Unsung Climate Victories

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Your Planet, Your Health

Ralph Levinson & Luc Lewitanski

8 episodes

2 months ago

"Your Planet, Your Health" strives to summarise the science behind earth's climate and our existence on it – Our aims are to contextualise the history of discourses and ideas about the environment and to debunk misinformation – We share positive stories, and explore the knowledge and tools that we can use to be good earthlings. This podcast on planetary health is hosted by Ralph Levinson, MD Health Sciences Professor (emeritus) School of Medicine, UCLA, and Luc Lewitanski, a journalist covering technology, politics and power. Planetary health is about how the environment affects us and the people and the beauty in the world we love. Read more at https://www.planetaryhealthforbusypeople.com/

All content for Your Planet, Your Health is the property of Ralph Levinson & Luc Lewitanski and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Earth Sciences

Education,

Science

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Unsung Climate Victories

Your Planet, Your Health

28 minutes

3 months ago

Unsung Climate Victories

In this episode, Ralph and Luc take a respite from the US' current denialist frenzy and step back to celebrate recent global victories in the fight to preserve our environment.

Since the climate does not follow national borders, we spotlight some news from around the world that gives us hope: the popular clamor for governments to tackle climate change, the newly favourable economics of renewable energy, alongside initiatives by cities, states and nations to foster a more livable planet.

You can also watch this episode on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07a5_iLo83M

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
1:46 How the Republican party lost their minds on climate and might kill us all
3:53 Good news: Environmentalism is Popular!
6:54 Local initiatives in CA, FL
7:43 Cities are becoming greener and more walkable
10:45 Climate reparations: Vanuatu's win at the ICJ
12:12 Solar energy is much cheaper than a decade ago
16:18 Wind power provides jobs in "red" states
17:38 Worldwide adoption of renewables
19:50 2024's big picture gains for renewable power
21:08 Research & Development: harnessing innovation
22:26 Staying hopeful: Why Ralph doesn't like "optimism"

Sources:
• International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) report “Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2023”, September 2024.

• Washington Post, “Paris said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change.” by Naema Ahmed and Chico Harlan, April 2025.

• The New Yorker, “4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment” by Bill McKibbon, July 2025.

• Atlas US National Poll by AtlasIntel, July 2025.

• Princeton University ZERO Lab “Impacts of the One Big Beautiful Bill On The US Energy Transition” by Jesse Jenkins, Jamil Farbes and Ben Haley, July 2025.

• The New York Times, “How China Went From Clean Energy Copycat to Global Innovator” by Max Bearak and Mira Rojanasakul, August 2025.

We also refer back to our prior episodes 4 (Gaslighting: Big Oil Knew) and 5 (Talking Climate With Conservatives).