In a moment when nearly everything feels polarized, Benji Backer is trying to carve out a different path, one where caring about the natural world isn’t a partisan issue. As the founder of Nature Is Nonpartisan, he’s bringing together voices from across the political spectrum who might disagree on climate policy, but still share a desire to preserve public lands, wildlife, and the outdoors. 

Can conservation still serve as common ground in a divided country? What does it take to make environmentalism resonate beyond traditional audiences? Is a bipartisan movement possible in today’s political climate?

Guests: 

Benji Backer, Founder and CEO, Nature is Nonpartisan

Skyler Zunk, Founder and CEO, Energy Right 

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

Highlights:

00:00 – Intro

03:30 – Benji Backer on his relationship with nature

05:54 – Benji Backer on how Nature is Nonpartisan came to be

09:29 – Benji Backer on making conservation culturally relevant 

16:44 – Benji Backer on the hard work of moving policy forward 

21:19 – Benji Backer on why political leanings are labeled on staff page

24:16 – Benji Backer on bringing more people into the tent

31:45 – Benji Backer on where there is bipartisan support

34:30 – Benji Backer on where his work has had the most impact 

39:23 – Skyler Zunk on his time working for the first Trump administration

44:31 – Skyler Zunk on a farmer who has solar panels on the sheep farm

49:26 – Skyler Zunk on the importance of being able to relate to locals

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For decades we’ve seen nations exercise geopolitical dominance tied to their production and control of fossil fuels – especially oil. But that leverage may be changing. Last year, China installed nearly twenty times the amount of wind and solar as the United States.

In this essay in The National Interest, the authors lay out a global political and economic realignment already underway. Petrostates, like those in OPEC, are increasingly at odds with electrostates like China and many in the EU. This isn’t to say that electrostates are not without resource challenges – they’re seriously dependent on mineral supply chains – but the challenges are different, as are the opportunities. When 70% of the world’s population lives in fossil-fuel-importing countries, how are these diverging resource paths shaping the global balances of power? 

Guests:

Tatiana Mitrova, Global Fellow, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University

Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Global Energy & Climate Innovation Editor, The Economist

Li Shuo, Director, China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute

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

Highlights:

00:00 – Intro

04:30 – Tatiana Mitrova on petrostates and the idea of electrostates

10:00 – Electrostates are already taking market share from petrostates

13:30 – How Mitrova sees balance of power shifting as world electrifies

17:15 – Vijay Vaitheeswaran on the concept of an electrostate

26:00 – How cheap electricity could allow developing nations to skip over fossil fuels

34:00 – Vaitheeswaran on how U.S. should take on industrial policy in this moment

38:00 – Li Shuo: China’s latest 5-year plan suggests it will double down on clean tech sector

41:00 – China installed nearly twenty times wind and solar as U.S. last year

49:30 – China is on track to become firs

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More than perhaps any other state, Hawaii has major incentives to decarbonize. Imported oil accounts for about 90% of Hawaii's total energy consumption, and electricity prices are more than three times the national average. So it may not be surprising that Hawaii was the first state in the nation to set a 100% renewable energy goal by 2045. But that’s a hard goal to achieve, especially given the realities of geographic isolation and the costs of importing fuel and materials. 

Hawaii Governor Josh Green is bullish about the island state’s decarbonization and wants all options on the table. That includes making liquified natural gas part of the mix, along with solar, wind, and geothermal. His administration passed the first “green fee” which imposes a tax on Hawaii visitors and is expected to generate $100 million for climate resilience projects. What can we learn from Hawaii’s decarbonization process? 

Guests: 

Josh Green, Governor of Hawaii

Rylee Brooke Kamahele, Youth Plaintiff, Navahine v. Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation

Tessa M. Hill, Oceanographer and Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences, UC Davis
For show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org.

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

03:08 Josh Green on achieving Hawaii’s climate goals

07:11 Josh Green on offshore wind

13:17 Josh Green on the effect of the wildfires and the recovery

18:09 Josh Green on decarbonizing

20:22 Josh Green on the health effects of the climate crisis

23:30 Rylee Brooke Kamahele on growing up

24:26 Rylee Brooke Kamahele on community action

29:06 Rylee Brooke Kamahele on the outcome of the lawsuit

34:27 Rylee Brooke Kamahele on the responsibility of older generations

37:55 Tessa M. Hill on rapidly changing oceans

41:43 Tessa M. Hill on the impact to common fish

44:44 Tessa M. Hill on the winners and losers of the changing oceans

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Food loss and waste account for up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions and cost $1 trillion annually, according to the United Nations. About a third of all food grown on the planet gets wasted, rather than eaten. In developing countries, waste usually occurs between the field and the store, due to poor infrastructure, lack of refrigeration, and broken supply chains. In rich countries, most waste happens after food reaches the store, where consumers don’t buy imperfect food – or buy too much and toss what they don’t get around to consuming. How much pollution, deforestation and starvation could be reduced if we got this problem under control? And how can new tech, including AI, be brought to bear on the problem?

Guests:

Matt Rogers, Co-Founder and CEO, Mill Industries; Co-Founder, Nest

Page Schult, CEO, Topanga 

Kayla Abe, Co-Owner, Shuggie’s

David Murphy, Co-Owner and Chef, Shuggie’s

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

Highlights:

00:00 – Intro

04:30 – Matt Rogers on surviving Hurricane Andrews and his climate journey

06:30 – On the climate impact of HVAC and the creation of Nest thermostat

08:30 – On creating Mill food recycler and addressing food waste

13:45 – Partnership with Whole Food to recycle food waste and feed it back to chickens

17:00 – On AI as a tool for climate solutions

19:30 – Clean tech in Silicon Valley 

23:00 – Matt Rogers shares his views on advocacy, philanthropy and impact investing

30:00 – Shuggie’s restaurant sources ingredients that would otherwise be wasted

37:00 – David Murphy makes the case for sustainable food and upcycled ingredients

40:00 – Page Schult on global impact of food waste

44:00 – Topanga’s work providing reusable food containers for college campuses

52:30 – Thinking about it circularity as systems change

54:00 – Role of AI in reducing food waste in commercial kitchens

58:00 – Climate One More Thing

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While the federal government has all but abandoned trying to address the climate crisis, cities around the world are stepping up. C40 is an international network of 97 cities representing 920 million people and 23% of the world’s economy. Almost three out of four of these cities have already peaked their emissions. Here in the U.S., Climate Mayors is a bipartisan network of nearly 350 municipal leaders, representing 48 states and more than 70 million Americans. How are cities innovating on reducing emissions, adapting to increasing climate risks, and — perhaps most importantly — sharing their knowledge?

Episode Guests: 

Eric Garcetti, C40 Ambassador for Global Climate Diplomacy; Former Mayor, Los Angeles 

Kate Gallego, Mayor of Phoenix; Former Chair, Climate Mayors 

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

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

2:46 Eric Garcetti on his time as mayor of LA

9:45 Eric Garcetti on where cities are moving the needle

17:47 Eric Garcetti on cities on the world stage

22:11 Eric Garcetti on the work of C40

26:20 Eric Garcetti on knowledge sharing

32:17 Eric Garcetti on co-leading

40:11 Kate Gallego on dealing with the heat in Phoenix

43:46 Kate Gallego on affordability

48:10 Kate Gallego on regulating data centers

52:35 Kate Gallego on working with other mayors

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Rising electricity rates across the country are adding pressure to families and businesses already dealing with inflation in other aspects of their lives. Most Americans get their power from a utility that needs to turn a profit for its investors. And people are fed up with the status quo.

“Across the country, the utilities have just gotten greedy and are asking for more than they need,” says Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. 

Some communities are considering cutting out the profit motive for utilities, taking on the complicated and expensive prospect of moving to public power. But switching from an investor-owned utility to public power is an uphill battle. What are other strategies for reining in corporate greed and making electricity more affordable?

Episode Guests:

Kris Mayes, Arizona Attorney General

Naveena Sadasivam, Investigative Reporter and Editor, Grist

Carroll Fife, Councilmember, District 3, Oakland, California

Jackson Kaspari, Director of Member Services, Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire

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

Skill Up for Earth: ⁠https://skillup.earth⁠

04:00 – Naveena Sadasivam breaks down electric bill drivers by region

14:00 – High bills affected outcome of Georgia Public Utility Commission

17:00 – Tucson town hall held by AZ AG Kris Mayes to discuss power bill

19:00 – Mayes explains why she’s intervening in rate cases

27:00 – Imbalance of power between utility companies and PUCs and consumer advocates

33:00 – Would Arizona legislators consider allowing community choice aggregation

36:00 – Carroll Fife on why she supported a state bill to explore other options to power suppliers

43:40 – Jackson Kaspari explains how community choice aggregation works in New Hampshire

48:00 – Utility pushback

54:00 – Kaspari explains how much work it took to set up CCA in New Hampshire

56:30 – Climate One More Thing

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Congress approved billions for federal grants and programs through the EPA during the Biden administration. Those dollars were meant to help disadvantaged communities and fund community resilience projects, public health programs, and initiatives to reduce energy insecurity on tribal lands. But just as these projects were getting underway, the Trump administration froze many of the grants, put others under indefinite review, or canceled them outright. 

Now, some of the groups that were awarded federal funds have banded together and are suing the federal government for the money they’re owed. Others are seeking alternative funding streams. In this episode, we speak with people whose projects are on hold, but who continue to serve their communities.  

Episode Guests: 

Ben Grillot, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center

Wahleah Johns, Former Director, U.S. DOE Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs

Ilyssa Manspeizer, CEO, Landforce

Bryan Cordell, Executive Director, Sustainability Institute

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

Skill Up for Earth: ⁠https://skillup.earth⁠

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

03:01 Ilyssa Manspeizer on what her organization, Landforce

06:29 Ilyssa Manspeizer on the impact of federal grant funds

08:58 Ilyssa Manspeizer on losing the grant funding

11:38 Ilyssa Manspeizer on Landforce joining the lawsuit against the EPA

14:08 Ben Grillot on the original EPA grantees

19:08 Ben Grillot on the politicization of the grants

24:54 Ben Grillot on the loss of trust with the federal government

26:42 Bryan Cordell on the work of the Sustainability Institute

30:38 Bryan Cordell on the status of their work after federal grants were pulled

33:51 Wahleah Johns on growing up on a Navajo reservation

45:59 Wahleah Johns on the community response to IRA rollbacks

48:20 Wahleah Johns on working toward the future

**********

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It’s been an unusually warm and dry winter across the west, and that’s bad news for the seven states and 40 million people that rely on water from the Colorado River. The water flowing into the river from snowmelt and rain is dwindling, partly because of climate change. The basin's two major reservoirs are at historic lows, and without a sudden influx of snowstorms, streamflow forecasts for the coming year aren’t looking good. That adds stress to an already drought-stricken region where negotiations on how to share the river’s water in the future are tense and stalled out. 

“We’re at a point where we have to make some serious long-term adjustment of expectations. In other words, people need to agree to take a lot less water than they've been counting on. And that is always really hard when water is scarce,” says Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University.

The federal government has given states a deadline of Feb. 14th to reach an agreement, after which the Bureau of Reclamation commissioner could divvy up the water between states as it deems fit. It’s already released its draft environmental impact statement with possible alternatives.

What’s led to this point of crisis? What is keeping states from reaching agreement? And what will the cities, farmers and industries that depend on the river do as climate change leads to a lower volume of water in an increasingly hotter and drier future?  

Episode Guests:

Sarah Porter, Director, Kyl Center for Water Policy, Arizona State University

For show notes and related links, visit https://www.climateone.org/podcasts

Skill Up for Earth: https://skillup.earth

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On January 3, U.S. forces captured Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, and flew them to New York to stand trial for drug trafficking and narco-terrorisim. At the same time, President Trump has not been shy about stating his other motivation for intervening in the country: Back in December, he said, “We had a lot of oil there. As you know they threw our companies out, and we want it back." So what are the geopolitical ramifications of these actions?  And in a world increasingly powered by renewable energy, could fossil-fueled conflicts become a thing of the past? 

Episode Guests: 

Luisa Palacios, Senior Research Scholar, Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University 

Amy Myers Jaffe, Director, Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab, NYU 

Bill McKibben, Founder, Third Act and 350.org

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

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

04:54 Luisa Palacios on growing up in Venezuela

08:59 Luisa Palacios on the risks in Venezuela's oil industry

15:15 Luisa Palacios on the climate impact of increasing Venezuela’s oil output

18:01 Amy Myers Jaffe on her reaction to the Maduro’s forced removal

21:08 Amy Myers Jaffe on what the military action is really about

28:32 Amy Myers Jaffe on the importance of the action in Venezuela

35:21 Amy Myers Jaffe on the national security aspects of clean tech

38:39 Bill McKibben on the military action in Venezuela

49:45 Bill McKibben on the “last gasp’ of the fossil fuel industry

52:26 Bill McKibben on the US reversal on climate policy and clean tech

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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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