We're back for one last episode of 2024 with our most frequent guest on The Climate Pod! Evlondo Cooper is back on the show to review how climate change was covered in mainstream media over the course of the year. In this conversation, Evlondo Cooper discusses the evolving landscape of climate media, why it remains critical to connect extreme weather events to climate change, and how that still continues to be absent from major news coverage. He highlights the power of mainstream media in shaping public perception and the role of independent media is increasingly playing in providing in-depth coverage. We also explore the commercialization of Earth Day, missing coverage of COP29, and the need for more year-round focus on extreme weather events and the integration of attribution science to enhance climate reporting.

Evlondo Cooper is a senior writer with the climate and energy program at Media Matters. Check out Evlondo's reporting here: https://www.mediamatters.org/author/evlondo-cooper

Further Reading:

Matt Norlander's article referenced in the conversation

As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our YouTube channel and our Substack, The Climate Weekly.

What would the world look like at 3-degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels? In his latest work, Collision Course: 3-degrees of warming & humanity’s future, David Spratt explores the catastrophic implications of the planet we're heading towards as warming continues to accelerate. He argues we need to face up to realities of the crisis and have an honest discourse on risks and impacts already occuring. On the show this week, he joins us to discuss the significance of tipping points, and the systemic risks posed by climate change, and the non-linear, catastrophic impacts expected at 3-degrees. We also explore the dire implications for food security, agricultural yields, and social stability. David underscores the need for greater awareness and understanding of climate risks and the importance of leadership in tackling the climate crisis.

David Spratt is a climate and policy analyst who serves as the Research Director for Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration. He is the co-author of the book Climate Code Red: The case for emergency action.

Read Collision Course: 3-degrees of warming & humanity’s future

As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our YouTube channel and our Substack, The Climate Weekly.

We're undergoing a necessary renewable energy transition. And this transition will require an enormous amount of critical metals in order to power an economy without fossil fuels. Today, the processes we use to extract these materials - from copper, nickel, lithium, and more - are causing harm to both humans and our physical environment. So what do we do about it?

In his new book, Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future, Vince Beiser argues that there are huge opportunities to make mining safer, recycle more metals, and use less energy to help lessen the burden. Though the critical metals necessary for the transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles will never come without trade-offs, it's clear we could be doing much better. In this conversation, Beiser discusses the most pressing environmental damage and human rights concerns facing critical metals and how we could start to confront the problem. We also talk about the geopolitical implications of China's dominance in the critical metals supply chain, the scale of demand for metals, and the need for equitable solutions in the energy transition. Finally, we explore deep sea mining, the challenges and opportunities in recycling metals, the growing right to repair movement, and the importance of reducing energy consumption to help ease demand.

Vince Beiser is an award-winning journalist and author. His first book, The World in a Grain, was a finalist for the PEN / E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and a California Book Award. His work has appeared in Wired, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, and The New York Times, among other publications.

Read Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future

Check out Vince's Substack, Power Metals

As always, follow us @climatepod on Twitter and email us at theclimatepod@gmail.com. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and more! Subscribe to our YouTube channel and our Substack, The Climate Weekly.