Tag Archives: Climate Change

Adam Sobel: Science In The Eye Of The Hurricane

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It’s summertime! That means county fairs, stone fruit, and hopefully a cool body of water in which to dip one’s toes. Of course, it also means record temperatures and the beginning of hurricane season. Today on Sea Change Radio we are talking weather with Adam Sobel, an atmospheric scientist at Columbia University. We discuss the difference between climate and weather, learn about the importance of accurate forecasts in the age of extreme weather, and dispel some preposterous myths about climate scientists.

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Nev Hyman: Shelter From The Storm

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NevHymanMany people living in Pacific nations, like Vanuatu, Indonesia, and the Philippines, struggle to find adequate shelter, a challenge compounded by the elevated risk of structure-destroying cyclones. Meanwhile, miles off their coasts, plastic waste floats in the ocean, contaminating the marine food chain and threatening the world’s largest ecosystem. Our guest this week is Nev Hyman, an avid surfer who saw these two seemingly unrelated problems and devised a solution. His company, Nev House, uses recycled plastic to build low-cost, fire- and cyclone-resistant, solar- and water sanitation-equipped houses for people living in developing nations. He tells us about how Nev House partners with charities to actualize their business model, how he feels the emergency shelter system should be streamlined, and how this small company will upcycle 3 million tons of plastic waste over the next four years.

On to Paris: Pacific Environment’s Alex Levinson

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AlexLevinsonMany of us would like to be at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, kicking off this week in Paris. Well, today on Sea Change Radio, we’ve got the next best thing. Alex Levinson is the executive director of Pacific Environment, an organization focused on environmental efforts in the Pacific Rim and the Arctic, and a Paris Summit participant. Host Alex Wise recently sat down with Levinson at Pacific Environment’s San Francisco headquarters to discuss the goals and expectations of the Paris conference, how other Pacific Rim powers such as China and Russia view the climate change denial movement in the U.S., and the mess that humans have made of an already fragile Arctic ecosystem.

Andrew Revkin: Carbon Divide

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Andrew Revkin.JPGThis week on Sea Change Radio we hear from noted environmental journalist, Andrew Revkin, about a recent Yale/Utah State survey and mapping project designed to capture American attitudes about climate change and related policy. Read the show transcript

Sea Rise Drowning Alaskan Village

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Kate SheppardWe have heard the warnings for years now: climate change will someday force people to move from their homes. Sea level rise will put places from Miami to the Maldives underwater. For the remote Alaskan village of Shishmaref, that time has already arrived. This week on Sea Change Radio, we talk with  environmental journalist Kate Sheppard of the Huffington Post.

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Meera Subramanian: Resilient Lessons from Hurricane Sandy

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MeeraChrisCannonAs major weather-related calamities like Hurricane Sandy are teaching us, decisions around where buildings are built and trees are planted are important, especially as they relate to the encroaching coastline and other impacts of climate change. This week on Sea Change Radio, we hear from Meera Subramanian, a writer whose recent piece in Orion Magazine explores post-Sandy restoration efforts that draw upon engineering insights from a hundred years ago, and may reach far beyond the shores of Long Island and New Jersey.

Then, we re-visit host Alex Wise’s discussion with Chris Cannon of Empower Playgrounds, an innovative non-profit that provides equipment to West African villages that converts the energy of playing kids into electricity for their families.

A Sporting Chance For The Environment

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AllenHershkowitzstadiumThis week’s guest on Sea Change Radio, Allen Hershkowitz, is a pioneer in the greening of the sports industry and a senior scientist at the NRDC. Dr. Hershkowitz is working to help decrease the carbon footprint of our nation’s sports teams while engaging sports industry leaders to speak up about environmental problems like climate change. He and host Alex Wise delve into the various ways that sports leagues and teams are starting to become leaders for change.

Media Matters And The Climate

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GeorgeLakoffShaunaTheelWhat forces have conspired so that millions of Americans believe that the overwhelming majority of scientists are dead wrong about climate change? It seems at times that facts are just pesky talking points to be swatted away by other talking points. Is this the result of a corporate-sponsored news media controlled by the bottom-line, or is it the fault of an audience hungry to believe what it wants to hear? We explore these questions today on Sea Change Radio first by talking with Shauna Theel of Media Matters, who tells us about her organization’s recent study that tracks how the network news programs discuss climate change. Next, we dip into the archives as host Alex Wise talks environmental messaging with prominent linguistics professor, George Lakoff.

Arctic 30 Update and Fog Harvesting

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GarethMcKinleyKeillerMacDuffBy now you may have heard about the arrest of 30 activists in the arctic by the Russian government. This week on Sea Change Radio we hear the harrowing tale from Keiller MacDuff, a Greenpeace colleague of the imprisoned group that has become known as the Arctic 30.

Then, host Alex Wise speaks to Gareth McKinley, an MIT professor whose students have come up with a potential solution for the rainless days that await many regions as climate change takes hold – a technology that effectively converts fog into potable water.

Jeff Orlowski: Chasing Ice

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"Chasing Ice" director, Jeff Orlowski, Greenland Ice Sheet, June 2009ChasingIce_smThe acclaimed documentary film Chasing Ice chronicles the work of photographer and environmentalist James Balog, who has been at the forefront of documenting earth’s melting polar ice cap. This week on Sea Change Radio, we hear from the film’s director, Jeff Orlowski, who started out as a part of Balog’s team and eventually assumed the role of documenting the documenter.

We learn about the difficulties of filming in some of the most remote places on earth, as well as the contradictory feelings that Balog and the other members of the Extreme Ice Survey felt while capturing these beautiful yet tragic earth-changing events.