In the shadow of public impeachment hearings, a group of House Democrats is attempting to advance a bold climate action plan that the entire party can rally around. On Thursday, House members introduced legislation that would set a nationwide goal of achieving a 100 percent clean energy economy by 2050. The bill was announced with more than 150 co-sponsors. In this episode of Political Climate, we conduct an exclusive in-depth interview with one of the bill’s authors, Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY). Ton...
Nov 22, 2019•44 min
We’re officially less than one year away from the 2020 election. What do the latest polls tell us about how the presidential candidates are stacking up? What do the 2019 elections tell us about how this could play out? And what does all of this mean for climate and energy policy? In this episode of Political Climate, we look at Democrat wins in Virginia and Kentucky. We also discuss the results of a New York Times/Siena College poll that offers a mixed bag for Democratic candidates. Plus, billio...
Nov 14, 2019•41 min
If you’re following political news then you’ve probably heard of The Squad, a group of four newly elected congresswomen advocating for progressive policies like the Green New Deal. But have you heard of the New Democrat Coalition and its plans for dealing with climate change? In this episode of Political Climate, we hear from a lawmaker who is leading that charge. Last year, Sean Casten ran one of the most overtly pro-climate action campaigns of the 2018 midterms, in a historically Republican di...
Nov 08, 2019•39 min
There has been no shortage of climate related news in recent days — from President Trump’s attack on California’s emissions-trading system to Senator Schumer’s $450 billion electric vehicle proposal, and disastrous wildfires raging in the West to the anniversary of Superstorm Sandy in the East. It’s a grab bag of climate headlines on this week’s episode of Political Climate. We begin by revisiting the wildfire crisis in California, as co-host Shane Skelton copes with a power outage and warnings...
Nov 01, 2019•54 min
Are cites the world’s best hope for combating climate change? Many cities have committed to meeting the Paris Agreement goals. But are those targets translating to action on the ground? In this episode of Political Climate , we look at San Diego’s quest to achieve 100 percent carbon free electricity by 2035 and what other cities can learn from this experience. We recorded this episode at the UCSD School of Global Policy and Strategy, where we were joined by Cody Hooven, the first chief sustainab...
Oct 24, 2019•52 min
Last week, Pacific Gas & Electric, intentionally cut the power off to 800,000 electricity customers in Northern California — affecting roughly 2 million people — in an attempt to avoid sparking another potentially deadly wildfire. Classes were cancelled, businesses closed, food spoiled and people who rely on medical devices panicked. There was no fire, but the blackout has caused tempers to flare and political tensions to rise. How did we get to a point where California’s largest utility is ...
Oct 17, 2019•1 hr 5 min
This week, we bring you a special episode from our friends at The Years Project. David Gelber, creator of the Emmy Award-winning series “Years of Living Dangerously,” has teamed up with Jeff Nesbit, executive director of Climate Nexus and author of the book This is the Way the Earth Ends, on a new podcast called Climate 2020 . Each week David and Jeff will discuss the latest developments in the political fight to mitigate the climate crisis in the lead up to the 2020 election. In this episode, t...
Oct 10, 2019•41 min
Millions of young people took to the streets last month to demand governments take bolder action on climate. Days later, world leaders assembled at the United Nations for the Secretary General's high-profile Climate Action Summit, where dozens of countries pledged to strengthen their climate goals. But did any of this resonate with American policymakers? In this week’s episode of Political Climate we discuss takeaways from the Climate Strikes and UN climate summit, and how these events have (or ...
Oct 04, 2019•52 min
Federal news tends to steal the limelight, but when it comes to spearheading innovative climate and energy policy states are really where the action is at. World leaders gathered at the United Nations Climate Action Summit earlier this week, where Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on countries to boost their commitments to fighting the climate crisis with concrete plans rather than platitudes. But while President Trump stopped by the summit on Monday, the U.S. was effectively absent from...
Sep 28, 2019•57 min
Youth activists are spearheading a powerful political movement around addressing the climate crisis. For many people, this is a moment of both fear and hope — global carbon emissions continue to increase, at the same time as demands for global climate action grow louder. Will 2019 be remembered as the year humanity turned a corner in the fight against climate change? In this episode of Political Climate, we bring you a special interview with a group of leading youth activists ahead of the Global...
Sep 18, 2019•47 min
Who stood out at the CNN Climate Crisis Town Hall? How did conservatives react? Did general voters even care? Democratic presidential candidates covered a lot of ground over the course of the seven-hour climate policy telethon — from fracking bans to a new CarbonStar program, coal worker retraining programs to a major environmental justice fund. While there was widespread consensus on the need for climate action, some key differences also emerged between the contenders. We discuss the top takeaw...
Sep 11, 2019•57 min
The Democratic presidential primary is heating up, so we break down where the candidates stand on climate. Labor Day Weekend typically marks a shift in a presidential campaign. Things get more serious and the field starts to winnow down. And sure enough, the number of Democratic contenders is starting to decline with Jay Inslee, John Hickenlooper and Kirsten Gillibrand stepping out of the race in recent days. In this episode of Political Climate, we examine how the remaining candidates stack up ...
Aug 30, 2019•45 min
Is abolishing the filibuster necessary in order for Congress to pass meaningful climate legislation? A handful of Democratic presidential candidates have called for throwing out the Senate rule, claiming that it exacerbates gridlock in Washington DC. Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also believes that abolishing the filibuster is critical to passing legislation and tackling the most important issues facing the United States, including climate change. But could killing the filibuster end ...
Aug 23, 2019•51 min
This summer, the United States celebrated the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Fifty years later, many people wonder: if we can get to the moon, surely we can fix the environmental issues here on Earth? In this episode, we get NASA astronaut Scott Kelly’s perspective on fighting climate change, having seen the challenge we’re up against from the unique viewpoint of space. Kelly has spent a whole lot of time in space — 520 days, to be exact. Upon his return from a continuo...
Aug 16, 2019•32 min
There were several moments of legitimate engagement on climate change at last week’s Democratic presidential debates. But did any of it resonate with voters? In this episode, we break down the key points candidates made on stage in Detroit — from promoting direct air capture to climate justice — with help from Jigar Shah, president and co-founder of Generate Capital and co-host of the Energy Gang podcast. Plus, top Republican pollster, Frank Luntz, gives Senate Democrats a lesson on climate chan...
Aug 08, 2019•54 min
The climate movement doesn’t have a persuasion problem; it has a turn out problem. Data reveal that environmentalists don’t show up to vote as often as the overall population in an election. So what gives? And could this impact races in 2020? In this episode of Political Climate we take a hard look at how many Americans care about climate issues, and how many of those people actually vote — or don’t. To figure this out the podcast team sat down with Nathaniel Stinnett, founder of the Environment...
Aug 01, 2019•41 min
Billionaire hedge fund executive and environmental activist Tom Steyer is officially making a run for the White House — and putting an aggressive climate action plan at the center of his campaign. In this episode of Political Climate, we speak with the newest contender in the 2020 Democratic primary about why he entered the crowded race, and how he plans to use "emergency powers" to combat climate change. After the first Democratic debate it looked as though the field of presidential candidates ...
Jul 27, 2019•34 min
What is going on in Washington D.C.? A bubbling House Democrat feud followed by a series of racially offensive presidential tweets has unleashed chaos in the U.S Capitol. Meanwhile, there’s one thing we’re not seeing much of: governing In this episode of Political Climate we look at where we’re seeing attempts at climate action, and where we’re seeing a whole lot of climate distraction. A slate of clean energy bills have been introduced in Congress this year. Do they have any hope of passing bef...
Jul 20, 2019•41 min
Twenty Democratic presidential candidates faced off last week in the first debate of the 2020 election. It was a mixed bag — not only for the candidates, but also for climate. There were more questions on climate change than in previous years, and yet climate issues saw just 15 minutes of airtime over the four hours the contenders were on stage. Did Democrats hit the right notes in their (brief) responses? Or did the first showing justify calls for a dedicated climate debate? Also, who were the ...
Jul 04, 2019•40 min
We often can’t see or feel air pollution — and yet, it is taking a toll. Air pollution is responsible for the early deaths of some 7 million people every year, around 600,000 of who are children, according to the United Nations. In this episode, we hear stories of how people around the world are calling attention to this invisible killer. We speak to Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, a mother campaigning to have pollution officially named as her daughter’s cause of death [3:30]. We also talk to Beth G...
Jun 28, 2019•36 min
Democrats are dominating the public dialogue on climate change. That is just a fact. It’s part of their party platform in a way that it’s simply not for Republicans. And yet, things aren’t entirely black and white — or blue and red. In this episode, we look at a range of Republican views on climate issues, from flat out denialism to reticent acceptance to legitimate climate commitments. We discuss President Trump’s replacement for Obama’s Clean Power Plan, we look at new polling numbers that sho...
Jun 21, 2019•1 hr 3 min
We are losing the fight against climate change, warns UN Secretary General António Guterres. Even if countries were on track to meet their Paris Agreement goals — which they’re not — the world would experience catastrophic levels of warming by the end of the century. But there are still signs of hope. In this episode Political Climate, we discuss the state of global climate action with Mr. Guterres in an interview recorded last week at the R20 Austrian World Summit in Vienna. Plus, Republicans a...
Jun 07, 2019•39 min
Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg was all alone when she started protesting the lack of political action on climate change last year outside of the Swedish parliament. Today, climate strikes inspired by Thunberg are drawing out more than 1 million young people around the world. But as she tells Political Climate: the fight is “not over yet.” This week’s podcast was recorded at the R20 Austrian World Summit in Vienna, where former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed up with Thunbe...
May 31, 2019•37 min
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, which comes with both opportunities and risks. Climate change is opening up new shipping routes and increasing access to fossil fuel reserves, while also threatening ecosystems and fueling geopolitical tensions. Are we approaching the end of the polar peace zone? Earlier this month, the Arctic Council met in Finland to frame a collaborative agenda on economic development and environmental protection. But for the first time since the ...
May 25, 2019•48 min
House Democrats disinvited former Congressman Carlos Curbelo from a climate change hearing this week, just days before the Florida Republican was scheduled to testify. Did the Dems prioritize politics over finding climate solutions? In this episode we're joined by Curbelo, a strong advocate for a national carbon tax, to get his view of what happened (15:15). Plus co-hosts Shane Skelton and Brandon Hurlbut spar over what this political play says about the future of climate action in the U.S. We a...
May 17, 2019•54 min
Democrats came together last week to present a united front on tackling climate change, but will it matter before 2020? Political Climate speaks with Representative Kathy Castor (FL-D) on the passage of HR 9, the first meaningful climate change bill to pass the House of Representatives in nearly a decade. We find out why passing a bill to keep the U.S. in the Paris climate agreement was an important political move, despite zero chance of getting it past the self-proclaimed “Grim Reaper” Mitch Mc...
May 09, 2019•46 min
Democratic Presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke unveiled a comprehensive climate change plan this week that seeks to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the U.S. by 2050. The $5 trillion proposal is the most detailed climate plan announced by a 2020 presidential candidate to date. But the policy wasn't even a day old when the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate group backing the progressive Green New Deal, slammed O'Rourke for not being more ambitious. O'Rourke isn't the only Democratic politic...
May 03, 2019•36 min
The Green New Deal is all over the news these days. But how did it get there? Efforts to reform the U.S. economy in a more sustainable and equitable way didn't start with the introduction of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal resolution. And they certainly don't end there. In this episode, Political Climate sits down with Green New Deal architects Rhiana Gunn-Wright, Demond Drummer and Zach Exley for an in-depth interview on the sweeping -- and evolving -- plan to address both climat...
Apr 27, 2019•1 hr 19 min
What do bodybuilding and gerrymandering have to do with the fight against climate change? Arnold Schwarzenegger explains in an exclusive Political Climate interview. The former California governor and global environmental leader has been tackling the related issues of climate change and pollution for years by working across the political aisle. In this episode (13:30), Schwarzenegger explains why he still believes in working with people of all political stripes. The show kicks off with a look at...
Apr 18, 2019•41 min
Political Climate is back after a four-month hiatus. Did we miss anything? Well, there was the Green New Deal resolution and launch of the new House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. There was also the introduction of a Republican-backed clean energy plan and the kickoff of a climate-centric presidential election. So there’s that. In this episode, the Political Climate co-hosts catch up on the latest headlines. Plus, the podcast makes some news of its own! Recommended reading: Slate : Why ...
Apr 08, 2019•28 min
