In Hot Take, Mary Annaïse Heglar and Amy Westervelt take an intersectional, critical, but constructive look at climate coverage—with the ultimate goal of making the conversation about climate change more productive and powerful. Not just bigger, but more inclusive.
The Hot Take podcast, hosted by Amy Westervelt and Mary Heglar, is an absolute powerhouse of intelligence and wit. Together, they make a stellar duo that tackles the complex issue of climate change with grace and expertise. This podcast is truly the best way to stay up to date on climate news without feeling overwhelmed or paralyzed by the enormity of the problem.
One of the best aspects of The Hot Take is its ability to speak truth to power. Amy and Mary fearlessly expose truths that many are afraid to talk about, shedding light on important issues that deserve more attention. Their message is bold and unapologetic, providing a voice for those who are often silenced in discussions surrounding climate change.
It's also worth mentioning that this podcast consistently delivers in-depth information and perspective on climate justice. It goes beyond surface-level analysis, diving deep into structural issues that often go unnoticed. The hosts provide context and share their emotions on the topic while still maintaining a sense of hopefulness, which sets this podcast apart from others in the field.
Additionally, The Hot Take stands out for its engaging conversations and top-notch guests. Each episode brings new insights and actionable ideas that listeners can apply to their own lives. Whether you're well-versed in climate science or approaching the topic from a different angle, this podcast offers something for everyone.
On the downside, it can be challenging for a podcast like The Hot Take to maintain its momentum in today's media landscape. Canceling the show may be an easy solution for Crooked Media, but I believe it would be a disservice to both Amy and Mary's hard work as well as to the audience who greatly benefits from their perspectives.
In conclusion, I hope that Amy Westervelt and Mary Heglar continue to work together soon because their partnership has resulted in one of the most insightful and entertaining podcasts available today. The Hot Take is my go-to source for climate news, providing me with the knowledge and inspiration I need to stay engaged in the fight against climate change. I cannot recommend this podcast enough, as it is a true gem in the world of media.
In the Season 3 premiere of Inherited, host Shaylyn Martos introduces us to storyteller Camara Aaron, who shares a personal story of family loss, structural resilience, and survival in an era of climate change. Camara, now 25, was only a child when she visited her grandmother's unique house on the island of Dominica, in the West Indies. But when Hurricane Maria devastated the Caribbean in 2017, her grandmother died in the storm, leaving Camara to sift through her own hazy memories and reconcile a way forward. Inherited is a critically acclaimed climate storytelling show made by, for, and about young people. We're a production of YR Media and distributed by Critical Frequency. For more information about our podcast, head to our website at yr.media/inherited, and follow us on the socials @inheritedpod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For our last episode of Hot Take, Amy and Mary revisit their favorite jokes, and dig into the listener mailbag to answer questions from Hot Cakes around the globe.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake
This week, Amy and Mary discuss zombie ice viruses, the Keystone pipeline spill in Kansas, a global biodiversity crisis, the degrowth movement, and more.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake
This week, Amy and Mary chat with Rebecca Nagle - an Indigenous journalist, host of This Land, and long-time friend of the show. They discuss Brackeen v. Haaland (a legal case threatening Indian Law), why Indigenous issues are so under covered, Landback, and more.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake
Just in time for the holiday season, Amy and Mary chat with Aja Barber - a writer, stylist and consultant who works at the intersections of fashion and sustainability. They dive into the problems with fast fashion, and its worst offender and Aja's sworn enemy Shein. They discuss Aja's recent book - Consumed, talk about more ethical options for gift giving, and more.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake
Amy and Mary break down this year's COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, and explore the history of U.N. climate conferences beginning with the first summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. They also discuss the unseemly presence of fossil fuel companies at the meeting, loss and damages, climate debt, and moreFollow us on twitter @RealHotTake
This week on Hot Take, Amy and Mary break down the midterms, examine the shadowy billionaires funding Republican candidates, and give an honest review of Elon's performance as Twitter's CEO. Spoiler: He's failing, but it might be on purpose. Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake
This week on Hot Take, Amy and Mary speak with Rhiana Gunn-Wright - Director of Climate Policy at the Roosevelt Institute and one of the architects of the Green New Deal. With the midterms right around the corner, they discuss shifting narratives around climate, the IRA, and much more. Later on, Amy and Mary make sense of the phenomena of flying soup that's taking the art world by storm, and break down a horrific take from a New York Times opinion writer.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake
This week on Hot Take, Amy and Mary pick apart the climate implications and nuances in key midterm races (Fetterman, Booker, Barnes, Beto), plus the upcoming Brazilian presidential election. They look ahead to COP and the conversation around loss and damages (read: reparations), and the Nigeria floods. Oh, and Amy gets crafty for Halloween! Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake
This week on Hot Take, Mary is joined by Sara Sneath, investigative reporter and alligator doula and Drew Costley, climate & environment reporter at The Associated Press. They discuss how to approach communities in the throes of a climate disaster, the tension between chronic and acute crises, trauma-informed reporting, and the disabled community. And, gators!If you want to contribute to relief efforts in Florida, here are a few places to give to:Disaster Relief at WorkFlorida Disaster FundConvoy of HopeIf you want to contribute to the relief efforts in Puerto Rico, here are a few places to give to:Proyecto Matria (women's rights org): Taller Salud (women's health org) Brigada Solidaria del Oeste: Mutual Aid NetworkFollow us on twitter @RealHotTake and sign up for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
This week on Hot Take, Amy & Mary discuss the new wave of Southern Black Democrats running on climate centric platforms and break down the important climate cases before the Supreme Court. They also bring updates on this year's hurricane season and more.If you want to contribute to relief efforts in Florida, here are a few places to give to:Disaster Relief at WorkFlorida Disaster FundConvoy of HopeIf you want to contribute to the relief efforts in Puerto Rico, here are a few places to give to:Proyecto Matria (women's rights org): Taller Salud (women's health org) Brigada Solidaria del Oeste: Mutual Aid NetworkFollow us on twitter @RealHotTake and sign up for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
This week on Hot Take, Amy & Mary talk to Olúfemi Táíwò, author and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown, about tokenism, reparations, how the powerful have appropriated identity politics and turned it into a tool of division, and more. Taiwo is the author of Elite Capture and Reconsidering Reparations and a real-life philosopher. If you want to contribute to relief efforts in Florida, here are a few places to give to:Disaster Relief at WorkFlorida Disaster FundConvoy of HopeIf you want to contribute to the relief efforts in Puerto Rico, here are a few places to give to:Proyecto Matria (women's rights org): Taller Salud (women's health org) Brigada Solidaria del Oeste: Mutual Aid NetworkFollow us on twitter @RealHotTake and sign up for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
This week on Hot Take, Amy & Mary give updates on Hurricane Ian, Manchin's failed permitting bill, discontent in Europe, and more.If you want to contribute to relief efforts in Florida, here are a few places to give to:Disaster Relief at WorkFlorida Disaster FundConvoy of HopeIf you want to contribute to the relief efforts in Puerto Rico, here are a few places to give to:Proyecto Matria (women's rights org): Taller Salud (women's health org) Brigada Solidaria del Oeste: Mutual Aid NetworkFollow us on twitter @RealHotTake and sign up for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
Today on Hot Take, Mary and Amy are joined by Kate Marvel, climate scientist at NASA, who answers listener questions about acid rain, geoengineering, astrology, and more.If you want to contribute to the relief efforts in Puerto Rico, here are a few places to give to:Proyecto Matria (women's rights org): Taller Salud (women's health org) Brigada Solidaria del Oeste: Mutual Aid NetworkFollow us on twitter @RealHotTake and sign up for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
We hear all the time that acting on climate can upset the delicate balance of the economy, worsen inflation, kills jobs. So on and so forth. But is it true? Today on Hot Take, Mary and Amy are joined by Akshat Rathi, Senior Climate Reporter at Bloomberg, to break down the barriers and dispels the myths between the world of finance and the world we live on.Make sure to listen and subscribe to Akshat's new climate podcast - Zero. Check out his groundbreaking investigation into ESG, too!If you want to contribute to the relief efforts in Jackson, Mississippi and Pakistan, here are a few places to give to:Cooperation Jackson - MississippiMississippi Rapid Response CoalitionAlkihidmat Foundation - PakistanFlood Relief - Akhuwat -PakistanFollow us on twitter @RealHotTake and sign up for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
For this week's Hot Take Labor Day special, Mary and Amy look into the connections between labor unions and the climate movement, the mega droughts in China and California, and the ongoing water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi.If you have questions for our upcoming "Ask A Scientist" episode, please email them to us hottake@crooked.com If you want to contribute to the relief efforts in Jackson, Mississippi and Pakistan, here are a few places to give to:Cooperation Jackson - MississippiMississippi Rapid Response CoalitionAlkihidmat Foundation - PakistanFlood Relief - Akhuwat -Pakistan Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
This week on Hot Take, Mary and Amy talk to Abrahm Lustgarten about how colonialism, both in the past and the present, put the weight of the climate crisis on the shoulders of the people who did the least to create it. As a lens, they use Abrahm's Propublica investigation of Barbados' (and other Caribbean nations) attempt to navigate the intersection of climate change and debt. This conversation was taped on the anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Ida, during devastating floods in Pakistan and Jackson, Mississippi. Here are a few places you can go to contribute to the relief efforts in Jackson, Mississippi and Pakistan:Cooperation Jackson - MississippiMississippi Rapid Response CoalitionAlkihidmat Foundation - PakistanFlood Relief - Akhuwat -Pakistan Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
This week, Mary and Amy are joined by Evlondo Cooper, a journalist at media watchdog - Media Matters, to chat about the connections between the shrinking local new landscape and right-wing climate disinformation campaigns that have been lying on the Green New Deal, Build Back Better, and the IRA.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
Tune into Hot Take this week, where Mary and Amy take a much needed break by watching TV! They look at how climate is represented in TV and film by revisiting Don't Look Up, Billions, I May Destroy You, Beasts of the Southern Wild (Mary's favorite film!), and so much more.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
Amy and Mary cut through the noise to break down the good and the bad in the climate legislation that just passed the Senate - and take stock of what it means for the climate movement and where the conversation should go from here.
This week, Mary and Amy break down the latest in climate news from - the Inflation Reduction Act, the possibility of a climate emergency declaration, Taylor Swift's private jet use, and much more. Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
This week, Mary and Amy are joined by investigative journalist Alleen Brown to take a closer look at mass incarceration. If we're going to talk about the communities most vulnerable to climate change, we have to talk about mass incarceration. From prison labor to prison evacuation, from ICE detention centers to juvenile justice centers, nothing good comes from the convergence of the climate crisis and the mass incarceration crisis.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.comListen to our episode on prison abolition with Drew Costley, here.
This week, Joe Manchin spiked Biden's climate bill, but the planet is no political football. This week's episode of Hot Take takes a closer look at the true stakes of the climate crisis with a focus on the Global South. Mary is joined by Dharna Noor to talk through extreme heat and rising authoritarianism in India, floating cities in the Maldives, drought in the Horn of Africa, and a rotting oil tanker in Yemen—and so much more.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
Today on Hot Take is all about resilience—and the limits thereof. Mary talks with two fellow southerners - Ko Bragg, Scalawag's Race & Place Editor, and Amal Ahmed, Disaster Reporter at Southerly. They discuss the uneasiness of today's summers, the problems with individual responsibility and why "resilience" is almost never the right word.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
This week on Hot Take, we're off! But, we've brought you an episode from one of our favorite shows - Scene on Radio. Amy was the co-host of the most recent season, along with John Biewen. If you like this episode, make sure to check out Scene on Radio to listen to the rest of their 5 episode series about climate change. Next week, we'll be back with more Hot Take! The climate emergency is here. How did we break so bad? How did we become the kind of society that would unleash so much destruction on our only home, and ultimately on ourselves and our children? And, crucially, who is this we? Our story starts with the Book of Genesis. By host and producer John Biewen, with co-host Amy Westervelt. Interviews with David Pecusa, Bina Nir, and Kate Rigby.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
Today on Hot Take, Amy and Mary sit down with Leah Litman, a law professor from our sister show - Strict Scrutiny, about SCOTUS aka the most hated reality TV show in America. They discuss Roe v Wade, WV v EPA, Ted Cruz's slimy finances, and the Republican Attorneys General Association otherwise known as the villains you need to know about.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
Today on Hot Take, Amy and Yessenia Funes, Climate Director of Atmos Magazine, discuss queerness and climate justice, recent elections in Latin America, the vanishing Colorado River, and more.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com.Learn more about Yessenia and Atmos' work at atmos.earth//.
Today on Hot Take, Amy and Mary talk to Sara Sneath, New Orleans-based investigative journalist of Floodlight, about exactly what kind of jobs the fossil fuel industry creates and the quality of those jobs. Plus all the ways Big oil undermines labor rightsFollow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com For a transcript of this episode, go to crooked.com/hottake
Today on Hot Take, Amy and Mary discuss the recent Republican “climate plan”, the Democratic primaries, heatwaves, a special fossil fuel f@$#boi, and more.Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
Today on Hot Take, Amy and Mary talk with The Atlantic's Adam Serwer about the future of US politics and how the path to climate justice requires a functioning democracy. Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
Today on Hot Take, Amy and Mary sit down with writer Alicia Kennedy to discuss the Netflix documentary, Bad Vegan. They also talk about bad weather, bad politicians, bad carnivores, and bad Bezos. Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
Today on Hot Take, Amy and Mary talk with Rebecca Solnit about our patriarchy problem, the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion, her role as the climate hope lady, and so much more!Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
Today on Hot Take, Amy and Mary talk with David Wallace-Wells about the lessons we can learn from Covid-19, the parallels between pandemic response and climate response, and how Russia's war in Ukraine sits at the intersection between the two. Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
Today on Hot Take, Amy and Mary revisit why Joe Biden is struggling with Gen Z, and they talk about the terrible heatwave in South Asia, climate court cases, everybody's (least) favorite billionaire and more! Follow us on twitter @RealHotTake and signup for our newsletter at hottakepod.com
Amy and Mary sit down with Kate Aronoff, climate reporter at The New Republic, to talk about wtf nationalization means. They explore America's long and obscured history of it and why, how however messy it may sound, nationalization may be our best shot at transitioning the fossil fuel f*$%bois out of the business of global destruction.
Hot Take is officially BACK! And in their very first episode as part of the Crooked Media network, Amy and Mary reflect on the roots of Earth Day, which was born out of the Civil Rights movement and used as a vehicle for holding Big Oil accountable. Then they share their picks for the biggest villains in the fossil fuel industry today. (Also - Happy Fk BP Week, everybody!)
The climate crisis is literally the world's biggest existential problem. But we can't even begin to solve it if we don't know how to talk about it first. That's why Hot Take is back! Every week, Amy Westervelt and Mary Annaïse Heglar will talk about how climate change touches every aspect of our lives, and how our media is either getting the story right or entirely losing the plot. They'll also connect you with other storytellers who grapple with how to tell this saga and who can help you understand the world through climate colored glasses - and who and what to be mad about for getting us here. New episodes once a week every Friday.
In our S3 finale we talk about the very bad month Big Oil had in May, how much the climate story has changed in the past couple years, and what lies ahead as wildfire and hurricane season pick up, and pipeline protests rage on.
Pro Publica healthcare reporter Caroline Chen joins us to talk about her experience navigating that minefiled, where public health and climate intersect, what happened when all the climate journalists got reassigned to Covid, how to better integrate the ways we talk about health and climate, and a whole lot more. Reading List: A Tiny Number of People Will Be Hospitalized Despite Being Vaccinated. We Have to Learn Why. How Inequity Gets Built Into America’s Vaccination System Vaccinating Black Americans Is Essential. Key States Aren’t Doing the Work to Combat Hesitancy How Operation Warp Speed Created Vaccination Chaos
Journalist Maddie Stone joins us to talk about Silicon Valley (yes, also the HBO series) and Big Tech's approach to both climate change and climate journalism.
We missed the 10-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, so on the 11-year anniversary we're going big: It's #FUBPday. Plus: Why Seaspiracy sucked
In this crossover episode with The Coolest Show, Rev Yearwood takes us to school and church with an in-depth conversation about the history of the civil rights movement, the climate movement, and the role of religion in both. Plus: we call bullshit on the American Petroleum Institute's "climate plan." Sign up for our newsletter: https://hot-take.ghost.io/ Check out The Coolest Show: https://think100climate.com/podcasts/coolest-show-on-climate-change/ and Hip Hop Caucus: https://hiphopcaucus.org/