A Climate Change with Matt Matern

Today, Matt speaks with Maya van Rossum, founder of Green Amendments For The Generations and the Delaware Riverkeeper, about putting the right to clean air, pure water and a healthy environment into state constitutions. Maya tells the story of how she and seven municipalities challenged Pennsylvania's pro-fracking law using a constitutional right that had been ignored for 40 years, and won at the state Supreme Court in 2013. She explains what makes a Green Amendment different from the environmental laws already on the books, why it was the key to the youth climate win in Held v. Montana, and what happened when California's version started to get watered down.

Plus, how communities are using the Green Amendment to push back on data centers, her new lawsuit over projects that get "deemed approved" without a single public hearing, and why a Capitol rally in Pennsylvania brought progressives and Trump supporters together on the same side.

Find out if your state has a Green Amendment effort at https://forthegenerations.org

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

GUEST BIO

Maya K. van Rossum is the founder of Green Amendments For The Generations, a national nonprofit working to secure the right to a clean, safe and healthy environment in every state constitution and, eventually, the U.S. Constitution. For more than 30 years she has also served as the Delaware Riverkeeper, leading the Delaware Riverkeeper Network across the four states of the Delaware River watershed. She was a lead petitioner in Robinson Township v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (2013), which struck down key parts of the pro-fracking Act 13 and brought Pennsylvania's Environmental Rights Amendment back to life. She is the author of The Green Amendment, now in its second edition, and an attorney licensed in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Green Amendments For The Generations: https://forthegenerations.org
• Delaware Riverkeeper Network: https://delawareriverkeeper.org
• The Green Amendment (2nd edition): https://www.porchlightbooks.com/products/green-amendment-maya-k-van-rossum-9781633310643
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

YOUTUBE CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold Open

0:41 Intro: A Climate Change Welcomes Maya van Rossum

1:08 How a Forgotten Right Beat Pennsylvania's Fracking Law

6:01 "Is This All There Is?" Starting the Green Amendment Movement

7:28 Why Held v. Montana Won

9:46 Which States Have a Green Amendment?

11:29 Why California Doesn't Have One Yet

13:28 What's Changed in Pennsylvania Since the Win

17:14 Rights of Nature vs. Green Amendments

20:45 Fighting Data Centers and the "Deemed Approved" Lawsuit

24:15 Liberals and Trumpsters Rally Against Data Centers

26:32 The Abundance Movement and Data Centers

29:55 How to Bring a Green Amendment to Your State

31:57 Outro

MORE ABOUT A CLIMATE CHANGE WITH MATT MATERN

A Climate Change with Matt Matern is a podcast dedicated to addressing the pressing issue of climate change while inspiring action and fostering a sustainable future. Each episode dives deep into the environmental challenges of our time, rising global temperatures, extreme weather events, and resource degradation, breaking down complex topics into digestible insights.

The podcast goes beyond merely raising awareness. It serves as a trusted resource for practical, actionable solutions that empower listeners to reduce their carbon footprint and drive change in their communities. With a strong focus on environmental science and expert perspectives, host Matt Matern brings influential voices to the forefront, highlighting innovative ideas and collaborative efforts shaping global sustainability initiatives.

More than just a source of information, A Climate Change is a movement. It builds a coalition of like-minded individuals committed to preserving the planet for future generations. Listeners are invited to participate actively in creating a legacy of positive environmental impact through informed decision-making and collective action.

The podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube, provides a platform for science-backed discussions, global perspectives, and community building. Whether you want to learn about renewable energy, sustainable living practices, or climate policy, A Climate Change with Matt Matern equips you with the tools and knowledge to make a tangible difference. Tune in, take action, and join the fight for a brighter, greener future.

CURATED LIST OF EPISODES

If you enjoyed this episode of A Climate Change, here is a list of some recent episodes curated especially for you:

• Regan George - our latest episode, and the opposing take on data centers: Regan wants data centers to pay for batteries in the homes around them, while Maya is helping communities stop them

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/266-your-garage-could-be-part-of-a-power-plant-w-regan-george/id1557317787?i=1000797597786

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVtGnUUB-P8

• Jim Murphy - the federal side of the fight: EPA's plan to strip Clean Water Act protections, which is exactly the kind of rollback Maya says state Green Amendments can backstop

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/262-epas-new-water-rule-could-strip-protections-from/id1557317787?i=1000791511795

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtzbxhy6y1M

• Michael Gerrard - climate litigation and why states are leading; a direct companion to Maya's courtroom wins in Pennsylvania and Held v. Montana

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/228-the-legal-war-on-fossil-fuels/id1557317787?i=1000749488747

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9R8w04zjwY

Today, Matt speaks with Regan George, Founder and CEO of SOLRITE Energy, about turning home batteries into a power plant that helps homeowners and the grid at the same time. Regan explains why rooftop solar stopped paying off once net metering went away, and why big, smart batteries are the fix. He breaks down what a virtual power plant actually is, why most of them barely get used, and why he tells utilities to cycle his batteries two and a half times a day. He also shares a simple way to picture the grid's problem: widening the freeway never ends rush hour, but controlling when cars get on the road does. Plus, how SOLRITE is helping "solar orphans" get their savings back, why data centers should pay for batteries in the neighborhoods around them, and how his team is bringing power back to Eagle Point, Utah after the Cottonwood Fire.

Learn more about SOLRITE Energy at https://www.solriteenergy.com/

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

GUEST BIO

Regan George is the Founder and CEO of SOLRITE Energy, which finances, builds and owns home solar and battery systems and links them into virtual power plants. He started his renewables career at Vivint Solar in 2012, then founded his own solar sales and installation company in Southern California before shifting it to virtual power plants and renaming it SOLRITE in 2023. SOLRITE installs large 60 kWh home batteries at no upfront cost and earns money by using them to support the grid. The company partners with battery maker sonnen and operates in Texas, California, Illinois and the Northeast.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• SOLRITE Energy: https://www.solriteenergy.com/
• Regan George on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/regan-george-55700a15a/
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

YOUTUBE CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold Open

00:45 Intro: A Climate Change Welcomes Regan George

2:40 Fixing Solar's Sales Problem With Fixed Pricing

3:49 How California's NEM 3.0 Changed Rooftop Solar

8:01 What Is a Virtual Power Plant?

11:13 Level Zero vs. Level Four Virtual Power Plants

14:14 California Has the Batteries. Why Not Use Them?

15:23 The Grid Is Built for the Worst Hour of the Year

16:55 The Freeway Analogy: Ending Rush Hour on the Grid

18:35 Letting Batteries Compete With Power Plants

20:29 Cycling Batteries 2.5 Times a Day

25:11 How Long Can a 60 kWh Battery Power a Home?

26:03 Helping Solar Orphans Get Their Savings Back

27:41 Fewer Brownouts and Backup Power During Fire Season

30:44 Can Home Batteries Help Data Centers Connect?

33:00 Should Data Centers Pay for Neighborhood Batteries?

34:48 Rebuilding Eagle Point After the Cottonwood Fire

39:30 Utilities Aren't the Enemy

40:47 What's Next for SOLRITE

42:09 Outro

ALSO, MAKE SURE TO CHECK OUT

If you enjoyed this episode, here is a list of some recent episodes curated especially for you:

265. Frédéric Samama – prior episode, and a good counterpoint. Fred argues money and markets alone won’t get us to act on climate, while Regan’s whole model is built on making the economics work for everyone

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/265-why-do-we-know-so-much-about-climate-change-and/id1557317787?i=1000796472561

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXN6tWFiW20

260. Leah Qusba – why Republicans still support solar; pairs with Regan calling deregulated Texas the gold standard and staying out of the politics of data centers

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/260-leah-qusba-on-why-republicans-still-support-solar/id1557317787?i=1000788943729

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiXUtGlMVw0

259. Cora Stryker – California just passed balcony solar; a direct companion to Regan’s take on California’s new legislation and what it takes to unlock home energy there

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/259-california-just-passed-balcony-solar-now-its-up/id1557317787?i=1000787722435 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHFT4A_Jxww

Today, Matt speaks with Frédéric Samama, adjunct professor at Sciences Po and author of The Enigma of Climate Inaction, about a simple question: if almost everyone knows about climate change, why aren’t we acting?

Fred, a pioneer of green finance, explains his idea of “societal bubbles.” Like a rat that learns its way to the cheese in a maze, humans got so good at getting resources through farming, capitalism and modern science that we became overconfident in the models that got us here. Now those same models are working against us, and climate change is the first crisis that puts a limit on the resources we’ve built everything around. He and Matt also get into what astronauts’ view of Earth can teach us, why climate disasters can make people believe less in climate change, and his work with Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz that helped bring $800 billion in investor commitments to the Paris climate talks.

Read The Enigma of Climate Inaction here: https://www.routledge.com/The-Enigma-of-Climate-Inaction-Why-Are-We-Doing-Nothing-or-Almost-Nothing-in-the-Face-of-Catastrophe/Samama/p/book/9781041030645

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold Open

0:35 Intro: A Climate Change Welcomes Frédéric Samama

1:24 From the Financial Crisis to Green Finance

3:44 We Beat the Ozone Hole, Y2K and COVID. Why Not Climate?

4:55 The Rat in the Maze and Societal Bubbles

7:59 Civil Society and the Overview Effect

14:10 We’re Part of Nature, Not Above It

15:34 Cave Paintings and When We Started Dominating Nature

17:43 Moral Values and Climate’s Biggest Opportunity

22:39 GDP and When the Means Become the End

25:17 How Fast Social Norms Can Shift

27:57 Why Disasters Make Us Believe Less in Climate Change

31:43 The Daycare Experiment: When Money Backfires

35:23 Working With Joseph Stiglitz

37:59 Sovereign Wealth Funds and $800 Billion at COP21

40:47 Outro

GUEST BIO

Frédéric Samama is an author, investor and financial innovator whose career has spanned capital markets, institutional investment and climate finance. He began his career at J.P. Morgan and Crédit Agricole CIB, then joined Amundi, where he headed Institutional Client Coverage and Responsible Investment and pioneered some of the first mainstream low-carbon equity indices. He later joined S&P Global and is an adjunct professor at Sciences Po. He co-founded a research initiative on sovereign wealth funds with Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, has testified before the US Senate, and was named 2026 Personality of the Year by Environmental Finance. His latest book is The Enigma of Climate Inaction (Routledge).

EPISODE RESOURCES

• The Enigma of Climate Inaction (Routledge): https://www.routledge.com/The-Enigma-of-Climate-Inaction-Why-Are-We-Doing-Nothing-or-Almost-Nothing-in-the-Face-of-Catastrophe/Samama/p/book/9781041030645
• Frédéric Samama on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frédéric-samama-a81b644/
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Today, Matt speaks with Mike Kelland, Co-founder & CEO of Planetary, about using the ocean to pull carbon dioxide out of the air. Planetary adds calcium and magnesium minerals, basically an antacid, to water flowing out of coastal facilities. That lowers local acidity and lets the ocean absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere.

Mike breaks down the UN's new Limiting Overshoot report, which he says puts the carbon removal we need at about 23 gigatons a year, and explains why trees, machines and every other land-based approach top out around 15, leaving the ocean to close the gap. He and Matt also get into the safety question people are afraid to ask, how Planetary's Halifax plant reached 8,000 tons removed, why compliance carbon markets are the key to scaling, and the all-hands, middle-of-winter push that won Planetary an XPRIZE.

Learn more about Planetary at https://www.planetarytech.com

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

GUEST BIO

Mike Kelland is the co-founder and CEO of Planetary, a Nova Scotia company that restores coastal seawater chemistry to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. He founded Planetary in 2019 with Brock Battochio and ocean scientist Dr. Greg Rau. The company is a two-time XPRIZE Carbon Removal award winner and delivered the world's first independently verified ocean alkalinity enhancement carbon removal credits. Before Planetary, Mike spent about 25 years as a tech entrepreneur, founding several software companies. He holds a bachelor's in electrical engineering from Carleton University and is a Forty Under Forty recipient.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Planetary: https://www.planetarytech.com
• Mike Kelland on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mkelland/
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Today, Matt speaks with Drew Shula, trained architect and Founder and CEO of Verdical Group, about the part of the climate problem hiding in plain sight: the buildings we live and work in, which account for roughly 40% of global carbon emissions.

He breaks down the two halves of a building's carbon footprint, the energy it burns and the materials it's made of, and makes the case that we already know how to build net zero today - almost nothing requires it, which is why net zero is still less than 1% of construction. He and Matt also get into the LA fires, where Drew was displaced from his own home for six days, the city's decision to waive its all-electric requirement for rebuilds, insurance pulling out of fire zones, and why he thinks AI data centers get unfairly singled out.

The 13th annual Net Zero Conference is October 7-8, 2026 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. You can register and learn more at netzeroconference.com

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

GUEST BIO

Drew Shula is the founder and CEO of Verdical Group, a Los Angeles sustainability consulting firm he launched in 2012 that specializes in green building certifications, engineering services, ESG, and net zero strategy. Trained as an architect at the University of Notre Dame, he has built the firm into a certified B Corporation and 1% for the Planet member with projects in about 25 states and up to ten countries, for clients including NASA, Google, Johnson & Johnson, LAX, Meta and Apple. Verdical Group was named to the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies in 2025. Drew is also the founder of the Net Zero Conference and Trailblazer Awards, now in its 13th year, and was the sixth person ever honored as both a LEED Fellow and a Living Future Hero. He grew up in Belfast, Maine, and lives in Los Angeles.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Verdical Group: https://verdicalgroup.com
• Net Zero Conference (Oct 7-8, 2026, LA Convention Center): https://netzeroconference.com
• Drew Shula at Verdical Group: https://verdicalgroup.com/team/drew-shula/
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Today, Matt Matern speaks with Jim Murphy, Associate Vice President of Legal Advocacy at the National Wildlife Federation, about EPA's proposal to rewrite which streams and wetlands the Clean Water Act actually protects.

Jim explains what the rule would do - by his estimate, removing federal protection from up to 60% of the nation's stream miles and well over 90% of historically protected wetlands - and why streams that don't flow year-round still carry pollution downstream. He and Matt trace how we got here, from the Cuyahoga River fire and the 1972 Clean Water Act through the Supreme Court's 2023 decision, and get into what happens when roughly half the states have no protections of their own to fall back on. They also cover the nitrate crisis overwhelming Iowa's water utilities, what fewer federal permits mean for the AI data center boom, and why Jim thinks clean water may be the issue that pulls conservation back across party lines.

Public comment on the proposal closes October 9, 2026.

Learn more at http://nwf.org

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

GUEST BIO

Jim Murphy is Associate Vice President of Legal Advocacy at the National Wildlife Federation, where he coordinates legal work across the organization's waters and lands programs. He has spent more than 25 years in environmental law and policy, over 20 of them at the Federation, engaging with courts, agencies, and Congress on water, wildlife, energy, and climate. He previously directed the Environmental Advocacy Clinic at Vermont Law School and has worked in private practice, at the Conservation Law Foundation, and as a Capitol Hill staffer. He writes regularly on threats to foundational environmental laws and is based in Vermont.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• National Wildlife Federation: https://www.nwf.org
• Jim Murphy at NWF: https://www.nwf.org/About-Us/Leadership/Jim-Murphy
• Comment on the WOTUS proposal (closes Oct 9, 2026) - Docket EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0322: https://www.regulations.gov
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Today, Matt Matern speaks with Rob Mullen - artist, author, and Director of the Wilderness River Expedition Art Fellowship - about the boreal forest, the largest land ecosystem on Earth and one most people have never heard of. Rob explains how a forest three times the size of the Amazon holds roughly 80% of the world's liquid fresh surface water, why bigger and more frequent fires have flipped it from a carbon sink into a carbon source, and how conservation funding passed it over for decades because it was too big and too empty to fit the "biodiversity hotspot" model.

He also shares the solo canoe trip that changed the course of his life, the cold call to the Smithsonian that launched two decades of wilderness art expeditions, and the number that stopped Matt in his tracks: 59% of the trees cut in Canada end up as toilet paper and paper towels for the U.S. market.

Get Rob's book, Boreal Wilderland: Art, Science, and Adventure in Earth's Greatest Wilderness, at www.robmullen.com

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

GUEST BIO

Rob Mullen is a wildlife and wilderness artist, author, and Director of the Wilderness River Expedition Art Fellowship, which he founded in 2005 and now runs as a program of the Center for Circumpolar Studies. A native Vermonter with a biology degree from the University of Vermont, he spent years as an advertising artist in New York and California before returning home to paint full-time. He has led roughly 20 wilderness art expeditions from Labrador to Alaska, bringing more than 30 nationally and internationally known artists into the boreal forest. He also chairs the board of the Vermont Wildlife Coalition. His book Boreal Wilderland, with a foreword by Robert Bateman, was published in 2026.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Rob Mullen: https://www.robmullen.com
• Boreal Wilderland on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/borealwilderland
• Wilderness River Expedition Art Fellowship: http://www.circumpolarstudies.org/wreaf/WREAFprojects.html
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Today, Matt Matern speaks with Leah Qusba, CEO of GoodPower, a nonprofit working to win public support for the clean energy transition. They talk about moving the energy conversation away from sacrifice and toward abundance, where clean energy means more jobs, lower bills, and an economy that works for everyone. Leah shares GoodPower's polling with NORC at the University of Chicago, which found about half of Republicans still support large-scale solar, rising to roughly 70% when it's tied to lower energy bills. They also dig into the disinformation targeting renewables, why one in three projects now dies in permitting, and a little-known Arizona utility race putting energy bills on the 2026 ballot.

Check out GoodPower at goodpower.org

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

GUEST BIO

Leah Qusba is the Chief Executive Officer of GoodPower, a strategic communications, research, and campaigning nonprofit advancing the global renewable energy transition (formerly Action for the Climate Emergency, rebranded in 2025). She has spent 17 years with the organization, building its early programs and leading national campaigns before becoming CEO. Her work focuses on winning public opinion for clean energy in rural, conservative communities - where the vast majority of new solar, wind, and storage is built and where projects most often stall at the local permitting level. A frequent media voice on energy, media, and culture, she leads GoodPower's original polling, its conservative messenger network, and its work countering AI-driven disinformation.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• GoodPower: goodpower.org
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Today, Matt is joined again by Cora Stryker, co-founder of Bright Saver. One year after first joining us on the show, a lot has changed. When she was last on, plug-in solar was legal in exactly one state and nobody in the country was selling it. Since then, 35 states plus DC have introduced legislation, nine have signed it into law, and Bright Saver has started shipping kits nationwide at exactly what they cost: $285.30, no markup. Here in California, SB 868 - the Plug and Play Solar Act - just cleared both houses of the legislature and is now sitting on Governor Newsom's desk awaiting his signature.

Cora argues that the climate movement's biggest opportunity is affordability, as only about 3% of Americans rank climate as their top voting priority, while 54% name the economy and household expenses.

Check out Bright Saver at https://www.brightsaver.org

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

GUEST BIO

Cora Stryker is co-founder of Bright Saver, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to make plug-in "balcony" solar affordable and legal across the United States. The organization sells solar kits to its members at cost and advocates for state legislation that treats small plug-in systems like household appliances rather than power plants. She is a serial founder of mission-driven organizations, including the Climate Justice Incubator and GirlBlazer. She studied biology at Brown University and began her career as a rare and endangered plant biologist in Hawaii, later teaching basic writing at a community college.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Bright Saver: https://www.brightsaver.org
• Is plug-in solar legal in your state?: https://www.brightsaver.org/is-plug-in-solar-legal
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Today, Matt is joined by Saar Safra, co-founder and CEO of Beewise, to talk about one of the quietest threats to our food supply - the collapse of the world's bee colonies. Saar shares how he teamed up with a commercial beekeeper to build the BeeHome: a solar-powered, AI-driven robotic hive that monitors bees around the clock and treats problems automatically, without chemicals. They dig into why bees pollinate roughly 75% of the crops we eat, how monoculture and pesticides have turned farmland into a desert for pollinators, and how Beewise has cut colony collapse from 40–60% down to under 10%. And Saar gives Matt a peak at the company's new Bees for Buildings program bringing pollinators into cities and their goal of scaling this technology to help communities around the world.

Learn more about Beewise at https://www.beewise.ag

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

GUEST BIO

Saar Safra is the co-founder and CEO of Beewise, an agtech company on a mission to save bees and secure the global food supply. A serial entrepreneur - Beewise is his sixth company - he partnered with commercial beekeeper Eliyah Radzyner to build the BeeHome, a solar-powered, AI-driven robotic hive that autonomously monitors and cares for colonies. Beewise is now one of the largest pollination-services providers in the country, operating across more than 300,000 acres for growers including Blue Diamond, Driscoll's, and Taylor Farms. The company has raised roughly $170 million and reports colony collapse rates under 10%, compared with an industry average that can exceed 50%.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Beewise: https://www.beewise.ag
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

CURATED LIST OF EPISODES

If you enjoyed this episode of A Climate Change, here is a list of some recent episodes curated especially for you:

• Simulating the Future: How Climate Models Shape Policy Decisions with Andrew Jones [Link]
• How Personal Change Sparks Global Impact: Joshua Spodek's Sustainability Secrets [Link]
• Bill McKibben on Renewable Energy, Political Battles & Hope for the Planet [Link]

Today, Matt Matern speaks with Zak Winnick, founder and CEO of Rangeway Energy, about building America’s first hospitality-forward EV charging network. Zak shares how a career running hotels - and years of frustration as an EV owner - led him to treat charging as an experience rather than just a piece of infrastructure. They discuss why so many public chargers feel unreliable and impersonal, and how Rangeway is targeting the scenic, underserved highways the big networks skip. Zak also explains why the real money is in the amenities rather than the electricity - and how he plans to make Rangeway the "Apple of EV charging."

Check out Rangeway Energy at https://rangeway.co. Interested investors can reach the team at investors@rangeway.co.

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

GUEST BIO

Zak Winnick is the founder and CEO of Rangeway Energy, a startup building America’s first hospitality-forward EV charging network. Drawing on more than 15 years in hospitality operations and IT - and his own experience as a longtime EV owner and EV-community leader - he designs charging destinations that pair reliable fast charging with climate-controlled lounges, thoughtful amenities, and sustainable, often off-grid infrastructure. Rangeway focuses on scenic, underserved corridors, with its first sites planned for Missouri and Southern California. Winnick’s guiding idea is simple: make the stop, not just the charger, the point.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Rangeway Energy: https://rangeway.co
• Matt Matern on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ACClinkedin
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Today, Matt speaks with Bren Smith, co-founder and co-executive director of GreenWave, about his journey from commercial fisherman to pioneer of regenerative ocean farming. Bren shares how a cod collapse in his native Newfoundland and two hurricanes that destroyed his farm led him to a model that grows seaweed and shellfish with no water, fertilizer, feed, or land - while rebuilding ocean ecosystems. They also discuss GreenWave’s new State of the Kelp Industry report and how kelp is shifting from a “hero climate ingredient” to a working-class problem solver.

Check out GreenWave at https://www.greenwave.org

Read the State of the Kelp Industry report here: https://hub.greenwave.org/lms/resources/state-of-the-kelp-industry/

Bren’s book, Eat Like a Fish, is available wherever books are sold.

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

Bren Smith Bio:

Bren Smith is co-founder and co-executive director of GreenWave and owner of Thimble Island Ocean Farm. A lifelong commercial fisherman turned regenerative ocean farmer, he pioneered a zero-input model that grows seaweed and shellfish while restoring marine ecosystems. He is the James Beard Award-winning author of Eat Like a Fish and a winner of the Buckminster Fuller Prize and the Curt Bergfors Food Planet Prize. His work has been profiled by 60 Minutes, CNN, The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, and National Geographic, and he was named one of Rolling Stone’s “25 People Shaping the Future.”

Episode Resources

• GreenWave website: https://www.greenwave.org
• State of the Kelp Industry report: https://hub.greenwave.org/lms/resources/state-of-the-kelp-industry/
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Music Credits

Music:

Theme song - SMOOTA, “Save It! (The Mother Earth Boogie)” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BRuPWPgrvA)

Additional music - Stereo Reform, “Midnight Synthesizer (Instrumental)”

Today, Matt is joined by Dr. Garrett Boudinot, founder and CEO of Vycarb, to talk about a new approach to carbon capture and storage that works with water instead of pipelines and underground wells. Garrett explains how Vycarb's reactor turns CO2 into bicarbonate and stores it safely in the ocean for tens of thousands of years. He shares why traditional carbon capture has been so expensive and hard to site, and how Vycarb bypasses the costly steps to target costs as low as $50 a ton. He also previews what's next as Vycarb scales from its Brooklyn Navy Yard pilot to full commercial projects.

Check out Vycarb at https://vycarb.com/

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

Know a local hero for the planet? Nominate them for Cox Conserves Heroes, funded by the James M. Cox Foundation. Nominate Aug 3–16, vote Sept 28–Oct 4 at cox.partners/cch.

GUEST BIO

Garrett Boudinot is the founder and CEO of Vycarb, a climate-tech company pioneering a water-based approach to carbon capture and storage. He earned a PhD studying global carbon cycling and its impacts on ocean and forest ecosystems, then led a carbon-management research program at Cornell University. As an inaugural Activate New York entrepreneurial fellow, he founded Vycarb to accelerate the ocean's natural carbon-storage process - and to measure it in real time. The company runs a pilot at the Brooklyn Navy Yard that captures CO2 and permanently stores it in the East River, and is now scaling toward full commercial projects in the US and abroad.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Vycarb: https://vycarb.com/
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

MUSIC

Theme: SMOOTA - "Save It! (The Mother Earth Boogie)"

Additional music: Stereo Reform - "Midnight Synthesizer (Instrumental)"

Today, Matt is joined by David Fenton - veteran progressive communications strategist and host of The Fenton Forecast - for a conversation about the climate movement’s biggest failure: how it talks, or doesn’t talk, about the crisis. David explains “blanket of pollution” metaphor, and why framing climate action as sacrifice backfires, the soaring insurance costs hitting Americans’ wallets, and the fossil fuel industry’s push for legal immunity as climate lawsuits close in.

Check out The Fenton Forecast here: https://www.fentonforecast.com

Learn more about David’s work: https://davidfentonactivist.com

David’s book, The Activist’s Media Handbook, is available wherever books are sold.

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

Guest Bio:

David Fenton has spent more than fifty years helping progressive movements win. In 1982 he founded Fenton Communications, the first public relations firm built for nonprofits and public-interest causes, and pioneered the use of PR, advertising, and social media for the environment, public health, and human rights. He is the author of The Activist’s Media Handbook: Lessons from 50 Years as a Progressive Agitator, a senior advisor to Yellow Dot Studios, and host of The Fenton Forecast podcast.

Episode Resources

• The Fenton Forecast: https://www.fentonforecast.com
• David Fenton: https://davidfentonactivist.com
• The Activist’s Media Handbook
• Yellow Dot Studios: https://yellowdotstudios.com
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Today, Matt speaks with Tom Chi, founding partner of At One Ventures and a founding member of the Google X team behind Waymo, about using deep tech to restore ecosystems instead of just slowing the damage.

They talk about the drone companies replanting mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass beds, and how the cost of restoration keeps falling by half. Tom explains that a park ranger in 1926 had a Jeep, a map, binoculars, and a clicker, and today the tools are mostly the same. He also shares his concerns about who is steering AI right now, why regulation may protect an economy rather than slow it, and a simple idea he calls the aperture of care.

Check out Tom's book, Climate Capital: Investing in the Tools for a Regenerative Future: https://www.tomchi.com/

Learn more about At One Ventures: https://www.atoneventures.com/

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

Guest Bio:

Tom Chi is the founding partner of At One Ventures, a venture firm that invests in deep-tech startups working to make humanity a net positive to nature. He was a founding member of Google X, where he led the teams that created self-driving cars, wearable augmented reality, and deep learning artificial intelligence. Trained in physics and electrical engineering, he is a named inventor on more than 75 patents and has worked on projects at Microsoft and Yahoo. He is the author of the national bestseller Climate Capital: Investing in the Tools for a Regenerative Future.

Episode Resources

• Tom Chi website: https://www.tomchi.com/
• At One Ventures: https://www.atoneventures.com/
• Tom Chi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thegoodtomchi/
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Today, Matt speaks with Dr. Linley Dixon, Co-Director of the Real Organic Project and cohost of the Real Organic Podcast, about why how we grow food may be the climate lever we're ignoring. Linley explains that synthesizing nitrogen fertilizer alone accounts for 1-2% of the global carbon footprint. They also dig into what's gone wrong with the label people trust. Only about 1% of US farmland is certified organic while roughly 80% of our organic blueberries are imported, fraudulent "organic" grain shipments undercut American farmers, and the USDA allows soil-less hydroponics to carry the same seal as a soil farmer.

Learn more about the Real Organic Project: https://realorganicproject.org

Listen to the Real Organic Podcast: bit.ly/realorganicpod

Saving Real Organic: In Defense of Science (Sept 18-19, 2026, Churchtown Dairy, NY): Event info

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

Guest Bio:

Dr. Linley Dixon is Co-Director of the Real Organic Project and cohost of the Anthem Award-winning Real Organic Podcast. A soil scientist with a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of Florida and a Master's in Soil Science from West Virginia University, she spent two years as a post-doc at the USDA's Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory before turning to organic policy. She has farmed organic vegetables at Adobe House Farm in Durango, Colorado since 2010, and launched the Real Organic Project's farmer-led certification program in 2018 - now over 1,100 farms nationwide.

Episode Resources

• Real Organic Project: https://realorganicproject.org
• Real Organic Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/real-organic-podcast/id1573111162
• Find a Real Organic certified farm near you: https://realorganicproject.org/farms
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

If you enjoyed this episode of A Climate Change, here is a list of some recent episodes curated especially for you:

• The Founders Loved the Land…and Left One Thing Unfinished
• How We Feed the World Without Frying It, with Michael Grunwald
• Fast Fashion Is Killing the Planet, with Marci Zaroff

Today, Matt speaks with Jeffrey Prosserman, CEO and co-founder of Voltpost, about a simple idea with big potential: turning the lampposts and utility poles cities already have into electric vehicle chargers. Jeffrey shares his path from leading product development at Samsung to founding Voltpost, and explains why more than 40% of Americans, those without a private garage or driveway, still can't conveniently charge an EV at home.

Learn more about Voltpost at https://voltpost.com

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

GUEST BIO

Jeffrey Prosserman is the co-founder and CEO of Voltpost, a venture-backed company based in New York and San Francisco that retrofits lampposts and utility poles into electric vehicle charging platforms. Voltpost's mission is to decarbonize mobility by democratizing charging access, making public charging as common as the streetlight. Before Voltpost, Jeffrey was Director of Innovation at Samsung and spent more than 20 years working at the forefront of technology. In 2022, he graduated from Columbia University's Sustainability Management program to focus full-time on building climate technology solutions.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Voltpost website: https://voltpost.com
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

In this milestone 250th episode, Matt Matern goes solo for the final installment of our “250 for 250” series - tracing what the people who founded the country actually believed about land, soil, and stewardship. From Thomas Jefferson’s near-daily weather diary and George Washington’s soil-saving crop rotations, to the myth of endless abundance baked into the American character, Matt lays out what the founders left us: a genuine love of the land, and a dangerous belief that it could never run out.

This episode is part of our “250 for 250” series, marking America’s 250th anniversary by revisiting the figures and stories in our environmental history when ordinary people changed everything.

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Thomas Jefferson’s Weather Observations (Monticello): https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/weather-observations/
• George Washington and Agriculture (Mount Vernon): https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/george-washington-and-agriculture
• Held v. Montana - Montana Supreme Court ruling (NPR): https://www.npr.org/2024/12/19/nx-s1-5218285/montana-supreme-court-backs-youth-plaintiffs-in-groundbreaking-climate-trial
• Green Amendments For The Generations: https://forthegenerations.org
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Today, Matt speaks with New York Times bestselling biographer Brian Jay Jones, author of Becoming Dr. Seuss and the new book The Capitol: The Surprising Biography of an American Building. Brian traces Theodor Geisel’s unlikely path - from advertising man to the most beloved children’s author in America. They dig into the making of The Lorax: the cookie-cutter condos eating up La Jolla’s coastline that made Seuss furious, the nine months of writer’s block, and the Kenya trip where he drafted the whole story in 90 minutes on the back of a notepad. Brian also shares the story behind his new biography of the U.S. Capitol, and how he was inspired to write it after January 6, 2021.

This episode is part of our "250 for 250" series, marking America's 250th anniversary by revisiting the figures and stories in our history when ordinary people changed everything - from Dr. Seuss and the little orange creature who speaks for the trees, to the enslaved craftsman who cast the Statue of Freedom atop the Capitol.

Check out Brian’s work here: https://brianjayjones.com/

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

Brian Jay Jones Bio:

Brian Jay Jones is a New York Times bestselling biographer known for chronicling the iconic creative figures who shaped American pop culture. He is the author of biographies of Jim Henson, George Lucas, Washington Irving, and Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, whose life he traced in Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination. His newest book, The Capitol: The Surprising Biography of an American Building, was published by Dutton in June 2026. A former U.S. Senate speechwriter and policy adviser, Jones is a past president of Biographers International Organization and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Episode Resources

• Brian Jay Jones website: https://brianjayjones.com/
• Becoming Dr. Seuss: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1524742783
• https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/565982/becoming-dr-seuss-by-brian-jay-jones
• The Capitol (Dutton, June 2026): https://brianjayjones.com/book/
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

Today, Matt speaks with Philip Nel, University Distinguished Professor of English at Kansas State University and one of the world's leading Dr. Seuss scholars, about The Lorax and its place in the environmental movement. They trace the book's origins, from the coastal construction in La Jolla that made Seuss angry, to the trip to Kenya that finally unlocked the story he scribbled on a hotel laundry list. They also dig into the logging industry's counter-book Truax, why The Lorax keeps landing on banned-book lists, and how Lady Bird Johnson built an environmental campaign around it.

This episode is part of our "250 for 250" series, marking America's 250th anniversary by revisiting the figures and stories in our environmental history when ordinary people changed everything. Dr. Seuss, and the little orange creature who speaks for the trees, is one of them.

Learn more about Philip's work at https://philnel.com

Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

GUEST BIO

Philip Nel is University Distinguished Professor of English at Kansas State University, where he directs the Program in Children's Literature. He is one of the world's leading scholars on Dr. Seuss and the author or editor of fifteen books, including Dr. Seuss: American Icon and Was the Cat in the Hat Black? His work takes children's literature seriously as a cultural and political force, and he has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, CNN, and more than 300 media outlets.

ABOUT THE “250 FOR 250” SERIES

In 2026, America turns 250 - and A Climate Change reaches its 250th episode. To mark both, host Matt Matern is recording a run of solo episodes that revisit the moments in American environmental history when ordinary people changed everything: the fights, the movements, and the laws that built modern environmental protection. The throughline is simple - caring for the air, water, and land isn’t separate from the American story. It is the American story.

EPISODE RESOURCES

• Philip Nel's website: https://philnel.com
• Was the Cat in the Hat Black? and Dr. Seuss: American Icon: https://philnel.com/books/
• We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom (mentioned in the episode): https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250203557/wearewaterprotectors/
• A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
• A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
• A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids