Episode description

Today’s episode features an interview with Pulitzer prize winning journalist and author, Elizabeth Kolbert. Elizabeth has been reporting on the climate crisis for several decades, and her book “The Sixth Extinction” brought her enormous critical acclaim. Her most recent book, “Under a White Sky”, explores the nature of the future, analyzing how humans have, and will continue to change the planet and its ecosystems in response to our rapidly changing climate. In the book, she explores controversial ideas such as carbon capture technologies and atmospheric geoengineering. 

My inspiration for reaching out to Elizabeth Kolbert for this interview came from fellow Wild Lens Collective filmmaker, Kristin Tieche. Kristin has been directing a feature documentary about bats and the threat of white-nose syndrome for almost five years now, and her inspiration for initiating the project came from an article that she read back in 2009 written by none other than Elizabeth Kolbert. Kolbert’s article about a mysterious die-off of bats in a cave in upstate New York eventually became a key component of her book, “The Sixth Extinction”, and it also raised a warning for bat populations across North America, which have continued to be decimated by the introduction of the fungal blight called white-nose syndrome.

So when Kristin explained this connection to me and suggested that we reach out to Elizabeth Kolbert for a podcast interview, I grabbed a copy of her latest book, “Under a White Sky”, and started reading. The book is exceptional and terrifying. It paints a picture of our future in which our human society will be forced to make some very difficult decisions, and in which the best case scenario still most likely involves geoengineering. On the one hand, it showcases some fascinating cases of human ingenuity, and on the other hand, it shows how our ingenuity can spiral out of control and cause unforeseen problems that have no easy solutions. 

As you’ll hear while you listen, Elizabeth does not shy away from the truth, even when it gets ugly, and her bluntness actually feels like a breath of fresh air. It was a true honor for both Kristin and myself to have this opportunity to speak with such an influential journalist and author.

-Matt Podolsky

Resources:

Elizabeth Kolbert’s New Yorker staff profile

Climate Change from A to Z - New Yorker article mentioned in the interview

More information about Elizabeth Kolbert’s most recent book, “Under a White Sky”