Tag Archives: climate crisis

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.

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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

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.

Read transcripts and subscribe at the Writer’s Voice Substack 

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

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

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.

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

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Podcast

Mark Vonnegut, THE HEART OF CARING & Oliver Milman on Biden’s Carbon Bomb

We talk with Mark Vonnegut about his memoir, THE HEART OF CARING: A Life In Pediatrics.

Then, environmental reporter Oliver Milman tells us about the shocking carbon bomb that President Biden is detonating with his record-breaking sales of oil and gas leases. Milman co-wrote a recent piece in the Guardian, “Us Fracking Boom Could Tip World To Edge Of Climate Disaster.”

And we hear a poem by Mary Oliver, “At The River Clarion.”

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.

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Podcast

Saul Griffith, ELECTRIFY: An Optimist’s Playbook For Our Clean Energy Future

#ElectrifyEverything! We spend the hour talking with Saul Griffith about his new book, Electrify: An Optimist’s Playbook For Our Clean Energy Future.

It’s about how we can solve the climate crisis, live well and save money by electrifying everything—and powering that electricity with clean energy.

In maybe the 1980s or the 1990s when climate change just came to the attention of the general population, you could still imagine that we could get to the finish line with the transition via natural gas or biomass and biofuels. But we’ve left the carbon game so late, we need to get to fully decarbonized infrastructure in our next move…It’s now time that the fossil fuel machine in your life has to be replaced at its end of life with something that’s electric…to meet our climate targets of as close to one and a half degrees as we can get…We just need to make sure that every fossil fuel machine is the last version of itself.     — Saul Griffith

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

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Podcast

Julia Sweig, LADY BIRD JOHNSON & Michael Klare on the Pentagon, China and Climate

We talk with Julia Sweig about her acclaimed book, Lady Bird Johnson: In Plain Sight.

Then, after exiting Afghanistan, President Biden is turning his attention to China, implying that China is a serious security threat that the US may have to meet with force. But security analyst Michael Klare disagrees. We talk with him about his recent post in the Nation magazine, The Real Existential Threat Is Our Overheating Planet.

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.

Love Writer’s Voice? Please rate us on your podcast app. It really helps to get the word out about our show.

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Podcast

Eliot Peper, VEIL & Paul Greenberg, THE CLIMATE DIET

We talk with Eliot Peper about his cli-fi novel, Veil. It’s about what happens when a tech CEO decides to geo-engineer the climate—in secret.

Then, we catch up with author Paul Greenberg about The Climate Diet: 50 Simple Ways to Trim Your Carbon Footprint. It’s just out for Earth Day.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use!

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Podcast

Writer’s Voice: Jenny Offill, WEATHER & Ben Ehrenreich, DESERT NOTEBOOKS

We talk with Jenny Offill about her acclaimed cli-fi novel, Weather. Then, Ben Ehrenreich tells us about Desert Notebooks: A Road Map for the End of Time.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use!

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon, find us on Vurbl, or on Twitter @WritersVoice. Continue reading

Podcast

Michael Mann, THE NEW CLIMATE WAR & John Nichols on Covid9 relief

We talk with world renowned climate scientist Michael Mann about his book, The New Climate War. It’s about all the ways the fossil fuel industry and its allies seek to discredit, divide, and deflect the movement to save the climate from making our planet uninhabitable.

Later, we check in with Nation magazine political correspondent John Nichols about his recent post about the fight over the COVID19 relief plan.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres, on the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use!

Like us on Facebook at Writers Voice with Francesca Rheannon or find us on twitter @WritersVoice.

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Podcast

Web Only Extra: Daniel Judt on Australia’s Wildfires

Remember the Australian wildfires? The ones that killed some one billion animals and torched millions of acres of land? Well, Australia is still in fire season, and, as late as yesterday, February 5, they were still going on. There’s a temporary reprieve, as Australia braces for torrential rainfall, but they will no doubt be back.

A few days ago, Francesca spoke by Skype with journalist Daniel Judt about his recent piece in the Nation, “Australia’s Devastating Wildfires Were Not Inevitable.” It is the second in a three-part series on climate by Judt; the first in the series is “In Senegal, Climate Change is Robbing Thousands of Their Homes.”

 

Podcast

Michael Klare, ALL HELL BREAKING LOOSE, Christian Parenti, Tropic Of Chaos & Review of new Hilary Davidson thriller

Michael Klare talks about his new book, All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective On Climate Change.

Then we air a clip from our 2011 interview with Christian Parenti about his book, Tropic Of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence.

We also review a terrific new thriller from Hilary Davidson, Don’t Look Down.

Writer’s Voice — in depth conversation with writers of all genres. On the air since 2004. Rate us on iTunes or whatever podcast app you use!

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Podcast

Dan Werb, CITY OF OMENS & Michael Mann on the Youth Climate Movement

What’s causing the epidemic of violence against women in Tijuana Mexico? That’s the question epidemiologist Dan Werb addresses in his powerful exploration into the causes of the epidemic of missing and murdered women in Tijuana. We talk with him about his book, City of Omens: A Search for the Missing Women of the Borderlands (Bloomsbury Press, 2019.)

Then, the UN Climate Summit and a global week of action on the climate is happening. We air an excerpt from an interview with climate scientist Michael Mann. Continue reading