A Matter of Degrees

Before the Inflation Reduction Act became the biggest climate bill in U.S. history, it was just a bunch of policy ideas with long odds. Turning those ideas into law took years of work by people who refused to let it die. Leah was one of those people, and she wrote a book about it. It's called The Carbon Wave: A Story of Democracy, Parenthood, and the Race to Protect Our Planet, which comes out on September 1st. Leah chronicles the turbulent path of the bill as it veered between breakthrough and collapse — from the hopeful beginnings of the Green New Deal in 2018, to the bill's near-certain defeat at the hands of Senator Joe Manchin, to the surprise passage of the landmark legislation in August 2022. Woven through the political narrative are the personal stories of the activists and staffers who made it happen. Joining Leah and Katharine are two central figures from the book: Adrian Deveny, former Director of Energy and Environmental Policy for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Sonia Aggarwal, former Special Assistant to the President for Climate Policy, Innovation, and Deployment. We talk about the book, the bill, its legacy, and what's next for federal climate policy.  Resources referenced in this episode Pre-order The Carbon Wave The Carbon Wave book tour Notes from the Electric Era — Leah's Substack Bidenomics Was More Successful Than People Think - Leah's op-ed in The Atlantic Katharine's book, Climate Wayfinding Climate Week live event — NYC, September 21 Learn more about solar energy in India and how it's delivering coal-like reliability at a lower fixed price  

In this episode of A Matter of Degrees, we partner with Climate One to share an inspiring conversation between Dr. Leah Stokes and Greg Dalton, the founder and co-host of Climate One, when Leah received the 2024 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication in December. And as a double feature, this episode also includes a conversation between writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit and Climate One co-host Ariana Brocious from 2023. This episode was also released on the Climate One podcast.

The industrial sector makes all of our physical stuff – the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the buildings we live in, and much more. It's also one of the biggest sources of U.S. climate pollution. In this episode of A Matter of Degrees, we bring on guest host Dr. Eric Masanet, world-leading industrial decarbonization expert, to break down how we can clean up this sector. We are also joined by Rebecca Dell, the Senior Director of the Industry Program at the ClimateWorks Foundation, Nick Santero, the Sustainability Science Team Lead at Rivian, and Yinka Bode-George, the Founder, President, and CEO of Sustain Our Future. 

In this live episode of A Matter of Degrees, Dr. Katharine Wilkinson joined Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson for a conversation on Ayana's new book, What If We Get It Right, Visions of Climate Futures. The need to build community and the imperative to imagine the futures we want are now more important than ever. These topics are at the heart of this discussion, which took place before the election at the Carter Center in Atlanta. This episode was also released on the What If We Get It Right? podcast.

Welcome back for a bonus episode of A Matter of Degrees! We were lucky enough to sit down with Rebecca Solnit — author, historian, and climate activist — to talk about her newest climate anthology, Not Too Late. Leah and Nikayla Jefferson both wrote essays for the book and joined Rebecca onstage for this live episode. Not Too Late gets at the tough, vital work of culture change and features diverse climate voices from around the world. In this episode, Leah, Nikayla, and Rebecca hold an expansive conversation about hope, love, and how to stay engaged in the climate movement.  Rebecca has written over twenty books on a diverse range of topics, including feminism, history, social change, and of course climate change. Our listeners may also recognize Nikayla as a guest host from our episodes on "The Stages of Black Climate Grief" and "The Journey of Justice40".  Read up on the top ten social drivers of climate change that Nikayla mentions in the episode. For more inspiration, visit the Not Too Late website, created by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua to shift the climate story from despair to possibility. Discover meaningful ways to take climate action via The All We Can Save Project.