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How to Save a Planet

Is Your Carbon Footprint BS?

How to Save a Planet

Gimlet

Science, News, Society & Culture

4.81.6K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2021

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We're tackling a sibling debate: Do your individual actions matter when it comes to climate change? Or is it all about big, systemic change? In this episode, we break down both sides of the argument. We lay out the actions that have the biggest impact on your carbon footprint – and then ask if there's a better way to think about our individual role in climate change. (This episode originally aired in March) Guests: Katharine Wilkinson, Anthony Leiserowitz and Steve Westlake Calls to Action Draw your Climate Action Venn Diagram – what are you good at? What is the work that needs doing? What brings you joy? Post your Venn diagram to social media (Twitter / Instagram) and tag us @How2SaveAPlanet. Looking for a job? Climatebase has a jobs directory and organizations directory that can be filtered by Project Drawdown sectors and solutions. Check out the How to Save a Planet Calls to Action document. All of our episode Calls to Action can be found there. Talk to people about climate change, but don’t be annoying about it! For tips, listen to our episode, Trying to Talk to Family about Climate Change? Here's How, and read the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication’s Attaining Meaningful Outcomes from Conversations on Climate. Learn More Check out Project Drawdown to learn more about the Drawdown Framework, and to see their Table of Solutions that breaks down solutions by sector(s) and their impact on reducing heat-trapping gases. Listen to related How to Save a Planet episodes – Party Like It’s 2035, Trying to Talk to Family About Climate Change? Here’s How, and Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Climate? Listen to the climate podcast A Matter of Degrees, co-hosted by Dr. Katharine Wilkinson and Dr. Leah Stokes. Check out the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication to learn more about the widespread support for climate policy solutions in America, and other research. Check out the research paper that provides a comparison of emissions reductions from various individual actions. If you take an action we recommend in one of our episodes, do us a favor and tell us about it! We’d love to hear how it went and what it felt like. Record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to us via our Listener Mail Form. We might use it in an upcoming episode. This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Felix Poon. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Rachel Waldholz and Anna Ladd. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is how to save a planet.

0:03.2

I'm Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson.

0:04.9

And I'm Alex Bloomberg, and this is the podcast about what we need to do to address the

0:09.7

climate crisis and how to make those things happen.

0:15.3

Hey, before we start the show, quick reminder, if you're not already listening to us right

0:28.2

now through Spotify, please pause to take a second and make the switch.

0:32.8

Starting in August, how to save a planet, along with almost every other Spotify original

0:38.4

podcast will be available only on Spotify.

0:42.3

Don't worry, it's completely free.

0:44.8

So download or open Spotify search for how to save a planet and hit follow.

0:49.7

All our episodes are already there for free.

0:52.7

Okay.

0:53.7

I'm with the episode.

0:55.5

So there's this question we get from a lot of listeners.

0:59.9

And one listener in particular summed it up perfectly.

1:03.7

She wrote in to ask us to settle an argument.

1:06.8

Hi, Ayanna and Alex, my name is Anna and I love your podcast.

1:11.9

I just listened to the episode about which type of car is better for the environment.

1:16.9

And I was wondering if you could weigh in on another debate.

1:21.5

So my brother and I, we agree on a lot of things.

1:25.4

But one topic that we always argue about is individual versus systemic policy based change.

1:32.9

Oh, this debate.

...

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