Bridging the Carbon Gap

Pete Sikora is the Climate & Inequality Campaigns Director at New York Communities for Change (NYCC).

Before a big mayoral election in New York City, Pete sat down to talk with high school students Helena Rambler, David Case, and Pierce Siegel in Cobble Hill Park on a sunny Saturday afternoon. 

Pete explains NYCC's endorsement of mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, based on Mamdani's platform for working class New Yorkers and his help in a successful campaign to stop a fracked gas power plant in Astoria, which means less air pollution and fewer cases of asthma for Mamdani's A...

Ellie Johnston is the Director of Programs at Climate Interactive, an organization that builds online simulators to let anyone test out the most effective strategies to limit climate change.

Johnston also happens to live in Asheville, North Carolina, a city that bore the full brunt of flooding from Hurricane Helene in late September, 2024. In our interview, which took place two months after the storm, she describes her first hand experience with the most destructive hurricane to strike the US since Katrina in 2005. Many people lost their lives, many homes were washed away, and there was no functioning...

Helena Rambler, a high school junior, and Adam Aron, a professor of psychology at the University of California San Diego, discuss the emotional challenges of addressing climate change. Adam shares his journey from his rise in the field of cognitive neuroscience, to his growing concern about climate change, and then to his surprising career switch to learn, and teach, what makes movements effective. 

He emphasizes the importance of collective action, social obligation, and the need for high school curricula to address climate change as a political and social issue. Aron's class at UCSD incorporates collective action projects, a...

Gail Whiteman is a Professor of Sustainability at the University of Exeter Business School, and a social science expert on how decision-makers make sense of systemic global risks from climate change and other environmental threats. Since 2012, Whiteman is the Professor-in-Residence at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and is actively involved in building science-based targets for collective business action. 

She is a past member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Frontier Risk, keynote speaker at Davos in 2023, “Unlocking the Polar Crisis” with HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, and in 2020, “What’s at Stake: T...

Mariana is an organizer with Climáximo, a climate justice direct action group in Portugal. 

Cindy Ye and Adeline Sauberli, seniors at Stuyvesant High School, and Helena Rambler, a junior at Hunter College High School, spoke to Mariana on November 17, 2024: after the US election which brought Trump back into the White House, and before the fires in Los Angeles.

Mariana describes the anxiety about climate change among young people in Portugal, the short window of time for phasing out fossil fuels, and the need for alternative paths to prevent climate collapse. She highlights the importance of...

Carolyn McGrath and Kate Schapira co-authored An Educator's Guide to Climate Emotions, a project from the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America.

"The human-driven processes and impacts of climate change are disrupting young people’s lives and are putting their homes, institutions, and physical and mental health at risk. While young people may not always talk about these experiences in school or act outwardly distressed, their feelings about climate change are still making their way into the classroom. What can educators do to help young people navigate these difficult emotions?"

David Case, a senior at Hu...

Dr. Christopher Shaw is an independent climate communications expert. Chris was previously Head of Research at Climate Outreach, where among the reports he worked on is the IPCC handbook for climate scientists on how to communicate effectively.

Chris is also author of the book Liberalism and the Challenge of Climate Change. (London: Routledge 2023)
From the publisher's website:
"In this book Christopher Shaw analyses how liberalism has shaped our understanding of climate change and how liberalism is legitimated in the face of a crisis for which liberalism has no answers."

...

Dr. Gianluca Grimalda was fired by his employer, a German research institute, after refusing to travel by plane for his return from Papua New Guinea, where he was conducting research on the social impacts of climate change. To reduce his own carbon footprint Dr. Grimalda instead chose to make his way back to Germany by ferry and then overland, a trip that took 72 days, but saved 9/10ths of the emissions that he would have been responsible for by using air travel.

In his journey he crossed many borders and met dozens of friendly traveling companions, and his...

With Troy Vettese, Drew Pendergrass is the co-author of the book Half-Earth Socialism, which comes with a free online video game, play.half.earth.

Pendergrass graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in 2020 with a BA in Physics and Mathematics and a minor in English, and is now doing his Ph.D in Environmental Science and Engineering at Harvard's Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. His research in atmospheric physics includes work on real time satellite tracking of pollutants.

"My work imagines how humanity can democratically govern itself in an age of environmental crisis. In...

While working at the consulting firm KPMG, the econometrician Gaya Herrington undertook an update of the social and environmental projections in the 1972 MIT report "Limits to Growth."

Her research formed her thesis for her Masters in Sustainability at Harvard, and then gained attention in the press after being published in 2020.

In this episode, Gaya describes her path to studying sustainability and the solutions proposed in her free book, "Five Insights for Avoiding Global Collapse: What a 50-Year-Old Model of the World Taught Me About a Way Forward for Us Today."

The abstract of...

Alice Hu works with New York Communities for Change and has participated in several of their most visible actions, including storming the Hamptons with plastic pitchforks to call attention to the enormous carbon footprints and destructive investments of the billionaires that vacation there. Hu also joined with fellow protestors to visit a live broadcast of the morning show The View and interrupt Ted Cruz, to spotlight the lack of coverage of climate change on ABC.

In this episode, Alice describes her path to becoming a full time climate activist after graduating from Columbia University.

Hosts...

Julien Dossier is an expert in climate policy and the co-author of the 2017 carbon neutrality plan for Paris. He founded Quattrolibri, a consulting firm that designs low carbon transition strategies for clients. His current project is a book and a program, Renaissance Ecologique, for which he created a modern version of a 14th century Italian fresco to give us a view of what an ecological Renaissance might look like. 
Nicolas Wu, Daniel Schneider, and Ajani Stella spoke to Julien on May 4, 2022, just a few weeks after the French presidential election. In re-presenting this interview, we've placed his answers i...

Julien Dossier is an expert in climate policy and the co-author of the 2017 carbon neutrality plan for Paris. He founded Quattrolibri, a consulting firm that designs low carbon transition strategies for clients. His current project is a book and a program, Renaissance Ecologique, for which he created a modern version of a 14th century Italian fresco to give us a view of what an ecological Renaissance might look like. 
Nicolas Wu, Daniel Schneider, and Ajani Stella spoke to Julien on May 4, 2022, just a few weeks after the French presidential election. In re-presenting this interview, we've placed his answers i...

Rebecca Willis is a Professor in Energy & Climate Governance at Lancaster Environment Centre, where she leads the Climate Citizens  project. In 2020 she was an Expert Lead for Climate Assembly UK, the Citizens’ Assembly established by the UK Parliament. Rebecca is a Trustee of the New Economics Foundation and an adviser to the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund. She features on the Woman’s Hour Our Planet Power List which highlights 30 women making an impact by helping to protect our planet.  Her book, Too Hot To Handle? The democratic challenge of climate change was published by Bristol University Press in March...

Julien Dossier is an expert in climate policy and the co-author of the 2017 carbon neutrality plan for Paris. He founded Quattrolibri, a consulting firm that designs low carbon transition strategies for clients. His current project is a book and a program, Renaissance Ecologique, for which he created a modern version of a 14th century Italian fresco to give us a view of what an ecological Renaissance might look like. 
Nicolas Wu, Daniel Schneider, and Ajani Stella spoke to Julien on May 4, 2022, just a few weeks after the French presidential election. In re-presenting this interview, I've placed his answers i...

In the first episode of the second season, Daniel Shneider and Ajani Stella, students at Hunter College High School in NYC, talk to Dr. Stuart Capstick, Deputy Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST Centre). Dr. Capstick researches public understanding of climate change, and the ways in which citizens’ involvement can lead to action. He co-leads a research theme with the CAST Centre focussed on real-world trials to inform low-carbon transformations; this work involves collaborations with NGOs, industry and the Welsh Government. He is a lead author of the UN Environment Programme 2020 ‘Emissions Gap’ report chapte...

In this episode, we speak with Rosemary Randall, a British psychotherapist who researches how people respond emotionally to information about climate change. With Andy Brown, Randall developed the award winning Carbon Conversations project which uses a psychological, small-group approach to helping people reduce carbon emissions.

Gabriel, Kevin, and Adam talk about their personal feelings about the climate crisis, and Ro explains how they may not have reached their “epiphany moment,” in which someone has a sudden realization, often triggered by an event, story, or piece of media, that causes people to realize, and face, the severity of clim...

In this episode, we speak with David Bookbinder of the Niskanen Center, who as Sierra Club's Chief Climate Counsel initiated Massachusetts v. EPA, the foundational climate law in the United States.

We talk about how a climate change-focused high school curriculum could be built, shifting our attention away from specific degree targets, and instead thinking about how education can help change our carbon-intensive lifestyles and prepare students to adapt to a less stable climate. We also discuss the significance of Massachusetts v EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), a 2007 Supreme Court case which held (5-4) that the EPA had...

In this episode, we join Professor Kim Nicholas of Lund University's Centre for Sustainability Studies to talk about her work and experiences as a climate researcher and activist. Dr. Nicholas is an expert on high impact actions one can take to reduce one’s carbon footprint. We also talk to her about her earlier research on wine, as a Californian from Sonoma Valley with a Stanford PhD focused on climate and agriculture.

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In this episode, we speak with climate researcher Alice Larkin, Professor of Climate Science and Energy Policy and Head of the School of Engineering at the University of Manchester. Dr. Larkin describes her research on reducing the emissions from the vital sectors of shipping and aviation. We also learn about the wide-reaching social impact of discussing sustainability with peers. Thank you for listening to Bridging the Carbon Gap!

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In this episode, we interview meteorologist Jeff Berardelli of CBS in New York City, who views himself as a teacher of climate change to viewers of the weather on TV. We talked about a story he did on the Dust Bowl, his knowledge about the California wildfires, and how climate change intersects with weather reporting. Thank you for listening to Bridging the Carbon Gap!

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In this episode, we speak to Dr. Radley Horton of Columbia University about the danger of high wet bulb temperatures, which happen when heat waves and high humidity combine . We go into the impact of rising temperatures on different geographical locations, and how increasing temperatures can impact people living in certain parts of the world. In addition, we touch on the problem that wealthy countries who contribute the most to environmental problems often have means to protect against the consequences. Thank you for listening to Bridging the Carbon Gap!

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In the first episode of Bridging the Carbon Gap, we talk to Finnish climate activist Aarne Granlund about personal choices he has made to cut down his individual carbon emissions, from dramatic changes like moving from Helsinki to North Karelia, a region in which there is more concrete action addressing climate change, to smaller changes like being conscious about unnecessary driving. We discuss why Mr. Granlund made these choices, even though they will have little effect on total emissions: he has been able to talk about his experience and encourage others to make the lifestyle changes that they are...