Climate One

As the 2026 midterms approach, voters are contending with concerns around affordability, the AI boom, and climate disruption in their daily lives. AI data centers have become the wild card in energy politics, driving up energy demand and utility bills, and playing a large role in a battleground House primary. A year after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act rolled back key parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, many climate advocates assumed the energy transition was stalled out, but new research suggests otherwise.

How will climate and energy shape the ballot box this year? And what's it like to campaign on those issues in a swing state?

William Lawrence, Candidate, US Congress MI-07; Co-founder, Sunrise Movement

Leah Stokes, Associate Professor, UC Santa Barbara; Author, “The Carbon Wave”

Lily Bermel, Visiting Fellow, Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy.

For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit our ⁠episode page⁠ at ClimateOne.org

Highlights:

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:25 William Lawrence on campaign messaging

00:05:48 William Lawrence on climate and data centers

00:08:05 William Lawrence on giving people more agency

00:13:21 William Lawrence on addressing decarbonization and affordability

00:16:41 Leah Stokes on rewriting narratives about having children in a climate crisis

00:18:55 Leah Stokes on what's driving climate hushing

00:26:36 Leah Stokes on working on climate policy and a high risk pregnancy

00:31:30 Leah Stokes on the trials and joys of working with others

00:36:17 Leah Stokes on what the future could hold after the midterms

00:39:42 Lily Bermel on the methodology of “Glass Half Full”

00:46:01 Lily Bermel on the other factors affecting solar and wind deployment

00:48:55 Lily Bermel on how energy could play into the midterm elections

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Join Climate One for a town hall event on September 28 at 6 p.m. on navigating AI, climate, and the future of democracy. How do we ensure that AI and data centers serve the public good? How does a democracy function when AI is distorting our sense of shared truths? Tickets available at ⁠climateone.org/events⁠

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Also: We’ll be having an electric conversation on October 14 at 6 p.m. between PG&E CEO Patti Poppe and California State Senator Scott Wiener about energy affordability, outages, and whether cities like San Francisco are ready to break up with the investor-owned utility model. Tickets available at ⁠climateone.org/events⁠

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Growing power demands – coupled with increasingly frequent climate-driven disasters – have led even staunch environmentalists like NRDC head Manish Bapna to rethink their past opposition to nuclear power.

Three Mile Island didn't kill anyone or cause major public harm, but it fundamentally changed U.S. nuclear policy for 40 years. Why did an accident with a relatively contained consequence have such a chilling effect – and what’s really different today? With dozens of new, purportedly safer designs at various stages of development and construction around the world, is it time for all of us to give nuclear energy a fresh look?

Guests:

Manish Bapna, President and CEO, NRDC

Denia Djokić, Assistant Research Scientist, University of Michigan

Josh Freed, Senior Vice President for Climate and Energy, Third Way

Edwin Lyman, Director of Nuclear Power Safety, Union of Concerned Scientists

Highlights:

00:00 – Introduction

02:30 – Manish Bapna explains shift in posture on nuclear power

07:45 – Why permitting and transmission reforms are necessary

12:00 – Ed Lyman and Josh Freed share concerns about climate change but differ on the role of nuclear energy

16:15 – Ongoing risks of nuclear energy

20:30 – Supply chain concerns

25:00 – Discussion of radioactive waste handling

31:30 – Role of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and its independence under the current administration

40:00 – Where nuclear fits into carbon-free future

43:00 – Denia Djokić on how new advanced designs differ from older reactor designs

49:30 – SMRs are not plug-and-play

53:30 – New nuclear can’t meet the speed demands of AI

55:30 – Additional considerations around nuclear energy

57:30 – Climate One More Thing

For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit our episode page at ClimateOne.org

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Join Climate One for a town hall event on September 28 at 6 p.m. on navigating AI, climate, and the future of democracy. How do we ensure that AI and data centers serve the public good? How does a democracy function when AI is distorting our sense of shared truths? Tickets available at climateone.org/events

***

Also: We’ll be having an electric conversation on October 14 at 6 p.m. between PG&E CEO Patti Poppe and California State Senator Scott Wiener about energy affordability, outages, and whether cities like San Francisco are ready to break up with the investor owned utility model. Tickets available at climateone.org/events

***

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today.

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While most Americans think of a truck or a sedan when they hear “electric vehicle,” a quiet revolution is happening in other countries on two and three wheels. In China and India, the electric vehicles doing the most to push out oil aren't cars – they're scooters, mopeds, motorcycles and the three-wheeled rickshaws and tuk-tuks that move people and packages through some of the world's busiest cities.

According to BloombergNEF’s EV Outlook report, 46% of global sales of two- and three-wheelers were electric last year. Collectively, they’re displacing more oil than cars. Electric delivery vehicles are also starting to show up in bigger U.S. cities. How might even greater adoption of “other” EV types benefit decarbonization?

Guests:

Aleksandra O'Donovan, Head of Electrified Transport, BloombergNEF

Samhita Shiledar, Principal, RMI

David Zipper, Contributing Writer, Bloomberg; Co-host, Look Both Ways

Highlights:

00:00 Introduction

02:37 Aleksandra O'Donovan on the BNEF 2026 EV Outlook

03:54 Aleksandra O'Donovan on adoption of electric two and three wheelers

08:40 Aleksandra O'Donovan on oil displacement from two and three wheelers

13:23 Aleksandra O'Donovan on what electric vehicle adoption means for emissions

18:36 Samhita Shiledar on the difference between US and Indian transportation

20:47 Samhita Shiledar on the reality of switching to electric vehicles for drivers

26:25 Samhita Shiledar on how the transition to EVs affects riders and consumers

33:04 Samhita Shiledar on the future of electric two and three wheelers

35:50 David Zipper on “car bloat”

41:37 David Zipper on what e-bike adoption rates in the US say about demand

47:47 David Zipper on golf cart adoption

For show notes, transcripts and related links, visit our episode page at ClimateOne.org

Join Climate One for a town hall event on September 28 at 6 p.m. on navigating AI, climate, and the future of democracy. How do we ensure that AI and data centers serve the public good? How does a democracy function when AI is distorting our sense of shared truths? Tickets available at climateone.org/events

***

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today.

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Protest is the ultimate in equal-opportunity political action. As Annie Leonard, former executive director of Greenpeace USA says, “Making change is like laying a stone path across the garden. Peaceful protest may be every 4th or 8th or 200th stone; it helps us get where we want to go but also we need a lot of other stones too.” Leonard explores the history of protests in her book “Protest: Respect It. Defend It. Use It.”

And while protest is the loudest and most visible tool, it’s only one of many ways to take action. Through community building, civic engagement, elected office, corporate boardrooms, churches and nonprofit agencies, there are countless paths to exercising power and promoting positive change. In this episode we hear from three leaders working in three different arenas, all toward the same goal.

Guests:

Annie Leonard, Environmental Activist, Author of “Protest: Respect It, Defend It, Use It”

Danielle Lee, Founder, Climate Action Club

James Coleman, City Councilor, South San Francisco

Highlights:

00:00 – Introduction

03:55 – Annie Leonard shares the story of the Section 504 sit-ins protest in San Francisco

06:30 – Different ways protest can be effective

08:30 – Leonard on why she puts her body on the line (gets arrested) during protests

16:00 – Leonard on the lawsuit Energy Transfer brought against Greenpeace USA over Standing Rock protests

22:00 – Protecting, defending, and using the right to protest

26:00 – Danielle Lee on organizing younger people around climate and environment

30:30 – Systemic versus personal action

37:00 – James Coleman on the decision to run for office as a tool for effective change

41:00 – Impact of local government

46:30 – How change actually happens

For show notes and related links, visit our episode page at ClimateOne.org

Join Climate One for a town hall event on September 28 at 6 p.m. on navigating AI, climate, and the future of democracy. How do we ensure that AI and data centers serve the public good? How does a democracy function when AI is distorting our sense of shared truths? Tickets available at climateone.org/events

***

Also: We’ll be having an electric conversation on October 14 at 6 p.m. between PG&E CEO Patti Poppe and California State Senator Scott Wiener about energy affordability, outages, and whether cities like San Francisco are ready to break up with the investor owned utility model. Tickets available at climateone.org/events

***

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today.

***

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We all complain about the heat, yet it's a climate threat we routinely underestimate. In the U.S., extreme heat kills more people each year than floods, fires and hurricanes combined. About 16,000 excess deaths were recorded during Europe's June heatwave – a striking and tragic number. What does extreme heat do to our bodies, our wallets and our cities, and what can we actually do about it?

From creating insurance programs that pay out before the disaster to protecting workers who labor in the heat, many people are working on solutions. Cities are finding ways to prepare for temperatures they historically have never experienced. Plus, we hear about one woman’s “Grammy Ride” for the climate: a 3,000 mile bike journey raising climate awareness and funds for climate action.

Guests:

Donna Minter, Former forensic and neuropsychologist

Kathy Baughman McLeod, Founder and CEO of HERA

Juanita Constible, Senior Advocate, NRDC

00:00 - Introduction

03:14 - Donna Minter on coming up with the idea for the “Grammy Ride”

05:21 - Donna Minter on how friends and family reacted

11:54 - Donna Minter on reflecting on her faith

15:15 - Donna Minter on her Texas stay

21:50 - Kathy Baughman McLeod on what extreme heat does to the body

28:34 - Kathy Baughman McLeod on the effect of naming heatwaves

30:57 - Kathy Baughman McLeod on the first heat related insurance for pregnancies

38:16 - Kathy Baughman McLeod on a heat policy success story

43:21 - Juanita Constible on what it takes to keep workers safe

46:34 - Juanita Constible on where worker heat deaths happen

52:49 - Juanita Constible on OSHA heat protections

57:47 - Juanita Constible on state adoption of heat protections

For show notes, transcripts, and related links, visit ⁠our episode page⁠ at ClimateOne.org

***

Join Climate One for a town hall event on September 28 at 6 p.m. on navigating AI, climate, and the future of democracy. How do we ensure that AI and data centers serve the public good? How does a democracy function when AI is distorting our sense of shared truths? Tickets available at climateone.org/events

***

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on ⁠Patreon⁠, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. ⁠Sign up today⁠.

***

Ad sales by ⁠Multitude⁠. Contact them for ad inquiries at ⁠multitude.productions/ads
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices