The Climate Minute

A new book makes the case that we should all become green citizens and demand action in our own towns.  The Big Fix offers ordinary people a guide to the seven essential changes our communities must enact to bring our greenhouse gas emissions down to zero—and shares stories of people who are making those changes reality. We discuss with the authors.

Massachusetts has passed a historic climate bill, but it is only a beginning of the work we must do. Representative Jeff Roy talks about what come next.

Representative Jeff Roy explains the motivations for the new climate bill.

We talk to Maya Van Rossum about how she came to be an environmental activist.

Our Constitutions, at the state and Federal level, explicitly lay out protected, enforceable rights. You have a right to free speech, to have a gun and to practice your favorite religion. Your 5th Amendment right is currently in vogue. Why not a right to clean air and water?  We speak with the leader of an effort to put enforceable rights to a working environment into our fundamental law.  Her galaxy brain idea is a constitutionally protected individual right to a safe environment.
GREEN AMENDMENTS are self-executing provisions added to the bill of rights section of a constitution that recognize and protect the rights of all people, including future generations, to pure water, clean air, a stable climate, and a healthy environment. 

As the world warms, our economy grinds forward on the assumptions of infinite growth and endless inputs from the natural world. Is capitalism the friend or foe of climate solutions? How do we move to a world of economic equity and long-term sustainability? What form of capitalism would be beneficial?  Is there a way to tame capitalism to serve the needs of humanity? We discuss big philosophical questions with an author who has studied corporate sustainability.

Rhode Island may be a small state, but it has taken big steps to address climate change. We talk to an expert on climate politics in the Ocean State.

A new report matches up leak locations to nearby MA schools. The leaks were fixed, but who wants methane leaks near their kid’s schools? For better or worse, this is the system working as intended. Listen in to consider better ways to heat our school buildings.

Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge MA is gem. It is a national historic site, as well as an active burial ground, a wildlife sanctuary, an art gallery and a repository of stories.  Now Mount Auburn is taking the lead in understanding how its mission to commemorate the dead interacts with climate change. Listen in for a fascinating discussion.

Smart businesses can improve their bottom line by incorporating   principles of sustainability into all facets of their operations, from design to production, to supply chains and beyond. A new book, “The Sustainability Scorecard” quite literally provides a way to assess progress down this path. We speak to one of the authors about the implications of this idea.