In This Climate

Positioned in the driest desert in the United States, Las Vegas is one of the nation's fastest-warming cities. In our third episode on its past and future, we focus on the time from 2000 to present, paying close attention to the ways its extractive industries have intersected with each other and examining the possibility of shrinking the city. In this episode: Nicole Huber and Ralph Stern, authors of Urbanizing the Mojave Desert: Las Vegas

Machine learning's potential to assist in climate change mitigation and adaptation is vast, but as with any developing technologies, so are the challenges. In this episode, we talk with journalist David Silverberg and Parity CEO Brad Pilgrim about the ways we can use and improve artificial intelligence to fight climate change from all directions.

A year after Intense Tropical Cyclone Idai made landfall in southern Africa, communities in Zimbabwe continue to feel the storm's effects. For many, the trauma is physical, emotional, and spiritual, necessitating mental health care that has become increasingly inaccessible since the country's economic crash. In this bonus episode, we talk with freelance journalist Ray Mwareya, who grew up in hard-hit Chimanimani and wrote a feature story on the subject.

Listeners, we have a question. How are you feeling about climate change, about the environment? You can let us know by emailing us at itcpod@indiana.edu. In this episode, we examine just that—the emotions that can make commitment to climate action difficult and the strategies useful in supporting each other as we reimagine and create a more sustainable future. In this episode: Renée Lertzman Shahzeen Attari Robert Frank

Observing art can help us relate to environmental issues and move us emotionally, but what happens when we take the next step and begin creating art? In this episode, we look at the multi-level potential for art to help us engage in climate commitment. 4:00 - Patrick Chandler 24:30 - Jill Pelto

On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we went live on Facebook to reflect on historical Earth Days and discuss present issues in environmental health and climate communications. 6:45 - James Capshew and Ellen Ketterson 25:45 - Janet McCabe and Stephen Jay 39:30 - Jim Shanahan and Enrique Saenz

On the long list of lives changed by Arctic warming are sled dogs. This episode, we're featuring a story by Elisa Shoenberger that dives into how the sport of mushing is changing along with the climate. We also dip into our vault to take another look at the 2019 Arctic fire season, from Alaska to Siberia, from fire ecology to the politics of air quality. 2:00 - Sled dog feature by Elisa Shoenberger 10:15 - Nancy Fresco 15:00 - Petr Ivanov

In this bonus episode, IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor David Konisky helps us understand the modern environmental justice movement in the context of its history.

As early as the 1930s, lakes in the Adirondacks began registering fish loss. By the 1980s, visible forest dieback turned the attention of the United States to the acid rain crisis. Today, scientists are observing the biological recovery of the region. This is the story of how it all happened. In this episode: Joe Goffman, Executive Director of the Harvard Environmental & Energy Law Program Dan Josephson, long-time Cornell University Adirondack Fishery Research Program biologist

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco hosted in late 2019 the Fed's first conference focused on climate change. There, researchers presented on topics ranging from the effects of climate change on the global workforce to the interaction between pollution and interest rate. But the day kicked off with one series of questions: why this and why now?   In this episode, with the help of Reuters reporter Ann Saphir, we examine central banking's climate risks and the Fed's engagement with those issues.

The legacy of environmental (in)justice stretches beyond the commencement of the industrial revolution, and according to long-time community organizer Peggy Shepard, it remains among the greatest challenges of the next generation. This episode, we discuss the definition of environmental justice, how it tends to play out for regulators, and examples of communities around the world standing up for fair distribution of environmental burdens.

Millions of gallons of oil leaked into the ground under Greenpoint, adding a sheen to Newtown Creek and a substance like "black mayonnaise" to the yards of the neighborhood's working class residents. More than 20 years later, the Coast Guard officially discovered the spill. The chain of events that followed prompted the Just Green Enough strategy, which uncouples remediation and resilience from luxury development and contests the inevitability of displacement in green gentrification scenarios. In our second episode on climate gentrification, we look at the case of the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn, including the history that got us to this point and what we can learn from the people there. In this episode: Winifred Curran, DePaul University Trina Hamilton, University at Buffalo

Long-time residents of higher-elevation Miami neighborhoods have anticipated for decades an influx of wealthy people retreating from flood-prone areas. Then, as it finally began to happen, as households and businesses began to face displacement, as public understanding of climate change swelled, the long-time residents received little assistance. Despite the late 2018 adoption of a City resolution to study climate gentrification—the first of its kind in the U.S.—community activists continue to push the city for substantive action. In our first episode on climate gentrification, we look at the case of Miami-Dade County, including the history that got us to this point and potential solutions moving forward. In this episode: Alex Harris, Miami Herald climate change reporter Jesse Keenan, professor in the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, with a joint appointment at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Science, Technology and Public Policy

For thousands of generations, people have connected with their environments through music. They've developed ecological empathy, communicated with the divine, and passed their understandings through space and time. Today, from Frank Waln's "Oil 4 Blood" to Billie Eilish's climate-tinged "All the Good Girls Go to Hell," popular artists continue to weave environmental activism into their art. Simultaneously, local artists foster space where people can engage collectively in the tradition of environmental music. In this episode, we continue to explore what all of that means, from Northern Indiana to rural Haiti. 2:00 - George Schricker, long-time music educator 11:30 - Rebecca Dirksen, ethnomusicologist 17:00 - Carrie Newcomer, American folk musician

For thousands of generations, people have connected with their environments through music. They've developed ecological empathy, communicated with the divine, and passed their understandings through space and time. Today, from Frank Waln's "Oil 4 Blood" to Billie Eilish's climate-tinged "All the Good Girls Go to Hell," popular artists continue to weave environmental activism into their art. Simultaneously, local artists foster space where people can engage collectively in the tradition of environmental music. In this episode, we begin to explore what all of that means, from Northern Indiana to rural Haiti. 3:15 - Carrie Newcomer, American folk musician 8:45 - George Schricker, long-time music educator 15:30 - Rebecca Dirksen, ethnomusicologist

In our second episode covering this season's Australian bushfires, we discuss effects on wildlife and communities, whether in the fire zone or choked by smoke. Then, we turn to the generative and unifying role of artists near and far in times of crisis. If you are interested in supporting the ongoing work to protect and recover Australia's wildlife, a couple options mentioned in the episode are Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife and the Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES). 3:30 - Amy, who cares for lots of animals, including a Quaker parrot and his friends just outside Canberra 13:15 - Jessica Thomas, creator of Birdstrips