Podcast
Reversing Climate Change
Hosted by Carbon Removal Strategies LLC · EN
Reversing Climate Change is a podcast that bridges science, technology, and policy with the richness of the humanities. From the forefront of carbon removal and climatetech to explorations of literature, history, philosophy, theology, and geopolitics, we dive deep into the people, ideas, and innovations shaping a better future for the planet and its inhabitants.
If you love the show, please become a paid subscriber on Spotify.
22episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
411: Why I love Poppy Russell of Counteract VC's CDR analysis
6d ago00:52:10Tap to summarizeThere are some people whom you know you just have to read whatever they write next. For me, one of those people is Poppy Russell.Poppy is the Research Manager at Counteract VC, a venture capital firm devoted to funding carbon dioxide removal companies. Poppy's research of course helps Counteract diligence potential deals, and sometimes she publishes key insights, models, and other things that make me think.Listen in as Poppy and I discuss the state of carbon removal, what she's bullish and bearish on, whether toxicity could be the next big thing in climate, and which corners she is peaking around next.This Episode's SponsorEcoEngineers: a full-service advisory and consulting firm focused on carbon dioxide removal, decarbonization, and carbon marketsListen to the RCC episode I made with David LaGreca from EcoEngineers about how to choose, hire, and fire carbon market contractors.2026 EcoForums Training Series: Navigating Global Carbon and Fuel Regulations, Market Mechanisms, and Life-Cycle Analysis FundamentalsResourcesCheck out my new show, Climate Workers AnonymousBecome a paid subscriber of Reversing Climate Change (and get rid of the ads on Spotify)Subscribe to the Reversing Climate Change SubstackSubscribe to the Climate Workers Anonymous Substack"Toxicity: The Invisible Tsunami" by Deep Science Ventures"Between a Rock and a Hard Cost: The Economics of Enhanced Weathering""Not All Carbon Removal Projects Are Created Equal""Industry has a central role in CDR's next growth phase""Locating the sweet spot for biochar carbon removal""Treading Carefully in the Waters of Ocean-based CDR"
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410: remove's new Latin American carbon dioxide removal accelerator program—w/ Hans Westerhof & Marian Krüger
2w ago00:56:33Tap to summarizeThere are many startup accelerators out there. There are fewer focused on climate tech. Fewer still for carbon dioxide removal. Lucky for us, remove runs the absolute heck out of their programs. And it's been a true joy of mine coaching startups in them this past year. I can't even believe it, but the time has come for another program... In Latin America!If you are a Latin American carbon dioxide removal project and/or technology developer, you should apply to remove's LatAm cohort. Applications are out now, and there is a chance we might end up working together.I have had nothing but wonderful experiences with the team at remove. They offer focused training, a powerful network, and an unmatched peer group in your cohort. Hoping to see you there!In today's episode, cofounders and managing directors of remove, Marian Krüger and Hans Westerhof, join the show to talk about the program, what it means to be ecosystem builders, and how they aim to grow capacity in the Global South generally and Latin America in particular.This Episode's SponsorEcoEngineers: a full-service advisory and consulting firm focused on carbon dioxide removal, decarbonization, and carbon marketsListen to the RCC episode I made with David LaGreca from EcoEngineers about how to choose, hire, and fire carbon market contractors.2026 EcoForums Training Series: Navigating Global Carbon and Fuel Regulations, Market Mechanisms, and Life-Cycle Analysis FundamentalsResourcesCheck out my new show, Climate Workers AnonymousBecome a paid subscriber of Reversing Climate Change (and get rid of the ads)Subscribe to the Reversing Climate Change SubstackSubscribe to the Climate Workers Anonymous Substackremove's websiteApply to the LatAm carbon removal accelerator
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409: D.W. Pasulka on AI, the religion of UFOs, & the future of being human
3w ago01:04:02Tap to summarizeWhen I have questions about how technology will change human life, our experience of it, and fundamentally what we are as conscious entities... my first port of call is likely someone like Dr. D.W. Pasulka. She's labored on some of the biggest questions of the humanities only to find the world racing to catch up with her later on disclosure, on artificial intelligence, and presumably on whatever comes next in this beautiful tale told by an idiot.I've been reading Diana's books for years. I forgot how American Cosmic found its way into my hands, but I loved the restrained religious studies orientation of treating unidentified flying object (UFO)/unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) experiencers seriously, the intersection with Marshall McLuhan and media studies, and the forcing function of non-human intelligence like AI bursting onto the scene whether we were ready for it or not.Her new book, The Others: UFOs, AI, and The Hidden Forces Guiding Human Destiny, will be released on July 28th. Grab yourself a copy and dig into some real mind-bending and fun ideas. Even if you think this stuff is far out, as society increasingly takes supernormal/paranormal activity seriously and embeds artificial intelligence in so many places, books like Diana's are going to be key for understanding what is happening to our humanity, our being, and our experience of being.And yet, somehow I only said "ontology" once in this podcast. I guess that religious studies restraint is rubbing off on me.Long live the new flesh!This Episode's SponsorEcoEngineers: a full-service advisory and consulting firm focused on carbon dioxide removal, decarbonization, and carbon marketsListen to the RCC episode I made with David LaGreca from EcoEngineers about how to choose, hire, and fire carbon market contractors.2026 EcoForums Training Series: Navigating Global Carbon and Fuel Regulations, Market Mechanisms, and Life-Cycle Analysis FundamentalsResourcesCheck out my new show, Climate Workers AnonymousBecome a paid subscriber of Reversing Climate Change (and get rid of the ads)Subscribe to the Reversing Climate Change SubstackSubscribe to the Climate Workers Anonymous SubstackD.W. Pasulka's websiteThe Others: UFOs, AI, and The Hidden Forces Guiding Human Destiny, will be released on July 28th"406: Hyperstition, Dialectic, & Carbon Dioxide Removal" on Reversing Climate ChangeThe Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life by Lisa MillerLuis ElizondoVideodromeI have way more links on the Substack article about this episode. Come check it out.
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408: The impossible taxonomy of carbon dioxide removal
4w ago00:12:21Tap to summarizeIf we created an objectively correct and exhaustive categorization of carbon credits, would it solve everything? Would it solve anything?Listen in as I read an essay I recently wrote about the endless quest to perfectly categorize the world, and while that may be a useful project for some purposes, it isn't anywhere close to the main reasons the world looks the way that it does.Listen in and you'll get surrealist sculpture, Michael Polanyi, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Plato. Who can truly say no to an offer like that?This Episode's SponsorEcoEngineers: a full-service advisory and consulting firm focused on carbon dioxide removal, decarbonization, and carbon marketsListen to the RCC episode I made with David LaGreca from EcoEngineers about how to choose, hire, and fire carbon market contractors.2026 EcoForums Training Series: Navigating Global Carbon and Fuel Regulations, Market Mechanisms, and Life-Cycle Analysis FundamentalsResourcesCheck out my new show, Climate Workers AnonymousBecome a paid subscriber of Reversing Climate ChangeSubscribe to the Reversing Climate Change SubstackSubscribe to the Climate Workers Anonymous SubstackHere's the essay on Substack if you'd like to read along and check out the endnotes.
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407: Charles C. Mann on the wizards & prophets of climate change
Jul 900:58:27Tap to summarizeI interviewed Charles C. Mann in 2020 about his book, The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World. This episode is a personal favorite of mine.Somehow, I don't believe I've ever rereleased any old episodes. But there are many great ones buried in the archives. I am going to start bringing more of them out that remain relevant.If you aren't familiar with Charles C. Mann, he's written a bunch of great books including 1491 and 1493, both of which I'd recommend.This Episode's SponsorEcoEngineers: a full-service advisory and consulting firm focused on carbon dioxide removal, decarbonization, and carbon marketsListen to the RCC episode I made with David LaGreca from EcoEngineers about how to choose, hire, and fire carbon market contractors.2026 EcoForums Training Series: Navigating Global Carbon and Fuel Regulations, Market Mechanisms, and Life-Cycle Analysis FundamentalsResourcesCheck out my new show, Climate Workers AnonymousBecome a paid subscriber of Reversing Climate ChangeSubscribe to the Reversing Climate Change SubstackSubscribe to the Climate Workers Anonymous SubstackCharles C. Mann on WikipediaThe Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C. Mann
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Climate Workers Anonymous, introducing a new podcast + collective art project I am curating
Jul 600:22:21Tap to summarizeWorking in climate is hard. We all have things we wish we could say. What if we could actually say them?If you love the Reversing Climate Change podcast, you should check out the new show I'm working on, Climate Workers Anonymous.It came about as my work has become more emotional in nature. Working with so many founders has led me to see that many business problems are less about GTM motions or product-market fit. They're often about identity, attachment, and shame. Being able to speak openly about those feelings, even if anonymously, can be an enormous relief.Moreover, many people in climate have strong feelings about who they do business with, how their companies are structured and make decisions, and maybe think the entire space has deeply lost its way. Can they say that in public? Sure, but that could have career repercussions beyond what many are able and willing to tolerate.And yet, are those feelings any less true? No. They are not. And thus, Climate Workers Anonymous was born. People fill out a Tally survey with their unattributed takes and send it to me to publish in written form on Substack and as audio in your podcast feed—it's the old Carbon Removal Newsroom feed if you're still subscribed to that.Please go check out Climate Workers Anonymous, give it a great rating and review in your podcast apps, subscribe on Substack, become a paying supporter of the show if you believe in what it's doing, and thanks so much for supporting creative media in climate and carbon dioxide removal! And thank you to the legendary PostSecret, which I suspect all elder millennials reading this will know, for showing us the way.Sincerely,Ross KenyonResourcesCheck out my new show, Climate Workers AnonymousSubscribe to the Climate Workers Anonymous SubstackSubscribe to the Reversing Climate Change SubstackAn amazing rating and review on the podcast apps does a world of good. Would you please do that for me now? Here’s Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Subscribe as well while you're there!If you’d like submit your anonymous hopes, fears, or experiences to Climate Workers Anonymous, you can use this Tally survey or email climateworkersanonymous[at]protonmail.com, though I believe the Tally survey is more secure. Do not communicate anything you wouldn’t want a hacker to have access to, including an email address that could be linked to you if you email the account on Protonmail.
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406: Hyperstition, Dialectic, & Carbon Dioxide Removal
Jul 200:43:44Tap to summarizeWhat happens when you care about climate and also want to explore space? What if you love technology but worry we've deeply misunderstood how to relate to it appropriately? What happens when we take the religious claims of others seriously, even when they aren't seen as legitimate as the major faiths? How can philosophy, literary criticism, film, and media studies help solve some of the biggest questions in climate, and maybe even give us all a little bit of extra solace in a time when we sure could use it?Today's a biggie. We talk about some huge concepts, but don't be scared. They're simple enough. You'll get the hang of it while walking your dog and listening to this and soon you'll be able to wow your friends and family with some fancy new $5 words.In all seriousness though, I think these concepts are genuinely useful, and have helped me make sense of my own feelings, how my brain works, and how to understand what it means as a little person to relate to ideality, materiality, and the Antropocene.This Episode's SponsorEcoEngineers: a full-service advisory and consulting firm focused on carbon dioxide removal, decarbonization, and carbon marketsListen to the RCC episode I made with David LaGreca from EcoEngineers about how to choose, hire, and fire carbon market contractors.2026 EcoForums Training Series: Navigating Global Carbon and Fuel Regulations, Market Mechanisms, and Life-Cycle Analysis FundamentalsResourcesCheck out my new show, Climate Workers AnonymousBecome a paid subscriber of Reversing Climate ChangeSubscribe to the Reversing Climate Change SubstackSubscribe to the Climate Workers Anonymous SubstackRead the full transcript and show notes on Substack (soon!)Oh my goodness. There are so many references in this show. I will come back and add them, but if I could only choose one..."Immanuel Kant song"
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405: Does Managed MRV imply the existence of Unmanaged MRV?!—w/ Varsha Ramesh Walsh, Offstream
Jun 2500:48:14Tap to summarizeWhat even is MRV, let alone dMRV?! Or Managed MRV?! Doesn't that imply the existence of Unmanaged MRV? If everything is pretty much digital now, do we still need that pesky 'd' letter?! Are there still dudes with clipboards hanging around?In this episode of Reversing Climate Change, host Ross Kenyon sits down with the cofounder and CEO of Offstream, Varsha Ramesh Walsh, to untangle the complicated web of carbon credit data collection.Offstream has evolved significantly after realizing that carbon project developers don't just want another software tool to manage... they want someone to simply get the job done for them. Varsha introduces us to the concept of "Managed MRV," explaining why handing off the heavy lifting of Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification can sometimes be cheaper and far more effective than trying to handle it all in-house.But this show also gets big. Varsha argues that practically every piece of modern infrastructure has the potential to become a carbon dioxide removal or environmental asset. For that to be true, we would likely enter a world where we are all much more persistently observed and quantified, and with rewards and punishments to match. Is the future of carbon crediting one of surveillance capitalism with the social contracts of data sharing to match? Would that solve more problems than it creates? How are we even meant to live?!Varsha also shares her incredibly disciplined approach to information consumption as a founder, offering a highly focused counter-narrative to being "well-informed".Turns out nothing is truly small when you start to poke at it just a little bit.This Episode's SponsorsEcoEngineers: a full-service advisory and consulting firm focused on carbon dioxide removal, decarbonization, and carbon marketsListen to the RCC episode I made with David LaGreca from EcoEngineers about how to choose, hire, and fire carbon market contractors.Philip Lee LLP: legal resources for carbon removal buyers and suppliersListen to the RCC episode with Ryan Covington from Philip Lee LLP about project financeListen to the RCC episode with Lev Gantly about the history and current status of CORSIAResourcesCheck out my new show, Climate Workers AnonymousBecome a paid subscriber of Reversing Climate ChangeSubscribe to the Reversing Climate Change SubstackSubscribe to the Climate Workers Anonymous SubstackRead the full transcript and show notes on Substack (soon!)Varsha Ramesh Walsh on LinkedInOffstreamThe Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff
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And was Jerusalem builded here, Among these dark Satanic Mills?—"Jerusalem" by William Blake
Jun 2200:06:24Tap to summarizeIn the last Reversing Climate Change podcast episode, Tom Mills and I started talking about "Jerusalem ["And did those feet in ancient time"]" by William Blake (1810), and the 1916 hymn by Sir Hubert Parry that seemingly all Brits know in their souls.I only knew about it due to a childhood obsession with the dvd boxset of Monty Python's Flying Circus, where in the S1E4 episode, "Owl-Stretching Time", Eric Idle sings this song while being seduced. Unfortunately, I cannot find a good link to this sketch... I can't say I ever fully understood what was happening beyond just the earnestness and absurdity of the situation, but somehow Tom helped me unlock it.In any case, this is a very very quick dip into Romantic poetry (industrialism bad, nature good; analysis bad, intuition good; simple good, complex bad), William Blake's prominence in films like Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man and HBO's tv series Westworld by way of his poem, "Auguries of Innocence", and how sometimes a work can actually be this simple and stand the test of time.ResourcesCheck out my new show, Climate Workers AnonymousBecome a paid subscriber of Reversing Climate ChangeSubscribe to the Reversing Climate Change SubstackSubscribe to the Climate Workers Anonymous SubstackSubscribe to the Reversing Climate Change Substack"And did those feet in ancient time" on Wikipedia
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404: When will insetting work for carbon dioxide removal?—w/ Tom Mills, Stripe Climate Fellow (former)
Jun 1800:57:22Tap to summarizeEveryone knows about offsetting. But what about insetting? Surely, that's easier. If only we could define it...In this episode of Reversing Climate Change, host Ross Kenyon sits down with Tom Mills to dig into the physical reality of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and its intersection with heavy industry, mining, and global agricultural supply chains.Drawing from his experience working in mining governance across Africa and South Asia, Tom shares how the physical, logistical, and geopolitical challenges of heavy industry perfectly parallel the hurdles facing the scaling of CDR today. The conversation explores Tom's journey into carbon removal while living in India, where he realized how the region's unique geology and agricultural needs make it an ideal landscape for scalable climate solutions like biochar and enhanced rock weathering (ERW). Tom was a Stripe Climate Fellow, where he focused on embedding CDR directly into global agricultural supply chains. Tom breaks down why certain premium commodity value chains—specifically coffee—are leading the charge in adopting these practices due to strict European regulations and high consumer engagement. From there, the conversation tackles the messy realities of corporate carbon accounting, untangling the nuances of "insetting" versus "offsetting," and exploring how project developers can monetize non-carbon benefits like yield optimization, nutritional density, and watershed protection. This Episode's SponsorsEcoEngineers: a full-service advisory and consulting firm focused on carbon dioxide removal, decarbonization, and carbon marketsListen to the RCC episode I made with David LaGreca from EcoEngineers about how to choose, hire, and fire carbon market contractors.Philip Lee LLP: legal resources for carbon removal buyers and suppliersListen to the RCC episode with Ryan Covington from Philip Lee LLP about project financeListen to the RCC episode with Lev Gantly about the history and current status of CORSIAResourcesCheck out my new show, Climate Workers AnonymousBecome a paid subscriber of Reversing Climate ChangeSubscribe to the Reversing Climate Change SubstackSubscribe to the Climate Workers Anonymous SubstackBecome a paid subscriber of Reversing Climate ChangeSubscribe to the Reversing Climate Change SubstackRead the full transcript and show notes on SubstackStripe Climate FellowsMati Carbon"Jerusalem ["And did those feet in ancient time"]" by William Blake. In fact, the episode art for this episode is from the piece that we discuss. Jerusalem, Plate 1, Frontispiece, 1804 to 1820, Bentley Copy E, © Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.
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