Katharine Hayhoe says our climate theory of change was always broken

Katharine Hayhoe says our climate theory of change was always broken

Climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe — Nature Conservancy chief scientist, Texas Tech professor and author of "Saving Us" — joins Joel and Solitaire to explain why hope beats doom as a climate strategy, why more disasters don't produce more action (Canada's record 2023 wildfires didn't deliver a "climate election"), and the one underrated lever she'd hand a Fortune 500 CEO instead of another renewable-energy announcement.

What climate comedians can teach us about storytelling

What can climate communicators learn from stand-up comedians? Quite a lot, it turns out. Joel Makower and Solitaire Townsend sit down with Stuart Goldsmith — climate comedian, podcaster, and Live at the Apollo veteran — and Esteban Gast, the Colombian-American comedian behind the Climate Comedy Cohort. They talk about performing for hostile rooms, the power of vulnerability, why hypocrisy is the best material, and why treating your audience like friends might be the most underrated tool in climate communications.

Why sustainability professionals need to be ready for wild cards

Soli and Joel ask an uncomfortable question:sustainability professionals are trained to track trends and build momentum —but are we actually prepared for wild cards? We went through some big ones: a 90% probability El Niño that most supply chains aren't pricing in, a data center oppositionmovement that's blocked $18 billion in U.S. projects, an insurance exodusthat's quietly making whole communities uninsurable, and the reality that social movements — for and against sustainability — are among the most powerful forces shaping corporate behavior. As Soli put it: This is literally our job. And we're not doing it.

Why the inner work of sustainability is a key to professional success

Joel and Soli dig into the new State of the Sustainability Profession report, which reveals a field under pressure — shrinking CEO engagement, shifting reporting lines, and budgets in flux. Then, author and activist Katharine Wilkinson joins to discuss her new book Climate Wayfinding, and why the inner work of grief, community, and reimagination may be exactly what sustainability professionals need right now.

Resilience isn't a rebrand. It's what sustainability always was.

The word "resilience" is everywhere right now. Which probably means it's already in trouble. In our latest Two Steps Forward episode, Soli and Joel and pulled on this thread — and found something worth sharing: resilience isn't a rebrand for sustainability. It's what sustainability always was, just dressed in language that the C-suite might finally recognize.