social inequalities that have existed for generations. “This is an opportunity to think about what kind of systems do we actually want, what kind of future do we envision for our cities and for our economy,” says sustainability expert Eva Gladek. “And how do we actually try to address multiple challenges at once when looking toward that future.” Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Ani Dasgupta, Global Director, World Resources Institute, Ross Center for Sustainable Cities Eva Gladek, Founder and CEO, Metabolic Lauren Faber O'Connor, Chief Sustainability Officer, Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti, City of Los Angeles Additional interview: Lubna Ahmed, Director of Environmental Health, WE ACT for Environmental Justice This program is generously underwritten by ClimateWorks Foundation and was recorded via video on April 20, 2020.

When institutional investors divest from fossil fuel companies, does it make a difference, or is the impact merely symbolic? Some advocate keeping your stock and your influence, using investor dollars to encourage change from within. We’re not all managing billions in assets, but how can we use our nest eggs to help finance a green economy? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Brian Deese, Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainable Investing, BlackRock Lori Keith, Portfolio Manager, Parnassus Investments Pratima Rangarajan, CEO, Oil and Gas Climate Initiative Anne Simpson, Director of Board Governance & Strategy, CalPERS This program was recorded via video on April 16, 2020.

The COVID-19 recession is unfolding at historic speed and depth. New jobless claims reached a record 10 million in just two weeks. Wall Street’s fear gauge closed at an all-time high in mid-March. Environmentally, though, the shutdown has come with some temporary benefits — decreased travel, cleaner water, a plunging demand for oil. But crashing the economy isn’t exactly a climate solution. How will the coronavirus recession reshape the economy and prospects for addressing climate in a post-pandemic world? How does this economic crisis compare to others in history? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Kathleen Day, Finance Lecturer, Johns Hopkins University; Author, Broken Bargain: Banks, Bailouts, and the Struggle to Tame Wall Street Amy Myers Jaffe, Director, Energy Security and Climate Change Program, Council on Foreign Relations Matt Rogers, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company Additional interviews: Shubhayu Saha, Health Scientist, Climate and Health Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Phil Ting, California State Assembly Member This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on April 15, 2020.

What can the spread of coronavirus teach us about the spread of climate change? Both crises have global reach, invisible perpetrators, and require aggressive, early action for containment. But while an infectious disease is acute and deeply personal, the impacts of a changing climate are systemic and vague. Scientists point out that the coronavirus family — which includes COVID-19 and SARS — originated as an animal disease that can be passed along to humans. With increased human development encroaching into wildlife areas, should communities be preparing for more pandemics? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Brian Allan, Associate Entomology Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Aaron Bernstein, Interim Director, The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard C-CHANGE) Barbara Gottlieb, Director of Environment and Health, Physicians for Social Responsibility Additional interviews: Jason Rohr, Professor at the University of Notre Dame This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on April 3, 2020.

Nuclear power - revive it or allow a slow death? Today, about a hundred nuclear plants provide 20 percent of America’s electricity. Once touted as a modern power source, nuclear fell out of favor after a series of major accidents – most notably those at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. A handful of the plants that once dotted the landscape have been shuttered because they can’t compete with cheaper sources of power. By the end of the century, the industry was languishing. But the urgency of climate change causes some to advocate giving nuclear a new lease on life. A discussion about the health of the nuclear power industry today, and the 21st century innovations that could point to a new path forward. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Per Peterson, Professor of Nuclear Engineering, UC Berkeley Edwin Lyman, Acting Director, Nuclear Safety Project, Union of Concerned Scientists Ken Farabaugh, Former Employee, Vermont Yankee Jose Reyes, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, NuScale Power Jacob Dewitte, CEO, Oklo Christine Parthemore, Chief Executive Officer, The Council on Strategic Risks

Why does an invisible, life-threatening virus prompt a nationwide emergency, but invisible, life-threatening gases don’t? Experts have been emphasizing the dangers of unchecked climate change for years, underscoring the need for rapid, bold action early-on to avoid the worst impacts. Now health experts are pushing the same level of global mobilization to quell the spread of the novel coronavirus. Why are humans wired to respond to some fears and emergencies more than others? Can the reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic teach us anything about how humans respond to other invisible, global threats? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Peter Atwater, Adjunct Professor of Economics, College of William & Mary Susan Clayton, Whitmore-Williams Professor of Psychology, College of Wooster Robert H. Frank, Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Additional interviews: Shannon Osaka, Climate Reporter, Grist This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on March 24, 2020,

“How do you move from a place of simply trying to stop bad things and asking instead how would you make products and services in a sustainable manner?” asks Adam Davis of Ecosystem Investment Partners. Is it possible to protect profits and the planet? Despite claims that a win for the environment is a loss for the economy, corporations are finding innovative ways to have it both ways, realizing that protecting watersheds and ecosystems can also protect their business. Now, innovative companies are “going circular” by transforming how their products are designed, used, and remade. Can a circular economy salvage the climate and save the planet? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests (Part 1): Gretchen Daily, Professor of Environmental Science, Stanford University Adam Davis, Managing Partner, Ecosystem Investment Partners Barbara Grady, Senior Writer, GreenBiz.com Guests (Part 2): 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 Innovation Institute “Aligning Profits with the Planet” was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on July 27, 2017 “Can a Circular Economy Salvage the Climate?” was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of San Francisco on May 7, 2019

Addressing the climate challenge requires incremental and transformational change on both personal and systemic levels. That means altering our personal habits as citizens, consumers, employees and parents. At the same time, society needs to fundamentally modernize the food, transportation, building and energy systems. That mind-blowing amount of change is so daunting, it’s no wonder people want to skip away into the happy land of denial. How should we think about change — and how do our words shape our behavior? Where does change really begin? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: George Lakoff, Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Science and Linguistics, UC Berkeley Amanda Ravenhill, Executive Director, The Buckminster Fuller Institute Margaret Klein Salamon, Founder and Executive Director, The Climate Mobilization Additional interviews: Jonah Gottlieb, Student and Director of Schools for Climate Action This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on February 26, 2020.

For years, scientists have been saying that the climate battle will be won or lost in the next decade. The IPCC has stated that to avoid climate catastrophe, global emissions must be halved by 2030. Politicians and the media have picked up the message; some making it a rallying cry. But is a ten-year goal realistic? What is needed to get people to take notice of -- and take action on -- the climate deadline? Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Chris Field, Faculty Director, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University David Fenton, Founder, Fenton Communications Renee Lertzman, Climate Engagement Strategist and Author This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on February 24, 2020.

Does solving climate change mean re-thinking old top-down approaches and embracing big change at high speed? A half-century after the first Earth Day, some environmental advocates argue it’s time to challenge some of our basic assumptions about climate action. In the new book A Better Planet: 40 Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future, editor and Yale law professor Dan Esty showcases innovative ideas designed to push the boundaries of possible climate solutions from leaders in industry, government, business, and land management. Visit climateone.org/watch-and-listen/podcasts for more information on today's episode. Guests: Daniel Esty, Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Yale Law School Andy Karsner, Former Assistant Energy Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy This program was recorded at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on February 10, 2020.