The co-hosts of this excellent podcast -- A Matter Of Degrees -- are not simply climate advocates, they're scientists.
So they're not tree huggers, but highly skilled women of science who can take on any climate denier who produces a snowball to prove the earth is not warming to dangerous levels.
In the U.S., only nine percent of people actively dismiss the reality of climate change, and that has more to do with identity and politics than science.
"We’re focused not just on how people think, but also on how they feel, "says the podcast co-hosts, Dr. Leah Stokes and Dr. Katharine Wilkinson. "To take meaningful action on climate change, we need to reckon with our emotions – guilt, fear, anger, whatever they may be. We think it’s most important to work for policy and political progress. Let’s focus on collectively achieving structural change."
Season four has just begun, and the co-hosts tackle the current climate issues surrounding the election and its aftermath.
Episode one of season four was about Project 2025, which has been all over the news lately. But what exactly is this conservative playbook for the Federal government? And what does it mean for climate policy?
This episode dives into the Heritage Foundation's plan for the next conservative presidential administration. The co-hosts lay out what Project 2025 would mean for the climate movement and how it threatens to unwind all the progress we’ve made. This 900+ page document covers a lot of ground and, as they found out, the devil is in the details. In the episode, the co-hosts walk through the policies that define Project 2025’s vision for a Federal government that’s fundamentally anti-government, anti-science, and anti-equity and justice. We also take a hard look at just exactly how we got here: who wrote Project 2025, who benefits from it, and what we can learn from it.
The co-hosts set up a scenario reminiscent of Orwell's 1984, when, at the book's opening, the protagonist Winston Smith says, "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
In the second episode, the co-hosts craft a climate success story.
On this episode of A Matter of Degrees, we tell the story of how a powerful grassroots movement, ambitious lawmakers, and Governor Tim Walz turned Minnesota into a climate leader. Then, we talk about using the Minnesota blueprint to make change everywhere else.
States also play a huge role in our path to healing the planet. Beyond just cutting pollution within their borders, states implement our big federal climate laws, test new innovative policy ideas, and build momentum for nationwide progress. And the center of gravity for state-level climate action isn’t California, Washington, or Massachusetts. It’s Minnesota. Over the past few years, Minnesota has done more on climate than perhaps any other state, anchored by a nation-leading clean electricity standard that requires 100% carbon-free power by 2040.
To tell Minnesota’s success story, the co-hosts spoke to Aimee Witteman, the Vice President of Investment and Network at Rewiring America, Chris Conry, the Managing Director of 100 Percent MN, and Rep. Jamie Long, the Majority Leader of the Minnesota State House of Representatives.
Who are the co-hosts of A Matter Of Degrees?
Dr. Leah Stokes is a specialist in energy and climate policy, and the author of the award-winning book Short Circuiting Policy, which examines the role of utilities in undermining regulation and promoting climate denial. Trained at M.I.T., Columbia, and the University of Toronto, Leah has published in top scholarly journals and popular media outlets. Named a 2020 Grist 50 Fixer, she regularly provides advice to policymakers at the federal and state levels and has given testimony on clean energy and electrification to the U.S. Congress, as well as states and cities.
At the University of California, Santa Barbara, Leah is the Anton Vonk Associate Professor of Environmental Politics. She’s also a senior policy consultant at the advocacy groups Evergreen Action and Rewiring America.
Dr. Katharine Wilkinson is an author, strategist, teacher, and one of 15 “women who will save the world,” according to Time magazine. She is co-founder and executive director of The All We Can Save Project, which works to grow climate leadership, and creator of All We Can Save Circles and Climate Wayfinding. Her books on climate include the bestselling anthology All We Can Save, The Drawdown Review, the New York Times bestseller Drawdown, and Between God & Green.
Stokes and Wilkinson have just started their third season of A Matter Of Degrees. Check out some of their previous episodes such as season two, episode eight The ‘Win-Win-Win’ Strategy To Retire Coal, and season two episode four 'Green Jobs...For All?'
In a previous interview, Dr. Stokes and Dr. Wilkinson told me, "These are both future and present concerns. The climate crisis is here, and we can prevent it from getting a lot worse. The goal is to recognize where pieces of a clean, livable future exist in the present, and fight as hard as we can to let them flourish and grow. This is the work of our lifetimes."
Dr. Stokes and Dr. Wilkinson are not wonky science types who speak in code like they're giving a lecture. Instead, these two academics speak from the heart and target their message toward the "climate curious." Their goal is not to convince those nine percent of climate deniers.
As podcast co-hosts they're tremendously skilled with a balance and rhythm to their voices and a knack for interviewing guests. Further, their podcast runtime is reasonable, the show itself is carefully produced, the sound clean and crisp, and the tone informative and supportive instead of deprecating and dismissive.
I believe it's a positive sign that climate change podcasts have proliferated in the last few years. That means people are taking climate change seriously and want more information.
Check out A Matter Of Degrees. Listen before it gets too hot!
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