Climate Futures

Energy Future(s), Part 2: Natural Gas

When Congress has a question about natural gas, they turn to Michael Ratner. The Congressional Research Service expert joins us today for a deep dive into this unique and widely misunderstood fossil fuel. What role does natural gas play in our energy system and carbon emissions now - and what might its future be?

Energy Future(s), Part 1: Modeling the Energy System

Energy systems modeler Kimon Keramidas opens our three-part special on energy - the most central element of decarbonization, and one of the most difficult to understand. Kimon gives a thorough introduction to the components of the energy system, the challenges and developments in decarbonization, and the herculean task of modeling the possible futures of the global energy system - including a look at his own work for the European Commission.

Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Climate Futures

What can political theory offer us in thinking about climate change? This episode we talk to OSU Professor Joel Wainwright, a human geographer, whose book Climate Leviathan (co-authored with Geoff Mann) asks: how can we imagine the global politics of a changing climate? The book applies theories from Hobbes, Gramsci, and Foucault to critique an emerging 'Leviathan' of climate governance. In this episode, Prof. Wainwright explains his conception of a global regulatory sovereign and offers hope for a democratic and just climate future.

A World-Changing Event: Indigenous Climate Geographies

Does land have to be a resource? Do economies have to be aimed at production? Professor Andrew Curley and PhD candidate Majerle Lister talk to us about indigenous scholarship's answers to these questions and shed light on the relationship between colonialism, fossil fuels, and climate change. They show how the tools of human geography can help analyze colonial concepts of the environment. This week's guests remind us that climate change can’t be understood without reference to the historical event and continuing structural injustice of colonialism. Music: Blue Highway - Podington Bear; Embrace - Scott Holmes

Greening Healthcare

Kathy Gerwig chats with us about the health effects of climate change and the carbon emissions of healthcare systems, and outlines her vision of the hospital of the future. Gerwig was the driving force behind the greening of one of the biggest healthcare systems in America, Kaiser Permanente. She is an expert on climate and healthcare, and her book, Greening Healthcare, provides a systematic overview of what hospitals and health professionals can do to address climate change.