Sea Change Radio

Oil is not the stated justification for the recent US-Israel joint attack on Iran. The ensuing war is, however, expected to cause major disruptions to the global oil and gas supply. Which brings us to our topic this week on Sea Change Radio: energy transitions. Today we are talking about pivots undertaken by some of the world’s largest economies – we are joined by Chris Nelder, an energy expert and the host of The Energy Transition Show podcast. We discuss the problems facing Japan and its growing energy needs 15 years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, examine China’s impressive moves away from fossil fuel dependency, and talk about Germany’s nimble reinvention of its energy grid after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Have you already made the leap into solar or is it still on your to-do list? This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with the Executive Director of Vote Solar, Sachu Constantine, to learn more about all things energy-related under the sun. We discuss the harm inflicted upon the solar industry by the current administration, look at some encouraging developments in both residential and commercial solar, and examine what we can do to keep lowering costs and get away from fossil fuels.

Nowadays human health is affected by a whole new array of variables: from the impacts of climate change to the vast amount of both accurate and inaccurate health information propagated by the internet and public officials. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Dr. Neha Pathak, a practicing medical doctor and medical journalist who serves as WebMD’s Chief Physician Editor. We look at some of the health impacts of a warming planet, discuss the ever-expanding role that the internet plays in modern medicine, and talk about WebMD’s new Embody platform.

This week on Sea Change Radio, we take a dip into the archives to learn about two companies trying to get seafood to the market in unusual new ways. First, we speak with Daniel Russek, the founder and CEO of Atarraya, as he describes his company’s Shrimpbox technology: an innovative approach to shrimp farming. Then, we hear from Shannon Consentino-Roush, the former Chief Strategy Officer at Finless Foods, a California-based startup that is hoping to bring cell-cultured seafood alternatives to your dinner plate.

Congestion pricing refers to fees levied on drivers in particularly dense areas or at rush hour, the aim being to keep cars off the road and prevent traffic jams. Of course, strategies like these are most effective when there’s a corresponding plan to reinvest profits into public transit systems, bike lanes, and other equitable means of transport. As you can imagine, congestion pricing is not universally popular and often leads to vigorous debate. Singapore was the first city to introduce a congestion pricing model — since then cities from Milan and Stockholm to London and Rome have implemented similar systems. This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio, Charles Komanoff, is a congestion pricing advocate who writes about New York City’s recent foray into the practice as a “successful work in progress.” We talk about the evolution of congestion pricing in New York, examine its effects one year into implementation, and discuss whether this type of model could be rolled out in other U.S. cities.

If you listened to last week’s Sea Change Radio, then you’ve already learned a little something about congressional hopeful Saikat Chakrabarti. Otherwise, you may not have ever heard of the guy. He’s running to fill Nancy Pelosi’s soon-to-be vacated congressional seat here in San Francisco. In this second half of our discussion, listeners will hear about several ways that Chakrabarti and Pelosi differ (beyond their respective levels of name recognition). We look at several of Chakrabarti’s exciting ideas, including ways tech could actually help remedy inequality (rather than widening income and wealth gaps), elements of the Green New Deal that could help curb profligate energy use by data centers, and the notion of banning stock trading among members of Congress.

In November, former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, announced that she’s retiring from Congress after serving nearly forty years. Now, San Francisco voters and the rest of the country, are wondering: who can fill her four-inch pumps? This week on Sea Change Radio, the first half of an in-depth, sit-down conversation with Saikat Chakrabarti, who’s running for the 11th Congressional District of the US House of Representatives. We look at Chakrabarti’s unusual career path into politics – from software engineer to co-founder of the progressive political incubator Justice Democrats, to serving as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Chief of Staff and co-authoring the Green New Deal – Chakrabarti may be one of the most qualified individuals to ever run for a freshman seat in the House. We learn about his environmental policy ideas, how he balances local and national concerns in a congressional campaign, and the success he’s had in inspiring a younger generation as volunteers, staffers, and voters.

The environmental and counterculture movements of the 60s have been inextricably linked since day one. The hippies decried war on materialism while promoting love, kindness and care for the planet. And one of through-lines of this movement was music. This week on Sea Change Radio, we take some time to remember the life of the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, who recently died at the age of 78. For many of us, across several generations, the Grateful Dead has been more than a band – it’s a movement that’s all about expanding your community and your mind. We dig into the archives to hear from Weir’s longtime bandmate, Bill Kreutzmann, and listen to excerpts of two interviews we did with Bobby’s late songwriting partner, John Perry Barlow.

The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that each year a staggering 20 million tons of plastic waste is dumped into the world’s oceans, rivers, and lakes – that’s the equivalent of about 2,000 garbage trucks dumped into the globe’s waterways every day. This week on Sea Change Radio we are speaking with Judith Enck, former EPA administrator and current professor at Bennington College. We discuss her recent book, “The Problem with Plastics: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late.” We examine some of the alarming stats associated with what seems to be a never-ending rise in plastics production and consumption, talk about how relatively little plastic is actually recycled, and delve into some policies and practices that can help stem the plastic tide.

In recent years Americans have suddenly begun paying attention to what Korea has to offer culturally: from K-Pop to television dramas, to mouth-watering Korean barbeque. But how many people know about Korea’s climate innovations and policy? This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to Hansae Song who works with the South Korean-based nonprofit, Solutions For Our Climate. We get a summary of Korea’s involvement in fighting climate change, look at the country’s energy grid, and discuss South Korea’s recent decision to stop subsidies for biomass fuel. Then, we dig into the archives to learn a little bit more about biomass, also known as wood pellets, from Mongabay contributor Justin Catanoso.

Carbon offsets are often touted as a solution to humanity’s bad habit of emitting an awful lot of CO2. But how many of us actually know what things like carbon offsets and carbon dioxide removal are all about? This week on Sea Change Radio, we revisit our 2023 discussion with David Ho, a professor in the oceanography department at the University of Hawaii and a co-founder of the nonprofit, [C]Worthy. We discuss his piece in the science journal Nature explaining the shortcomings of carbon offsets, learn more about the mission of [C]Worthy, and take a look at how some corporations greenwash the admirable goal of producing net zero goods. Then, we hear an excerpt of a conversation we had earlier this year with Andrew Kaminsky, a journalist for Triple Pundit as we look at the environmental impacts of extracting various minerals and discuss how mining companies are changing the way they operate.

If you haven’t yet personally witnessed the very odd feeling of driving up to a four-way stop sign only to realize that the vehicle across the street from you has no driver behind the wheel, chances are you will soon enough. Like it or not, autonomous vehicles are coming, and this week on Sea Change Radio we are speaking with Samuel Abuelsamid, an expert on self-driving technology. We take a look back at the evolution of autonomous vehicles, examine the purported “full self-driving mode” offered by Tesla, and discuss some of the sustainability issues surrounding this technology.

Amid all the darkness sweeping our nation over the past year, there remain vital signs of life from progressives. But will they be able to adequately fight, organize, and inspire to retake power? This week on Sea Change Radio, a political discussion with John Stoehr of The Editorial Board as we focus on the Democratic Party. We talk about messaging, the end of the government shutdown and look at some of the rising stars on the left side of the aisle.

This week on Sea Change Radio, we’ll get the latest on the electric vehicle consumer market from automotive expert, Jim Motavalli. We’ll look at some new models worth checking out if you’re considering buying an EV, examine the impact of the Trump tariffs on the industry, and look at how foreign auto makers from Germany to China are improving their electric vehicles.

The telecom titan Verizon just recently laid off around 15,000 employees, and it was just a blip on an otherwise slow news day. The DIY craft giant Michael’s regularly hires 15,000 seasonal workers for the holidays, and it doesn’t generally even brush up against a headline. We provide these numbers to help our listeners scale the 14,000 people working in West Virginia’s coal industry, and the massive influence the question of their employment has on the American political and environmental landscape. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Babette Hogan and Julie Eisenberg, whose new film, Running For The Mountains, takes a close look at the West Virginia coal mining industry. We discuss the environmental waste caused by coal in the state, dive into West Virginia’s politics, and hear what they learned over their 15 year film-making process.

According to a recent Forbes report, 65 million American households have pet dogs. Plenty of those people buy toys for their dogs, which is a nice thing to do, except that it leads to an enormous amount of waste – an estimated 634 million dog toys end up in US landfills each year. That’s approximately 40,500 tons of dog toy garbage. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Spencer Williams, the founder and CEO of West Paw, a small dog toy company out of Bozeman, Montana that is doing its best to reduce the carbon pawprint. We look at the company’s products, find out how their commitment to recycling distinguishes them from the rest of the sector, and delve into some carbon-neutral ideas for keeping your pet entertained without toys.

Those of us who studied anthropology in the latter half of the 20th century most likely learned that the birthplace of humankind was East African countries such as Tanzania and Kenya. But for much of that same period, the apartheid regime in South Africa largely prohibited archaeological excavations, at least in part because it didn’t want to unearth any evidence that Blacks and Whites shared common ancestors. This week on Sea Change Radio, we take a look at some of the stunning archaeological discoveries that have emerged from South Africa over the past fifteen years. Our guest today is Dr. Keneiloe Molopyane, an archeologist who leads research in an area known as the Cradle of Humankind. In our wide-ranging discussion with Dr. Molopyane, we get a quick anthropology lesson, learn more about discoveries from the region, and explore the historical context of these prehistorical finds.

We often hear the expression “we don’t negotiate with terrorists,” but what happens if the terrorists control all three branches of government? This week on Sea Change Radio, we talk to David Kieve, the president of EDF Action, an offshoot of the Environmental Defense Fund that focuses on public policy and political advocacy. We try to unpack some of the more deleterious policies of the current administration with a focus on rising energy prices and take a brief look at the landscape of Big Conservation.

While diverting the flow of a river is a practice that people have been engaging in for about 5,000 years, dams are far from harmless. Like many human inventions, dams have been known to perpetuate economic hierarchies, rob communities of essential resources, and wreak havoc on ecosystems. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to Amy Bowers Cordalis, an attorney who has a new book out: The Water Remembers: My Indigenous Family’s Fight To Save A River And A Way Of Life. It tells the story of her legal crusade to tear down the Klamath River dam and help restore the river to its natural state. A UN Champion of the Earth Laureate, Cordalis, recounts the history of the construction of four dams at the headwaters of the Klamath— a move that constricted the river’s flow, killed hundreds of thousands of salmon, and choked the lifeblood of the Yurok Nation in Northern California. She led the appeal that resulted in the decommissioning of the structures, ultimately ensuring the removal of the dams in 2024, and marking the largest successful dam removal project in world history. Join us to hear the story of a true climate activist and to better understand what it took to actuate change.

While US political news is certainly more than depressing these days, it’s always nice to get a healthy reminder of the many good things that are happening around us. This week on Sea Change Radio we speak to Inside Climate News Science Reporter Bob Berwyn as he prepares to cover next month’s COP 30 conference in Brazil. We look at some of the more positive developments on the biodiversity and rewilding fronts, examine the effectiveness of some recent policies to help animal populations like seabirds and gray wolves bounce back, and talk briefly about what to expect from the upcoming COP 30 conference.