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Heat of the Moment

News & Politics Podcasts

The climate change crisis can feel so formidable, so daunting, that instead of mobilizing people to action, it engenders paralysis. What could we mortals possibly do to prevent the calamity? A fair bit, it turns out. On Heat of the Moment, a 8-part podcast by FP Studios, in partnership with the Climate Investment Funds, we focus on ordinary people across the globe who have found ways to fight back. Hosted by CNN contributor John D. Sutter, Heat of the Moment tells the stories of the people on the front lines of the fight against climate change.

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United States

Description:

The climate change crisis can feel so formidable, so daunting, that instead of mobilizing people to action, it engenders paralysis. What could we mortals possibly do to prevent the calamity? A fair bit, it turns out. On Heat of the Moment, a 8-part podcast by FP Studios, in partnership with the Climate Investment Funds, we focus on ordinary people across the globe who have found ways to fight back. Hosted by CNN contributor John D. Sutter, Heat of the Moment tells the stories of the people on the front lines of the fight against climate change.

Language:

English

Episodes

Introducing: Living Planet

3/24/2023
Hey, Heat of the Moment Listeners! We want to recommend another show for you. Living Planet is a podcast and radio program from Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW). Hosted by Charli Shield and Sam Baker, each week Living Planet reports on environmental stories from around the world. This episode of Living Planet looks at the specific portion of the global energy sector that is derived from crops like corn or wheat – exploring how they came to be, their promises and...

Duration:00:30:52

Introducing: Climate Rising

3/14/2023
Hey, Heat of the Moment listeners! We have another special bonus episode for you, this time from our friends at Harvard Business School’s Climate Rising podcast. In this episode, professor Michael Toffel speaks with Nat Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, to discuss how companies participate in global climate talks and policy development, such as the United Nations climate change conference in Egypt. They also talk about what to expect as countries move from...

Duration:00:41:04

Building a Life-Giving Economy

3/9/2023
On this season’s last episode of Heat of the Moment, we head back to South Africa, where reporter Elna Schutz hears firsthand from a former coal worker who relocated across the country to take a job in the solar industry. Then, host John Sutter is joined by Katharine Wilkinson, climate activist and co-founder of the All We Can Save Project, to discuss how gender and climate justice intersect. This conversation was taped live as a Twitter Spaces, and you can listen to the full conversation...

Duration:00:39:19

Introducing: Nothing Is Foreign

3/3/2023
Hey there, Heat of the Moment listeners! We wanted to share an episode from our friends at Nothing is Foreign, a weekly podcast from CBC Podcasts that knows there’s no such thing as foreign—it just depends on your point of view. Nothing is Foreign is world news for people craving stories from elsewhere, and for people who want the view from on the ground, not from above. Immersive, immediate, real—host Tamara Khandaker invites listeners to take a trip each week to hear about the world from a...

Duration:00:28:25

Why Saving Forests Involves Rethinking Jobs

3/1/2023
On this episode, we head to Ghana, a place which is fast losing one of the world’s most vital weapons against the climate crisis, trees. According to Global Forest Watch, from 2002 to 2021, Ghana lost 20% of its forest cover. Among those responsible, illegal miners. In the first part of the episode, reporter Elodie Toto travels to the West African country to better understand why illegal mining persists and what can be done to better protect forests. Later, host John Sutter speaks with...

Duration:00:25:06

Seeking Justice in Cancer Alley

2/22/2023
This week on Heat of the Moment, we head south to America’s Gulf Coast, an area with a long history of fossil fuel extraction and a number of health problems that come with it. We first hear from Columbia University's Melissa Lott about how climate justice dovetails with goals of just transition. Next, James Hiatt discusses his evolution away from the petrochemical industry. In the second part of the episode, host John Sutter speaks with Roishetta Ozane about her personal experiences seeking...

Duration:00:19:51

Accounting for Unintended Consequences of Going Green

2/15/2023
Today we explore the unintended consequences of going green. In the first part of the episode we head to Bolivia where Amy Booth reports on the country's nascent lithium mining and electric car industries and the country's goals of expanding affordability and accessibility to electric vehicles. Amy talks to both locals and those involved with this transformation to see how the overall green plans for Bolivia are being balanced with the needs of individual communities. Then host John Sutter...

Duration:00:32:15

Why Indigenous and Local Voices Are Vital to a Just Transition

2/8/2023
In part four of our season, we hear how the idea of just transition goes beyond jobs, it’s about protecting communities that are on the front lines of the climate crisis, as well. This episode begins in Bolivia where reporter Amy Booth shares a new agreement is encouraging local farmers to not clear cut forests which is helping to protect vital water resources as well as help lock in carbon emissions. Then we hear from indigenous youth activists “Erika” Xananine Calvillo Ramirez, a student...

Duration:00:23:44

COP27 Roundtable: Financing a Just Transition in the Global South

2/1/2023
Much of the global south is on the front lines of climate change, and countries are calling on the global north to help fund the fight. At the 2021 United Nations climate change summit (or COP26), countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the European Union launched the Just Energy Transition Partnership by pledging South Africa $8.5 billion to help it move away from fossil fuels in a just and equitable way. Although this is certainly a step in the right...

Duration:00:25:10

The Importance of Hearing All Voices

1/25/2023
A Just Transition has the potential to create millions of new jobs globally if we implement the Paris Agreement in a way that takes the social and economic well-being of whole communities into account. On this episode of Heat of the Moment, we hear from Moustapha Kamal Gueye, the global coordinator for Green Jobs at the International Labor Office on how the term Just Transition went from a niche idea in the American labor rights movement, to a global call for economic, social, and...

Duration:00:30:47

What Does it Really Mean to Just Transition?

1/18/2023
The idea of a "just transition" often is associated with coal miners and other fossil fuel workers whose jobs are going away. But it’s a topic that’s so much bigger than that. As we’ll hear throughout this season, this concept encapsulates broader ideals of righting past wrongs - wrongs like racism or sexism, colonialism or classism. In the first part of the episode, host John D. Sutter speaks with Benjamin Sovacool, a researcher and Energy Policy professor at Boston University and the...

Duration:00:25:04

COMING SOON—Heat of the Moment: A Just Transition

1/11/2023
Coming Jan. 18 - Season three of Heat of the Moment: A Just Transition, a podcast from Foreign Policy and the Climate Investment Funds that documents communities around the world as they transition away from carbon-intensive activities to create greener economies. This season features first-person stories and on-the-ground reporting from South America, North America, and Africa. Additionally, host John D. Sutter speaks to those working on the front lines of the global effort to implement...

Duration:00:03:15

Youth Climate Activists Are Suing Big Oil and Winning

12/16/2021
Youth-led movements across the globe are getting bigger, louder, and more effective. Now, young people are even taking fossil fuel companies to court. In the Netherlands, they’ve just successfully argued and won concessions from Shell, one of the world’s biggest multinational corporations. On today's episode we hear from youth activist Jesse van Schaik on how youth movements are fighting back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:19:32

How Debt Relief Can Help Developing Countries Go Green

12/9/2021
This year at COP26 in Glasgow, developing countries were clear: wealthier countries need to do more to help finance the world’s movement away from fossil fuels. And their argument is gaining traction: debt is holding countries back from adapting to climate change. Leading off this episode of Heat of the Moment, we hear from Mamadou Honadia, one of the lead climate negotiators for Burkina Faso, who shares how his country's response to the climate crisis has been stymied by debt. We then hear...

Duration:00:28:55

The Godmother of Climate Security

12/2/2021
The United States military is one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels in the world. What is less known is that when it comes to the climate crisis, the U.S. military is also a place for innovation and strategic thinking. And that’s thanks in no small part to our guest today -- Sherri Goodman, who is considered to be the godmother of Climate Security. Goodman is currently a senior fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and Senior Strategist at the Center for Climate and Security. Previously...

Duration:00:27:04

Climate Migrants: Destination Duluth

11/24/2021
We are in the midst of one of the greatest moments of human migration in recent history. Wars and unrest in the Middle East, political tensions in Latin America, and ethnic clashes in places like Myanmar have caused millions of people to flee their homes looking for safety and security for themselves and their families. But there’s also another set of migrants: those who are fleeing because they’ve determined their homes are no longer safe from the massive forces of climate change. Today’s...

Duration:00:21:19

From Oil Worker to Climate Activist

11/18/2021
On this episode we meet former oil worker Allen Hubbard. Hubbard spent most of his professional career as a geologist working on oil rigs in Louisiana trying to calculate the best spots to drill. Since leaving the industry Hubbard began learning more about the climate crisis from people like Al Gore and decided he needed to do a complete 180. Now in his 80s, Hubbard has made it his duty to speak out and try to motivate people to curb their consumption of fossil fuels. We want to hear from...

Duration:00:21:07

A Just Transition: How One Town in Wyoming is Moving Away from Coal

11/11/2021
Moving away from coal is a top priority in the fight against climate change. But how should local economies, who depend on coal, ensure that workers and their communities are protected? We turn to the Energy Capital of the U.S. -- Gillette, Wyoming -- to see how that coal community is beginning to think about moving its economy away from fossil fuels. On today’s episode we hear first from Shannon Anderson, Staff Attorney at the Powder River Basin Resource Council. She's lived in Powder River...

Duration:00:25:49

How A Regenerative Ocean Farmer is Rethinking the Way We Eat

11/4/2021
On today's episode of Heat of the Moment, we take a look at one of the most innovative ways we can cut greenhouses from our global food production: kelp. Our guest, Bren Smith, a regenerative ocean farmer in Connecticut, is leading the way on rethinking how we might farm our oceans by developing polyculture practices for farming shellfish, seaweeds, and kelps. This is a big week for the climate. Leaders from all over the world are meeting in Glasgow at the Conference of the Parties, also...

Duration:00:23:22

Tinkering with Tuk Tuks: How One Sri Lankan Engineer is Transforming his Community and Local Economy

10/28/2021
Converting to electric vehicles is an important part of the quest to eliminate carbon pollution and stabilize the atmosphere. It’s estimated that globally the transportation sector contributes about or about one fifth of all global emissions; three quarters of that comes from road travel. And it’s not just CO2 emissions that are on people’s minds when they think about converting, it’s also clean air and less sound pollution, and greater economic potential. On today’s episode we hear first...

Duration:00:17:39

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