Cool Solutions: Stories of climate action from the bottom up
Stories about climate action from the bottom up.
- Update frequency
- every 27 days
- Average duration
- 27 minutes
- Episodes
- 62
- Years Active
- 2018 - 2023
The Battle for a Climate Friendly Farm Bill
This year's Farm Bill will determine whether US agriculture cuts its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. Republicans want to divert $20 billion away from agricultural climate solutions. Farmers…
This Is My Home: Women whup petrochemical giant
The David who fought Goliath had two sisters. This is the modern day story about two women taking on a giant. They started alone, standing up against a huge multinational petrochemical corporation, a…
Reviving Repair
When we fix what we have, we reduce emissions, and strengthen communities. 80% of the carbon pollution from our laptops, cell phones, and appliances is embodied carbon, emitted before we even open t…
Decarbonizing Based on Need, not LEED
80% of the buildings that will be here in 2050 are already here, producing 30% of our greenhouse gas emissions. Uber sustainable new construction is cool, but the big carbon reductions will come from…
Out of Gas, In with Justice
A pilot study replacing gas stoves with induction stoves in a public housing building in the South Bronx did the expected and decreased indoor air pollution. Two unexpected discoveries were the popul…
An E-bike Loaves and Fishes Tale: From 13 bikes to 13,000
"When I read in 2020 that Colorado ran a pilot program to give away just 13 e-bikes, I scoffed. What difference could that possibly make? Now I have to eat my bike helmet." - Wendy Ring, Cool Solutio…
Throwing Shade: Some crops thrive under solar panels
With growing conflicts over solar development on farm land, dual use may provide middle ground and enough income to help small farmers keep farming. That's how Byron Kominek found himself putting a s…
Community Owned Solar
Meet a retiree in rural OR and a group of millennials in WA who are spreading community owned solar projects across their states.
A Garment Worker Victory: Slowing Fast Fashion, Part 2
A small group of garment workers, tired of factory wage theft, organized and won passage of a law that makes fashion brands responsible for unpaid wages. Hourly pay went from a shameful $5 an hour to…
It's Getting Hot, Let's Wear Less Clothes: Slowing Fast Fashion, Part 1
Part One of a mini-series exploring potential pathways to a sustainable garment industry. We explore some routes to slow fashion: restoring regional wool production in Pennsylvania, curbside pickup …
Citizens Beat Utilities in Battle for Clean Energy
A Michigan environmental justice coalition is putting the "public" back in their state's Public Service Commission; closing coal plants, stopping new gas plants, and elevating the welfare of low inco…
Fox in the Henhouse: Getting Oily Hands Off Climate Research
For decades university departments, liberally lubricated with fossil fuel dollars, have been turning out research that adds a scholarly veneer to the industry's policy agenda. First that was opposing…
Solar Cooperatives Bridge Partisan Divide
Solar coops bridge the partisan divide, raising panels on rooftops and building a broad movement to transform our energy system. Solar United Neighbors provides the technical know how, community grou…
When One Door Closes: Climate action post-SCOTUS
With federal climate policy blocked by Congress and the Supreme Court, we look at opportunities to advance climate action at state and local levels. Caroline Spears explains how the Climate Cabinet …
Irresistible Force Beats Immovable Object: Harvard (finally) Divests
What did it take to get the wealthiest university in the world to break ties with the fossil fuel industry?
9 years and the combined force of students, faculty, and alumni engaged in everything fr…
Inter-Tribal Electric Highway Greens Rural Charging Desert
Clean Trucks Coalition Puts Pedal to the Metal
Activists accelerate states' switch to clean big rigs. A story about the power of coming together and speaking out for climate and justice.
Old Docs Take New Patient: The Climate
Bill McKibben launches new climate group for seniors. Doctors devoting their retirement years to climate action talk about what motivates them and how they found their place in the movement. Their ac…
Farewell to Factory Farms
We talk with former contract farmers for Tyson, Perdue, and Pilgrim's Pride; the founder of a farmers' cooperative that outperforms Big Meat by a mile, and an animal welfare organization turning c…
Got Methane?
We take a deep dive into dairy digesters: their impact on farms, climate, and communities; and the intersections between Big Gas, Big Ag, and government programs which are driving their proliferation…