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What does naming and re-naming streets, buildings, airports, and even bodies of water say about us as a people? Whether a name inspires, entertains, or haunts us, there’s power in assigning words to people, places, and things. We can see it unfolding right before our eyes with the current US administration renaming key landmarks. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to Deirdre Mask, the author of “The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power.” We learn about the history of attributing names and numbers to roads and houses, look at how important seemingly obvious innovations like zip codes are, and discuss the socio-political impact of things named after confederate leaders.

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One of the powers that we have as consumers is to “vote with our dollars,” or exercise our right to choose one brand over another. Boycotts and other awareness campaigns can pressure a company to conduct business differently. An area where consumers do not generally have that power is mining. Mining operates with little direct business-to-consumer transactions, and with minimal transparency. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Andrew Kaminsky, a journalist for Triple Pundit, to learn more about the mining industry. We look at the environmental impacts of extracting various minerals, discuss how mining companies are changing the way they operate, and examine a promising model in Canada where mining companies are partnering with indigenous communities in the region.

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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.

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Lithium – it’s the third element on the periodic table, but most of us don’t know too much about it besides that it’s in electric car batteries. This week on Sea Change Radio, we welcome University of Southern California Business Professor Shon Hiatt to learn more about the lithium industry – how this mineral is mined, its importance to the energy and transportation sectors, and why lithium’s market price has collapsed over the past few years. We use the enormous lithium deposits in Southern California’s Salton Sea as a jumping off point for a larger conversation about all things lithium, including the environmental impacts of its extraction.

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As summer season starts to heat up, it’s important to remember that soaring temps endanger the lives of millions. Unfortunately, the federal government is not doing much to help. There are absolutely no federal statutes guaranteeing the rights of workers to legally leave their workplace to prevent heat injury (incidentally, as we discussed in previous episodes of Sea Change Radio, there are no federal laws protecting incarcerated people from extreme temperatures, either). This week on Sea Change Radio we speak with Pam Walaski, the President of the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), about the heat-related health workplace guidelines her organization is trying to introduce into OSHA standards. Then we dig into the Sea Change Radio archives to learn more about wildfire prevention and safety from Crystal Kolden, a professor at UC Merced who’s also a former firefighter.

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Did you know that this country has a host of so-called “ag-gag” laws in place that criminalize the work of photographers and journalists who expose abuses on factory farms? This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with investigative journalist Will Potter whose new book, “Little Red Barns: Hiding the Truth, from Farm to Fable,” gives us a dark but thought-provoking view of factory farming. We talk about his research, hear what it reveals about our food system and this country’s veering towards fascism, and look at how American agriculture has changed over the past century.

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Have you ever thought about how random it seems that gold is worth, well, its weight in gold? This week’s guest on Sea Change Radio, Gustav Peebles, is an anthropologist and monetary policy expert at Stockholm University. He has not only wondered about the way human beings assign value to a particular element on the periodic table, he has pondered what it would look like if we we applied precious valuation to an element that really matters for our own survival, like atmospheric carbon. In his new book, co-written with Benjamin Luzzatto, “The First and Last Bank: Climate Change, Currency, and a New Carbon Commons,” Peebles lays out a novel, scalable way not to just dole out carbon credits, but to actually monetize the conservation of carbon waste. We discuss the fundamentals of a possible carbon banking system, and talk through just how such a concept might roll out.

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As the summer sizzle approaches, it’s time to talk about the paradox of air conditioning: how keeping ourselves cooler functions to make the planet hotter. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak with Umair Irfan, a Climate Reporter from Vox.com, to discuss air conditioning and the promise of renewable energy. We look at how some of the planet’s hottest cities are trying to survive in the face of consistent, record-breaking high temperatures and talk about how breakthroughs in the battery storage sector provide some hope that the renewable energy market will continue to grow.

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The list of things for which San Francisco is famous include iconic bridges, world-class Pride celebrations, excellent food, and murals. The streets of San Francisco are a veritable outdoor gallery with classics from Diego Rivera, artistic achievements lining modest alleys like Balmy and Albion, and dozens of works by today’s guest on Sea Change Radio. This week we are speaking with San Francisco artist and muralist extraordinaire, Sirron Norris, about his life’s work. We hear about the road he took to become a painter, the greatest challenges a muralist faces, and the delicate balance of creating art that both enhances and is integrated into its surroundings.

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This week on Sea Change Radio, the second half of our discussion with author Steve Almond. In this episode, we delve further into how to navigate the choppy seas in a new age of political uncertainty and social unrest and chat about a couple of areas of pop culture near and dear to Almond, namely – candy and rock music. Then, we hear a bit from our 2012 conversation with Steve Almond where he talks about the right wing’s predilection for magical thinking.