A Hostile Climate

Responsibility

What do we owe the land that supports us? For those of us who enjoy going outside, among other things, it's an especially big and important question. So, that's why we're bringing on a professional athlete to talk about it. Graham Zimmerman [https://www.grahamzimmerman.com/] joins the show this episode. He's a professional climber and alpinist who holds the first ascent of Link Sar — a towering peak over 23,000 feet in Pakistan. Graham has literally traveled the world as an outdoor athlete, and that has helped lead him into climate activism. His memoir, "A Fine Line: Searching for Balance Among Mountains" is available now. Special thanks this week to Protect Our Winters [https://protectourwinters.org/], where Graham is the director of athlete alliances (not the captain, as Alex says on the pod).

A necessarily boring Harris/Walz climate primer

Producer (and resident Minnesotan) Cody joins Alex and Simona for another election episode where they do the unthinkable: 35 minutes of politics talk without a single Charli xcx reference. Instead, they talk about the politicization of the word “climate,” why good solutions are boring, and how to think about stains on a candidate’s record. Here are some of the pieces we were reading before recording: https://time.com/7006717/tim-walz-kamala-harris-vp-climate-change/ [https://time.com/7006717/tim-walz-kamala-harris-vp-climate-change/] https://heated.world/p/tim-walzs-green-resume-has-an-oily?utm_medium=web [https://heated.world/p/tim-walzs-green-resume-has-an-oily?utm_medium=web] https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4815990-mike-johnson-ira-clean-energy-tax-credits/ [https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4815990-mike-johnson-ira-clean-energy-tax-credits/] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/07/us/politics/tim-walz-kamala-harris-2024.html [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/07/us/politics/tim-walz-kamala-harris-2024.html]

Scarcity, part 2

We're back with our second of two episodes on scarcity. This time, we're joined by award-winning journalist (and former rafting guide) Heather Hansman. She's the author of "Downriver: Into the Future of Water in the West," a book chronicling her trip down the Green River. The Green is the Colorado River's largest tributary. And, as Heather learned, an excellent window into understanding the cultural and environmental landscapes of water in the Western United States: "I got my assumptions busted pretty quickly on the trip about what was good and what was bad and what was fair."

Scarcity, part 1

We're tackling scarcity on the next two episodes, specifically as it relates to water in the western U.S. Everything from shortsighted alfalfa farmers to the Lockean proviso to floating icebergs to England, there's really something for everyone here. And no, we aren't gonna remind you to turn off the water while brushing your teeth. First, Alex and Simona outline some philosophical frameworks for understanding the issues and solutions with water scarcity. Then we chat with John Berggren, a regional policy manager with Western Resource Advocates, about all things Colorado River.

Negative Leap Second

On this episode, producer Cody joins Simona and Alex to chat about some recent headlines including: -whether climate change is going to cost us literally a second of time every year, -climate policy (or lack thereof) in the U.S. presidential race, -and Dune 2. Some related reading that informed the discussion: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/timekeepers-may-subtract-a-second-from-clocks-as-soon-as-2029-as-planet-spins-slightly-faster [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/timekeepers-may-subtract-a-second-from-clocks-as-soon-as-2029-as-planet-spins-slightly-faster] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/27/climate/biden-climate-campaign.html [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/27/climate/biden-climate-campaign.html] https://cires.colorado.edu/news/us-voters-climate-change-opinions-swing-elections [https://cires.colorado.edu/news/us-voters-climate-change-opinions-swing-elections] https://atmos.earth/in-dune-part-two-the-poison-of-fascism-is-on-full-display/ [https://atmos.earth/in-dune-part-two-the-poison-of-fascism-is-on-full-display/] PS: Cody is sorry and embarrassed for forgetting to put a pop filter on his microphone. So, aPologies for those Plosives. Won't happen again.