The Climate Daily Podcast

ELECTRICITY PULLED OUT OF HUMID AIR! HEY EVERYBODY— We’re back and can you feel it? The air is electric. Speaking of which, did you know that a major source of lightning during thunderstorms is from the massive amount of energy stored in water molecules in the air? (Actually, that’s why old Benjamin Franklin flew a kite in a thunderstorm on that fateful June day in 1752—to catch electricity in a Leyden Jar—a bottle specifically designed to catch and store electricity for later use.

WHAT’S THE EARTH WORTH (APART FROM THE OBVIOUS…)? Can you really put a price on Mother Nature? It turns out, you can. According to the World Wildlife Federation’s Living Planet Index, as of 2018, Mother Nature is worth a cool $125 trillion. So what is the Living Planet Index, and how did they arrive at that figure? First the authors started with the assumption that nature underpins all economic activity.

THE NEW YORK HARBOR SCHOOL In the fall of 2003, The Urban Assembly New York Harbor School opened its doors on the fourth floor of the Bushwick Campus High School to 125 freshmen who lived almost exclusively in the surrounding neighborhood in Brooklyn. At the time, the New York City Department of Education looked to Harbor School to help improve the community’s local graduation rate, which had hovered for too long at 24 percent.

CLIMATE-SUSTAINABILITY.ORG As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it. — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. That’s the operating principle behind Climate-Sustainability.org. Its team facilitates the development of new partnerships and coalitions. We aim at building bridges between people and organizations to accelerate climate action and transform our societies towards a sustainable future.

CLIMATE CHAMPION, HINDOU OUMAROU IBRAHIM Under the combined effect of several factors including climate change, Lake Chad, which is the Sahel’s water reservoir for more than 40 million inhabitants, is gradually disappearing. In 40 years, it has lost 90% of its surface area, reinforcing tensions in one of the most vulnerable regions of the world. Meet Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, an environmental activist from Chad.

WILL “AKUNA” ROBINSON The mission of The Climate Daily is not just to bring you stories of people and groups taking action to combat climate change. It’s also to expose you all to inspirational BIPOC and ADA people working to bring themselves and us closer to nature. Because the closer we get to nature, the more we will collectively fight to save it. Groups like “We Got Next,” and “Outdoor Afro” and Corinna Newsome. Now, Meet Will “Akuna” Robinson.

CLIMATE CHAMPION, NIVI ACHANTA Here’s a fascinating person doing small things in a systematic way to achieve big goals. Her name is Nivi Achanta. She’s founder of The Soapbox, a newsletter-driven community that provides bite-sized action plans to tackle one aspect of climate change each month. Before TSP, Achanta worked as consultant for Accenture because it touted itself as a place where “You can join our company and change the world.” Turns out that wasn’t the case.

THE BELIZE MAYA FOREST PROJECT The Maya Forest Corridor, an area of forest in central Belize, has faced deforestation rates almost four times the national average. But on April 22, an eleven-year dream of conservation groups to protect that area was realized. The majority of the deforestation in that area is because of clearing land for industrial-scale agriculture.

CA GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM’S $330 MILLION PLAN TO INCREASE RECYCLING California Governor Gavin Newsom/state of California recently proposed $330 million to restore the state’s declining bottled deposit program. The goal is to expand the number of sites, and offer grants to retailers and grocers who take back empties. The plan also includes reverse vending machines for empty bottles on school campuses. Newsom also wants to raise the consumer credit for returning bottles.

GOLDMAN PRIZE WINNER NIGERIA’S CHIMA WILLIAMS And the 2022 Goldman Environmental Prizewinner from Africa is Nigerian lawyer, Chima Williams. Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, is the continent’s largest oil producer and the 13th largest oil producer in the world. More than half of the country’s revenue is derived from the oil sector and crude oil comprises 90% of export revenue.