About fifty years ago, multiple environmental disasters forced a reckoning with how we care for the Earth. President Richard Nixon signed numerous environmental protection bills into law in the 1970s, including what is considered to be the nation’s green Magna Carta: the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).  

Among many other moves to eliminate or weaken federal environmental regulations and laws, the Trump administration is trying to fundamentally change NEPA, a bedrock rule that requires federal agencies to analyze environmental and cultural impacts of any major development. Critics point out these changes will result in fewer protections for citizens, natural resources and communities. What other regulations are being rolled back and going unnoticed? 

Guests: 

Sam Wojcicki, Senior Director, Climate Policy, National Audubon Society 

Olivia N. Guarna, Climate Justice Fellow, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Jared Huffman, U.S. Representative (D-CA 2nd District) and Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee

On June 4, Climate One is hosting a special screening of the documentary “Good Grief: The 10 Steps” to be followed by a climate anxiety workshop. Join us for this intimate conversation about the importance of mental health live at The Commonwealth Club. Tickets are available through our website.

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Climate progress is stalling at the federal level, making local action more critical than ever. “In an increasingly urbanized world, cities must play the leading role in achieving our climate goals,” says San José Mayor Matt Mahan. 

But what does that look like in practice? What role can cities play in accelerating the transition to a fully electrified economy across all sectors? And how does he plan to secure funding in uncertain times?

This conversation was recorded live as part of SF Climate Week 2025.

Guest:

Matt Mahan, Mayor of San José

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It’s so easy to spiral into a climate doom loop. But solutions to the crisis are out there! Even as federal action stalls, states, local organizers and innovators across the U.S. are charging ahead with climate progress. What responsibility does the media have in elevating the solutions that exist and are working? And how can artists help reframe the climate conversation and shift the narrative from foregone conclusion to a reimagining of what’s possible? 

This episode features conversations recorded live during SF Climate Week — with Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown, Nikhil Swaminathan, CEO of Grist, and author and artist Jenny Odell — all exploring how solutions-focused storytelling today can help shape the future we dare to imagine tomorrow.

Guests:

Jonathan Foley, Executive Director, Project Drawdown

Nikhil Swaminathan, CEO, Grist

Jenny Odell, Artist; Author, “Saving Time,” “How to Do Nothing”

Mina Kim, Co-host of Forum, KQED

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Rep. Jared Huffman has represented California’s 2nd District — from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border — for over a decade. During that time, he has championed climate issues and fought to protect California’s public lands, prevent offshore drilling, pushed for financial institutions to divest from fossil fuels, and introduced legislation to tackle plastic pollution.

Now, turmoil in the federal government is putting all those protections at risk. Advocating for climate action is pretty challenging when terms like "climate change” are being erased from government websites. How can Rep. Huffman advance his climate agenda when those who hold the most power are going hard in another direction?

This conversation was recorded live as part of SF Climate Week 2025.

Guest:

Rep. Jared Huffman, U.S. Representative (D-CA 2nd District) and Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee

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Summer is coming soon, and for many that means vacation. While traveling far and wide can be an amazing experience, the carbon cost of traveling is significant. But what if we could rekindle a sense of awe in our own neighborhoods? 

After years of extreme expeditions all over the world, adventurer Alastair Humphreys spent a year exploring the detailed local map around his home. His new book “Local” is an ode to slowing down, as well as a rallying cry to protect the wild places on our doorstep.

Guest: 

Alastair Humphreys, Author; Adventurer

This episode also features field reporting from producers Austin Colón and Megan Biscieglia.

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On April 21, Pope Francis died at the age of 88. The Catholic Church's first Latin American pope was known for his humility and his efforts to make his religion more inclusive and welcoming around social issues like same-sex marriage.

Pope Francis was also a climate leader. In honor of his passing, this bonus episode revisits a Climate One episode from 2015 that focused on the Pope's views on climate and humanity.

Guests:

Rev. Sally Bingham, Founder and President, Regeneration Project

Paul Fitzgerald, President, University of San Francisco

Sam Liccardo, Former Mayor of San José

This week, Climate One is hosting a series of live conversations as part of SF Climate Week 2025! Tickets for Thursday’s events, featuring Mayor Matt Mahan, Rep. Jared Huffman, Abby Reyes, Margaret Gordon and Alexis Madrigal are on sale now through the official SF Climate Week event calendar.

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Since its creation under President Richard Nixon in 1970, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has worked to reduce pollution and toxic exposures to ensure that Americans have clean air, clean water and clean soil. The EPA has also sought to reduce emissions to address climate change. Now that the Trump administration is in power, the EPA is being threatened with a 65% reduction in their budget. 

In addition to EPA cuts, the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is making cuts left and right in an effort to trim $1 trillion from the federal budget. The combination of DOGE and Trump’s executive orders — plus the threatened cuts to the EPA and the federal spending freezes — have put thousands of jobs, and clean energy and climate related projects, in limbo. This could have a devastating impact on the national public health and safety standards we now take for granted, and will undermine our ability to address the climate crisis. How far do these cuts go? What is real and what is bluster? What would a country with a severely limited EPA look like? 

Guests:

Gina McCarthy, Former Administrator, EPA

Umair Irfan, Reporter, Vox

This episode also includes a news feature reported by April Ehrlich of Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Next week, Climate One is hosting a series of live conversations as part of SF Climate Week 2025! Tickets for all four of our events, featuring leaders such as Jenny Odell, San José Mayor Matt Mahan, Rep. Jared Huffman, Abby Reyes, Margaret Gordon and two of this year's Goldman Prize winners are on sale now through the official SF Climate Week event calendar.

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More than 3 billion people rely on seafood as a primary source of animal protein. But waters are warming, and fish are moving. Are those fish, and the communities that have relied on them for centuries, in trouble?

We go around the world, from the rocky shores of New England to the picturesque island of Niue, to investigate how three popular fish are doing. Along the way, we meet people who are protecting and regrowing these fish populations in different ways and learn about their challenges and successes.

This episode features reporting by Barbara Moran at WBUR, which was produced as part of the Pulitzer Center's StoryReach U.S. Fellowship. Columbia University’s Duy Linh Tu contributed to the reporting.  

Guests: 

Tessa M. Hill, Oceanographer and Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences, UC Davis

Mona Ainu’u, Minister for the Ministry of Natural Resources, Niue

Jenn Caselle, Research Biologist, Marine Science Institute, UC Santa Barbara

Climate One is hosting a series of live conversations as part of SF Climate Week 2025! Tickets for all four of our events, featuring leaders such as Jenny Odell, San José Mayor Matt Mahan, Rep. Jared Huffman, Abby Reyes, Margaret Gordon and two of this year's Goldman Prize winners are on sale now through the official SF Climate Week event calendar.

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In a previous Climate One episode, we discussed the good, the bad, and the ugly impacts of artificial intelligence. But AI isn’t going away. Humans rarely give up a nifty new tool unless something better comes along. AI’s share of energy consumption is enormous, and the Department of Energy estimates that data center energy demands will double or even triple in just the next three years. Demand on fresh water is at least as big and isn’t talked about nearly enough. So, what can we do to reduce AI’s impact? 

Plenty of researchers have ideas — from site selection to energy efficiency to using zero-carbon sources of energy. But what will incentivize the AI corporations to take any of those actions?

This episode is supported by Climate One Steward Noel Perry and Next 10.

Episode Guests:

KeShaun Pearson, Executive Director, Memphis Community Against Pollution

Kate Brandt, Chief Sustainability Officer, Google

Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University

Climate One is once again hosting a series of live conversations as part of SF Climate Week 2025! Tickets for all four of our events, featuring leaders such as Jenny Odell, San José Mayor Matt Mahan, Rep. Jared Huffman, Abby Reyes, Margaret Gordon and two of this year's Goldman Prize winners are on sale now through the official SF Climate Week event calendar.

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 no secret that President Trump is not a fan of wind energy. As a matter of fact, he signed an executive order on his first day back in office that paused leasing for any new or renewed offshore wind energy projects and required the re-evaluation of all wind projects. This has thrown uncertainty into the entire industry, which already had supply chain and local opposition issues even before the new administration took office. 

Meanwhile, wind projects — especially offshore — have seen a decade-long boom in Europe, where the U.S. is already 15 years behind. Will the hostile policy from the Trump administration end the wind industry in this country? 

This episode features reporting from Ben Berke of The Public’s Radio.

Guests: 

Clare Fieseler, Reporter, Canary Media

Jed Welder, Owner, Trinity Farms 

Barbara Kates-Garnick, Professor of Practice, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Climate One is once again hosting a series of live conversations as part of SF Climate Week 2025! 

Tickets for all four of our events, featuring leaders such as Jenny Odell, San José Mayor Matt Mahan, Rep. Jared Huffman, Abby Reyes, Margaret Gordon and two of this year's Goldman Prize winners are on sale now through the official SF Climate Week event calendar.

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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Catherine Coleman Flowers has dedicated her life to fighting for the most vulnerable communities — people who have been deprived of the basic civil right to a clean, safe and sustainable environment. 

When she was first on Climate One in 2021, Flowers talked about growing up in Lowndes County, Alabama, and working to stem the raw sewage contaminating homes and drinking water in her county and beyond. In recognition of this work she was granted a MacArthur “Genius Award.” Now, she picks up the story, discussing her awareness of racialized disinvestment in the South, the work of the inaugural White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the impact of unfettered fossil fuel production nationwide.

Guests:

Catherine Coleman Flowers, Founder, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ)

Justin J. Pearson, State Representative, Tennessee General Assembly

On Monday, Google’s Chief Sustainability Officer Kate Brandt and Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center, will speak with Climate One about the development of sustainably powered artificial intelligence. Tickets are on sale through our website.

And on April 22 and 24, Climate One will once again be hosting a series of SF Climate Week events at The Commonwealth Club! Join us for conversations with environmental luminaries such as Margaret Gordon, Jenny Odell, Project Drawdown, Grist, and Abby Reyes. Tickets are on sale now.

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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