We begin with a gripping look at the birth of modern environmentalism, when a burning river and devastating oil spill sparked America's largest-ever demonstration: the first Earth Day. This unprecedented show of unity led to landmark environmental protections that shaped the next half-century.

Moving to the present, we tackle the paradox of our climate paralysis: despite having affordable solutions and facing escalating disasters, meaningful action remains elusive. We explore why – and more importantly, what actually works in creating change.

The final segment offers a clear-eyed look at the political challenges ahead, particularly the threats to environmental progress, while providing listeners with concrete ways to get involved through our comprehensive action guides: "A Call to Act" and "Trumping Trump."

A CALL TO ACT:  A Comprehensive Guide of Eco-Resources and Actions

TRUMPING TRUMP: 300+ organizations united in supporting potentially imperiled individuals and groups. Your source for defiance. 

What do you say about something that has broken the language we use to describe it? In this episode, we tackle the question that has left historians, political scientists, and ordinary citizens reaching for words that keep falling short — how do you make sense of a presidency so chaotic, so unprecedented, and so relentless that keeping up with it feels like trying to read a book while it's on fire? The answer, it turns out, starts not with politics — but with a golf course.

From the classroom to the view from space, this episode connects two powerful lenses on the Trump era — what history actually tells us about leaders like this, and what it means that one person's decisions now affect eight billion people and the only planet we have. Along the way, we explore the strongman psychology that keeps producing leaders like him, the environmental permanence of the decisions being made right now, and the deeply alarming global normalization of hate that is accelerating in his wake.

But the episode does not end in despair. It ends where every honest reckoning with power must eventually arrive — with the question of what we do next. Including a revelation about the hidden engine driving both the political crisis and the environmental crisis simultaneously — and why dismantling one may be the key to dismantling the other. This is one of the most ambitious episodes we have produced. Clear your schedule.

A CALL TO ACT: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions. Updated Daily – Well Organized – Inspirational

TRUMPING TRUMP: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters

With the outbreak of war in Iran dominating the news cycle, I wanted to bring this series back. Not because it's about Iran specifically — it isn't. It was recorded before any of this unfolded. But it may be more relevant today than when we first aired it.

Because what this series is really about is something bigger and older than any single conflict: the staggering human and environmental cost of how we've chosen to settle our differences. From nuclear terror to drone warfare to Silicon Valley's love affair with the Pentagon — we keep finding more sophisticated ways to destroy each other, while the planet absorbs the consequences.

Iran is the headline. This series is the context. And the question at the heart of both is the same one it's always been: are we smart enough to build a better world than the one we keep blowing up?

Here's Part Two.

SHOW-NOTES

Modern Warfare has Evolved Beyond Recognition                                                            From the clear battlefield lines of 1813 Leipzig to today's asymmetric conflicts, war has become a chaotic mix of cyber attacks, economic warfare, and endless urban conflicts that never truly end. The old rules of engagement have completely broken down.

War No Longer Makes Economic Sense                                                                                                   With global military spending approaching $2 trillion annually, modern conflicts cost far more than they could possibly deliver in benefits. Today's wealth comes from innovation and skilled workers—assets that can't be captured through conquest. Nuclear weapons have made direct conflict between major powers essentially impossible.

Military Forces are Devastating our Planet                                                                                       If the world's military organizations were a country, they'd rank as the 4th largest carbon polluter on Earth. Wars create ecological dead zones, drive species to extinction, and destroy the very natural systems we need for climate stability. We're literally destroying the resources we're fighting over.

The Solution is Already Working Worldwide                                                                       Countries like Canada, Ireland, Japan, and others prove that investing in people and environment instead of military expansion creates more prosperity and security. The $2 trillion spent on weapons could solve climate change, end extreme poverty, and build clean energy systems globally—all at the same time.

A CALL TO ACT: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

TRUMPING TRUMP: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters<<

With the outbreak of war in Iran dominating the news cycle, I wanted to bring this series back. Not because it's about Iran specifically — it isn't. It was recorded before any of this unfolded. But it may be more relevant today than when we first aired it.

Because what this series is really about is something bigger and older than any single conflict: the staggering human and environmental cost of how we've chosen to settle our differences. From nuclear terror to drone warfare to Silicon Valley's love affair with the Pentagon — we keep finding more sophisticated ways to destroy each other, while the planet absorbs the consequences.

Iran is the headline. This series is the context. And the question at the heart of both is the same one it's always been: are we smart enough to build a better world than the one we keep blowing up?

Here's Part Two.

SHOW-NOTES

From Cold War Terror to Algorithm Anxiety 

In 1983, 100 million Americans watched "The Day After" and couldn't sleep for days. Today, a 13-year-old Russian boy thinks he's playing a video game but is actually designing drone components for Ukraine. We've traded the fear of instant nuclear annihilation for the reality of constant algorithmic surveillance and precision warfare.

The Drone Revolution Changes Everything 

Ukrainian soldiers call it "a thousand snipers in the sky." Drones now cause 70% of battlefield casualties - more than all traditional weapons combined. Ukraine destroyed $7 billion in Russian aircraft using cheap AI-guided drones, and both countries plan to produce millions more in 2025.

Silicon Valley Joins the War Machine 

Tech companies have completely reversed course on military contracts. Google dropped its weapons ban, Meta trains soldiers with VR, and four tech executives were sworn in as Army officers. Defense venture capital surged 33% to $31 billion as Silicon Valley discovers the profit in algorithmic warfare.

The Environmental Cost of Combat 

Global militaries would rank as the world's 4th largest climate polluter. Modern wars create "ecological dead zones" - reducing elephant populations 90% in some areas and killing thousands of dolphins with sonar. As Yuval Harari warns, we're becoming "hackable animals." The question isn't whether we can build smarter weapons, but whether we're smart enough to build a better world.

A CALL TO ACT: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

TRUMPING TRUMP: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of ‘The Whiter House’ that is going to be with us for years. 

Because real change happens through sustained action, not endless reaction.

Episode Webpage: Packed with Organizations Waging Peace.

Beyond Spectacle: Building Power That Lasts

Now that we understand why we're losing, let's talk about how we win. This episode provides the blueprint—not theory, but proven models already succeeding across America. We start with Obama's revolutionary 2008 franchise model that empowered local volunteers to lead, not just follow orders. While Democrats abandoned this approach, Republicans studied it, copied it, and turned it into Faith & Freedom Coalition—3.1 million members organizing year-round in communities most of us have never heard of.

Real organizing looks nothing like the billion-dollar spectacles dominating elections. We explore three groups—Down Home North Carolina, ISAIAH Minnesota, and Mormon Women for Ethical Government—that prove the power of local focus, economic common ground, and refusing purity tests. They're winning races, passing legislation, and building coalitions that cross party lines because they organize around shared concerns, not ideological conformity. The pattern is consistent: small groups meeting regularly, distributed leadership, and infrastructure that outlasts any single campaign.

For climate specifically, success means meeting demand with better alternatives, not suppressing it. Clean energy displaced coal because it became cheaper—not because of protests. The movement's task is enabling clean development at scale: supporting solar farms, backing transmission lines, championing nuclear and geothermal projects. This episode provides the practical path forward for both democracy and climate organizing, complete with specific strategies, inspiring examples, and the tools you need to build power in your own community. 

A CALL TO ACT Full Index

TRUMPING TRUMP Resource Guide

ACTIVISM AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

    Community Engagement: Step-up Participation in Climate Action

    Community-led Climate Action Planning

     Tools for Eco-Organizers

 SHOW NOTES

We keep losing. Not because we don't care enough or try hard enough—but because we're organizing all wrong. This episode unpacks the brutal truth about why massive protests accomplish almost nothing, while quiet, local organizing builds real power. We examine two movements that launched in the 1980s—DARE and MADD—and reveal why one fizzled into irrelevance while the other changed America. The difference? Structure over spectacle.

Climate organizing faces the same trap. Decades of fighting what people want has put us at war with human nature itself. Meanwhile, the evidence is clear: people respond to solutions that are cheaper, cleaner, and better—not moral lectures about sacrifice. We explore what happened when clean energy became the economically smart choice, and why the movement must shift from preventing development to enabling clean development.

Finally, we confront the purity test problem. The Women's March mobilized millions, then collapsed under ideological litmus tests. Meanwhile, conservatives quietly built the most powerful grassroots network in America by welcoming everyone who'd support their candidates—no other requirements. Big tents win. Small circles lose. The research is unambiguous. This episode reveals what actually works, backed by data, stories, and unflinching honesty about where progressive organizing has gone wrong.

A CALL TO ACT Full Index

TRUMPING TRUMP Resource Guide

ACTIVISM AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

•     Community Engagement: Step-up Participation in Climate Action
•     Community-led Climate Action Planning
•      Tools for Eco-Organizers

We're witnessing civilization-scale destruction in real time. A single leader is systematically dismantling America's knowledge infrastructure—firing thousands of scientists, defunding research institutions, attacking universities, purging cultural repositories, and creating a permission structure where ignorance becomes a point of pride. This isn't chaos—it's strategy. And the damage will compound across generations, reshaping how we solve problems, govern ourselves, and address planetary crises.

By the end of this episode, you'll understand how stupidity was transformed from a bug in the system into a feature of political control. You'll see how the attention economy made us vulnerable, how Trump weaponized that vulnerability, and how his assault on knowledge ensures the destruction can never be fully documented or reversed. 

More importantly, you'll learn what you can do about it. Because while the forces of technological, economic, and political stupidity assume we'll scroll our way to extinction, resistance is still possible. The fight to preserve human intelligence is the defining battle of our century—and it requires knowing who's fighting and how to join them.

Two "LET'S TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY AND OUR PLANET" Databases:

A Call to Act: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.               The most effective climate action happens in communities. A Call to Act helps you find local environmental groups, climate action meetups, and volunteer opportunities that create real change in your backyard and beyond.

Trumping Trump: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of 'The Whiter House' that is going to be with us for years.

What if the greatest threat to solving climate breakdown isn't denial or inaction—it's that we've been systematically engineered to be incapable of understanding it? This episode reveals how a $7 trillion industry has transformed your attention into a resource to be extracted, leaving you with a cognitive capacity optimized for scrolling instead of thinking. We're not just distracted; we're being rewired at a neurological level, and the consequences extend far beyond personal productivity into the survival of democracy, the future of scientific innovation, and our ability to address existential threats.

From the mechanical lie that attention can be measured in clicks and screen time, to the research proving that mind-wandering is where breakthrough thinking happens, this episode connects dots you've sensed but couldn't quite articulate: 

• Why did political engagement collapse when entertainment got "too good"? 
• Why can't we sustain focus long enough to grasp climate science? 
• Why is your brain choosing pain over boredom? 

The attention economy is counting on you being too distracted to fight back. This episode gives you the framework to understand what's being stolen from you—and why reclaiming your capacity for deep thought might be the most radical act of resistance available.

Two "LET'S TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY AND OUR PLANET" Guides:

A Call to Act: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.               The most effective climate action happens in communities. A Call to Act helps you find local environmental groups, climate action meetups, and volunteer opportunities that create real change in your backyard and beyond.

Trumping Trump: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of 'The Whiter House' that is going to be with us for years.

For the first time in recorded history, human intelligence is declining. IQ scores that rose steadily for a century have reversed course across the developed world. Pattern recognition, abstract reasoning, and problem-solving abilities are dropping fastest among young adults. This isn't about genetics - it's about environment. We've built a world that no longer demands we think hard, and our brains are responding accordingly.

The timing couldn't be worse. Climate change requires exactly the cognitive abilities we're losing - understanding complex systems, thinking abstractly, planning long-term, and making difficult trade-offs. Meanwhile, rising temperatures, air pollution, and elevated CO2 levels are themselves damaging our brains, creating a vicious cycle. We need to be smarter to solve the climate crisis, but the crisis is making us dumber. This episode exposes the stakes and asks: do we still have enough mental capacity left to choose a different path?

Two "LET'S TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY AND OUR PLANET" Guides:

A Call to Act: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.               The most effective climate action happens in communities. A Call to Act helps you find local environmental groups, climate action meetups, and volunteer opportunities that create real change in your backyard and beyond.

Trumping Trump: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of 'The Whiter House' that is going to be with us for years.

The word apocalypse doesn't mean ending - it means revelation, transformation. History shows that human apocalypses don't destroy everything, they fundamentally change society. 

The Black Death killed half of Europe but broke the feudal system when labor scarcity gave peasants bargaining power for the first time. Mexico City earthquake survivors didn't scatter in panic - they ran toward collapsed buildings to help, forming rescue groups that still exist today. Research shows you only need 25 percent of any community committed to change to flip entire social norms, and this tipping point explains sudden shifts like smoking bans and marriage equality.

We're already past several positive tipping points. Solar and wind energy are now the cheapest electricity in most places, not from subsidies but simple economics. Each success makes the next easier, creating momentum. But colonial history warns us that recovery requires agency - when Spanish colonizers destroyed Aztec water systems and imposed their own approach, they created problems Mexico City still faces 500 years later. Unlike every previous generation facing apocalypse, we can see climate change coming. We have time, knowledge, and choice. The question isn't whether systems will transform, but whether we choose adaptation while we still have agency or wait for collapse to force it on us.

Two "LET'S TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY AND OUR PLANET" Guides:

A Call to Act: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.                The most effective climate action happens in communities. A Call to Act helps you find local environmental groups, climate action meetups, and volunteer opportunities that create real change in your backyard and beyond.

Trumping Trump: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of 'The Whiter House' that is going to be with us for years.

Earth has nearly died five times. Not from asteroids - Earth did it to itself. Over the past 445 million years, massive volcanic eruptions pumped catastrophic amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, triggering cascading disasters: superheated oceans, toxic atmospheres, and the extinction of up to 95% of all species. These weren't slow declines. Some happened faster than the span of recorded human history.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: we're running the same experiment again. By burning hundreds of millions of years' worth of buried carbon in just a few centuries, we're replicating the conditions that caused Earth's worst mass extinctions. The geochemistry is simple and uncontested – rapid increases in atmospheric CO2 have never ended well. 

But there's a crucial difference: ancient organisms couldn't stop volcanic eruptions. We can stop digging up and burning fossil fuels. We have something they didn't - knowledge of the pattern, and the power to change our trajectory. The question isn't whether Earth will survive. It will. The question is whether we'll use what we know to ensure humanity is part of the planet's future, or just another thin layer in the rocks.

Two "LET'S TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY AND OUR PLANET" Guides:

A Call to Act: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.                Hundreds of Eco-Organizations, Eco-Activities, and Eco-Actions you can take today.

Trumping Trump: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of 'The Whiter House' that is going to be with us for years.

Why Everything Feels Like It's Falling Apart at Once—and What That Actually Means

When wildfires, pandemics, refugee crises, and wars all seem to strike simultaneously, it's not just bad luck. This episode introduces "polycrisis"—the framework that explains why climate change creates droughts that destroy crops, driving migration that destabilizes governments, bringing climate deniers to power who worsen the original problem. These aren't separate disasters. They're interconnected feedback loops amplifying each other through the systems we've built.

But here's the breakthrough: the same connections that multiply problems can multiply solutions. Scientists have identified social tipping points where small interventions trigger cascading change across entire systems. When 25% of a population shifts behavior, cultural transformation becomes inevitable. When renewable energy delivers higher returns than fossil fuels, entire power systems transform within a generation. The UK went from 90% coal to under 2% in just decades. Norway hit 50% electric vehicle sales. Europe accelerated its renewable transition because the Ukraine war exposed fossil fuel vulnerability.

The polycrisis is real and overwhelming—but understanding how crises connect reveals where strategic action creates exponential impact. From deep geothermal energy to education that combats disinformation, from the 3.5% movement threshold to both/and thinking that transcends false choices, this episode maps the leverage points where your action matters most. The pens are in our hands. The story isn't written yet.

Two "Let's Take Back our Country and our Planet" Guides:

A Call to Act: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.                Hundreds of Eco-Organizations, Eco-Activities, and Eco-Actions you can take today.

Trumping Trump: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of 'The Whiter House' that is going to be with us for years.

Think we're doomed? The data tells a different story. More than half of young people worldwide believe humanity is headed for extinction, but when researchers examine the actual numbers, they find something surprising. Death rates from natural disasters have fallen tenfold since the 1920s. Child mortality dropped from 43% to 4% globally. And in 2012, something remarkable happened that most people still don't know about—the world hit peak per capita carbon emissions, and they've been slowly falling ever since.

This episode isn't about denying climate change—it's absolutely real and serious. It's about understanding why doomsday thinking paralyzes us instead of motivating action, and why the data suggests we have genuine reasons for hope. From the energy revolution that caught even experts by surprise to the "polycrisis" reshaping how we must think about solutions, we explore what the numbers actually tell us about our environmental future.

If you're tired of feeling helpless about climate change, this episode offers something different: active, urgent optimism grounded in real progress and real possibilities. Because the question isn't whether solving these problems is possible—it's whether we'll choose to do it.

A Call to Act: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.                Hundreds of Eco-Organizations, Eco-Activities, and Eco-Actions you can take today.

Trumping Trump: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of 'The Whiter House' that is going to be with us for years.

You've been recycling for years, diligently sorting your bins and feeling good about doing your part. But what if the whole system was designed to fail from the start? In this episode, we reveal the uncomfortable truth about recycling rates, industry deception, and why the companies making plastic never wanted recycling to work in the first place.

We explore the connection most people miss: how America's fracking boom supercharged the plastics industry and reshaped the global waste crisis. With hundreds of billions invested in new plastic factories, the fossil fuel industry is betting that plastic production will grow by 40 percent over the next decade as their Plan B while oil demand declines.

Beyond the waste problem, we examine plastic's massive climate footprint and why individual actions miss the point entirely. The real solutions exist—from Extended Producer Responsibility laws to single-use bans—but they threaten industry profits. This episode asks: will we demand systemic change before another trillion dollars of plastic infrastructure gets locked in, or keep washing our jars and hoping someone else figures it out?

A Call to Act: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.                Hundreds of Eco-Organizations, Eco-Activities, and Eco-Actions you can take today.

Trumping Trump: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of 'The Whiter House' that is going to be with us for years.

A Collection of Dozens of Organizations United in Fighting Plastic Waste

For decades, we knew plastic was a problem. Scientists published papers. Environmentalists raised alarms. But knowing and seeing are two very different things. In 2015, a sea turtle with a plastic straw lodged in its nostril changed everything. That eight-minute video of agony went viral with over 110 million views, and suddenly plastic pollution wasn't just data—it was undeniable suffering you couldn't scroll past.

This episode explores the moments when plastic's invisibility shattered. We trace how a crisis that lived in the background noise of modern life suddenly demanded our attention—when beaches became landfills, when ocean gyres the size of Texas appeared on satellite images, when the very convenience we celebrated revealed its true cost in blood and tears.

You'll discover the turning points that transformed public consciousness, the images and stories that broke through decades of complacency, and why visibility alone hasn't been enough to solve the crisis. Because once the world woke up, we faced an uncomfortable truth: we'd built an entire civilization on a material we use once and can never get rid of.

A Call to Act: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.                Hundreds of Eco-Organizations, Eco-Activities, and Eco-Actions you can take today.

Trumping Trump: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of 'The Whiter House' that is going to be with us for years.

A Collection of Dozens of Organizations United in Fighting Plastic Waste

Because real change happens through sustained action, not endless reaction.

SHOW-NOTES

WHY THREE EPISODES ON PLASTIC?

You already know plastic is bad. You've heard about ocean garbage patches and sea turtles with straws in their noses. You've been told to recycle and use reusable bags. So why spend three full episodes on something you already understand?

Because almost everything you think you know about the plastic crisis is incomplete—or deliberately misleading.

These three episodes reveal what's actually happening: how we were systematically trained to accept permanent waste as normal. Where your recycling really goes (and why it probably doesn't matter). Why individual responsibility is a myth designed to protect corporate profits. And most importantly—what actually works to stop plastic pollution versus what just makes us feel better while the problem gets worse.

If you think the plastic problem is about people not recycling enough, these episodes will change your mind. If you believe technology or consumer choices will solve this, prepare to be surprised. And if you're ready to move beyond guilt trips and understand the systemic forces that created this crisis—and the real solutions that might actually work—then these three episodes are for you.

This isn't another guilt trip about your plastic use. This is about understanding how we got here, who's responsible, and what it will actually take to fix it.

Plastic is the most visible environmental crisis we face. Unlike carbon emissions or water contamination, you can see it everywhere—littering streets, clogging waterways, accumulating in the oceans. Yet somehow we've learned to look past it. This episode reveals how we arrived at this moment, why the plastic crisis represents something much larger about our collective impact on the planet, and why understanding this history is essential for anyone demanding real change instead of comfortable lies.

A Call to Act: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.                 Hundreds of Eco-Organizations, Eco-Activities, and Eco-Actions you can take today.

Trumping Trump: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of 'The Whiter House' that is going to be with us for years.

Because real change happens through sustained action, not endless reaction.

Unfortunately the days of the old prospector and his mule finding giant nuggets and rich veins of gold are over. Today the gold we mine comes in the form of tiny microscopic specks. To extract those small flakes we have to use toxic substances like mercury and cyanide. A lot of it. The gold used to make a single gold ring produces 26 tons of mine waste - the weight of more than seven African elephants. To do all this it takes a mining infrastructure that is inconceivably colossal. 

The other thing about this precious metal — it funds horrorific multiple armed conflicts and wars around the globe. 

Give a listen for alternative sources of guilt-free gold. 2. Also we are introducing a new feature, "A little bit of hope" because we could all use more of that. 

PODCAST WEBPAGE

A Call to Act: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.                 Hundreds of Eco-Organizations, Eco-Activities, and Eco-Actions you can take today.

Trumping Trump: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of 'The Whiter House' that is going to be with us for years.

Because real change happens through sustained action, not endless reaction.

Key Takeaways:

Transportation: Electric vehicles are leading the way, with EVs now making up nearly 6% of new car sales. While passenger cars are straightforward to electrify, heavy-duty trucks and aviation remain challenging due to battery limitations and infrastructure needs.

Buildings: Electric heat pumps and appliances can replace gas furnaces, water heaters, and stoves—potentially eliminating 13% of U.S. emissions. The technology exists and has improved dramatically, but costs and contractor availability remain barriers.

Industry: About half of industrial processes could switch to electric heat, but many high-temperature applications (cement, glass, chemicals) face technical and economic hurdles.

The Grid Challenge: Meeting climate goals would require doubling electricity demand by 2050 while building massive amounts of clean generation and new transmission lines—all while keeping the lights on.

The Bottom Line: Electrification isn't just about cutting carbon—it's about efficiency, cleaner air, and fundamentally transforming how we power modern life. As one expert puts it, it's "going from analog to digital."

A Call to Act: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

Trumping Trump: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of 'The Whiter House' that is going to be with us for years.

Because real change happens through sustained action, not endless reaction.

What happens when psychological dysfunction meets ultimate power? In our final episode, we examine the cascading failures already underway - and the catastrophic scenarios ahead.

In This Episode:

• How binary thinking creates the perfect conditions for authoritarianism
• Why millions now construct identity through hatred instead of values
• The collapse of truth: when words become weapons, not descriptions of reality
• When shame stops working: corruption without consequences
• Five possible futures: nuclear conflict, pandemic disaster, environmental catastrophe, economic collapse, domestic terrorism
• The most unprecedented expansion of presidential power in 250 years
• Why America is stronger than one person's chaos

The Bottom Line: These patterns aren't destiny. What happens next depends on choices we make - starting now. Not someday. Now.

A CALL TO ACT: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.             In one sentence we are going to sum up the only realistic way to solve this mammoth eco-crisis engulfing us: The single most important and effective action people can take is come together to form movements – or join existing groups – that can push for changes big enough to matter, from city-wide renewable energy programs to large-scale divestment from fossil fuels. 

The old environmental playbook of "reduce your carbon footprint" has reached its limits. Real change happens when we stop acting alone and start acting together. A CALL TO ACT connects you to the communities and organizations that can actually move the needle on climate change the rampant destruction of our environment. 

TRUMPING TRUMP : A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of ‘The Whiter House’ that is going to haunt us for years. 

How does individual psychological dysfunction become mass contagion? This episode explores the transformation from personal pathology to cultural crisis—examining how smart people voluntarily humiliate themselves for power, how politics has replaced religion as identity, and how projection weaponizes confusion. We trace the coarsening of American discourse, the capture of institutions by appearance over competence, and how extreme wealth literally rewires the brain to eliminate empathy.

From cabinet members competing in "degradation Olympics" to the 'Daddy' psychology of authoritarian worship, we document the psychological mechanisms turning citizenship into tribalism. The episode reveals why fact-checking bounces off political believers, how the "central casting" presidency hollows out government competence, and why billionaire policymakers can't comprehend the suffering their decisions cause.

Understanding these patterns is the first step toward protecting democratic institutions—and your own psychological independence from forces designed to undermine both. 

A CALL TO ACT: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions.             In one sentence we are going to sum up the only realistic way to solve this mammoth eco-crisis engulfing us: The single most important and effective action people can take is come together to form movements – or join existing groups – that can push for changes big enough to matter, from city-wide renewable energy programs to large-scale divestment from fossil fuels. 

The old environmental playbook of "reduce your carbon footprint" has reached its limits. Real change happens when we stop acting alone and start acting together. A CALL TO ACT connects you to the communities and organizations that can actually move the needle on climate change the rampant destruction of our environment. 

TRUMPING TRUMP: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of ‘The Whiter House’ that is going to haunt us for years. 

Something disturbing is happening in real time, and mental health experts are sounding urgent alarms. The most powerful person in the world is showing clear signs of cognitive breakdown – creating words that don't exist, telling impossible stories as cherished memories, choosing advisors based on how they look rather than what they know. But here's what makes this truly dangerous: millions of people are adopting these same dysfunctional patterns as their own.

This episode reveals the psychology behind the chaos. We trace how decades of professional wrestling taught Trump that performance matters more than truth, how his brain is measurably deteriorating in ways experts can document, and how he systematically eliminates anyone competent enough to challenge him. Most importantly, we show how one person's psychological dysfunction is spreading like a virus through American Culture - and why our traditional ways of responding are making it worse.

What happens when someone with dementia and a personality type psychologists call "the quintessence of evil" controls nuclear weapons? We're finding out. Understanding these patterns doesn't require expertise - just the courage to see what's right in front of us before it's too late.

A CALL TO ACT: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

TRUMPING TRUMP: A new survival guide for maintaining focus and sanity while avoiding outrage fatigue. TT is a database of 300+ strong organizations, many with local chapters in your area, united together to fight against the insanity spewing out of ‘The Whiter House’ that is going to be with us for years. 

Fire made us human through cooking, giving us the energy to build massive brains and create civilization. But the species that mastered fire has lost control of it, choosing short-term politics over long-term survival as our world burns.

We're systematically building disaster through poor development choices and human carelessness while refusing to use proven solutions. The tools exist to prevent catastrophic fires, but political will does not.

The hidden cost is staggering: trillions of creatures dying in silence as entire ecosystems collapse. While other targeted groups can recover from political attacks, environmental destruction is permanent. The current administration's environmental rollbacks will echo across centuries, making America a fossil fuel backwater as other nations capture the clean energy future. 

 A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive On-line Database of Eco-Solutions

"TRUMPING TRUMP" Database for the New American Resistance Revolution

This transformation has reshaped human life in fire-prone regions. Childhood summers have become seasons of hazards spent indoors checking air quality indexes. Families face impossible choices between staying in increasingly dangerous places or joining the largest climate-driven migration in human history. Those who lose everything describe their lives split into "before and after"—a psychological cleaver that fundamentally alters their sense of home and safety.

Meanwhile, we're systematically poisoning the 40,000 Americans who fight these fires. While other countries provide respirator masks, the U.S. Forest Service continues sending firefighters into toxic smoke with only bandannas or nothing at all. Young firefighters are developing cancer, heart disease, and lung damage, yet the institution they serve denies them basic protection while abandoning them when illness arrives.

Perhaps most troubling is how media coverage fails to help the public understand what's happening. Only 30% of fire stories mention climate change, and just 6% explain that fires pump carbon into the atmosphere. This leaves people confused about why fires are becoming more frequent and toxic, missing the connections necessary to demand appropriate responses to a crisis that requires unprecedented action.

 A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive On-line Database of Eco-Solutions

"TRUMPING TRUMP" Database for the New American Resistance Revolution

We carried fire to new places, fire gave us power to reshape the world. That ancient partnership made civilization possible—and breaking it may destroy us.

The fires burning today aren't the fires our grandparents knew. They're faster, hotter, and more destructive than anything in recorded history. Forest fires that once burned every few years now explode into crown fires that kill everything. Grass fires race through suburbs faster than people can flee. Lightning-fast fuel conversion turns safe landscapes deadly in hours.

How did we get here? A century of fire suppression broke nature's "herd immunity"—turning forests from parklike landscapes into overgrown tinderboxes. Climate change loaded the dice for extreme fire weather. Now we live in what fire historian Stephen Pyne calls the "Pyrocene"—a fire age replacing the ice ages.

The ancient contract that made us human has become a Faustian bargain. We gained incredible power but lost the balance that kept fire manageable. Now fire is writing the rules. Learn how we need to toss all we thought about how fire use to work, and how we can play by those new rules.

 A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive On-line Database of Eco-Solutions

"TRUMPING TRUMP" Database for the New American Resistance Revolution

For decades, visions of possible climate futures have been thought of, on the one hand, Pollyanna-like faith that normality would endure, and on the other, an ecological end of days, during which perhaps billions of lives would be devastated or destroyed.

 It’s difficult to know where you are going if you don't have a clear vision of what the future should look like, in particular, a positive vision that you could get excited about and motivated to really make a transformative change.

 Polling suggests that people are much more likely to act when future scenarios are placed in a positive light, emphasizing terms such as “resilience,” “sustainability,” and “nature-based solutions”.

 It is important for us to share an encouraging narrative, one where we think and then act on those positive, yet realistic solutions — without downplaying the dire implications of climate change.

 While we cannot stop global warming overnight, we can slow the rate and limit the staggering amount of carbon we flood the atmosphere with every day.

If all human emissions of heat-trapping gases were to stop today, Earth’s temperature would continue to rise for a few decades as ocean currents bring excess heat stored in the deep ocean back to the surface.  Once this excess heat radiated out to space, Earth’s temperature would stabilize. 

A  CALL  TO  ACT Hundreds of Organizations, 

Activities, and Actions you can take today

Podcast Episode 

 EPISODE 10 WEBPAGE

 A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive On-line Database of Eco-Solutions

"TRUMPING TRUMP" Database for the New American Resistance Revolution

But here's the breakthrough insight environmentalists are missing: tourism limits have broader political support than almost any other environmental policy. Even people who oppose carbon taxes will fight to protect their favorite hiking spots from overcrowding. Tourism restrictions work politically because the problem and solution are both visible and immediate—unlike abstract climate policies, everyone understands not wanting paradise destroyed by crowds. This could be our gateway to normalizing environmental protection that actually requires limits on consumption.

The episode reveals how accepting permits for wilderness areas could lead to accepting limits everywhere else. From Hawaii's new green fees funding climate adaptation to the Netherlands' A-E scoring system for flights, tourism policy is quietly teaching people that environmental protection requires sacrifice. We're not just saving hiking trails and coral reefs—we're changing how people think about growth, limits, and what's worth protecting. Tourism restrictions could be the trojan horse for climate action that actually works.

A CALL TO ACT: Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

TRUMPING TRUMP Database for the New American Resistance Revolution

Episode Webpage

Episode 36: Touching on Similar Themes — 
1. Should we give the planet a break and not travel so much?

2. The Rich Are to Blame for the Climate Crisis

Flight shame is dead. Despite a brief pause during COVID, global aviation emissions hit record highs in 2024 and are projected to double by 2040. What makes this different from other climate issues? The staggering inequality. The richest 1% of people are responsible for 50% of aviation emissions, while 80% of the world's population has never even been on an airplane. Think of it this way — every cross-country flight melts a grave-sized chunk of Arctic ice, yet we have half a million people in the air at any given moment worldwide.

The technology promises are mostly fantasy. Sustainable aviation fuels account for less than 0.1% of current fuel use. Electric planes can barely carry four passengers 100 miles. Hydrogen requires massive amounts of renewable electricity we don't have. What that means is the aviation industry uses future tech promises to justify present-day expansion — like a tobacco company promising healthy cigarettes by 2050 while doubling production. The uncomfortable truth?Even with miraculous breakthroughs, emissions will still double because flight growth outpaces any efficiency gains.

Here's what really gets disturbing — the psychology of justification reveals why we're failing at climate action. People rationalize flying with cultural exchange arguments, bogus carbon offsets, and business necessity claims. Consequently,we've created "last chance tourism" where people fly to Antarctica to see climate change before contributing more to climate change. The big lesson for us? If wealthy people won't give up vacation flights — literally the easiest climate action to take — what hope do we have for the harder stuff like decarbonizing agriculture or manufacturing?

GOING JET-FREE: Alternatives to Flying

A CALL TO ACT: Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

Trumping Trump

Episode Webpage

The summer vacation isn't just leisure—it's become deeply woven into how we think about happiness and success. For generations, we've chased sunshine and escape as rewards for hard work, proof we've "made it," and increasingly, as pressure valves for modern stress. But what happens when our collective desire for paradise starts destroying the very places we seek? This episode explores how tourism transformed from elite privilege to industrial-scale movement, and why climate change is now threatening the psychological foundation of modern leisure.

When locals in Barcelona started attacking tourists with water pistols, chanting "Tourists go home!", it wasn't random violence—it was a desperate cry for help from communities being destroyed by overtourism. With 1.3 billion international tourists flooding destinations that can't handle them, we're witnessing the collapse of entire neighborhoods, from Venice's medieval streets to Ibiza's parking lots where tourism workers sleep in their cars because every apartment has become an Airbnb.

This episode reveals the brutal economics behind your vacation: how the $1 trillion tourism industry displaces families, breaks city infrastructure, and extracts wealth while leaving locals with poverty wages and nowhere to live. From cruise ships dumping 17,000 passengers on tiny islands to digital nomads "dating" cities while pricing out residents, mass tourism has become a form of economic colonialism that loves places to death. But this destruction isn't inevitable—if the industry would do the one thing it refuses to consider: accept limits.

 A CALL TO ACT: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

Trumping Trump: Database of 200+ Organizations United in Blunting Trump. 

Episode !09 (very informative) Webpage 

The episode examines two main approaches: solar radiation management (essentially giving the planet sunglasses by reflecting sunlight) and carbon dioxide removal (directly pulling greenhouse gases from the atmosphere). Both require staggering industrial scales - equivalent to one Mount Pinatubo eruption every few years, or thousands of massive facilities removing billions of tons of CO2 annually.

We argue that instead of gambling on unproven planetary interventions that could lock us into permanent technological dependence, we should focus on distributed, democratic solutions that work with natural systems rather than attempting to dominate them.

A CALL TO ACT: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

Trumping Trump: Database of 200+ Organizations United in Blunting Trump. 

Episode 108 Webpage

Explore how e-bikes are outpacing cars in urban areas, why cities are eliminating parking requirements to create affordable housing, and how reclaiming space from cars could transform our communities. 

This isn't about sacrifice—it's about discovering a better way to live that's healthier, more social, and surprisingly practical. Real stories, real solutions, real change happening now.

A CALL TO ACT: The World's Most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

Trumping Trump: Database of 200+ Organizations United in Blunting Trump. 

Nissan Sentra (1990) TV Commercial — with the World's most Privileged Driver: BOB. (Must See)

Episode 107 Webpage

We start by looking at supersonic planes making a comeback. Why are companies building these super-fast luxury jets that are terrible for the climate, especially when we know so much about climate change? This same problem shows up everywhere - in Artificial Intelligence, Industrial Agriculture, Cryptocurrency Mining, Single-Use Plastics Deep Ocean Exploitation and even the Social Media apps on your phone. These activities are staggeringly destructive to the Living Bio-Sphere — they should be done better — or done away with. 

Time after time, we put new technology ahead of careful thinking about its impacts. Listen now to understand this important gap between what we're able to build and what we actually should build.

Going Jet Free: Alternatives to Flying

A Call to Act: Your Ultimate Eco-Resource and Solutions Guide

Trumping Trump: Database of Over 200 Organizations United in Curbing the Insanity

Groups Engaged in Rewinding the Planet

Natural Climate Restoration Resources

A CALL TO ACT: Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

Trumping Trump: Fight Back Database

With those new tariffs rattling global markets, we're seeing something remarkable: Americans consuming less while becoming more engaged as citizens. This shift—from shopping mall to town hall, from consumer mindset to civic responsibility—creates an opening for environmental progress.

Throughout most of human history, people identified primarily as members of communities—families, tribes, villages, and nations. Post-1950, we became ultra-consumers. 

As climate upheaval approaches, our latest episode argues that our survival depends on reclaiming our cooperative nature. Discover how the shift from passive consumer to active citizen not only prepares communities for increasingly frequent climate disasters but also repairs the social fabric that excessive consumption has damaged.

Our provocative new episode challenges the consumer mindset that's dominated the last 70 years. 

Listen in on how you can turn eco-anxiety into action with the world's most comprehensive climate solutions database: A Call to Act.

And that’s not all!

Our Trumping Trump Database catalogs 200+ organizations united to protect vulnerable groups and resist harmful policies.

Both are available below.

A CALL TO ACT: The world's most comprehensive database of eco-solutions. 

The "Trumping Trump" database catalogs 200+ organizations united to protect vulnerable groups and resist harmful policies.

Episode Webpage

Hundreds of 

As Trump's second term approaches, this episode explores the staggering scope of environmental rollbacks planned for his administration. Through Project 2025's detailed blueprint, Trump aims to systematically dismantle decades of environmental protections while installing climate deniers in key positions throughout government.

The threats are unprecedented: from targeting environmental nonprofits under anti-terrorism pretexts to relocating the EPA to weaken its effectiveness. His administration's actions could add an estimated 4 billion tons of greenhouse gases - equivalent to the combined emissions of the EU and Japan.

Yet resistance continues. State and local governments forge ahead with climate initiatives, environmental lawsuits maintain an 80% success rate, and market forces increasingly favor renewable energy. While federal action may stall, grassroots movements and legal challenges provide paths forward.

This final episode in our three-part series examines both the gravity of coming threats and realistic strategies for maintaining environmental progress during Trump's presidency. From protecting scientific research to strengthening state-level action, we explore how to weather this storm while building stronger foundations for future climate action.

Episode Links:

• A Call to Act: A Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions
• Trumping Trump: Extensive Resources to Fight Back
• Podcast Episode 

 How Trump Plans to Remake America

In this second of three episodes, we explore how Trump's return to power threatens to fundamentally transform American democracy. His tactics, honed over decades in New York real estate and refined through his business empire, reveal a calculated approach to dismantling democratic institutions.

Trump's strategy involves replacing career officials with loyalists, weaponizing federal agencies against opponents, and using bureaucratic warfare to exhaust critics. His plans target key pillars of American democracy.

From the courts to intelligence agencies, from education to healthcare, no institution remains untouched by his blueprint for power. Most alarming is his expanded authority to deploy military forces domestically and implement unprecedented surveillance of Americans. These changes, combined with emboldened extremist groups and weakened civil protections, signal a dramatic shift in American governance.

The scale of transformation threatens not just policy changes, but the very framework of American democracy. As we examine Trump's comprehensive blueprint for power, one thing becomes clear: even his supporters may be unprepared for the magnitude of changes ahead.

[Next episode explores the environmental consequences of Trump's second term.]

Episode Links:

• A Call to Act: A Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions
• Trumping Trump: Extensive Resources to Fight Back
• Podcast Episode 

NOTE: This episode from November 2024, just before he took office, predicted Trump's impact with eerie accuracy. Listen to understand what's happening now—and what comes next.

Introduction The unthinkable has happened — Donald Trump has been re-elected president. Despite experiencing the most destructive presidency in history, America chose him again. In this series, we'll explore the enormous impact Trump's presidency will have on America, the world, and the planet.

In This First Episode: America stands at a crossroads in 2025. Is American democracy at a tipping point? Does our unique blend of democracy and power make us exceptional, or are we witnessing its decline? Join us to explore this pivotal moment.

What Makes America Exceptional? "Make America Great Again" is much more than a campaign slogan. The U.S. became the world's superpower after WWII. Our strength comes from our size, resources, military, economy, and culture. But Trump's "America First" attitude risks destroying our global partnerships.

The End of the American Experiment? Trump's win shows Americans are turning away from global leadership. Many have lost hope in the "American Dream" as life gets harder for regular people. Trump preys on anger and division. His policies, like deportations and tariffs, will make America weaker as rivals like China get stronger. The choices we make now will determine if the American Empire survives.

Coming Up Next in Part 2: The next episode in the series will examine the institutions that defined American exceptionalism that are now under unprecedented threat from Trump. These span national security, justice, federal agencies, healthcare, environment, trade, energy and the free press. Trump's systematic assault on the heart of democracy could redefine and destabilize the foundational pillars of The United States of America forever.

Episode Links:

• A Call to Act: A Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions
• Trumping Trump: Rich Resources to Fight Back
• Episode Webpage

 Although individual choices and actions are important, experts say people need to unite if the scale of this challenge is to be met, making the political space for politicians and big businesses to make the necessary changes.

The single most important thing people can do is come together to form movements – or join existing groups – that can push for changes big enough to matter, from city-wide renewable energy programs to large-scale divestment from fossil fuels.

And to that point we are introducing The Green Elephant’s Comprehensive Eco-Solutions Database: “A CALL TO ACT” where you will discover  hundreds of eco-action activities that cover every aspect of your life — home, family, career, shopping, leisure time, investing, and the other parts of our lives that will allow you to mobilize.

A Call to Act Eco-Guide

In this, the third podcast in a three-part series, we start buy discussing the fundamental difference between Republican and Democrat voters. 

Next, a deep dive on how Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016 — by not winning the popular vote, and how he could easily do it again.

Then, insights on how the nation has to prepare itself on election day, November 5th and the following days, to be thrown into turmoil if Trump is not elected. This includes threats of violence against election officials and poll workers — just doing their job. It will be something that none of us have ever experienced before. 

Finally, the good news. The democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, and her chosen running mate Tim Walz, both have stellar environmental records which bodes well for the promise of essential American leadership in this Mother-of-all-Fights. 

And the best part: the critical role you can play in ensuring that we elect climate heroes dedicated to setting ambitious goals to reduce climate pollution.

A Call to Act: The World's most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

Vote for Earth Now: Getting the Green Vote Out 

The Environmental Voter Project

In this second of three episodes in series, we are delving into what an unnatural force of nature, Donald Trump will be.  Worse than any fire, flood, or hurricane, for the future of our planetary systems, and also on human institutions that will have to deal with the magnitude of the consequences of his policies. 

That’s a strong statement, but as evidenced in this episode: first we present Donald Trump’s first, and hopefully only administration. Then we share the specific written plan that blatantly documents, in writing, how his new administration will upend everything green, including back-pedaling on most of our climate and ecological progress forged over decades. 

And finally, probably Trump’s most lasting and deadly legacy — the “Trump Effect.” The toxic impact he had — and is having on US states and on other countries globally, including many of our staunchest allies in the global climate fight.

Tis' frightful.

 It's all about the vote — which will be challenging enough. Click on the "Vote for Earth Now" link below to help push your own 'lefty' agenda.

A Call to Act: The World's most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

Vote for Earth Now: Getting the Green Vote Out

Episode 99 Webpage

In this episode:

Trump and his party have a new climate-strategy — acknowledging that change is happening, but refusing to actually do anything to stop it.

Also, considering how shokingly unfit Donald Trump is for leading the country — what is it about him that allowed him to come this far?

Next, we answer the perplexing question: Why do millions of people support and vote for him?

Finally, we explore how politics have become the new religion in America.

A Call to Act: The World's most Comprehensive Database of Eco-Solutions

Vote for Earth Now: Getting the Green Vote Out

Episode Webpage

94: EPISIDE WEBPAGE

A CALL TO ACT: The World’s Most Comprehensive Web-Based Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions
 

Despite that the marvels of scientific progress that has improved our lives immensely, some well-funded groups whose positions fly in the face of overwhelming scientific consensus fiercely fight to protect their profits.
Federal science agencies, once fiercely independent under both Republican and Democratic presidents, are increasingly staffed by political appointees and fringe theorists who know industry lobbyists and evangelical activists far better than they know the science.
This is not unique to the right-wing, but it is largely a Republican phenomenon, born of a conservative dislike of environmental, health, and safety regulation, and at the extremes, of evolution and women’s health care issues. 
You could say, science got us into the environmental dilemma we are in, and while it not the only factor solving our problems, it will definitely be a factor.  
The War on Science: Lend an ear and hear why this has become such an issue impacting virtually every aspect of our modern lives and our collective future. 

 Episode' 93 Webpage

A CALL TO ACT :The World’s Most Comprehensive Web-Based Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions
 

As the climate crisis has worsened, experts have put forth numerous solutions to curb greenhouse gas emissions and stop rising temperatures. Could shaming be one of them?

Recently, celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Taylor Swift and Drake have been getting flack on social media for how often they fly their private jets. But criticism of these individuals for their jet use is not enough.

Climate scientists have long contended that highlighting individual actions, rather than those of wider industries that contribute to the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions, is not the way to effectively mitigate climate change.

However, collective action across large scales can make a difference

Because the issues surrounding climate change are so complex, especially the doom and gloom that accompanies an uncertain future, people tend to gravitate toward individual actions rather than the necessary systemic change.

There's a difference between shaming, leading by example and advocacy.

One of the best ideas is featured in “Fighting Climate Change through Shaming” by Sharon Yadin (on the webpage). She insists because of insufficient climate law and regulation worldwide,  we need a framework for shaming corporations and companies via rankings, ratings, labeling, company reporting, lists, online databases, and other forms of information-sharing regarding corporate climate performance and compliance.

EPISODE PODCAST

 "A CALL TO ACT" :  A Comprehensive On-line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions

We need to hold the media accountable for their miserable record of reporting on our fossil fuel-driven climate emergency.

The news media is powerful, influential and should be a substantial and reliable source in our increasingly unlivable world.

This episode’s webpage (linked below) includes updated information on what you can do to shift environmental and climate news coverage from being just a reactionary SOURCE to being a valuable RESOURCE of information.

• Why are climate and environmental stories such a ratings killer? 
• How cozy is mass media and the fossil fuel corporations?
•  Which news outlets are doing an exceptional job of covering this – the biggest story in the world? 
• How can we get the best minds in media to give sustained attention to this most important story in a way that will create change?
• The climate and extinction crises are barreling toward us like a run-away freight train. What do we hear in the media – crickets. How can we turn that around?
• Remember, the main purpose of the media is to hold those in power accountable. Can we use that knowledge to hold those medial authorities accountable? 
• What does Taylor Swift's cat have against climate change?

Episode Webpage New-Media Part 1 (updated)

Episode Webpage: News-Media Part 2 (updated)

 "A CALL TO ACT" :  A Comprehensive On-line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions

We need to hold the media accountable for their miserable record of reporting on our fossil fuel-driven climate emergency.

The news media is powerful, influential and should be a substantial and reliable source in our increasingly unlivable world.

This episode’s webpage (linked below) includes updated information on what you can do to shift environmental and climate news coverage from being just a reactionary SOURCE to being a valuable RESOURCE of information.

SHOW NOTES

You will be shocked to learn about how little time broadcast news gives to climate and environmental stories. And, as low as that is, they give virtually no time to explain what we should be doing about it.
 
There has been a recent uptick in eco-reporting, considering this summer has been like a hike through the Book of Revelations. 

Arguably the news industry is one of the most powerful forces for influencing and shaping human thought and culture.

Now of course, things have gotten a little wacka-doodle with the blatant lies and deceptions of the Right-Wing media. 

The most popular cable station in the country, Fox Noise, recently expressed a teeny-tiny amount of remorse for their distorted disinformation campaign against the Covid pandemic. 

Considering their deceitfulness have costs tens of thousands of lives over the last year, the question is, why did it take this long to wake up and smell the caffeinated?

In this episode Part 1, we briefly look at the use, function, and importance of the news. We explore the question: what if there was no media? And we go looking for the Age of Missing Information. 

And finally we make the case that the News Media maybe our only hope to stop the daily climate horrors we are witnessing today.  It's a hard case to make.

Episode Webpage New-Media Part 1 (updated)

Episode Webpage: News-Media Part 2 (updated)

 "A CALL TO ACT" :  A Comprehensive On-line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions

We took another look human psychology of fear, and found out, even though we’re living through an unprecedented climate and ecological disaster, it is shocking that most Americans and global citizens aren’t cowering in fear every day about the future of their loved ones and our planet.
You would think that the prospect of humankind radically altering the Earth’s ecosystems that it depends on for survival would merit a little more than ticking off a box that says “Climate Concerned.”
The recent and ongoing catastrophic weather events globally indicate we have crossed a dangerous threshold of warming.
WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?       WHY ARE WE NOT FREAKING OUT?
Listen in for some lively insights about how millions are dying annually from pollution, wildlife and whole ecosystems on the verge of collapse, combined with the scale and speed with which this whole drama is unfolding, are we simply overwhelmed? Is it easier just to ignore the whole mess?
Stay tuned to the end where we deliver, oh, maybe just only a thousand hands-on opportunities to shape our climate future rather than become its whimpering victims. 

Episode Webpage
 "A CALL TO ACT" :  A Comprehensive On-line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions
Mentioned in the Podcast Episode
Citizen Science Volunteer Opportunities
Eco-Adoption Programs

On one hand, we are the victims. No one asked to be born into this broken system that treats human and other life as disposable, allows for unprecedented levels of inequality, and has ignored the climate and ecological crises for decades.                                                   

We have been failed by the people and institutions that were tasked with protecting us — first and foremost our governments and elected representatives. Our government’s failure could not be more complete.                                                                                                           

But the governments are not alone: Media outlets, schools, universities, churches, labor unions, professional associations, even environmental organizations and countless others have also failed to acknowledge and protect us from the climate emergency.                                                                                                                                                                 
The Quintessential Question: WHAT DO YOU REALLY THINK IS GOING TO BE THE SOLUTION TO OUR ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS? CO2 sucking machines? Electric cars for all? Everybody on Earth holding their breath and jumping?                                                     

You are not alone. The only resolution is for a small percent of dedicated global citizens to kick-start the renewal of our planet. It is the only chance we have.                                

THE GOOD NEWS: Once the few get the ball rolling, the majority of global citizens with support their efforts.

How do we go about this monumental effort? The Green Elephant has designed a Comprehensive On-line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions. "A Call to Act" it is a well-organized, thoughtfully laid-out resource of hundreds of climate groups to join, and eco-action activities to be taken. It is packed with people and organizations DOING something. This is your grand opportunity to join them in our literal fight with fire and water.
It is one click away— in the Show Notes of this episode.

EPISODE WEBPAGE

"A CALL TO ACT" :  A Comprehensive On-line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions. 

In researching this question, not surprisingly, we have uncovered a basic truth, our eco-issues are complex, and humans are complicated.  

Covering a topic that will be impacting us for centuries, and involves every person, and most every other living creature on the planet, is bound to be convoluted and problematic. 

What we have concluding is, yes, individual actions are essential, and can and do make a difference, but in the end, we must collectively work together to have any hope of limiting the tremendous changes happening to our home planet.

 IN THIS EPISODE WE TACKLE:

• On-line Carbon Calculators — Are we Deceiving Ourselves?
• How Much do Individual Actions Really Matter?
• How do we Achieve Systematic Climate Action?
• How You and the Earth can Benefit From the Largest Climate Bill Ever Passed.
• What are the Top High-Impact Climate Actions for Households and Individuals?

Episode Webpage

"A CALL TO ACT" :  A Comprehensive On-line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions. 

But the system is old and antiquated. Although this power grid system supplies coal and gas-powered energy to homes relatively well, it is a major obstacle to supporting solar and wind energy capacity. 

The demands from the new clean energy renewables is going to overwhelm this system. 

At the moment it is functioning. However, as of 2022, 60% of energy generated in the U.S. was still from fossil fuels. To go clean and green by the prospective date of 2035 is going to be challenging. 

The climate stakes are high. In 2020, President Biden proposed, and Congress approved hundreds of billions of dollars for solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and other technologies to tackle global warming. 

But if the United States can’t build new transmission at a faster pace, roughly 80 percent of the emissions reductions expected from that bill might not happen.

The energy revolution poised for takeoff in the United States amid this record investment is facing a serious obstacle: The volume of projects has overwhelmed the nation’s antiquated systems to connect new sources of electricity to homes and businesses.

So many projects are trying to squeeze through the approval process that delays can drag on for years, leaving some developers to throw up their hands and walk away.

Listen in to learn about ways to overcome these complications and the ways you and your community could be crucial in fighting climate change and playing a leading role in piloting our future of clean energy.

Electricity transmission is key to unlock the full potential of the Inflation Reduction Act.

EPISODE WEBPAGE

"A CALL TO ACT" :  A Comprehensive On-line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions.  

The total length of all fencing around the globe is 10 times greater than the total length of roads. If our planet’s fences were stretched end to end, they would likely bridge the distance from Earth to the Sun multiple times.

From the western United States to Mongolia to Africa, fences are going up rapidly as border barriers and livestock farming increase. On every continent, from cities to rural areas and from ancient to modern times, humans have built fences. But we know almost nothing about their ecological effects.. 

There has been more interest recently in a new discipline: fence ecology that is revealing a world that has been utterly reorganized by a rapidly growing latticework of fences.

Now, a growing number of studies are exposing the impact of these fences, from impeding wildlife migrations to increasing the genetic isolation of threatened species.  Listen in and find out what you can do about it. 

Episode Webpage

"A CALL TO ACT":  A Comprehensive On-line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions.  

There are no realistic scenarios to make the economic growth demanded by capitalism compatible with a safe climate. We can’t just grow our way out of this climate and ecological mess. 

"Green Economic Growth" is a myth.  The only reasonable path is degrowth.

But this does not mean we need to give up on the very idea of prosperity. Rather it means recognising that there are other ways of creating prosperity which do not require endless growth. It does require us to dramatically reduce our material consumption of Earth's resources. This is probably the greatest obstacle to climate action and the restoration of our living biosphere: the idea that we have to do with less. 

It may sound like doom-speak, but we need to find ways to fundamentally restructure our economies and production relations to transition to new forms of prosperity that leave endless growth in the dust.

Ultimately, degrowth is inevitable. We will either choose this path voluntarily, or we will be forced into it violently and uncontrollably as a result of environmental disasters. If we want to prevent the suffering and tragedies that accompany such drastic shifts, we must bring about a culture of degrowth. 

Listen in and discover how this can be accomplished and what your role is in the finding a balance between our clean-green energy future and fueling the renewables transition that is our last great hope.

This Podcast's Webpage

Three Podcasts in a series revealing time tested, research proven methods of tackling the twin eco-crises of climate and ecosystem devastation. If you are truly concerned about solving these issues, and what your role will be, this is a must listen.
Podcast # 62: The 3.5% Climate Solution (Part 1 of 3)
Podcast #63. Climate Hope: The 3.5% Rule of Nonviolent Protest (Part 2 of 3)
Podcast #64: This Could be the Key to Climate and Ecological Success  (Part 3 of 3)

"A CALL TO ACT": A Comprehensive On-line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions.  
Discover, join, act with other passionate, talented people and groups where you will discover hundreds of eco-activities where you can be part of shaping our climate positive future.

"A CALL TO ACT" Feature:
Use Less- Live More:  Best Eco-Practices 

For most of humanity, we have lived outside of cities. It has only been in the last decade where populations have split evenly between rural and urban living. As soon as 2030, 70% of us will live in cities. 
There are now 33 megacities worldwide with over 10 million inhabitants — but by 2030, six new mega cities will arise, including in the U.S. 

Only a small percent of the total surface of the planet is occupied by cities, yet they are home to more than half of the world's population. 

 Many think of cities as polluted, crowded, and dangerous. That may be true in some cases, but those living in cities have access to better education and employment opportunities, which allows them to demand better living conditions. Even now, city dwellers use significantly less water and energy, and create less waste.  

If designed thoughtfully, urban areas have the potential to be a major antidote for the environmental and climate crises. 

 Listen in and learn how you can drive the future by making your city a model of sustainability. 

Podcast Episode Website

A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive on-line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions 

 The Republicans in Congress and their brethren in state governments are using their power to sabotage democracy and eliminate any environmental protections – for good. It's hard to state how serious this is. 

 In this explosive episode we explore:

• Republican interference by passing regulations against investing in improvements for ESG: Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance – using money to improve the lives of people and the health of the planet is now against the law in many states. 
•  As of 2022, the U.S. had 955 billionaires. While some are very generous in donating to worthy causes, the majority are conservative, or rabidly right-wing who support an aggressive form of religious and political activism.  
• Even though the Right to Protest has always been one of the fundamental bedrocks of American democracy, Republicans view it as a danger to themselves and have passed a slew of laws that not only come with hefty fines and jail time, but with laws to allow their supporters to cause great bodily harm or even murder of protesters – with no consequences!
• And most disturbing of all, Republicans already have a nearly 1,000-page written plan, that if Trump or a like-minded conservative wins the presidency in 2024,  there will be a radical restructuring of our government, with devastating consequences.  
• The worst part? If Trump’s forces do change enough electoral rules and personnel to guarantee victory in 2024, there is zero chance the US government will take the strong climate action needed to avert global catastrophe.

CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive On-Line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions

Episode Website

In Part 1 (episode 80) we expose the GOP’s culture and woke wars on teachers, libraries, woman, abortion, child-labor laws, trans-kids, and the uptick in right-wing violence. 

 While all those issues matter, Part 2 (episode 81) uncovers how they are no longer denying climate and the associated ecological crises, they are actively undermining it. This could not be any more critical for the collective planetary ystems that play a vital role in the function and sustainability of Earth’s system.

 In Part 3 (episode 82) we will reveal the written 700+ page exhaustive manifesto for the next conservative US president that details how the radical right is systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against against democracy and launch a War on Nature. 

 
CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive On-Line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions

Episode Website

In the three hundred and fifty years of parliamentary democracy, there’s been nothing like what we’re seeing now in Washington. The GOP is redefining extremism. Republicans have become a party largely focused on symbolism, not substance. That’s easiest to see in their crusade against “woke” Democrats, which is almost entirely symbolic. The real enthusiasm among right-wing conservatives is in its efforts to punish Democrats as well as groups and individuals they don’t like.

 In Part 1 of this two-part series, we explore conservative outrages, such as what is happening in our schools, libraries, crime,  child labor laws,  the uptick in violence, and the horror show in store for us and the planet if Trump gets a second-term. In the next episode, part 2, we sound the alarm on want makes the Republicans truly dangerous – their unrelenting support of the fossil fuel industry and their War on Nature. 

A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive On-Line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions

Episode Website

 A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive On-Line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions

PODCAST INDEX

EPISODE WEBPAGE

A fundamental question that is looming over humanity is, can the rest of the world save itself from climate breakdown if the richest, most powerful nation on earth is not taking the leadership role it must?

The world’s wealthiest, most influential, and by far, the greatest polluter of all time needs to jump-start what could be a world-winning strategy by declaring a climate emergency that would unlock the prestige, power, and purse of the U.S.

Most importantly, it would put the issue front and center on the world stage.

Which is the second portion of this podcast episode. The news media is failing us. Sure they report on the crazy climatic events happening – they have to! It’s too gigantic to ignore. But they are still treating it as weather news, and not the unstable planet-shifting crisis it is revealing itself to be. 

 Research into media coverage of climate change has demonstrated that the news media are an important source of information about climate change. They have significant potential to influence public understanding and perceptions of the issue. 

 
And more importantly, affect public opinion directly through determining climate policy laws. 

And more than that, there should be glaring and blaring headlines EVERY SINGLE DAY, and the reporting should place the blame squarely where it belongs – on the fossil fuel industry and its lackeys in the Republican Party.

                                  –  THIS IS TOO BIG A MOMENT TO PASS UP  –

A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive On-Line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions

PODCAST INDEX

EPISODE WEBPAGE
                                                                                                                                                                  

I personally am very fond of both fido and Felix, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore all the impacts that pets have so we can have an honest conversation about them. Pets have many benefits, but also a huge environmental impact.

Most of that impact is from we feed them – meat. 

If all the dogs and cats in America comprised a separate country, their fluffy nation would rank fifth in global meat consumption, behind only Russia, Brazil, the United States and China. 

No, you don't have to turn your companion animal into a vegan. 

We focus on keeping your pet healthy while maintaining a lean body weight. We share choices about your pet’s diet can have implications for its health, your wallet, and the planet. 

We also go full cycle and look at our pet’s poop and all the wonderous things on that end.

Also, a fascinating exploration of how we created the modern domestic dog, and we make some suggestions about the one little nasty habit free roaming cats have, and how it could save billions of wild animals’ lives.

A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive On-Line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions

Episode Webpage

What that means, in effect, is that climate policy asks the present to sacrifice for the future. Human beings tend not to be very good at that kind of planning, even when their own future selves stand to benefit. That's why we need “win-win” climate policies — like innovative investments that can lead directly to cheap clean energy, rather than policies that make dirty energy more expensive — are likely to be the most effective ones.

Also, Climate Denialism is so knuckle-dragging and prehistoric. Step-up to the hip new cool catchphrase called Delay-ism. All the cool fossil CEO’s and Billionaires are doing it, doing it.

Finally, to take on capitalism, what would a serious climate strategy include?  We consider the following six arenas: public infrastructure, economic planning, corporate regulation, international trade, consumption, and taxation.

A CALL TO ACT: An Incredible On-Line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions

Episode Webpage

1.  To raise awareness about the scope and scale of the twin evils, the climate and biodiversity crises. Because the extent of our eco-problems are global, we think most people don’t truly conceive of the magnitude of what is happening. After all, the sky is blue, and the birds are singing – what’s the issue?

2. To promote a better understanding that, even with all the progress we have accomplished, it is sadly, nowhere near the efforts we must undertake to realize any real headway in this mother-of-all planetary threats. (See #1)

To illustrate this, we share two tales. One of a legendary superstar musical couple trying to make a healing gesture to the earth. 

The other is about The Disney Corporation marketing an elite “Bucket Lists Adventure” around the world package tour. The “Happiest Place on Earth” is not doing much to make the Earth happy. 

OK, we lied, we do have a Third Goal: Solutions.
Below, find a link for The Green Elephant’s fabulous new resource, A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive On-line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions.  

“A Call to Act” is NOT about going vegan, boycotting fast-fashion, and upping your home recycling game. 

"A Call to Act" is a well-organized, thoughtfully laid-out resource with  hundreds of climate & environmental groups to join, and eco-action activities to be taken. 

Check it out – it is a site to behold.

A CALL TO ACT: An Incredible On-Line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions

EPISODE WEPAGE

A new study has found that any unseasonably hot day—no matter the time of year—can lead to a rush of gun violence.

A U.S. study has found a significant link between gun violence and high temperatures.

With the epidemic of mass-shootings plaguing us, this study throws lighter fluid on the whole horrible mass murder phenomenon.  

Along with everything else our warming climate is throwing at us; it is estimated that almost 8,000 excess murders in the US per year are associated with hot weather. 

Let’s call it Heat Rage.

Listen in for an insightful look at a brief history of gun and gun regulations in the U.S. Also, how gun laws have been interpreted by the modern US Supreme Court.
And finally, the fascinating story around the huge number of excess murders in America per year that are associated with global heating.

A CALL TO ACT: An Incredible On-Line Encyclopedia of Eco-Solutions

EPISODE WEBPAGE

This represents a disconnect between life as we know it and life as it appears on screen. Hollywood has not reflected the greatest drama of all of our lives.

The climate crisis is virtually nonexistent in scripted entertainment. 

You’d think liberal Hollywood types — with their Teslas and vegan diets and eco-friendly beauty products — would be chomping at the bit to tell stories about climate. But despite a few high-profile examples — such as “Don't Look Up” — global warming is largely absent from nearly all the TV shows and movies being produced today.

With more and more Americans alarmed about climate change than ever, the film and TV industry is deeply out of step with a majority of viewers’ lived reality.

Maybe the problem is Hollywood hasn’t given us the right types of climate stories.
Listen in and find out how Hollywood could be a driving force in the fight against climate inaction.

Episode Webpage

A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive Eco-Action Resource Guide

There are groups of activists and scientists that swear by them. Motivational they say. While others tell us they are limiting and could be detrimental.  

 This talk of Doomsday Clocks does tap into broader questions about the place of apocalyptic rhetoric in today’s climate conversation. 

 This apocalyptic thinking does make it seem like climate change is all-or-nothing: Either we fix it, or we’re done.

 As long as humans have been alive, we’ve been thinking about the end times, a day of reckoning, Judgement day. Or is it we are just hardwired for procrastination?

For some thinking about climate is like thinking about their death. And we are all enthusiastic about that, right?

Join us for a lively discussion on politics, apocalypse, human motivation, solutions, and  our tendency to want to delay doom. 

Below you will find a link to “A Call to Act.” A comprehensive eco-guide that skips over things like not using disposable plastics, or meat-less meal preparation and goes straight to the heart of the matter: What are the most effective ways to tackle our eco-problems? Spoiler Alert: The answer is the same as it always has been – Organize. Assemble. Mobilize. Gather with other like-minded, passionate people to take action.  But what? But how?

“A Call to Act” features hundreds of eco-action activities that cover every aspect of your life — home, family, career, school, shopping, leisure time, investing, and all the parts of our lives that will allow you to mobilize.

A CALL TO ACT: A Comprehensive Eco-Action Resource Guide

Episode Webpage 

1.  WHO IS REALLY TO BLAME FOR CLIMATE CHANGE?
Many groups have been accused of being at blame for this ongoing lack of action, from fossil fuel companies and wealthy countries, to politicians, rich people, and sometimes even all of us. Whether we label the blame or not, the question of who is responsible for the climate crisis is a necessary one. It will inevitably impact the solutions we propose to fix things.

2. SO, DOES CHANGING A LIGHT BULB LEAD TO CHANGING THE WORLD?
Individual actions vs. corporate and government action. Who’s keeping the fossil fuel party going?

 3. CITIZEN ASSEMBLIES
With democracy on the ropes, maybe we should try something new. What if we left it up to ordinary citizens to make the decisions to solve climate change? It has even been successful in Texas!

4. CARBON TAX
Probably the most effective climate actions we can take. But it’s not popular. Is it because it’s misunderstood?

5. CARBON CLUBS/CLIMATE CLUBS 
Climate Clubs or Carbon Clubs are small groups of countries that share a strong commitment to climate action and want to work together to achieve a transition to a decarbonized future. Climate treaties and targets, like the Paris Agreement, are not working.  Maybe it’s time for a new, enlightened approach.

6. INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS VS. CORPORATE AND GOVERNMENT ACTION:
 Have we been led astray all these decades?

 7. WHAT CAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS DO IN THE CLIMATE FIGHT? 
Plenty. Our national governments are the only entities that have the financial and regulatory resources to seriously confront the breadth and depth of our environmental enchilada. 
The problem — there is a deep distrust of institutions. 
The solution — we are the government. Politicians work for us. Yes, everything is twisted and distorted now, but the majority of people want our democracy to survive and function, so we can face the immense challenges barreling towards us.

8. THE TRUE ENVIRONMENTAL HEROES
With the federal government in gridlock and failing to act, the good news is many state and local governments are leading the way on climate policy. And most aren’t waiting for a top-down approach—they are not only taking the lead, but they’re also looking beyond slashing emissions, by creating innovative programs to help humans and wildlife adapt to the changes already upon us, and those to come.

How do you deal with problems as diverse as manatees starving in Florida, the ocean of plastic in our oceans, the staggering problem of food waste, the devastation of palm oil plantations, the heartbreaking slaughter of elephants for ivory, air pollution killing millions annually, the leveling of ancient forests, and thousands and thousands of other harms ravaging the planet? 

Seriously, how can we even begin to start to solve problems so diverse?

This grand battle plan is only going to be effective if we fight it on two fronts. 

There is much discussion about whether the most effective method is personal responsibility with our daily consumer choices or demanding more climate and ecological action from our governments and corporations. 

We need both for the sweeping changes required to achieve a carbon drawdown economy. 

Research suggests that taking individual responsibility for the environment increases your concern for it, which in turn motivates you to participate in other forms of action.

One can often led to the other.

We are offering up both: a proven method of driving governments to implement universal change and a suite of personal actions, activities, and engagements to propel us forward.

Episode Summary

• How can protest movements make truly lasting changes?
• What’s the difference between Civil Disobedience and Peaceful Nonviolent Protest?
• Do we really have to have millions of people turn out? 
• Do we all have to go out into the streets for months at a time and protest continuously?
• What are some of the most effective protest tactics to be engaged in?
• How can we successfully grow the movement?
• What’s it really going to take to change our political, economic, and social mindsets?
• Can we seriously stop and even reverse this hot mess?

Research proves that with the right leadership and methods, it almost always succeeds. Not only that, but it has been utilized for environmental issues in the past and was spectacularly successful. 

 What are we waiting for? 

 In this series of podcast episodes, we are exploring how to accomplish this increasingly urgent goal and how to overcome the obstacles that will challenge us. 

In the second episode in this series we answer two questions:
1. Which group of people is most responsible for much of our pollution and global warming emissions? (It may surprise you).

2. Who will lead us from climate hell to our clean climate future? (It may surprise you also).
         

• Is it over-consumption or over-population that is intensifying the climate and wider ecological crisis?
• Then we will look at our biological nature and the reasons for having children. 
• Next, the profound and delicate subject of what are the moral implications of having children in the age of climate change?
• Crucially we go directly to the source and talk to children themselves about being born into today’s climate compromised world.
• And finally, the simple, affordable, and life affirming solution to over-population and the burdens it’s putting on the earth’s living biosphere.  

This unprecedented growth is due to the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine. It is also the result of high and persistent levels of fertility in some countries.

8,000 million people on the planet. What does that even mean?

This first of two podcasts episodes explores humanities humble beginnings and why we are the population juggernaut we are today. 

We examine the factors that caused this phenomenal realization and the single recognition that caused our numbers to grow sky-high. 

We also look at any perceived advantages of rapid population growth, and the difficulties and misconceptions associated with it. 

In part two of our podcast on Population we will take a closer look at environmental impacts and pressures of the rapidly expanding number of humans, and to the simple, affordable and human-life affirming solution to over-population. 

Finally, we will delve into the third rail of climate and environmental politics: with all we know, is it ethical to have children in our rapidly changing world?

Giant castles, vast armies at your command, and unlimited wealth. What could be more appealing than the prestige and power that comes with royalty? 

Just think of all the people waiting on you. Imagine all your privileges, including your own court jester to entertain you, and lots of soldiers that you can use to expand or defend your territory. 

You would get to live in a big beautiful  castle, and people from all around would seek your attention and bestow complements and gifts upon you and your family. 

Could there possibly be a better way to live than being a successful king or queen? Could it be that the average person’s life (yours for example) be better than being royalty? 

Could it be that living like a King is not enough? The answer may surprise you — and the answer to what will make us happy may also.

Humans have become a powerful agent of geological change, equal to the other great forces of nature that build mountains, and shape continents and species.  We are witnessing, and manifesting, something unprecedented and still completely unpredictable: the advent of self-aware global geological change. We know about the impacts we are inflicting on the Earth.

However, our growing acceptance of this earth-shattering event can be a turning point in our ability to respond to the changes we’ve set in motion.  At the moment though, we are Child-like Masters of the Universe - junior apprentice planetary engineers. 

 We don’t really want the job, but it’s too late now. Listen in on how we actually could become good humanoid planetary stewards – despite ourselves. 

 News of the Future

• Two Simple Tricks to Keep your Cat from Killing Everything
• Which part of the world is heating faster than any other part of the world. Which part of the US is?
• How SUVs and Cowboy Trucks Won The Pandemic 
• It’s a Man’s World: Coal Mining, Fracking, Oil Drilling and Petro-Masculinity
• Can Planting a Trillion Trees make a Difference?
• The World’s Best Sustainable Living Resource; Connecting Lifestyle AND System Change  

  Click LINK-O-MATIC for more info

• Why Humans Dominate the Earth
• Keep Kitty from Killing
• Arctic Melting
• SUV's are Worse for the Planet than you ever Imagined
• The Bizarre World of Petro-masculinity 
• Is Planting a Trillion Trees going to Solve all of Our Problems?
• The World's Best Sustainable Living Resource : Low Impact.Org

We don’t have to live like this.  We can change our societies.

There have been plenty of positive tipping points in recent history: the remarkably swift reduction in smoking; the dramatic acceptance of same sex marriage; the unexpected legalization of marijuana; the spread of solar power and wind power; the #MeToo movement, which, in a matter of weeks, greatly reduced the social tolerance of everyday sexism.

There has been a sharp change of attitudes, as people begin to prioritize the environmental crisis. Small interventions by government, right now could trigger positive, cascading social change.
 
How?

Proven research reveals that, time and time again, a small number of dedicated people can increase in number, until they reach a critical point. At this point, their moral message and influence can explode, having a remarkable influence on the broader population.

Social scientists have long observed that a sufficiently large and committed minority within a group, can trigger tipping points in the larger group’s social beliefs, causing rapid transformations in popular beliefs and opinions. 

How do you achieve this comprehensive critical mass?  Strong social ties. 

The committed few can influence the many and sweep away social conventions and customs through social contagion, AKA the snowball effect.

Of course, we can never underestimate the power, influence, and wealth of the formidable forces united against us to keep that power. 

The polarized American electoral system has come to the point at which a return to traditional democratic norms will be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

We are positioned on the precipice. Our own moment of truth.

In this episode we explore tipping points:  local - global - personal - social - political, and of the human heart. 

Go to "A Call to Act" and discover:

Eco-organizations you can join — to join the fight.
Climate-action meet-up groups – all over the world and in your community.
The best ways to contact and sway your elected representatives.
The most effective “Get out the Vote” organizations you can work/volunteer for. 
The best eco-organizations to donate to.
The top green investment organizations.
Best universities for sustainability degrees.
Greening your workplace and more. 
Green careers you can be proud of. 
Eco-action activities for kids. How to get the most out of the sharing economy. 
Social Justice Organizations
Citizen science opportunities - help scientists collect and track data.
Get the most out of the sharing economy. 
Best sustainable - ethical - recycling  - save energy - phone apps
Climate anxiety resources 
And much, much more…

• Effectively connect with your congressperson
• The best green investment opportunities
• Meet eco-engaged people in your community
• The best organizations to donate, volunteer, or work for
• The best universities for degrees in sustainability
• Greening your workplace
• Green job boards
• Eco-Action activities for your kids
• Resources for working with climate emotions 
• Creation Care, and much more. 

• The Future of Big Oil's New Denialism
• The Future of Food Waste
• The  Future of Plant-Based Foods
• The Future of Climate Pledges

Credentialed authorities are comically bad at predicting the future. The track record of expert forecasters—in science, in economics, in politics—is dismal.

This is often because humans are so unpredictable. 

Guaranteed accurate information about the future is impossible, but reliable forecasting is possible. Trends present themselves, and that can be evaluated. 

Yes, the future can look bleak, and it would be easy to focus on the worse aspects of our climate and ecological issues that are facing us. However, there is so much that can be done, and we hope to stimulate some thinking and conversation with this endeavor. 

 This is a small sampling of some to the topics we will be addressing:
The Future of carbon capture
The Future of electric cars
The Future of staying cool
The Future of heat
The Future of meat
The Future of fire - both good and bad
The Future of loneliness
The Future of the human climate niche
The Future of protest 
The Future of denial
The Future of summer
The Future of travel
The Future of the media

This episode we look at - The future of the daily weather forecast - The future of business travel - The future of clean air and the benefit to birds. 

It’s a remarkable time to be alive. The future is not determined. The future is in our hands. 

 What we do between 2020-2030, is going to be the most decisive decade for humanity on Earth. You can learn about a world that hasn’t happened yet. 

It is paradoxical that the global Covid 19 plague hit us about the same time our climate issues are ramping up in the public consciousness. The weather extremes this summer have been like a hike through the Book of Revelations.

In the last 18 months, what have you talked about more, Climate or Covid? If you’re like me, I would say the pandemic. Maybe a 1000 to one. 

Remember those crazy, heady days a year ago, when we knew that we would eventually come out of the pandemic, and thought maybe even have some positive changes that could illuminate our path with the impending climate crisis?

Still could happen – the histories of either event have not been written yet. 

Will humanity rise out it’s futon and utilize lessons we were forced to learn during the Covid 19?

 Tune in and the relish the parallels and contrasts of our current twin crises. 

The Green Elephant Webpage: https://bit.ly/greenelephantintheroom

• Elephants close to extinction in the wild: It's been a long time coming - what did we expect?
• Reef safe sunblock: The very stuff you use to protect your skin, is killing the very thing you came to see. 
• New Civilian Climate Corps: Modeled after the Great Depression's Civilian Conservation Corps. 
• Plastic Camels: Plastic it turns out is turning out to be as destructive as climate change and habitat destruction. 
• First US City to Ban New Gas Stations  

LINKS TO STORIES FROM THE PODCAST
China's Great Leap Forward: into mass starvation

• Paved With Good Intentions: Mao Tse-Tung’s “Four Pests” Disaster
• The Four Pests Campaign: Objectives, Execution, Failure, And Consequences

The real Lord of the Flies

• The real story of The Lord of the Flies
• The Real 'Lord of the Flies' Turned Out Very Differently For The Young Boys Trapped on an Island

NEWS OF THE FUTURE
Elephants are in rapid decline - it doesn't have to be that way

• Extinction: Elephants driven to the brink by poaching
• Why World Elephant Day? Because the world’s elephants are in trouble and need your help.
• 10 WAYS YOU CAN SAVE THE ELEPHANTS
• SAVE the ELEPHANTS

States are banning sunblocks - why would that be...?

• These 7 Locations Have Sunscreen Bans — Here’s What You Need To Know
• Which Sunscreens Are Best for the Environment?
• Underwater Mexican sculpture garden
• There Is an Underwater Museum in Mexico and It's Absolutely Amazing

Plastic fills our lives -  and animals stomachs

• Plastic waste forms huge, deadly masses in camel guts
• Companies Are Failing to Address Plastic Pollution Crisis
• Why We Can’t Quit Plastic

• Whales — the Greatest Creature that ever lived is even Greater
• A Love Letter to your Lungs
• A Couple of Things You Could Do One Day a Week to Help Yourself and the Planet

NEWS OF THE FUTURE

• Hollywood — How are They Going to Depict Covid – or Better Yet, Climate?
• An Endangered Species Creates their own Protest Movement
• Why France’s New Tech ‘Repairability Index’ is a Big Deal
• Run for Something: Instead of Reading about the Future, You Could be Making It

LINK-O-RAMA for 48

• Whales — the Greatest Creature that ever lived is even Greater
• A Love Letter to your Lungs
• A Couple of Things You Could Do One Day a Week to Help Yourself and the Planet:
• Here's one
• Here's the other

NEWS OF THE FUTURE

• Hollywood — How are They Going to Depict Covid – or Better Yet, Climate?
• An Endangered Species Creates their own Protest Movement
• Why France’s New Tech ‘Repairability Index’ is a Big Deal
• Run for Something: Instead of Reading about the Future, You Could be Making It

First Anniversary of the Devastating Australian Fire Storm. One of the greatest climate catastrophes ever, and their government says, “meh.”

The Fix is in: The Cost of Climate Inaction. Or, a better way to put it, with climate action we could save trillions of dollars and the planet to boot!

Bitcoin: an Unimaginable Energy Suck.

News of the Future

• Warnings at the Gas Pump
• Snow Droughts
•  Empire State Building goes Green(er)
• My Favorite Senatorial Climate Hawk 

_____________________________

Additional Connective Tissue from the Podcast

Australia - A Continental Barbie (Barbeque)
The Cost of Climate Inaction
The Benefits of Climate Action
Bitcoin Sucks
Climate Warnings at the Gas Pump
Snow Droughts: Turning the Taps Off
Empire State Building  Greens it Up
The Essential Senatorial Climate Leader
______________________________

Green Elephant Instagram
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Green Elephant Twitter

• When it comes to the climate, tipping points can be bad…or we can create our own positive tipping points. It’s within our power.
• Germans are eating less meat! In the land of pork knuckles and schnitzel, consumption of animals is dropping rapidly.
• Schools are not teaching students about future environmental impacts, so students are taking their future into their own hands.
• States are now quietly outlawing fossil fuel protests with stiff penalties.
• Meet The Girls: The life affirming story of the last two Northern White Rhinos in the world.     

 
ADDITIONAL CONNECTIVE TISSUE FROM THE PODCAST

Positive Climate Tipping Points
The fight against climate change should focus on reaching positive climate tipping points
Climate hope with “positive tipping points”

Germans Eating Less Meat!
MORE THAN 40 PERCENT OF GERMANS ARE DITCHING MEAT 
Germans are eating less meat than ever before

Students taking Environmental Education into Their own Hands
Environmental education: Knowledge is power!
Italy’s Students Will Get a Lesson in Climate Change. Many Lessons, in Fact

States Outlawing Fossil Fuel Protest
'Protesters as terrorists': growing number of states turn anti-pipeline activism into a crime
Anti-protest laws and litigation take aim at climate activism

Life Affirming Story of the Last Two Northern White Rhinos
A Mother and Daughter at the End Podcast
The Last Two Northern White Rhinos On Earth: The Read

______________________________

Green Elephant Instagram
Green Elephant Facebook
Green Elephant Twitter

The grand issue is, climate and environment are totally infused in our lives — considering the scale of what is happening, we rarely hear or talk about it. 

 So that’s why we are fearlessly launching a special format called News of the Future, where we discuss what we will all be talking and reading about in the not too distant future. 

Our goal with News of the Future, is to share with you, multiple stories and examples impacting both humans and the rest of the living world. We are hoping that something you hear, will click with you, something will stick with you, encouraging you to grasp the extent of the predicament we’re in.  

The first step in preventing climate and ecological change is recognizing them as the threat they are.

• Covid delivers a record drop in CO2 emissions. Is it a drop in the bucket? 
• Even with the drop in CO2, the massive forest fires brought it back up.
•  Rivers are changing color — and we’re not sure why.
•  Manatees for Trump — start of a sick cycle?
•  The Michelin Restaurant Guide goes vegan. 
•  Work for the Future — Your guide to Green Jobs
•  How old are you in CO2?
•  When it comes to climate and environment, the single most effective thing you can do. 

Link-o-World:

Record Covid drop in emissions
Record drop won't do much to halt climate crisis
Massive fires pumping out huge amounts of CO2
CA fires dwarf states fossil fuel emissions

Rivers change color

Manatee scared by Trump
Manatees scared and killed by boat propellers

Michelin awards vegan restaurant

A green future with a green job

How old are you in CO2?

How to contact your representatives
Best thing you can do? Call not write your legislator
What calling congress achieves
How to have a productive phone call with your representative's office

o   What is our Biggest Problem? In a Word — Republicans. 

o   Maybe Donald Trump has Done us a Favor? 

o   We Need to Battle the Climate Crisis like COVID.

o   What can President-Elect Biden do on Day One? Day One-Hundred?

o   If the Climate and Extinction Crises are so Big and Overwhelming,                                                   Why Don’t we Care More?

 1. One of the great pleasures of life, swimming in the ocean, and how to do it safely.

2.  Earthquakes and Tsunamis are grand geological forces - you may be surprised to hear that we humans are actually powerful enough to generate these planetary shocks.

3.  A fascinating look at one of the most enduring planetary processes, everything ends up in the ocean. Everything.

1. It has been a true phenomenon - a profusion of wildlife repopulating their former habitats thanks to our friend ‘Rona. Many find this charming, but it sends an important message too. This is an unprecedented chance to give back some of the wild spaces and better yet, to recognize our place among the multitudes of creatures we share the Earth with. 

 2. The virus has shown us that we not only have to deal with the pandemic, but it’s complications with other disasters. Corona and flooding. COVID and hurricanes. We often think of eco-disasters as one-off events, but experts are telling us that we could easily experience three, four, or even more climatic catastrophes at the same time. It’ entirely up to us if we want to avoid these eco-holocausts. 

 3. The Urban-Heat Island effect has long been known. Cities are often several degrees warmer than surrounding areas. Even within the same city temperatures can vary radically. This is contributing to another unwanted event: our nighttime temperatures are warming much faster than daytime temps. We offer opportunities for you to help your city stem this rising temperature tide. 

Our skies and waters are cleaner. Wild animals are taking back their ancestral lands. The oil industry had drilled a dry well. And there may even be some welcome changes on factory farms and the consumption of meat. 

There is no question that 2020 will be chronicled in history and will be reflected upon for a thousand years. The question is, how can we learn from it NOW?

The pandemic is a gut-wrenching reality check.

If this microscopic bug can decimate global economies so can climate and environmental change.

The coronavirus has put humanity at a crossroads, one in which we can choose to keep walking down the current path of destruction—or build a future that puts us back in balance.

Join Rico for a very special Green Elephant as we explore solutions to the unparalleled developments unfolding right in front of our eyes.

Also, don't you think it's time we upgraded PATRIOTISM for the 21st century?

1. As we invest in ways to stimulate our economy, we should be focusing on how to make our society more resilient against both pandemics and climate change.  We will take a deep dive into how to realistically achieve those goals. 
2. Women, girls, coronavirus, climate, and the assault on feminism.
3. How to fight back against the shocking Republican and Corporate regulatory rollbacks on environmental regulations. 
4. Why 3.5% is a magic number that could restore our sanity and the health of the planet. 
5. Finally, the future of children.

2. Why do we need a Green New Deal? In whatever form it will take The Green New Deal has the sweeping ambition required for bold ideas to get us planning, organizing and dreaming about how we can remake our economy and the world.

3. News of the Future
“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”
― Søren Kierkegaard

 Raging fires, flooding, and droughts are having a global impact on human populations. What we don’t hear about is the staggering shockwaves that are happening to innocent native wildlife populations. They had nothing to do with our over-heated world, but because of the wreckage of habitat destruction and climate shocks, their world is literately being ripped out from under them. The devastation, dislocation, and suffering they are experiencing are largely ignored. Plants and animals can't do anything about the warming globe. People can.

Volunteer Activism. Feeling discouraged by eco-disaster disorder syndrome? There’s a cure: get up and do something for yourself and the planet.

- When no airplanes flew in US skies for three days and what happen.

- How many people can the earth support?

- I have a confession to make: My name is Rico and... I am a consumer.

Will the Circular Economy (re-using everything) save us?

There is an Eco-terrorist in the White House.

A/C: Cooling the world is heating up the planet.

1. What do scientists say are the 8 most effective solutions to our environmental concerns?

 2. Politicians won't listen until we start voting. Did you know that individuals who are most impacted by Climate and Environmental issues are least likely to vote? Here’s how we can change that. 

 3.  There are plans to plant one trillion trees globally. But wouldn’t it even be better to protect the forests we already have?

 And finally, the simple solution to our plastic straw problem. 

2. Global Warming vs. Climate Change —what's in a name? Apparently a lot. Neither term seems to describe what we are up against. Tune-in to find a brief history of the perceptions of the language of our new and exciting climate and check below for more appropriate phrases that might better communicate what is really happening to the planet — "Stay Tuned for a Weather Forecast from....Hell"

 2. It will help you stop worrying about insignificant things.
The fact is, if we focus on the big priorities and downplay subtle differences between smaller actions, you won’t have to sweat the small stuff, like using disposable diapers, or spray cans, or paper napkins.

And finally 3, The program will focus on those big priorities, sharing with you simple things we can all achieve the will stop and even reverse our impacts we are inflicting on the earth.
Despair is not an option. It is time to raise your voice and get involved. Here's a suggestion, subscribe, tune-in, and skip the impending apocalypse.
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What does the title,  "The Green Elephant in the Room" mean?
For our non-North American listeners, If you say there is an elephant in the room, you mean that there is an obvious problem or difficult situation that people do not want to talk about. And the green elephant represents the non-human living world.