By Heid Jerstad
Wherever you listen – if it's while travelling, around the house or however you do podcast time, why not learn and be inspired? This post provides you with some pointers for the edutainment you've been waiting for.
When I started writing this podcasts review I optimistically thought I'd easily be able to listen to all the climate podcasts out there. The good news is that there are a LOT of them, and I guess the bad news is that this is a rough overview, not a detailed catalogue.
If you only listen to one or two, make it one of these:
Mothers of Invention:
Even after listening to a lot of other podcasts, I still think Mothers of Invention is my favourite. In it the former president of Ireland and an Irish comedian present a lively and informed take on topics within climate change such as divestment, plastics and justice. This podcast has a high production value and speaks to a wide audience while being informed enough to please a picky former climate researcher like myself.
Outrage and Optimism:
The superstar podcast, however, is Outrage and Optimism, where co-host Christine Figueres, former head of the IMF, along with a few others, interview people like David Attenborough, Theresa May, Ellie Goulding, Bill McKibben, Greta Thunberg and Jane Goodall. Outrage and Optimism is politically informed with a focus on science and policy as well, and the combination of focusing attention on what needs to be done, by means of outrage, with the optimism necessary to get on with it, makes for a very appealing podcast concept. They have thoughtful and incisive questions, and I now want to hear every episode :)
In the wider landscape are the podcasts which are absolutely good and will suit various tastes:
No Place Like Home has a casual, republican-oriented and religious point of view. This is definitely for you if you like talk podcasts, vote centre-right or prefer a spiritual approach. The latest season has been about the emotional impacts of climate change.
Terrestrial with Ashley Ahearn at NPR is a set of interviews with a dynamic, intimate feeling soundscape. I loved the episode about the author who stopped flying - 'There will come a time when [flying] is not a marker for success or admiration'.
America Adapts is a longstanding podcast which is also relevant to adaptation in other countries. I enjoyed the episode on cli-fi (climate fiction), where a guest made the point that climate fiction is from now and for the next 100 years, all other fiction that might exclude climate change is by definition historical fiction or fantasy. They also have an episode with introductions to a number of other, mostly US-based, podcasts.
Climactic, an Australian podcast, includes episodes on how to survive climate burnout with 'climate care bear Holly Hammond', on the school strikes and made by a network across Australia in a model that could inspire other podcast projects.
Warm Regards has a range of co-hosts with Jacqueline Gil. This podcast lives up to its name with a relaxing tone and feels friendly to listen to. The episodes tend to be focused on a theme and also include interesting research and good news stories.
In the third category are podcasts which relate to climate change but are a little more niche than the ones mentioned above:
Dash from Gas is a UK-based (BBC) podcast on the transition away from gas, and I think increasingly climate change related podcasts will be more specifically about aspects of social transition such as this one.
Tipping Point is a handy little podcast for those who are new to digging a little deeper into the climate change issue and would like to learn without necessarily hearing about specialists' PhD research. Episodes are on geoengineering, carbon markets, climate justice, soil and the system.
I liked the 'letter from the future' feature in Climate Ready Podcast, although I think otherwise that this one is best suited to people working on water adaptation, policy and in aid organisations as there is a fair amount of jargon.
I've mentioned the CENHS podcast on this site before, so I won't go into depth about it again, it is mostly interviews with academics, I'd skip past the intro and straight to the interview, top picks are the interviews with Katherine Hayhoe and Paulo Bacigalupi.
One final tip for any Scandinavians reading this is the episode of Tore Sagen with Bjørn Samset, which covers a lot of ground and is very informative.
Please share your tips for great climate change podcasts with us (including those in other languages) by email contact.weathermatters@gmail.com or twitter @weather_matters #ccpodcast
And if you are considering starting a climate change podcast then I'd recommend considering a regional or thematic focus, such as that of the Climate and Security podcast, or the California Adapts series from America Adapts. Climate change is a huge topic and sometimes trying to deal with the whole thing makes it all a bit too much. At the same time, topics within climate change, such as dairy, building materials or transport (within mitigation), or flooding, drought or uncertainty (within adaptation), are just crying out for a podcast each.
Or if you have some spare time on your hands please do make a proper directory of climate change podcasts, sorted by theme and region, send over a link and I'll include it in this post. I'd be especially interested in podcasts from other regions, I've not been able to locate any south asian climate change podcasts for instance.
Happy listening!
Heid Jerstad did her PhD in social anthropology on living with climate change in Himachal Pradesh, India and is now editor-in-chief of radiOrakel, a feminist radio station. You can find her @entanglednotion