The feature documentary 2040 poses this question: What would the world look like in 2040 if we embraced the best climate solutions already available to us? One such solution involves restoring ocean ecosystems through marine permaculture, a strategy that leverages kelp forests to drawdown CO2. Dr. Brian von Herzen serves as the Executive Director of the Climate Foundation , the organization using marine permaculture to regenerate life in seas and soils with the goal of reversing climate change i...
Nov 20, 2020•28 min
Solving the climate crisis is challenging because it requires both dramatic behavioral change and a great deal of capital. And yet, when faced with a global health crisis, governments were willing to enact multitrillion-dollar aid packages and people radically shifted their behavior in a matter of weeks. So, what if we mobilized against climate change similarly to the way we responded to the coronavirus? Sir David King is the former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government of the United Kingdo...
Nov 17, 2020•28 min•Season 2Ep. 39
The scale of the climate crisis requires that companies change the way they operate. Yes, it would be easier to simply purchase carbon offsets and continue to do business as usual. But if we are going to succeed in reversing climate change, companies must take the next step and transform their processes from cradle to gate (or even grave if they can!) So, how does a business get started on the path to sustainability? Erin Meezan is the Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Interface...
Nov 10, 2020•52 min•Season 2Ep. 38
People resist reading about climate change because it seems less immediate than other pressing issues. Add to that the fact that the climate crisis doesn’t lend itself to narrative. So, then, how do you tell an ‘untellable story’ in a way that draws readers in and effectively reorients the way they see the world? Henry Finder and David Remnick are the coeditors of The Fragile Earth: Writing from The New Yorker on Climate Change . On this episode of the Reversing Climate Change podcast, Henry and...
Nov 03, 2020•36 min•Season 2Ep. 37
Prior to 2020, the largest number of acres burned by wildfire in California was 1.3M. Compare that to the 4M acres wiped out by fire this year. What’s more, forest fires are spreading much more quickly and releasing more heat—which leads to last-minute evacuations, a dramatic increase of smoke in the air, and the phenomenon of fire tornados. Daniel Duane is the surfer, naturalist, and author behind this month’s WIRED cover story, ‘The West’s Infernos Are Melting Our Sense of How Fire Works.’ On ...
Oct 27, 2020•44 min•Season 2Ep. 36
“Life does not subtract things; it liberates you from them. It makes you lighter so that you can fly higher and reach the fullness.” --Facundo Cabral Losing your home to a forest fire is a lesson in impermanence and nonattachment. And while Diego Saez-Gil is still processing the loss, he is using the experience as a catalyst, reaffirming his commitment to the pursuit of climate solutions. Diego is the founder and CEO of Pachama , a tech company that leverages AI to drive carbon capture and valid...
Oct 23, 2020•40 min
Can you advocate for climate solutions and dramatic population growth at the same time? Or are the two ideas mutually exclusive? Matthew Yglesias argues that while electoral politics is a zero-sum game, policy is not. And any two priorities can be reconciled to craft a win-win, provided both sides accept the premise that we need to take action on climate change. Matthew Yglesias is the cofounder of Vox , host of The Weeds Podcast , journalist and author of the national bestseller, One Billion Am...
Oct 20, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 35
In the past, conferences addressing market solutions to the climate crisis were attended by professionals with ‘sustainability’ in their titles. But we’ve begun to realize that sustainability is everyone’s responsibility, and the audience has expanded. In fact, this year’s VERGE 20 (register at this link with Nori's 15% off discount code ) is more accessible than ever, welcoming anyone who’s interested to learn more about sustainable food systems and carbon removal. Jim Giles is the Conference C...
Oct 15, 2020•14 min
Sailors rely on wind patterns and currents to make decisions about the expeditions they take, tracking weather patterns along the way and adjusting their route as necessary. But climate change has made winds less consistent and weather patterns less predictable. How does that impact sailing? John Kretschmer is the President of John Kretschmer Sailing and the author of several books about his voyages at sea, including his latest release, Sailing to the Edge of Time: The Promise, the Challenges an...
Oct 06, 2020•55 min•Season 2Ep. 33
How are you spending your time? Is it aligned with what you genuinely care about? In 2018, Heidi Lim quit her role in enterprise software to solve climate change full-time. What steps did she take to identify a new, purpose-driven path and then land a role in carbon removal? Heidi is the Chief of Staff at Opus 12 , a company working to recycle CO2 into cost-competitive chemicals and fuels, and the author of two popular Medium articles, ‘We Need to Talk About Carbon Removal’ and ‘Chasing a Job wi...
Sep 29, 2020•53 min•Season 2Ep. 32
Nature is self-organizing, self-regulating, and self-healing. And if we follow her patterns, we can heal our ecosystem, produce better quality food, and more profitable farms and ranches. So, what does it look like when we adopt regenerative agricultural practices that work with nature’s principles? And what can we do to support the farmers and ranchers who understand the relationship between carbon and soil health? Farmer, rancher and soil health pioneer Gabe Brown is the bestselling author of ...
Sep 22, 2020•49 min•Season 2Ep. 31
Reversing Climate Change alumnus and founder and president of the American Conservation Coalition, Benji Backer, returns to the show to tell us about The Conservation Coalition's new multimedia project, The Electric Election Roadtrip 2020 . Benji and his team are traveling the country in a Tesla X to investigate the multiple overlapping climate solutions being developed. You can follow the show and its video on Facebook , TCC's website , or the podcast via audio in your podcast app of choice. Re...
Sep 21, 2020•16 min
“We have not settled America. We have colonized America. Now, we’ve got to figure out … how to actually live here. How are we going to move forward? Everybody needs to be an agrarian now.” — Mary Berry We live in a culture that pushes us to keep moving. Obsessed with upward mobility, we keep searching for something more. But this ‘problem of mobility’ robs us of the opportunity to belong to a place. To develop deep cultural ties with the land and each other. And Mary Berry contends that this dis...
Sep 15, 2020•50 min•Season 2Ep. 30
Regardless of where you stand on the ethics of eating meat, the fact is, it’s a big part of the climate math. It provokes strong feelings all around, some of which may be contradictory within one’s self. And so much of the climate analysis is dependent upon how the animals were raised, marketed, and so on. It’s hard to speak (at least for some) with crisp lines. In this episode we wade into these details. Jonathan Safran Foer is the bestselling author of Eating Animals , Everything Is Illuminate...
Sep 08, 2020•59 min•Season 2Ep. 29
Direct air capture or DAC is one of the many strategies we need to employ to achieve the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. So, how do we scale up the DAC industry to capture the hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 we need to remove from the atmosphere? And what would that kind of growth mean in terms of business opportunities and job creation? John Larsen is a Director at Rhodium Group, an independent research firm that analyzes global disruptive trends. He leads the firm’s US power sec...
Sep 01, 2020•41 min•Season 2Ep. 28
Ranching has been vilified as a major contributor to climate change. But what if it’s not the cow but the HOW? The fact is, animals have always lived and grazed on grasslands, and when we leverage regenerative grazing to raise livestock, we can rebuild the soil and sequester carbon in the grass and soil, sourcing materials like leather, fiber, and meat in a more responsible way. Chris Kerston is the Chief Commercial Officer of the Land to Market Program at the Savory Institute, a nonprofit...
Aug 25, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Season 2Ep. 27
We live in a point-and-click society where labor is seen as something to overcome. But what if we’ve got it wrong? Philosopher turned farmer Dr. Scott H. Moore contends that entertainment doesn’t have to be passive. In fact, activities like reading Dante, growing tomatoes or fixing our own plumbing can bring us a lot of joy and satisfaction—and maybe even transform the way we see the world. Dr. Moore is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Great Texts at Baylor University and the author of H...
Aug 18, 2020•55 min•Season 2Ep. 26
There is a temptation to believe that science and technology will save us from climate change, while we continue business as usual. But we have already emitted huge levels of CO2 into the atmosphere, and it’s going to take both carbon capture at the source and direct air capture (DAC) from ambient air to make a dent in the record atmospheric concentration of 415ppm we hit in 2019. Dr. Jennifer Wilcox is the James H. Manning Chaired Professor of Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Insti...
Aug 11, 2020•56 min•Season 2Ep. 25
We know that minority populations bear an unequal burden when it comes to climate change. And yes, Black Americans are concerned about the climate crisis, but they don’t see the environment as a top-tier issue. So, what can advocates and policymakers do to make climate change more relevant to Black communities and ensure their inclusion in a clean energy transition? Jared DeWese is Senior Communications Advisor for the Climate & Energy Program at Third Way , a center-left federal policy thin...
Aug 04, 2020•49 min•Season 2Ep. 24
Many indigenous communities see the climate crisis as another form of colonialism. First World countries have colonized the atmosphere with their greenhouse gas emissions. And there is a risk that carbon removal infrastructure reinforces business-as-usual. So, what is the best approach to decolonizing the atmosphere? How can we tackle climate change in a way that fits with broader progressive goals around equity and social justice? Dr. Holly Jean Buck is a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA’s Institute...
Jul 30, 2020•55 min
Carbon dioxide levels are double what they were prior the Industrial Revolution. And we know that reducing emissions is simply not going to be enough to avoid widespread ecological collapse. We need strategies for removing CO2 from the atmosphere at scale. So, what if green sand beaches could provide a promising solution to climate change that is nature-based, affordable, and can be deployed around the globe? Kelly Erhart and Tom Green are the Cofounder and Executive Director, respectively, of P...
Jul 28, 2020•42 min•Season 2Ep. 23
Have you ever wondered what happens to your clothes after you drop them off at Goodwill? Or where your electronics go once you’ve left them at the recycling center? Yes, some of our excess is exported to emerging markets around the world and either resold or harvested for parts. Is that cool? And what can we do to shop in a way that reduces our environmental impact? Adam Minter is a columnist at Bloomberg Opinion and the author of Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade and Se...
Jul 21, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 22
The American Constitution provides the ‘nuts and bolts of liberty,’ putting constraints on the government and promising equality before the law. But the challenge is that it relies on state officials to enforce the law impartially. What if the blockchain could help us avoid these human-level implementation problems and effectively automate some features of our bureaucracy? Dr. Nick Cowen is a lecturer in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Lincoln and the author of t...
Jul 16, 2020•55 min
What's the future got in store for architecture? A return to tried and true organic construction methods like adobe or rammed earth? Buildings that are as alive as human bodies? Something in between? How do we create more beautiful and livable spaces while also making the built environment carbon-negative? This week's guest is Dr. Wil Srubar, Assistant Professor of Architectural Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, Technical Director of Materials R&D at Ka...
Jul 14, 2020•44 min•Season 2Ep. 21
The tragedy of the commons suggests that, left to our own devices, we will overuse and overconsume our shared resources in the name of self-interest. And that either privatization or state control is required to keep us in check. But Elinor Ostrom advanced a third option, a polycentric governance approach in which the people involved solve the problem on their own through a commons solution. Dr. Nick Cowen is a lecturer in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Lincoln ...
Jul 07, 2020•44 min•Season 2Ep. 20
We tend to think of climate change as a problem in and of itself. But what if the climate crisis is a symptom of a bigger issue? What if we can’t solve climate change without social justice? Meteorologist Eric Holthaus is the climate correspondent for The Correspondent and author of The Future Earth: A Radical Vision for What’s Possible in the Age of Warming . Today, Eric joins Ross to explain how climate change is a symptom of broader societal inequalities and discuss the role ownership has pla...
Jun 30, 2020•48 min•Season 2Ep. 19
Young people on BOTH sides of the aisle want to see action on climate change. And Quillan Robinson believes that the will for action is a more powerful force than the disagreements we may have over policy. So, how does a conservative approach like the American Climate Contract differ from the progressive Green New Deal? And how do the principles of conservatism inform right-of-center climate solutions? Quill is the Vice President of Government Affairs with the American Conservation Coalition , a...
Jun 23, 2020•47 min•Season 2Ep. 18
The political process is complex and difficult to follow, no matter how deeply we care about climate policy. And yet, without federal clean electricity standards, energy companies are unlikely to change their behavior. So, what does good environmental policy look like? And what can we do as individuals to advocate for laws that reverse climate change? Dr. Leah C. Stokes is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at UC Santa Barbara and the author of Short Circuiting Policy:...
Jun 16, 2020•52 min•Season 2Ep. 17
Concrete is an incredibly useful and highly resilient building material. And with population growth and urbanization, we are on pace to double everything we’ve ever built in the next 40 years. At the same time, concrete production accounts for as much as 8% of global emissions. So, how can we continue to reap the benefits of concrete in a way that complies with our climate goals? Robert Niven is the Founder and CEO of CarbonCure , a company that recycles waste carbon dioxide to make stronger and...
Jun 09, 2020•53 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Emily Atkin's June 1st issue of HEATED caught our attention with the headline "The climate movement's silence" regarding the Black Lives Matter protests taking place all over the United States and the lack of a substantial response from climate organizations. One of the long-running debates that shows up on the podcast is "to what degree should climate change policy be focused exclusively on decarbonization and drawdown vs. a more comprehensive suite of related issues?" On the one hand, ostensib...
Jun 03, 2020•33 min
