As the planet warms, the story of climate change is increasingly becoming a story about human health. Rising temperatures, wildfire smoke, flooding, and shifting disease patterns are no longer distant threats; they are everyday realities. The climate crisis is reshaping health care systems, exposing inequalities, and forcing doctors and policymakers to rethink some of their practices. Medical schools are beginning to adopt climate as part of their curricula, yet such education is widely variable across the country. So what policy and system changes might help address both the climate and health crises at the same time?

Episode Guests:

Jeni Miller, Executive Director, Global Climate and Health Alliance

Cecilia Sorensen, Director, Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, Columbia University 

Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, President and CEO, PAI

For show notes, transcript, and related links, visit climateone.org/podcasts

Highlights:

00:00 – Intro

03:30 – Cecilia Sorensen on consulting for a Grey’s Anatomy episode on heat

07:00 – Climate impact she’s seen in the ER

10:00 – Medical education is variable across the country, including climate awareness

16:00 – Importance of public health and the role of preventive medicine

21:00 – Jeni Miller on interconnections between climate and human health

29:30 – Climate crisis puts pressure on global health systems

34:30 – Ways health care systems can better prepare for climate impacts

44:30 – Connection between climate change and reproductive/sexual health

51:30 – Climate change exacerbates existing inequalities for women and girls around the world

56:00 – Navigating efforts by the Trump administration to increase fertility and birth rate while cutting social services

58:30 – Climate One More Thing

*****

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We’re only about a month into 2026, and already so much has happened — from the Trump administration’s forcible removal of Venezuela’s president to the US pulling out of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change… It’s easy to get caught up in the headlines of the moment and lose sight of the big picture. 

But important developments are happening in sectors like agriculture and renewable technology that don’t break through the noise to the extent they deserve. So, what should we be watching in 2026?

Guests: 

Justine Johnson, Chief Mobility Officer, Michigan

Michael Grunwald, Journalist, Author, We Are Eating The Earth

Jessie Bluedorn, Founder & Executive Director, The Carmack Collective

For show notes, transcript, and related links, visit ClimateOne.org/podcasts

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

05:33 Justine Johnson on the importance of mobility

08:48 Justine Johnson on the future of EV charging

11:20 Justine Johnson on the practicality of new EV charging technology

19:05 Justine Johnson on innovation in financing

22:52 Michael Grunwald on making more food with less land

30:17 Michael Grunwald on the new tech used to constipate beetles to death

37:24 Michael Grunwald on what to watch in politics

43:00 Jessie Bluedorn on the fossil fuel industry’s control over cultural narratives

47:57 Jessie Bluedorn on the comedy in the climate crisis

56:36 Jessie Bluedorn on other areas to keep an eye on in the culture

*****

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Agriculture is directly responsible for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and farmers and ranchers face growing climate impacts every day, from more severe storms to intense droughts, making it harder to grow food. 

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates emissions from the agriculture sector will modestly increase over the next 30 years. Yet the Trump administration is slashing programs that help reduce emissions, feed people, protect farmworkers and animals and sensitive lands. In addition, the Trump administration’s tariffs and trade wars have affected the cost of machinery and sales of major crops. What will these changes mean for our national food system? How are farmers weathering these impacts? And where are people building resilience regardless of federal policy? 

Episode Guests:

Lisa Held, Senior Staff Reporter and Contributing Editor, Civil Eats

Megan O'Rourke, Congressional Candidate NJ07; Former USDA Scientist John Bartman, Illinois farmer

Byron Kominek, Owner and Manager, Jack's Solar Garden

Highlights:

00:00 – Intro

05:30 – Lisa Held on major climate and agriculture stories in 2025

07:30 – Climate change is making it harder to be a farmer

09:15 – Changes at USDA

15:00 – How SNAP cuts affect consumers and farmers/growers

18:30 – Trump admin penalizing efforts/grants that support DEI efforts in agriculture

24:00 – John Bartman shares his journey to regenerative agriculture

30:00 – Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities Program and cutbacks under Trump

34:30 – Trade war between China and US is hurting soybean sales and Amazon rainforest

37:10 – Byron Kominek on how he got into agrivoltaics and the benefits it offers

42:00 – Agrivoltaics is climate adaptation

51:20 – Megan O’Rourke on research around kernza, a perennial grain

54:00 – Most pressing challenges for agriculture right now

59:00 – Importance of food security at home and abroad, and role of US farmers

1:03:30 – Climate One More Thing

For show notes , transcript, and related links, visit climateone.org/podcasts

******

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It’s been a year since catastrophic fires tore through Los Angeles. For those who lived through them, the impacts are still being felt. Rebuilding in the aftermath of more frequent and severe fossil-fueled disasters is becoming a big business. Enter the disaster economy, powered by a grab bag of dedicated people helping communities rebuild, and by contractors who may overpromise, underdeliver, and profit from tragedy. Caught in the middle are the survivors, often left to navigate red tape, scams, and soaring costs just to rebuild their lives.

In this episode, produced in collaboration with Grist, we explore the people and systems behind this booming, often exploitative multi-billion dollar industry, and share strategies to help listeners stay protected.

Episode Guests: 

Haley Geller, Photo Stylist; Mother

Ayurella Horn Muller, Staff Writer, Grist

Cricket Logan, Wastewater Management Mechanic, City of St. Petersburg, Florida

Naveena Sadasivam, Writer and Editor, Grist

For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit ClimateOne.org

Highlights:

00:00 - Intro

05:06 - Haley Geller on her personal wildfire experience

07:22 - Haley Geller on how life has changed since the fire

11:04 - Haley Geller on navigating the recovery process

16:21 - Ayurella Horn Muller on covering recovery workers

18:39 - Cricket Logan on his disaster recovery work experience

24:16 - Ayurella Horn Muller on the mental health work of disaster recovery

28:25 - Ayurella Horn Muller on working conditions for recovery workers

38:03 - Naveena Sadasivam on talking to people who experienced disaster recovery

40:22 - Naveena Sadasivam on one person’s experience with rebuilding after a fire

49:51 - Naveena Sadasivam on what regulations exist to help prevent fraud

53:41 - Naveena Sadasivam on steps people can take to protect themselves

********

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Those standing up to climate and environmental injustice face challenges they weren’t seeing a year ago. But Gloria Walton, head of The Solutions Project, sees a bigger picture:

“ The reality is that the same systems that created the climate crisis, whether that's colonialism, white supremacy, racism, and the patriarchy, those are the same ones that have harmed communities of color for generations,” she says. Her organization has channeled tens of millions of philanthropic dollars to grassroots efforts that build community resilience. 

Black Girl Environmentalist founder Wawa Gatheru is helping more Black girls, women, and gender-expansive people enter and lead in the climate space. She says the climate fight has shifted from education to action, with over 70% of Americans now understanding that climate change is real. So what should this 'action phase' look like?

Guests:

Gloria Walton, President & CEO, The Solutions Project

Wawa Gatheru, Founder & Executive Director, Black Girl Environmentalist

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org

00:00 – Intro

05:30 – Gloria Walton on the impact of the Altadena wildfires

10:30 – Walton’s work as an organizer in South Central LA

13:00 – Living with idea of abundance

19:00 – Finding and keeping your individual power within our democracy

21:00 – Work of West Street Recovery Project in Houston

22:30 – Developing local resilience hubs

24:00 – Reframing frontline communities as victors, not victims

27:00 – Channeling philanthropy to climate resilience and frontline communities

36:00 – Story of Hoʻāhu Energy Cooperative Molokai 

42:00 – Wawa Gatheru’s start in climate and environmental advocacy

44:00 – Not seeing herself in climate spaces

48:00 – Climate storytelling can offer nuance and move people 

55:00 – Work and growth of Black Girl Environmentalist organization

59:00 – Climate One More Thing

****

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At this moment, the cheapest way to create electricity is by pointing a solar panel at the sun. That’s good news for the climate. It’s also good news for communities who want to take control of their own electricity generation.

In the heart of Brooklyn, UPROSE is helping to build a solar project that will be owned by the community, provide jobs, and help residents bring down their energy costs. In Puerto Rico, where hurricanes have devastated the power grid, community members are building solar microgrids to provide reliable electricity as the utility has proven they cannot. Meanwhile in conservative rural Virginia, Energy Right is helping farmers and rural communities adopt solar projects, touting a free market message about energy independence and security. 

Guests: 

Elizabeth Yeampierre, Attorney; Executive Director, UPROSE 

Skyler Zunk, CEO and Founder, Energy Right 

Arturo Massol-Deyá, Executive Director, Casa Pueblo de Adjuntas

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

Highlights:

00:00 - Intro

4:11 - Elizabeth Yeampierre on the history of UPROSE

10:40 - Elizabeth Yeampierre on Sunset Park Solar

14:31 - Elizabeth Yeampierre on the GRID plan

20:46 - Arturo Massol-Deyá on the Origins of Casa Pueblo

23:43 - Arturo Massol-Deyá on providing solar power to the community

33:04 - Arturo Massol-Deyá on what other communities can learn from Casa Pueblo

38:08 - Skyler Zunk on the importance of reliable energy

47:06 - Skyler Zunk on dealing with resistance to solar projects

50:49 - Skyler Zunk on the Inflation Reduction Act 

****

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2025 has been a doozy in so many ways. And climate news has been no exception. Climate One hosts Ariana Brocious and Kousha Navidar look back at what the year has meant for climate progress: the good, the bad, the ugly — and the joyful.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2025 will go down as one of the top three warmest years in the 176-year observational record. Climate-change-fueled extreme weather continues to wreak havoc on communities across the world. And yet, it’s not all bad news.  As Bill McKibben points out, we now live on a planet where the cheapest form of energy basically comes from pointing a piece of glass at the sun. And globally, renewable energy surpassed coal for the first time ever.

Despite the federal government’s attacks on climate science and policy, local climate action is still happening across the country and globe, and each of us holds power to make change.

Guests:

Adrienne Heinz, Clinical Research Psychologist, Stanford University School of Medicine

Roxanne Brown, Vice President at Large, United Steelworkers

Pattie Gonia, Drag Queen and environmentalist
For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org

Highlights:

00:00 - Intro

02:00 – 2025 has been the year of AI

04:30 – Trump admin attack on science, climate and environmental regs and rules

06:45 – Good news on renewables and the rise of China as an electrostate

08:30 – New York implements congestion pricing

10:00 – US has removed itself from global climate negotiations

12:45 – Remembering Jane Goodall

15:30 – Adrienne Heinz on how to support yourself and others after a weather disaster

25:30 – Roxanne Brown on how Trump’s pullback of IRA, BIL and CHIPS acts have hurt American workers and industry

34:00 – Growing threat of disinformation in climate conversations

36:30 – Pattie Gonia on how drag performance fits in with their climate and environmental activism

51:00 – How joy is strategic

53:30 – A look ahead at 2026

*****

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Project Drawdown is the world’s leading science-based guide to climate solutions. According to Jonathan Foley, Project Drawdown’s Executive Director, they aim to be the Consumer Reports for climate change. “We synthesize every paper ever written in science, engineering, technical, economic literature, all the data, and bring it together and say, ‘Hey, does this actually work? And if so, how much would it cost? And how long would we have to wait for it?’” 

Foley is not just an expert on the intricacies of hundreds of potential climate solutions; he’s also the winner of the 2025 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Science Communication, and an expert at explaining complex ideas in easily digestible terms. As he said on a past Climate One episode, “The great news about addressing climate change is we also build a better world in the process. Imagine going to the doctor and they're like, ‘Wow, you're really sick and I'm gonna give you this medicine, and its side effects are, you're gonna feel better.’ Climate solutions are like that.”

Episode Guests:

Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, Project Drawdown

Eliza Nemser, Executive Director, Climate Changemakers

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

02:11 Jonathan Foley on Stephen Schneider

06:33 Jonathan Foley on balancing science and communication

13:09 Jonathan Foley on Project Drawdown

20:08 Jonathan Foley on less effective climate solutions

23:27 Jonathan Foley on the food industries effect on climate

26:22 Jonathan Foley on being attacked for speaking out about beef

34:20 Jonathan Foley on the need to stop doing “stupid” stuff

40:31 Greg Dalton on meeting Stephen Schneider

41:25 Greg Dalton on creating the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Science Communication

45:52 Greg Dalton on Stephen Schneider’s legacy

47:14 Eliza Nemser on her journey to climate activism

49:12 Eliza Nemser on effective volunteerism 

53:23 Eliza Nemser on finding your place in climate action

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today.

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It’s been ten years since Pope Francis issued his landmark encyclical on climate and caring for our common home, Laudato Si’. With the election of the new Pope Leo XIV, many are hopeful he will follow in Francis' path. 

Three-quarters of the global population follow a major religion. And the Catholic Church is far from alone among religious institutions in its directives to care for creation. A few years after Laudato Si, Muslim leaders issued Al-Mizan, which restates principles from the Quran on protecting nature in terms of meeting current challenges. Organizations like Interfaith Power and Light, the Jewish group Dayenu, the Hindu Bhumi Project, and the Buddhist Climate Action Network demonstrate the universality of creation care as central to religions worldwide. 

Especially at a time when governments are failing to take meaningful action on climate progress, can faith traditions provide new paths forward?

Guests:

Celia Deane-Drummond, Director, Laudato Si' Research Institute; Senior Research Fellow in Theology at Campion Hall, University of Oxford

Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, Founder & CEO, Dayenu 

Iyad Abumoghli, Founder, Former Director, Faith for Earth Coalition, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Founder and Chair, Al-Mizan

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

Highlights: 

00:00 – Intro

00:10 – Quick update on COP30 conclusions

03:40 – Celia Deane-Drummond explains importance of Laudato Si’

08:15 – Will Pope Leo continue Pope Leo’s environmental legacy?

11:00 – Role of religion and ethics in climate conversations

17:45 – Rabbi Jennie Rosenn explains Jewish concept of Dayenu

20:30 – What religious leaders can do that political leaders can’t

26:30 – Rosenn on deregulatory agenda of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin 

37:45 – Iyad Abumoghli on how religion shapes human actions

40:30 – Al-Mizan’s origins and approach

51:00 – Faith and political leaders meeting to discuss the role of faith and values in facing climate change and climate justice

54:40 – Climate One More Thing

********

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The climate doesn’t care where emissions cuts come from; what matters is that the world transitions to renewable energy quickly and cheaply. If it’s significantly cheaper to install solar panels in India than on a rooftop in California, then isn’t that where they should be built? Similarly, transferring money directly to local people with the greatest stake in preserving their land can have outsized impact in conservation. Where does a climate dollar go furthest? 

Guests:

Kinari Webb, Founder, Health in Harmony

Premal Shah, Founder, kiva.org, renewables.org 

Nathaniel Stinnett, Founder and Executive Director, Environmental Voter Project

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org

Highlights:

00:00 – Intro

04:30 – Origins of Kinari Webb’s nonprofit Health in Harmony

09:00 – Rainforests as lungs and heart of the planet

12:00 – Radical listening to communities about what they need

15:00 – Positive outcomes from responding to community needs directly

18:00 – Webb’s near-death experience from a jellyfish sting

22:00 – Rainforest conservation as a giant climate lever

29:00 – Premal Shah describes how he came to create Kiva.org

32:00 – How Kiva.org works

35:30 – Thought experiment from moral philosopher Peter Singer

38:40 – Kiva tries to reframe stories of poverty as stories of entrepreneurship

41:00 – Applying crowdfunded microfinance model to renewable energy

46:00 – Idea of “effective altruism”

49:30 – Nathaniel Stinnett: we’ve been taught to blame ourselves for the climate crisis

53:00 – How to shift public actions to make climate more political 

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Joe Manchin grew up in the coal fields of West Virginia, the grandson of a miner and the son of a small-town grocer. His worldview was shaped by a place where energy isn’t an abstract policy debate; it’s the identity of the community and vital for economic survival. Manchin was portrayed as a bit of a villain in liberal circles for his role in blocking or slowing down Biden-era policy goals, including climate policy. Yet he was also the architect of the biggest climate legislation the country has ever enacted: the Inflation Reduction Act.

Now, in the midst of the Trump administration dismantling climate policy and basic political norms, Manchin is calling for a return to compromise and “common sense.” 

Episode Guests: 

Joe Manchin, Former US Senator, West Virginia 

Thomas Ramey, Commercial and Nonprofit Solar Evaluator, Solar Holler

For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org

Highlights: 

00:00 - Intro

05:27 - Joe Manchin on his first senate run 

10:42 - Joe Manchin on Build Back Better

19:26 - Joe Manchin on how the Inflation Reduction Act was written 

22:51 - Joe Manchin on the dismantling of the IRA

27:21 - Joe Manchin on the effects of climate 

31:02 - Joe Manchin on West Virginia’s transition to clean energy 

37:10 - Joe Manchin on the state of the country 

38:10 - Joe Manchin on how to make the country better 

42:56 - Joe Manchin on working together 

44:20 - Thomas Ramey on growing up in West Virginia

50:08 - Thomas Ramey on how he talks about solar energy

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