Reversing Climate Change

There is a new pattern emerging in humanity’s long, complicated relationship with nature. Namely, we’re at a point where the problems we’ve caused by intervening in our environment require interventions of their own. But in a world where we can’t fully anticipate the impact of our actions, should we be optimistic about using new technology to solve crises created by the old? Elizabeth Kolbert is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction. Her latest book is called Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Elizabeth joins Ross and Christophe to explain how a reporting trip to see a super coral project inspired Under a White Sky and describe how the book is structured on a continuum—from small, regional interventions to more controversial, global strategies for solving the problems we’ve caused. Elizabeth walks us through several of the interventions introduced in the book, including an electrified river in Chica

Making art about climate is useful in that it reaches a part of the brain that science does not. And climate fiction as a genre gives us a way to get the climate conversation started. Better yet, cli-fi that focuses on solutions might actually help us find a way forward. Tory Stephens is the New England Network Weaver at Fix, the Grist Solutions Lab. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Tory joins Ross and cohost Jess Miles to discuss the launch of his team’s new climate fiction contest, Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors and explain what differentiates his team’s writing contest from others of its kind. Tory offers insight around climate fiction and the subgenres of solarpunk and hopepunk, challenging writers to create intersectional, solutions-focused work. Listen in for an overview of Imagine 2200’s submission guidelines and learn how fiction might offer a pathway out of the climate crisis. Connect with Nori Purchase Nori Carbon Removals Nori Nori on Facebook Nori on Twitter Nori on

In modern society, we’re conditioned to believe that acquiring more stuff makes our lives better. But what if getting back to basics leads to a richer life? What if consuming less and connecting with nature more opens us up to what really matters? Markus Torgeby is the author of Under the Open Skies: Finding Peace and Health in Nature. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Markus joins Ross to explain how he came to live alone in the forest of Northern Sweden and describe how stripping life down to the basic needs helped him identify what was truly important and heal from trauma. Markus shares his take on technology, discussing how to gauge how much screen time is right for you (and help your kids do the same). Listen in for insight on living a richer life by consuming less and get Markus’ advice on taking small steps to build your own deep relationship with nature. Connect with Nori Purchase Nori Carbon Removals Nori Nori on Facebook Nori on Twitter Nori on Medium Nori on YouTube Nori on GitHub Nori

Did you know that Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citi are among the biggest funders of fossil fuel projects in the world? Would you rather leverage your money to fight climate change? What if you could move your money to an entity that builds its lending portfolio around things like clean energy, regenerative agriculture, and direct air capture? Ravi Mikkelsen is the Cofounder of ATMOS Financial, a digital banking solution dedicated to funding a rapid transition to the clean economy. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Ravi joins Ross to discuss the growing cohort of impact companies at the intersection of climate and FinTech and explain how neobanks like ATMOS fit into the ecosystem. Ravi shares the market research around why consumers choose a bank, challenging us to consider what kinds of projects our financial institution funds and how big banks might transition their lending portfolios away from fossil fuels. Listen in for insight around the benefits of banking with ATMOS and find out w

The climate conversation is riddled with ideological battles. There are those who think climate change is the most pressing issue of our time pitted against those who don’t think it’s a big deal (if it’s even real). There are fights over ecological versus industrial forms of carbon removal. And there are those who believe that climate change can be reversed, while others have little hope that humanity will stick the landing. So, how do we move past these absolutist views and inspire action to solve the problem? Jeffrey Howard is the Editor-in-Chief at Erraticus and the host of the Damn the Absolute! podcast. Both platforms take a pragmatic approach to ideas, challenging dogma, fundamentalism and ideological hubris. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Jeffrey joins Ross to introduce the principles of pragmatism as a discrete philosophical school of thought, describing the intellectual context from which it emerged and how the philosophy seeks to reconcile the competing camps of Rationalism and Empiric

What does it mean to be a witnessing professional in the climate crisis? What responsibility do scientists, doctors, journalists, lawyers, military officers and public health officials have to speak out and share their message of truth with the world? How does the religious concept of bearing witness translate to this secular context? And what can you and I do to become constructive witnesses for climate change? Dr. Evan Kuehn is an Assistant Professor of Informational Literacy at North Park University and the author of Troeltsch’s Eschatological Absolute and Theology Compromised: Schleiermacher, Troeltsch, and the Possibility of a Sociological Theology. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Dr. Kuehn joins Ross to discuss the recent Dædalus issue on Witnessing Climate Change, describing what it means to be a witness, how the concept shifts from a sacred to a secular context, and what risks are associated with witnessing in public as a professional. Dr. Kuehn explores Robert Socolow’s idea of witnessin

How do you restore an entire ecosystem at scale? Eroded desertified landscapes: can they be healed? Journalist, filmmaker, and environmental educator John D. Liu is the Ecosystem Ambassador for the Commonland Foundation and Founder of the Ecosystem Restoration Camps Movement. He is best-known for his documentaries on the restoration of the Loess Plateau, like Hope in a Changing Climate and Green Gold. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, John joins Ross to explain how human activity caused the degradation of the Loess Plateau, describing how it went from being one of the most beautiful places on Earth to a barren landscape where the poorest Chinese people lived. John discusses what made the Loess Plateau restoration so successful, offering insight around how the Chinese government engaged the people there and how the project design balances functional space for agriculture with land dedicated to natural regeneration. Listen in to understand how John thinks about restoring inherently complex ecosystems

Much of agriculture depends upon synthetic fertilizer. But the production of that fertilizer is responsible for 3% of greenhouse gas emissions. That’s why innovators in the emerging field of synthetic biology are attempting to disrupt the status quo in agriculture and engineer new ways for growers to achieve the same yields with less fertilizer—and less environmental impact. Mike Miille is the CEO of Joyn Bio, a biotech company that is using synthetic biology to try to make agriculture more sustainable. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Mike joins Ross and Rebekah to explain how his team is engineering microbes to address unmet needs in agriculture and what differentiates synthetic biology from classical breeding or GMOs. Mike introduces us to Joyn Bio’s work in designing nitrogen-fixing corn (the potential holy grail), responding to the argument that our system of monoculture isn’t worth saving and the concerns around scaling innovations in synthetic biology. Listen in to understand how Mike think

We have destroyed or severely disrupted many of the perennial ecosystems that were here in favor of annual crops. Crops that require the use of herbicide and mulch year after year until, eventually, the soil is depleted and we move on. So, how can we use the design principles of permaculture to restore the ecology of the planet, provide ourselves with all the food, fuels and fibers we need, and make money while we’re at it? And at scale no less! Agroforestry farmer and permaculturist Mark Shepard is the CEO of Forest Agriculture Enterprises, Founder of Restoration Agriculture Development, and award-winning author of Restoration Agriculture: Real-World Permaculture for Farmers. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Mark joins Ross and Christophe to share his understanding of permaculture, explaining how he applies its principles in a way that allows for scale and designs practical systems around the individual farmer’s machinery. Mark introduces us to his idea of STUN agriculture (Strategic Total Utter

There are only 1.5M Atlantic salmon left in the world. And despite putting an end to commercial fishing, their numbers continue to dwindle. As a keystone species, the implications of their loss go far beyond not being able to order salmon for dinner. So, why are Atlantic salmon disappearing at such an alarming rate? What does their loss mean for other species? And how does it impact the rivers where they live? Mark Kurlansky is a New York Times bestselling and James A. Beard award-winning author with a knack for seeing the broader implications of seemingly little things. He has written 33 books in all, including The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World and most recently, Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate. His forthcoming book, The Unreasonable Virtue of Fly Fishing is due out in March of 2021. On this episode of the podcast, Mark joins Ross to share what inspired him to choose salmon as the topic of his most recent book and ex

We have explored, at length, the basket of biophysical stressors climate change could produce. And we’ve looked at how floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, ocean acidification, coral degradation (and the list goes on and on) might impact our food security and lead to the displacement of a lot of people. But what does the climate crisis mean for national security? How does the intelligence community think about climate change? Dr. Rod Schoonover is a member of The Center for Climate & Security Advisory Board. He is also the Founder and CEO of the Ecological Futures Group, and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He served in the US Intelligence Community for ten years as the Director of Environment and Natural Resources at the National Intelligence Council and Senior Analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the US Department of State. On this episode, Dr. Schoonover joins Ross to discuss the foreign policy goals of the US and share his concerns around

The vast majority of environmental nonfiction follows a predictable pattern: The writer goes out in nature and then tells us why it’s important to preserve the thing they experienced. But what if we could reach more people and maybe even change their point of view with a more experimental, more whimsical approach? Jess Miles is a recent graduate of Chatham University and author of the MFA thesis ‘Midnight Sun,’ a collection of essays about her time on the Arctic island of Svalbard. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Jess joins Ross to explain what inspired her to pursue science communication, sharing what she does to persuade readers and how she approaches environmental writing differently. Jess opens up about her frustrating experience with canvassing for an environmental organization, describing what she learned about people (and herself!) and how she turned that bad experience into good writing. Listen in to understand why Jess incorporates elements of whimsy in her work and learn how experimenta

For years now, we have debated the potential moral hazard of carbon removal, the fear being that we will abandon emissions reductions for the quick fix of carbon capture. But the science is clear: we simply can’t achieve our climate goals with mitigation alone. So, how do we design policy that works toward net zero using a binding emissions reduction pathway AND a strategy for scaling up carbon removal? Christoph Beuttler is the CDR Manager at Climeworks, the global leader in direct air capture technology. He also serves as the Deputy CEO of The Risk Dialogue Foundation and Founding Member of the Board for the Negative Emissions Platform. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Christoph joins Ross to discuss Climeworks’ modular approach to direct air capture, describing how they use solid sorbents to capture carbon dioxide and how that CO2 is either stored permanently or used to replace fossil inputs. Christoph shares his understanding of carbon removal regulations in Europe, explaining how EU businesse

Carbon dioxide is not the only greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. In fact, methane emissions are responsible for 16% of the warming we experience today. And because methane is more potent than CO2, we can make a big impact in a short period of time by addressing the concentrated, continuous methane seeps that exist around the world. Olya Irzak is the Founder and CEO of Frost Methane, a company working to combat climate change through the deployment of remote methane destruction devices. On this episode of the podcast, Olya joins Ross and Christophe to discuss why she chose to focus on methane emissions and explain how her team’s technology works to convert concentrated methane into CO2. Olya describes Frost Methane’s initial work with Arctic permafrost and introduces their new application of the technology in coal mines, sharing how the business generates revenue through carbon markets like California’s cap-and-trade market.  Listen in for Olya’s insight on the benefits of voluntary marke

The feature documentary 2040 poses this question: What would the world look like in 2040 if we embraced the best climate solutions already available to us? One such solution involves restoring ocean ecosystems through marine permaculture, a strategy that leverages kelp forests to drawdown CO2. Dr. Brian von Herzen serves as the Executive Director of the Climate Foundation, the organization using marine permaculture to regenerate life in seas and soils with the goal of reversing climate change in our lifetime. On this bonus episode of the podcast, Brian returns to the show to discuss his appearance in 2040 and explain what the Climate Foundation is working on now as they shift from R&D to building an industry. Brian introduces us to the fundamentals of marine permaculture, exploring its capacity to regenerate life in the ocean and feed billions of people in the process. Listen in for insight on becoming an ocean entrepreneur and learn about the potential for marine permaculture to drawdown carbon (at a rem

Solving the climate crisis is challenging because it requires both dramatic behavioral change and a great deal of capital. And yet, when faced with a global health crisis, governments were willing to enact multitrillion-dollar aid packages and people radically shifted their behavior in a matter of weeks. So, what if we mobilized against climate change similarly to the way we responded to the coronavirus? Sir David King is the former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government of the United Kingdom and Rick Parnell is the CEO of the Foundation for Climate Restoration. Together, they coauthored The Washington Post piece, ‘Stopping Climate Change Could Cost Less Than Fighting COVID-19.’ On this episode of the podcast, Sir David and Rick join Ross to discuss the opportunity governments have to invest in climate repair as we rebuild our economies in the aftermath of the global pandemic. Sir David and Rick compare the economic impact of reversing climate change with that of COVID, describing the catastrophic consequ

The scale of the climate crisis requires that companies change the way they operate. Yes, it would be easier to simply purchase carbon offsets and continue to do business as usual. But if we are going to succeed in reversing climate change, companies must take the next step and transform their processes from cradle to gate (or even grave if they can!) So, how does a business get started on the path to sustainability? Erin Meezan is the Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Interface, Inc., a pioneering modular flooring company with a deep commitment to sustainability. Interface is also the recipient of a 2020 UN Global Climate Action Award and the subject of the new documentary Beyond Zero. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Erin joins Ross to explain what inspired Interface’s commitment to the environment and how the team approached the sustainability conversation with its investors early on. Erin discusses the company’s recent launch of carbon-negative carpet tiles, walking us through

People resist reading about climate change because it seems less immediate than other pressing issues. Add to that the fact that the climate crisis doesn’t lend itself to narrative. So, then, how do you tell an ‘untellable story’ in a way that draws readers in and effectively reorients the way they see the world? Henry Finder and David Remnick are the coeditors of The Fragile Earth: Writing from The New Yorker on Climate Change. On this episode of the Reversing Climate Change podcast, Henry and David join Ross to explain what inspired the creation of this new anthology, discussing how they made decisions regarding what pieces to include and what makes writing about climate change such a distinct challenge. Henry and David weigh in on their work as editorial director and editor at The New Yorker, sharing the process they use to conceive of and manage new projects and describing the magazine’s ongoing commitment to long-form writing.  Listen in to understand how optimistic Henry and David are about our abi

Prior to 2020, the largest number of acres burned by wildfire in California was 1.3M. Compare that to the 4M acres wiped out by fire this year. What’s more, forest fires are spreading much more quickly and releasing more heat—which leads to last-minute evacuations, a dramatic increase of smoke in the air, and the phenomenon of fire tornados. Daniel Duane is the surfer, naturalist, and author behind this month’s WIRED cover story, ‘The West’s Infernos Are Melting Our Sense of How Fire Works.’ On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Daniel explains why the 2020 fire season is so remarkable and how an accumulating fuel bed on the forest floor contributes to the intensity and severity of the wildfires. He offers insight on indigenous fire management, describing when the anti-burning culture took hold in America and how political pressures make it impossible for our government agencies to manage forests well. Daniel goes on to introduce us to the terrifying phenomenon of a fire tornado, sharing how forest man

“Life does not subtract things; it liberates you from them. It makes you lighter so that you can fly higher and reach the fullness.” --Facundo Cabral Losing your home to a forest fire is a lesson in impermanence and nonattachment. And while Diego Saez-Gil is still processing the loss, he is using the experience as a catalyst, reaffirming his commitment to the pursuit of climate solutions. Diego is the founder and CEO of Pachama, a tech company that leverages AI to drive carbon capture and validate the progress of forest restoration projects for carbon markets, and author of the Medium article, "On Losing Everything to the Climate Crisis, Except for Hope." On this bonus episode of the podcast, Diego joins Ross to discuss how losing his home to a forest fire has given him renewed energy around his work and made him more of a minimalist than ever before. Diego explains how both climate change and poor forest management practices are to blame for 2020’s devastating forest fires, speaking to the permanence issues