How do you make decisions for the next hundred years based on evidence you only know today? That’s the question Gary Yohe has spent more than four decades wrestling with. One of the first five economists in the world working on climate change back in the early 1980s, Gary served as the Coordinating Lead Author for multiple IPCC report chapters, including the Fourth Assessment that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. His research has shaped how the world understands climate risk, bridging economics, science, and policy. Instead of chasing a perfect century-long plan, he argues we should treat climate as a risk management problem—act, learn, adjust. It’s an idea that changed the field: policy as an iterative process rather than a single bet on the future.
We talk about how this shift happened and what it means today, from San Francisco’s sea-level strategy—where most of the city plans for a two-foot rise, but why the Embarcadero prepares for six—to the limits of insurance as climate risk becomes unpriceable. Gary channels John Holdren’s line that “we can abate, we can adapt, or we can suffer,” and explains why the catastrophic tail risks will never be fully insurable. He shares lessons from decades of human behavior research: how Florida’s hurricane-proof houses paradoxically increased deaths as people stopped evacuating, and how Outer Banks homeowners started building intentionally ‘disposable’ beach houses when insurance vanished. Along the way, he reflects on the communication gap that dogs climate science—how misinformation can be careless, but accuracy must be flawless—and the discipline it takes to keep public trust.
Now in his seventies, Gary calls himself “a foot soldier in the climate wars.” What keeps him going isn’t blind optimism but something sturdier. Quoting Václav Havel, he distinguishes hope from optimism: optimism expects things will work out; hope believes your actions might make a difference. That’s what motivates him when he imagines his nine-year-old twin granddaughters asking, “Papa, what did you do when all this was happening?” His answer: “I was doing everything I could. And I really thought I might make a difference. And that gave me enough hope to think it was worth the time to do it.”
Referenced:
Get connected:
Feedback? Guest ideas? Get in touch by emailing ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
Agriculture, forestry, and land use together account for nearly 24 % of global greenhouse gas emissions. Yet somehow land sits in a weird blind spot: ignored by climate conversations focused on energy and transport, underanalyzed by markets, and mispriced by farmers and timber investors alike. That’s the problem, and opportunity, we’re going to discuss today.
I sit down with Danan Margason, founder and CEO of Aarden, to explore how AI can help land owners understand their options. Aarden sits at the center of a messy, trillion-dollar decision problem—enabling landowners and capital allocators to evaluate a single parcel across radically different paths: timber harvests vs. solar fields, carbon projects vs. housing, restoration now vs. monetizing later.
We dive into the systems thinking behind land use and why this is such a massive market that’s been underserved by technology.
Along the way, Danan shares his journey from crew boats in Seattle to Booking.com, through Carbon Direct’s push for high-quality removals, and into company-building back with his original crew buddy.
Referenced:
Get connected:
Danan - LinkedIn | danan@aarden.ai
Ben - LinkedIn | Climate Papa
Feedback? Guest ideas? Get in touch by emailing ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
✨ Special teaser from the Stepchange Show. Details here. ✨
🎧 Listen to the full episode:
Any other podcast player search: ‘Stepchange’
Today’s Climate Papa episode is a quick teaser from my other project, The Stepchange Show.
Anay and I spent months digging into the hidden backbone of our modern world: data centers. These warehouses of machines quietly power everything from your email to AI — and now use more electricity than some countries.
This short preview pulls back the curtain. If it sparks your curiosity, head to the full episode on the Stepchange Show through the links above.
What happens when you take the two biggest sources of emissions in the US—transportation and electricity—and smash them together at breakneck speed?
In this episode of Climate Papa, I sit down with Apoorv Bhargava, the co-founder and CEO of WeaveGrid. We explore the massive, unfolding challenge and opportunity of integrating millions of electric vehicles onto a grid that wasn't built for them. WeaveGrid sits at the very center—building the critical software layer to orchestrate this transition, turning EVs from a potential liability into a powerful asset for a cleaner, more resilient energy system.
We dive deep into the systems thinking required to solve climate change, busting common memes around EV charging, and discussing why the real bottleneck isn't just charging stations, but the grid itself. Apoorv shares why he’s wary of buzzwords like "Virtual Power Plants" (VPPs) and makes the case for building trust and genuine partnership with the massive incumbent industries—like utilities and automakers—that are central to the energy transition.
Along the way, Apoorv opens up about his personal journey: from a childhood seeing the impacts of energy and water scarcity firsthand to the all-consuming life of a founder, and why focusing on the human side of the work is essential for the long haul.
Referenced:
Get connected:
Apoorv - LinkedIn | apoorv@weavegrid.com
Ben - LinkedIn | Climate Papa
Feedback? Guest ideas? Get in touch by emailing ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
Ben sits down with Michael Leggett—former Google and Facebook design leader turned climate entrepreneur—to explore the invisible but essential machinery behind the clean energy economy. Michael is the co-founder and Head of Product at Ever.green, a startup working to democratize access to high-impact renewable energy deals.
Ben and Michael go deep into the world of renewable energy credits (RECs), power purchase agreements (PPAs), and the shifting landscape of carbon accounting. Why is it that only ~1,000 companies today participate in the kind of long-term clean energy contracts that actually help bring new solar and wind projects online? What happens when companies buy cheap, after-the-fact RECs and claim 100% clean energy? And how might emerging standards like 24/7 carbon-free energy reshape what counts as climate impact—for better or worse?
Along the way, Michael shares his own journey from Big Tech to climate, how becoming a parent shaped his urgency, and why he remains (cautiously) optimistic that Team Earth can get it right—if we keep the focus on real-world outcomes and the systems and incentives that guide those outcomes.
Referenced:
Get connected:
Michael - LinkedIn
Ben - LinkedIn | Climate Papa
Feedback? Guest ideas? Get in touch, by emailing ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
In this live crossover episode of Climate Papa and Volts, I sit down with renowned climate journalist David Roberts for a conversation bridging the personal and the planetary. David traces his unlikely path from doctoral philosophy drop out into journalism—and how his early love of systems thinking shapes his work today.
We dive into the puzzle that is the energy transition. With clean energy solutions now tangible and increasingly affordable, David sees his role not just as a reporter, but as a guide through the nested challenges of decarbonization—from grid reform to housing to the politics of permitting.
We dive into David’s approach to writing (“talk like you’re at a bar with a smart friend”), his current obsessions (electricity and land use), and why abundance, not austerity, should define the climate movement. Along the way we try to answer if humans might be smart enough, as a species, to outrun the fate of the protozoa.
David was thoughtful, funny, and full of hope—with very little room for BS.
Referenced:
Connect:
David - Volts
Ben - LinkedIn | Climate Papa
Feedback? Guest ideas? Get in touch, by emailing ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
What if the biggest climate impact from companies like Google wasn’t in their operations, but in how they shape the decisions of billions of people?
In this episode of Climate Papa, I sit down with Travis McCoy, Director of Product for Sustainability at Google. We talk about his journey into climate, the pivotal moment that pushed him to make the leap, and how Google is leveraging its massive distribution to help individuals, businesses, and governments make lower-carbon choices.
Travis shares why he believes climate action isn’t just about reducing emissions—it’s about changing systems at scale. And we have a mini product-jam on what it could mean for tech leaders and product builders to build climate native products.
Referenced:
Electrify by Saul Griffith
Google’s sustainability work: Google Sustainability
Project Sunroof by Google: Project Sunroof
Get connected:
Travis - LinkedIn
Ben - LinkedIn | Climate Papa
Feedback? Guest ideas? Get in touch, by emailing ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
Today I'm excited to introduce a new project, the Stepchange podcast, where we share the stories of human progress. Like Climate Papa, it's driven by a curiosity about the systems that shape our world, but focuses on the historical innovations and moments that got us here and the transformations happening now.
The show is a long-form conversation hosted by me and Anay where we unpack the technologies, systems, and infrastructure that underpin modern life. Our first episode explores coal's role in the Industrial Revolution - a story that echoes through to the many fuel debated today. You can listen by searching for "Stepchange" on your preferred podcast platform (here on Spotify and Apple Podcasts).
Climate Papa email subscribers will be added to the Stepchange email list so that you don’t miss future episodes. If the show is not for you, you can always unsubscribe and your Climate Papa updates will not be impacted.
Subscribe: stepchange.show
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Coal is the story of a step change—a transformation so profound that it reshaped the course of human history. The rise of coal reshaped economies, societies, and the very way we live. It became the foundation of the Industrial Revolution and powered a new era of progress, but this leap forward came at a tremendous cost.
Coal’s story begins with ancient plants that captured sunlight and locked away carbon over millennia. These deposits, buried deep in the Earth, would one day drive empires and fuel industries that transformed the world. Yet, behind this transformation lies a complex and often difficult legacy.
Even as coal has faded from the forefront of our energy landscape, its fingerprints remain everywhere. The technologies it spawned, from steam engines and the rail to industrial manufacturing, continue to underpin our modern world. At the same time, coal’s legacy is inseparable from many of the challenges we face today, from labor abuse and environmental degradation to global climate change.
In this debut episode, we explore the first chapter of coal's story, from its early discovery and use through the dawn of the 20th century.
Thank you for joining us for the first episode of Stepchange. Don’t forget to subscribe and share your thoughts by emailing us at hi@stepchange.show.
Hosts: Ben Shwab Eidelson and Anay Shah
Timestamps
00:00 - Welcome to Stepchange
03:37 - The Birth of Coal
09:39 - Coal's Early History
17:01 - Britain's Coal Transformation
25:49 - Reshaping Home & Hearth
34:49 - The Iron & Coke Revolution
44:28 - The Steam Engine Breakthrough
1:03:37 - The Railway Revolution
1:19:50 - The Rise of Industrial Cities
1:38:57 - Life in the Mines
1:54:37 - Coal Comes to America
2:24:11 - Themes & Reflections
Paxman, Jeremy. Black Gold: The History of How Coal Made Britain
Sinclair, Upton. King Coal:a Novel (fiction)
Barbara Freese, 12/12/24
Johnston Suter, 1/6/24
Geological History
Industrial Development
Evolution of Steam Power
Key Industrial Figures
Social Impact and Labor History
Modern Context
There was a fire that burned for 29 hours. It destroyed over 17,000 buildings, killed over 300 people, and left more than 100,000 homeless. This was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Out of the ashes, Chicago rebuilt itself into a global model of resilience. The disaster spurred major changes, including the use of fire-resistant building materials, stricter safety codes, the expansion of the fire department, and the modernization of water and sewer systems. It ultimately set the conditions for Chicago to become the birthplace of the skyscraper and a leader in architecture and urban planning.
The fires in Los Angeles are still burning. The devastation is immense and heartbreaking. To grasp for some meaning, I’ve been reflecting on the history of Chicago—not as a direct analogy but as a beacon of hope. Hope that something long-lasting and transformative can come from this disaster. That we can be collectively catalyzed not just to rebuild, but to rebuild smarter—with better tools, better systems, and to rebuild resiliently. That is my hope for Los Angeles and its amazing people.
To help process and understand the fires—how we got here and where we might go next—I reached out to our friends at Convective Capital. Jay Ribakove is a Principal at Convective Capital—a venture firm investing in solutions to combat and adapt to the growing threat of wildfires.
We unpack how wildfires have changed over time—from the low-intensity fires of the past to today’s massive, catastrophic events. Jay explains the critical factors at play in the Los Angeles fires and the tools we have to increase our defenses.
Referenced:
Portfolio companies mentioned: BurnBot, Fire Aside, Overstory, Rhizome
Get connected:
Jay - LinkedIn | Convective Capital
Ben - LinkedIn | Climate Papa
Feedback? Guest ideas? Get in touch, by emailing ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
On this show, we’ve explored how people can make infrastructure changes in their lives that have long-term positive climate impacts—whether it’s upgrading your furnace to a heat pump or switching from a gas car to an EV. Food is on the other end of the spectrum. It’s the ultimate behavioral challenge: the average person has three meals a day, 21 meals a week. That's over 1,000 meals a year or 5,000 decisions over five years. Compare that to the one-time choice of a car you may drive for five years. Each of these meals—and how we prepare them—has a major impact, both on our personal health and on the health of the planet.
In this episode, I sit down with my friend Joel Gamoran—a fellow Seattle papa, chef, culinary teacher, and founder of Homemade Cooking. Joel’s journey has taken him from teaching as the head chef at Sur La Table to hosting the cooking show Scraps, where he turned food waste into culinary masterpieces (and published a cookbook as well).
We discuss staggering truths about the waste in our food system—and how culinary medicine is a key unlock for our health, our communities, and the planet. Joel generously opens up about his own health journey and how that connects to his life’s work.
If after this conversation you want more of Joel’s amazing energy, you can cook with him via his site Homemade Cooking, watch his PBS show Homemade Live, and follow along via his Instagram.
Referenced:
Food Waste - ReFED
Land use data - Our World in Data
Seattle not among nation’s vegan/vegetarian hot spots - Seattle Times
Get connected:
Joel - Instagram | Homemade Cooking
Ben - LinkedIn | Climate Papa
To get in touch, email ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
I sit down with Kathy Hannun--the founder of Dandelion Energy, a geothermal heat pump comany that she spun out of Google X. What is a geothermal heat pump? Well, if you go outside and drill a hole a few hundred feet below ground you would get to a stable temperature--somewhere in the 50-60 degrees range. This earth is a fantastic place to transfer heat to and from. You can then cycle a fluid (like water) down there and use the transfer of heat to very efficiently heat or cool a home via a heatpump. In fact, a geothermal heatpump should be the most efficient way to heat and cool any building.
We unpack all of that, and also discuss how Kathy made major career decisions—optimizing for each step along the way. Of course, we chat about kids, Halloween costumes, and more.
After the election, I was reflecting on Kathy's timeline--she spun this business out of Google X in 2017. She raised a Seed round then--proving out the product and model until growing significantly in over the last 3 years. It's interesting to realize that the product, team, and company were really formed in the early days of a very pro-fossil fuel administration. I suspect Kathy's story will have many analogs. Many of the most impactful and successful companies will be formed in 2025 by founders just as relentless and thoughtful as her.
Referenced:
Get connected:
Ben - LinkedIn | Climate Papa
To get in touch, email ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
A bit over a year ago Ben met Anay Shah. In the months that followed Anay and Ben spent hours, then days, then months bringing forth Stepchange. Anay has not only become a fund co-founder and close friend—he’s also shared in the joy of parallel newborn parenting—both he and Ben had new babies less than a month apart over the summer.
Together, they explore Anay’s journey from his early days at the State Department to leadership roles at global fintech startups (Remitly and Tala), focusing on financial inclusion in emerging markets, and how that path led him ultimately to climate tech and venture investing. Anay accidentally coined the idea of “techno-obligation,” the belief that we have a responsibility to use technology for solving urgent global challenges, particularly climate change.
The conversation dives into how loss, the birth of their children, and an awareness of the finite nature of time have shaped their perspectives on life and work, and how those experiences influenced the founding of Stepchange.
Referenced in the episode:
On Children, Meaning, Media and Psychedelics - Ezra Klein and Jia Tolentino
Cheaper, Faster, Better: How We'll Win the Climate War by Tom Steyer
Get connected:
Anay - LinkedIn | anay@stepchange.vc
Ben - LinkedIn | Climate Papa
To get in touch, email ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Sheeba Marie - Persephone
Intro Music:Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
How do we get the money from climate legislation into the hands of someone buying a heat pump or solar? Between passing legislation, like the Inflation Reducaiton Act (IRA), and a homeowner getting new devices to run their homes there is a major coordination, paperwork, and financing problem to orchestrate. In this episode Ben interviews Jeff Coleman, founder and CEO of Eli Technologies, and fellow climate dad. Jeff’s career has a theme of building digital infrastructure to drive systemic change. He worked on the 2008 Obama campaign, numerous non-profits, and built the digital tools behind Access Clean California. This all led to founding Eli—a startup on a mission to make home decarbonization more equitable and affordable at scale.
Side note—Eli is exactly the type of company that Stepchange is focused on--finding places where software-based products can accelerate the deployment speed of climate solutions. We're lucky to be investors in Eli and as always, nothing in this conversation is investment advice.
Referenced:
Hot Buttered Rum (Jeff’s Bluegrass band)
Get connected:
Ben - LinkedIn | Climate Papa
To get in touch, email ben@climatepapa.com
Today’s outro music: Hot Buttered Rum - No Reason Why
Show theme music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
02:20 Jeff's Musical Background and Family Life
06:03 Jeff's Journey: From Musician to Climate Advocate
10:11 The Obama Campaign Experience
17:24 Transition to Climate Solutions
21:12 Challenges in Solar Installation
22:52 Building Access Clean California
26:51 Government's Role in Program Funding
27:48 Program Administration and Challenges
30:03 Equity and Incentive Structures
32:21 Decentralization and Local Needs
34:29 Eli's Mission and Approach
41:20 Building a Multi-Sided Platform
44:19 The Role of Software in Climate Solutions
50:15 Balancing Startup Life and Family
56:42 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
This episode is a bit more papa and a bit less climate. Ben shares some family news and processes it with his 6-year-old and 3-year-old. They hit on some climate topics, the purpose of ants, and what was in the universe before earth. Kids are the best.
Happy Father’s Day to all the fellow climate papas out there.
Referenced in the episode:
In other fun news, I made Bloomberg Green’s “13 Most Influential Climate Leaders to Watch in 2024”
Hope to see many of you at the Bloomberg Green Festival in July in Seattle. Shoot me a note (ben@climatepapa.com) if you’re planning to make it. We may have some special Climate Papa meetups in the works!
The presentation: Decarbonization: Stocks and flows, abundance and scarcity, net zero
In 1995, a Morgan Stanley analyst named Mary Meeker released a report called The Internet Trends Report. In 2001 it became a slide deck. Each year the release of the annual Mary Meeker deck was eagerly devoured by those trying to understand what's going on in technology1. It informed public market and venture capital investment decisions, led to board room strategy shifts, and rippled across the industry.
Those of us interested in climate and the societal and infrastructural response to climate now have our annual trend report. Beginning in 2020, Nat Bullard began publishing a presentation about the state of decarbonization, and this last years deck, his 4th, is probably one of the most useful artifacts one could consume if they wanted to understand what happened in 2023.
In this wide ranging conversation with Nat we intentionally spend little time on the content of the deck, but instead focus on how and why he makes this each year. Who it’s for, and how the process of making it each year makes him think about the moment we're in right now. We also talk about big life transitions, raising kids in Singapore, and how to feel about all of this as the years march on.
Nat has spent nearly two decades at the intersection of climate, technology, strategy, and capital markets. He worked at BloombergNEF and Bloomberg Green for over 13 years, and finished his time at BloombergNEF as the Chief Content Officer.
If you want more Nat unpacking a few select slides of the deck, I highly recommend the excellent two-parter on Catalyst with Shayle Kann.
Referenced:
Get connected:
Ben - LinkedIn | Climate Papa
To get in touch, email ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
As the first episode of the year, I’m focusing on a bit of a personal update. Today, I'm announcing the launch of a new climate venture fund, Stepchange. I use this week's episode to share the story behind the fund.
I struggled with putting this episode out—I felt self-conscious spending the time promoting my work so publicly. But I believe that investing our money, our time, and our social capital in these startups is the best thing that I can do right now to make a difference. These companies will be critical to our energy transition and to addressing big elements of the climate crisis. This is how I’m spending most of my time. This is my toolkit, my hammer—and I’m going to swing it.
So yes, this episode is me introducing Stepchange.
The episode plays out in three parts:
We review the Stepchange thesis on climate investing, discuss how the fund came to be, and chat with our venture partners: Anay and Arthur. We also meet three of our fund advisors: Steph, Ari, and Ian.
I interview founders from the fund’s first four investments: itselectric, Bayou Energy, Line.Build, and Rhizome.
I chat with fund collaborators and investors (LPs): Aaref from Bain Capital Ventures, Julie Sandler from PSL, and Marc Bridge.
Thanks so much for listening today. I'm really excited to get Stepchange out into the world. Here’s to 2024.
Referenced in the episode:
The Guide to Software in Climate Tech, written by Ben and Nathan
Line.Build: Dasha & Steph
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
See Nicole's work referenced here.
The world of climate tech is small and something happened about two years ago. From climate newsletters to Twitter accounts and LinkedIn posts... everything became more...colorful. There were stunning watercolors explaining the carbon cycle in oceans, the carbon impact of a hamburger, or the way that heat pump works to magically transfer heat into a home. Nicole Kelner had arrived on the scene. Taking her unique water color style and combining it with a deep desire to understand, and communicate, climate solutions.
In this conversation, Nicole shares her journey to climate tech artist, her process for coming up with new art ideas, and her love of running the business. We also cover why Taylor Swift should date a climate scientist, the role of AI in art, and how to make wind turbines into a beautiful neon mural.
Nicole's created the first climate solutions coloring book, The Electrify Everything Coloring book.
The next episode of Climate Papa will share more on my focus for 2024. If you haven’t already subscribe here to follow along.
To see more of Nicole’s work:
Referenced:
Get connected:
Ben - LinkedIn | Climate Papa
To get in touch, email ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
Ben sits down with fellow climate papa, Dimitry Gershenson. They head off the deep end into how to balance being a present father with being present for your start up ambitions. They explore if founding a startup makes you more of a jerk to your kids and the importance of vulnerability and apology when you mess up. They reflect on how those same skills make you a much better parent, partner, and leader.
They then turn to the money that makes the world go round and the gaps in the climate funding markets where there’s not enough going around. Dimitry ramps Ben up on the unique ways that fintech tools like revenue-based financing can be applied to climate companies and how many other financiers aren’t doing this right—either giving out bad, dilutive, terms, or taking way too long to finance the companies that urgently need capital. These realizations have led Dimitry to start Enduring Planet to address the market gap.
Prior to Enduring Planet, Dimitry led M&A and served as COO for Rango Wireless, an Enduring Ventures portfolio company. Before that, Dimitry built Meta’s Energy Access program, a $15M+ investing initiative that enabled energy access for 3M people and unlocked nearly $500M in additional capital in underserved markets like Kenya and India. While at Meta, Dimitry also led the development of multiple predictive ML products in the cleantech space and built corporate accelerator programs for impact startups in India and Puerto Rico.
Outside of Enduring Planet, Dimitry sits on the board of Ecosafi, a Lowercarbon-backed climate startup enabling clean cooking in emerging markets. Dimitry holds an MS in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley, a BS in Natural Resource Management from Rutgers University.
Referenced in the episode:
Get connected:
Dimitry - LinkedIn | Enduring Planet
Ben - Climate Papa
Feedback? Guest suggestions? Email ben@climatepapa.com
Music: Slynk & Lazy Syrup Orchestra - Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
Note: Ben is an angel investor in Enduring Planet. Nothing in this episode should be viewed as investment advice.
I wasn't sure if I should put an episode out this week. I feel like at any given moment nearly 100% of my mind and attention and definitely my emotional energy has been on processing the events over this last weekend in Israel.
Climate Papa is not a news podcast and certainly not a geopolitical podcast. But this is a personal podcast--it's been a space over the last few months where I've shared a lot about what I'm thinking about and processing. It's a bit of a window into my lens on the world. And this week I’ve been feeling a lot of pain. In this short message I share what I’m feeling and share a poem that struck me.
The Diameter Of The Bomb by Yehuda Amichai (1976):
The diameter of the bomb was 30 centimeters
and the diameter of its effective range about 7 meters,
with four dead and 11 wounded.
And around these, in a larger circle
of pain and time, two hospitals are scattered
and one graveyard. But the young woman
who was buried in the city she came from,
at a distance of more than a hundred kilometers,
enlarges the circle considerably,
and the solitary man mourning her death
at the distant shores of a country far across the sea
includes the entire world in the circle.
And I won’t even mention the crying of orphans
that reaches up to the throne of God and
beyond, making a circle with no end and no God.
I will return to talking about climate change and technology shortly.
Love,
Ben