Climate Changes Everything
Climate changes everything, often in unexpected ways. I’ll unpack those changes — from life basics like energy and water to business, technology, culture, geopolitics, travel, transportation, and the built environment — and look for the “thrive” in each change. Sustainability; resilience; diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice; and (often surprising) challenges and opportunities. Whether you are a seasoned Climate Champion or just ”climate-curious,” I look forward to exploring our transforming world together.
Episodes
Swords into plowshares into bigger swords and bigger plowshares ... destruction and production, war and peace, and scale and control are the intense frenemies of the nuclear energy story. And that history now informs the world's response to (and the nuclear role in) growing global power demand, demands for energy security, and our response to climate change. Let's dive in, eyes wide wide wide open!
Nuclear power was going to be the future ... until it really really really wasn't. And now, just might be again. Join us for another episode of Climate Changes Everything as we explore the amazing origins of nuclear power, the tension between productive uses like electricity and destructive uses like nuclear weapons, and tee-up the essential questions: is nuclear a good thing? Where are the opportunities for innovation, entrepeneur...
A ten million ton, concrete Swiss Army knife? Yes, indeed. For all their monolithic permanence, dams and hydroelectricity are the Swiss Army knives of infrastructure and the power grid, respectively. With plenty of compromises, caveats, and questions but also opportunities for innovation, entrepeneurship, and advocacy. Eyes wide wide wide open? Let's dive in!
The seeming simplicity of a hydroelectric dam belies significant (and often surprising) complexity and compromise around climate, environment, human welfare, local and geopolitics and even the rotation of the Earth itself! Lots to consider and no easy answers, but that's why we're here for this next episode of Climate Changes Everything. I hope you enjoy it!
In this episode, we dive back into the world of electricity generation to begin our examination of hydroelectric power: from the emergence of water on Earth about four billion years ago to torrents of innovation both three thousand years and 150 years ago to today's behemoth dams around the world. Come on in -- the water's fine!
It's graduation season here in the US but the usual pomp and circumstance is matched by the stark realities of a climate-changing world. Today's graduates face unprecedented challenges in the world they inherit but, I argue, unprecedented opportunity too. How can this generation survive and thrive in this brave new world -- and save the world for all of us at the same time?
The liquid form of ancient solar energy, oil, is seemingly embedded in everyone and everything everywhere in the world. And it plays a surprisingly complex role in the power system, both as a legacy fuel and as a backstop for reliability, resilience, and even renewable integration. Curious? Eyes wide wide wide open? Join us for this episode of Climate Changes Everything.
How do the negatives inherent in natural gas-fueled power generation compare to the positives, both at the "burn" and across the entire lifecycle of the fuel? It's a wonderfully complex question – or more accurately, set of questions with profound implications for our climate and environment, decarbonization and electrification, and innovation, entrepeneurship, and advocacy. So how does Dr Suess's classic fit in? Check out Episod...
Is natural gas actually more climate-friendly than coal? The data is not at all conclusive and that's a huge part of the problem, along with economic and regulatory incentives and a world full of infrastructure. Problems are opportunities, too -- for innovation, entrepeneurship, and advocacy. Join us as we drill deep!
Fracking and horizontal drilling: natural gas's Wonder Twin Powers, most definitely activated. But good, bad, ugly, or maybe some combination of each? In this episode, we celebrate big positives like boosts to economic prosperity and renewable energy integration but also big negatives like water contamination, earthquakes, and methane leaks. And some big opportunities for innovation and entrepeneurship. Join us!
"Wonder Twin powers, activate! Form of ... hydraulic fracturing! Shape of ... horizontal drilling!" Join us as we continue our broad and deep exploration of climate-pivotal natural gas, focused on the world-changing Wonder Twins (or Evil Twins or both?) of fracking and horizontal drilling. Cartoon crime-fighters aside, it all starts, believe it or not, in the midst of one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War ...
Natural gas is relatively new to the electricity game but has quickly emerged as both the “swing vote” in the race to decarbonize electricity and as a high-impact, multi-position player in the power system. In this episode of Climate Changes Everything, we'll learn how gas is a relatively simple form of energy but that’s pretty much the only simple thing about it!
White hats (hooray!), black hats (boo!), and grey hats (well ...) and a lot of strong bug spray. Join us as we dig into coal and coal-fired power generation, from coal's formation 200-300 million years ago to its pivotal role in economic development and from its grim environmental past and present to interesting opportunities for clean innovation post-coal. It's an incredible, climate-pivotal journey!
Like the iocane powder that finished-off the otherwise immortal Vizzini in The Princess Bride, greenhouse gases are odorless, tasteless, invisible, and one of the most deadly poisons known to climate equilibrium. (Yes, I paraphrased the last part!) And full of nuance that it is both fascinating and vital to understanding and action. Let's dive in!
Energy is the origin story of climate change and compromise is the story of energy. That story starts with a campfire about one million years ago. Don't worry, I brought marshmallows.
"Climate changes everything." That's quite a statement, let alone a title for a podcast. Whether you're a Climate Champion or just "Climate Curious", I am excited to share this journey with you -- and educate, elucidate, and (I hope) entertain along the way. Welcome to Climate Changes Everything!
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