SCC: Winter-Spring 2021

AMOD (Ep3): An Electric Number: 2035 [click here to access the podcast in a new tab or window]. When talking about climate change, we often get deep into the weeds quickly and throw a lot of numbers around. And these numbers can feel really disconnected from our lives: Two degrees, 415 parts per million, 36 billion tons of carbon dioxide. In this episode, we’ve got one number we really want to focus on: 2035. It’s a date that carries a lot of hope and opportunity. If we can make progress by 2035, then we can actually make a lot of changes to our energy system and really our entire economy. 

HTSAP: Should we go Nuclear? [click here to open the podcast in a new tab or window]. When it comes to nuclear energy, many people have strong opinions. Some say that if you’re not on board with nuclear energy, then you aren’t serious about addressing the climate crisis. Nuclear, after all, produces a lot of electricity and doesn’t emit greenhouse gases while making energy. Others say that nuclear power tries to solve an illness with more of the disease. They say that nuclear energy, like fossil fuels, is a product of old thinking that ignores the full suite of its environmental impact – the persistence of nuclear waste, and the harm caused by mining for materials, like uranium, that power nuclear energy plants. In this week’s episode, we wade into the debate. We look at the history of nuclear energy, how it became so polarized, and whether it holds the promise to get us off fossil fuels now, when we most need to

HTSAP: Breaking Building’s Addiction to Fossil Fuels [click here to open the podcast in a new tab or window]. If we’re going to deal with climate change, we’ve got to talk about buildings. Thirty percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions can be traced back to our homes, offices and other buildings – how we heat and cool them, how we insulate them (or don’t) and the electricity we use. But greening buildings is really hard. Donnel Baird is on a mission to change that. He founded the startup BlocPower to prove that we can green America’s buildings while creating good jobs in low-income neighborhoods – and he wants to build a billion-dollar business while he’s at it.

HTSAP: The Tribe that’s Moving Earth (and Water) to Solve the Climate Crisis. [click here to open the podcast in a new tab or window].

The Yurok tribe is reversing centuries of ecological damage to their land and making it more resilient to climate change by marrying two systems that might seem contradictory: indigenous land management practices and modern Western economics. In this episode we talk to Yurok Tribe Vice-Chairman Frankie Myers about how the Tribe recovered stolen land with the help of a carbon offset program, the creative ways they’re bringing the salmon back, and the role beavers play in the ecosystem.

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HTSAP: What’s up with that tree-planting search engine Ecosia [click her to open the podcast]– is it for real? [from beginning to ~ 19min]

HTSAP: SOIL- The Dirty Climate Solution [click here to open the podcast in a new tab or window]. In this episode, we meet two farmers who, at first glance, seem very different. One is a first-generation farmer in upstate New York raising fruits and vegetables for the local community. The other is a third generation farmer in Minnesota who sells commodity crops—corn and soybeans—to big industrial processors. But they share something in common. They’re both bucking modern conventions on how to farm. And they’re paying close attention to something that is frequently overlooked: the soil. We explore how making simple changes in the way we farm can harness the incredible power of soil to help save the planet.

Sign in here to receive the link to view online. The shorter (45m) version of Kiss the Ground (4 farmers) adds additional information specifically for farmers. Learn about regenerative agriculture and it’s role in carbon sequestration.