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Why does Wakanda have no suburbs, and should we destroy them if it did? Is it ethical to become a cyborg, like in the Justice League? Can venom – the toxins or the Marvel character – save your life? In this 2021 New York Comic Con edition of “The LIUniverse,” Astronomer Dr. Charles Liu hosts venom researcher Dr. Mandë Holford and environmental expert Kendra Pierre-Louis for our panel “The Science of Science Fiction.” Speaking to a packed room (in a convention ‘plagued' by empty panels and COVID-19 attendance limits) the panelists share their insights into the science within the Marvel and DC comics and movies as well as the rest of geekdom. In our three segments on nature, technology, and the multiverse, you'll hear about superhumans and mutants from Spider-Man to the X-Men to Captain Planet. You'll also learn some science, like how a version of string theory predicts a parallel universe where gravity would give us all superpowers. One of our favorite parts of our panels is taking questions from the audience. This time, fans like you asked some great ones. How will gene editing change the world? Can we tell if an AI, such as the Vision, is really self aware? Does scientific advancement need military rivalries as in “For All Mankind,” a show that flips the space race on its head? What will be the biggest technological advancement of the next 100 years: perhaps miniature organs, or maybe social innovations, or something else entirely? Plus, find out what on Earth “life expectancy escape velocity” is, and what it could mean for the future of humanity. You can expect to hear about some of your favorite comic superheroes on screen and off, like Black Panther, The Avengers, Wandavision, The Suicide Squad, Braniac, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Loki, The Fantastic Four, Lex Luthor, Ant-Man, and – lest we forget – The Incredible Hulk. Relive the experience (if you were lucky enough to be there) or find out what you missed! Geek out with us! Chapters: 0:00 Nature and Our Relationship to It 16:34 Technology, Humans, and Superheroes 34:26 The Multiverse: Reality and Fiction All characters and comic properties are the copyright of their respective owners.
Julio and guest co-host Fernanda Santos discuss the judicial reforms in Israel and the rebranding of Twitter. In our roundtable, Fernanda is joined by climate reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis and Dr. Amite Dominick, president of the Texas Prison Community Advocates, for a conversation on how the climate crisis is impacting incarcerated individuals. ITT Staff Picks: In this latest episode of Intercepted, hosts Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain talk to Israeli American journalist Mairav Zonszein about the mass protests in Israel following judicial reforms that would limit the power of the Supreme Court. “The idea that Twitter and its 17 year-old codebase could be modified to run the global economy, of course, has exactly zero basis in reality,” writes Janus Rose, in this article for Vice. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg reports on a lawsuit filed by the ACLU over children at risk of heat-related death in Louisiana's Angola prison, for The Appeal. Photo credit: AP Photo/Eric Gay
A hotter planet is also a smokier one, as residents of New York City are finding out this week. As the intensity and size of wildfires grows, more and more people are being exposed to dangerously unhealthy air. Just how dangerous? Oscar Boyd asks Akshat Rathi to explain the health effects of exposure to intense air pollution. It's not a new problem, but it's a growing one and many of us will need to learn how to deal with the risks. Related stories from Bloomberg Green: How wildfire smoke affects human health Justin Trudeau on the Zero podcast The Australian climate elections on the Zero podcast A documentary on Australia's bushfire babies The Big Take podcast on the Black Summer bushfires Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Oscar Boyd and our senior producer is Christine Driscoll. Special thanks to Janet Babin, Kira Bindrim, Zahra Hirji, Kendra Pierre-Louis and Todd Woody. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at zeropod@bloomberg.net. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit bloomberg.com/green See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Climate change reporting often means documenting some of the worst events that ever happen to people. But Kendra Pierre-Louis (@kendrawrites), whether reporting for the podcast How to Save the Planet, or posting pictures of bear sex, manages to make it not totally depressing. Kendra, an independent climate reporter, talks about gradually finding her way into journalism, reporting in India and Myanmar, and her years at NYT. Countries featured: USA, India, Myanmar Publications featured: Spotify/Gimlet's How to Save the Planet, The New York Times, Popular Science, Inside Climate News, Sierra, Hakai, Newsweek, 538, Modern Farmer, Vice Here are links to some of the things we talked about: Kendra's book Green Washed - bit.ly/3ZZKbvz Erica Gies website - bit.ly/402jGWC Kendra's story in India for 538 - bit.ly/3J7JqK5 Her story on Myanmar for Earth Island Journal - bit.ly/3YFB3v9 Her viral visual essay on the U.S. before EPA cleanup - bit.ly/3yvlVpl How to Save the Planet episode on biking - bit.ly/3ysEtXz Podcast episode on agrovoltaics - bit.ly/3ZXb978 ProPublica story on UnitedHealthcare - bit.ly/3LkVoTo Her anti-mayonnaise screed - bit.ly/3yxe376 Her story on the Myanmar bus ride - bit.ly/3ZXqhRW The Girls in the Balcony book - bit.ly/3ysEMBH Buried by the Times book - bit.ly/3ZXql48 Follow us on Twitter @foreignpod or on Facebook at facebook.com/foreignpod Music: LoveChances (makaih.com) by Makaih Beats From: freemusicarchive.org CC BY NC
Hi from the science desk! Jay and Tammy chat this week with a very special guest, eco-apocalypse reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis. Her work has appeared on the How to Save a Planet podcast (RIP) and in The Atlantic and The New York Times, among other places. Kendra tells us about her non-traditional path to journalism, the trouble with climate journalism in many newsrooms, and the burden and opportunities of being a Black reporter on the “gloom beat.” How do we make environmental collapse feel real and personal to ordinary people? What is the shape and utility of climate protests, from the “eco-terrorism” of the ‘80s and ‘90s to the high-profile actions of the past few weeks? Plus: Pitbull's eco-anthems, the climate B plot on “Partner Track,” and why Kendra continues to abhor mayonnaise. A sad note: the incredible Mike Davis has passed on. We were lucky to know him a bit and have him on the show. What a life. + RSVPs open this afternoon for the TTSG + Hua Hsu live recording at NYU, December 1! It's free and in a large theatre, so bring your friends and fam. Whoo!+ A bonus ask-us-anything ep is out later this week! Mai makes her debut appearance, and Jay and Tammy reveal all their secrets. Subscribe via Substack or Patreon to get it in your feed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe
“You might want to get a snorkel”—In a special episode of FAQ NYC, Samantha Maldonado and Kendra Pierre-Louis look at the damage the “superstorm” caused 10 years ago in Coney Island and around the city, and the construction that's followed.
Streamed live on Sep 19, 2022. We'll be speaking with climate reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis, author of Green Washed: Why We Can't Buy Our Way To A Green Planet. We'll also be speaking with Gabriel Gonzalez, non-corporate candidate for Florida House District 119! Finally, we'll address Governor DeSantis's migrant caravan stunt & much more. Check out our Patreon for more! ☀️ patreon.com/JENerationalChange ☀️ WEBSITE: jenerationalchange.com ☀️ TWITTER: @JENChangeFL ☀️ INSTAGRAM: @JENerationalChange ☀️ FACEBOOK: @Jen Perelman
In this rebroadcast episode from 2021, Maria and Julio are joined by Kendra Pierre-Louis, climate reporter with Gimlet, and Dallas Goldtooth, organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network. They discuss how communities of color are the most impacted by climate disasters globally, and also how they are at the forefront of pushing for climate justice. ITT Staff Picks: To combat this summer's heat wave and protect civilians, Congress could pass policy to stop utility shutoffs even if a customer has missed a payment, reports Rebecca Leber for Vox. For Truthout, Leanna First-Arai reports about the bridge between racial justice, climate justice and the labor movement. “Record-breaking temperatures can quickly become a health risk for the largely Black and Brown incarcerated population, particularly in the South,” reports Trone Dowd for VICE. Photo credit: AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File This episode originally aired in September 2021.
It's shark week! Or ‘spark' week? Today we're bringing you an episode of How to Save a Planet, in which Shayle steps into the shoes of a Shark Tank-style judge. This episode is all about (drum-roll please): Storage! ...Exciting, right? Ok, we'll prove it to you. Each day, more and more of our electricity comes from intermittent renewables like wind and solar. To balance out our electric grid in the future, we'll need new ways of storing extra energy, so we can still turn on our lights when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining. This week, with help from Dr. Leah Stokes and Shayle Kann, we explore the wild world of energy storage, from a hidden underground lair to a piping hot thermos full of poison. And did we mention it's a gameshow? Guests Dr. Leah Stokes, Professor of Climate and Energy Policy at University of California, Santa Barbara Shayle Kann, Climate Tech Investor at Energy Impact Partners Len Greene, Director of Government Affairs and Communications, FirstLight Power Curtis VanWalleghem, CEO of Hydrostor Dr. Cristina Prieto, Professor of Engineering at the University of Seville Calls to Action Learn more about energy storage Pumped Hydro Compressed Air Molten Salts And for a really wild one: check out Energy Vault Learn more about our electric grid, with our episodes How We Got our Grid and How We Get a Better One and Party Like It's 2035 We still want to see your climate Venn diagrams! For inspiration, check out ClimateVenn.info. Post your diagram to Instagram and tag us at @how2saveaplanet. We'll be reposting examples listeners share with us. Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Daniel Ackerman. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our supervising producer is Matthew Shilts. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Our intern is Janae Morris. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger. Our fact checker for this episode was James Gaines. Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you're a startup, investor, enterprise, or innovation ecosystem that's creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more. Solar Power International and Energy Storage International are returning in-person this year as part of RE+. Come join everyone in Anaheim for the largest, B2B clean energy event in North America. Catalyst listeners can receive 15% off a full conference, non-member pass using promo code CANARY15. Register here.
Last summer, former Outside/In host Sam Evans-Brown quit journalism to become a lobbyist for clean energy.He's not alone. Millions of people left their jobs or changed careers in the past couple years. But is the field of climate journalism going through its own “Great Resignation?” In a moment when the stakes are so high, are the people who cover the climate crisis leaving journalism to try to help solve it?Producer Justine Paradis talks with two reporters who recently found themselves re-evaluating their personal and professional priorities: one who left journalism, and another who stayed.Featuring Sophie Gilbert, Sam Evans-Brown, Stephen Lacey, Julia Pyper, Meaghan Parker, and Kendra Pierre-Louis. SUPPORTOutside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Subscribe to our (free) newsletter.Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook. LINKSThe podcast episode of Warm Regards that Justine mentions is “Apocalyptic Narratives, Climate Data, and Hope, with Zeke Hausfather and Diego Arguedas Ortiz”The history of objectivity is arguably one of the “great confusions of journalism.” In the early 20th century, reporter Walter Lippman and editor Charles Merz contended that objectivity is a practice akin to the scientific method. “The method is objective, not the journalist.”More recently, plenty of folks have commented on problems with “bias” in journalism, including Lewis Raven Wallace, Wesley Lowery, and Sam Sanders, who wrote, “The avoidance of the ‘perception' of ‘bias' ultimately means the only reporters to be trusted are those whose lives haven't been directly touched by the issues and struggles they're covering. And you [know] what that means.”Julia Pyper's podcast Political ClimatePost Script Media, Stephen Lacey's podcast companyHow cable TV covered climate change in 2021.Nate Johnson, a former journalist who left Grist to become an electrician, featured on How to Save a Planet.Kendra Pierre-Louis spoke in greater depth about her career and what it's like to be a Black woman in journalism with Mary Annaïse Heglar and Amy Westervelt on Hot Take.The Yale Climate Opinion Maps find that 72% of Americans believe in global warming, although just 33% report hearing about climate in the media at least once a week. You can explore the data and see how climate attitudes vary by state and county.For Sarah Miller, all the right words on climate have already been said. “I could end this story by saying ‘We kept swimming and it was beautiful even if it will all be gone someday,' or some shit, but I already ended another climate story that way. I have, several times, really nailed that ending… Writing is stupid. I just want to be alive.” CREDITSSpecial thanks to Nate Johnson and Peter HoweHost: Nate HegyiReported, produced, and mixed by Justine ParadisEditing and additional mixing by Taylor QuimbyAdditional editing: Rebecca Lavoie, Nate Hegyi, Felix Poon, and Jessica HuntExecutive Producer: Rebecca LavoieMusic: Sarah the Illstrumentalist, Daniel Fridell, baegel, FLYIN, Smartface, Silver Maple, By Lotus, 91nova, Moon Craters, Pandaraps, and Blue Dot SessionsTheme Music: Breakmaster Cylinder
Kendra Pierre-Louis, a climate reporter and co-host of the Gimlet Media podcast How to Save a Planet, joins us to discuss storytelling in an age of crisis. How can we effectively communicate that better streets, better cities and a better world are possible? How can we point regular citizens toward solutions that can not only fight climate change but improve their day-to-day lives? Plus, what was up with that Kia ad featuring the dude who drives on a beach to save seat turtles? This episode was made possible in part by our friends at Radpower Bikes and Cleverhood. Become a Patreon supporter of The War on Cars for exclusive access to ad-free bonus content. LINKS: Learn more about Kendra Pierra-Louis. Follow Kenra on Twitter. Listen to How to Save a Planet from Gimlet Media. Watch Kendra talk with Jon Stewart. Yeah, that Kia "we save turtles" ad was bad. Pick up War on Cars Merch at our store. Follow and review us on Apple Podcasts. It helps people find us! This episode was recorded by Josh Wilcox at the Brooklyn Podcasting Studio. It was edited by Doug Gordon. Our theme music is by Nathaniel Goodyear. Our logo was designed by Dani Finkel of Crucial D Designs. TheWarOnCars.org
When a little girl, Ella Kissi-Debrah, suddenly got sick and landed in the hospital, doctors were stumped. In this episode, her mom, Rosamund, takes on the fight to find out what exactly happened to Ella. And the answer has BIG implications — for us all. We'll hear from Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah and Professor Stephen Holgate. Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/3z17Gdv This episode was produced by Ekedi Fausther-Keeys with help from Rose Rimler, Wendy Zukerman, Michelle Dang, Meryl Horn, and Courtney Gilbert. We're edited by Blythe Terrell. Wendy Zukerman is the Executive Producer. Extra help from Saidu Tejan-Thomas, Nicole Beemsterboer, Kendra Pierre-Louis, and Alex Blumberg. Fact checking by Erica Akiko Howard. Mix and sound design by Bumi Hidaka. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Peter Leonard, Emma Munger, Bobby Lord and SoWylie. Thanks to the researchers and experts we got in touch with for this episode, including Jocelyn Cockburn, Professor Vernon Morris, Dr. George Thurston, Dr. Lauren Zajac, Dr. Jennifer Burney, Dr. Sacoby Wilson, Dr. Melissa Burroughs, Dr Wei Peng, Professor Barbara Hoffman, Dr. Michael Craig, and Dr. Wes Austin. Special thanks to Rachel Humphreys, BBC Motion Gallery / Getty Images, Jonah Delso, Jackie Llanos, The Zukerman Family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
We don't want to send the message that criticizing us on Twitter is a ticket to the podcast...but that's what climate reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis did, and now here she is. Kendra had some issues with our climate episode on Apple TV+, so Jon invited her on for a conversation. And just like our planet, things heated up—insofar as you can call a thoughtful exchange of ideas “heated up.” Jon is also joined by writers Rob Christensen and Tocarra Mallard to talk about Twitter trolls, beard maintenance, and the importance of a steady government job.Jon recorded this episode away from the studio, so if it sounds like he's talking into a paper cup tied to a string it's because he actually might be. Please excuse the sound issues.What did you think of our episode? Give our hotline a call and leave your questions, comments, or thoughts: 1-212-634-7222.To watch our latest episode, visit https://theproblem.link/AppleTVCREDITSHosted by: Jon StewartFeaturing, in order of appearance: Tocarra Mallard, Rob Christensen, Kendra Pierre-LouisExecutive Produced by Jon Stewart, Brinda Adhikari, James Dixon, Chris McShane, and Richard Plepler.Lead Producer: Sophie EricksonProducers: Caity Gray, Robby SlowikAssoc. Producer: Andrea BetanzosSound Designer & Audio Engineer: Miguel CarrascalSenior Digital Producer: Kwame OpamDigital Coordinator: Norma HernandezSupervising Producer: Lorrie BaranekHead Writer: Kris AcimovicElements: Kenneth Hull, Daniella PhilipsonTalent: Brittany Mehmedovic, Haley DenzakResearch: Susan Helvenston, Andy Crystal, Anne Bennett, Deniz Çam, Harjyot Ron SinghTheme Music by: Gary Clark Jr.The Problem With Jon Stewart podcast is an Apple TV+ podcast produced by Busboy Productions.https://apple.co/-JonStewart
The Democrats have come up short on President Biden's spending package, failing to deliver $555 billion for renewable energy that climate advocates say was direly needed. This week we dust off an episode on the relationship between good government and climate policy. Science journalist Kendra Pierre-Louis says better individual choices won't really address the looming ecological crisis. She argues instead for international reparations and a wholesale shift in social norms, including a healthy dose of shame.
Ahead of the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow this weekend, we're sharing this episode from our friends at It's Been A Minute with Sam Sanders.In this episode, Sam chats with climate experts Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist and writer, and Kendra Pierre-Louis, senior climate reporter with the podcast 'How to Save a Planet.' Together, they answer listener questions about everything from how to talk to your kids about global warming... to how to deal with all of this existential dread.
Ahead of the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow this weekend, Sam chats with climate experts Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist and writer, and Kendra Pierre-Louis, senior climate reporter with the podcast 'How to Save a Planet.' Together, they answer listener questions about everything from how to talk to your kids about global warming... to how to deal with all of this existential dread.
Biden's Administration Preps For A Crucial Climate Conference This week, CDC advisers gave their support to approve COVID-19 vaccine boosters for those who received Moderna and J&J vaccines. The recommendations would follow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's authorization of “mixing and matching” booster shots from different vaccine developers. Ira provides new updates on the latest vaccine booster approvals, and a story about a successful transplant of a pig kidney… to a human. Plus, climate reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis gives us a closer look at how the United States is living up to its Paris Agreement pledges as a crucial international gathering looms, and Biden's clean energy legislation appears to be faltering. Seeing The History Of Filipinos In Nursing You may have seen a grim statistic earlier this year: 32% of U.S. registered nurses who died of COVID-19 by September 2020 were of Filipino descent, even though they only make up 4% of nurses in the United States. Yet an event like the pandemic is disproportionately likely to affect Filipino-American families: Approximately a quarter of working Filipino-Americans are frontline healthcare workers. There's a deep history of Filipino immigrants and their descendants in frontline healthcare work. This Filipino-American History Month, Ira talks to nurse and photojournalist Rosem Morton and freelance journalist Fruhlein Econar about their recent collaboration for CNN Digital, using photographs from Morton's “Diaspora on the Frontlines” project. They talk about the long reliance of the U.S. healthcare system on the Philippines, and the importance of documenting the lives, not just the disproportionate hardship, of these frontline healthcare workers and their families. Francis Collins, Longest-Running NIH Director, To Step Down Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will be stepping down from his post at the end of the year. Collins is the longest serving NIH director, serving three presidents over 12 years: Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. Before his role at the NIH, Collins was an acclaimed geneticist, helping discover the gene that causes cystic fibrosis. He then became director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, where he led the project that mapped the human genome. A lot can happen in 12 years, especially in the fields of health and science. Collins joins Ira to talk about his long tenure at the NIH, as well as how his Christian faith has informed his career in science.
Jen has been all over the internet lately telling the world that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework is a dumpster fire of a bill. In this episode, she backs that up by comparing the levels of investment for different kinds of infrastructure and examining the society changing effects the bill would have if it were to become law. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD218: Minerals Are the New Oil CD205: Nuclear Waste Storage Oil CD073: Amtrak Recommended Articles and Documents Benjamin J. Hulac and Joseph Morton. October 7, 2021. “With GOP sidelined, Manchin steps up to defend fossil fuels.” Roll Call. Connor Sheets, Robert J. Lopez, Rosanna Xia, and Adam Elmahrek. October 4, 2021. “Before O.C. oil spill, platform owner faced bankruptcy, history of regulatory problems.” The Los Angeles Times. Donald Shaw. October 4, 2021. “Criticizing Joe Manchin's Coal Conflicts is ‘Outrageous,' Says Heitkamp.” Sludge. Michael Gold. October 1, 2021. “Congestion Pricing Is Coming to New York. Everyone Has an Opinion.” The New York Times. Utilities Middle East Staff. September 13, 2021. “World's largest carbon capture and storage plant launched.” Utilities. Adele Peters. September 8, 2021. “The first commercial carbon removal plant just opened in Iceland.” Fast Company. Hiroko Tabuchi. August 16, 2021. “For Many, Hydrogen Is the Fuel of the Future. New Research Raises Doubts.” The New York Times. Robert W. Haworth and Mark Z. Jacobson. August 12, 2021. “How green is blue hydrogen?.” Energy Science & Engineering. Emily Cochrane. August 10, 2021. “Senate Passes $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill, Handing Biden a Bipartisan Win.” The New York Times. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. June 3, 2021. “2020 Fatality Data Show Increased Traffic Fatalities During Pandemic.” U.S. Department of Transportation. Nation Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). May 19, 2021. “What We Know—and Do Not Know—About Achieving a National-Scale 100% Renewable Electric Grid .” Michael Barnard. May 3, 2021. “Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Are Mostly Bad Policy.” CleanTechnica. Hiroko Tabuchi. April 24, 2021. “Halting the Vast Release of Methane Is Critical for Climate, U.N. Says.” The New York Times. Grist Creative. April 15, 2021. “How direct air capture works (and why it's important)” Grist. American Society of Civil Engineers. 2021. “Bridges.” 2021 Report Card for America's Infrastructure. Open Secrets. “Sen. Joe Manchin - West Virginia - Top Industries Contributing 2015-2020.” Savannah Keaton. December 30, 2020. “Can Fuel Cell Vehicles Explode Like ‘Hydrogen Bombs on Wheels'?” Motor Biscuit. Dale K. DuPont. August 6, 2020. “First all-electric ferry in U.S. reaches milestone.” WorkBoat. Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser. 2020. “CO2 and Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Our World in Data. Jeff Butler. January 27, 2019. “Norway leads an electric ferry revolution.” plugboats.com Our World in Data. Annual CO2 Emissions, 2019. Hydrogen Council. 2019. Frequently Asked Questions. Mark Z. Jacobson et al. September 6, 2017. “100% Clean and Renewable Wind, Water, and Sunlight All-Sector Energy Roadmaps for 139 Countries of the World.” Joule. Kendra Pierre-Louis. August 25, 2017. “Almost every country in the world can power itself with renewable energy.” Popular Science. Chuck Squatriglia. May 12, 2008. “Hydrogen Cars Won't Make a Difference for 40 Years.” Wired. Renewable Energy World. April 22, 2004. “Schwarzenegger Unveils ‘Hydrogen Highways' Plan.” United States Department of Energy. February 2002. A National Vision of America's Transition to a Hydrogen Economy -- to 2030 and Beyond. The Bill H.R. 3684: Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act August 10, 2021 Senate Vote Breakdown July 1, 2021 House Vote Breakdown Jen's Highlighted Version Bill Outline DIVISION A: SURFACE TRANSPORTATION TITLE I - FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAYS Subtitle A - Authorizations and Programs Sec. 11101: Authorization of Appropriations Authorizes appropriations for Federal-Aid for highways at between $52 billion and $56 billion per year through fiscal year 2026. Sec. 11117: Toll Roads, Bridges, Tunnels, and Ferries Authorizes the government to pay up to 85% of the costs of replacing or retrofitting a diesel fuel ferry vessel until the end of fiscal year 2025. Sec. 11118: Bridge Investment Program Authorizes between $600 million and $700 million per year through 2026 (from the Highway Trust Fund) for repairs to bridges If a Federal agency wants grant money to repair a Federally owned bridge, it "shall" consider selling off that asset to the State or local government. Sec. 11119: Safe Routes to School Creates a new program to improve the ability of children to walk and ride their bikes to school by funding projects including sidewalk improvements, speed reduction improvements, crosswalk improvements, bike parking, and traffic diversions away from schools. Up to 30% of the money can be used for public awareness campaigns, media relations, education, and staffing. No additional funding is provided. It will be funded with existing funds for "administrative expenses." Sec. 11121: Construction of Ferry Boats and Ferry Terminal Facilities Authorizes between $110 million and $118 million per year through 2026 (from the Highway Trust Fund) to construct ferry boats and ferry terminals. Subtitle D - Climate Change Sec. 11401: Grants for Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Creates a new grant program with $15 million maximum per grant for governments to build public charging infrastructure for vehicles fueled with electricity, hydrogen, propane, and "natural" gas. The construction of the projects can be contracted out to private companies. Sec. 11402: Reduction of Truck Emissions at Port Facilities Establishes a program to study and test projects that would reduce emissions. Sec. 11403: Carbon Reduction Program Allows, but does not require, the Transportation Secretary to use money for projects related to traffic monitoring, public transportation, trails for pedestrians and bicyclists, congestion management technologies, vehicle-to-infrastructure communications technologies, energy efficient street lighting, congestion pricing to shift transportation demand to non-peak hours, electronic toll collection, installing public chargers for electric, hydrogen, propane, and gas powered vehicles. Sec. 11404: Congestion Relief Program Creates a grant program, funded at a minimum of $10 million per grant, for projects aimed at reducing highway congestion. Eligible projects include congestion management systems, fees for entering cities, deployment of toll lanes, parking fees, and congestion pricing, operating commuter buses and vans, and carpool encouragement programs. Buses, transit, and paratransit vehicles "shall" be allowed to use toll lanes "at a discount rate or without charge." Sec. 11405: Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) Program Establishes the "PROTECT program", which provides grants for projects to protect some current infrastructure from extreme weather events and climate related changes. Types of grants include grants for "at-risk coastal infrastructure" which specifies that only "non-rail infrastructure is eligible" (such as highways, roads, pedestrian walkways, bike lanes, etc.) Sec. 11406: Healthy Streets Program Establishes a grant program to install reflective pavement and to expand tree cover in order to mitigate urban heat islands, improve air quality, and reduce stormwater run-off and flood risks. Caps each grant at $15 million TITLE III: RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY, AND EDUCATION Sec. 13001: Strategic Innovation for Revenue Collection Provides grants for pilot projects to test our acceptance of user-based fee collections and their effects on different income groups and people from urban and rural areas. They will test the use of private companies to collect the data and fees. Sec. 13002: National Motor Vehicle Per-mile User Fee Pilot Creates a pilot program to test a national motor vehicle per-mile user fee. DIVISION B - SURFACE TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENT ACT OF 2021 TITLE I - MULTIMODAL AND FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION Sec. 21201: National Infrastructure Project Assistance Authorizes $2 billion total per year until 2026 on projects that cost at least $100 million that include highway, bridge, freight rail, passenger rail, and public transportation projects. Authorizes $1.5 billion total per year until 2026 (which will expire after 3 years) for grants in amount between $1 million and $25 million for projects that include highway, bridge, public transportation, passenger and freight rail, port infrastructure, surface transportation at airports, and more. TITLE II - RAIL Subtitle A - Authorization of Appropriations Sec. 22101: Grants to Amtrak Authorizes appropriations for Amtrak in the Northeast Corridor at between $1.1 billion and $1.57 billion per year through 2026. Authorizes appropriations for Amtrak in the National Network at between $2.2 billion and $3 billion per year through 2026. Subtitle B - Amtrak Reforms Sec. 22201: Amtrak Findings, Mission, and Goals Changes the goal of cooperation between Amtrak, governments, & other rail carriers from "to achieve a performance level sufficient to justify expending public money" to "in order to meet the intercity passenger rail needs of the United States" and expands the service areas beyond "urban" locations. Changes the goals of Amtrak to include "improving its contracts with rail carriers over whose tracks Amtrak operates." Sec. 22208: Passenger Experience Enhancement Food and beverage service: Amtrak will establish a working group... Sec. 22212: Enhancing Cross Border Service Amtrak must submit a report... Sec. 22213: Creating Quality Jobs Amtrak will not be allowed to privatize the jobs previously performed by laid off union workers. Sec. 22214: Amtrak Daily Long Distance Study Amtrak would study bringing back long distance rail routes that were discontinued. Subtitle C - Intercity Passenger Rail Policy Sec. 22304: Restoration and Enhancement Grants Extends the amount of time the government will pay the operating costs of Amtrak or "any rail carrier" that provides passenger rail service from 3 years to 6 years, and pays higher percentages of the the costs. Sec. 22305: Railroad Crossing Elimination Program Creates a program to eliminate highway-rail crossings where vehicles are frequently stopped by trains. Authorizes the construction on tunnels and bridges. Sec. 22306: Interstate Rail Compacts Authorizes up to 10 grants per year valued at a maximum of $ million each to plan and promote new Amtrak routes Sec. 22308: Corridor Identification and Development Program The Secretary of Transportation will create a program for public entities to plan for expanded intercity passenger rail corridors, operated by Amtrak or private companies. When developing plans for corridors, the Secretary has to "consult" with "host railroads for the proposed corridor" Subtitle D - Rail Safety Sec. 22404: Blocked Crossing Portal The Administration of the Federal Railroad Administration would establish a "3 year blocked crossing portal" which would collect information about blocked crossing by trains from the public and first responders and provide every person submitting the complaint the contact information of the "relevant railroad" and would "encourage" them to complain to them too. Information collected would NOT be allowed to be used for any regulatory or enforcement purposes. Sec. 22406: Emergency Lighting The Secretary of Transportation will have to issue a rule requiring that all carriers that transport human passengers have an emergency lighting system that turns on when there is a power failure. Sec. 22409: Positive Train Control Study The Comptroller General will conduct a study to determine the annual operation and maintenance costs for positive train control. Sec. 22423: High-Speed Train Noise Emissions Allows, but does not require, the Secretary of Transportation to create regulations governing the noise levels of trains that exceed 160 mph. Sec. 22425: Requirements for Railroad Freight Cars Placed into Service in the United States Effective 3 years after the regulations are complete (maximum 5 years after this becomes law), freight cars will be prohibited from operating within the United States if more than 15% of it is manufactured in "a country of concern" or state-owned facilities. The Secretary of Transportation can assess fines between $100,000 and $250,000 per freight car. A company that has been found in violation 3 times can be kicked out of the United State's transportation system until they are in compliance and have paid all their fines in full. Sec. 22427: Controlled Substances Testing for Mechanical Employees 180 days after this becomes law, all railroad mechanics will be subject to drug testing, which can be conducted at random. DIVISION C - TRANSIT Sec. 30017: Authorizations Authorizes between $13.3 billion and $14.7 billion per year to be appropriated for transit grants. DIVISION D - ENERGY TITLE I - GRID INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESILIENCY Sec. 40101: Preventing Outages and Enhancing The Resilience of the Electric Grid Creates a $5 billion grant distribution program to electric grid operators, electricity storage operations, electricity generators, transmission owners and operators, distribution suppliers, fuels suppliers, and other entities chosen by the Secretary of Energy. The grants need to be used to reduce the risk that power lines will cause wildfires. States have to match 15%. The company receiving the grant has to match it by 100% (small utilities only have to match 1/3 of the grant.) Grant money be used for micro-grids and battery-storage in addition to obvious power line protection measures. Grant money can not be used to construct a new electricity generating facility, a large-scale battery facility that is not used to prevent "disruptive events", or cybersecurity. The companies are allowed to charge customers for parts of their projects that are not paid for with grant money (so they have to match the grant with their customer's money). Sec. 40112: Demonstration of Electric Vehicle Battery Second-Life Applications for Grid Services Creates a demonstration project to show utility companies that electric car batteries can be used to stabilize the grid and reduce peak loads of homes and businesses. The demonstration project must include a facility that "could particularly benefit" such as a multi-family housing building, a senior care facility, or community health center. TITLE II - SUPPLY CHAINS FOR CLEAN ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES Sec. 40201: Earth Mapping Resources Initiative The US Geological Survey will get $320 million and ten years to map "all of the recoverable critical minerals." Sec. 40204: USGS Energy and Minerals Research Facility Authorizes $167 million to construct a new facility for energy and minerals research. The facility can be on land leased to the government for 99 years by "an academic partner." Requires the USGS to retain ownership of the facility. Sec. 40205: Rare Earth Elements Demonstration Facility Authorizes $140 million to build a rare earth element extractions and separation facility and refinery. Does NOT require the government to retain ownership of the facility. TITLE III - FUELS AND TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS Subtitle A - Carbon Capture, Utilization, Storage, and Transportation Infrastructure Sec. 40304: Carbon Dioxide Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Authorizes $600 million for 2022 and 2023 and $300 million for each year between 2024 and 2026 for grants and loan guarantees for projects for transporting captured carbon dioxide. Each project has to cost more than $100 million and the government can pay up to 80% of the costs. If the project is financed with a loan, the company will have 35 years to pay it back, with fees and interest. Loans can be issued via private banks with guarantees provided by the government. Sec. 40305: Carbon Storage Validation and Testing Creates a new program for funding new or expanded large-scale carbon sequestration projects. Authorizes $2.5 billion through 2026. Sec. 40308: Carbon Removal Creates a new program for grants or contracts for projects to that will form "4 regional direct air capture hubs" that will each be able to capture 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Authorizes $3.5 billion per year through 2026. Subtitle B - Hydrogen Research and Development Sec. 40313: Clean Hydrogen Research and Development Program Changes a goal of an existing research and development plan for hydrogen fuels (created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005) from enhancing sources of renewable fuels and biofuels for hydrogen production to enhancing those sources and fossil fuels with carbon capture and nuclear energy. Expands the activities of this program to include using hydrogen for power generation, industrial processes including steelmaking, cement, chemical feestocks, and heat production. They intend to transition natural gas pipelines to hydrogen pipelines. They intend for hydrogen to be used for all kinds of vehicles, rail transport, aviation, and maritime transportation. Sec. 40314: Additional Clean Hydrogen Programs Creates a new program to create "4 regional clean hydrogen hubs" for production, processing, delivery, storage, and end-use of "clean hydrogen." At least one regional hub is required to demonstrate the production of "clean hydrogen from fossil fuels." At least one regional hub is required to demonstrate the production of "clean hydrogen from renewable energy." At least one regional hub is required to demonstrate the production of "clean hydrogen from nuclear energy." The four hubs will each demonstrate a different use: Electric power generation, industrial sector uses, residential and commercial heating, and transportation. Requires the development of a strategy "to facilitate widespread production, processing, storage, and use of clean hydrogen", which will include a focus on production using coal. The hydrogen hubs should "leverage natural gas to the maximum extent practicable." Creates a new program to commercialize the production of hydrogen by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. The overall goal is to identify barriers, pathways, and policy needs to "transition to a clean hydrogen economy." Authorizes $9.5 billion through 2026. Sec. 40315: Clean Hydrogen Production Qualifications Develops a standard for the term "clean hydrogen" which has a carbon intensity equal to or less than 2 kilograms of carbon dioxide-equivalent produced at the site of production per kilogram of hydrogen produced." Subtitle C - Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Sec. 40323: Civil Nuclear Credit Program Creates a program, authorized to be funded with $6 billion per year through 2026, that will provide credit from the government to nuclear reactors that are projected to shut down because they are economically failing. Subtitle D - Hydropower Sec. 40331: Hydroelectric Production Incentives Authorizes a one-time appropriation of $125 million for fiscal year 2022. Sec. 40332: Hydroelectric Efficiency Improvement Incentives Authorizes a one-time appropriation of $75 million for fiscal year 2022. Sec. 40333: Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity Incentives Authorizes a one-time appropriations of $553 million for repairs and improvements to dams constructed before 1920. The government will pay a maximum of 30% of the project costs, capped at $5 million each. Sec. 40334: Pumped Storage Hydropower Wind and Solar Integration and System Reliability Initiative Authorizes $2 million per year through 2026 to pay 50% or less of the costs of a demonstration project to test the ability of a pumped storage hydropower project to facilitate the long duration storage of at least 1,000 megawatts of intermittent renewable electricity. Subtitle E - Miscellaneous Sec. 40342: Clean Energy Demonstration Program on Current and Former Mine Land Creates a new program, authorized to be funded with $500 million through 2026, to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of putting clean energy projects on former mine land. There will be a maximum of 5 projects and 2 of them have to be solar. Defines a "clean energy project" to include "fossil-fueled electricity generation with carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration." TITLE X - AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR ENERGY ACT OF 2020 Sec. 41001: Energy Storage Demonstration Projects Authorizes $505 million through2025 for energy storage demonstration projects. Sec. 41002: Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program Authorizes between $281 million and $824 million per year through 2027 for advanced nuclear reactor demonstration projects. Sec. 41004: Carbon Capture Demonstration and Pilot Programs Authorizes between $700 million and $1.3 billion through2025 for advanced nuclear reactor demonstration projects. Sec. 41007: Renewable Energy Projects Authorizes $84 million through 2025 for geothermal energy projects. Authorizes $100 million through 2025 for wind energy projects. There is a clarification that this is definitely NOT in addition to amounts wind gets from another fund. Authorizes $80 million through 2025 for solar energy projects. DIVISION E - DRINKING WATER AND WASTEWATER INFRASTRUCTURE DIVISION F - BROADBAND DIVISION G - OTHER AUTHORIZATIONS DIVISION H - REVENUE PROVISIONS DIVISION I - OTHER MATTERS DIVISION J - APPROPRIATIONS DIVISION K - MINORITY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)
Maria and Julio get into the ongoing climate crisis with Kendra Pierre-Louis, producer and senior climate reporter with the Gimlet-Spotify podcast How to Save a Planet, and Dallas Goldtooth, organizer with the Keep It in the Ground Campaign for the Indigenous Environmental Network. They discuss how communities of color are the most impacted by climate disasters globally, and also how they are at the forefront of pushing for climate justice. ITT Staff Picks:Zahra Hirji reports on the Biden administration finally setting in place initiatives to address worker-related deaths due to extreme heat, for BuzzFeed. “The climate crisis we face has been caused by the breakdown of our relationships over time, and to solve the crisis we must repair those relationships first,” writes Jena Brooker for The Grist. Michelle Gamage interviewed four experts on what Canadian politicians should do to address the climate crisis, including protecting climate activists and creating policy led by Indigenous people, for The Tyee.Photo credit: AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
New Policies Emerge In The Wake Of Climate-Connected Disasters This week, people across the United States continued to be reminded of the results of a shifting climate—with people in the Gulf states still recovering from Ida, northeastern states dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Ida-induced flooding, and western states battling wildfires and smoke. With climate-related disasters as a backdrop, President Biden announced a goal of shifting some 45% of U.S. energy production to solar power by 2050. Kendra Pierre-Louis, senior reporter for the Gimlet-Spotify podcast How to Save A Planet, joins Ira to talk about those stories and more, including new calculations of the importance of minimizing fossil fuel extraction, to a successful sample collection effort on Martian soil. Is Inflammation In The Brain Causing Alzheimer's Disease? The brain of a person with Alzheimer's disease has a few hallmark traits. First, a buildup of plaques made of proteins called amyloid beta. Second, are tangles of another protein, called tau, within individual neurons. A third major indicator is inflammation. While researchers have long thought brain inflammation was a byproduct of the disease itself, there's a growing hypothesis that it might actually be a driver of the disease's progression. That would help explain why researchers have found people whose brains are full of tau tangles and amyloid plaques, but with no outward symptoms of Alzheimer's. Research on animals has supported this theory. But finding the same evidence in human brains is harder. Now, a team of scientists, writing in the journal Nature Medicine, thinks they have it: time-lapsed images of patient brains showing tau tangles and inflammation spreading through the brain in the exact same pattern. Ira talks to Dr. Tharick Pascoal, assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh and the study's first author, about this finding, and what it means for future research into Alzheimer's therapies. The World According To Sound: Ultrasonics The mating calls of the katydid, a large insect, are ultrasonic, beyond the audible limit of human hearing. What if we could hear them? That's the focus behind a collaboration between the abstract audio podcast The World According To Sound and scientist Laurel Symes, the assistant director of the Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at Cornell University. In this recording, you'll hear the sounds of one of her study animals—a group of katydids in a forest in Panama. Bill McQuay, sound engineer and an audio producer at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, slowed down Symes' recording so you can hear a whole world of ultrasonic activity open up, from ultrasonic mating calls of katydids to the ultrasonic pings of bats echolocating their next meal. The World According to Sound is a live audio show, online listening series, and miniature podcast that focuses on sound, not story. Producers Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett create intentional, communal listening experiences as a way to “reclaim autonomy in a visually dominated world that is increasingly fracturing our attention.” This katydid recording and more are a part of their next listening series, an immersive listening party where audiences from all over the globe will be invited to experience a world of sound together, beginning in January 2022. How COVID-19 Reveals Existing Biases Against The Disability Community In early July, I visit Ingrid Tischer at the Berkeley apartment she's shared with her husband, Ken, for the past 10 years. When I arrive, she's already sitting outside at the top of a gently sloping ramp that leads up to the door. We're both vaccinated, but we're still taking precautions: masks, outdoors, and social distancing. That's because Ingrid has a severe disability. “I have muscular dystrophy,” she tells me, “which is a neuromuscular disorder that I've had my entire life because it's genetic.” Muscular dystrophy is a progressive muscle wasting disease. It impacts her mobility, including her ability to walk unassisted. Ingrid says she's most impacted by having a weak respiratory system and uses an oxygen device called a biPap to help her breathe. Earlier in the pandemic, her doctor told her that if she got COVID, it would likely be a death sentence. “I'd never heard my situation put in such stark, certain terms,” she says. Ingrid is in her mid 50s, with graying brown hair and bright blue eyes. She leads fundraising for DREDF, a disability rights and legal advocacy organization. She's also a writer — she's written a draft of a novel and has a blog called “Tales From the Crip.” In addition to a brilliant title, the blog is full of her personal reflections about navigating a world in which the needs and feelings of people with disabilities go mostly unseen and ignored. When COVID hit in the spring of 2020, Ingrid was terrified. Because of the risk of infection and smoke from the wildfires that summer, she stopped leaving her house entirely, developed severe anxiety and depression, and began noticing a host of new health issues. Her feet and legs began swelling and breathing became even more difficult than usual. Her doctor worried she might be developing congestive heart failure, but told her to stay home rather than come in for tests and risk infection. It's a common story. A recent survey by the disability advocacy group #NoBodyIsDisposable found that many disabled people have delayed medical care for over a year due to concerns about COVID-19. Read more at sciencefriday.com.
How can the state meet the challenge of climate change at our doorstep? Idaho Matters talks with Kendra Pierre-Louis who is a climate reporter and producer of the podcast “How To Save A Planet.”
We're tackling a sibling debate: Do your individual actions matter when it comes to climate change? Or is it all about big, systemic change? In this episode, we break down both sides of the argument. We lay out the actions that have the biggest impact on your carbon footprint – and then ask if there's a better way to think about our individual role in climate change. (This episode originally aired in March) Guests: Katharine Wilkinson, Anthony Leiserowitz and Steve Westlake Calls to Action Draw your Climate Action Venn Diagram – what are you good at? What is the work that needs doing? What brings you joy? Post your Venn diagram to social media (Twitter / Instagram) and tag us @How2SaveAPlanet. Looking for a job? Climatebase has a jobs directory and organizations directory that can be filtered by Project Drawdown sectors and solutions. Check out the How to Save a Planet Calls to Action document. All of our episode Calls to Action can be found there. Talk to people about climate change, but don't be annoying about it! For tips, listen to our episode, Trying to Talk to Family about Climate Change? Here's How, and read the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication's Attaining Meaningful Outcomes from Conversations on Climate. Learn More Check out Project Drawdown to learn more about the Drawdown Framework, and to see their Table of Solutions that breaks down solutions by sector(s) and their impact on reducing heat-trapping gases. Listen to related How to Save a Planet episodes – Party Like It's 2035, Trying to Talk to Family About Climate Change? Here's How, and Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Climate? Listen to the climate podcast A Matter of Degrees, co-hosted by Dr. Katharine Wilkinson and Dr. Leah Stokes. Check out the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication to learn more about the widespread support for climate policy solutions in America, and other research. Check out the research paper that provides a comparison of emissions reductions from various individual actions. If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We'd love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode. This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Felix Poon. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Climate anxiety is real. Expounding environmental factors and consumer guilt can make it hard to want to click on the latest climate change headline. But, climate reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis has a track record for making climate change coverage go viral. For example, she wrote a story in The New York Times about evil purple urchins.Whenever climate change swoops in in the form of a flood, fire, or fuzzy caterpillars, Kendra is there to follow the story. Despite her "Gloom is my beat" Twitter username, Kendra has a bullish way of making you care about climate change — in her writing and in her reporting on How to Save a Planet. She does it by rooting her reporting in human stories, offering actionable solutions, and making it funny whenever possible.On this episode, she pulls no punches and cracks lots of laughs. Get ready to get real about shifting climate responsibility from consumers to companies, devaluing oil, and being fueled by obligation over hope.Visit the Lumi blog for links and images.
From California's crimson skies to smoke so thick along Colorado's front range that sent people indoors for days, wildfires in the US have becomes more and more extreme. On today's episode, we ask, how did the wildfires get so bad – and what can we do to address them? This episode originally aired in October of 2020. Call(s) to action Help build fire adapted communities. If you're interested in learning more about the range of small, wonky, zoning-type solutions to reduce pressures driving people to the WUI (pronounced wooie!)and make managed retreat a more palatable option, check out fireadaptednetwork.org, where you can keep track of all the little policy changes that would actually help make a big difference. Prepare Your Home for Fire. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, better known as CalFire, has a great resource to teach you how to prepare your home for wildfire. You can find it at readyforwildfire.org. Learn More about Fires from Bobbie Scopa through the audio stories she tells on her website, Bobbie on Fire Guests: Bobbie Scopa and Suzy Cagle *And one last thing, the anthology that Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson co-edited with Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, All We Can Save, will be published in paperback on July 20th. So, we are using that as a chance to celebrate! On publication day, Ayana and Katharine hosting a celebration featuring a bunch of the contributors to the book – women leading on climate solutions, poets, artists. And you're invited! Please save the date, July 20th, and head to allwecansave.earth/events to save your virtual spot.* Check out our Calls to Action archive here for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. And if you take any of the actions we recommend, tell us about it! Send us your voice message, ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Rachel Waldholz, Anna Ladd and Felix Poon. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music by Emma Munger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this week's episode, we meet two farmers who, at first glance, seem very different. One is a first-generation farmer in upstate New York raising fruits and vegetables for the local community. The other is a third generation farmer in Minnesota who sells commodity crops—corn and soybeans—to big industrial processors. But they share something in common. They're both bucking modern conventions on how to farm. And they're paying close attention to something that is frequently overlooked: the soil. We explore how making simple changes in the way we farm can harness the incredible power of soil to help save the planet. (This episode first aired on January 7, 2021.) Guests: Leah Penniman and Dawn and Grant Breitkreutz Calls to action The new US Congress will be considering the Farm Bill at some point soon, and there are lots of subsidies in there that could incentivize adoption of regenerative practices and restore and conserve agricultural lands. So keep your eyes peeled for windows of opportunity to push your elected officials to get on board with this. For now, there's a helpful blog post from the World Resources Institute that will get you up to speed. Also, keep your eyes out for the Justice for Black Farmers Act to be reintroduced in this new Congress, which would support training and access to land for Black farmers. Support farmers of color through the National Black Food and Justice Alliance. Want to learn more about regenerative farming? Check out The Soil Health Institute. Watch these videos from Gabe Brown and Dr. Allen Williams, teachers who helped Grant and Dawn learn about regenerative farming. Read Leah Penniman's book Farming While Black, which is brimming with great information on her Afro-Indigenous-inspired approach to farming. Watch the new film Kiss the Ground, which is all about how agriculture, and the carbon-sequestering power of soil, is a powerful climate solution. Ayana's mom, an organic and regenerative farmer, recommends the book Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown. Her review: “Excellent job of demonstrating best regenerative farm practices. Great for gardeners and every food consumer to know.” She also recommends checking out the farming magazine called Acres and the array of great books published by Chelsea Green. If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We'd love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode. Check out our Calls to Action archive here for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. How to Save a Planet is a Spotify original podcast and Gimlet production hosted by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Alex Blumberg. Our reporters and producers are Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music by Emma Munger. Our fact checker this episode is James Gaines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The recycling bin — many of us have learned to view this humble container as an environmental superhero. It is, after all, the critical first step in turning our trash into… well, not treasure, but at least more stuff. Or is it? In this episode, we take a look at the science to help you understand whether recycling is an environmental boon or hindrance, and we open up the Pandora's box that is plastic. We also dive into what recycling has to do with tackling climate change. (This episode first aired on January 21, 2021.) Guests: Deia Schlosberg, Sarah Paiji Yoo Take Action Check out the Break Free from Plastic campaign Contact your members of Congress and ask them to push for the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act If there's a product or a brand that you love, reach out to that company and ask them to change their packaging Check out Loop, a store that ships your favorite products to you in refillable containers that they take back, wash, and reuse Check out Deia Schlossberg's film, The Story of Plastic If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We'd love to hear how it went. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode. Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week, the inside scoop on how a climate policy gets made. In 2019, when the Green New Deal resolution was unveiled, How to Save a Planet co-host Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson noticed something big (and blue) was missing: the ocean. The ocean is not just a victim of climate change, it's also a hero, offering many climate solutions. Ayana, along with a bunch of other ocean policy nerds, didn't want these solutions to go ignored. So how does a plea to remember the ocean become federal policy? In this episode, we learn from people who made it happen, how the power of the pen (or keyboard) can help catalyze climate action. Thanks to our guests Chad Nelsen, Maggie Thomas and Jean Flemma! Calls to Action In a few of our recent episodes we've asked listeners to call congress. You can check out our tips for doing that in the Calls to Action Archive, and also add these tips courtesy of Jean Flemma–co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab and former congressional staffer–to your outreach strategy: Follow your congressperson on social media, share what you care about by tagging them, and thank them when they support legislation you support. When you reach out via email, write your own note instead of using a form letter or only signing a petition. It's more time consuming, but much better at actually getting their attention! The Ocean Climate Solutions Act is finally gaining some traction, so if you care about this issue, call / email / tweet your congressperson! Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by our intern, Ayo Oti. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger, Bobby Lord, and Peter Leonard. Our fact checker this week is Angely Mercado. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Powering our homes with low-carbon electricity is one of the most effective things we can do to address climate change. But what if you rent your home, and you can’t install solar panels or control your building’s energy supply? This week, we look at a company offering “100% clean, pollution-free power” to renters and homeowners alike. All you have to do is sign up – no solar panels, no upfront costs, you can even keep your same utility. Is it actually that easy to switch to renewable energy, or is this too good to be true? Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Anna Ladd. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis and Rachel Waldholz. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
A common piece of career advice is to bring your whole self to work. But what if your whole self includes a deep concern for the climate? Can you bring that part of yourself to work, even if it makes your workplace uncomfortable? This week we talked to a couple of people, Emily Cunningham and Eliza Pan, who had that same question. They were deeply concerned about the climate crisis and they felt that their workplace, Amazon - yes that one - was part of the problem. So they, along with some of their coworkers, decided to bring their concerns about climate change into the office. This week we learn how Amazon workers pushed the company to act on climate change, how effective it was, and what lessons the rest of us can learn from them. Guests: Emily Cunningham and Eliza Pan Take Action Find out what your company is already doing to address climate change. How does what they are doing compare to other organizations in their space? Could they be doing more? Start talking to your coworkers about climate change. Find the people in your organization who are interested in finding ways to help your company lower its carbon footprint. Connect with groups in your area that are organizing about climate change. Some places to start looking might be your local chapter of 350.org, and check out this list for more suggestions. Learn More Read the open that Amazon Employees for Climate Justice wrote to Jeff Bezos Eliza recommends the book The Long Haul by Myles Horton (who we also mentioned in our episode, Where's our Climate Anthem) Check out Amazon Employee's for Climate Justice's efforts on their website Read the full letter that former Amazon VP Tim Bray wrote about why he resigned in the wake of Amazon terminating some of its employees Read Amazon's climate pledge If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode. Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Credits: This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger. Super special thanks to Rachel Strom for helping with this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
We love listener mail! You've sent us some amazing notes. Some made us laugh, some made us cry, and some made us say – hey, that’s a great question! We should answer it. So this week, we dig into one of your questions, and in the process, resolve an argument for a couple who can’t decide what kind of car is better for the climate. (This episode first aired on November 12, 2020.) Take Action If you’re in the market for a new car...test drive an EV! And then let us know how it went! Send us a voice memo! We love hearing from listeners! Have you taken one of the actions we’ve recommended? Have some burning climate questions that just need to be answered? An episode idea you can’t wait to hear? Just have some climate feelings?! Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it through our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in a future episode! Learn More Interested in how electric vehicles stack up? This calculator from the Union of Concerned Scientists lets you compare emissions from EVs with internal combustion engine vehicles in different regions across the U.S. Transport & Environment has a similar calculator for folks in the European Union If you want to check out the report discussed in this episode, comparing the environmental impacts of EVs and other vehicles, you can find it here! Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Rachel Waldholz. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis and Anna Ladd. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Emma Munger and Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.
The Biden Administration's American Jobs Plan is billed as an "infrastructure" package. But it's also something else: the most ambitious climate plan a U.S. president has ever proposed. So what's in it? And how can we make sure this plan avoids the fate of the last big climate bill (hint: it didn’t go well)? We talk to an architect of the Green New Deal and one of our favorite energy policy experts — and then Alex and Ayana make a terrifying phone call. Guests: Leah Stokes, Julian Brave NoiseCat Take Action: Call your members of Congress! As Ayana says, this is "a once in a lifetime opportunity to pass comprehensive, ambitious federal climate policy.” And as Dr. Leah Stokes said in our episode, now is the time! So call your members of Congress! If Alex and Ayana can do it, so can you! Don’t know who your member of Congress is? No problem! You can find out who your representative is here: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative This site has information on your senators: https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm You’ll find phone numbers for members’ D.C. offices on their websites — or just call the Capitol switchboard! They can connect you directly with the office of your representative or senator: (202) 224-3121 Tips for calling: Make a plan! Jot down some notes to remember what you want to say. Introduce yourself and tell them you’re a constituent! Let them know that you’re a voter in their district — and your opinion matters. Tell them why you’re calling: It’s crucial that Congress take serious action on climate change this year to meet the U.S. target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. Ask for something specific! Maybe: I’m really excited about the American Jobs Plan, and I think it’s really important to pass a strong clean electricity standard to get us on the path to 100% clean power / I love the idea of a Civilian Climate Corps and Congress should fully fund it / It’s really important to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles / Choose your own climate priority! Maybe it’s kelp farming... Leave your contact information. That’s it! You did it! Learn More Want to learn more about the American Jobs Plan? You can find the White House fact sheet here. Want to learn more about clean electricity standards? Our guest this week, Dr. Leah Stokes, laid out her vision along with Sam Ricketts of Evergreen Action in a Vox article: This popular and proven climate policy should be at the top of Congress’s to-do list: The case for a national clean electricity standard. You can find their full report advocating for a national clean electricity standard here: A Roadmap to 100% Clean Electricity by 2035 . And you can hear more from Leah on her podcast, A Matter of Degrees. We also talked about the clean electricity standard in Party Like It’s 2035. Want to learn more about the Green New Deal? We told the story of the Green New Deal in our episodes How 2020 Became a Climate Election and The Green Wave. If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode. Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Rachel Waldholz. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis and Anna Ladd. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.
Tons of us are spending waaaayyy more time using screens these days — and it’s freaking us out. We’ve got all kinds of worries. Like, is all this screen time rotting kids’ brains? Is social media destroying our mental health? And then there’s our eyes. Our eyes!! Are all these screens ruining them too?! To find out, we speak to psychologist Dr. Brenna Hassinger-Das, communication studies researcher Dr. Natalie Pennington and optical physicist Dr. Maitreyee Roy. Check out the transcript here: https://bit.ly/2Rfp0I4 This episode was produced by Michelle Dang with help from Wendy Zukerman, Rose Rimler, Meryl Horn, Nick DelRose and Taylor White. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Eva Dasher. Mix and sound design by Bumi Hidaka. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Haley Shaw, Peter Leonard, Marcus Bagala, Emma Munger, and Bobby Lord. A huge thanks to all the researchers we got in touch with for this episode, including Professor Seang Mei Saw, Professor Mark Rosenfield, Dr. Cristian Talens Estarelles, Dr. Rebecca Brand, Professor Wallace Dixon and Dr. Deborah Kloska. And thanks to all of our wonderful listeners who sent us messages about their screen use! It was so lovely to hear from all of you! And special thanks to Khairi, KC, and Makai Williams, Christina Couch and Lillian Adams, and Connie and Sekwan Walker, Kendra Pierre-Louis, the Zukerman family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.
It’s listener mail time! This week, we’re digging into a mysterious email one listener received from their utility about renewable natural gas. Can natural gas actually be renewable, or is this just a marketing scheme? We also take a look at Venn diagrams sent by listeners after our episode, "Is Your Carbon Footprint BS?" to see what kind of climate actions you’ve got planned! Calls to Action Check to see if your city has a building electrification effort you can support – the Building Electrification Institute has a list of some here. Check out Environment America’s resources for electrifying your college campus. Learn More Read the World Resources Institute’s report and blog post on renewable natural gas. Read Earthjustice and the Sierra Club’s report on renewable natural gas. Read the LA Times’ editorial on SoCalGas and Californians for Balanced Energy Solutions. Read this article about gas industry trade groups paying Instagram influencers to post about how much they looooove gas stoves. If you want to see what kinds of policies and marketing campaigns your utility may be supporting, you can see if they’re a member of the American Gas Association or American Public Gas Association. Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Anna Ladd The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis and Rachel Waldholz. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger. Special thanks to our guests this week, Tom Cyrs and Matt Vespa.
Most top carbon-emitting nations, like the United States, are wealthy democracies. Yet climate change is hurting poor countries first and destabilizing their societies — with rising seas, more frequent hurricanes and harsh droughts, leading to mass migration. Science journalist Kendra Pierre-Louis says buying an electric car won’t help much. What we need, she tells Will and Siva, is far more than good individual choices: a wholesale structural shift, international reparations and a healthy dose of shame.
This week, we’re talking about oil pipelines. From the fight against Keystone XL to Standing Rock, pipeline protests have been central to the climate movement in the U.S. But they’ve always been about more than just the climate -- they’ve also been a battle for Indigenous rights, demanding that Native American people and Tribes should have a say over what happens in their historic territories. This week, we look back at how pipeline protests have transformed climate activism in the U.S., and we go to the front lines of the latest protests, where organizers are fighting, in their words, “For water. For treaties. For climate.” Learn More For more about Tara and her work, you can: Check out the Giniw Collective on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Watch Tara’s TED Talk: The Standing Rock resistance and our fight for Indigenous rights You can find more information, including ways to get involved from home, here: https://linktr.ee/stopline3 You can find out about the divestment campaign aimed at companies that fund fossil fuel infrastructure here: https://stopthemoneypipeline.com/ Further Reading You can read or listen to Tara’s essay in the anthology co-edited by Ayana, All We Can Save Check out the ongoing reporting on Line 3 from Minnesota Public Radio and Indian Country Today. There’s also great reporting from The Guardian, and Emily Atkin at Heated. Read Louise Erdrich’s essay about Line 3 in The New York Times Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. How to Save a Planet is reported and produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.
Clare and BDM take a trip to New Penzance to discuss Wes Anderson's 2012 romantic drama, Moonrise Kingdom. Then they scrutinize a recent piece in Slate making the case for pandemic shaming. Along the way, they fail to pronounce any names correctly. Subscribe to our Patreon to teach us how to talk: https://www.patreon.com/stetpod Some pieces mentioned in detail or in passing: "In Support of Shame," Kendra Pierre-Louis (https://slate.com/technology/2021/04/shame-covid-restrictions-psychology-public-health.html) "Shaming / not shaming," BDM (https://notebook.substack.com/p/shaming-not-shaming) "Scabs: Academics and Others Who Write for Free," Yasmin Nair (https://www.thecut.com/2020/12/people-tell-me-i-seem-like-a-snob-whenever-im-quiet.html)
This week, we’re sharing a Spotify Exclusive from another Gimlet podcast, Stolen: The Search for Jermain. In 2018, a young Indigenous mother named Jermain Charlo left a bar in Missoula, Montana, and was never seen again. After two years and thousands of hours of investigative work, police believe they are close to solving the mystery of what happened to her. Stolen goes inside the investigation, tracking down leads and joining search parties through the dense mountains of the Flathead Reservation, while examining what it means to be an Indigenous woman in America. Next week we’ll be back with an episode of How to Save a Planet that takes you to the front lines of a pipeline protest. In the meantime, check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. How to Save a Planet is reported and produced by Rachel Waldholz, Kendra Pierre-Louis and Anna Ladd. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.
It's one of the most important Supreme Court cases you may never have heard of: Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency. The ruling held that the U.S. government could regulate greenhouse gases. Today we’re sharing the wild backstory of this critical Supreme Court case, from a podcast we love,“Outside/In,” from New Hampshire Public Radio. If you don’t believe a legal case in all its intimate details can be riveting, take a listen. And be sure to check out all the other great episodes from Outside/In. We'll be back next week with a new episode of How to Save a Planet. In the meantime, check out our Calls to Action archive here for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. How to Save a Planet is reported and produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.
In the finale to our season on climate data, we continue our exploration of storytelling as a way to imagine and build climate futures. Jacquelyn and Ramesh first speak with climate reporter and podcaster Kendra Pierre-Louis about science fiction, representation, and her own shift from writing apocalyptic stories to working on the solutions-focused podcast How to Save a Podcast. Next, they speak with Mary Heglar, co-creator and co-host of the Hot Take newsletter and podcast (along with Amy Westervelt), about the authors and works that influenced how she saw her role in a warming world, including Octavia Butler, James Baldwin, and more, as well as the importance of grappling with climate grief and the historical injustices that have given rise to the consequences of climate change, both now and in the future. You can find a transcript of this episode on our Medium page: https://ourwarmregards.medium.com/building-our-climate-futures-through-storytelling-pt-2-w-kendra-pierre-louis-and-mary-heglar-dff39a779957 Kendra Pierre-Louis Her personal website: https://www.kendrawrites.com/ Follower Kendra on Twitter: https://twitter.com/KendraWrites A republished version of her essay about Wakanda and climate change: https://time.com/5889324/movies-climate-change/ All We Can Save: https://www.allwecansave.earth Subscribe to How to Save a Planet: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/howtosaveaplanet Mary Heglar Follow Mary on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryHeglar Listen to Hot Take and subscribe to their newsletter: https://www.criticalfrequency.org/hot-take Climate Change Isn’t the First Existential Threat https://zora.medium.com/sorry-yall-but-climate-change-ain-t-the-first-existential-threat-b3c999267aa0 Feel Something, Learn Something, Do Something: A Care Package for Climate Grief https://medium.com/@maryheglar/feel-something-learn-something-do-something-a-care-package-for-climate-grief-394cc83933d2 Climate and the Personal Essay — A Reading List https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/02/11/climate-personal-essay-reading-list/ The big lie we’re told about climate change is that it’s our own fault: https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/10/11/17963772/climate-change-global-warming-natural-disasters Octavia Butler Parable of the Sower: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/70962fbf-178f-40f5-882d-510a9f46c70e Official website of the Octavia Butler Estate: https://www.octaviabutler.com The Octavia Butler Legacy Network: http://octaviabutlerlegacy.com The Expanse & Climate Change https://io9.gizmodo.com/if-you-care-about-earth-you-should-watch-the-expanse-1836708366 The Day After Tomorrow & Climate Awareness https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2014/11/the-long-melt-the-lingering-influence-of-the-day-after-tomorrow/ https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/before-and-after-the-day-after-tomorrow/ Katharine Hayhoe: the most important thing we can do about climate change is talk about it: https://www.ted.com/talks/katharine_hayhoe_the_most_important_thing_you_can_do_to_fight_climate_change_talk_about_it?language=en Eric Holthaus: On Being a Climate Person: https://thecorrespondent.com/98/on-being-a-climate-person/12973890622-af2e1b83 You can subscribe to Sustain 267 here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sustain267-podcast/id1512446379 Please consider becoming a patron on Patreon to help us pay our producer, Justin Schell, our transcriber, Jo Stormer, and our social media coordinator, Katherine Peinhardt, who are all working as volunteers. Your support helps us not only to stay sustainable, but also to grow. www.patreon.com/warmregards Find Warm Regards on the web and on social media: Web: www.WarmRegardsPodcast.com Twitter: @ourwarmregards Facebook: www.facebook.com/WarmRegardsPodcast
A quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture and land use – and a big portion of those emissions come from producing meat. Adopting a plant-based diet is one of the biggest steps an individual can take to reduce their own carbon footprint. So, should we all stop eating meat? Or is it more complicated than that? This week, we take a tour through the bodily functions of cows, millions of acres of corn, and the hidden policy that shapes the American food system to answer that question once and for all. Calls to action Sign up to track the latest U.S. Food & Agriculture bills, and contact Agriculture Committee members (House and Senate) about supporting a climate-friendly Farm Bill. Contact the places you eat regularly about providing beef-less options – maybe it’s the cafeteria at work or school, or a community gathering space. Meatless Monday has resources for institutions that want to provide more climate-friendly meals. Get involved with a local organization fighting food insecurity, a mutual aid group, a community garden, or a co-op. We also talk about mutual aid in our Unnatural Disasters episode! Learn More Read the World Resources Institute’s report on Creating a Sustainable Food Future. Read this study about regenerative methods in beef production. Read this study about red seaweed reducing methane in beef production. Check out this data visualization on land use in the U.S. Listen to the Science Vs. episode on vegan diets. Check out our Calls to Action archive here for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. How to Save a Planet is reported and produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz, Anna Ladd, and Felix Poon. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger.
This week, we’re featuring an episode from How To Save A Planet, a podcast about climate change hosted by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Alex Blumberg. Heating and powering buildings takes a lot of energy, which is why a full thirty percent of U.S. greenhouse gasses can be traced back to the indoor environments in which we live and work. Lowering that number on a collective scale - by increasing their efficiency - is no easy feat. In this episode, Ayana and Alex speak with Donnel Baird, founder of BlocPower, about his mission to tighten up one of the leakiest contributors to climate change: our buildings. How To Save A Planet is produced and reported by Rachel Waldholz, Kendra Pierre-Louis, Anna Ladd and Felix Poon. Their senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Their editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design, mixing and original music by Emma Munger. Additional music by Catherine Anderson and Bobby Lord. This episode was fact-checked by Claudia Geib. Outside/In theme music by Breakmaster Cylinder. Sign up for the Outside/In newsletter for our biweekly reading lists and episode extras. Support Outside/In by making a donation in our year end fund drive
Climate reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis joins CBS News meteorologist and climate specialist Jeff Berardelli to discuss transitioning to a Greener economy, environmental justice and carbon off-sets. They discuss the impact President Joe Biden proposals to combat climate change may have, including returning to the Paris Climate Agreement and rejecting the Keystone Pipeline. Pierre-Louis, who is the author of "Green Washed: Why We Can't Buy Our Way to a Green Planet," explains why we need to prepare for climate migration and improve the country's infrastructure. Pierre-Louis can now be heard on the Gimlet podcast “How to Save the Planet."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Climate reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis joins CBS News meteorologist and climate specialist Jeff Berardelli to discuss transitioning to a Greener economy, environmental justice and carbon off-sets. They discuss the impact President Joe Biden proposals to combat climate change may have, including returning to the Paris Climate Agreement and rejecting the Keystone Pipeline. Pierre-Louis, who is the author of "Green Washed: Why We Can't Buy Our Way to a Green Planet," explains why we need to prepare for climate migration and improve the country's infrastructure. Pierre-Louis can now be heard on the Gimlet podcast “How to Save the Planet."
Another edition of Ask Sam, where Sam answers listener questions about the natural world. This time, questions about hugging trees, bumpy roads, objects stuck on power lines, and epic hummingbird battles. Featuring special guests, Maddie Sofia, host of NPR's Short Wave, and Kendra Pierre-Louis, climate journalist with Gimlet's How to Save a Planet. Also featuring Ferris Jabr, Stephen Morris, Greg Bruton, and Anusha Shankar. Sign up for the Outside/In newsletter for our biweekly reading lists and episode extras. Support Outside/In by making a donation!
Gina McCarthy will serve as the first-ever National Climate Advisor, heading up the newly formed White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy. So, who is she? We spent time with her before the nomination and talked about her relentless fight to link environmental policy with public health. From her early days inspecting septic systems, to her time leading the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration. Get to know Gina McCarthy. Calls to Action Read up on Joe Biden’s clean energy and environmental justice plans to prepare to push this team to make those promises real If you want to learn the story of how a bunch of outsiders pushed Joe Biden to adopt the most ambitious climate platform in U.S. history, listen to our episode How 2020 Became a Climate Election Learn more about the executive climate actions the Biden-Harris administration is committed to pursuing right off the bat, and what experts suggest they prioritize Check out Gina’s essay, “Public Service for Public Health,” and Maggie’s essay, “The Politics of Policy,” in the climate anthology that Ayana co-edited, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, at allwecansave.earth If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us at howtosaveaplanet@spotify.com. We might use it in an upcoming episode. How to Save a Planet is a Spotify original podcast and Gimlet production. You can follow us @how2saveaplanet on Twitter and Instagram, and email us at howtosaveaplanet@spotify.com. How to Save a Planet is hosted by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Alex Blumberg. Our reporters and producers are Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz, Anna Ladd, and Felix Poon. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music by Emma Munger. Our fact checker this episode is Claudia Geib.
If we’re going to deal with climate change, we’ve got to talk about buildings. Thirty percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions can be traced back to our homes, offices and other buildings – how we heat and cool them, how we insulate them (or don’t) and the electricity we use. But greening buildings is really hard. Donnel Baird is on a mission to change that. He founded the startup BlocPower to prove that we can green America’s buildings while creating good jobs in low-income neighborhoods – and he wants to build a billion-dollar business while he’s at it. Calls to action: Interested in whether your building could benefit from going green? Fill out BlocPower’s survey (or give it to your building manager!) to find out if your building is right for a retrofit. You can also learn more about home energy audits, find professional energy auditors in your area or learn how to do one yourself, at the Department of Energy’s resource page. Is policy your love language, too? Local towns and cities have a ton of control over building efficiency and one option is to implement Building Performance Standards that require building owners to cut emissions over time. You can learn more about these policies here. We promised to include links to organizations that are helping folks in need during the pandemic. Check out Feeding America and World Central Kitchen. The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund distributes support to organizations working throughout New York City. For great local organizations near you, check out this twitter thread from our reporter, Kendra Pierre-Louis, who asked followers to recommend their favorite organizations working throughout the U.S. Want even more? Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter! If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us at howtosaveaplanet@spotify.com. We might use it in an upcoming episode.
The election is... Actually not quite over but we have to record this episode sometime. In this episode, a breakdown of the notable winners and losers. Did we fire them all? Or... Any of them? Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Click here to contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank’s online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Episodes CD129: The Impeachment of John Koskinen Articles/Documents Article: Rep. 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Governor Mulls Who Will Replace Harris In Senate By Scott Shafer, npr, November 9, 2020 Article: Win by Biden and Harris opens up California Senate seat By Bridget Bowman, Roll Call, November 7, 2020 Article: South Carolina’s Voting Machines Are Vulnerable to Attacks By Chiara Eisner, Governing, November 6, 2020 Article: Legislative Turnover at Lowest Level Seen Since 1920s By Alan Greeblatt, Governing, November 6, 2020 Article: Second Georgia Senate seat headed to January runoff that could decide Senate control By Stephanie Akin, Roll Call, November 6, 2020 Article: Florida Amendment 4 Election Results: Require Amendments to Be Approved Twice By Stephanie Saul, The New York Times, November 6, 2020 Article: The ACA Is Becoming A Political Problem For Dems By David Sirota and Andrew Perez, The Daily Poster, November 5, 2020 Article: Missouri voters dump never-used redistricting reforms By David A. Lieb, Associated Press, November 5, 2020 Article: Puerto Rico inches closer to statehood, but without key GOP support By Chris Cioffi, Roll Call, November 4, 2020 Article: North Dakota voters reject Measure 2 by wide margin By Jeremy Turley, Grand Forks Herald, November 4, 2020 Article: 2020 election sees record high turnout with at least 159.8 million votes projected By Hannah Miao, CNBC, November 4, 2020 Article: Nationwide Ballot Measure Results to Watch: Live Updates By Carl Smith, Tod Newcombe, Governing, November 4, 2020 Article: Will We Ever Slay the Evil Gerrymander? By Alan Ehrenhalt, Governing, November 4, 2020 Article: The U.S. Inability To Count Votes is a National Disgrace. And Dangerous. By Glenn Greenwald, November 4, 2020 Article: Record ‘Dark Money’ Donations Help GOP Retake House Seats By David Moore, Sludge, November 4, 2020 Article: With Deceptive Measure, Missouri GOP Wins Back Power to Gerrymander By Donald Shaw, Sludge, November 4, 2020 Article: Question 2 supporters concede defeat in effort to bring ranked choice voting to Massachusetts By Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston.com, November 4, 2020 Article: A QAnon Supporter Is Headed to Congress By Matthew Rosenberg, The New York Times, November 3, 2020 Article: Eight Reasons Not to Expect Quick Election Results By Carl Smith, Governing, November 3, 2020 Article: Former Congressman Pete Sessions to return to Washington By Michael Oder and Fallon Appleton, KBTX-TV, November 3, 2020 Article: Qualcomm Billionaires Launch Last Minute Attack on Granddaughter’s Progressive Opponent By Donald Shaw, Sludge, November 2, 2020 Article: Voting Itself Becomes Question for Ballot Measures By Alan Greenblatt, Governing, November 2, 2020 Article: Why Trump Can’t Afford to Lose By Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, November 1, 2020 Article: Campaign Against ‘Dark Money’ Disclosure in Alaska Keeps Hiding Its Donors By Donald Shaw, Sludge, October 28, 2020 Article: Salary Council appointee resigns, calls Schedule F executive order a ‘red line’ By Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News Network, October 26, 2020 Article: Trump's historic assault on the civil service was four years in the making By Lisa Rein, Josh Dawsey, and Toluse Olorunnipa, The Washington Post, October 23, 2020 Executive Order on Creating Schedule F In The Excepted Service The White House, October 21, 2020 Article: ‘Stunning’ Executive Order Would Politicize Civil Service By Erich Wagner, Government Executive, October 22, 2020 Article: Rep. Justin Amash, the ex-Republican who tussled with Trump and the GOP, reflects on what's next By Megan Sauer, USA Today, September 26, 2020 Article: Most Americans Don’t Have A Real Stake In The Stock Market By Teresa Ghilarducci, Forbes, August 31, 2020 Article: The Stock Market Does Not Represent the U.S. Economy By Revere Journal, July 8, 2020 Article: Health insurers' profits topped $35B last year. Medicare Advantage is the common thread By Paige Minemyer, Fierce Healthcare, February 24, 2020 Article: Supreme Court allows states to draw partisan political maps By Todd Ruger, Roll Call, June 27, 2019 Article: The Atlas Of Redistricting, Georgia’s districts gerrymandered to favor Democrats By Aaron Bycoffe, Ella Koeze, David Wasserman and Julia Wolfe, FiveThirtyEight, January 25, 2018 Additional Resources HOUSE RESULTS - Democrats retain control of House, CNN Voter Analysis: Poll Results, Fox News Democratic President by Congressional District Targeted Candidates, 2020 Cycle OpenSecrets.org Sound Clip Sources Video: 2020 Presidential Debates: Biden says Obamacare will have a public option, 'Bidencare', Politico, October 22, 2020 Facebook Live Video: Republican congressional candidate caught on video making series of racist and Islamophobic remarks, Independent, June 18, 2020 Facebook Live Video: House Republican leaders condemn GOP candidate who made racist videos, Politico, June 17, 2020 Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)
We love listener mail! You've sent us some amazing notes. Some made us laugh, some made us cry, and some made us say – hey, that’s a great question! We should answer it. So this week, we dig into one of your questions, and in the process, resolve an argument for a couple who can’t decide what kind of car is better for the climate. Interested in how electric vehicles stack up? This calculator from the Union of Concerned Scientist lets you compare emissions from EVs with internal combustion engine vehicles in different regions across the U.S. Transport & Environment has a similar calculator for folks in the European Union If you want to check out the report discussed in this episode, comparing the environmental impacts of EVs and other vehicles, you can find it here! Send us a voice memo! We love hearing from listeners! Send us your questions, Have you taken one of the actions we’ve recommended? Have some burning climate questions that just need to be answered? An episode idea you can’t wait to hear? Just have some climate feelings?! Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to howtosaveaplanet@spotify.com. We might use it in a future episode! Subscribe to the newsletter! It’s great, we promise. You can sign up here. How to Save a Planet is a Spotify original podcast and Gimlet production. You can follow us @how2saveaplanet on Twitter and Instagram, and email us at howtosaveaplanet@spotify.com How to Save a Planet is hosted by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Alex Blumberg. Our reporters and producers are Rachel Waldholz, Kendra Pierre-Louis, Anna Ladd and Felix Poon. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design, mixing and original music by Emma Munger. Additional music by Bobby Lord, Billy Libby and Catherine Anderson. Full music credits can be found on our website. Our fact checker this episode is Claudia Geib. Thanks to Olivia, Patrick, Molly, and all the listeners who wrote in! And special thanks to Ami Bogin and Harry Bishop, whose question inspired this episode.
Host Andrew Simon sits down with Gimlet Media's Kendra Pierre-Louis to learn how suburbs are harsh on the planet and how stories about solutions don't have to be boring. Plus: some of the best -- and worst-- songs that mention climate change.Further Reading & Listening:'Wakanda Doesn't Have Suburbs': How Movies Like Black Panther Could Help Us Save the PlanetThe Hot 10 Climate SongsHow to Save a Planet: Unnatural Disasters Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.
We’re sharing another great Gimlet show, How to Save a Planet. On this episode: It started with students walking out of school to demand more action on climate change, built into an international movement – and then was propelled forward by a pandemic. This is the surprising story behind Europe’s climate plan, and what the rest of us can learn from it. Find more episodes here: https://open.spotify.com/show/1KzrasExlM5dgMYwgFHns6 How to Save a Planet is hosted by Alex Blumberg and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. Reporters and producers are Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design, mixing and original music by Emma Munger. Additional music by Bobby Lord. Mixed for Science Vs by Robert Hann. Thanks to Manon Dufour and Annika Hedberg for talking with us about the European Green Deal. Special thanks to Sandra Riaño, Rachel Strom and Whitney Potter.
For years, American politicians have failed to take climate change seriously. The 2016 presidential debates didn’t even include a single climate question. Fast-forward four years, and climate change is a major election issue. So how did 2020 become a climate election? This week, how a bunch of outsiders turned the Green New Deal into a national rallying cry — and pushed Joe Biden to adopt the most ambitious climate platform in U.S. history. Want to take action? Most important: VOTE! Check out Vote.org to make sure you’re registered to vote and find information on polling stations, early voting or absentee voting in your state You can check out the Sunrise Movement and read the THRIVE Agenda You can read Joe Biden’s climate plan and environmental justice plan (they’re short!) or watch his recent big speech on climate change You can check out the Blue New Deal Or read the original Green New Deal resolution - again! How to Save a Planet is a Spotify original podcast and Gimlet production. You can follow us @how2saveaplanet on Twitter and Instagram, and email us at howtosaveaplanet@spotify.com How to Save a Planet is hosted by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Alex Blumberg. Our reporters and producers are Rachel Waldholz, Kendra Pierre-Louis, Anna Ladd and Felix Poon. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design, mixing and original music by Emma Munger. Additional music by Peter Leonard, Catherine Anderson, and Billy Libby. Full music credits can be found on our website. Our fact checker this episode is Claudia Geib. Special thanks to Rachel Strom.
The Republican Party has been almost uniformly opposed to climate action for years – nobody more so than President Donald Trump. But it wasn’t always like this. On today’s episode, we look back at how conservatives came to see the denial of climate science as a kind of badge of honor – and we talk to two conservative activists who are trying to change that. Want to take action? Check out the American Conservation Coalition and read their American Climate Contract You can find more information at republicEN.org and check out their podcast, EcoRight Speaks. You can also read the full memo we mentioned in the episode - the Global Climate Science Communications Action Plan (get ready to be mad) Or listen to the podcast Drilled for a deep dive on the fossil fuel industry’s long misinformation campaign Don’t forget to VOTE! Check out vote.org to make sure you’re registered to vote, find your polling station or get information on absentee ballots in your state. Want to know more? We have a reading list! Losing Earth by Nathaniel Rich Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes & Eric Conway The Republican Reversal by James Turner and Andrew Isenberg Dark Money by Jane Mayer How to Save a Planet is a Spotify original podcast and Gimlet production. You can follow us @how2saveaplanet on Twitter and Instagram, and email us at howtosaveaplanet@spotify.com How to Save a Planet is hosted by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Alex Blumberg. Our reporters and producers are Rachel Waldholz, Kendra Pierre-Louis, Anna Ladd and Felix Poon. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing for this episode by Sam Bair with original music by Emma Munger. Full music credits are available on our website. Our fact checker this episode is Claudia Geib. Special thanks to Rachel Strom. Thanks to Anthony Leiserowitz for helping us understand some of this history. This episode also relied on phenomenal reporting from a number of places, including the books Losing Earth by Nathaniel Rich, Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway, Kochland by Christopher Leonard, Dark Money by Jane Mayer, and the podcast Drilled, hosted by Amy Westervelt.
Diane talks with Kendra Pierre-Louis, senior reporter on the podcast "How To Save A Planet," and a former climate reporter for the New York Times.
As this summer has made clear: from hurricanes to wildfires, climate change is exposing more of us to extreme weather. This week we hear what it's like to survive a life-changing disaster, get tips on how to prepare — from a disasterologist — and learn why you should never call a disaster “natural.” Call(s) to action Build a go bag or preparedness kit. You can check out www.ready.gov/kit for some tips on how to build your own bag. Remember it's a guide - not a rulebook - so think through what you will really need in a disaster. Kendra packed a spare pair of glasses, just in case, for example. Create your own disaster plan. The kit is only the first step in disaster preparedness. While building your bag also think through your disaster plan. You can check out ready.gov/plans to think through things like if you had to evacuate what your route would be and where you would go. If you have children, www.ready.gov/kids , helps you incorporate your kids into your disaster planning - which is important because they will be going through this with you. Prepare your home for your disaster. We'll link to specific tips on doing this in the additional reading, but prepping your home for the inevitable increases the odds it will survive. If you're a homeowner it's worth checking out what your insurance policy says. If you are a renter, it's worth getting renters insurance, though it's typically less comprehensive than homeowners insurance. Find out what your local government and community organizations are doing to prepare for disaster. This is everything from attending meetings that your emergency managers are holding (and if they aren't holding them, why not?) And if you want to go even further consider getting community emergency response team or CERT training. For more info on the climate anthology that Ayana has co-edited, All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, and to order a copy, head to allwecansave.earth. It includes poignant essays by Christine Nieves Rodrigues, our own Kendra Pierre-Louis and 40 other women climate leaders.
Welcome to Season 4! For this first episode, Kendra Pierre-Louis, former Popsci editor and current reporter for the Gimlet podcast How To Save a Planet, joins the weirdos as a guest host. The weirdest things we learned this week range from thousands of cars being recalled due to spider infestations, to the story of a woman who invented N95 masks from bras. Whose story will be voted "The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week"? The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Facebook group or tweet at us! Click here to learn more about all of our stories! Follow our team on Twitter Rachel Feltman: www.twitter.com/RachelFeltman Sara Chodosh: www.twitter.com/schodosh Popular Science: www.twitter.com/PopSci Theme music by Billy Cadden: www.twitter.com/billycadden Edited by Jessica Boddy: www.twitter.com/JessicaBoddy Theme music by Billy Cadden: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6LqT4DCuAXlBzX8XlNy4Wq?si=5VF2r2XiQoGepRsMTBsDAQ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/popular-science/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/popular-science/support
It started with students walking out of school to demand more action on climate change, built into an international movement – and then was propelled forward by a pandemic. Today on the show, the surprising story behind Europe’s climate plan, and what the rest of us can learn from it. Want to get involved? Find your local chapter of the Sunrise Movement or Fridays for Future. Or check out the Global Day of Climate Action on Sept. 25, 2020. Want to read the Green New Deal resolution for yourself? You can find the full text here. Don’t be scared, it’s only 14 pages. Send us an email: howtosaveaplanet@spotify.com. Find us on Twitter and Instagram @how2saveaplanet. How to Save a Planet is a Spotify Original Podcast and Gimlet Production. It’s hosted by Alex Blumberg and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. Our reporters and producers are Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design, mixing and original music by Emma Munger. Additional music by Bobby Lord. Thanks to Manon Dufour and Annika Hedberg for talking with us about the European Green Deal. Special thanks to Sandra Riaño, Rachel Strom and Whitney Potter.
For decades, coal fueled the town of Somerset, MA. But when the coal plant went bust -- taking with it millions in tax dollars -- the town struggled. That’s when a local politician, the self-proclaimed Queen of Coal, learned that an unexpected industry could revive the economy. Today on the show how Somerset, MA went from a town of coal to a launching point for the burgeoning offshore wind industry. Want to help speed the transition away from coal? Check out the Beyond Coal Campaign. Want to nerd out on wind policy and how to jumpstart this industry? Check out the policy memo, polling and graphics by Urban Ocean Lab, Data for Progress, and Evergreen Collaborative. Send us an email to howtosaveaplanet@spotify.com. Find us on Twitter and Instagram @how2saveaplanet. How to Save a Planet is a Spotify Original Podcast and Gimlet Production. It’s hosted by Alex Blumberg and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. Our reporters and producers are Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design, mixing and original music by Emma Munger. Additional music by Bobby Lord, Catherine Anderson, and Billy Libby. Our fact checker this episode is James Gaines. Special thanks to Holly McNamara, Blythe Terrell and Devon Taylor.
It’s not easy to keep your eye on the ball with an election, economic collapse and a pandemic hanging over your head, but here’s the thing: Climate change is as much of an existential threat as it ever was, and the Trump administration has continued cutting environmental regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here to talk about the effect of those rollbacks and how the pandemic plays into it all is Kendra Pierre-Louis. She was a reporter on The New York Times’ climate team and now works on Gimlet’s podcast “How to Save a Planet.” Later, we’ll hear from listeners and experts on voting concerns, the digital divide and what effect all those disposable face masks could have on the environment. Man, it’s a hot one. For a full list of everything we talked about today, check out the episode page at makemesmart.org
It’s not easy to keep your eye on the ball with an election, economic collapse and a pandemic hanging over your head, but here’s the thing: Climate change is as much of an existential threat as it ever was, and the Trump administration has continued cutting environmental regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here to talk about the effect of those rollbacks and how the pandemic plays into it all is Kendra Pierre-Louis. She was a reporter on The New York Times’ climate team and now works on Gimlet’s podcast “How to Save a Planet.” Later, we’ll hear from listeners and experts on voting concerns, the digital divide and what effect all those disposable face masks could have on the environment. Man, it’s a hot one. For a full list of everything we talked about today, check out the episode page at makemesmart.org
In episode 201, Kestrel welcomes Samata, the CEO of Red Carpet Green Dress, to the show. A women-led global change-making organization working from ‘moment’ to movement, Red Carpet Green Dress creates awareness by showcasing sustainable fashion on the red carpet. A British born Ghanaian entrepreneur, Samata is also the founder of THE TRIBE, a women’s empowerment collective. “I try and choose talent that will speak to different audiences, because part of the way that I think fashion is not intersectional is by the faces it presents as the messenger.” -Samata, CEO of Red Carpet Green Dress On this week’s show, Samata shares more on what she’s been up to over the last 4 years since she first came on the show, as well as what life looks like in her new role as the CEO of Red Carpet Green Dress. Kestrel and Samata also discuss how their perspectives have shifted when it comes to sustainability, since both recently becoming new moms. Additionally, Samata shares more on the intentionality that goes into choosing talent for Red Carpet Green Dress, and the power of having access to a mainstream audience by partnering with the Oscars. Currently, Red Carpet Green Dress is hosting their 2020 Design Contest, of which designers around the world can enter — Samata explains how to enter, and the incredible opportunities the winner will receive. Kestrel and Samata dive into more on the cultural context and meaning behind garments, as well as the way fashion can be weaponized. Samata shares a story about a conversation she had with someone on the “professionalism” of headwraps, and more on what they mean to her personally. The below thoughts, ideas + organizations were brought up in this chat: “Changing mindsets is actually where I think the battle is won.” -Samata Red Carpet Green Dress Design Contest 2020 Tencel, RCGD partner for the Design Contest, designers get to choose from 3 Tencel fabrications to incorporate into their entry Laura Basci, couture designer that will provide mentorship to Design Contest winner Alice Elia, former winner of the Red Carpet Green Dress Design Contest Samata’s Instagram post about headwraps The Zoot Suit Suggested podcast from intro — Hot Take hosted by Mary Annaise Heglar and Amy Westervelt — episode “Media In Meltdown and Climate In Crisis with Kendra Pierre-Louis”
The media is having a Me Too moment for journalists of color amid national protests against policy brutality and systemic, all against a backdrop of a climate emergency. NYT climate reporter-turned Gimlet podcaster Kendra Pierre-Louis joins us to talk about all of this and more. Plus: dad jokes, mayo edition! Subscribe for a bonus segment in which we talk about that crazy CBS "Karen" story, why it's so hard for national media outlets to criticize themselves, and why a certain Hot Take co-host doesn't know how to drive. https://realhottake.substack.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The media is having a Me Too moment for journalists of color amid national protests against policy brutality and systemic, all against a backdrop of a climate emergency. NYT climate reporter-turned Gimlet podcaster Kendra Pierre-Louis joins us to talk about all of this and more. Plus: dad jokes, mayo edition! Subscribe for a bonus segment in which we talk about that crazy CBS "Karen" story, why it's so hard for national media outlets to criticize themselves, and why a certain Hot Take co-host doesn't know how to drive. https://realhottake.substack.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Trump Administration has rolled back, or attempted to roll back, dozens of environmental rules, including regulations on emissions and air quality standards. We’ll touch on some of them and how they likely exacerbate existing health inequality. Gina McCarthy, Kendra Pierre-Louis and Dr. Georges Benjamin join Anthony Brooks.
The coronavirus seems to cause symptoms all over our body, from nose to toes. So how can one virus do so many strange things? To find out, we talk to gastroenterologist Dr. Anthony DeBenedet, virologist and immunologist Professor Ann Sheehy, otorhinolaryngologist Professor Thomas Hummel, and dermatologist Professor Amy Paller. Here’s a link to our transcript: https://bit.ly/2zqehBZ This episode was produced by Rose Rimler and Meryl Horn with help from Wendy Zukerman, Sinduja Srinivasan, Michelle Dang and Mathilde Urfalino. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell with help from Caitlin Kenney. Fact checking by Lexi Krupp. Mix and sound design by Peter Leonard. Music written by Peter Leonard, Marcus Bagala, Emma Munger, and Bobby Lord. A huge thanks to all the researchers we got in touch with for this episode, including Dr. Ahmad Sedaghat, Professor Richard Doty, Dr. Elnara Negri, Dr. Evgeniy Podolskiy, Prof. Yvonne Maldonado, Prof. Steven Mentzer, Dr. John Paget, Dr. Connor Bamford, and Dr Gaetano Santulli. And special thanks to Kendra Pierre-Louis, the Zukerman family, and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.
Hey! We’re starting a new thing! Welcome to Threshold Conversations, a new series featuring interviews with environmental thought leaders. We're still doing our main show—our documentary work, where we take you on a journey deep into one pressing issue. But between seasons of Threshold, we're going to start sharing interviews with people who have interesting things to say on important issues impacting cultures, creatures, and ecosystems around the world. For our inaugural episode, Amy talks with Kendra Pierre-Louis, a climate reporter at The New York Times, to discuss how coronavirus intersects with a number of the environmental stories she tracks every day. Threshold Conversations is supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists, as well as the Park Foundation, the High Stakes Foundation, and our home public radio station, Montana Public Radio. Our work is also made possible by listeners like you. This week, we’re aiming to raise $3,000 as part of Giving Tuesday Now. Every contribution makes a difference, no matter the size. You can choose to give monthly or make an individual gift. Just go to thresholdpodcast.org/donate. Thank you for helping us to keep independent, nonprofit journalism afloat in the choppy pandemic waters! Learn more about Threshold on our website.
Live from quarantine! Mary and Amy talk to The Correspondent's Eric Holthaus about how to remain optimistic, the ways corona and climate do and don't intersect, and why you can't sleep on climate just because there's another catastrophe unfolding. Reading List We're Not Just Stopping Coronavirus, We're Building a New World, by Eric Holthaus in The Correspondent: https://thecorrespondent.com/385/we-arent-just-stopping-coronavirus-were-building-a-new-world/50968856015-625b9768 Trump Moves Forward On Biggest Environmental Rollback To Date Amid Pandemic Chaos, by Alex Kaufman and Chris D'Angelo in HuffPost https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-auto-emissions_n_5e834685c5b6d38d98a50868 States Quietly Pass Laws Criminalizing Fossil Fuel Protests Amid Coronavirus Chaos, by Alex Kaufman in HuffPost https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pipeline-protest-laws-coronavirus_n_5e7e7570c5b6256a7a2aab41 Will Pandemic Relief Become a Petroleum Industry Slush Fund? by Amy Westervelt in Drilled News https://www.drillednews.com/post/will-pandemic-relief-become-a-petroleum-industry-slush-fund Exxon Now Wants to Write the Rules for Regulating Methane Emissions, by Justin Mikulka in DeSmog https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/03/16/exxon-write-rules-regulating-methane-emissions The Analogy Between COVID-19 and Climate Change Is Eerily Precise, by Gilad Edelman in Wired https://www.wired.com/story/the-analogy-between-covid-19-and-climate-change-is-eerily-precise/ What Climate Grief Taught Me About the Coronavirus, by Mary Annaise Heglar in The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/157059/climate-grief-taught-coronavirus The Climate Crisis Will Be Just as Shockingly Abrupt, by Melody Schreiber in The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/157078/climate-crisis-will-just-shockingly-abrupt Here's Why We'll Never Treat the Climate Crisis With the Same Urgency as Coronavirus, by Amy Westervelt in HuffPost https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-climate-change-fossil-fuel-profits_n_5e786da4c5b6f5b7c547329e Sorry, But the Virus Shows Why There Won't Be Global Action on Climate Change, by Jason Bordoff in Foreign Policy https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/27/coronavirus-pandemic-shows-why-no-global-progress-on-climate-change/ The Pandemic Isn't Fixing Climate Change, by John Sutter in CNN https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/opinions/pandemic-not-fixing-climate-change-sutter/index.html How the Coronavirus Crisis May Hinder Efforts to Fight Wildfires, by Kendra Pierre Louis in The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/climate/coronavirus-firefighters-wildfires.html This Is What Climate Change Looks Like in an Era of COVID-19, by Jocelyn Timperley in Earther https://earther.gizmodo.com/this-is-what-climate-change-looks-like-in-an-era-of-cov-1842539967 The Great Barrier Reef Is Heading for a Mass Bleaching of Unprecedented Scale, by Maddie Stone in Vice https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/y3mxmg/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-2020 That Discomfort You're Feeling Is Grief, by Scott Berinato in Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief Keeping Things Whole, by Mark Strand from Selected Poems by Mark Strand https://poetrysociety.org/poetry-in-motion/keeping-things-whole What the Coronavirus Means for Climate Change, by Meehan Christ in The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-climate-change.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Live from quarantine! Mary and Amy talk to The Correspondent's Eric Holthaus about how to remain optimistic, the ways corona and climate do and don't intersect, and why you can't sleep on climate just because there's another catastrophe unfolding. Reading List We're Not Just Stopping Coronavirus, We're Building a New World, by Eric Holthaus in The Correspondent: https://thecorrespondent.com/385/we-arent-just-stopping-coronavirus-were-building-a-new-world/50968856015-625b9768 Trump Moves Forward On Biggest Environmental Rollback To Date Amid Pandemic Chaos, by Alex Kaufman and Chris D'Angelo in HuffPost https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-auto-emissions_n_5e834685c5b6d38d98a50868 States Quietly Pass Laws Criminalizing Fossil Fuel Protests Amid Coronavirus Chaos, by Alex Kaufman in HuffPost https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pipeline-protest-laws-coronavirus_n_5e7e7570c5b6256a7a2aab41 Will Pandemic Relief Become a Petroleum Industry Slush Fund? by Amy Westervelt in Drilled News https://www.drillednews.com/post/will-pandemic-relief-become-a-petroleum-industry-slush-fund Exxon Now Wants to Write the Rules for Regulating Methane Emissions, by Justin Mikulka in DeSmog https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/03/16/exxon-write-rules-regulating-methane-emissions The Analogy Between COVID-19 and Climate Change Is Eerily Precise, by Gilad Edelman in Wired https://www.wired.com/story/the-analogy-between-covid-19-and-climate-change-is-eerily-precise/ What Climate Grief Taught Me About the Coronavirus, by Mary Annaise Heglar in The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/157059/climate-grief-taught-coronavirus The Climate Crisis Will Be Just as Shockingly Abrupt, by Melody Schreiber in The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/157078/climate-crisis-will-just-shockingly-abrupt Here's Why We'll Never Treat the Climate Crisis With the Same Urgency as Coronavirus, by Amy Westervelt in HuffPost https://www.huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-climate-change-fossil-fuel-profits_n_5e786da4c5b6f5b7c547329e Sorry, But the Virus Shows Why There Won't Be Global Action on Climate Change, by Jason Bordoff in Foreign Policy https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/27/coronavirus-pandemic-shows-why-no-global-progress-on-climate-change/ The Pandemic Isn't Fixing Climate Change, by John Sutter in CNN https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/opinions/pandemic-not-fixing-climate-change-sutter/index.html How the Coronavirus Crisis May Hinder Efforts to Fight Wildfires, by Kendra Pierre Louis in The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/climate/coronavirus-firefighters-wildfires.html This Is What Climate Change Looks Like in an Era of COVID-19, by Jocelyn Timperley in Earther https://earther.gizmodo.com/this-is-what-climate-change-looks-like-in-an-era-of-cov-1842539967 The Great Barrier Reef Is Heading for a Mass Bleaching of Unprecedented Scale, by Maddie Stone in Vice https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/y3mxmg/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-2020 That Discomfort You're Feeling Is Grief, by Scott Berinato in Harvard Business Review https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief Keeping Things Whole, by Mark Strand from Selected Poems by Mark Strand https://poetrysociety.org/poetry-in-motion/keeping-things-whole What the Coronavirus Means for Climate Change, by Meehan Christ in The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-climate-change.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Now is when we'd normally be getting ready for fire season. And this upcoming one could be tough for states like California, which had an especially dry winter. The spread of the coronavirus however is complicating preparation efforts. Maddie talks with Kendra Pierre-Louis, a reporter on the New York Times climate team, about how the crisis we're in could hurt our response to another crisis just around the corner.
Scientists have painted a bleak picture of the future if we fail to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but we’ve already started to witness the fallout of a warming planet. Politics with Amy Walter looks at the role climate change is playing across politics and at the vulnerable communities that stand to lose the most. Our coverage this week is part of a collaboration with 250 other media organizations called “Covering Climate Now.” President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 fresh off of giving campaign speeches that promised to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement and bring back coal jobs. Just over two years later, we look at whether or not he's made good on those promises. Guests: Rachel Cleetus, Policy director with the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists Kendra Pierre-Louis, Climate reporter for The New York Times Christine Todd Whitman, Former Governor of New Jersey and Former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Zahra Hirji, Climate reporter for BuzzFeed News Rich Fitzgerald, County Executive (D) for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Leandra Mira, Pittsburgh climate activist Comment from Shell: "Shell received its Air Quality Permit in 2015 from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, with oversight from the Federal Environmental Protection Agency. In line with its permitting requirements, Shell will meet the regulatory standards created to protect people and the environment."
Scientists have painted a bleak picture of the future if we fail to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but we’ve already started to witness the fallout of a warming planet. Politics with Amy Walter looks at the role climate change is playing across politics and at the vulnerable communities that stand to lose the most. Our coverage this week is part of a collaboration with 250 other media organizations called “Covering Climate Now.” President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 fresh off of giving campaign speeches that promised to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement and bring back coal jobs. Just over two years later, we look at whether or not he's made good on those promises. Guests: Rachel Cleetus, Policy director with the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists Kendra Pierre-Louis, Climate reporter for The New York Times Christine Todd Whitman, Former Governor of New Jersey and Former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Zahra Hirji, Climate reporter for BuzzFeed News Rich Fitzgerald, County Executive (D) for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Leandra Mira, Pittsburgh climate activist Comment from Shell: "Shell received its Air Quality Permit in 2015 from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, with oversight from the Federal Environmental Protection Agency. In line with its permitting requirements, Shell will meet the regulatory standards created to protect people and the environment."
Public land belongs to all Americans and the bureaus of the Interior Department are responsible for balancing conservation and resource extraction on our land. The Trump administration is making some major changes to this important agency which few Americans are aware of. In this episode, learn what their plans are, how those plans are being implemented, and who stands to benefit from the changes. Spoiler alert! Fossil fuel companies will be pleased. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Click here to contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD149: Fossil Fuel Foxes Articles/Documents Article: Court halts leasing, drilling expansion in sage grouse habitatBy Allayana Darrow, The Sheridan Press | Via Wyoming News Exchange, October 23, 2019 Article: Pendley's Reagan years: Leasing zeal spurs coal 'fire sale' By Timothy Cama, E&E News, September 30, 2019 Article: The Interior Secretary Wants to Enlarge a Dam. An Old Lobbying Client Would Benefit. By Coral Davenport, The New York Times, September 28, 2019 Article: Audio of private meeting shows oil industry ripping into Trump administration By Ben Lefebvre, Politico, September 27, 2019 Article: Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn By Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone, August 29, 2019 Article: The Federal Election Commissino Needs 4 of 6 Members to Enforce the Law. It Now Has 3. By Shane Goldmacher, The New York Times, August 26, 2019 Article: Congress pumps brakes on Interior push to relocate Bureau of Land Management By Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, August 22, 2019 Letter: Addressed to Mr. Joseph Balash Tom Udall and Betty McCollum, August 22, 2019 Article: Bureau of Land Management retirees fight plan to relocate agency out west By Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill, August 21, 2019 Article: Interior Releases Specifics of Reorganization Plan FEDweek, August 21, 2019 Article: Land and minerals chief resigns with questions in his wake by Heather Richards, E&E News, August 21, 2019 Article: Trump's Pick for Managing Federal Lands Doesn't Believe the Government Should Have Any By Steven Mufson, The Washington Post, July 31, 2019 Article: Lawmakers, Lobbyists and the Administration Join Forces to Overhaul the Endangered Species Act By Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman, The New York Times, July 22, 2019 Article: Tribes accuse BLM of shutting them out on drilling decisions By Heather Richards, E&E News, July 16, 2019 Report: Assessment of methane emissions from the U.S. oil and gas supply chain By Ramón A. Alvarez, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, David R. Lyon, David T. Allen, Zachary R. Barkley, Adam R. Brandt, Kenneth J. Davis, Scott C. Herndon, Daniel J. Jacob, Anna Karion, Eric A. Kort, Brian K. Lamb, Thomas Lauvaux, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Anthony J. Marchese, Mark Omara, Stephen W. Pacala, Jeff Peischl, Allen L. Robinson, Paul B. Shepson, Colm Sweeney, Amy Townsend-Small, Steven C. Wofsy, Steven P. Hamburg, Science Magazine, Vol. 361, Issue 6398, pp. 186-188, July 13, 2018 Article: Carbon dioxide levels hit landmark at 415 ppm, highest in human history By Ryan W. Miller and Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, May 13, 2019 Article: Rep. Grijalva: House panel considering subpoenas for Interior information By Anthony Adragna and Ben Lefebvre, Politico, May 10, 2019 Article: Bernhardt bucks Zinke on part of reorganization plan By Michael Doyle, Politico, May 8, 2019 Article: Interior Dept. Opens Ethics Investigation of Its New Chief, David Bernhardt By Coral Davenport, The New York Times, April 15, 2019 Article: Oil Producers Are Burning Enough 'Waste' Gas to Power Every Home in Texas By Kevin Crowley and Ryan Collins, Bloomberg, April 10, 2019 Article: David Bernhardt confirmed as Secretary of the Interior By Chris D’Angelo, High Country News, April 12, 2019 Article: Trump’s Pick for Interior Dept. Continued Lobbying After Officially Vowing to Stop, New Files Show By Coral Davenport, The New York Times, April 4, 2019 Article: Interior Nominee Intervened to Block Report on Endangered Species By Eric Lipton, The New York Times, March 26, 2019 Article: The Trump administration is opening millions of new acres to drilling — and that’s just the start By Darryl Fears and Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post, March 15, 2019 Article: Top Leader at Interior Dept. Pushes a Policy Favoring His Former Client By Coral Davenport, The New York Times, February 12, 2019 Article: Interior Secretary Zinke resigns amid investigations By Darryl Fears, Juliet Eilperin, and Josh Dawsey, The Washington Post, December 15, 2018 Article: Trump Says He’ll Nominate Andrew Wheeler to Head the E.P.A. By Lisa Friedman, The New York Times, November 16, 2018 Article: “The Guy Doing the Dirty Work” at Trump’s Interior Department is an Ex-Oil Lobbyist Straight Out of the Swamp By Rebecca Leber, Mother Jones, October 9, 2018 Article: In America’s Hottest Drilling Spot, Gas Is Going Up in Smoke By Rebecca Elliott, The Wall Street Journal, August 29, 2018 Article: As Trump Dismantles Clean Air Rules, an Industry Lawyer Delivers for Ex-Clients By Eric Lipton, The New York Times, August 19, 2018 Article: At Interior, we’re ready to bring the Endangered Species Act up to date By David Bernhardt, The Washington Post, August 9, 2018 Article: Law That Saved the Bald Eagle Could Be Vastly Reworked By Lisa Friedman, Kendra Pierre-Louis and Livia Albeck-Ripka, The New York Times, July 19, 2018 Article: Firm Prepares To Mine Land Previously Protected As A National Monument By Shannon Van Sant, npr, June 21, 2018 Article: White House Proposes a Massive Reorganization of Federal Agencies By Charles S. Clark, Government Executive, June 21, 2018 Resignation Letter: Read Joel Clement's resignation letter - Whistleblower Joel Clement, an executive with the Department of Interior, resigned Oct. 4 By Joel Clement, The Washington Post, October 4, 2017 Article: I'm a scientist. I'm blowing the whistle on the Trump administration By Joel Clement, The Washington Post, July 19, 2017 Document: STATEMENT OF RYAN ZINKE, SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR BEFORE THE SENATE ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE ON THE 2018 PRESIDENT’S BUDGET REQUEST, June 20, 2017 Article: Zinke moving dozens of senior interior department officials in shake-up By Juliet Ellperin and Lisa Rein, The Washington Post, June 16, 2017 Executive Order 13781: Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch Executive Office of the President, Federal Register, March 13, 2017 Article: Trump advisors aim to privatize oil-rich Indian reservations by Valerie Volcovici, Reuters, December 5, 2016 Article: The Federal Government Should Follow the Constitution and Sell Its Western Lands by William Perry Pendley, National Review, January 19, 2016 Press Release: President Obama Announces Bromwich to Fix Oil Industry Oversight The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, June 15, 2010 Article: Report Finds Interior Department Mismanaged Coal Lease Program by Philip Shabecoff, The New York Times, February 9, 1984 Additional Resources Press Release: Energy Revenues and Disbursements Soar Under the Trump Administration, U.S. Department of the Interior, October 24, 2019 Interior Reorganization, U.S. Department of the Interior, August 19, 2019 Unified Interior Regional Boundaries, U.S. Department of the Interior, August 19, 2019 Frequently Asked Questions about DOI Reorganization, U.S. Department of the Interior, August 19, 2019 Who We Are: Secretary David Bernhardt, U.S. Department of the Interior Index: CALIFORNIA OIL AND GAS LEASE SALES, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Memorandum: The Interior Secretary Wants to Enlarge a Dam. An Old Lobbying Client Would Benefit. U.S. Department of the Interior, August 9, 2019 YouTube Video: How Trump's new Interior pick David Bernhardt became “the guy doing the dirty work.”, Mother Jones, February 7, 2019 Petition: Please Oppose David Bernhardt For Deputy Secretary of the Interior May 17, 2017 Document: U.S. Department of the Interior Order No. 3355 Charity Navigator: Defenders of Wildlife Department of Influence Leadership - Scott Cameron: Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget Linkedin Page: Scott Cameron GAO - U.S. Government Accountability Office Page: GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION: Key Questions to Assess Agency Reform Efforts Representative Summary: Rob Bishop, Representative (UT) Website: Public Lands Foundation Sound Clip Sources Full Committee Hearing: THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S FAILURE TO COOPERATE WITH CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT REQUESTS, Committee on Natural Resources, September 26, 2019 Watch on YouTube: DOI’s Failure to Cooperate with Congressional Oversight Requests Witnesses: William Perry Pendley - Deputy Director for Policy and Programs at the Bureau of Land Management Tony Small - Vice Chairman of the Ute Indian Tribal Business Committee Edward Shephard - President of the Public Lands Foundation Hearing: BLM DISORGANIZATION: EXAMINING THE PROPOSED REORGANIZATION AND RELOCATION OF THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT HEADQUARTERS TO GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO, Committee on Natural Resources, September 10, 2019 Watch on YouTube: BLM Disorganization EventID=109893 Witnesses: William Perry Pendley - Deputy Director for Policy and Programs at the Bureau of Land Management Tony Small - Vice Chairman of the Ute Indian Tribal Business Committee Edward Shephard - President of the Public Lands Foundation Transcript: 21:30 William Perry Pendley:We need to have the energy, mineral and realty management experts, who are now in Washington, out in the field with the state offices to work hand in glove with tribal leaders on tribal lands to ensure their ability to develop the resources. Congress passed last year, in 2018, a change to that law to permit more of these agreements. We're working aggressively with the BIA to have those agreements, and I'll be a very, very strong advocate for tribes being able to enter into those agreements to take over the oil and gas leasing functions on their land if that's their decision to do so. 52:15 Rep. Rob Bishop (UT): Grand Junction is not necessarily where everyone is going to go. We're also moving people to New Mexico. You're moving people to Arizona, to Nevada, over to Utah, up to Idaho, where their function can be better enhanced by being in those local particular areas. So this is not just a wholesale move from at stadium to Grand Junction. You're covering the entire West, and you're going to allow a greater expertise and a greater experience throughout the entire area in which you find BLM lands, right? William Perry Pendley: That's absolutely the case. We have 74 people going to various state offices to perform SAIDI office functions. We have 222 people going to state office to perform headquarters' functions. Nearly every, well, not nearly, every Western state will benefit from the infusion of experts. Rep. Rob Bishop (UT): We all will benefit, and I appreciate that. Yes, sir. 55:40 Rep. Jody Hice (GA): How will the American people be able to visualize and experience some of the, how they themselves, how Americans are going to be better served, if the leadership and the resources are moved closer to the actual places that are impacted and involved with BLM. William Perry Pendley:Congressman, I think one of the ways is better decision making earlier in the process. None of us like the logjam that we've seen, for example, with national environmental policy act, where we have endless litigation, and makes it difficult for things, rubber to hit the road, and whether we're doing a recreational project or grazing renewal or oil and gas operations, whatever we're doing, they get bogged down. And one of the things the secretary has done is forced those decisions out into the field with sectoral or 3355 to shorten our NEPA process and get it done right. And one of the ways we can most effectively do that is having our top people in the field. 1:04:30 Rep. Dianna Degette (CO): 35 of those people said they're going, of the 177 you have now, they said they're not going to move to the West. Do you have people in the West who are qualified who say they're going to take that job? William Perry Pendley: If I could slightly correct the statement, that is an estimate that our policy budget and management people made, calculating that typically 25%... Rep. Dianna Degette (CO): The find 25% that want to go there? William Perry Pendley: No, no. It's simply a rough calculation, okay, we've got to make some numbers. We're going to try to get a number to provide Congress. What's our PHCS code? Rep. Dianna Degette (CO):Understand. Did they get the number on the other side of how many more people would want to come in? Do you have that number? William Perry Pendley: I don't have that number. Rep. Dianna Degette (CO): Thank you very much. 1:33:30 Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC):Would you, to this committee, promise to have before this committee, a survey of staff so that the committee will have information on how many will refuse and how many will be glad to move to Grand Junction? William Perry Pendley:We're going to be meeting with people one on one. We're going to be meeting with family members. We're going to be asking their personal needs and be responsive to those needs. I don't think we can provide that information because that's going to be a one-on-one employee to employee discussion. 1:54:15 Tony Small: Moving BLM to Grand Junction will impact energy permitting on our lands. No one is talking about moving the White House or Congress to Grand Junction or any other agencies involved in energy permitting on Indian lands. Moving BLM will reduce coordination, drain expertise, eliminate accountability. Rather than drain the swamp, BLM will become a tool of special interest and will lose focus on its national missions, including trust responsibility to tribes. Grand Junction is in our original homelands. In 1880 we entered into an agreement with United States to give up millions of acres and to resettle along the grand river, near modern day Grand Junction. These lands were rich with water resources, but the United States forces us at gunpoint further West into what would become Eastern Utah. In this rocky desert, a 1.9 million acre reservation was established for our benefit. Ever since, our Kopavi reservation in Utah has been under attack. First, non Indians overgraze lands intended for our stock, and today BLM permits energy development on our lands. -- have been made and energy leases and royalties on our own Kopavi reservation. BLM splits this money with the state. We have never been paid for the use of our lands. Year after year, the United States forces us to go to court to protect our lands and enforce treaties, agreements, and trust responsibilities. This must stop. 2:34:15 Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC): If this proposal were to go through, there would be virtually no headquarter staff, and there would be, it would be the only agency that did not have a headquarters staff present here in the nation's capital. It is an extreme proposal to put it mildly. 2:35:45 Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC): And you reference that there had been past reorganization efforts, that they had been problematic, and even ultimately reversed. I wonder if you have any detail you could offer the committee on prior reorganizations of any kind. Edward Shephard: I can. One example that I can give from my personal experience, when I was back on forestry staff here in Washington DC, is we moved a lot of folks West to, what we call, centers of excellence. And when they went out to the West they became a part of that state. Whether it was intended to or not, that's just human nature. They became part of that state organization and a lot of the knowledge of what went on, if you went to Oregon, you didn't know what was going on in Utah, Colorado, because you were in that state, you concentrated on that state. And you also, the way this reorganization was, you won't even have, and that way in '91 also you don't have the benefit of going over, if you're a forester and you're making a decision on a policy level thing, you can't walk over to the wildlife staff that also does policy because they're not there. And that's an issue that's gonna happen with this reorganization. You need to work together between interdisciplinary teams and it won't be there when they're spread out all over the place. Full Committee Hearing: WHEN SCIENCE GETS TRUMPED: SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY AT THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Committee on Natural Resources, July 25, 2019 Watch on YouTube: Full Committee Hearing EventID=109850 Witnesses Andrew Rosenberg, PhD - Director at the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists Joel Clement - Senior Fellow at the Arctic Institute Daren Baskst - Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation Maria Caffrey, PhD - Former partner of the National Park Service Transcript: 34:00 Andrew Rosenberg: Some examples of attacks at the Department of Interior selected from our research are as follows. The Fish and Wildlife service bowed to political pressure and circumvented our comprehensive assessment of impacts on endangered species of a proposed city size development in southeastern Arizona. Department suppressed 18 memos from staff scientists raising concerns about proposed oil and gas operations in the Arctic National Wildlife refuge, and they defunded landscape conservation cooperatives effectively censoring climate change adaptation information for state and local governments. Department of Interior published an analysis of gray wolves that was riddled with errors, scientific errors, as identified by peer reviewers and that analysis then extensively supported removing endangered species act protections for this species. And DOI officials blocked the release of a comprehensive analysis on potential dangers of widely used pesticides for hundreds of endangered species, as the chairman noted, 1400. 39:05 Joel Clement: As Director of the Office of Policy Analysis, it was my job to understand the most recent scientific and analytical information regarding matters that affected the mission of the agency and to communicate that information agency leadership. I never assumed that agency leadership would make their decisions based entirely on that information, but I did assume they'd taken into consideration. And that proved true for the first 6 years of my time at Interior. It all ended with the arrival of the Trump political team, which as I'll describe later on, has sidelines scientists and experts, flattened the morale of the career staff, and by all accounts has bent on hollowing out the agency. Now the career staff at interior are not partisan in the work. They have a job to do, they do it well. Of course, they know that an incoming Republican administration is likely to favor resource extraction of a conservation. The vice versa is true, but they've pledged to support and defend the constitution, advance the mission of the agency regardless of their beliefs. But what if their leaders are trying to break down the agency? What if their directives run counter to the agency mission as directed by Congress? What if the political appointees are intentionally suppressing the science that indicates that doing more harm than good and putting American's and the American economy at risk? These days, career staff have to ask themselves these questions nearly every day, or at least decide where their red line is. For me, the Trump administration crossed it by putting American health and safety at risk and wasting taxpayer dollars. Here's how that went down. Science tells us that rapid climate change is impacting every single aspect of the agency mission, and it was my job to evaluate and explain these threats. For example, as the federal trustee for American Indians and Alaska natives, Interior is partially responsible for the wellbeing, uh, but with over 30 Alaska native villages listed by the government accountability office, as acutely threatened by the impacts of climate change, it should be a top priority for Interior to help get these Americans out of harm's way as soon as possible. I was working with an inter-agency team to address this issue, speaking very publicly about the need for DOI to address climate impacts, and I paid that price. Uh, one week after speaking at the U.N, uh, on the importance of building climate resilience, I receive an evening email telling me had been reassigned to the auditing office that collects royalty checks from oil, gas, and mining industries. I have no experience in accounting or in auditing. It was pretty clear to me and my colleagues that this was retaliation for my work highlighting Interior's responsibilities as they pertain to climate change and protecting American citizens. So I blew the whistle. I was not alone. Dozens of other senior executives received reassignment notices in that night's purge. The ensuing inspector general investigation revealed the political team had broken every single one of the office of personnel management guidelines for reassigning senior executives, and they left no paper trail to justify their actions. 41:50 Joel Clement: There are many more instances of the agency directly suppressing science. Among them, reports that Secretary Bernhardt ignored and failed to disclose over a dozen internal memos expressing concern about the impacts of oil and gas exploration on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Former Secretary Zinke, canceling a national academy study on the health impacts of coal mining, right before lifting a moratorium on coal leasing. Zinke again, instituting a political review of science grants led by an old football buddy that was, that has bottle-necked research funding and led to cancelled research and the U.S. Geological survey eliminating their entire climate change mission area. The list goes on and on. Not only does this group ignore science and expertise, they crossed the line by actively suppressing it at the expense of American health and safety, our public lands and the economy. They're intentionally leaving their best player on the bench. 1:08:10 Rep. Deb Haaland (MN): Who took over the work that you were doing for those Alaska native communities, that incredibly important work. Who took that over after you were gone? Joel Clement: They've never replaced me and that work ceased. Rep. Deb Haaland (MN): They've never replaced you? Joel Clement: No. Several months later they found a political appointee to sit in the office, but he has since moved on upstairs. 1:10:05 Rep. Deb Haaland (MN): Why do you believe this reassignment was done out of retaliation and wasn't simply a policy decision by leadership? Joel Clement: I don't see any chance that that was a policy decision. I think it was purely punitive and retaliatory for two reasons. One, of course, to take the climate adviser and put them in the office that collects royalty checks is clearly an indication they want, they wanted me to quit. But also, the very next week, Secretary Zinke came to the hill and testified during a budget hearing, that indeed he did want to use reassignments to trim the workforce at DOI by 4,000 people. I don't think he realized the reassignments don't trim the workforce unless you're getting people to quit, and that's unlawful. 1:45:30 Rep. Paul Gosar: I don't think anybody denies that, that climate is always changing. I think there is nobody that will say that, but I think the priorities is what can man do and what cannot man do? Like i.e., the Sun. Would you agree with me that the Sun has more implications on our weather and climate than does man? Joel Clement: The uh, the climate has certainly always changed, there's no question about that. The climate has not changed at this pace and to this extent during the course of human civilization. Rep. Paul Gosar: Oh, well, has the earth changed dramatically before man? Joel Clement: It certainly has. During the time of the Dinosaurs, of course, they were wiped out by a very dramatic change. Rep. Paul Gosar: It did. Full Committee Hearing: U.S. Department of the Interior Budget and Policy Priorities for FY 2020, Committee on Natural Resources, May 15, 2019 Watch on YouTube: U.S. Department of the Interior Budget and Policy Priorities for FY 2020 Witness David Bernhardt: Secretary of the Interior Transcript: 1:36:45 Rep. Mike Levin (CA): Yes or no? Is there any doubt that you have a legal obligation to take into account the needs of future generations and manage the public lands to prevent unnecessary or undue degradation, now and in the future? David Bernhardt: We certainly have a need to take them into account. We are taking them into account. Rep. Mike Levin (CA): Yet when we met, you claimed that Congress hasn't given you enough direction to address climate change. David Bernhardt: What I specifically said is you haven't given me any direction to stop any particular activity and if you want to stop it, you need to give us that direction. The reality is we comply, we are compliant with NEPA. Rep. Mike Levin (CA): Mr Bernhardt, Secretary, what type of direction would you want Congress to give you to make it in every year? David Bernhardt: Whatever you think you can do to stop it, if that's what you want to do, go for it. But, but that should happen in this body. That's not something the Department of Interior does with the magic wand. 2:39:40 Rep. Matt Cartwright (PA): So I was reading the newspaper this week and it hit the headlines that two days ago, that carbon dioxide levels hit 415 parts per million, which is the highest in human history, the highest in 800,000 years. Did you happen to see that secretary? David Bernhardt: I didn't see that particular fact.... Rep. Matt Cartwright (PA): Well that was on the front page of USA Today, and I'll ask unanimous consent that the article titled "Carbon Dioxide levels hit landmark at 415 parts per million, highest in human history", be made part of the record. And that was of course when there were no humans the last time it, it hit that kind of level and so my question for you is on a scale, and this is a number question, I'm looking for a number secretary. On a scale of one to 10, how concerned are you about that? David Bernhardt: Well, what I will say is I believe that the United States..... Rep. Matt Cartwright (PA): ...And 10 being the most concerned and one being the least concerned, what's your number? David Bernhardt: I believe the United States is number one in terms of decreasing CO2. Rep. Matt Cartwright (PA): Did you hear me all right Secretary? I'm asking you what's your number of your level of concern about that? On a scale of one to 10, 10 being the most concerned, what's your number for how concerned you are about us hitting 415 parts per million of carbon dioxide? David Bernhardt: I haven't lost any sleep over it. C-SPAN Broadcast: Interior Department Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Request, Mother Jones, May 7, 2019 Watch on YouTube: APPROPRIATIONS--DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Committee on Appropriations Witness: David Bernhardt: Secretary of the Department of the Interior Transcript: 27:35 David Bernhardt: I recognize that climate is changing. I recognize that man is a contributing factor. 29:00 David Bernhardt: Are we going to stop Welland Gas Development because of this report? The answer to that is no. Congress, you all have the ability to decide whether we do anything on federal lands and you've decided the lands that we manage. You've decided a whole host of different range of things. On some things you've decided that it's wilderness and should be enjoyed for the solitude and enjoyment of people and untrammeled by man. On other things, you've decided that this is a national park and it should be managed that way. And on other areas you've decided that the land is for multiple use. We go through a planning process. That planning process can result in some areas that are for solitude, other areas are for multiple use, but at the end of the day we also have the Mineral Leasing Act. And if you have a view on what you want to happen, we'll carry it out when you execute it. And that is my position. 44:45 David Bernhardt: If I were to ask for a Lexis or Westlaw search, and for somebody to give me the number of times that the secretary is directed to do something, you'd find that there are over 600 instances in law that says, I shall do something. There's not a "shall" for "I shall manage the land to stop climate change" or something similar to that. There's a "shall" that tells me to provide people to work on reports. There's some authorization, but there's no "shalls". 53:40 Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ): Obviously I want to talk to you a little bit about drilling off the coast. Democrats and Republicans, we kind of agree on this issue. There were in opposition to drilling off the coast of Atlantic, so our state has been very concerned about this administration's proposal to open up the outer continental shelf to drilling. I certainly was pleased to hear that those plans are on hold, but it's very concerning that the administration is planning to proceed with the seismic air gun testing. A practice that causes extreme injury to marine animals, including dolphins and whales. Considering the harm to wildlife, what is the justification for engaging in seismic testing when there is a little prospect of offshore drilling anytime soon? David Bernhardt: Well what we do is we receive these applications and we process them. I don't think we're at a stage where any have been approved. But we go through the process. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ): What applications are you talking about? David Bernhardt: The seismic applications. And my view would be that there's seismic that occurs out there for other things already that don't need a permit from a bone. But we'll go through and we'll do our analysis. We'll make our decision and I think the way the regulations written, if we say that there's a problem with the permit, then we need to explain how their application could be corrected. My own view is, we shouldn't be afraid of information, if we can do it lawfully and it can be done responsibly. The data itself is not something that we should be afraid of. 1:02:15 David Bernhardt: On my first day as deputy, the secretary pulled me into his office and said, "your first job is to deal with Sage-Grouse. And I'd spent my entire career avoiding Sage-Grouse both at the department and the private sector. 1:05:00 Rep. Mike Simpson (ID): I'm not anti Sage-Grouse. It's a species we've got to make sure it doesn't get on the listing and our language to prevent listing in the past has been so that there's progress can be made outside of the courts, frankly. Because it's going to be done by the Department of Interior, by the states, by the local communities, and not by a judge. 1:08:25 Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI): The oversight committee on natural resources are investigating whether your staff has been complying with transparency and record keeping laws, including whether records related to your daily schedule was deleted or withheld from disclosure. On March 28th, the committee sent you a joint letter requesting transcribed interviews with four employees familiar. It has been over five weeks since the committee issued the letter and the Interior has not scheduled the interviews or allowed the employee to contact. What are you doing and when do you plan on scheduling these witnesses for interviews? David Bernhardt: Well, I think we've sent the committee tens of thousands of pages of documents. They'll see every single calendar entry made from the day. Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI): But we're talking about.... David Bernhardt: We have every single document. You have so much to review. We've offered a briefing.... Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI): But we as Congress asked for them to come and, last time I checked, you don't determine how we get our information. I appreciate what you sent, but the issue on the table is scheduling the witnesses for interviews and you sir, are the person who's responsible to set the tone. So I want to know, when do you plan on scheduling these witnesses? David Bernhardt: I want to be very clear here. We have offered additional briefings. We've offered material and at the right, we think it's not the appropriate time for interviews. Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI): So your position is that you have the right to tell Congress when and what, how the information will be.... David Bernhardt: Of course not, but we do have a right to have a process that's fair and responsive and know.... Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI): So you think the process isn't fair and responsive? David Bernhardt: In all candor, you sent these secretaries requests and they obviously have to make their choice, but you're talking about individual employees that have been long standing employees within the department and when you want to shoot at me, that's comes with the territory. But these are people, we have wonderful career employees here that are very, they've never had this happen to them in their career and I just think people ought to think about that for a minute. 1:13:00 Rep. Mike Quigley (IL): Four days into your tenure, the inspector general opened an ethics investigation into a "wide assortment of questionable conduct on your part". So, spare us that we're coming after your career employees, as you say, this is about you and the questions raised, leaving meetings with questionable private interest off your public calendar and changing your public calendar, which may violate federal record laws, rolling back endangered species protections to benefit your former clients, engaging in illegal lobbying activities and blocking scientific study on the impact of certain pesticides on several endangered species to benefit the makers of these pesticides. 1:28:15 Rep. Betty McCollum (MN): Does the DOI have a comprehensive plan for the proposed reorganization? And some of this I know you're probably going to get back to me on, so I'll read the others. David Bernhardt: I, um.... Rep. Betty McCollum (MN): Because the committee today has not received anything. David Bernhardt: I think I committed to you months ago that if this moved forward, you'd get a detailed plan. And I think you can say that you don't have a detailed plan. We have a spend plan that we brought today. I'll give you, but I know for a while that we need to have a plan that will pass muster for you. 1:30:10 Rep. Betty McCollum (MN): So, let me tie that back to what is going on with tribal consultation. Mr. Cameron's statement also in the Committee on Oversight and investigations, and I quote for him. "After much input from the department's career senior executive staff, Congress, governors, and external stakeholders, including consultation with Indian tribal leaders, a map was finalized in the unified regions, took effect on August 22nd 2018". According to your website, the unified regional boundary map was published on July 20, 2018, however; the first tribal consultation occurred on June 30th and the final consultation occurred on August 23rd. So it's clear from the timeline that the tribal consultation was, it appears to be an afterthought to the reorganization and... 1:34:00 David Bernhardt: Let me be very, very clear. We are not reorganizing as part of the unified regions in any way. The BIA or BIE, they wanted out of it. 1:58:15 Rep. Mike Quigley (IL): Tell us how the things I talked about, like reducing tests to key equipment such as blowout preventers is a compromise? David Bernhardt: The fact of the matter is the more you test equipment, also leads to the greater likelihood that it will fail and... Rep. Mike Quigley (IL): When you take that, so the logical conclusion, we've never tested theirs. Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Hearing: NO ROAD MAP, NO DESTINATION, NO JUSTIFICATION: THE IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACTS OF THE REORGANIZATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Committee on Natural Resources, April 30, 2019 Watch on YouTube: Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Hearing Witnesses: Scott Cameron - Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget at the Department of Interior Worked at the Interior Department during the GWB administration. Between his Interior gigs for GWB and Trump, Cameron spent four years working at Dawson and Associates, a lobbying firm that represents lots of companies in the fossil fuel industry. Harold Frazier - Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Michael Bromwich - Founder and Managing Principle of the Bromwich Group Former Justice Department Inspector General and U.S. Assistant Attorney Has investigated and helped reform police departments and conducted investigations of the FBI, returning damning results. Was one of the prosecutors of Oliver North in the Iran-Contra scandal. Jamie Rappaport-Clark - President and CEO at Defenders of Wildlife Former Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service during the Clinton administration Transcript: 9:45 Rep. T.J. Cox (CA): One of the first things Ryan Zinke did after becoming secretary was try to implement massive solution in search of a problem. The weakness in that approach to reorganizing the 70,000 employee department of the Interior, It became clear early in the process. We have not seen data to show that there is a problem. We've not seen data to prove that every organization was the way to solve the problem, nor have we seen a cost benefit analysis or workforce planning data, no measurable goals, no comprehensive plan, and that's worth repeating, a massive reorganization and we have seen no plan. 11:20 Rep. T.J. Cox (CA): The actions that have been taken so far in the name of the reorganization have already had significant impacts. Starting in 2017, dozens of the most experienced, the most effective employees were moved out of their positions into positions for which they had no qualifications or interest, and with very little notice. 12:35 Rep. T.J. Cox (CA): To try to uphold our constitutional prerogative to provide oversight on this major undertaking, this committee has repeatedly sought information from interior. We've been repeatedly denied. 19:55 Scott Cameron: Uh, the departments where reorganization is in response to President Trump's 2017 executive order to reorganize the executive branch to better meet the needs of the American people in the 21st century. Our Agency's reform plan highlights the need to modernize and plan for the next 100 years of land and water resource management. The first and very significant step we took toward reorganization was to create 12 unified regions that aligned most of our bureaus with within shared geographic boundaries and more importantly, shared geographic perspectives. After much input from the departments, career senior executive staff, Congress, governors, and external stakeholders, including consultations with Indian tribal leaders, the map was finalized and the unified regions took effect on August 22, 2018. 22:35 Scott Cameron: We have also proposed moving elements of the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Geological Survey headquarters operations west, to bring them closer to the public that they interact with most frequently. 24:25 Harold Frazier: Now when this reorganization happened, um, as tribes in the Great Plains area, and I'm sure throughout the United States, we were never properly consulted. When they come to the region, the Great Plains region, we were given a picture of a map. That's all we were given. We weren't given any plans over the purpose of, -how, or why this change is needed or how it's going to benefit our people. It was never done. That's all we were given. 29:10 Michael Bromwich: My testimony will focus on the first principles that should guide a significant government reorganization and how they were applied to the reorganization we undertook at interior following the oil spill. First, a bit of background. In late April, 2010, Deep Water Horizon rig was conducting exploratory drilling in the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig experienced a violent blowout that killed 11 people and injured many others. It was a human tragedy of major proportions, but also an enormous environmental tragedy. In early June, 2010 I was asked by President Obama to lead the agency responsible for the oversight of offshore drilling. At the time, known as the Minerals Management Service or MMS. We took immediate steps to modify the rules governing offshore drilling, but we also looked at whether the government's organizational structure for managing it was the right fit for the risks that it posed. We ultimately concluded that it was not, but not before we developed a detailed understanding of the way the agency operated and the costs and benefits of changing that structure. The agency was responsible for three very different missions, collecting royalties and revenues for the offshore program, making balanced resource decisions and developing and enforcing regulations governing offshore activities. These three missions conflicted with each other and the history of the agency demonstrated that revenue collection was emphasized at the expense of the other missions. By the time I arrived at DOI, six weeks after the initial explosion, discussions had already begun about reorganizing MMS to eliminate its structural conflicts, but I was given the discretion to decide whether or not to do it. I don't take reorganizations lightly. I have a bias against them. They are disruptive, expensive, frustrating, and they tend to depress morale. They create uncertainty and divert resources. They frequently fail to achieve their objectives. Reorganizations are too often undertaken for reasons of executive vanity. They are developed and implemented in haste, inadequately vetted based on inadequate analysis and insufficient consultations with stakeholders, including the personnel responsible for implementing them. They are a way for a new executive or executive team to put their imprint on an organization, whether the changes make any sense or not. Those are bad reasons for undertaking a reorganization, but those are the reasons that many are undertaken. In the case of MMS, we became convinced that a reorganization was necessary and appropriate, but only after careful study and consideration of less disruptive alternatives. I want to emphasize that when we began the process, there was no preordained outcome. We did not decide on the reorganization that was ultimately implemented and then work backwards to justify it. Instead, we undertook a detailed process together with outside consultants who are experts in organizational diagnosis and reorganizations. We considered a number of less sweeping changes, including changes to staffing levels, enhanced training, and other organizational tweaks. In the end, our analysis and discussions pointed to a broad reorganization and my prepared statement goes into detail into the various steps we took during the process. Throughout the process, we were extraordinarily open about what we were doing. We were open with the agencies personnel, with DOI, with the congress, and with the public. We spoke frequently about what we were doing and why we were doing it. The broad contours and most of the specifics of the reorganization were embraced by members of Congress of both parties. In the more than seven years since the reorganization was completed, its wisdom has been demonstrated. I've just told in very abbreviated form, the story of a rare species, a successful government reorganization. As I said at the outset, I know very few of the details of the proposed and far broader DOI organization that is the subject of this hearing, but I gather I'm not alone because the details of the reorganization have not been shared widely with agency personnel, the Congress, or the public, including local stakeholders, communities, and Native American tribes. That's a problem. I'm aware of no internal or external studies of any kind that have made the affirmative case for the proposed DOI reorganization. I am aware of no analyses or studies that have presented the anticipated benefits of the reorganization and balanced them against anticipated costs. 34:05 Jamie Rappaport-Clark: With more than 20 years of service with the federal government, I have personal experience with reorganization initiatives and with leading mission driven organizations. I believe the administration's current effort to reorganize Department of the Interior distracts from its vitally important mission. Waste scarce, fiscal and human resources disrupts the essential and lawful functions of interior bureaus, reduces staff capacity and seriously undermines employee morale. To succeed, there must be clarity, not only on the problems posed by the existing structure, but how the proposal will measurably improve performance. Impacts to personnel and operations must be explicitly considere and transparency and public engagement across all affected sectors, vitally important. The administration has not satisfied these fundamental criteria. Their plan suffers from a lack of crucial details, transparency, accountability, and public engagement. They have never really described a compelling need for reorganization. Consideration of critical questions about the scope, purpose, impacts, benefits, and risks of such a radical transformation have not been reconciled. 35:45 Jamie Rappaport-Clark: A unified military command is fundamentally inappropriate for coordinating interior bureaus. A distinct mission and responsibility for each bureau are established by law. Those missions sometimes align, but sometimes diverge or even conflict, and that's by design. Certainly bureaus can and should coordinate their actions better to achieve timely outcomes, but they cannot be legally subordinated to the control of a single unified regional directorship. The administration's proposal of 12 unified regions cut through watersheds, they cut through states and even individual public lands units, confounding management and complicating relationships with partners, overlaying new regions atop current agency boundaries or fracture relationships developed with stakeholders over many years. 37:00 Jamie Rappaport-Clark: Given this administration's agenda of energy dominance on the public domain and continuous attacks on our conservation laws and regulations, it's fair to question whether their purpose is to support their policy priorities and weaken the effectiveness of conservation programs rather than to achieve objectives of efficiency and public service in carrying out the Interior department's complex and multidimensional mission. 42:30 Scott Cameron : Because we respect the sovereignty of Indian tribes, we were not willing to impose, if you will look, the involvement of BIA and BIE in the reorganization effort on the tribes and since the tribes have not been particularly enthusiastic about the notion of their bureaus being part of the reorganization, we in fact have not included them. 45:20 Scott Cameron : Essentially, the reorganization has three parts, the unified region, a concept which has already initially deployed, if you will. There's a notion of saving money to invest in Indian schools and other departmental services by pursuing shared services and our back office administrative functions to get some efficiencies there. And the third prong is the notion of moving the headquarters elements of the BLM and the USGS West, to be closer to where the preponderance of those bureaus activities is taking place. 50:15 Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ): I was thinking if there was an instruction manual on how to fundamentally weaken an agency. This is what I think I would recommend. Start by creating a crisis for key agencies. Move them as far away from Congress as possible to minimize contact with appropriators and authorizers. Undermine those relationships, separate them from the nonprofit community that helps them make informed decisions. Then make it clear to the workforce that they are not valued. Create a culture of fear to demand total loyalty. Transfer them to jobs in which they have no qualifications or interest. Send them to new parts of the country. Uproot their families and lives. Quietly close or cut programs throughout the agency. Take away their decision making authority and voice within the department and put it in the hands of political appointees. 51:40 Jamie Rappaport-Clark:It is incredibly destabilized. Focus is not on the task at hand. Employees are confused. Stakeholders are confused. Communication is not flowing and there's a culture of fear in the Interior department, clearly in the fish and wildlife service given the reckless nature of senior executive reassignments with no justification, with no information, with no conversation. Another round is expected to be coming. This is an agency I believe in crisis, which diverts its talent. It diverts its responsibilities. It diverts its attention to addressing species extinction, land management needs, climate change, all of the water management, all of the very important natural resource values that that department's trusted to oversee and take care of. 58:40 Rep. Rob Bishop (UT): Mr. Cameron, Let me also ask you, you talked about benefits of, in your written testimony of relocating and DOI from Washington D.C., can you just simply explain some of the longterm savings that a relocation would actually realize? Scott Cameron: Yes, Mr. Bishop, so there are a number of types of savings. For one thing, the rental cost in most cities in the West is a lot cheaper than in the main interior building or in Washington D.C. more generally. Travel costs, travel time. Most of the airplane trips are from the east coast to the west coast. If we had the geological survey headquarters and the BLM headquarters out west somewhere, there be a lot more one hour plane trips instead of four hour plane trips. Cost of living for our employees is a lot cheaper out west in most locations, than it would be here and there is a list of a dozen or so variables that we're looking at. 1:04:00 Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ): And what are the steps of accountability? Scott Cameron: We will be working on individual performance standards for the person who is charged with being an Interior Regional Director, each one of the regions. And there will be specific expectations in terms of what that person's scope is or is not on a region by region basis. And they would be reporting to the deputy secretary in Washington. So we will have an accountability, but we will be not cutting out the bureau directors and the assistant secretaries, but traditional chains of command will also apply. 1:06:40 Rep. T.J. Cox (CA): Can you provide any type of legal justification whatsoever withholding the plan? Scott Cameron: Sir, For once, I'm glad I'm not an attorney, so I won't dare to go outside of my area of expertise. So I cannot provide that. 1:07:00 Rep. T.J. Cox (CA): Any evidence at all that this reorganization strategy or plan is going to strengthen agency decision-making? Michael Bromwich: Well if there is, we haven't seen it. And it's up to the agency to provide it. I looked at the reorganization website that DOI sponsors, there's been nothing posted on it since November one. One of the key elements of a reorganization if it's going to succeed, is to continue to push information out to all of the stakeholders who are affected by it. Most particularly, the employees in the agencies that are going to be affected. And you can read through everything that's on the DOI reorganization website in less than half an hour. And as I say, it hasn't been updated in five months since November one. So you can't handle a reorganization that is a mystery shrouded in another mystery. You need to be open about it. You need to provide the details of what you're doing. You need to lay out the costs and benefits that will be accomplished through the reorganization. None of that has been done. Mr. Cameron has done a very good job of talking in generalities, but there are only generalities and without having the kind of analysis that undergirds a real and potentially successful reorganization, it's simply not going to work. If the reorganization that has been described by Mr. Cameron and has previously been described by Secretary Zinke were submitted to a board of directors of any major company in this country, it would be rejected flatly, for lack of detail. 1:21:40 Rep. Rob Bishop (UT): What does SES mean? Scott Cameron: Um, Senior Executive Service. Rep. Rob Bishop (UT): And did you not have one of the SES, a two day conference with those people on this plan? Scott Cameron: We did Sir, more than a year ago. We brought in all the regional.... Rep. Rob Bishop (UT): Did it have the recommendations? Scott Cameron: We spent two days chatting with them. They gave us lots of ideas and we modified our original conception of the plan based on their feedback. Rep. Rob Bishop (UT): So you have implemented those types of things? Scott Cameron: Yes Sir, we're in the process of implementing them. Rep. Rob Bishop (UT): And as you go and talk to interest groups, whatever they be, you have implemented those changes? The changes from the county lines to state lines. Was that pushed by the states? Scott Cameron: It was pushed by the Western Governors Association in particular. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)
Scientists have painted a bleak picture of the future if we fail to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but we’ve already started to witness the fallout of a warming planet. Politics with Amy Walter looks at the role climate change is playing across politics and at the vulnerable communities that stand to lose the most. Our coverage this week is part of a collaboration with 250 other media organizations called “Covering Climate Now.” President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 fresh off of giving campaign speeches that promised to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement and bring back coal jobs. Just over two years later, we look at whether or not he's made good on those promises. Guests: Rachel Cleetus, Policy director with the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists Kendra Pierre-Louis, Climate reporter for The New York Times Christine Todd Whitman, Former Governor of New Jersey and Former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Zahra Hirji, Climate reporter for BuzzFeed News Rich Fitzgerald, County Executive (D) for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Leandra Mira, Pittsburgh climate activist Comment from Shell: "Shell received its Air Quality Permit in 2015 from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, with oversight from the Federal Environmental Protection Agency. In line with its permitting requirements, Shell will meet the regulatory standards created to protect people and the environment."
A Good Curse A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC September 15th, 2019, the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost. “Do Justice!” sermon series. Texts: Psalm 19; Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 “It’s poor religion that can’t provide a sufficient curse when needed…” If these words of poet, prophet, and farmer Wendell Berry are correct, then our religion can’t be called “poor.” There are some pretty good curses in the Bible—and today prophet Jeremiah relays these un-minced words: “my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.” (4:22) And so a hot wind—hot and fierce as God’s anger—is promised. The curses of both Berry and Jeremiah are inspired by the destruction of creation and human culpability. Jeremiah says, “the whole land shall be a desolation.” (4:27) In the same poem that speaks of “a sufficient curse,” Berry relays a litany of curses against those things that wound the creation—against “bank accounts, inflated / by the spent breath of all the earth, / of species forever changed to money.” He curses “legal falsehoods, corpses / incorporated that cannot see / or feel, think or care, that eat / the world and [excrete] money…the alien slop and fume / that spoil the air, the water, and all / the living world, sold, soiled, or burned…”[i] // A sixteen year-old Swedish prophet in our midst right now, Greta Thunberg, also knows how to speak a sufficiently strong word. The young climate crisis activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee has spurred a youth movement around the world and has been in the news as she’s spoken in protest here in D.C. ahead of next week’s U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York City. In December, 2018, she (then only 15) addressed leaders of the United Nations saying this: “You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even that burden you leave to us children. But I don't care about being popular. I care about climate justice and the Living Planet. Our civilization is being sacrificed for …a very small number of people to continue making enormous amounts of money. Our biosphere is being sacrificed so that rich people in countries like mine can live in luxury. It is the sufferings of the many which pay for the luxuries of the few. The year 2078 I will celebrate my 75th birthday. If I have children maybe they will spend that day with me. Maybe they will ask me about you. Maybe they will ask why you didn’t do anything while there still was time to act. You say you love your children above all else and yet you’re stealing their future in front of their very eyes. Until you start focusing on what needs to be done rather than what is politically possible there is no hope.”[ii] That is a “sufficient curse.” And a good curse in our faith context is meant to shake people into awareness and action. Sadly—and it frankly boggles my mind—there are people in the world who still deny that climate change is real. There are people who believe that all the data, scientific reports, and predictions of loss of life and habitat and balance on this planet are nothing more than a politically-motivated conspiracy dreamed up by stubborn, leftist tree-huggers. And even those who recognize that there really are scary consequences for the pollution and mindless destruction that humans have inflicted on creation seem to so often disconnect this painful reality from their lives of faith. The fact is that our Judeo-Christian faith specifically calls us to a deep and intentional connection with all of creation. Not only are we called to be caretakers of the world, its earth, air, water, and creatures, but we are also reminded that we are, ourselves, part of the creation. In Genesis 1 we see humankind take our place in the lineup of those made by God…we are creatures, the human animal, made in the image of God. The words from Jeremiah echo those of Genesis 1, but are the antithesis of the creation story. Jeremiah prophesies not just random destruction, but rather a very specific “de-creation” or “uncreation” of creation. In Genesis, the wind moved over the deep waters and brought order and creation out of chaos and nothingness. In Jeremiah, the wind of God isn’t a nurturing, creative force, but blows hot as a judgment and curse. And we find in Jeremiah 4:23 the phrase “waste and void”—in Hebrew, tohu vabohu. This occurs only one other place in all of scripture, in Genesis 1:2, where NRSV translates it “formless void.” Jeremiah’s prophecy parallels Genesis 1 in reverse… there is no light, the earth—once separated from the waters to provide a firm place to stand—now shakes, there are no birds of the air, there is “no one at all,” the fruitful land is laid bare, and communities and cities are rubble. Our faith story is clear that in the beginning, the human creatures were given the sacred responsibility to tend and care for God’s good creation. And what we have done instead is to participate in the de-creation of creation, we are agents of tohu wabohu…waste and void. And why? Why do we participate in our own destruction? I don’t believe that most people want to destroy the earth. I believe we’ve been sold a bill of goods to make our lives “easier”—everything from poison-chemical-filled cleaning products to gas-fueled cars to machines made with a short half-life intended to increase re-purchase, to hormone and chemically “enhanced” food and so on. We are entrenched in habits that seem harmless and we even change some behaviors to try to do better. But at this point, things have reached a crisis moment. “Our house is on fire,” as Greta Thunberg says. Wendell Berry is clear—as is Thunberg and prophets through the ages—that much of what drives the de-creation of creation is greed. Greed—money!—is why in the U.S. more than 80 environmental rules and regulations over the past several years have been rolled back (as reported in The New York Times last week).[iii] Many endangered species are once again, literally, “fair game.” Chemicals can be dumped in waterways again or used in close proximity to creeks and rivers, many emissions controls are gone, and more of all of this is happening in the name of easing the burden on industry, big business, and economic development. Who needs plants and animals and air and water and good earth if the bottom line is healthy? I believe Jeremiah could get behind Berry’s curse against “bank accounts, inflated / by… species forever changed to money.” Many social and cultural factors have conditioned us these days to miss the breadth and depth of our responsibility to and interconnectedness with one another and all of creation. We have been taught to really believe our lives, our stuff, our planet, our time, the very air we breathe is our own. It’s MINE, we think… and we begin thinking that way at an early age—just check out this list of 10 “toddler property laws”: If I like it, it’s mine. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine. If I can take it from you, it’s mine. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine. If I think it’s mine, it’s mine. If it’s yours and I steal it, it’s mine. If I saw it first, or last, makes no difference, it’s still mine. While this tends to be the way that not only toddlers, but human beings generally, think—it is up to people of conscience—people of faith—to counter this tendency with wisdom, care and justice. “Our” stuff, “our” land, all of it—belongs to God. We didn’t do anything to deserve the beauty of the earth or the flesh and blood of our lives. They are gifts to us from Creator God. Our failure as a human race to remember this truth and honor it above the lust for ease and wealth has led to the devastation of habitats, the pollution of waters, the extinction of unique creatures, whole eco-systems being thrown into imbalance and chaos, and the poor of the earth bearing the brunt of the damage. When we lose our sense of being creatures within the created order, our sense of being in a mutual relationship, with the responsibility to care for the planet and its other creatures, we begin to think that it’s our “right” to take, to destroy, to dump, to do the convenient thing instead of the just and loving thing. It’s our “right” to buy products that pollute. It’s “our” land so we can do with it whatever we want. And when the animals who have lost their homes move into “our space” then it’s their fault for complicating or endangering “our” lives. Prophets are called to wake us up and get us to perceive what’s going on. Four times Jeremiah says, “I looked…and lo”—“lo” meaning “behold.” Look. YOU look! The call is for us to perceive what the prophet is perceiving, to perceive what we don’t really want to perceive, to behold our own culpability for what is happening. As we know full well, it’s only possible to fix a problem if we truly admit that we have a problem. When Greta Thunberg demanded action on climate change by government officials in Sweden, they said, “It doesn’t matter what we do, just look at the U.S.!”[iv] And when I looked at the comments online responding to Thunberg’s U.S. visit, there was comment after comment about how we (the U.S.) really needed to look at China or India… Everyone wants to say it’s someone else’s fault, someone else’s problem. As I said in my sermon at Asbury UMC last week, we point fingers at or look for action from “them” without realizing that it’s all “us”—we are in this life together whether we like it or not and the Kin-dom coming on earth as in heaven requires something not from some nebulous “them” but from all of US. And in the meantime, while we rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic and blame other people, our earth mourns (4:28), the earth weeps. That’s what Jeremiah says… It’s poor religion that can’t provide a sufficient curse when needed. That is true. It is also true that it’s poor religion that can’t provide a word of hope. That word for us today is that we can do something, we can vote and help register others to vote, we can make concrete changes and choices in our everyday lives to care for creation. We are making concrete changes here at Foundry and will be regularly offering tips, information, and guidance for ways that you can live your faith and do justice in the earth. By the grace of God and for the sake of all we hold dear in this life, I pray we will allow the prophetic “curse” to do some good and lead us to be done with de-creation. Re-creation and mending is our work. So let’s get to it. [i] Wendell Berry, 2010:VI, This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems, Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2013, p. 349. [ii] https://www.fridaysforfuture.org/greta-speeches#greta_speech_feb21_2019 [iii] “85 Environmental Rules Being Rolled Back Under Trump,” The New York Times, Nadja Popovich, Livia Albeck-Ripka and Kendra Pierre-Louis, September 12, 2019. [iv] https://www.npr.org/2019/09/13/760538254/greta-thunberg-to-u-s-you-have-a-moral-responsibility-on-climate-change
“President Trump has made eliminating federal regulations a priority,” reads the opening line of Nadja Popovich, Livia Albreck-Ripka and Kendra Pierre-Louis’s New York Times article “83 Environmental Rules Being Rolled Back Under Trump.” And one area where this strategy has been particularly acute is in environmental policy. Analyzing data from academic institutions like Harvard and Columbia Law School, their article documents the litany of environmental rules and regulations on the way out under the current administration. In this installment of “Leonard Lopate at Large” on WBAI, New York Times reporters Nadja Popovich and Kendra Pierre-Louis discuss some of the ways that US environmental policy has changed during Donald Trump’s presidency.
The country watched Hurricane Florence pummel communities across the Carolinas this week, leaving flooding, destruction, and death in its path.This hour we ask New York Times climate reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis--is climate change causing these devastating storms to become more common?Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
If you're increasingly concerned about your online privacy, tune in to this episode for some easy ways to protect yourself online - and in the real world. In-studio guest Kendra Pierre-Louis, a writer at Popular Science Magazine, discusses this new business and tech world that has commercialized our private data, and how to keep your private information private. Unless of course - it's already out there.
Hear about travel to the Cayman Islands as the Amateur Traveler talks to Kendra Pierre-Louis from kendrawrites.com about her trip to this island paradise.
Amateur Traveler Podcast (iTunes enhanced) | travel for the love of it
Hear about travel to the Cayman Islands as the Amateur Traveler talks to Kendra Pierre-Louis from kendrawrites.com about her trip to this island paradise.
Hear about travel to the Cayman Islands as the Amateur Traveler talks to Kendra Pierre-Louis from kendrawrites.com about her trip to this island paradise.