Avsnitt
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In this episode, host Daniel Raimi invites podcast guest Amy Townsend-Small, a professor at the University of Cincinnati, to illuminate the history, environmental impact, and cultural significance of gas-powered streetlights. These functional fixtures lend old-time ambiance to historic districts in cities like Boston and Cincinnati, but their aesthetic comes at a cost: gas lamps leak methane at a wasteful rate, and these charming relics can drain cities of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel and maintenance. By integrating her field research on streetlights with cultural and historical context, Townsend-Small localizes the numbers behind gaslight emissions—and sheds light on the sentiments that might have allowed them to persist, even as fuel-efficient electric alternatives become more affordable and available.
References and recommendations:
“Gas streetlights, methane emissions, and the cultural resistance to climate change mitigation” by Amy Townsend-Small, Sacha Brewer, and David Stradling; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13412-026-01113-z
“Quantification of methane and carbon monoxide from natural gas streetlights in Boston: a ‘low-hanging fruit’ for emissions reduction” by Amy Townsend-Small, Sacha Brewer, Nathan Phillips, and Ania Camargo; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2515-7620/ae60cb/meta
“Hacks” television show; https://play.hbomax.com/show/67e940b7-aab2-46ce-a62b-c7308cde9de7
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This week, host Margaret Walls welcomes Celso Ferreira and Elizabeth Van Dolah on the podcast to talk about building resilience in coastal communities that are vulnerable to sea level rise. Ferreira, a professor at George Mason University, and Van Dolah, an environmental anthropologist and community engagement expert, were members of an interdisciplinary research team that aimed to construct nature-based solutions to flooding problems in the rural municipality of Pocomoke City, Maryland. Throughout the process, the team consulted with an advisory committee of community members who weighed in on the project—and the local input shaped the researchers’ conclusions in surprising ways. In this episode, Ferreira and Van Dolah reflect on how continuous engagement with impacted communities can help identify overlooked ecosystem values and result in improved outcomes for people and the surrounding environment.
References and recommendations:
“Building coastal resilience in Pocomoke City, Maryland” by Celso Ferreira, Andre de Souza de Lima, Diana Veronez, Elizabeth Van Dolah, Joseph Galarraga, Ayanna Healy, Margaret Walls, Emma DeAngeli, and Nicole Carlozo; https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0638e5e7beea4a11ba7e277ce87ef7e2
“Recreation and Resilience: When Parks Do Double Duty” by Emma DeAngeli and Margaret Walls; https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/recreation-and-resilience-when-parks-do-double-duty/
“Nature-Based Solutions 101” by Emma DeAngeli, Brandon Holmes, and Margaret Walls; https://www.rff.org/publications/explainers/nature-based-solutions-101/
“A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness” by Michael Pollan; https://michaelpollan.com/books/a-world-appears/
“Goat” movie; https://www.netflix.com/title/82710848
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi brings in Margaret Walls and Yanjun (Penny) Liao to discuss why homeowners insurance prices and nonrenewals are increasing in the United States—and how insurers, homeowners, and state and federal governments are responding. Walls is a senior fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF), director of RFF’s Climate Risk and Resilience Program, and co-host of Resources Radio, while Liao is an RFF fellow. Together, they elaborate on data they shared in the most recent issue of Resources magazine that links areas with previous weather-related property loss to higher premiums and policy nonrenewal rates. As a result, while climate change increases the severity and frequency of extreme weather, many homeowners are left without insurance plans that provide adequate coverage, especially in vulnerable regions such as California and Florida. Walls and Liao analyze why solutions such as “insurance of last resort” plans in the residual market fail to keep up with heightened risk, and where policymakers and communities might look next to support households that are impacted by wildfires, floods, storms, and other disasters across the country.
References and recommendations:
“Weather Extremes Disrupt Insurance Markets” by Margaret Walls, Yanjun (Penny) Liao, and Emily Joiner; https://www.resources.org/archives/weather-extremes-disrupt-insurance-markets/
“From Risk to Reward: Insurance Discounts for Wildfire Mitigation” by Evan Ludington, Yanjun (Penny) Liao, and Margaret A. Walls; https://www.rff.org/publications/working-papers/from-risk-to-reward-insurance-discounts-for-wildfire-mitigation/
“Property Insurance and Disaster Risk: New Evidence from Mortgage Escrow Data” by Benjamin J. Keys and Philip Mulder; https://www.nber.org/papers/w32579
Insurance for Good; https://www.insuranceforgood.org/
“Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching” documentary film; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38023177/
eBird phone app; https://ebird.org/about/ebird-mobile
“American Emergency: The Movement to Kill FEMA” podcast series from On the Media; https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/american-emergency-movement-kill-fema
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In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls welcomes to the podcast Nick Bratton, who works as a program manager in King County, Washington State, coordinating and promoting market-based conservation through the voluntary transfer of development rights. As an incentive-based approach to land use, transfer of development rights (TDR) programs enable property owners to sell the development rights on some of their land while setting aside some of the land so it remains undeveloped natural space. TDRs have great potential to facilitate both land conservation and residential or commercial development, all without the need for government funding. Walls and Bratton talk about Bratton’s work in King County’s TDR program, his observations on TDRs more broadly, and what he views as factors for success with such programs.
References and recommendations:
“Jazz Cruise Series Vol. 1” album by Kelvin Momo; https://open.spotify.com/album/05PU51SCYUrmmFgV6Qvmvs
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For this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi is joined by Lauren Dunlap, a project manager at the University of California, Los Angeles, Luskin Center for Innovation—and a former staff member at Resources for the Future. Dunlap describes exciting developments in electrification policy in California, where heat, pollution, and energy costs make the issue as topical as ever. A piece of legislation in California known as Senate Bill 1221 addresses the high financial costs of home electrification jointly with emissions reductions. The bill is novel, Dunlap notes, because it engages a cost-effective solution that directs savings from gas pipelines toward funding electrification. Implementation of the bill will involve efforts to support communities in navigating the unknowns of electrifying a home and aims to help mitigate issues at the intersection of climate change and energy infrastructure.
References and recommendations:
“Understanding Neighborhood Decarbonization in California: What Do We Know About Senate Bill 1221?” by Sooji Yang, Lauren Dunlap, and Gregory Pierce; https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/publication/understanding-neighborhood-decarbonization-in-california-what-do-we-know-about-sb-1221/
“California Has a Neighborhood Decarbonization Law. How Does It Work?” by Sooji Yang, Lauren Dunlap, Elias van Emmerick, and Gregory Pierce; https://legal-planet.org/2026/04/08/california-has-a-neighborhood-decarbonization-law-how-does-it-work/
“Streamlining Home Electrification in the Gateway Cities” by Lauren Dunlap, Sooji Yang, and Gregory Pierce; https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/publication/streamlining-home-electrification-in-the-gateway-cities/
“Impacts of Household Electrification on Energy Affordability in Los Angeles” by Lauren Dunlap, Rachel Sheinberg, Will Callan, Samantha Smithies, and Gregory Pierce; https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/publication/impacts-of-household-electrification-on-energy-affordability-in-los-angeles/
The Los Angeles Residential Energy Transition Tool (LA RESET Tool) from the Luskin Center for Innovation; https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/the-los-angeles-residential-energy-transition-tool/
“Avoiding Gas Distribution Pipeline Replacement Through Targeted Electrification in California” by Sean Smillie, Dan Alberga, Aryeh Gold-Parker, and Dan Aas; https://www.ethree.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Gas-Decommissioning-Fact-Sheet-2024-06-18.pdf
“California Burning” by Katherine Blunt; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/670012/california-burning-by-katherine-blunt/
“Hoppers” movie; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoppers_(film)
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In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes is joined by University of Michigan Associate Professor Johanna Mathieu, who researches the efficiency and environmental impacts of the electric power sector. By breaking down how electricity is supplied in the power system, Mathieu demonstrates how understanding the potential areas of flexibility in power consumption can point to system-level improvements for when energy demand is straining the electric grid. Mathieu’s research has explored how data centers themselves can be sources of capacity flexibility and be a tool to reduce congestion on the electric grid, if coordinated properly. While engineering allows for a technical understanding of current complications in the electric power sector, Mathieu notes that her research with the Center for Informed Voices for Infrastructure Choices (CIVIC) Forum at the University of Michigan showcases how interdisciplinary perspectives can make headway in developing technical and policy solutions alongside the growth of artificial intelligence. Grid solutions exist, Mathieu notes, and can result in better outcomes for utilities, data centers, and communities.
References and recommendations:
The Center for Informed Voices for Infrastructure Choices Forum; https://thecivic.forum/
“Data Centers” episode of the “Behind the Meter” podcast; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/data-centers/id1800217998?i=1000748223283
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In this episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Deborah Gordon, a senior principal at the Rocky Mountain Institute and senior fellow at the Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University. Together, they discuss the hit television show “Landman,” which exposes an up-close view of working and living in the oil and gas industry. “Landman” portrays some of the major risks and complications that arise when working for an oil company in the Permian Basin of Texas: injuries, accidents, contaminants, reckoning with automation and climate change, and more. Gordon pulls from her expertise to separate the “frack” from the fiction of working in oil and gas. She also expands on the future-facing questions of the fossil fuel industry and its role in shaping society and addressing climate change. With a third season on the way, Gordon and Raimi riff on some ideas for what the next plotline in “Landman” could be, and the off-screen realities for the oil and gas industry.
References and recommendations:
“Landman” television show; https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/landman/
“There Will Be Blood” film; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_Will_Be_Blood
“Argo” film; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argo_(2012_film)
“Dallas” television show; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_(TV_series)
“Private Empire” by Steve Coll; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/303537/private-empire-by-steve-coll/
“Lessons of Darkness” documentary film; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lessons_of_Darkness
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In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes is joined by podcast-host-turned-guest Daniel Raimi, a fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF) and director of RFF’s Communities in the Energy Transition initiative, to discuss Raimi’s research on energy communities and his work establishing a highly collaborative ongoing project: the Resilient Energy Economies initiative. Though all communities depend on energy, “energy communities” are communities whose economic livelihoods are dependent on fossil fuels. Raimi recounts how his early career experiences inspired him to study the complex dynamics of fossil fuel–dependent communities amid a shifting energy sector. The oft-overlooked economic complications that arise in energy communities have been motivating federal, state, and local efforts to preserve and protect financial stability for residents after energy companies leave town. Whether in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Texas, or a Tribal nation, Raimi maintains that engaging with the people who actually are living in these fossil fuel–dependent local economies enables a holistic understanding of the mammoth impact of the fossil fuel industry in the development of the United States and in the communities where the industry is central to their life and livelihoods.
References and recommendations:
Resilient Energy Economies initiative; https://www.resilientenergyeconomies.org/
“Building More Resilient Energy Economies,” a webinar series hosted by Resources for the Future; https://www.rff.org/topics/communities-in-the-energy-transition/webinar-series-building-more-resilient-energy-economies/
“Vigil” by George Saunders; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/564991/vigil-by-george-saunders/
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In this episode, Sarah Armitage, an assistant professor at Boston University, sits with host Daniel Raimi to share findings from a working paper she wrote with coauthors about the transfer sales of oil and gas wells and why this practice of oil and gas companies selling wells to each other can lead to negative consequences of “unplugged,” or “orphaned,” or abandoned wells. Armitage explains why unmaintained oil and gas infrastructure, such as orphaned wells, can lead to negative environmental consequences if not “plugged” or sealed after use; these abandoned wells often contain pollutants that can leak into the environment. She also lays out key factors behind project financing that can mitigate a mismatch in business incentives and environmental safety. Given that oil and gas wells, new and old, are spread across the United States, Armitage points to the continued challenges of navigating the state regulations and potential financial solutions that can make proper maintenance easier for old oil and gas wells. Policies that ensure some level of financial assurance, Armitage and coauthors find, can help fill a gap in incentives and put a plug on pollution before it starts.
References and recommendations:
“Cutting Costs or Cutting Corners: Asset Reallocation in Oil and Gas Production” by Sarah C. Armitage, Judson Boomhower, and Catherine Hausman; https://www.nber.org/papers/w34961
“Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade” by Adam Minter; https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/junkyard-planet-9781608197934/
“The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources” by Jack Farchy and Javier Blas; https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-world-for-sale-9780197651537
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In this episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Jade Stevens, founder and executive director of 40 Acre Conservation League, a Black-led nonprofit land trust in California. The organization, named after the historic promise of “40 acres and a mule” given to formerly enslaved Black Americans after the Civil War, honors the legacy of the promise by expanding land stewardship and outdoor recreation throughout California. A complementary objective of the land trust focuses on wildfire prevention and forest preservation, which involves extensive efforts to thin out overcrowded trees and restore wildlife. Despite challenges in site acquisition and dense tree regrowth, Stevens notes that maintaining outdoor space creates lasting improvements to quality of life for nearby communities. By merging the two aims of conserving land and expanding public lands, 40 Acre Conservation League aims to make the great outdoors more accessible to urban families in California while protecting the ecosystems within it.
References and recommendations:
40 Acre Conservation League; https://www.40acreleague.org/
“The Wild” podcast with Chris Morgan; https://www.thewildpod.org/
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In this episode, host Kristin Hayes is joined by Beia Spiller, a fellow and director of the transportation program at Resources for the Future (RFF), to explore new RFF research findings on critical minerals. (Note that this podcast episode is a sneak preview of a forthcoming report! We will add a link to the report in the show notes once the research has been released on the RFF website. Stay tuned.) To understand contemporary market dynamics for critical minerals, Spiller says that one must understand the history of mineral extraction in the United States. With high operational costs, explained in part by environmental regulations and workforce limitations, and with overseas firms bypassing many of these expenses, the US supply of critical minerals lies at the intersection of national security and global market tensions. While critical mineral policies in recent history have taken varied approaches—bilateral, multilateral, plurilateral, and more—evaluating the efficacy and implications of these policies is key to understanding which mechanisms actually advance US goals. Spiller argues that effectively addressing this “critical” issue requires a clear prioritization of policy objectives and concerns.
References and recommendations:
Stay tuned for the forthcoming report on critical minerals!
The Critical Minerals Research Lab is now open for applications through May 31: https://www.rff.org/news/press-releases/critical-minerals-research-lab-now-accepting-applications/
Critical Minerals Research Lab; https://www.rff.org/topics/transportation/critical-minerals/critical-minerals-research-lab/
“Burn Book” by Kara Swisher; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Burn-Book/Kara-Swisher/9781982163907
“Future of Travel: Is It Boom or Bust Time for EVs?” featuring Beia Spiller as a guest on the “Pivot” podcast hosted by Kara Switcher and Scott Galloway; https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/future-of-travel-is-it-boom-or-bust-time-for-evs/id1073226719?i=1000660297338
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For this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi is joined by David M. Hart, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and professor emeritus at George Mason University, to discuss the making and findings of CFR’s Global Energy Innovation Index. According to Hart, energy innovation—and policy that supports it—is crucial to addressing climate change. Through comprehensive data synthesis, Hart and his team created an index for 39 countries that evaluates a nation’s capacity to support energy innovation across three categories: the policy environment for investment, the market friendliness for new technologies, and the production of knowledge via research and patents. Results show that while Scandinavian countries take the lead overall in the index, the United States scores strongly in the policy and market measures and leaves room for improvement in terms of research and patents. The index provides a global lens on energy innovation efforts, Hart notes, as one country’s strides in technology can help spur innovation internationally.
References and recommendations:
“Global Energy Innovation Index” by David M. Hart, Colin Cunliff, Mia Beams, and Akkshath Subrahmanian; https://www.cfr.org/reports/global-energy-innovation-index
Biathlon event in the Olympics; https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/sports/biathlon
“Semiosis” by Sue Burke; https://torpublishinggroup.com/semiosis/
“A New (and Controversial) Approach to Climate Policy, with Varun Sivaram” from Resources Radio; https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/resources-radio-a-new-and-controversial-approach-to-climate-policy-with-varun-sivaram/
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In this episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Kevin Stiroh, a senior fellow at Resources for the Future and a former senior advisor at the Federal Reserve. Pulling from his extensive career in the financial sector, Stiroh expounds on how financial institutions evaluate climate-related risks and the analysis necessary to address risks across loans, insurance, and investment portfolios. Stiroh emphasizes that sound banking practices require active collaboration between research and policy to navigate financial risks. As calculations of the macroeconomic impacts of climate change evolve, past research may be less relevant and accurate than newer studies on climate change as sources of information about climate-related financial risk and shocks. Effective risk management is in a bank’s best interest, Stiroh notes, and requires rigorous, credible economic research that informs durable policy solutions.
References and recommendations:
“The Evolving View of Climate-Related Financial Risks in the US Financial Sector” by Kevin Stiroh; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/the-evolving-view-of-climate-related-financial-risks-in-the-us-financial-sector/
“The Effects of Climate Change–Related Risks on Banks: A Literature Review” by Olivier de Bandt, Laura-Chloé Kuntz, Nora Pankratz, Fulvio Pegoraro, Haakon Solheim, Gregory Sutton, Azusa Takeyama, and Fan Dora Xia; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joes.12665
Work from the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System; https://www.ngfs.net/en
Books and readings on Antarctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Falcon_Scott) and Ernest Shackleton (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton)
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In this episode, Destenie Nock, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University, joins host Daniel Raimi to discuss measures utilities and policymakers can take to better capture energy-accessibility and affordability metrics. Whereas energy data is often specific to energy providers, Nock argues that evaluating energy at a household level enables a more holistic understanding of energy usage and the energy transition. With electricity rates on the rise, accurate energy consumption data is central to ensuring comfortable temperatures in more homes. Progress in energy affordability, Nock notes, requires a multifaceted policy approach that integrates energy-equity and wellbeing metrics into measures of success. Energy affordability is not a standalone problem, and decisionmakers must recognize its ties with other cost-of-living issues and the need for inclusive data to effectively address energy burdens.
References and recommendations:
“Justice as a Measure of Energy Transition Success” by Destenie Nock; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-025-01870-1
“Evicted” by Matthew Desmond; https://evictedbook.com/
“Unveiling Hidden Energy Poverty, with Destenie Nock” from Resources Radio; www.resources.org/resources-radio/unveiling-hidden-energy-poverty-with-destenie-nock/
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In this episode, host Kristin Hayes sits down with Resources for the Future (RFF) Senior Fellow Bryan Hubbell to look back at Hubbell’s public-service career at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As an environmental economist, Hubbell led efforts to integrate the social sciences into EPA’s environmental policy research and establish methods to calculate the benefits of clean air. Under his leadership, EPA developed the Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program, which has provided an accessible and rigorous way to evaluate the impacts of air-pollution regulations. The quantification and monetization of air-quality benefits are foundational to benefit-cost analyses, which Hubbell stresses are crucial to well-informed policy decisionmaking. Hubbell maintains that recent efforts to remove benefit calculations from federal benefit-cost analysis practices do not stack up against the years of stringent testing and research invested into creating these measures.
References and recommendations:
“If/Then: Ignoring the Benefits of Air Pollution Regulations Will Lead to Worse Policy Decisions” by Bryan Hubbell and Alan Krupnick; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/ifthen-ignoring-the-benefits-of-air-pollution-regulations-will-lead-to-worse-policy-decisions/
“How the US Environmental Protection Agency Got It Wrong About Monetizing Benefits of Air Pollution Regulations” by Bryan Hubbell and Alan Krupnick; https://www.rff.org/publications/reports/how-the-us-environmental-protection-agency-got-it-wrong-about-monetizing-benefits-of-air-pollution-regulations/
“Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act 1990–2020” from the US Environmental Protection Agency; https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/benefits-and-costs-clean-air-act-1990-2020-report-documents-and-graphics
“Estimating the Public Health Benefits of Proposed Air Pollution Regulations” from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; https://www.nationalacademies.org/publications/10511
“Particles of Truth: A Story of Discovery, Controversy, and the Fight for Healthy Air” by C. Arden Pope III and Douglas W. Dockery; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/771621/particles-of-truth-by-c-arden-pope-iii-and-douglas-w-dockery-foreword-by-gina-mccarthy/
“The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet” by Jeff Goodell; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jeff-goodell/the-heat-will-kill-you-first/9780316497558/
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For this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi is joined by Deputy Executive Director of the Energy for Growth Hub Katie Auth to examine the significance of shutting down the Power Africa program, which had been sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), along with related implications for international energy development and energy access. Auth notes how the sudden shuttering of Power Africa (and USAID) has weakened US credibility and raised confusion for countries that had been promised energy assistance via Power Africa. Auth identifies a chance for the international-development community to not simply rebuild this and other programs in coming years, but to move forward by emulating the positive, collaborative elements of Power Africa in future energy development.
References and recommendations:
“High Energy Planet” podcast from the Energy for Growth Hub; https://energyforgrowth.org/article/high-energy-planet-all-episodes/
“Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver; https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/barbara-kingsolver
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For this week’s podcast episode, host Kristin Hayes chats with Resources for the Future (RFF) Fellow Milan Elkerbout alongside Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor and RFF University Fellow and Board Member Catherine Wolfram to make sense of the significant new global launch of the Open Coalition on Compliance Carbon Markets at last year’s 30th Conference of the Parties. In accordance with a key tenet of the Paris Agreement, the declaration of the Open Coalition establishes formal—and actionable—intent for the participating countries to align on a shared global framework for carbon markets. Elkerbout and Wolfram characterize this initiative as a sign of adapting to new dynamics that have been governing international climate negotiations, with strong possibility of more countries joining. With this momentum, Elkerbout and Wolfram note progress toward emissions reductions and climate cooperation.
References and recommendations:
“Building a Climate Coalition: Aligning Carbon Pricing, Trade, and Development” by Catherine Wolfram, Joseph Aldy, Candido Bracher, Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Kimberly Clausing, Christian Gollier, Frank Jotzo, Marcelo PL Medeiros, Athiphat Muthitacharoen, Axel Ockenfels, Mari Pangestu, Daouda Sembene, E. Somanathan, Dustin Tingley, Jennifer Winter, Simon Black, and Carolyn Fischer; https://salatainstitute.harvard.edu/building-a-climate-coalition-gcpp-flagship-report/
“Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare” by Edward Fishman; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/726149/chokepoints-by-edward-fishman/
“The Old World Order Is Dead” by Paul Musgrave; https://musgrave.substack.com/p/the-old-world-order-is-dead
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For this week’s episode, Dan Egan, the Brico Fund Journalist in Residence at the Center for Water Policy at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and Pulitzer Prize finalist, joins host Margaret Walls to discuss his book, “The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance.” Through stories about the history of phosphorus—including why it earned the “devil’s element” title—Egan describes the large-scale ecological experiment in a Canadian lake that opened people’s eyes to the connections between phosphorus, agriculture, and algal blooms, also noting the challenges of reconciling business interests with environmental concerns. Despite ongoing water pollution in the Midwest, Egan’s experience as a Great Lakes journalist has shown that clearing toxins from waters is a goal within reach that has wide-reaching benefits.
References and recommendations:
“The Devil’s Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance” by Dan Egan; https://wwnorton.com/books/the-devils-element
“The Dark Frontier: Unlocking the Secrets of the Deep Sea” by Jeffrey Marlow; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/652987/the-dark-frontier-by-jeffrey-marlow/
“A Terrible Country” by Keith Gessen; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545063/a-terrible-country-by-keith-gessen/
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In this episode, host Daniel Raimi is joined by Luisa Palacios, an adjunct senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, who breaks down the major and most recent energy developments in Venezuela. Palacios recounts the role of oil in Venezuela’s history and the implications of oil dependency as the country navigates another period of political uncertainty. Venezuela’s oil industry, Palacios underscores, is a major player in the international energy market and faces obstacles to acquiring substantial investment. Palacios draws from her expertise in emerging markets and international affairs to note the critical moves to look for as the world awaits how Venezuela could balance efforts to reduce carbon intensity with economic growth.
References and recommendations:
“Reinventing Venezuela’s Struggling Electricity Sector” by Francisco Morandi and Luisa Palacios; https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/reinventing-venezuelas-struggling-electricity-sector/
“Michael Webber on What’s Behind Rising Energy Costs” episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast from the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs; https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/michael-webber-on-whats-behind-rising-energy-costs/
“World Energy Investment” reports from the International Energy Agency; https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-investment-2025#overview
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For this week’s episode, Miyuki Hino, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, joins host Margaret Walls to discuss Hino’s latest research on high-tide flooding (also called “sunny day flooding” or “nuisance flooding”) in North Carolina. Hino recounts the complications of measuring increasingly frequent and disruptive floods and some innovative solutions to technical challenges—including creating water-level sensors and engaging communities to understand local geographies. By specializing data collection to suit a research area in murky waters, Hino and her research collaborators have noted more accurately the extent to which sea level rise has affected coastal communities. With improved data on hand, Hino reports that previous estimates of flood frequency are serious, but unsurprising, understatements of current realities and that updated findings can help communities better adapt to changing tides.
References and recommendations:
“Land-based sensors reveal high frequency of coastal flooding” by Miyuki Hino, Katherine Anarde, Tessa Fridell, Ryan McCune, Thomas Thelen, Elizabeth Farquhar, Perri Woodard, and Anthony Whipple; https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02326-w
Sunny Day Flooding Project; https://sunnydayflooding.com/
“Good Hang with Amy Poehler” podcast; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Hang_with_Amy_Poehler
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