Reversing Climate Change

Extreme heat. What does it feel like? Why is it getting worse and who is it impacting? In this Reversing Climate Change podcast episode, we spoke with Jeff Goodell, contributing editor at Rolling Stone and author of The Water Will Come and his latest, The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet. Tune in to hear about Jeff Goodell's personal experience with extreme heat. Learn about what cities are doing to combat the urban heat island effect, and what the true costs of adaptation will likely be. Could certain cities become uninhabitable due to escalating heat levels? Ross and Jeff explore the variations in heat adaptation across different regions and income brackets, along with the possibility of introducing new labor laws in response to heat-related challenges. The discussion also delves into the preparedness of the U.S. military for climate change impacts, the future outlook for ranking or naming extreme heat events, and the implications for the fossil fuel industry and the transit

Does culture eat strategy for breakfast? What does a successful carbon removal community look like? Who ordered the veal cutlet? Join us in this episode of Reversing Climate Change featuring Jason Grillo, Director of Partnerships and Operations at AirMiners. Discover how culture takes center stage at AirMiners, one of the major communities empowering carbon removal startups. Explore the Kiloton Fund, the Bootup program, and Launchpad, which has already graduated 95 teams in two years. Deadline for the next cohort closes on August 11th, 2023! How does AirMiners embrace hope amidst an often challenging and doomerist climate landscape? Tune in to explore the role of levity and humor in building a strong carbon removal community. Discover how tackling an ambitious goal, such as removing 1 billion tons by 2030, can be approached with humility and by inviting people to the table. Like AirMiners, this episode doesn’t have all the answers, but it does have some ideas of what would go in a carbon removal museum. If yo

When you’re born into a winemaking dynasty, there’s a lot of momentum to carry on the family business. But also a lot of pressure to make your own mark. Carlo Mondavi is the co-founder and Chief Farming Officer at Monarch, creators of the Monarch Tractor, an electric smart tractor that may offer a better and safer product than conventional diesel tractors. Today he joins Siobhan Montoya Lavender and Ross Kenyon to discuss. The conversation begins with Carlo's heartfelt motivation behind creating the Monarch Tractor. Witnessing the devastating loss of biodiversity caused by conventional herbicides, Carlo was inspired to find a regenerative agriculture solution that would reduce herbicide usage while ensuring a safer, more eco-friendly farming experience. The Monarch Tractor provides a more mechanical solution than one that deeply changes the microbiota. But sometimes it’s hard to change minds, and offering a better solution rather than finger-wagging can often be a better way to proceed. With or without su

How does it work to buy carbon removal credits from early stage startups and resell them later for profit? What does it mean to support carbon removal startups without equity financing? Are alternatives available beyond conventional venture funding? Enter: the AirMiners Kiloton Fund. Tune in this week as the great Tito Jankowski, CEO and cofounder of AirMiners, returns to the show to talk about all of those questions, the general state of carbon removal, and how two goofballs like us ended up at TED Countdown in Detroit. Connect with Nori ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Purchase Nori Carbon Removals⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nori's website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nori on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our other podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Carbon Removal Newsroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Carbon Removal Memes on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Carbon Removal Memes on Instagram Resources: August 11th deadline for the new AirMiners Launchpad Accelerator cohort! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/reversingclimatechange/support

Reversing Climate Change presents an enlightening conversation with Kevin Whilden, the co-founder and co-director of Sustainable Surf, where they delve into the captivating world of ocean restoration, the power of storytelling, and the remarkable phenomenon of blue carbon. Join Ross and Siobhan as they navigate the complexities of carbon offsetting, funding pathways for coastal and land-based restoration, and the profound impact of storytelling on driving environmental action. The spotlight of the discussion falls on blue carbon, which refers to the carbon stored within coastal and marine ecosystems. These ecosystems, encompassing vital habitats such as seaweed, mangroves, and seagrasses, exhibit extraordinary carbon sequestration capabilities, often surpassing their land-based counterparts. The significance of these blue carbon ecosystems lies not only in their capacity to store carbon but also in their vital role in supporting biodiversity and protecting coastal communities from climate-related hazards. Kev

In this episode of the Reversing Climate Change podcast, cohosts Ross Kenyon and Siobhan Montoya Lavender are joined by Erika Reinhardt, Co-founder and Executive Director of Spark Climate Solutions. Together, they delve into the pressing issue of methane and its increasing significance in the climate zeitgeist, and when can we expect methane removal to appear? The conversation kicks off with a discussion on why methane deserves our attention. Erika explains that methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with initial emissions being 120 times more potent than carbon dioxide when it is first released into the atmosphere. Despite its relatively short atmospheric lifespan of approximately twelve years, methane is responsible for a whopping 0.5℃ warming impact on our climate. Is methane “destroyed”? Is it “converted”? How should we think about methane in the context of the dreaded carbon dioxide questions: should we focus on reductions or removal? (hint, most answers start with ‘yes, and’). The episode also highlights t

The carbon removal industry and science have evolved greatly since Nori was founded in 2017. In this special Reversing Climate Change episode, Nori's Head of Supply and Methodology Radhika Moolgavkar, joins host Ross Kenyon to talk through what’s changed, what’s still the same, and how Nori is evolving with a new net-zero-friendly ‘blended tonne’ that they just published a new whitepaper on this week. What is this ‘blended tonne’ Nori is developing? What did the carbon removal industry look like back in 2017?  Why did Nori choose to start with soil carbon and how has soil carbon progressed since then? What is a carbon cycle and why should carbon removal credit buyers care? What is the difference between the geological (‘slow) carbon cycle and and biological (‘fast’) carbon cycle?  If you emit a tonne by burning fossil fuels and remove a tonne through soil carbon, is it net zero? If you emit a tonne by burning fossil fuels and pre-purchase a future DAC carbon removal, is it net zero?

What does a utopian second-generation Direct Air Capture (DAC) system look like, and how does it differ from what we have now? In this engaging episode of Reversing Climate Change, Ross and Siobhan have a very frank and honest discussion with Sampo Tukiainen, a farmer, apiarist, meditator, rifleman and the CEO of C-Fix, a second-generation #directaircapture company that wants to do it all. After a brief intro to #DAC, they discuss the energy consumption of current facilities, and how second-generation technology offers potential energy savings compared to the energy-intensive first-generation methods. Would DAC with co-benefits be unstoppable? Probably. Sampo imagines a DAC facility that also addresses water scarcity, provides agricultural resources, and stores carbon dioxide onsite. Learn how Sampo balances his CDR career with his passion for farming, riflery, meditation and family. Hear his frank thoughts on the challenges of building a CDR company when there is conflict. By the end of the episode, listener

Making decisions for your garden and yard is often a yearly exercise. But for long-lived perennials, you need to start thinking about how climate change is going to impact your region. But don't start loading up on olive trees just yet... Today on the Reversing Climate Change podcast, Sally Morgan, coauthor of The Climate Change Garden: Down to Earth Advice for Growing a Resilient Garden, teaches host Ross Kenyon about how to cope with a simultaneously drier and wetter world. What happens when temperate zones become Mediterranean? And what happens to zones already Mediterranean?! Tune in this week to get your mind working on gardening in a climate-changed future. Connect with Nori ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Purchase Nori Carbon Removals⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nori's website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nori on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our other podcast, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Carbon Removal Newsroom⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Carbon Removal Memes on Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Carbon Removal Memes on Instagram Resources: Sally's website Sally's Instagram (for ducks!) The Climate

In this episode, Ross and Siobhan are joined by Ongeleigh Underwood and Nikki Batchelor to delve into the newly released report from the Circular Carbon Network, an initiative of XPRIZE. The report provides valuable insights into the state of the Circular Carbon Market, addressing crucial questions such as who is building Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) projects and who is funding them. The conversation explores the role of XPRIZE in fostering market growth and collaboration, and examines how companies have evolved since the last carbon-focused XPRIZE, which is when the report started gathering data. Ongeleigh and Nikki shed light on the partnerships formed by companies to complete the carbon removal process and discuss whether Direct Air Capture (DAC) is having a moment. Listeners gain valuable insights into the current state of the market, funding trends, technological advancements, and the role played by XPRIZE in driving innovation. If you haven’t yet, read the full report here! Connect with Nori ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Purcha

Beast and Cleaver, a butcher shop and charcuterie in Seattle, is on a mission to elevate the craft of butchery to true artistry. They want you to eat meat of higher quality, and yes, less of it. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, the founder of Beast and Cleaver, Kevin Smith, joins Ross to discuss his butcher shop’s unique approach to localized meat production in a carbon heavy industry. Have you heard the expression “it’s the how, not the cow”? That very much reflects Beast and Cleaver’s ethos. With more and more people eating meat globally as they gain access to financial means, the details of meat production become incredibly important. Part of the good news is that American consumers are increasingly interested in Old World food traditions of pâté and offal rather than merely prestige cuts, and even things like aspic that went deeply out of fashion decades ago are seemingly making a foodie comeback. Kevin and Ross discuss the perception that major factory meat producers like Tyson and Smithfield

PlantVillage won the Carbon XPRIZE milestone award in 2022, and was awarded one million dollars. It aims to lift 200 million African farming families out of poverty. They are working to capture and sell a billion tonnes of carbon per year using biochar sequestration by integrating trees with crops on farms and using lumber for biochar.  So what exactly is happening on the ground with biochar? And can we solve today's problems with the mindset that helped create them? In today's Reversing Climate Change podcast, Dr. David Hughes, the Huck Chair in Global Food Security at Penn State University and Director of USAID Innovation Lab on Current and Emerging Threats to Crops, Founder of PlantVillage & Carbon4Good, describes how this program avoids middlemen and gets farmers paid directly for making biochar, how biochar improves soil health and provides additional income, and how the technique represents both climate adaptation, and mitigation. David also goes on to fit biochar and soil health into the

What goes into the making of a carbon removal meme? How many pitches does it take before magic comes out? Why do some many captions end up as emojis?! Nori's Memelab: Ross Kenyon, Siobhan Montoya Lavender, and Asa Kamer film their writer's room meeting on a lark to show how we go from a notion to something we think worthy of sharing with our community. Listen in to learn more, and also, respond to the survey in this episode to let us know if you like video podcasts, meme shows, etc. It is an experiment! Thanks for hanging with us. Connect with Nori ⁠⁠⁠Purchase Nori Carbon Removals⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Nori's website⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Nori on Twitter⁠⁠⁠ Check out our other podcast, ⁠⁠⁠Carbon Removal Newsroom⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Carbon Removal Memes on Twitter⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Carbon Removal Memes on Instagram --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/reversingclimatechange/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/reversingclimatechange/support

CarbonCapture is looking to build a large-scale direct air capture facility in Rock Springs, Wyoming, a town with deep roots in the coal industry.  And last fall, the company invited the community to a town hall event to learn more about the initiative, known as Project Bison, and its aim to remove five million tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030. How did the people react to CarbonCapture’s plans? And what can the carbon removal industry learn from events like this? Nicholas Kusnetz is an award-winning reporter for Inside Climate News. His work has appeared in more than a dozen publications, including The Washington Post, Business Week, and The New York Times. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Nicholas joins guest hosts Asa Kamer and Siobhan Montoya Lavendar to discuss his December 2022 piece on CarbonCapture Inc’s Project Bison. Nicholas discusses what CarbonCapture’s town hall event was like, describing the wide range of people who attended, and what questions they had for the presenter. Listen in for

A massive amount of seaweed known as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt is growing as a response to climate change. To date, it has expanded to a width twice that of the United States. When sargassum reaches the coast, it causes human health problems, destroys ecosystems, and wipes out tourism, usually in communities that don’t have the resources to combat the issue. So, what can we do to prevent these destructive seaweed blobs from reaching coastal regions and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the process? Patricia Estridge and Mike Allen serve as CEO and Chief Science Officer, respectively, at Seaweed Generation, a startup using robotics and seaweed to fight climate change.   On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Patricia and Mike join Ross, Siobhan, and Asa to explain how their technology, a Pac-Man meets Roomba meets WALL-E style robot, collects seaweed and sinks it in the deep sea. Patricia and Mike discuss Seaweed Generation’s pilot project with Antigua, describing the advantage their p

A lot of sci-fi writing focused on climate is high literary fiction, which means it’s filled with allusion and often difficult to understand. So, why don’t authors take on climate fiction as a serialized genre like detective novels, zombie books or erotica? Is there a way to make climate fiction more playful without making light of climate change as a global issue? Daniel Backer is the novelist and literature educator behind Off the Wall Novels and the author of Abraham and Lionel Lancet and the Right Vibe. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Daniel joins Ross to explore postmodern and metamodern literature, explaining the postmodern idea that myths guide our decision-making but also make us human. Daniel helps us make sense of Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, discussing how it plays on the detective genre and why we find comfort in the familiarity of literary conventions. Listen in for Daniel’s take on how literature, at its best, comes from a place of character and learn how a writer might pe

For people living in affluent parts of the world in the 21st century, we are used to preserving food by way of refrigeration. But this technique is quite new when you consider that people have been preserving food through fermentation for at least 10,000 years. Our ancestors experimented with fermenting to make food more delicious, more easily digestible, and more stable for storage. And there are many reasons why you might want to learn the process yourself. Sandor Ellix Katz is a well-known food writer and self-taught fermentation experimentalist. He is the author of several books, including The Art of Fermentation, Wild Fermentation, and The Revolution will Not Be Microwaved. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Sandor joins Ross to explore the practical benefits of fermentation and explain how our disconnection from food systems contributes to our destruction of the environment. Sandor explains why it’s valuable to maintain the cultural wisdom around preserving food through fermentation and how ou

In the last five years, an enormous amount of effort has been put into technical and scientific innovation around carbon removal. But what about financial innovation? How can we create more opportunities to finance carbon removal at scale? And what does innovation look like in carbon removal markets? Peter Olivier is Head of New Markets at UNDO, a company that uses enhanced rock weathering to achieve carbon removal at scale. On this bonus episode of Reversing Climate Change, Peter joins Ross and Siobhan to describe the UNDO process, discussing the source of the rock UNDO uses, and why they partner with farmers to spread crushed rock on cropland. Peter shares his take on the forward contract basis of the CDR market, exploring ‘the uncomfortably large amounts of money’ we need to scale and how we might make CDR forwards contracts more fungible. Listen in for Peter’s insight on innovating CDR markets through donor-advised funds and find out how we might be able to influence the future by creating opportunities t

Carbon capture and storage, or CCS, involves sequestering carbon dioxide emissions from a point source, whereas carbon removal takes existing emissions out of ambient air. And there are a lot of people in the climate community who are for carbon removal and against CCS, arguing that we should shut down these point sources and focus on renewable energy. But is choosing sides the right thing to do? Gagan Porrwal is Global Head of Partnerships for GE Gas Power's Carbon Solutions, where he is building an ecosystem of partners that enable, accelerate, and drive the adoption of CCS applications in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Asian Pacific. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change’s Happy Hour show, Gagan joins Ross and Siobhan to explain why we need CCS to meet our 2030 climate targets and how he thinks about capturing carbon in the flue versus ambient air. Gagan discusses how much power is currently generated by coal or natural gas and describes the reality of how long it will take to transit

You can judge the progress of an industry by its number of sh*tty first drafts. And if we have any hope of getting to gigatonne-scale carbon removal by 2030, we need a greater diversity of ideas in the CDR space. We need entrepreneurs who dare to think differently. We need more sh*tty first drafts. So, what can we do to encourage this kind of radical risk-taking in carbon removal? Where can entrepreneurs, investors, and carbon removal buyers go to generate their sh*tty first drafts and then iterate on each other’s ideas together? Adina Mangubat and Tito Jankowski are Accelerator Director and CEO, respectively, at AirMiners, a community that empowers people taking risks to accelerate the reversal of climate change through carbon removal. On this episode of Reversing Climate Change, Tito and Adina join Ross to discuss the AirMiners Launchpad business accelerator, explaining how it serves early-stage carbon removal startups and why it supports companies across the spectrum of permanence. Tito describes his role