It’s becoming increasingly clear that how we talk about climate change matters as much as the science or policy itself. The words we use carry weight, and climate communicator Susan Joy Hassol says specific word choices, like “heat-trapping pollution” rather than “greenhouse gases,” can cut through polarization and help messages resonate with a wider range of people. Equally important is listening to what people and communities need to better handle the impacts from climate disruption.

And different audiences need different approaches. For example: adults can help children process climate fear and grief without overwhelming them by offering age-appropriate honesty paired with validation of their emotions. Good communication can be one of the most effective forms of climate action.

Guests: 

Robin Cooper, Co-Founder and President, Climate Psychiatry Alliance

Elizabeth Yeampierre, Attorney; Executive Director, UPROSE 

Susan Joy Hassol, Director, Climate Communication

Highlights:

00:00 Introduction 

2:14 Robin Cooper on climate related mental health issues young people have

5:16 Robin Cooper on how adults can help young people in their lives

12:22 Robin Cooper on having multiple conversations with young people about climate

15:57 Robin Cooper on next steps after identifying climate anxieties in young people

19:46 Elizabeth Yeampierre on what it took to get Sunset Park Solar going

29:33 Elizabeth Yeampierre on building community trust and listening

31:40 Elizabeth Yeampierre on working with other communities 

36:11 Susan Joy Hassol on not using the phrase “climate change” 

39:52 Susan Joy Hassol on the phrase “natural disasters” 

46:11 Susan Joy Hassol on dealing with hostility when discussing climate

For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit our ⁠⁠⁠episode page⁠⁠⁠ at climateone.org

***

Join Climate One for an electric conversation on September 1 at 6 p.m. between PG&E CEO Patti Poppe and California State Senator Scott Wiener about energy affordability, outages, and whether cities like San Francisco are ready to break up with the investor owned utility model. Tickets available at climateone.org/events

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Making steel accounts for around 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But the industry could reduce that number by removing coal from the steel-making process entirely. Three of the U.S.’s last seven coal-based steel mills are situated along Lake Michigan. Together, these facilities produce nearly half of the steel made in the U.S., supplying skyscraper beams, car doors, and appliances across the country. And right now, in Northwest Indiana, a once-in-a-generation decision is on the table. 

Nippon Steel, the owners of the Gary Works steel mill, can either extend the life of their aging blast furnaces for another 20 years and continuing coal-based production, or invest in cleaner, next-generation steelmaking. Other steelmakers have already moved towards decarbonization. Will Nippon switch to cleaner steelmaking for the next generation, or double-down on coal? 

Guests: 

Terry Steagall, Retired Steelworker, United Steelworker Union activist

Hilary Lewis, Steel Director, Industrious Labs 

Roger Smith, Asia Lead, SteelWatch

Highlights:

00:00 – Introduction

1:55 Terry Steagall on the importance of the steel industry in northwest Indiana

4:31 Terry Steagall on relining blast furnaces 

11:16 Terry Steagall on cleaner steel for the next generation 

14:27 Hilary Lewis on steel industry emissions

19:36 Hilary Lewis on the realistic path to decarbonizing the steel industry

23:03 Hilary Lewis on the pressure facing the industry to make cleaner steel 

27:57 Hilary Lewis on the industry’s move to southern states 

34:01 Roger Smith on the scale of US Steel’s acquisition by Nippon Steel

36:58 Roger Smith on the “golden share” the Trump administration received 

46:33 Roger Smith on the viable technology for cleaner steel

For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit our ⁠⁠episode page⁠⁠ at climateone.org

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The “rights of nature” is the idea that if a corporation can have legal standing as a person, why can’t a river or a mountain? Thomas Linzey, one of the early architects of a legal framework for granting rights to nature, now believes that structure doesn’t go far enough: Even when ecosystems are granted rights, the land is still owned by someone or some entity, even if that is a land trust or conservancy.  

Through Linzey’s work in collaboration with the Sacred Contract Coalition, a 30-acre mountain in Colorado was recognized in June 2025 as the first mountain to own itself. What could this mean for protecting other places?

Guests:

Thomas Linzey, Senior Legal Counsel, Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights 

Crystal Wolfchild, Guardian of The Mountain

Kumu Ramsay Taum, Cultural Advisor

Highlights:

00:00 – Introduction

02:30 – Thomas Linzey on his career fighting projects on behalf of communities

05:40 – Linzey on why federal environmental laws don’t protect air, water, or communities

11:00 – Linzey explains rights of nature legal framework

16:30 – Successful rights of nature cases in other parts of the world

19:15 – Rights of nature is Western law catching up with Indigenous cosmovisions

21:45 – Going beyond the rights of nature to land that owns itself

35:00 – Crystal Wolfchild on what it means to be a guardian of the Mountain

40:30 – Wolfchild on what this case could mean for other places

44:00 – Ramsay Taum on incorporating Hawaiian sense of environmental responsibility with Western worldviews

50:45 – Taum on the connection between restoring sovereignty and the rights of nature

56:00 – How to respond to climate changes like rising sea levels

58:00 – Climate One More Thing

For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit our ⁠episode page⁠ at climateone.org

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Summer is here, temperatures are rising — and so are electric bills. That also means many people are facing a severely overlooked issue: power shutoffs. According to a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2024 utility companies disconnected U.S. households from electricity more than 13.4 million times due to a customer’s inability to pay. When that happens, people can’t turn on their lights, keep food refrigerated, or cool down the home. And regulations preventing shutoffs during extreme heat events are woefully inadequate. 

But when utilities help pay the upfront costs of efficiency upgrades, the customers and utilities can both save energy — and money. How do we protect the most vulnerable people from the dangers of home power shutoffs? 

Guests:

Jean Su, Energy Justice Director, Center for Biological Diversity 

Sanya Carley, Co-Director, Energy Justice Lab, University of Pennsylvania

Tamara Jones, Co-Executive Director, Clean Energy Works

Highlights:

00:00 Introduction    

4:15 Jean Su on topline takeaways from nationwide data

10:04 Jean Su on why utilities don’t cover the cost of non-payment 

12:55 Jean Su on polices to prevent shutoffs

16:16 Jean Su on the reality of underreported shutoffs 

22:17 Sanya Carley on what happens to a household when a shutoff occurs

25:15 Sanya Carley on seeking help after a shutoff

27:44 Sanya Carley on federal impact on shutoffs

29:56 Sanya Carley on what state legislatures can do 

35:25 Tamara Jones on working for justice

38:09 Tamara Jones on who is impacted by energy injustice

46:14 Tamara Jones on examples of where policy gets it right

50:56 Tamara Jones on what work needs to be done in policy and regulation

For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit our episode page at climateone.org

Join Climate One for an induction cooking demonstration night on July 21, at 6 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Come enjoy delicious food and wine, and learn about why cooking with magnets beats cooking with gas. Tickets available at climateone.org/events 

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Across the country, developers are racing to build huge new buildings to house computers to fuel the AI boom, creating an explosive demand for new energy. While some hyperscalers seek renewable energy, others are turning to fossil fuels. But concerns around high electric bills, air and noise pollution and water depletion have generated widespread community pushback against these giant facilities, and it seems opposing data centers is a bipartisan issue. Many cities and states are working to rapidly update zoning and other local regulations to respond to the dual pressures of developer interest and constituent backlash.

Since data center development isn’t slowing down, what policies or creative strategies can lessen the impacts for local communities and ratepayers?

Guests: 

KeShaun Pearson, Executive Director, Memphis Community Against Pollution 

Rebecca Egan McCarthy, Freelance Journalist

Jason Plautz, Reporter, E&E News and Politico

Astrid Atkinson, CEO, Camus

Highlights:

00:00 Introduction

3:15 KeShaun Pearson on updates to the Colossus data center pollution

6:18 KeShaun Pearson on state regulators allowing an expansion of gas turbines 

8:08 KeShaun Pearson on the effect of the pollution on the community

16:24 KeShaun Pearson on what he hopes the lawsuits can achieve 

19:38 Rebecca Egan McCarthy on Archbald and data center development 

22:26 Rebecca Egan McCarthy on who has the power to regulate data center projects

28:16 Rebecca Egan McCarthy on data center development outside of Archbald

30:21 Jason Plautz on changing attitudes toward data centers

34:32 Jason Plautz on where there is meaningful regulation happening

39:27 Jason Plautz on state level regulatory changes 

41:26 Jason Plautz on the pace of data center development

44:45 Astrid Atkinson on the effects of data center energy load on the grid

46:19 Astrid Atkinson on what flexibility means in the energy world

50:39 Astrid Atkinson on hyperscalers paying for their energy

55:22 Astrid Atkinson on how some policy changes can help communities 

For show notes and related links, visit ⁠our episode page⁠ at climateone.org

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More and more, conservative voices are making the case that the U.S. can’t achieve energy dominance without solar power. Even the leading industry trade group is changing its strategy.

Earlier this year, Politico reported that the American Clean Power Association launched the “American Energy First” campaign to engage Kellyanne Conway and conservative influencers like Katie Miller “to amplify the benefits of solar energy” and “note the harm that could result from reckless trade policy.” Meanwhile, conservative groups at the state and federal level are advocating for building out solar power in service of private property rights, economic development and national security.

Episode Guests:

Kelsey Brugger, Congressional policy reporter, Politico 

Skyler Zunk, Executive Director, Energy Right; Executive Director, America First Energy 

Lillian Floutsis, Indiana Senior Field Representative, Indiana Land and Liberty, Conservative Energy Network 

This episode also features a reported piece from David Condos of KUER.

Episode Highlights:

00:00 – Intro

03:00 – Kelsey Brugger explains American Clean Power memo about reaching out to conservative influencers

06:30 – Does this indicate an ideological shift on the right?

09:40 – How much can this effort shift views within the administration

14:00 – Kelsey Brugger on what this story says about how the clean energy industry is positioning itself

19:00 – Skylar Zunk shares rationale behind his “Make Solar Great Again” hats

23:40 – How America First Energy frames solar energy

32:00 – How approach to solar energy conversation differ in D.C. and Louisiana

36:50 – KUER’s David Condos reports on Utah communities moving toward renewable energy

43:00 – Lillian Floutsis shares story from Allen County, Indiana, about local debate around setbacks for solar energy development

48:00 – Floutsis on framing solar conversations in Indiana around property rights, economic development and national security

53:00 – Climate is usually not a part of these conversations

54:20 – Floutsis share solar success stories

57:50 – Climate One More Thing

For show notes and related links, visit our episode page at climateone.org

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Industrial agriculture accounts for a significant share of global emissions, but meat alternatives face real hurdles in becoming a mainstay of consumer diets. The hype around plant-based meat has cooled: hurt by price gaps, ultra-processed rhetoric, and culture-war politics around masculinity and food identity. Yet feeding a growing planet will require eating less beef, wasting less food, and producing more food with less land. Cultivated meat – made from animal cells and grown in a lab –  could offer a different path forward, especially in hybrid form combining plant and cultivated proteins. What might the future of meat look like? 

Guests: 

• Robbie Lockie, CEO, Founder, foodfacts.org
• Michael Grunwald, Journalist and author, “We Are Eating the Earth”
• Claire Bomkamp, Senior Lead Scientist, Cultivated Meat & Seafood, Good Food Institute

Highlights:

00:00 - Introduction

4:30 Robbie Lockie on changing his diet

11:54 Robbie Lockie on who is choosing plant based meat

17:55 Robbie Lockie on how plant based meat competes on taste

20:40 Robbie Lockie on the future of plant based meat

26:54 Michael Grunwald making more food with less land

30:16 Michael Grunwald on the efficiency of industrial agriculture

33:30 Michael Grunwald on rotational grazing

38:00 Ariana Brocious’ cultivated salmon tasting

45:05 Claire Bomkamp on the state of cultivated meat

47:16 Claire Bomkamp on energy use of cultivated meat

52:23 Claire Bomkamp on what cuts cultivated meat can create

56:22 Claire Bomkamp on the price of cultivated meat

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

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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. Seventy-three percent of these cities have already peaked their emissions. Here in the US, Climate Mayors is a bipartisan network of nearly 350 U.S. mayors, representing 48 states and over 70 million Americans. How are cities innovating on reducing emissions, adapting to increasing climate risks, and — perhaps most importantly — sharing their knowledge?

Guests: 

Eric Garcetti, C40 Ambassador for Global Climate Diplomacy; Former Mayor, Los Angeles 
Kate Gallego, Mayor of Phoenix; Former Chair, Climate Mayors

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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When real and internal maps come up short, and the path ahead is uncertain, how do we find our way? In her new book “Climate Wayfinding," Dr. Katharine Wilkinson (co-founder of the All We Can Save Project) offers a compassionate and empowering guide for navigating through ache to action, doubt to possibility. Whether we’re steeped in climate or newly curious, we can look inward with care, outward with curiosity, and forward with courage to shape our unique contributions to healing the planet we call home. 

In Florida, social media star Uncle Pappy blends his unique mix of philosophy, humor, and love of nature into his own brand of inspirational messages. 

“I feel a moral imperative to nature to try to remind people of how incredible it is, and at the same time, I feel a moral imperative to people to remind them of how incredible nature is.” 

Guests:

Katharine Wilkinson, Author, “Climate Wayfinding;” Co-founder & Executive Director, The All We Can Save Project

Blair Carlyle (aka Uncle Pappy), Instagram influencer; Law student

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

Highlights:

00:00 – Intro

04:15 – Katharine Wilkinson’s climate journey

10:45 – Climate is big, global, multifaceted, yet impacts are close and intimate

17:45 – How to transform overwhelming grief into power, joy, and meaning

21:00 – Answering the question, “What can I do?”

29:15 – Reading of the poem “Equinox" by Tamiko Byer

33:00 – How Blair Carlyle, aka Uncle Pappy, pivoted to environmental subjects

36:15 – Carlyle’s Connection to the outdoors

40:00 – “Pappy is the realest version of me, the version I aspire to be”

45:00 – Carlyle on reaching people of all political beliefs, regardless of their climate views

53:30 – Climate One More Thing

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The Goldman Environmental Prize is known as the Nobel for grassroots environmental champions, for good reason. Award-winners are earth defenders, often bucking entrenched systems and powerful interests in order to protect and restore the natural environments we all depend on. This week we feature conversations with two of the 2026 Goldman Prize winners: 

• Iroro Tanshi, a tropical conservationist and bat ecologist who rediscovered a species that hadn't been seen in half a century. When climate-amplified wildfire threatened to destroy her new find, she built a community movement to virtually eliminate the wildfire risk. 

• Sarah Finch, a tireless environmental advocate who spent years in English courts using planning law as a defense against the fossil fuel industry. She won a major UK Supreme Court ruling, a ruling that is already constraining oil, gas, and coal development across the country.  

What can we learn about passion, persistence, and collaboration from these two advocates?

Guests: 

Iroro Tanshi, Tropical Conservationist

Sarah Finch, Environmental Campaigner

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

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

03:01 Iroro Tanshi on Warri, Nigeria and the oil industry

05:37 Iroro Tanshi on becoming interested in bats and the forest

09:24 Iroro Tanshi on finding a bat species once thought extinct

14:03 Iroro Tanshi on when a wildfire tore through the research site

19:20 Iroro Tanshi on the wildfire risks of forests in equatorial Africa 

20:50 Iroro Tanshi on working with the community to address the wildfires

23:01 Iroro Tanshi how to scale what she’s learned world-wide 

24:40 Iroro Tanshi on what bats can teach people about being human

27:17 Sarah Finch on realizing the far reaching implication of her work

30:49 Sarah Finch on why the legal argument finally worked 

34:42 Sarah Finch on getting the confidence to go after big oil 

44:43 Sarah Finch on how a group of people can make a real difference 

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Protest is the ultimate in equal-opportunity political action. As Annie Leonard, former executive director of Greenpeace USA says, "Making change is like laying a stone path across the garden. Peaceful protest may be every 4th or 8th or 200th stone; it helps us get where we want to go but also we need a lot of other stones too.”  Leonard explores the history of protests in her new book “Protest: Respect It. Defend It. Use It.” 

And while protest is the loudest and most visible tool, it’s only one of many ways to take action. Through community building, through civic engagement, through elected office, through corporate boardrooms, through churches and nonprofit agencies, there are countless paths to exercising power and promoting positive change. In this episode we hear from three leaders working in three different arenas, all toward the same goal.

Guests:

Annie Leonard, Environmental Activist, Author of “Protest: Respect It, Defend It, Use It”

Danielle Lee, Founder, Climate Action Club 

James Coleman, City Councilor, South San Francisco

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

Highlights:

00:00 – Intro

04:00 – Annie Leonard shares the story of the Section 504 sit-ins protest in San Francisco

06:30 – Different ways protest can be effective

08:30 – Leonard on why she puts her body on the line (gets arrested) during protests

16:00 – Leonard on the lawsuit Energy Transfer brought against Greenpeace USA over Standing Rock protests

22:00 – Protecting, defending, and using the right to protest 

26:00 – Danielle Lee on organizing younger people around climate and environment 

30:30 – Systemic versus personal action

37:00 – James Coleman on the decision to run for office as a tool for effective change

41:00 – Impact of local government 

46:30 – How change actually happens

50:00 – Climate One More Thing

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