Food waste accounts for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But it turns out composting — the mystical art of turning your food scraps into nutritious organic material that can be used to grow even more food — can help to reduce those emissions. We talk to Domingo Morales of Compost Power about how he found composting, how he’s trying to make it cool, and why he’s building compost sites at public housing developments all over New York City. This episode contains a description of suicide, so p...
Mar 17, 2022•37 min
You’ve probably heard of coral bleaching; if you live near a coral reef, maybe you’ve even seen the impacts of climate change on that reef up close. But what — if anything — can we do to keep coral alive? This week, we talk to Julia Baum, a marine ecologist who’s made the unlikely journey from climate despair to climate optimism… and ask her what finally changed her mind about the future of coral reefs. Also: we're planning a special Earth Day episode, and we'd love to hear about the actions YOU...
Mar 10, 2022•38 min
Whether you consider yourself a fashion maven or not one thing is true: you wear clothes. It's a basic rule of most societies. But in recent years, it's become clear that the clothes that keep us warm in winter and protect us from the sun in summer are also harming the planet. According to the EPA in the United States we threw out close to 13 million tons of clothing in 2018 alone. One factor? Clothes have gotten really cheap. And that's partly because these days much of it is made from fossil f...
Mar 03, 2022•47 min
When we think about what’s heating up the planet, we may picture CO2 from smokestacks and tailpipes. But there are other greenhouse gases that are even more dangerous. And some of these are hiding in garages and sheds all over the country. We’re talking about refrigerants. They’re the secret sauce behind how refrigerators and air conditioners keep things cool. But they’re heating up the planet. This week, in collaboration with NPR’s Planet Money, we take a ride with a couple of guys who tackle t...
Feb 24, 2022•47 min
Back in 2003, Dar-Lon Chang took a job as an engineer at ExxonMobil — a job he thought would be focused on transitioning beyond fossil fuels. But over a 16-year career, he found it harder and harder to reconcile the threat of climate change with Exxon’s role as an oil and gas producer. We talk to Dar-Lon about what it was like to work inside the oil giant, what finally compelled him to leave, and what his story means for millions of oil and gas workers as the transition to a low-carbon economy p...
Feb 17, 2022•28 min
Today, we’re sharing an episode from another Gimlet Media podcast, Science Vs. This episode fact-checks some claims made in a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Dr. Robert Malone. As you may know, this episode has caused an uproar: Many scientists have called out the show for spreading false information about the Covid-19 vaccines and some 270 scientists and medical professionals called on Spotify (our employer!) to adopt better policies to mitigate misinformation. Our colleag...
Feb 11, 2022•48 min
How do you get people to care about climate change? Simple: Make a blockbuster movie about it, packed full of the biggest stars in Hollywood. At least, that was Adam McKay’s approach. The writer and director of ‘Don’t Look Up’ joins the show this week to discuss the film, which parodies society’s tepid response to impending disaster. ‘Don’t Look Up’ shattered Netflix viewership records, earning more than 152 million hours streamed in its first week. In making the film, McKay channeled his climat...
Feb 03, 2022•48 min
For years, we were told it wasn’t possible to link specific weather events to global warming — and that made communicating about climate change difficult: When extreme weather events were in the news, climate change was often left out of the story. This week, we tell the story of how that changed. We talk to the scientists who figured out how to model the role of climate change in events like Hurricane Harvey — the climate detectives who blew the case of extreme weather wide open. Guests: Dr. Pe...
Jan 27, 2022•35 min
Today we’re sharing an episode from TED Radio Hour on NPR, which explores the biggest questions of our time with the help of the world's greatest thinkers. The host Manoush Zomorodi speaks with four ocean experts, including our former co-host Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, about how to grocery shop for seafood sustainably, how much the ocean has changed over the last century, and how beautiful whale poop is. You can check out more episodes of TED Radio Hour on Spotify, or wherever you listen. This...
Jan 20, 2022•53 min
For decades, fossil fuel companies have fought action on climate change. They've done so directly – by challenging legislation that would help reign in emissions. But they've also done it indirectly, by funding organizations who lobby congress, launching fake grassroots campaigns, and perhaps most importantly, through advertising. These ads, according to Martin Watters at the nonprofit firm ClientEarth, are greenwashing. They help sow doubt about the fossil fuel industry's role in warming the pl...
Jan 13, 2022•37 min
We asked for your weirdest alternative energy ideas, and you delivered. This week, Alex — plus climate journalists and experts Brian Kahn and Amelia Urry — vet some wacky new ways we could power our planet in the future. Join us as we assess the good, the bad, and the viable… in our very first HTSAP game show. Oregon State University's wave energy testing site The Detroit Zoo’s biodigester updates (plus, this NPR segment on the Brooklyn wastewater treatment site Alex mentioned, and the EPA’s lis...
Jan 06, 2022•43 min
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 ...
Dec 30, 2021•53 min
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 th...
Dec 23, 2021•50 min
At the end of every episode of this show, we give you all calls to action – things that you, our listeners, can do to address climate change. This week, we’re giving ourselves some calls to action, and setting climate action New Year's Resolutions. Oddly enough, they have to do with rats, poutine, Delia’s jeans, and more. Also, Mr. Beast is back with another environmental stunt, and we’ve got an update for you. Calls to Action Set your climate action New Years Resolution! If you’re not sure what...
Dec 16, 2021•38 min
In public opinion polls, one group of Americans stand out, telling researchers they are particularly skeptical about climate change: white Evangelical Christians. That skepticism has had a major influence on American politics and policy. So how do we bring more people of faith into the climate movement? We talk to a Christian climate scientist about how she became a climate skeptic whisperer, by convincing others not only that climate change is real, but that taking action should be central to t...
Dec 09, 2021•42 min
For decades politicians and other leaders have said that acting on climate change comes at too high a cost — to jobs, to business, to the economy. And they've used economics, the dismal science, to support their argument. But some climate activists have long said that those politicians have it all wrong. That there are no jobs on a dead planet. And increasingly, some economists agree. They say that if we're going to have any hope of addressing climate change we need to rethink our relationship t...
Dec 02, 2021•44 min
It’s important to talk about climate change. But how do you talk about it with friends and family who don't believe it's real, or don’t think we can do anything about it? We hear from a father and son who successfully navigated this conversation, and we bring you step-by-step tips from an expert on how to have a conversation where both sides actually hear each other. This episode originally aired in November of 2020. Call to action Talk about the climate! Here are the six steps outlined by Steve...
Nov 24, 2021•40 min
At the COP26 UN climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, nearly 200 countries signed a deal aimed at increasing efforts to tackle climate change. The goal? "Keep 1.5 alive" — that is, set the world on a credible path to limit warming to 1.5°C and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. So, did countries succeed? We take you inside COP26: from the protests at the gates to the late night negotiations — and the single word that almost brought the whole deal down. Calls to action How do you get better...
Nov 18, 2021•41 min
With flood risk increasing and flood insurance rates likely following suit, it seems like there’s got to be a better way to tackle the challenge. For example: could we make our homes float when the water comes? We’re sharing an episode of Life Raft from New Orleans Public Radio, who talked to an architect who has devoted her professional life to answering that question, and visited a Louisiana community where some people have decided that it makes more sense to temporarily float a house than to ...
Nov 11, 2021•41 min
The Yurok tribe is reversing centuries of ecological damage to their land and making it more resilient to climate change by marrying two systems that might seem contradictory: indigenous land management practices and modern Western economics. In this episode we talk to Yurok Tribe Vice-Chairman Frankie Myers about how the Tribe recovered stolen land with the help of a carbon offset program, the creative ways they're bringing the salmon back, and the role beavers play in the ecosystem. This episo...
Nov 04, 2021•47 min
In 2015, the landmark Paris Agreement was adopted. For the first time, nearly every country on Earth pledged to cut carbon emissions to tackle climate change. But in the years since, emissions have continued to rise. Now, an estimated 25,000 people are descending on Glasgow, Scotland for COP26, to hammer out the next steps after the Paris Agreement, and it’s fair to ask...do these climate talks even matter? We argue that yes, they do – and to show you how, we tell an incredible story: How small ...
Oct 29, 2021•54 min
We all know that a key part of addressing climate change involves getting off fossil fuels. But renewable energies, such as solar energy, are not without costs. One key cost? It uses a lot of land. We take a look at one creative solution to this problem – mixing solar panels with agriculture. And we are not at all sheepish about the role of one very adorable four legged animal. Guests: Judy St. Leger, Keith Hevnor, Lexie Hain, Byron Kominek Calls to Action If you are a sheep grazer looking to ge...
Oct 21, 2021•34 min
Climate change. We know. It can feel too overwhelming. But what if there was a show about climate change that left you feeling... energized? One so filled with possibility that you actually wanted to listen? Join us, journalist Alex Blumberg and a crew of climate nerds, as we bring you smart, inspiring stories about the mess we're in and how we can get ourselves out of it. Check out our Calls to Action archive here for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedb...
Oct 21, 2021•3 min
It's no secret How to Save a Planet is a pro-nature podcast, and that’s not just because we like the mountains, or because trees suck carbon out of the atmosphere: outdoors experiences can also be an important way to build the climate movement. But not everyone feels welcome or safe in the outdoors. Environmentalist drag queen Pattie Gonia is on a mission to change that. Her goal: bring more queer people into the outdoors (and into the climate movement.) Guests: Wyn Wiley (Pattie Gonia) Calls to...
Oct 14, 2021•33 min
Nearly every night on local news stations across the country, Americans hear scientists talking about the weather…the local broadcast meteorologist, giving the weather report. But for years, those weather reports omitted one crucial element: the impact of climate change. In fact, many broadcast meteorologists were openly skeptical of climate change -- and spread that skepticism to their viewers. In today’s episode, we look at the decade-long campaign to convince weathercasters that climate chang...
Oct 07, 2021•40 min
Offshore wind’s potential in the United States — both as a renewable resource and as a job creation tool — is enormous. But the sector’s current reality is tiny. There are just seven wind turbines operating off the coast of the US. The few attempts to build large scale wind farms on par with those in Europe have run into long delays. And yet, now, after decades of political gridlock, the U.S. is picking up speed on plans to install thousands of wind turbines off the Atlantic coast. The story of ...
Sep 30, 2021•31 min
Take a look at many of the spaces where climate-related decisions are being made — from government to business to media — and you'll notice a numbers problem. Despite being roughly half the people on the planet, women rarely have equal representation in critical climate decision-making spaces. This isn’t just bad for women — it’s bad for everyone. This week, How To Save A Planet co-host Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson teams up with A Matter Of Degrees co-host Dr. Katharine Wilkinson for a deep dive ...
Sep 23, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Wind and solar are now some of the cheapest ways to make electricity. So, what’s standing in the way of using more of these renewable energies? One of the biggest barriers is something all around us that we rarely notice – our electricity grid. Not just the wires and technology that make up the grid, but also the people and institutions that run it. In this episode we talk with anthropologist Gretchen Bakke, author of The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and our Energy Future , about ho...
Sep 16, 2021•40 min
When it comes to nuclear energy, many people have strong opinions. Some say that if you're not on board with nuclear energy, then you aren't serious about addressing the climate crisis. Nuclear, after all, produces a lot of electricity and doesn't emit greenhouse gases while making energy. Others say that nuclear power tries to solve an illness with more of the disease. They say that nuclear energy, like fossil fuels, is a product of old thinking that ignores the full suite of its environmental ...
Sep 09, 2021•46 min
One of the most effective ways to fight climate change is to quit using coal to generate electricity. And while coal-fired power plants are closing at record rates, many are scheduled to remain operational for years to come - even if remaining open doesn’t make economic sense. How To Save A Planet co-host Alex Blumberg teams up with A Matter Of Degrees co-host Leah Stokes for an episode about an unexpected idea to get all this coal off the grid - an idea even utilities can get behind. And we mee...
Sep 02, 2021•45 min
