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The Climate Minute examines current news on global warming, climate change, renewable energy and the prospects for progress on international negotiations, carbon taxes and clean energy policy.
Episodes
Sunday Oct 29, 2017
Sandy+5: The Climate Minute
Sunday Oct 29, 2017
Sunday Oct 29, 2017
Hard to believe that Hurricane Sandy was five years ago this week. On today’s podcast, we discuss how the devastation from that storm broke the media silence on climate change—and the media seesaw we have been on since then. We celebrate the technical advances in solar and wind power, which have marched forward despite the political obstacles. Ever vigilant toward the continued tragedy in Puerto Rico, we examine the renewable energy access provided to the American protectorate by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla; and dissect the sketchy deal happening with Whitefish Energy Holdings out of Montana. On an optimistic note, we turn toward the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) in Massachusetts and its recent discussions to reduce transportation emissions. Governor Charlie Baker will be holding listening sessions—an excellent opportunity for climate hawks to have their ideas heard!
Thursday Oct 26, 2017
Activism is the rent we pay to live on the planet: The Climate Minute
Thursday Oct 26, 2017
Thursday Oct 26, 2017
How should we react to the present and future devastation of climate change, and our President’s abject failure to act? What should we do to maintain our spirit and drive? While we mangle a few quotes on the way, it seems Alice Walker sums it up saying “Activism is the rent I pay to live on the planet.” There are no easy answers, but we discuss. What do you think?
Thursday Oct 19, 2017
Amazon+Boston=Green? The Climate Minute Podcast
Thursday Oct 19, 2017
Thursday Oct 19, 2017
Eversource is reported to have manipulated natural gas markets, restricting the use of existing pipelines even as they have argued that we need to build more pipelines. What gives? At the same time, Boston is vying for the prize of Amazon’s new headquarters. What would the arrival of another corporate behemoth mean for the clean and sustainable development of our city? Listen in as we contemplate the implications!
Thursday Oct 12, 2017
Pruitt’s Dirty Power Plans: The Climate Minute Podcast
Thursday Oct 12, 2017
Thursday Oct 12, 2017
The malevolent administrator of the EPA announced his intent to replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan with a different plan that he will dream up at a later date. Listen in as we discuss.
Thursday Sep 14, 2017
Capitalism, corporations, consumerism and climate: The Climate Minute Podcast
Thursday Sep 14, 2017
Thursday Sep 14, 2017
Can we have capitalism and a stable environment? Is capital at war with the planet? Which is the problem- consumers or corporations? These are big questions, so we look to recent article by Klein and Monbiot to help us figure out what to think. She writes “In short, climate change detonates the ideological scaffolding on which contemporary conservatism rests. To admit that the climate crisis is real is to admit the end of their political and economic project. That’s why the right is in rebellion against the physical world.“ He write “Even the social democratic (Keynesian) kind (of capitalism) depends on perpetual growth on a finite planet: a formula for eventual collapse.” Listen in.
Tuesday Sep 05, 2017
Who's ready for a Harvey? The Climate Minute Podcast
Tuesday Sep 05, 2017
Tuesday Sep 05, 2017
For part two of our Hurricane Harvey coverage, we explore the aftermath and future of this and other “climate-assisted catastrophes.” We probe how Boston would fare in the face of a similar hurricane, and how the country as a whole could function if catastrophes like Hurricane Harvey occurred regularly.
Friday Sep 01, 2017
A Climate Assisted Catastrophe: The Climate Minute Podcast
Friday Sep 01, 2017
Friday Sep 01, 2017
Of course, our focus is on Houston, Texas and the devastation incurred from Hurricane Harvey. Due to the enormity of the event, we will cover this topic in two podcast sessions—this week we focus on the human scale of the suffering, what you can do to help, the climate change assist given to this storm, and the implications of what is happening. We state, unequivocally, that Hurricane Harvey and its destructive nature is the sort of extreme weather event that climate scientists have warned about for decades. It is important to recognize the human scale of the suffering, but at the same time, we need to speak frankly about the underlying causes and the implications of what is happening. What we see unfolding in front of us is a climate event, and we need to make that point in real time. Eric Holthaus wrote an article for Politico “This is What Climate Change Looks Like.” Around the same time that Eric Holthaus published this article, David Leonhardt of the New York Times also published an article titled “Harvey, the Storm that Humans Helped Cause,” in which he explained the physics of why this happened—warmer weather causes heavier rainfall and the oceans are warmer due to ocean acidification traced to carbon pollution; therefore we have this deluge. We think it is a profound moral tragedy that both Politico and the New York Times are two publications that ran these great reports but also have had a history of running denialist screeds, in fact, the New York Times gave us Bret Stephens who pretends that this sort of stuff is not real. It is very, very real and profoundly deadly. One of the things we need to be clear on at the beginning is the connections between this storm and climate change.
Tuesday Aug 29, 2017
100% Renewables Now! The Climate Minute Podcast
Tuesday Aug 29, 2017
Tuesday Aug 29, 2017
Bill McKibben makes a clear declaration in his new article on how we can get to a sustainable future:
It’s the call for the rapid conversion of energy systems around the country to 100 percent renewable power—a call for running the United States (and the world) on sun, wind and water. What Medicare for All is to the healthcare debate, or Fight for $15 is to the battle against inequality, 100% Renewable is to the struggle for the planet’s future. It’s how progressives will think about energy going forward—and though it started in northern Europe and Northern California, it’s a call that’s gaining traction outside the obvious green enclaves.
Listen in as we discuss!
Tuesday Jul 18, 2017
Twenty five corporate scoundrels: The Climate Minute Podcast
Tuesday Jul 18, 2017
Tuesday Jul 18, 2017
This week we have three main topics: the CDP Worldwide (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) report that twenty-five fossil fuel companies are responsible for over half of the carbon pollution in the air since 1988; the actions that utilities are taking against renewable energy; and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Henry David Thoreau.
Monday Jul 10, 2017
Baby, you can drive my EV! The Climate Minute Podcast
Monday Jul 10, 2017
Monday Jul 10, 2017
The G20 meeting this past week held discussions of the Paris Accord. The rapid arrival of attractive electric vehicles shows that markets are committed to clean energy (and hence the Paris Accord,) even if our orange furor is not. Listen in.