Podcast
Heat of the Moment
Hosted by Foreign Policy · EN
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.
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Building a Life-Giving Economy
Mar 8, 202300:39:19Tap to summarizeOn 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 here.For more on Wilkinson’s work and to listen to her podcast, click here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Why Saving Forests Involves Rethinking Jobs
Mar 1, 202300:25:06Tap to summarizeOn 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 Pamela Coke-Hamilton the executive director of the International Trade Centre about the link between bolstering better paying jobs in the Global South and confronting the climate crisis.Programming alert! For our final episode this season we are hosting a special live Twitter Spaces conversation with Katharine Wilkinson, one of the world's foremost activists on climate and a leader of the The All We Can Save Project, The free live Twitter Spaces event takes place Wednesday, March 8th at 3pm. Join the conversation here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Seeking Justice in Cancer Alley
Feb 22, 202300:19:51Tap to summarizeThis 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 environmental justice for African Americans and other communities negatively impacted by Louisiana's petrochemical industry.For more on James Hiatt and his work click here.For more on Roishetta Ozane and her work at Healthy Gulf click here.Follow to Dr. Melissa Lott's podcast The Big Switch click here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Accounting for Unintended Consequences of Going Green
Feb 15, 202300:32:15Tap to summarizeToday 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 speaks with Melissa Lott, the Director of Research at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. She talks about how the emergence of electric vehicles and getting to net zero carbon emissions is really all about giving us more choices as we transition to greener ways of doing things. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Why Indigenous and Local Voices Are Vital to a Just Transition
Feb 8, 202300:23:44Tap to summarizeIn 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 in Mexico City who in her spare time she pushes for change through her youth collective and works to get a seat at the table during national climate talks.Finally, John Knox, UN’s first ever special rapporteur on human rights and the environment explains why it's vital to include indigenous and local voices when planning for a just transition away from fossil fuels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →COP27 Roundtable: Financing a Just Transition in the Global South
Feb 1, 202300:25:40Tap to summarizeMuch 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 direction, the scale of funding required to move the global community to a greener economy is immense. And developing countries typically lack the resources to make this change alone.This week, Heat of the Moment revisits COP27—held last year in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt—where Foreign Policy and the Climate Investment Funds convened a panel on just this question. Foreign Policy’s editor in chief, Ravi Agrawal, was joined by Climate Investment Funds CEO Mafalda Duarte; former British COP26 envoy John Murton; U.S. Treasury Department Climate Counselor John Morton; and Rodrigo Ventura, an advisor at the National Council on Climate Change and Clean Development Mechanism in the Dominican Republic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
The Importance of Hearing All Voices
Jan 25, 202300:31:17Tap to summarizeA 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 environmental transformation.Then reporter Elna Schutz heads to coal community Emalahleni, South Africa to hear how the local and national government is working to make sure all voices are heard as they make this transition.And finally, the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Sandeep Pai joins us to discuss how the fourth largest carbon emitting country in the world, India, plans on decarbonizing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
What Does it Really Mean to Just Transition?
Jan 18, 202300:25:35Tap to summarizeThe 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 University of Sussex. Sovacool says that a "just transition" is about looking at the livelihoods and wellbeing of whole communities. The United Nations estimates that 80 mllion jobs are at risk of being lost because of global warming by 2030, most notably in the Global South. In the second part of the episode, reporter Elna Schutz visits a community in South Africa where a coal-fired power plant was recently decommissioned using a Just Transition framework. While funding and plans have been put in place to help the community recover after losing its main economic engine, many locals remain concerned about their present situation.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
COMING SOON—Heat of the Moment: A Just Transition
Jan 11, 202300:03:15Tap to summarizeComing 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 just transition plans. He interviews everyone from scientists to activists to local leaders working to go green, while ensuring that no one is left behind. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →
Youth Climate Activists Are Suing Big Oil and Winning
Dec 16, 202100:19:32Tap to summarizeYouth-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
Transcribe →