In This Climate

In our first episode covering this season's Australian bushfires, we speak with Arabella Douglas. She is a traditional owner who belongs to the Currie family of the Yugambeh and Bundjalung nations near the Gold Coast of Australia. She also researches behavioral economics and social impact investing at Griffith University. As we entered 2020 and fires swelled, swallowing towns and protected bush, Arabella helped organize a fundraiser to help spread First Nations fire knowledge and land lore, which has protected patches of land this season and for thousands of years.

As cities viable for hosting the Winter Olympics dwindle, ski resorts face shorter seasons, and climbers work with less predictable terrain, the winter sports industry acts as a key site influencing climate policy. 2:00 - Auden Schendler of Aspen Skiing Company and Protect Our Winters 14:15 - Allen Hershkowitz of Sport and Sustainability International (SandSI)

In the new year, we're returning to our first episode, "How the Arctic caught fire." But this time, we focus in on the Gwich'in perspective. Edward Alexander, co-chair of the Gwich'in Council International, tells us how he and those around him are working with the Arctic Council to exchange information and resources in support of a collaborative and resilient Arctic future.

From the peaks of the Appalachians to a wave of Belgian plantations and the Louisiana shoreline, we explore how the age-old holiday tradition of tree decoration intertwines with the environment. 1:45 - holiday trees in Bloomington 6:45 - Al Eernisse of Greene County Trees on farming today 12:00 - Lauren Wood of Virginia Commonwealth University on the fate of the Fraser fir 19:30 - story about bird assemblages on Christmas tree plantations, featuring Robin Gailly of Liège University 23:45 - Karen Zraick of The New York Times on the real vs. artificial debate 30:30 - Bev Banks of E&E News on recycling trees to save the wetlands  

When so many of us feel responsible for and powerless against climate change, it can be difficult to assess which actions are effective. In this episode, associate producer Jacob Einstein speaks with Chelsea Campbell about the environmental app she developed and explores the relationship between individual and collective action in the fight against climate change.

What does a Tesla have to do with red mud and white seaweed in Indonesia? What stands in the way of solid state batteries? How can you tell what's really powering your electric vehicle? In this episode, we work through trends and complications in the technology that could deliver transportation powered by renewable energy. 3:30 - Greg Less of the University of Michigan Energy Institute's Battery Lab 14:30 - Ian Morse with a story about nickel mining in Indonesia

The In This Climate team is thankful for a lot this year. Since our first episode at the beginning of September, we've covered wildfires as they relate to the Arctic, air quality, and wine. We've explored birds and coffee and a little bit of the intersection. We've featured stories about communities standing up for their health and talked with experts about topics ranging from hurricane communications to environmentally sustainable beer brewing. In this episode, we walk back through it all. Enjoy the walk? Wish it were different? Please, let us know!

As climate changes, so do pieces of culture. Pieces like car ownership, outdoor sports, and the drinks we share. This is the final episode in our beverage series, and it's all about coffee. We follow guests to Colombia, El Salvador, and Costa Rica to learn about the systems preventing coffee farmers from building climate resilience and possibilities for improvement. In this episode: James Harper of the Filter Stories podcast Jessica Eise of the Purdue University Brian Lamb School of Communication Thaleon Tremain of Pachamama Coffee Cooperative

As climate changes, so do pieces of culture. Pieces like car ownership, outdoor sports, and the drinks we share. This is the second episode in our beverage series, and it's all about wine. We start at a vineyard and winery in California, take a look at the growing wine industry in China, go back to 2003's Europe, and finally return to the present day with challenges and opportunities in resilience. 3:30 - Matt Brain of Chamisal Vineyards in San Luis Obispo, California 13:15 - Yingkun Hou of Southern Illinois University Carbondale 23:15 - Robert Pincus of University of Colorado Boulder 30:30 - Iñaki García de Cortázar-Atauri of the National Institute of Agronomic Research in Avignon, France

As climate changes, so do pieces of culture. Pieces like car ownership, outdoor sports, and the drinks we share. This is the first episode in our beverage series, and it's all about beer. From field to glass, we explore challenges for barley farmers, options in sustainable brewing, and the willingness of the public to invest in more environmentally friendly beer. 4:30 - Steven Davis of University of California Irvine 11:30 - Sanya Carley of Indiana University 19:00 - Clay Robinson of Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis and Matthew Steinberg of Exhibit 'A' Brewing in Framingham

We took a trip to Fort Collins, Colorado, for the annual Society of Environmental Journalists conference, and we want to tell you about it. Between the Rocky Mountains and the short-grass prairie, topics surrounding public lands flowed easily — as did connections with journalists, researchers and other attendees. In this episode, we dig into the conversations, moods, and trends that emerge when environmental journalists converge. Special guests this episode include Meera Subramanian and Lyndsie Bourgon.

Late September in the U.S. saw a host of abnormal weather events: record heat in the Southeast, a Category 5 hurricane in an odd location, and five feet of snow in Montana. This episode, the team zeroes in on the early, heavy snows that could have a long-term effect on farmers in the Northern Plains. 2:00 - Gerald Wagner, director of the Blackfeet Environmental Office 14:00 - Ray Wolf, science and operations officer, NOAA/NWS Quad Cities 20:45 - Ben Thomas, director of the Montana Department of Agriculture  

Like many of us, Bathsheba Demuth grew up seeing the human world and the natural world as separate. Then, she spent a couple years between high school and college in Old Crow, Yukon. There, she developed a sense of a social world that contains more than human beings. Emily talks in this episode with Demuth, now a Brown University Assistant Professor of History & Environment and Society, about her new book Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait. 

In fewer than 50 years, North America has lost 2.9 billion birds, nearly a third of the 1970 population. In this episode, the team explores the significance of birds, the story of one unloved variety and the ways people can work to bring back our feathered friends. Hint: a big one is birding. 2:15 - black vulture story with Katie Fallon from the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia 11:00 - interview between Janet McCabe and IU's own Ellen Ketterson 24:00 - bird loss vox pop with Jacob Einstein and Emily Miles, featuring voices from around the IU campus 29:30 - interview between Jim Shanahan and Wesley Hochachka from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology 

With rising and warming ocean waters, hurricanes are on track to intensify. This change means greater risk for people in the path and greater need for effective long- and short-term risk communication. But the story of the hurricane doesn't stop with the radar, or the rescues, or la renuncia, or the rebuild. To understand the chatter around hurricane season, the team talks this week with a meteorologist, a risk communications specialist and a podcast host whose family lived through Hurricane Maria. 2:45 - Update on "Huracán Maria changed my family's life" with Paola Marizán from ¿Qué Pasa, Midwest? 16:45 - interview between Jim Shanahan and Gina Eosco from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 27:45 - interview between Jim Shanahan and Jeff Berardelli from Columbia University and CBS News

September 20 is the first day of the Global Climate Strike. It's an event that follows the rise of youth organizations like the Sunrise Movement and Zero Hour, a full year of Fridays for Future school strikes and CNN's 7-hour climate change town hall marathon. At every level of society, people have gotten involved in the politics of the environment. In this episode, the team talks with activists, a communication scientist and journalists to find out how much of a difference any of it can make. 4:30 - Louisville, Kentucky, Global Climate Strike and Extinction Rebellion story, featuring Alice Melendez 12:15 - interview between Janet McCabe and IU environmental communications scientist Nathan Geiger 20:15 - interview between Janet McCabe, Zahra Hirji of BuzzFeed News and Nathanael Johnson of Grist

The billowing black factory smoke may be gone, but there remains much work to be done in U.S. and global air quality. As the earth warms, ozone worsens and wildfire particulate matter threatens communities. Janet, Jim and Emily delve into these issues and more with a host of seasoned air quality experts and one community group fighting for quality of life. 3:30 - Dale, Indiana coal to diesel refinery story, featuring Mary Hess, Rock Emmert, John Blair and Randy Vaal 17:00 - interview between Janet McCabe and David Hawkins of the National Resources Defense Council, with contributions from Janice Nolen of the American Lung Association 34:30 - interview between Janet McCabe and Dan Greenbaum of the Health Effects Institute, with contributions from Janice Nolen

The World Meteorological Organization labeled summer 2019's arctic and boreal wildland fires "unprecedented." In the first episode of In This Climate, Janet, Jim and Emily explore with scientists and policy experts how and why this circumpolar fire season was so significant and what we can do moving forward. 7:00 - Siberian wildfire story, featuring Mark Parrington, Angelina Davydova and Kate Birdy 13:15 - interview between Janet McCabe and Joel Clement, with contributions from Edward Alexander 28:15 - interview between Jim Shanahan and Nancy Fresco

The Amazon catches fire every year, but 2019 is different. Eduardo Brondizio, an expert on rural and urban populations and landscapes in the Amazon, knows why. In this bonus episode, he explains the political trajectory that brought a group of land-grabbers and farmers to coordinate a day of coordinated fires — the same trajectory that's now bringing indigenous groups, researchers and people across the globe to push back.