Since its founding in 2003, Newlight Technologies’ goal has been to create consumer-driven solutions to reducing carbon in the air. And while that intention has not changed, the Newlight team’s approach has evolved as they consider how to achieve the greatest impact. Mark Herrema is the cofounder and CEO of Newlight, an advanced biotechnology company using greenhouse gas to produce sustainable materials and replacements for plastic. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change , Mark joins Ross a...
Jun 17, 2021•31 min
Since the first levee was built in New Orleans in 1717, we have been trying to manage America’s rivers. But now our infrastructure is failing. And if we don’t compromise on a plan to restore (or strategically remove) our dams, levees, and locks and give our waterways more space, flooding events will continue to devastate entire communities over and over again. Tyler J. Kelley is a journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker , among many ...
Jun 15, 2021•58 min•Season 2Ep. 68
What would happen if businesses were expected or even required to store a tonne of carbon for every tonne of carbon they produce? A Carbon Takeback Obligation is a policy framework that aims to make that the new standard. Today we learn more about how such a system might operate. Margriet Kuijper is a former civil engineer for Shell, where she focused on the development of carbon capture and storage projects. Today, she serves as an independent consultant working on a Carbon Takeback Obligation,...
Jun 08, 2021•48 min•Season 2Ep. 67
So, you’re interested in carbon removal and curious about working in the climate space. But you’re not sure how your skills might apply, and you don’t know where to begin learning about the different types of carbon sequestration or the major players in the industry. John Sanchez is the Founder and Curriculum Designer at Carbon Removal Academy and the Co-Creator of the AirMiners Boot Up Program and Problem Pack Climate Sprint Workgroups . He is also building Carbon Visions , a community of colle...
May 25, 2021•55 min•Season 2Ep. 65
The narrative of human exceptionalism posits that there is something unique about being human that makes us more valuable. And we believe that what matters most are the things that seem to separate us from animals—like our ability to reason or the immortal human soul. But what if you can’t separate the animal part of us from our spirit? What if being human IS being animal? Melanie Challenger is a writer of environmental history, podcast host of Enter the Psychosphere , and author of the new rele...
May 18, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 64
Are we out of balance? Some thinkers pose that the scales have tipped toward industry, ego, and individuality, and we’re disconnected from the cycles of nature. We’re all Yang and no Yin. And this imbalance is causing climate change. So, what can we do to restore our sense of interconnectedness among all living things? How can tapping into our spirituality help us heal ourselves and the earth? Dr. Erin Yu-Juin McMorrow is the author of Grounded: A Fierce, Feminine Guide to Connecting with the So...
May 13, 2021•55 min
In order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, we can’t just reduce emissions. We have no choice but to add carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to the mix to keep global temperature rise under 2°C. So, what CO2 removal processes are in development? And what are governments and nonprofits doing to advocate for and fund carbon removal? Dr. Jan Mazurek serves as Senior Director at the ClimateWorks Foundation , where she leads the Carbon Dioxide Removal Fund . On this episode of Reversing Climate Chang...
May 11, 2021•52 min•Season 2Ep. 63
Many corporations, organizations, and governments have made net zero commitments, and most are leaning on voluntary carbon offsetting to achieve these climate goals. But how can we be sure that such carbon offsets demonstrate a real change in the atmosphere? And how can we approach offsetting in a way that gives rise to an actual net zero society? Eli Mitchell-Larson is a climate researcher and PhD candidate at the University of Oxford and the corresponding author of The Oxford Principles for Ne...
May 04, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 62
There’s a lot of advice on how reduce your carbon footprint. But everything seems to come with a caveat. You can stop eating meat, but do synthetic meats require monoculture? You can boycott Bitcoin, but would that make the grid itself any cleaner? You can drive an electric car, but its battery is made with rare minerals. So, how do you make choices that really move the needle? Paul Greenberg is the fisherman and bestselling author behind Four Fish , American Catch , and The Omega Principle . Hi...
Apr 27, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 61
Art has a unique ability to explain complex, oft-emotional topics in an understandable way. And that’s why Carbon Upcycling Technologies (CUT) is engaging with visual artists to educate the general public about carbontech. CUT offers their artist-collaborators free materials and tech support, encouraging the use of CO2-derived materials to create pieces that ‘showcase the carbon capture and utilization industry.’ Madison Savilow is the Chief of Staff at Carbon Upcycling Technologies and Venture ...
Apr 20, 2021•48 min•Season 2Ep. 60
According to the NOMINATE Index , the last time the US was this polarized was just before and during the Civil War. So, how did we get here? And what can the philosophy of public reason liberalism teach us about living together—even when we don’t agree on much? Dr. Kevin Vallier is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green University and author of Trust in a Polarized Age and Must Politics Be War? Restoring Trust in the Open Society . On this episode of Reversing Climate Change , Dr....
Apr 16, 2021•1 hr 4 min
Empires rise and fall. And while we understand these cycles conceptually, there’s a bizarre notion that we are somehow immune. That we can continue to evolve toward greater ease and material abundance generation after generation. That our potential for growth is somehow unlimited. But natural resources are finite. So, what happens when we run out? Dr. Jason Bradford is the Cofounder of Farmland LP and Cohost of Crazy Town , a podcast produced by the Post Carbon Institute that explores “climate c...
Apr 13, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 59
Few of us live at sea, so the ocean doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves in the climate conversation. But Kim McCoy contends that phytoplankton deserve just as much consideration as polar bears, and it’s time for us to understand how rising temperatures impact the water, the wind, the waves, and the weather. After all, we all live downstream of climate change. Kim is the oceanographer who updated Willard Bascom’s Waves and Beaches: The Powerful Dynamics of Sea and Coast , adding new insi...
Apr 06, 2021•44 min•Season 2Ep. 58
Regenerative agriculture is sometimes branded as a new idea. But the tradition of maintaining soil carbon and honoring the earth, of leaving the land better than we found it, has been part of indigenous traditions for thousands of years. So, what can we do to re-center the stories of Black and Native American growers and give credit where credit is due? Leah Penniman is the Co-Director and Farm Manager at Soul Fire Farm , an Afro-Indigenous-centered community farm committed to uprooting racism a...
Mar 30, 2021•34 min•Season 2Ep. 57
The Passover story is one of intense grief and loss as well as redemption and freedom. And while the Jews fled Egypt 3,000 years ago, many aspects of the story seem particularly relevant in a world plagued by extreme climate events and COVID-19. So, how might the events of Passover inform the way we think about climate change? Can we customize our Passover observances in a way that considers our responsibility to solve the climate crisis? Sarah Tuneberg is the CEO of Geospiza , a software compan...
Mar 23, 2021•59 min•Season 2Ep. 56
There is a growing movement among Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, cultural, and political identities. And restoring indigenous food practices is central to this work. The new documentary Gather follows several indigenous leaders as they work toward food sovereignty, demonstrating the hope and healing power of traditional food. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change , three of the people featured in the film join Ross to discuss how they got involved in Gather and share their wo...
Mar 16, 2021•1 hr 32 min•Season 2Ep. 55
Extreme weather can cause desperate situations. So, what can survival experts teach us about navigating wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, and severe winter storms? Can we prepare for these natural events without turning into full-fledged preppers or giving into the assumption of doom? How do we adapt to a changing climate? Les Stroud is a filmmaker, musician, and author best known for Survivorman , the pioneering documentary series that launched Survival Television as a genre. He is also the auth...
Mar 09, 2021•36 min•Season 2Ep. 54
A temperature rise of three or four degrees doesn’t seem like a big deal… Until you go back a few million years and start exploring what the world looked like the last time the Earth was that hot and CO2 levels were even higher than they are now. Peter Brannen is an award-winning science journalist. His work has appeared in The New York Times , WIRED and The Guardian , among many other national publications. He is also the author of The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and...
Mar 05, 2021•41 min
Paul Kingsnorth is tired of talking about the scope of the climate crisis. In his view, we can’t fix climate change. But we can uncover the spiritual root of the problem and explore how we might live through it. Paul is the founder of The Dark Mountain Project and a prolific writer of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. His latest release, the novel Alexandria , serves as the capstone of the acclaimed Buckmaster Trilogy . On this episode of Reversing Climate Change , Paul joins Ross to discuss the ...
Mar 02, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Season 2Ep. 53
In the new community economy, many content creators have moved beyond simply sharing ideas with an audience. For many the goal is to facilitate connection among their followers and foster a sense of belonging. So, how can businesses and organizations in the climate space leverage community to shape the low-carbon future we need? Evan Hynes is a Cofounder at Climatebase , a platform that makes it easy to discover jobs, people, and organizations working to solve the climate crisis. On this bonus e...
Feb 26, 2021•29 min
When artist Annalee Levin learned about carbon capture on the Reversing Climate Change podcast, the idea captured her imagination. Knowing that the technology exists to capture and store CO2 in concrete, for example, Annalee set out to find a way to make art out of materials containing captured carbon. Today, Annalee is the textile, hand embroidery, and sculpture artist behind Captured Carbon Studio , a space for exploring captured carbon as an art medium and avenue for educating the public abou...
Feb 23, 2021•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 52
12 years ago, Nori cofounder and CEO Paul Gambill was a College Republican. And while he wasn’t a climate denier, he didn’t think that humanity’s 1% contribution to global CO2 emissions was a big deal. And then he read Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy and began to understand the outsized impact of our actions. Not only did the science fiction novels change Paul’s perspective on climate change, they inspired him to dedicate his life’s work to making it better. American novelist Kim Stanley Rob...
Feb 16, 2021•1 hr 37 min•Season 2Ep. 51
There is a new pattern emerging in humanity’s long, complicated relationship with nature. Namely, we’re at a point where the problems we’ve caused by intervening in our environment require interventions of their own. But in a world where we can’t fully anticipate the impact of our actions, should we be optimistic about using new technology to solve crises created by the old? Elizabeth Kolbert is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction . Her ...
Feb 09, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 50
Making art about climate is useful in that it reaches a part of the brain that science does not. And climate fiction as a genre gives us a way to get the climate conversation started. Better yet, cli-fi that focuses on solutions might actually help us find a way forward. Tory Stephens is the New England Network Weaver at Fix , the Grist Solutions Lab. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change , Tory joins Ross and cohost Jess Miles to discuss the launch of his team’s new climate fiction contes...
Feb 05, 2021•21 min
In modern society, we’re conditioned to believe that acquiring more stuff makes our lives better. But what if getting back to basics leads to a richer life? What if consuming less and connecting with nature more opens us up to what really matters? Markus Torgeby is the author of Under the Open Skies: Finding Peace and Health in Nature . On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Markus joins Ross to explain how he came to live alone in the forest of Northern Sweden and describe how stripping l...
Feb 02, 2021•47 min•Season 2Ep. 49
Did you know that Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citi are among the biggest funders of fossil fuel projects in the world? Would you rather leverage your money to fight climate change? What if you could move your money to an entity that builds its lending portfolio around things like clean energy, regenerative agriculture, and direct air capture? Ravi Mikkelsen is the Cofounder of ATMOS Financial , a digital banking solution dedicated to funding a rapid transition to the clean economy. O...
Feb 01, 2021•49 min
The climate conversation is riddled with ideological battles. There are those who think climate change is the most pressing issue of our time pitted against those who don’t think it’s a big deal (if it’s even real). There are fights over ecological versus industrial forms of carbon removal. And there are those who believe that climate change can be reversed, while others have little hope that humanity will stick the landing. So, how do we move past these absolutist views and inspire action to so...
Jan 26, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 48
What does it mean to be a witnessing professional in the climate crisis? What responsibility do scientists, doctors, journalists, lawyers, military officers and public health officials have to speak out and share their message of truth with the world? How does the religious concept of bearing witness translate to this secular context? And what can you and I do to become constructive witnesses for climate change? Dr. Evan Kuehn is an Assistant Professor of Informational Literacy at North Park Uni...
Jan 19, 2021•57 min•Season 2Ep. 47
How do you restore an entire ecosystem at scale? Eroded desertified landscapes: can they be healed? Journalist, filmmaker, and environmental educator John D. Liu is the Ecosystem Ambassador for the Commonland Foundation and Founder of the Ecosystem Restoration Camps Movement . He is best-known for his documentaries on the restoration of the Loess Plateau, like Hope in a Changing Climate and Green Gold . On this episode of Reversing Climate Change , John joins Ross to explain how human activity c...
Jan 12, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 46
Much of agriculture depends upon synthetic fertilizer. But the production of that fertilizer is responsible for 3% of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why innovators in the emerging field of synthetic biology are attempting to disrupt the status quo in agriculture and engineer new ways for growers to achieve the same yields with less fertilizer—and less environmental impact. Mike Miille is the CEO of Joyn Bio , a biotech company that is using synthetic biology to try to make agriculture more sus...
Jan 05, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 45
