Climate One

We’re living through a climate emergency; addressing this crisis begins by talking about it. Co-Hosts Greg Dalton, Ariana Brocious and Kousha Navidar bring you empowering conversations that connect all aspects of the challenge — the scary and the exciting, the individual and the systemic. Join us.

Subscribe to Climate One on Patreon for access to ad-free episodes.

Earth Sciences
Social Sciences
News Commentary
301
Letters to The Boss: Help Fix Our Climate
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 CEOs are feeling the pressure
51 min
302
John Browne: Engineering the Future
Can oil companies reinvent themselves as clean energy providers? In his new book, former BP CEO Lord John Browne argues for a mass deployment of engineered technology to address climate change – and that the tools we need to get there already exist.
50 min
303
California’s Story: How Did It Get Here?
As climate change fuels megafires across California and the state’s largest electric utility shuts off power to millions of residents, can the state’s legacy of environmental leadership save it from climate disaster?
50 min
304
Libation Migration: Beer, Wine and Climate Change
America’s most popular alcoholic beverages are about to take a hit from climate. Disruptions from drought, fires, and rising temperatures have brewers and winemakers wondering: will business as usual survive into the next generation?
50 min
305
Cities for the Future
Cities around the world are bracing for a growth spurt. How do we redesign our cities to withstand the challenges of cars, climate change and rapid population growth? Can we build a Tomorrowland that is sustainable, livable and inclusive?
51 min
306
Law and Disorder: Climate Change in the Courts
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.
50 min
307
Scorched Earth: Culture and Climate Under Siege
From the Amazon to California, our planet’s forests are disappearing. And along with them, the stability of our climate. As wildfires, agribusiness and consumerism drive deforestation, who is planting the seeds of change that will save our trees?
50 min
308
Jonathan Safran Foer: We Are the Weather
Author 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. But are societies up for changing norms at a scale ambitious enough to meet the challenge?
50 min
309
Heavy Weather: Balancing Joy and Despair
Whether we get it from the news, the trauma of a natural disaster, or fear of a warming planet, climate anxiety is undermining our health and well-being. Join us for a conversation about awareness and resilience in an age of unprecedented disruption
50 min
310
My Climate Story: Terry Root
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 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
25 min
311
A Tale of Two Cities: Miami and Detroit
Climate change is upending Miami’s real estate market. And as hurricanes pummel the coast and rising seas lap at Florida’s shoreline, Midwestern cities like Detroit look more and more appealing. Is the Motor City ready for a Sunshine State invasion?
50 min
312
My Climate Story: Ben Santer
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. Guests: 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)
28 min
313
From Wheels to Wings: Our Flying Car Future
Can we beat the traffic by taking to the skies? Sailing over freeways in a flying car, commuting in minutes instead of hours, has long been the stuff of science fiction. But ambitious startups are on their way to making urban airborne mobility a reality.
50 min
314
How Pro Sports Can Be a Player in Climate
From stadiums packed with energetic fans to food, beer, and waste, athletics 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? Guests: Dusty Baker, Special Advisor, San Francisco Giants Roger McClendon, Executive Director, Green Sports Alliance Jim Thompson, Founder, Positive Coaching Alliance.
50 min
315
Carbon Offsets: Privileged Pollution?
Carbon offsets have been called everything from a band-aid solution to “the best thing a consumer can do right now.” A new service even offers customers a monthly subscription to offset their carbon footprint. Meanwhile, offset providers are scrutinized for transparency, and purchasers are criticized for using them as a get-out-of-jail-free card. 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? What impact does purchasing offsets have on poorer communities?
50 min
316
Tom Steyer: Power Disruptor?
Businessman, activist, and Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer says he’ll declare climate change a national emergency on Day One of his presidency. But is this the moment for another wealthy, white, male to run for president?
50 min
317
Superpower: How Renewables are Transforming Ame...
Achieving the goal of 100 percent clean power presents a host of challenges, from modernizing an aging electrical grid to transporting and storing the energy we produce. Do we have what it takes to make the transition from fossil fuels to renewables?
50 min
318
The Land of Dreams and Drought
The California dream has been beckoning people west for over two hundred years. But making that dream come true for an ever-increasing population in the era of climate change has taken its toll on the landscape. Is the California dream coming to an end?
50 min
319
Drawdown: Do We Have What It Takes to Solve Cli...
When it comes to solving climate change, where do we start? Eat less meat, improve family planning, cut down on flying, or switch to renewables? How do we best allocate resources, prioritize policies, and design economic tradeoffs as we move forward?
50 min
320
The Art of the Green Deal
Where is the U.S. headed with political action on climate: Green New Deal, Green Real Deal, or no deal at all? Democratic Senator Ed Markey and Republican Representative Matt Gaetz discuss their respective proposals for climate action.
50 min
321
The Fate of Food
How do we go about feeding a planet that’s hotter, drier, and more crowded than ever? Join us for a conversation on how innovatio, agriculture, technology and traditional knowledge are coming together to sustain a planet of eight billion.
51 min
322
Cities for the Future
Cities around the world are bracing for a growth spurt. How do we redesign our cities to withstand the challenges of cars, climate change and rapid population growth? Can we build a Tomorrowland that is sustainable, livable and inclusive?
51 min
323
Climate Winners and Losers
Who will win and lose as climate disruption impacts agriculture, employment, crime, storms and human mortality?
48 min
324
David Wallace-Wells: The Uninhabitable Earth
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. So If science and news headlines won’t propel us into climate action, will fear do the trick?
51 min
325
Can a Circular Economy Salvage the Climate?
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 only one part of the story. 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?
49 min