Climate One

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

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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

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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

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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

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More than perhaps any other state, Hawaii has major incentives to decarbonize. Imported oil accounts for about 90% of Hawaii's total energy consumption, and electricity prices are more than three times the national average. So it may not be surprising that Hawaii was the first state in the nation to set a 100% renewable energy goal by 2045. But that’s a hard goal to achieve, especially given the realities of geographic isolation and the costs of importing fuel and materials. 

Hawaii Governor Josh Green is bullish about the island state’s decarbonization and wants all options on the table. That includes making liquified natural gas part of the mix, along with solar, wind, and geothermal. His administration passed the first “green fee” which imposes a tax on Hawaii visitors and is expected to generate $100 million for climate resilience projects. What can we learn from Hawaii’s decarbonization process? 

Guests: 

Josh Green, Governor of Hawaii

Rylee Brooke Kamahele, Youth Plaintiff, Navahine v. Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation

Tessa M. Hill, Oceanographer and Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences, UC DavisFor show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

03:08 Josh Green on achieving Hawaii’s climate goals

07:11 Josh Green on offshore wind

13:17 Josh Green on the effect of the wildfires and the recovery

18:09 Josh Green on decarbonizing

20:22 Josh Green on the health effects of the climate crisis

23:30 Rylee Brooke Kamahele on growing up

24:26 Rylee Brooke Kamahele on community action

29:06 Rylee Brooke Kamahele on the outcome of the lawsuit

34:27 Rylee Brooke Kamahele on the responsibility of older generations

37:55 Tessa M. Hill on rapidly changing oceans

41:43 Tessa M. Hill on the impact to common fish

44:44 Tessa M. Hill on the winners and losers of the changing oceans

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