Episodes
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In this episode, Ralph and Luc unpack how Americans got so obsessed with maintaining square green carpets on their front yards. We dive into the history to trace back the origins and dissemination of this artificial aesthetic. We also look into solutions, ranging from bans on gas leaf blowers to cash schemes to encourage people to quit their lawn.
We read a poem about the lunacy of leaf blowers, and highlight ways in which manicured suburban imported lawn grass is a synecdoche for colonialism.
You can also watch this episode on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-l1JO3FbzE
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction: Local bans on gas-powered lawn equipment
01:48 Poem about leaf blowers by Touch Moonflower
03:59 Commenting on the poem
06:51 How did lawns become so common in the USA?
07:56 Versailles' green carpet and Italian Renaissance landscapes inspired the British lawn
18:59 How 18th Century aristocratic English turf grass took root on the new continent
21:53 Thorstein Veblen on why American elites found lawns so respectable
24:10 Founding fathers disseminate the pastoral ideal
27:05 Planning communities of continuous lawn: Andrew Downing and Frederick Law Olmsted
32:03 Frank J. Scott tells suburbanites that homogenous manicured grass is neighbourly
34:48 How the lawn got cemented into the American imaginary in the aftermath of World War II
37:16 Post WWII suburban developments empowered Home Owners Associations (HOAs)
41:01 Quantifying the environmental impacts of modern US lawns
45:47 Why imported turf grass is a synecdoche for colonialism
50:40 Carpets of grass are fuel that spreads wildfires
51:38 Gas powered leaf blowers are huge polluters
55:00 How loud are leaf blowers?
55:51 Lawn care is a Sisyphean task of sterilisation
57:53 Norms around lawns are socially enforced
59:59 What solutions have helped people quit their lawn?
1:09:50 Conclusion and wrap up: the zeitgeist is shifting!
1:11:50 Luc's cover of "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni MitchellSources:
• Ann Leighton, American Gardens in the Eighteenth Century, 1986.
• Michael Pollan, “Why Mow? The Case Against Lawns”, The New York Times Magazine, May 1989.
• Georges Teyssot, The American Lawn: Surface of Everyday Life, 1999.
• Monique Mosser, The saga of grass: From the heavenly carpet to fallow fields, 1999.
• Cristina Milesi, “More Lawns than Irrigated Corn”, NASA Earth Observatory, November 2005.
• Paul Robbins, Lawn People: How Grasses, Weeds, and Chemicals Make Us Who We Are, 2007.
• Ted Steinberg, American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn, 2007.
• Elizabeth Kolbert, “Turf War”, The New Yorker, July 2008.
• Joseph Manca, "British landscape gardening and Italian renaissance painting", Artibus et Historiae (297-322), 2015.
• Jamie Banks and Robert McConnell, National Emissions from Lawn and Garden Equipment, Environmental Protection Agency, April 2015.
• Christopher Ingraham, “Lawns are a soul-crushing timesuck and most of us would be better off without them”, The Washington Post, August 2015. -
In this episode, Ralph and Luc spotlight an environmental success story: the Montreal Protocol's role in healing the ozone layer. We draw comparisons to the pitfalls of the IPCC's COP process and try to derive a diplomatic blueprint for climate policy.
We look into the science of how ozone and chlorine works in the stratosphere, the history of the activist scientists (Sherwood Roland and Mario Molina) who first sounded the alarm about CFC's destruction of the ozone layer, and the work of technocrats in devising their replacement. We also examine the geopolitical dynamics that were foundational to this planetary victory.
You can also watch this episode on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlz8O0_fkh4
Sources:
• We sample clips from the 2019 PBS documentary Ozone Hole: How We Saved the Planet, written and directed by Jamie Lochhead — notably interviews with Mario Molina, Joan Roland (widow of Sherwood), Lee Thomas (administrator at the EPA), Crispin Tickell (adviser to Margaret Thatcher) and Bob Watson (NASA).
https://www.pbs.org/show/ozone-hole-how-we-saved-planet/• We also sample clips from this 2021 interview with Susan Solomon (the atmospheric chemist who demonstrated CFC’s impact on ozone) and Stephen Andersen (leader of the Montreal Protocol and co-chair of its Technology and Economic Assessment Panel), by the Future of Life Institute, in which they share their roles in the closing of zone hole.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hwh-uDo-6A• We cite elements from the 1998 book Ozone Diplomacy: New Directions in Safeguarding the Planet, by Richard Elliot Benedick.
• We cite the 2002 book Ozone Connections: Expert Networks in Global Environmental Governance, by Penelope Canan and Nancy Reichman.
• We cite the 2019 book The Ozone Layer: From Discovery to Recovery, by Guy P. Brasseur.• We cite the 2021 Nature article The Montreal Protocol protects the terrestrial carbon sink, by Paul J. Young, Anna B. Harper, Chris Huntingford, Nigel D. Paul, Olaf Morgenstern, Paul A. Newman, Luke D. Oman, Sasha Madronich & Rolando R. Garcia.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03737-3• We refer to insights from the 2021 book Cut Super Climate Pollutants Now!: The Ozone Treaty’s Urgent Lessons for Speeding Up Climate Action, by Alan Miller, Durwood Zaelke and Stephen Andersen.
• We also cite from the 2023 book 35th Anniversary of Protecting the Ozone Layer, by Marco Gonzalez and Stephen Andersen.
Read more at:
https://ozone.unep.org/ozone-timeline
and
https://csl.noaa.gov/assessments/ozone/2022/downloads/twentyquestions.pdfChapters:
0:00:00 Introduction: COP 28 Wrap-up
0:02:49 Science of the Ozone Layer
0:04:30 History of CFCs: Thomas Midgely’s invention and subsequent uses (1930s)
0:08:21 Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina’s Research shows CFCs' dangers for ozone (1970s)
0:17:42 Consumer Boycott of CFCs: All in The Family
0:24:05 Consumer Boycott of CFCs: children’s Entertainment led Mc Donald’s to change its packaging from foam to cardboard
0:29:51 Sherwood Rowland coins the term “ozone hole”
0:32:04 Ozone concentrations in the Antarctic were so low that the scientists thought it was a measurement error
0:33:53 Susan Solomon’s model explains how CFCs caused the ozone hole (1980s)
0:38:18 Scientists fly an airplane into the ozone hole
0:39:31 Global Diplomacy: First Framework, the Vienna Convention (1985): a modest start
0:40:45 Global Diplomacy: The Montreal Protocol’s "start and strengthen" amendment process
0:46:51 Geopolitics of the Montreal Protocol - comparing nations' relation to CFC production in the 1980s
0:59:51 Global Diplomacy: Stephen Anderson on the effectiveness of involving engineers to work on replacements (industry released their patents)
1:04:34 Stephen Andersen presents technological innovations that came as the fruit of his Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) and why it worked
1:17:31 Ronald Reagan's Administration contained factions that disagreed on whether to act on ozone
1:22:50 Margaret Thatcher's surprisingly collaborative response
1:25:21 2016 Kigali Amendment bans HFCs - the Montreal Protocol takes on greenhouse gases
1:32:11 World avoided scenarios: How effective has this process been? What do we estimate would have happened otherwise?
1:37:33 Comparing what worked with ozone to the climate change movement: distinctions between Montreal Protocol and COP and lessons to learn
1:47:01 Closing Phytoplankton Song -
Missing episodes?
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In this episode, Ralph and Luc chat with Michael Jefferies, Regional Conservative Outreach Coordinator for the Citizens' Climate Lobby. Together, we get out of our filter bubbles and find some common ground.
We discuss Michael's faith-based journey on climate issues, bipartisan proposals on issues ranging from a carbon tax ("Carbon Fees and Dividends") and import tariffs, along with strategies to communicate about the environment to conservatives.
We also listen to excerpts from former Senator Bob Inglis talking about his experience as a pro-climate Republican.
We hear a political advertisement recorded by Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi together on a couch back in 2008.
We read excerpts of:
• Dorothy Sayers' "Why Work?" speech from 1942 and
• Pope Francis' "Laudato si'" encyclical from 2015.If you'd like to connect with the Citizens' Climate Lobby, you can find them at:
https://cclusa.org/joinChapters:
0:00:00 Introducing our guest, Michael Jeffries, Citizen Climate Lobby's Regional Conservative Outreach Coordinator
0:02:00 What Michael heard about climate change growing up in a conservative household (Rush Limbaugh)
0:05:38 How Dorothy L. Sayers' "Why Work?" WW2 speech got Michael to consider prioritising nature over growth from a Christian lens
0:13:10 From Saint Francis of Assisi to Pope Francis' Laudato Si: We are Nature
0:17:41 Michael's climate journey: Campus activism
0:19:55 How Michael started working at Citizens' Climate Lobby on pro-climate legislation with Indiana's very conservative senator Mike Braun
0:26:04 Bipartisan Bills with major climate provisions that passed under the Biden administration: Infrastructure and Jobs Act, CHIPS and Science Act, the Growing Climate Solutions Act
0:29:31 The PROVE It Act: getting the DOE to measure emissions worldwide
0:33:42 Carbon Tax: the French example of "Gilets jaunes": what went wrong to cause the yellow vest protest against it?
0:36:02 Carbon pricing: Citizens' Climate Lobby's proposal for a carbon fee and dividend
0:44:04 Republicans are scared of getting primaried for introducing a carbon tax
0:46:59 Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi's couch commercial for climate action
0:48:02 How Republican Congressman Bob Ingliss lost his primary to Trew Gowdy after the Koch Brothers shifted their funding
0:52:41 The Bob Ingliss Mixtape: clips of former congressman talking about climate issues
0:59:12 How the climate discourse got polarised and stopped being a bipartisan issue
1:02:32 Michael's approach when talking to a conservative audience about climate
1:05:05 Wrap up: Michael Jeffries points out the contradiction of incremental fixes being insufficient to grapple with the issues of degrowth that moved him in the first place
1:08:11 Outro: Ralph and Luc briefly debrief the interview -
In this episode, Ralph and Luc spotlight what the oil companies knew about CO2’s impact on the climate, and how they lied to you to sustain their fossilized business model – even if it risks drilling us into oblivion… This argument will soon be heard in court as part of a series of lawsuits against Big Oil.
We start by looking into the history of scholarship on this issue, dating back to the 19th Century.
We highlight the record of what the oil companies such as Exxon and the American Petroleum Institute were saying behind closed doors – and contrast this with their contemporaneous public statements.We draw upon scholarship uncovered by Naomi Oreskes and the #ExxonKnew movement.
Sources:
• If you would like to read California's lawsuit against ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP and the American Petroleum Institute for deceiving the public for decades, you can access it here:
https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FINAL-9-15-COMPLAINT.pdf• We quote from the 2010 book Merchants of Doubt; How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Climate by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway.
• We also sample a couple clips from the 2014 documentary derived from it, also titled Merchants Of Doubt, directed by Robert Kenner and co-written by Kim Roberts.
• We cite reporting from this 2017 article from the Center for Public Integrity: “The United States of Petroleum” by Jie Jenny Zou, accessible at
https://apps.publicintegrity.org/united-states-of-petroleum/
• You can read Edward Teller’s “Energy Patterns of the Future” 1959 Presentation at the Energy and Man conference organised by the American Petroleum Institute in full here:
https://www.planetaryhealthforbusypeople.com/whats-now-and-whats-new/edward-teller
• We sample a couple clips from the 1981 British TV documentary by Thames Television called “Warming Warning”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMjnvfkeJJ0&list=PL7WD0g9dS3jlkXemuiPdoj4RF416JTpn6&index=3• We read from Exxon's 1982 internal primer on the CO2 "Greenhouse Effect", which was made accessible thanks to reporting by Inside Climate News in 2015, and is accessible here:
https://insideclimatenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/1982-Exxon-Primer-on-CO2-Greenhouse-Effect.pdf• We also read from the oil companies' advertorials, as highlighted in a 2017 research article: "Assessing ExxonMoblil’s climate change communications (1977-2014)" by Naomi Oreskes and Geoffrey Supran:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa815f
• We refer to elements from the 2021 book The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet by Michael E Mann.
• We also cite the 2023 Science article "Assessing ExxonMobil’s global warming projections" by Geoffrey Supran, Stefan Rahmstorf, and Naomi Oreskes:
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk0063
• We excerpted a clip from Naomi Klein's June 2023 appearance on the podcast "The Audit", hosted by Dave Anthony and Josh Olson on David Sirota's Lever Network, which you can listen to in full here:
https://www.levernews.com/the-audit-the-climate-change-misinformation-machine
(This episode is also available as a video on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muNF_1mC3FI&list=PLwI-SH3khGtbDQ76_3VXTO3AaLkZ-sqnA&index=3 )Chapters:
0:00:00 Introduction - Current lawsuits against Big Oil
0:07:16 History of science of C02 and climate change in the 1800s
0:12:10 History of science of C02 and climate change in first half of the 1900s
0:17:41 What changed after World War II
0:19:10 Gilbert Plass and Edward Baxter in the 1950s
0:23:25 Edward Teller at API's "Energy and Man" conference in 1959
0:25:40 API's Report in 1968
0:27:23 National Petroleum Council's Report in 1972
0:28:52 Exxon’s internal communications from the late 1970s
0:35:26 Exxon’s internal corporate primer in 1982
0:36:36 The Global Climate Coalition and laundering legitimacy
0:40:01 Clip from British ITV documentary “Warming Warning” from 1981
0:42:29 “Changing Climate” Committee and Thomas Schelling in 1983
0:47:19 Creation of the IPCC and James Hansen’s testimony in 1988
0:48:39 Exxon’s “emphasise the uncertainty” Memo in 1988
0:50:59 James Hansen reflects on his testimony and what followed
0:52:20 Clip from Royal Dutch Shell's “Climate of Concern” video from 1991
0:53:38 API President’s comment on scientific consensus in 1996 -
In this episode, Ralph and Luc venture into the thorny discussions of what to do about the rainforest’s impact on the globe.
In the aftermath of Lula's conference in Belem, Brazil, in August 2023, we spotlight some good news: great strides are being made against deforestation, and South American leaders are keen to protect the Amazonian rainforest.
We also unpack criticisms and highlight pragmatic perspectives from Colombia and Ecuador, such as debt for nature swaps.
Sources:
• We sample a quote from climate scientist Stephen Schneider from this 1981 British TV documentary by Thames Television called “Warming Warning”. You can see the clip in context at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zHAbYOXjzk/• A chart comparing Amazon deforestation between 2022 and 2023:
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/E100/production/_131000675_amazon_deforestation_aug_update-nc.png.webp• You can read the Belem declaration – which the Amazon rainforest countries signed at the end of the August 2023 conference – here (in Spanish): https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/canais_atendimento/imprensa/notas-a-imprensa/declaracao-presidencial-por-ocasiao-da-cupula-da-amazonia-2013-iv-reuniao-de-presidentes-dos-estados-partes-no-tratado-de-cooperacao-amazonica/
• Lula’s Speech closing the Belem conference (translated in English):
https://www.gov.br/planalto/en/follow-the-government/speeches/speech-by-president-luiz-inacio-lula-da-silva-at-the-amazon-summit-with-guest-countries-in-belem-brazil/• Articles in the journal Nature criticising Lula’s ecological record (especially on drilling):
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02511-x/
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02187-3/• You can see Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s address at the Belem conference (in Spanish):
Read: https://www.cancilleria.gov.co/newsroom/news/prosperidad-descarbonizada-otro-tipo-sociedad-poder-economia-propone-presidente/
Or watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehsae42q_Mk/• More information on Ecuador’s referendum on oil drilling in Yasuni:
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ecuador-says-it-will-honor-referendum-yasuni-oil-project-2023-08-24/ -
In this episode, Ralph and Luc listen to a stand-up routine by comedian George Carlin about environmentalists. We engage with Carlin’s pontifications and his ingenious framing by providing context from a scientific perspective. We also gesture at disarming some of his cynicism while steering clear of fully explaining away what made his take comedic in the first place.
This episode contains 4 brief excerpts from George Carlin's "Jammin' in New York" special.
Erratum: we said microplastics were found in the blood of 99% of people tested – in fact, plastic was found in the blood of 17 of 22 subjects tested (77%).
• original article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412022001258
• and a write-up in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/24/microplastics-found-in-human-blood-for-first-time. -
On this inaugural episode, Ralph and Luc briefly describe the practice of greenwashing, with examples ranging from:
BP's popularisation of the carbon footprint, to the labels on water bottles, to Volkswagen evading emissions tests, and the practice of carbon offsets…
