Speaking of Resilience
Science Podcasts
Speaking of Resilience, with host Kate Madigan, explores the rapid and just transition to a carbon neutral economy for Michigan and the globally rare Great Lakes. National, state, and local leaders examine the multitude of issues and opportunities we face as we move along this exciting path: equity, investment, jobs, infrastructure, land use, and many more. Tap in and share the journey! Created by Michigan Climate Action Network and Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities.
Location:
United States
Genres:
Science Podcasts
Description:
Speaking of Resilience, with host Kate Madigan, explores the rapid and just transition to a carbon neutral economy for Michigan and the globally rare Great Lakes. National, state, and local leaders examine the multitude of issues and opportunities we face as we move along this exciting path: equity, investment, jobs, infrastructure, land use, and many more. Tap in and share the journey! Created by Michigan Climate Action Network and Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities.
Language:
English
Episodes
Community Solar Bill Speeds Renewables, Boosts Local Economies
10/20/2021
When we think about energy infrastructure, we tend to think in extremes: either gigantic utility scale installations that cover hundreds of acres or micro installations that cover a single garage roof. But there’s another option, an in-between option called community solar. It’s gaining momentum across the nation because in addition to potential to bring significant amounts of electricity to the grid, community solar can also keep profits in the local community and give access to renewable...
Duration:00:32:29
Climate Impacts of Line 5 Oil Pipeline Tunnel
9/28/2021
Unflagging persistence and sharp legal insight enabled the attorneys at Environmental Law & Policy Center to convince the Michigan Public Service Commission that climate impacts must be considered in the environmental assessment of the proposed Enbridge Line 5 oil tunnel. The decision was a historic first: No project had ever had to answer to CO2 emissions under the Michigan Environmental Protection Act. The implications of that decision became more clear recently when four renowned...
Duration:00:37:06
Michigan and the Build Back Better Legislation
9/14/2021
With votes expected this month on two historically huge spending bills moving through Congress—one focused on broad infrastructure and the other focused on climate action—we ask Bentley Johnson and Sara Chieffo, top government affairs staff with the League of Conservation Voters, to shed light on the bills’ status and what they might mean for Michigan if they pass. Starting things off, Sara Chieffo, Vice President of Government Affairs for the national organization, helps us understand the...
Duration:00:59:49
Driving a Just Energy Transition in Detroit
8/31/2021
Bryan Lewis settled into the executive director position at Detroit’s EcoWorks environmental nonprofit in October 2020, taking the helm of a 40-year-old organization that has fought for environmental equity since day one. With the strength of the organization’s legacy as a base and a fresh generation of organized and inspired BIPOC leaders at the ready, he sees ways to leverage this moment of clean energy transition to create more just, equitable and healthy lives for thousands of Michigan...
Duration:00:38:48
Warning, hope, action—Insight for the 2021 IPCC report
8/17/2021
Code red. It’s nearly unheard of for scientists to use such startling language, but the latest report on global warming by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sounded just such a bold alarm. How do each of us process the report's dark warnings, and what do we do now? In this episode of Speaking of Resilience, host Kate Madigan invites Jennifer HaverKamp, Graham Family Director, University of Michigan Graham Institute for Sustainability, and international climate leader, to share...
Duration:00:31:07
Health Impacts of Global Warming
8/5/2021
Reducing carbon emissions has been the passionate focus of climate change activists, and understandably so. But as Dr. Elizabeth Del Buono, MD and cofounder of Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action, reminds us in this episode of Speaking of Resilience, a constellation of human health impacts flows from fossil fuel combustion. Those impacts—ranging from life-threatening asthma attacks to lifelong cognitive impairments—land squarely on front-line communities. Host Kate Madigan asks Dr. Del...
Duration:00:50:58
What Future-Energy Looks Like in the U.P.
7/22/2021
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula offers a fascinating microcosm for assessing the challenges and opportunities of a clean energy transformation. On the one hand, the U.P. seems ripe for rapid transition: Though many of the counties rank among the state’s lowest in individual income, people there pay some of the highest electricity rates in the entire nation—low-cost renewables could help. But on the other hand, a U.P. economy built on resource extraction and a strong sense of independence among...
Duration:00:49:44
The Challenge of Our Lives
7/8/2021
Though just graduating high school this year, Naina Agrawal-Hardin has already become one of Michigan's leading young voices in the push for a just transition to a clean energy future. As part of the Sunrise Movement and U.S. Youth Climate Strike Coalition, she has helped bring Michigan issues to the forefront. Naina has lived in India and the United States and brings a valuable cross-cultural perspective to this essential conversation.
Speaking of Resilience is created by the Groundwork...
Duration:00:15:24
Michigan Legislative Roundtable
7/1/2021
Governor Whitmer has made a bold pledge to bring Michigan’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, but state legislation would add tremendous momentum and authority to help drive that mission forward. So far, though, big climate change legislation has not passed in the Mitten. We invite leading Michigan legislators to discuss where there can be agreement in climate goals and how that can break the logjam that’s preventing passage of the strong climate change laws the state needs. Join us as...
Duration:01:05:14
Michigan Leading on Climate
6/24/2021
“Laboratories of democracy”—that’s how, back in 1932, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis described the states, and that same idea extends to clean energy progress today. With a lack of strong federal leadership, the states have been essential laboratories for policies and action to propel climate action forward.
Michigan has joined in with Gov. Whitmer’s bold commitment to a net zero economy by 2050—but achieving that goal will require a multitude of other decisions, policies, and...
Duration:00:56:56
The Pillars of Biden’s Clean Energy & Jobs Plan, Kelly Speakes-Backman
6/17/2021
Listen in as Kelly Speakes-Backman, Acting Assistant Secretary of Energy and the most empowered clean energy field general the nation has ever seen, shares thoughts on the strategy for climate progress.
Speakes-Backman explains how the Biden administration is pushing to convert the power grid to 100% renewable energy by 2035, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, cleaning our environment, and elevating our nation’s competitive advantage as the new millennium rolls forth. Speakes-Backman...
Duration:00:25:59
Building a Movement: Featuring Young Leaders
6/10/2021
In the climate change discussion, one fact is irrefutable: Of all the people on the planet today, our young people will bear the greatest burden of global warming during their lifetimes.
Youth live with this fact every day, and it has fueled their passion and pressed them to act—from marching in the streets to walking the halls of state houses and Congress.
Also irrefutable: Young people have been central to re-igniting the climate change movement and keeping the momentum surging.
In this...
Duration:00:52:05
Climate Action: What Can We Expect from Congress?
6/3/2021
In the recent Michigan Climate & Clean Energy Summit, co-hosted by Michigan Climate Action Network and Groundwork, we invited Michigan’s U.S. Senators Peters and Stabenow, and U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib to discuss the likelihood and scope of potential congressional action to stop global warming. This episode of our podcast is a recording of their comments edited into a single broadcast. The legislators express a genuine understanding of the urgent need to transition to a clean energy...
Duration:01:12:42
2021 Michigan Climate & Clean Energy Summit Promo
5/13/2021
Today we have a special episode to talk about the Michigan Climate & Clean Energy Summit coming up on May 24-27. This year we have decided to combine two successful events - the Michigan Climate Action Summit and Groundwork’s Michigan Clean Energy Conference - into one big digital event.
Joining me today to talk about the exciting speakers and sessions we have planned over the four days of the summit are Jim Lively, Director of Program Strategy at the Groundwork Center, and Jamie Simmons,...
Duration:00:11:50
Nancy Wang-How They Beat Gerrymandering in Michigan
4/29/2021
Our guest today is Nancy Wang, executive director and a founding member of Voters Not Politicians, the organization that led the successful ballot initiative to end gerrymandering and draw fair districts in Michigan. Nancy led the policy committee that wrote the constitutional amendment language with input from the public. Nancy is an attorney, and prior to leading Voters Not Politicians, she was the Director of the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School. We talk...
Duration:00:39:23
Esosa Aimufua-Why Global Warming Matters for Line 5 Permitting
4/15/2021
Enbridge is trying to keep climate impacts from being considered as the State reviews their proposed oil tunnel. Esosa is one of the attorneys leading the fight to get the state of Michigan to consider the climate impacts of Enbridge’s massive oil tunnel as part of its review.
In this episode we interview Esosa Aimufua, an associate attorney at Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC). We talk about how Enbridge Energy, the Canadian company that owns and operates the 68 year old Line 5 oil...
Duration:00:26:18
LaUra Schmidt: Turning Climate Grief and Eco-Anxiety Into Meaningful Action
4/1/2021
This episode of Speaking of Resilience features LaUra Schmidt, co-founder of the Good Grief Network, a nonprofit organization that creates community space to process the painful feelings and realities of our time, and to help participants orient their lives toward meaningful action. Many come into these spaces to process climate grief and eco-anxiety. So, to help people connect and heal, Good Grief Network uses a unique 10-Step program, modeled after 12-Step programs, like Alcoholics...
Duration:00:34:16
Jim MacInnes: Michigan's Changing Winters
3/18/2021
We invite Jim MacInnes, CEO of Crystal Mountain Resort, in Benzie County, Michigan, to discuss the impact of warmer winters on the people, culture and business of Michigan—and what we must do now to slow global warming. Jim is among the best people in the nation to explore this topic because prior to running a ski resort he was an electric power engineer working with some of the nation’s largest electric utilities. Crystal Mountain is a 1500-acre four-season resort near Traverse City,...
Duration:00:43:23
Douglas Jester: A Carbon Neutral Michigan—What It Will Really Take
3/4/2021
On September 24, Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer took executive action that, among other things, sets a goal for Michigan to be carbon neutral by 2050 and cuts climate emissions 28% by 2025. This bold goal makes Michigan a national leader on climate. A Council on Climate Solutions is now beginning to meet to create and implement a plan for achieving this ambitious goal.
In this episode, we talk to Douglas Jester, a partner at 5 Lakes Energy and one of the most knowledgeable energy...
Duration:00:55:16
Gillian Giem: Rapidly Reducing Buildings' Carbon Footprint
12/16/2020
This episode of the Speaking of Resilience Podcast was recorded right before Governor Whitmer announced and signed her climate executive directive, which sets a goal for the State of Michigan to be carbon neutral by 2050, and to cut emissions by 28% within 5 years. These goals are economy-wide, meaning our electricity generation, transportation sector, and the heating and cooling of our buildings must all be carbon neutral. We can think of these as three pieces of the pie.
Achieving these...
Duration:00:36:27