Tag Archives: climate change

Podcast

Women, Vengeance, and Justice: Elizabeth Flock, THE FURIES. Plus, Stephen Robert Miller, OVER THE SEAWALL

We talk with Elizabeth Flock about her book, The Furies. It follows three remarkable women — in the US, in India and in Syria — who took justice into their own hands to defend themselves, other women and their communities against abuse.

Then, environmental journalist Stephen Robert Miller tells us about his book, Over The Seawall: Tsunamis, Cyclones, Drought, And The Delusion Of Controlling Nature. He dives into the deep end of disaster mitigation gone wrong. From Arizona’s drought dilemmas to Japan’s daunting seawalls, we hear how “solutions” can turn into bigger problems.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Find us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram and Threads @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on X/Twitter @WritersVoice. Read transcripts at the Writer’s Voice Substack.

Key words: Stephen R. Miller, Elizabeth Flock, Nonfiction, domestic violence, women’s rights, global warming, climate change, book podcast, author interview

Read more: Women, Vengeance, and Justice: Elizabeth Flock, THE FURIES. Plus, Stephen Robert Miller, OVER THE SEAWALL

The Furies: Women, Vengeance & Justice

In Ancient Greek mythology, the Furies were Goddesses who came out of the ground to exact vengeance on men. In the plays of Sophocles, they were the daughters of Darkness and of Gaea (The Earth). According to Euripides. They were three in number.

And that’s the number of the modern day Furies in Elizabeth Flock’s book, The Furies. They include a young mother from Alabama who shot and killed her rapist after an assault where he threatened to kill her; a Dalit (what used to be called “Untouchable”) woman in India who organized a band of women to fight back against gender-based violence; and finally, a Kurdish Syrian warrior in a thousands-strong all-female militia that battled ISIS in Syria.

The Furies explores these women’s lives with nuance and compassion, not shrinking from the moral issue of responding to violence with violence, but also showing that these ultimately ordinary women did what they felt they had to do to fight back against oppression.

About the Author

Elizabeth Flock is an Emmy Award–winning journalist whose work has been featured in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Atlantic, among other outlets. She is the host of the podcast Blind Plea, about criminalized survival. Her first book, The Heart Is a Shifting Sea, won a Nautilus Book Award.


Unintended Consequences of Climate & Disaster Mitigation

Stephen Robert Miller’s compelling narrative Over the Sea Wall takes us on a journey through the misguided attempts at mitigating natural and climate disasters, emphasizing how our best-intended efforts can backfire and lead to greater problems. In this conversation with the author, we explore the themes of maladaptation, technological interventions, and the pressing need for sustainable solutions in the face of climate change.

Two of the examples in Over The Seawall feature responses to climate disruption: one is a cautionary tale about Arizona’s flawed attempts to save its water supplies as climate change causes mega droughts in the Southwest. The other is a positive example of how communities in Bangla Desh are countering the impact of increased floods. The third example is the source of the book’s title: it’s about Japan’s ham-fisted response to the tsunami of 2011, which killed nearly 20,000 people.

About the Author

Stephen Robert Miller is an award-winning science journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, The Guardian, Discover Magazine, Audubon, and many others. He was a Ted Scripps Fellow at the University of Colorado’s Center for Environmental Journalism.

Podcast

Hope For The Climate Crisis: Michael Mann, OUR FRAGILE MOMENT

We talk with world-renowned climate scientist Michael Mann about climate, past, present and future. His book is Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis.

The world is largely past climate denialism (except for the Republican Party and its fascist leader Donald Trump.) But what has replaced it is climate doomism — the notion that it’s just too late to do anything about climate disruption, so we might as well continue with business as usual.

But as Michael Mann tells us, it’s not too late to avert climate apocalypse — and there is resilience in the climate system, if we can just give it enough support to kick in.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Find us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram and Threads @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on X/Twitter @WritersVoice. Read transcripts at the Writer’s Voice Substack.

Key words: climate change, climate crisis, global warming, climate science, Michael Mann, podcast, book recommendations, author interview, book podcast, book show, writer’s voice, Francesca Rheannon

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Podcast

Cory Doctorow, THE LOST CAUSE

We talk with Cory Doctorow about his new novel The Lost Cause, “a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency.” It imagines an America where another better world is possible, while confronting the evils of today.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

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Read the transcript

Key Words: writer’s voice, podcast, book recommendations, author interview, book podcast, book show, book excerpt, fiction, cli-fi, Cory Doctorow, Green New Deal, climate change

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Podcast

John Berger, SOLVING THE CLIMATE CRISIS

Can we achieve 100% clean power by 2030?

“It would be economically efficient and technologically possible to produce all of our power and all of our energy needs through clean power sources. It’s basically as simple as that.”

John J. Berger

We spend the hour with John Berger talking about his inspiring new book, Solving The Climate Crisis: Frontier Reports From The Race To Save The Earth.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Find us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram and Threads @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on X/Twitter @WritersVoice. Read transcripts and subscribe at the Writer’s Voice Substack.

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Key words: climate change, climate crisis, global warming, John Berger, podcast, book recommendations, author interview, book podcast, book show, writer’s voice, Francesca Rheannon,

Oil Deals Over Climate: Controversy Surrounds Annual UN Climate Talks in Dubai

The annual UN Climate talks are taking place in the petro-state, the United Arab Republics. It is the largest such Conference of Parties, or COP, so far.

But, forgive the cynicism, it’s also likely to be the most corrupt. As they say, fish rots from the head and the head of this COP, its president, is Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil.

According to the BBC, The UAE plans to use its role as the host of the UN climate talks in Dubai as a chance to strike oil and gas deals with other countries—deals that would blow right through our fast depleting global carbon budget. (That’s the amount we can still emit before passing the point of no return on climate.) Leaked briefing documents revealed the plans for making the deals, but the UAE is denying the report.

Climate Hopes in the Shadow of Scandal: Finding Inspiration in John Berger’s Book

The annual COPs seem to be where climate hopes go to die. But John Berger’s book, Solving The Climate Crisis, makes clear that there is still ample room for hope.

A practical roadmap for effective climate action, his book is full of inspiring advances in clean power, energy efficiency, and other means of climate protection that will create millions of new jobs and substantial economic benefits for all of us.

About the Author

John J. Berger is an environmental science and policy specialist, prize-winning author, and journalist. He is the author of eleven books on energy and environmental issues.

Read An Excerpt from Solving The Climate Crisis

Read The Interview Transcript

Podcast

David Lipsky, THE PARROT AND THE IGLOO: Climate & The Science of Denial

We spend the hour with David Lipsky talking about his new book, The Parrot and The Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial. It’s about the sordid history of climate denialism, its deep roots in the industry of tobacco denialism, and its pernicious impact on the public’s trust in science.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Find us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram and Threads @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on X/Twitter @WritersVoice.

Read transcripts and subscribe at the Writer’s Voice Substack

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Key words: David Lipsky, climate change, global warming, science, climate denial, podcast, book recommendations, author interview, book podcast, book show, creative nonfiction, history, writer’s voice, Francesca Rheannon, Continue reading

Podcast

Climate Week Edition: Andrew Boyd, I WANT A BETTER CATASTROPHE & Chuck Collins, ALTAR TO AN ERUPTING SUN

We’re celebrating the upcoming Climate Week by featuring two books that tackle the crisis from different perspectives.

We take a journey into the heart of climate grief and out the other side with Andrew Boyd. His book is I Want A Better Catastrophe: Navigating the Climate Crisis with Grief, Hope and Gallows Humor.

Then, a new novel shines a light on the history of social activism and it’s future. We talk with Chuck Collins, author of numerous non fiction books, about his terrific debut novel, Altar to an Erupting Sun. It’s about how social justice activism has dealt with grave crises before and how the lessons learned from those struggles can inform how we deal with the climate emergency today and in the years to come.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Find us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram and Threads @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on X/Twitter @WritersVoice.

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Key words: climate crisis, Andrew Boyd, Chuck Collins, Climate Week, writers voice, podcast, book recommendations, author interview, book podcast, book show, book excerpt, nonfiction, fiction Continue reading

Podcast

Annalee Newitz, THE TERRAFORMERS & Doug Tallamy, NATURE’S BEST HOPE

We talk with Annalee Newitz about their new sci-fi novel, The Terraformers. Taking place some 60,000 years in the future on a planet far, far away it pits a motley crew of designer sentient life forms, including neo-Neanderthals, talking moose, sentient trains, journalist cats and gender-diverse Homo sapiens, against the greedy corporation that wants to gentrify their planet.

We have to design our living spaces, the places where we play, the places where we farm, our corporate landscapes, our roadsides. All of these places have to be designed in ways that welcome nature rather than expel her. — Doug Tallamy

Then we talk with ecologist Doug Tallamy about the Young Reader’s Edition of his bestseller, Nature’s Best Hope. The book outlines his vision for a homegrown national park composed of millions of urban, suburban and exurban yards — a grassroots approach to conservation that everyone can take part in, regardless of age.

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Tags: sci-fi, Annalee Newitz, ecology, native plants, Doug Tallamy, pollinators, writers voice, podcast, book recommendations, author interview, book podcast, book show, book excerpt, science, science fiction, climate change Continue reading

Podcast

Jeff Goodell talks climate change in THE HEAT WILL KILL YOU FIRST & Suing the Fossil Fuel Industry

July 4, 2023 was the hottest day ever recorded on Earth. Are we exceeding the “Goldilocks zone” of a habitable planet?

We ask that question of climate journalist and author Jeff Goodell. His new book is THE HEAT WILL KILL YOU FIRST: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet.

We also revisit a conversation about suing the fossil fuel companies for scorching our planet. We play an excerpt from our 2017 interview with Lynn Zinser of Climate Liability News that is still relevant now, five years later.

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READ THE TRANSCRIPT

Tags: climate change, global warming, extreme heat, Jeff Goodell, climate litigation, Lynn Zinser, podcast, book recommendations, author interview, book podcast, book show, creative nonfiction Continue reading

Podcast

The Case For Climate Hope: Joelle Gergis, HUMANITY’S MOMENT

I’ve been thinking about climate change lately in really simple terms: that it’s really about the people and the places we love. It isn’t actually any more complex than that. So, yes, we talk a lot about parts per million and all these degrees of warming and all these complex things. And they are indeed metrics that scientists use to talk about climate change. But if you just strip it all the way back, it is really about protecting those places that we love and the beautiful planet that we live on as well. — Joelle Gergis

We spend the hour with IPCC climate scientist Joelle Gergis, talking about her powerful and moving book, Humanity’s Moment: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope.

It’s about how she grapples with the grief her scientific findings confront her with — but also the hope she feels as she witnesses how the tide is turning toward climate protection.

Writers Voice, in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

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Key terms: climate change, IPCC, JoÁ«lle Gergis, climate science, podcast

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Podcast

How To Save The Planet, Collectively & Individually: Stephen Markley, DELUGE, plus Peter Kalmus & Darr Reilly

How can we make the change we need to save our future?

I spent a lot of time studying how we as collective agents of history have helped foment enormous change and also how we have failed at it. That was another important element, to look at the revolutions that did not work. Because unlike basically every one of those revolutions, this is something we can’t miss on. We’re not going to get a do-over on this. It’s now or never.  — Stephen Markley

We talk with Stephen Markley about his acclaimed new novel about the climate crisis, The Deluge. It lays out the different paths that may be taken to changing the political will to tackle climate, the unintended consequences they lead to, and the twists and turns of political, ecological and individual fates that intertwine and react with each other.

Then we talk about what we can do in our own lives to protect our planet from climate disaster. We air excerpts from our interviews with Peter Kalmus (Being The Change) and Darr Reilly of Carbon C.R.E.W.

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Podcast

Heinz Insu Fenkl, SKULL WATER & Stephanie Wear, EAT UGLY

We talk with Korean American writer Heinz Insu Fenkl about his autobiographical novel Skull Water. It’s about his youth in Korea as the son of a Korean mother and German-American father, the trauma of war and the dizzying transformation of Korea from the old ways to modern life.

Then, jelly fish, bugs and garbage, oh my! We talk with marine scientist Dr. Stephanie Wear about the importance—and the joys — of “eating ugly.” She hosts the new documentary series Eating Ugly, on Discovery+.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

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Podcast

Dr. Ann-Christine Duhaime, MINDING THE CLIMATE & Darr Reilly, The Carbon C.R.E.W. Project

Why is it so hard to get the hair-on-fire action on climate we need to deal with the crisis? Could it have something to do with our brains? We talk with Dr. Ann-Christine Duhaime about her book, Minding The Climate: How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis.

Then, we talk with one climate activist who’s putting Duhaime’s lessons on how to change minds about the crisis to work: Darr Reilly, co-founder of the Carbon Crew Project.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004.

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on Twitter @WritersVoice. Find Francesca at mastodon.social[at]FRheannon.

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Podcast

Bruce Holsinger, THE DISPLACEMENTS & Elizabeth Cripps, WHAT CLIMATE JUSTICE MEANS AND WHY WE SHOULD CARE

Bruce Holsinger tells us about his novel, The Displacements. It’s about what happens to a family when the first Category Six hurricane hits the wealthy enclave of Coral Gables, Florida.

Then, we talk with moral philosopher Elizabeth Cripps about her book, What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care.

Bruce Holsinger
There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide in a world beset by the Climate Catastrophe—not even if you’re rich. The leveling impact of climate change is at the heart of Bruce Holsinger’s novel The Displacements.

It’s a page-turning dive into what happens to people when climate driven disasters take everything from them. And how they cope in an America where disaster response is ever more stretched to the breaking point.

Bruce Holsinger is the author of the bestselling novel The Gifted School, as well as two historical novels set in the Middle Ages, among other books. He teaches English at the University of Virginia.

Read an excerpt from The Displacements

Elizabeth Cripps
At the very heart of the climate crisis is the question: what is our responsibility to our fellow humans, future generations and all the other living beings we share the planet with?

Elizabeth Cripps examines the moral dimensions of the climate crisis in her book What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care.

Cripps is a moral and political philosopher and writer, specializing in climate justice and parental duties. She teaches at the University of Edinburgh and is Associate Director of CRITIQUE: Centre for Ethics and Critical Thought.

Podcast

Thor Hanson, HURRICANE LIZARDS AND PLASTIC SQUID & Beth Shapiro, LIFE AS WE MADE IT

Today we have two fascinating interviews, both about how human beings are changing the other species with whom we share the planet.

Later in the show, we talk with evolutionary biologist Beth Shapiro about how humans deliberately change species. Her book is Life As We Made It: How 50,000 Years Of Human Innovation Refined And Redefined Nature.

But first, Thor Hanson tells us about how many species are evolving to adapt to human-caused climate change. His book is Hurricane Lizards And Plastic Squid: The Fraught And Fascinating Biology Of Climate Change.

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Podcast

Raj Patel and Rupa Marya, INFLAMED & Jimmie Allen, MY VOICE IS A TRUMPET

We talk with physician and activist Rupa Marya and her co-author writer and food activist Raj Patel about their book, Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice.

Then, country music singer Jimmie Allen tells us about his book for children, My Voice Is A Trumpet. And we have a book recommendation about a new environmental book for kids.

Writers Voice— in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice Radio, on Instagram @WritersVoicePodcast or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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