From Courtrooms to Statehouses: The US Climate Pushback
Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast
Persephonica
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2025
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on Outrage + Optimism, we join the Be Hope global podcast takeover - a collaboration of shows amplifying courage and possibility in facing the greatest challenges of our time.
Alongside Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Paul Dickinson, guest co-host Sophia Li helps us explore how states, cities, and communities in the US are holding the line on climate when federal leadership fails.
What does it take to take Trump to court on clean energy? Attorney General Peter Neronha of Rhode Island tells us about his landmark lawsuit to restart the nearly completed Revolution Wind project.
How can we bring more people with us on this transition? Musician and climate advocate Adam Met introduces his Neo-Industrial Revolution declaration, calling for a new language of climate that connects with jobs, prosperity and everyday lives.
Plus, we hear from voices in politics and advocacy - from New York to Texas - about the efforts they have been making to create green jobs, support healthier communities, and fight misinformation, at a time when the national picture is far from easy.
Learn more:
⚖️ Read more on Rhode Island and Connecticut lawsuit against Trump over wind farm halt
⚡ Find out about New York’s all-electric buildings act
🏫 Further information on ALIGN’s Green, Healthy Schools campaign
🌍 See more on 50 for 50 Earth on Corey’s Substack
📜 Read the Neo Industrial Revolution declaration on Planet Reimagined’s website
🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe
Follow us on social media for behind the scenes moments and to watch our videos:
Instagram @outrageoptimism
LinkedIn @outrageoptimism
Or get in touch with us via this form.
Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks
Video Producer: Caitlin Hanrahan
Assistant Producer: Caillin McDaid
Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford
Commissioning Editor: Sarah Thomas
This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Outer Asian Optimism. I'm Tom Rivikarnak. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Christiana Figueres. |
| 0:06.0 | I'm Paul Dickinson. |
| 0:08.0 | And? And I'm Sophia Lee. |
| 0:10.0 | Sophia Lee. Welcome to Outrage Optimism. We're thrilled to have you. |
| 0:13.0 | This week, as part of the Be Hope Takeover, we have a conversation about where we get hope from in these difficult moments. |
| 0:19.0 | And we speak to Peter N nirona attorney general of |
| 0:22.4 | road island and adam met band member of a jr thanks for being here so friends this is a very |
| 0:30.1 | exciting week not only do we have a guest co-host who will be introducing more properly in a minute |
| 0:34.5 | but this podcast is part of a global campaign called Be Hope. |
| 0:38.8 | This September, during the 80th meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York, |
| 0:42.1 | the Be Hope podcast takeover will unite leading voices to spotlight, bold ideas, real solutions and stories of progress. |
| 0:48.6 | With five years left to achieve the global goals, the stakes could not be higher. |
| 0:52.6 | We're taking part of this alongside political |
| 0:54.8 | currency, Pod Save the World, the rest is politics, the rest is money, and many others. Long-term listeners |
| 1:00.6 | will know we've never believed that doom and gloom alone will get us anywhere. The risks are real, |
| 1:05.3 | but we need to focus not on the bad news, but on the opportunities. So that's the objective of |
| 1:10.2 | this week. And Sophia, welcome to Outrage and Optimism. Sophia is an award-winning journalist, the founder of Steward Media, and we're thrilled to have you with us. Thank you so much, Tom. So happy to be here. I listen to you guys in so many different ways. So it's so fun to be an active conversation now. Well, we're thrilled to have you. Now, this is a difficult moment in many ways, right? I mean, if you look at the news over the course last week, particularly in the US, but not only in the US around the world, there's been a lot of challenges. And we're getting a lot of messages from listeners who are saying they're really struggling, particularly on climate, but on other issues as well. So I'd love to just start Sophia by asking you, |
| 1:45.3 | you're looking at the media landscape, well, the landscape generally in the US, how are you |
| 1:49.4 | feeling about how we're doing on climate and where are you finding signs of hope? Yeah, thank you, |
| 1:53.8 | Tom. Such a great question. So, you know, we are having this conversation with Adam Met, and he |
| 1:59.9 | talks a lot about how language is so important. |
... |
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