
Local chapter of Fossil Free Movement at Northern Arizona University
Episode 96: Exploring Rachel Carson’s Life and The Divestment Movement
In this episode of Citizens’ Climate Radio, hosts Horace Mo and Erica Valdez bring together diverse voices to discuss current efforts to address climate change. Horace Mo speaks with Ann E. Burg, a celebrated author known for compelling historical novels for young readers, about her newly published novel, “Force of Nature–A Novel of Rachel Carson,“ which opens a new door for readers to experience the life of Carson, a well-known environmental pioneer in the U.S., by reading her field notes and Ann’s innovative writing.
Erica Valdez discusses the American fossil fuel divestment movement, highlighting the work of younger generations. She has a conversation with Aly Horton, another student taking the initiative to promote the fossil fuel divestment movement on their campus at Northern Arizona University.
In the Resilience Corner, Tamara Staton speaks on mastering the banjo and how this uniquely relates to addressing climate change. Finally, we have a Good News story from Peterson Toscano regarding South Africa’s energy supply.
Ann E. Burg Explores Rachel Carson’s Life
In this episode, author Ann E. Burg dives into her latest work, “Force of Nature.” This novel is inspired by Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking environmental book Silent Spring. It is beautifully illustrated by Sophie Blackall.
After World War II, DDT became a common pesticide in neighborhoods and farms; however, it had dire consequences for ecosystems, entering the food chain and harming various species. This alarming situation inspired Rachel Carson to write and publish her now-famous book, “Silent Spring”, in 1962. Ann E Burg tells us how Carson’s book “explored DDT but also started with a fable for tomorrow. It suggested what life would be like if spring came and no birds were there to sing.”
Ann E. Burg considers Rachel Carson a role model for her scientific rigor and environmental advocacy. Carson’s ability to illuminate the beauty and complexity of nature-inspired Burg to see the world differently. This novel, “Force of Nature,” is not merely a recounting of Carson’s life but an immersive experience of her world. Burg hopes readers will see the world through Carson’s eyes and appreciate the interconnectedness of all life.
About Ann E. Burg

Ann Burg
Ann E. Burg’s debut novel, “All the Broken Pieces,” was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a Jefferson Cup award winner, and an IRA Notable Book for a Global Society, among its many honors. Her subsequent novels in verse have garnered multiple awards and starred reviews. “Serafina’s Promise” was named an ALA Notable, a Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner, and an NAACP Image Award finalist. “Unbound“ won the New York Historical Society Children’s History Book Prize, the Christopher Award, and an Arnold Adoff Poetry Honor. “Flooded–A Requiem for Johnstown” was a Bank Street College Claudia Lewis Award winner, a Bank Street College Best Children’s Book (with outstanding merit), and a Junior Library Guild selection. Before becoming a full-time writer, Burg worked as an English teacher for ten years. She lives in Rhinebeck, New York, with her family. To learn more about Ann E. Burg, visit her online at anneburg.com
The Student-Led Drive for Fossil Fuel Divestment
Erica Valdez discusses the fossil fuel divestment movement, highlighting the efforts on her campus, Northern Arizona University (NAU). Climate change is a human-caused phenomenon in which the fossil fuel industry plays a significant role. Erica dives into what divestment is and how it may be one of the most effective steps that institutions can take to slow climate change.
Erica invites Aly Horton, president of Fossil Free NAU, a student-led group demanding complete divestment. Aly explains the club’s efforts and goals to hold the university accountable to its environmental commitments.
Aly and Erica also discuss recent pushback from the university administration. Nevertheless, Fossil Free NAU remains determined to continue its mission because it is just a small chapter of an international movement. Although it may be difficult, many institutions have already divested from fossil fuels. Aly shares inspiring advice to organizers worldwide who are working towards divestment.
Listen Now!
Resilience Corner
For this month’s Resilience Corner, Tamara Staton draws parallels between her desire to master the banjo and the overwhelming task of addressing climate change. When practicing banjo, she faces common emotional barriers like fear, perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and information overload. We also face these barriers when we talk about climate change. Tamara discusses why it is important to recognize these feelings, encouraging listeners to embrace imperfections and persistent efforts.
To learn more about building resilience in the face of climate challenges, visit the Resilience Hub. You can also email Tamara at radio @ citizensclimate.org or text or leave a message at 619-512-9646.
Good News!
Peterson Toscano shares a good news story from Limpopo Province, South Africa, where earlier this month he was staying in a game reserve. He reflects on the progress in South Africa’s energy sector since his previous stay, highlighting the severe scheduled power outages known as load-shedding issues caused by unreliable coal-powered plants. He notes that significant changes have occurred since President Cyril Ramaphosa raised the licensing threshold for private power generation, leading to over 1,000 registered renewable energy projects. These projects, primarily solar and wind, are now providing nearly 4,500 megawatts of new capacity, significantly reducing power outages and transforming the country’s energy landscape.
Take a Meaningful Next Step
Each month, we will suggest meaningful, achievable, and measurable next steps for you to consider. We recognize that action is an antidote to despair. If you are struggling with what you can do, visit our Action Page.
Listener Survey
We want to hear your feedback about this episode. After you listen, feel free to fill in this short survey. Your feedback will help us make new decisions about the show’s content, guests, and style. You can fill it out anonymously and answer whichever questions you like. You can also reach us by email: radio@citizensclimatelobby.org
Special Thanks to the following people and groups for the ways they promote us through social media: Robert D. Evans, Pete Marsh, Bill Nash, 1.5, EG Hibdon, Mats Söderlund, Justin D’Atri, and last month’s guest, Rob Hopkins.Earthbased.Soul, FCWC, CCL Alameda, Alaska, and the CCL Young Conservative Caucus.
We Want to Hear from You
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Production Team:
- Written and produced by Horace Mo, Erica Valdez, with assistance from Peterson Toscano.
- Technical Support: Ricky Bradley, and Brett Cease.
- Social Media Assistance: Flannery Winchester.
Music is provided by epidemicsound.com
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Read the Transcript
Episode 96: Exploring Rachel Carson’s Life and Our New Divestment Story
SPEAKERS
Erica Valdez, Horace Mo, Peterson Toscano, Aly Horton, Ann E Burg, Tamara Staton,
Horace Mo 00:02
Welcome to Citizens Climate Radio, your climate change podcast.
Erica Valdez 00:08
In the show, we highlight people’s stories, we celebrate your successes. And together we share strategies for talking about climate change.
Horace Mo 00:15
I am your co-host, Horace Mo.
Erica Valdez 00:18
And I’m your other co-host, Erica Valdez.
Horace Mo 00:21
Welcome to Episode 96 of Citizens Climate Radio, a project of Citizens Climate Education.
Erica Valdez 00:28
This episode is airing on Friday, June 28th 2024. Okay, listeners, so this is a very new setup that we’re used to.
Horace Mo 00:39
Yeah we’re both excited because we have completely written, produced, and our hosting this miles episode by ourselves.
Erica Valdez 00:49
Yeah, which is very different, but I’m super excited for it. We have a lot of great things in this episode, Horace. What are you most excited for?
Horace Mo 00:56
Oh wow. I mean, we just have so much great conten covering this episode. But you asked me that question, which one I’m most excited about. It’s going to be my interview with Ann E Berg. The interview is about any Berg’s book, Force of Nature.
Erica Valdez 01:12
Yeah, it’s a great story. I’m really excited to hear it.
Horace Mo 01:14
As usual, you’ll hear from Tamar Staten, who is the host of Resilience Corner.
Erica Valdez 01:20
To finish off today’s episode, I also brought a story about fossil fuel divestment, and how students are organizing and empowering themselves to get their university to divest. Coincidently, I talk a little bit about my group that I was involved in on my university campus, so stay tuned for that. I’m
Horace Mo 01:37
I’m on the same side with you Erica. Go divestment. So stay tuned for Erica’s port.
Horace Mo 01:47
When you hear a book named Silent Spring, who and what we think of right off the bat? For many the image of Rachel Carson will spontaneously pop up in your mind, right? However, we’re not only talking about Silent Spring or the life of Rachel Carson today. Instead, on today’s show, we have a special guest Ann E Berg. She’s a celebrated author known for her compelling historical novels for young readers. Her work explores themes of resilience, just as in the human spirit, making her a beloved voice in children’s literature. I met with Anne to talk about her recently published book Force of Nature. It is a verse novel that presents Rachel Carson’s view of the world and nature. Ann told me about DDT and how its effects inspired Rachel Carson to publish one of the most recognized environmental books Silent Spring.
Ann E Burg 02:56
During World War Two, there was a pesticide known as DDT that was used by the military to keep disease from spreading, that when the war was over. They brought that pesticide to neighborhoods and backyard gardens to get rid of bugs and to get rid of the pests in the farms. The use was so prevalent they were crazy using DDT. What they didn’t realize was that DDT sinks into the soil and lives under the soil. Soon it became part of our food chain, and that meant the worms were digesting it. And soon then the birds were digesting it. And soon, just about when Rachel was starting to think about her book, birds were falling from their nests with their claws splayed. Fish were dying, and it occurred to Rachel that if we didn’t get a grip on this, these species wouldn’t be the only ones to suffer from DDT. She wrote a book called Silent Spring which examines the effect of DDT on life, on nature. The book explained all of that explored DDT, but also started with a fable for tomorrow it suggested, what would life be like if spring came and no birds were there to sing?
Horace Mo 04:25
While the Silent Spring reveals nature’s woes and alerts people to stop using DDT and says she had a different purpose, right a Force of Nature. She wants to allow the audience to experience Rachel’s world through her eyes.
Ann E Burg 04:43
The beauty of Rachel Carson was that she didn’t see us as separate from nature. She sees people, humans, humankind as a part of nature.
Ann E Burg 05:00
Of course, she was sorry to leave the world. She looked to nature and saw that everything leaves the world and comes back in another way that gave her hope. She found her place in nature, she does still live on in her words, and in her thoughts and in the love she had for our planet. In Force of Nature, we’re not reading about Rachel Carson. We’re not learning that she grew up in Pennsylvania, this was the day in 1907. We’re not learning that. We are not learning about her. And we’re not learning about her world. We are experiencing her world. It was my way of experiencing the world through Rachel’s eyes, and through her experiences. And in this case, I wanted to say that here was an amazing person that grew up in his sheltered life and went on to change the world.
Horace Mo 06:05
After researching and knowing about Rachel Carson, Ann shared the deep impression that Rachel’s life and the work have left on her as a person, and as a writer,
Ann E Burg 06:15
She is a role model. I mean, she’s a scientist, she’s a writer, she’s an environmentalist, but most of all, she’s a role model for all of us to live our lives that way, and maybe to see the world that way. And maybe if we did see the world that way, we would treat nature and all of her creatures more kindly.
Ann E Burg 06:35
When I looked at life, that way, you see a puddle and you see a puddle, but there’s life teeming in that puddle. It’s like she lit a light in my mind. As beautiful as things are, we don’t know half of how beautiful things are, how beautiful things are in ways that we don’t see. In that way. She awakened something in me that had never existed before. I mean, I didn’t really think of that ever. I didn’t like biology, I didn’t like learning about frogs. There is nothing about that. That appealed to me. But when I saw it through her eyes, the fascination and also the connection she had that we are all connected, she’s changed how I see the world.
Horace Mo 07:22
Lastly, Ann generously read a small section for book to give us a sneak peek of a book and the lubricin optimistic and the inspiring message to the world.
Ann E Burg 07:35
A drop of pond water holds within it an unseen universe teeming with life microscopic creatures, water fleas, water worms and all types of larvae squiggled through the silky threads of underwater plants. There is so much to see and learn.
Ann E Burg 08:01
I would like to tell the whole world that we are lucky to live on such a beautiful place. It is imperative that each of us recognize we’re part of this world. We should take good care of it stop fighting and take care of beautiful planet.
Horace Mo 08:22
That was Ann E Burg reading from her novel Force of Nature. And he’s available wherever you get books, Angel reading force of nature, and I highly recommend you to get a copy of it. You will experience the mystery of nature’s Rachel Carson’s eyes. Learn more about Ann and her other books by visiting her website anneburg.com
Erica Valdez 09:11
Now I’m going to share a story of how students on university campuses are working towards a fossil free future. We know that climate change is a human-caused phenomenon, and that the effects are being felt by communities all over the world. We also hear about an infamous contributor to climate change the fossil fuel industry; although they’re known to be very harmful to the environment, fossil fuels have become a huge part of our lives. It’s not practical for every person to boycott fossil fuels, but there are other ways that we can become less reliant on them. One of these is complete divestment from fossil fuels.
Erica Valdez 09:48
So what is divestment? Simply put, divestment is the opposite of investment. Imagine you have money invested in companies like Shell, Exxon Mobil or Chevron, but you decide you don’t want to invest in them anymore. So you sell your stocks or assets. These companies profit by exploiting natural resources and accelerating climate change. So this movement calls for simply removing yourself as a shareholder in fossil fuel companies and companies that are fossil fuel intensive. Students and Northern Arizona University or any you are organizing and working towards a fossil-free future. Leading the initiative is a club called Fossil Free NAU or FFNAU. This chapter is just a small part of an international divestment movement. I decided to invite my good friend and president of Fossil Free NAU Aly Horton to talk more about the initiative.
Aly Horton 10:50
Fossil Free NEU has been around for several years back in 2014 is when there was the initial movement, which phased out a little bit and has on and off flourished throughout the time at NAU, but within the past two to three years that has been when the movement has really taken off and started to flourish to what it is today.
Erica Valdez 11:14
Ali also explains how and why FFNAU is holding the university accountable, and what actions were taking like drafting a letter to the board of the demands, and getting signatures from the students, staff, faculty and alumni.
Aly Horton 11:27
Fossil Free NAU’s demands of divestment would encourage any you to align their actions with their commitments, especially with their elevating excellence strategy, which includes the effective utilization of our financial resources with an emphasis and environmental stewardship. So with this, we are just encouraging them to actually commit to those commitments and follow through with their actions. Our demands to the NAU Foundation Board include the divestment from the top 200 coal, oil and gas reserve owners evaluate all carbon intensive companies for the existence and quality of a low-carbon transition plan. gather feedback from any use students, faculty, alumni and staff on priorities for socially responsible investment policy. And lastly, disclose endowment holdings and investment policy annually.
Erica Valdez 12:18
Unfortunately, there are also people who are fighting against these efforts this semester as a venue has faced some pushback from powerful administration. I told us a little bit about some recent events.
Aly Horton 12:29
In February Fossil Free NAU began strategizing who we wanted to reach out to to gain support on our letter to the NAU Foundation Board, we decided to reach out to the Faculty Senate of NAU. We had met with them initially in March for about 10 minutes, which resulted in them requesting for us to come back to further our discussion. We came back in April to discuss the letter again with the faculty members and the senators. However, we weren’t given an opportunity really to speak at this engagement they had allotted only 15 to 25 minutes initially on the agenda. However, they allowed the conversation to go over 35 minutes, but unfortunately the first 15 of that was taken by a representative from the NLU Foundation Board, which was unfortunate for us in our time and our voice as students. We were not given time to speak at this event.
Aly Horton 13:28
This event resulted in the Faculty Senate deciding to not sign on to our letter so we began strategizing what we wanted to do. We met later that night after the faculty senate meeting to discuss our actions which resulted in us writing a response to the faculty senate and began organizing to contact the NTU Foundation Board and Investment Committee. We’re hoping that they follow through with their open door policy that they said in that meeting and begin this conversation with us.
Erica Valdez 13:59
The signature would have been a great addition to the letter, but FFNAU is pushing through this challenge and continuing our mission to present the letter to the foundation board and then your future. FFNEU is an example of how groups are taking huge strides towards a fossil free future.
Erica Valdez 14:15
Complete fossil fuel divestment is a very difficult thing to accomplish in higher education or any institution. We may always rely on fossil fuels. But this group, along with countless others show the progress we’re making to become less reliant on them. 1000s of institutions have already divested over $40 trillion. Talk about progress. And in recent years, other universities have demanded for divestment as well, including New York, Boston, Cornell, Harvard, and the whole California State and University of California systems. For those starting divestment movements are facing similar struggles as FF NAU ally shares great advice about how we can keep moving forward and why this is so important.
Aly Horton 14:55
We recognize that staff members need to align with the school those missions safety and analysis of risk to protect their students. But they’re not doing that with their investments. By divesting, they’re taking power away from industries and corporations that are only perpetuating the climate crisis. divestment is an intersectional way to advocate divesting, not only from fossil fuels, but other carbon-intensive companies is protecting our planet in more ways than people realize that’s going to impact not only our generation but theirs and is currently it is currently impacting everyone on the planet. This movement is only growing because of the unfortunate impacts of climate change. Our movement is only going to continue to grow.
Aly Horton 15:41
As long as we continue to outreach, to educate and to be passionate about what we’re doing. I would suggest to new organizers to recognize their passion, look to others for help. And since this movement is intersectional there is so much community to be found in this issue because it overarching every issue and every person on this planet. People just need to realize that find that community and push on.
Horace Mo 16:18
Now it’s time for the resilience corner was Tamra Staden. Hi,
Tamara Staton 16:24
I’m Tamra Staton. CCL’s education and resilience coordinator. And this is resilient climatateering through unexpected Climate Connections. This isn’t a series about weather or science or graphs or data, though I do reference some of those from time to time. Instead, it’s a series about things that help us worry less and act more on climate explored through a lens of playful curiosity. Together, we’ll explore how to enjoy what matters so deeply so that we can be as effective as possible for as long as we’re needed.
Tamara Staton 16:57
Today’s topic is banjos and climate, two seemingly unrelated concepts that I care about deeply. But both of which, at times overwhelming. You and I likely have something in common. We’re both engaged in climate work and we want to do it well. I wonder though, do we also share a love of music, maybe you play an instrument? Maybe you sing, or consider yourself musically inclined in some way. Or maybe like me, you’d love to feel a sense of pride or confidence in your musical ability. Instead, I end up focusing on how I’d like to be better at banjo or taking action on climate.
Tamara Staton 17:44
I would love to be a good banjo player, a great banjo player for that matter. It would be so fun to play Dueling Banjos with my husband on guitar. I dream of kicking it like Kermit in the woods connecting rainbows. Every time I hear banjo in a song, I want to turn it up, Howard, I want to create those sounds, feel my fingers fly, and make people smile and dance. I feel like I’ve been a banjo beginner forever though, dipping every so often into intermediate. I practice my roles. I learned some songs, I get a taste of that competence even and then a dragon of fear and doubt steps in. I think I won’t ever be that good. So it’s really not worth trying.
Tamara Staton 18:25
I worry sometimes that we won’t ever solve climate change, so my actions aren’t going to matter. fear and doubt paralyze me. What are your dragons? What breathes fire into your face and shuts you down? In the face of good intentions? Is it anger? resentment? Overwhelmed? Maybe. There’s so many obstacles in the world hindering progress on climate action. Why do I also end up face-to-face with obstacles inside me? These feelings are common, and no, I’m not the only one. But why do we feel this way? Sometimes. Maybe it’s the scale of the challenge. Both mastering the banjo and tackling climate change are formidable tasks. The enormity of these challenges can make one’s efforts seem insignificant, leading to feelings of helplessness.
Tamara Staton 19:16
It could be perfectionism, the desire to achieve perfection can lead to constant self criticism and fear of making mistakes, which can paralyze progress. It might well be impostor syndrome. This is the feeling that one is not as competent as others perceive them to be leading to self doubt and fear of failure. What about the lack of immediate results? In both cases, results are not immediately visible. This delayed gratification can be discouraging, and lead to doubts about the effectiveness of one’s efforts. And there’s also social comparison. constantly comparing oneself to others who may seem more successful or effective, can amplify feelings of inadequacy and fear this especially true in the world of social media. And no doubt, it may have to do with information overload. With climate change the overwhelming amount of information, and the often dire predictions can lead to paralysis by analysis, and a sense of futility.
Tamara Staton 20:22
Does any of this sound familiar to you? Well, knowing about these underlying causes does not make the dragons go away. It does help to lessen their power over me. It affirms when I’m feeling that learning an instrument like the banjo is challenging. Taking on climate change is massive. I’m gonna mess up sometimes and play the wrong note, I might not see the results right away, and may get overwhelmed by the weight of it all. But that’s because I’m human. It’s normal to feel this way. It’s perfectly imperfect, just like you and me.
Tamara Staton 21:02
So in our next episode, I’ll dive into another set of unexpected Climate Connections. So unexpected, in fact that I’m not completely sure which direction to go.
Tamara Staton 21:12
Do you have any ideas, any Climate Connections you’d like me to dive into? I’m Tamra Staton with Resilience Corner, thank you for listening and for your commitment to progress. To learn more about tools, trainings, and resources for staying strong. Through the climate challenge, check out our resilience hub at CCL usa.org Ford slash resilience. And until next month, remember this, find your passion, let it guide you, and you’ll do amazing things for the world.
Erica Valdez 21:48
Thank you, Tamara, do you have questions for Tamara. She’s very happy to consider your resilience questions, conundrums, and suggestions. Do send an email to radio at citizens climate.org That’s radio at citizens climate.org or text us at 619-512-9646.
Horace Mo 22:08
The resilience corner is made possible with Tamra Staton, education and resilience coordinator for Citizens Climate Education, the resiliency Hub website is CCO usa.org/resilience.
22:48
Hi there I’m Peterson Toscano. And our good news story is from South Africa. Actually, I’m coming to you from Limpopo Province in the north of the country. At the moment, I’m at my in-laws house, which is located right in the middle of a game reserve that was recorded outside but I need to keep my eyes open in case a lion or an elephant passes by. And I am not kidding. Horace and Erica, thank you so much for all the hard work you’ve done on this episode, so that I could travel to be here with my family.
Peterson Toscano 23:23
I arrived in South Africa curious to know how things were going in the energy sector. In June 2020 to two years ago, my husband Glen and I left the country after living here for 18 months. Because not enough energy was generated to supply power to all the homes and businesses in the country. We routinely experienced daily power outages.
Peterson Toscano 23:48
Here in South Africa, they call the scheduled outages load shedding the state run energy company, Eskom turned off the power for a municipality for two hours at a time. Sometimes they did this four times a day. As you can imagine, Eskom became a dirty word. Everyone I knew loaded an app that alerted us when we could expect the power cuts.
Peterson Toscano 24:16
But I hoped that loadshedding would soon become a thing of the past. South Africa is rich in sunshine and wind. Many homes like my inlaws already have solar panels or solar water heaters; wind and solar are the smartest ways to get the country off of the unreliable coal powered energy supply. They need to break away from failing power plants and instead turn to cleaner alternatives to fill in the gaps.
Peterson Toscano 24:45
In 2021, President Cyril Ramaphosa made a groundbreaking announcement. He raised the licensing threshold for private power generation from one megawatt to 100 megawatts. This change opened the door for significant private investment in renewable energy projects. Fast forward to today, June 2024, over 1000 private power generation projects have been registered. These projects contribute nearly 4500 megawatts of new capacity. This surge in private power driven primarily by solar and wind energy is helping to reduce the frequency of power outages and lessen the burden on Eskom.
Peterson Toscano 25:34
In fact, in over three weeks here, we have not experienced a single bit of loadshedding. This may be in part because I arrived just during the election season. But even after the elections, the power has stayed on. significant investments in renewable energy are transforming the energy landscape in South Africa and bringing cleaner, more reliable power to homes and businesses across the country.
Peterson Toscano 26:06
Do you have a good news story you want to share from your own community? Let us know about it contact us by email. The email address is radio at citizens climate.org That’s radio at citizens climate.org.
Peterson Toscano 26:31
Over the last month many of you have shared our posts on social media and more people have joined us on social media. Here are some people and organizations that have shown us some love. Thank you to Robert D. Evans, Pete Marsh Bill Nash 1.5, EG Hibdon, Mats Söderlund, Justin D’Atri, and last month’s guest, Rob Hopkins. Earthbased.Soul, FCWC, and CCL Alameda, Alaska, And the CCL Young Conservative Caucus. Thank you so much for reposting and sharing our content with your followers.
Peterson Toscano 27:15
And we welcome some new social media followers. Hello to Mary Francis, Wendy Bayer and Bill Buffington. You can follow us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and TikTok. We also have a listener voicemail line where you can leave us a message that we could play on the next episode. The number is 619-512-9646 plus one if you’re calling from outside the USA, that number again 619-512-9646. And now back to Erica and Horace and I think I’m about to go for a game drive. See you next month.
Horace Mo 28:08
Thank you for joining us for episode 96 of Citizens Climate Radio.
Erica Valdez 28:13
If you like what you hear, and you want to support the work that we do, visit CitizensClimateEducation.org To learn how you can make a tax-deductible contribution.
Horace Mo 28:23
Here at a Citizens Climate Education will want you to be effective in the climate work you do. So we provide training, local group meetings and many resources. They’re all designed to help you build the confidence and skills needed to pursue climate solutions. Find out how you can learn and grow and connect with others who are engaged in a meaningful work. Visit CCL usa.org. That’s CCO usa.org.
Erica Valdez 28:55
We want to hear your feedback about this episode. After you listen feel free to fill out a short survey. You will find a link to the survey in our show notes or just email me radio at Citizens Climate lobby.org Citizens Climate Radio is written and produced by Peterson Toscano, Horace Moe and Eric about this other technical support from Ricky Bradley and Brett cease social media assistance from Flannery Winchester and moral support from Madeline Para.
Horace Mo 29:21
The music on today’s show comes from epidemicsound.com. Please share Citizens Climate Radio with your friends and colleagues. You can find Citizens Climate Radio wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, feel free to connect with other listeners suggest program ideas and respond to programs in the Citizens Climate Radio Facebook group from x previously know on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or TikTok at climate change podcast. Visit CCL usa.org/radio. To see our show notes and find links to our guests. Citizens Climate Radio. He’s a project of Citizens Climate Education
The post Episode 96: Exploring Rachel Carson’s Life and The Divestment Movement appeared first on Citizens' Climate Lobby.
Episode 96: Exploring Rachel Carson’s Life and The Divestment Movement
Greenhouse Gases
DeBriefed 10 October 2025: Renewables power past coal; Legacy of UK’s Climate Change Act; Fukushima’s solar future
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed.
An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change.
This week
Renewables overtake coal
‘HISTORIC FIRST’: Renewables have overtaken coal to become the world’s leading source of electricity for the first six months of this year in a “historic first”, BBC News said. The analysis, from the thinktank Ember, found the world generated “almost a third” more solar power in the first half of the year, compared with the same period in 2024, while wind power grew by “just over 7%,” reported the Guardian.
HEAVY LIFTING: According to the report, China and India were “largely responsible for the surge in renewables”, while the US and Europe “relied more heavily on fossil fuels,” the Guardian wrote. China built more renewables than every other country combined in the first half of this year, the newspaper added.
CONTINENTAL SHIFTS: A second report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted a “surge” in global wind and solar capacity by 2030, but shaved 5% off its previous forecast, the Financial Times said. The IEA revealed that India is set to become the second-largest growth market for renewables after China, “with capacity expected to increase 2.5 times by 2030”, Down to Earth reported. The IEA also upped its forecast for renewables in the Middle East and north Africa by 23%, “helped by Saudi Arabia rolling out wind turbines and solar panels”, but halved the outlook for the US, the FT noted.
Around the world
- EV BOOM: Sales of electric and hybrid cars made up “more than half” of all new car registrations in the UK last month, a new record, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers, reported BBC News.
- BANKING COLLAPSE: A global banking alliance launched by the UN to get banks to slash the carbon footprint of their loans and investments and help drive the transition to a net-zero economy by 2050 has collapsed after four years, Agence France-Press reported.
- CUTS, CUTS, CUTS: The Trump administration plans to cut nearly $24bn in funding for more than 600 climate projects across the US, according to documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.
- PEOPLE POWER: A farmer, a prison guard and a teacher were among those from the Dutch-Caribbean island Bonaire who appeared at the Hague on Tuesday to “accuse the Netherlands of not doing enough to protect them from the effects of climate change”, Politico reported.
400,000
The number of annual service days logged by the US National Guard responding to hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters over the past decade, according to a Pentagon report to Congress, Inside Climate News reported.
Latest climate research
- Politicians in the UK “overwhelmingly overestimate the time period humanity has left to bend the temperature curve”, according to a survey of 100 MPs | Nature Communications Earth and Environment
- Fire-driven degradation of the Amazon last year released nearly 800m tonnes of CO2 equivalent, surpassing emissions from deforestation and marking the “worst Amazon forest disturbance in over two decades” | Biogeosciences
- Some 43% of the 200 most damaging wildfires recorded over 1980-2023 occurred in the last decade | Science
(For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Captured

The UK’s Climate Change Act, landmark legislation that guides the nation’s response to climate change, is increasingly coming under attack from anti-net-zero right-leaning politicians. In a factcheck published this week, Carbon Brief explained how the UK’s Climate Change Act was among the first comprehensive national climate laws in the world and the first to include legally binding emissions targets. In total, 69 countries have now passed “framework” climate laws similar to the UK’s Climate Change Act, with laws in New Zealand, Canada and Nigeria among those explicitly based on the UK model. This is up from just four when the act was legislated in 2008. Of these, 14 are explicitly titled the “Climate Change Act”.
Spotlight
Fukushima’s solar future
This week, Carbon Brief examines how Fukushima helped to recover from nuclear disaster by building solar farms on contaminated farmland.
On 11 March 2011, an earthquake off the pacific coast of Japan caused 15m-tall waves to crash into the eastern region of Tōhoku, killing 19,500 people and injuring a further 6,000.
In the aftermath, flooding at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power plant caused cooling systems to fail, leaching radioactive contaminants into the soil and leading to a major nuclear incident.
Some 1,200km2 around the site was restricted and up to 100,000 people were evacuated – in some cases forever.
In the years following, Japan entered a fraught debate about nuclear energy.
In 2010, nuclear power provided 25% of Japan’s electricity, but, in the years following the disaster, its 54 nuclear reactors were taken offline.
Successive governments have fought over reintroducing nuclear power. Today, some 14 reactors are back online, 27 have been permanently closed and another 19 remain suspended. (Japan’s newly-elected prime minister Sanae Takaichi has promised to make nuclear central to her energy strategy.)
Against this backdrop, Fukushima – a prefecture home to 1.8 million people – has emerged as a surprise leader in the renewables race.
In 2014, the Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute (FREA) opened with the twin goals of promoting research and development into renewable energy, while “making a contribution to industrial clusters and reconstruction”.
That same year, the prefecture declared a target of 100% renewable power by 2040.
Contaminated land
“A lot of these communities, I know, were looking for ways to revitalise their economy,” said Dr Jennifer Sklarew, assistant professor of energy and sustainability at George Mason University and author of “Building Resilient Energy Systems: Lessons from Japan”.
Once evacuation orders were lifted, however, residents in many parts of Fukushima were faced with a dilemma, explained Skarlew:
“Since that area was largely agricultural, and the agriculture was facing challenges due to stigma, and also due to the soil being removed [as part of the decontamination efforts], they had to find something else.”
One solution came in the form of rent, paid to farmers by companies, to use their land as solar farms.
Michiyo Miyamoto, energy finance specialist at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, told Carbon Brief:
“The [Fukushima] prefecture mapped suitable sites early and conducted systematic consultations with residents and agricultural groups before projects were proposed. This upfront process reduced land-use conflicts, shortened permitting timelines and gave developers clarity.”
As a result, large-scale solar capacity in Fukushima increased to more than 1,300 megawatts (MW) from 2012 to 2023, according to Miyamoto. Moreover, installed renewable capacity now exceeds local demand, meaning the region can run entirely on clean power when conditions are favourable, Miyamoto said.
Today, aerial pictures of Fukushima reveal how solar panels have proliferated on farmland that was contaminated in the nuclear disaster.

Charging on
Last year, 60% of Fukushima’s electricity was met by renewables, up from 22% in 2011. (The country as a whole still lags behind at 27%.)
And that is set to grow after Japan’s largest onshore windfarm started operations earlier this year in Abukuma, Fukushima, with a capacity of 147MW.
The growth of solar and wind means that Fukushima is already “ahead of schedule” for its 2040 target of 100% renewable power, said Miyamoto:
“The result is a credible pathway from recovery to leadership, with policy, infrastructure and targets working in concert.”
Watch, read, listen
OVERSHOOT: The Strategic Climate Risks Initiative, in partnership with Planet B Productions, has released a four-part podcast series exploring what will happen if global warming exceeds 1.5C.
DRONE WARFARE: On Substack, veteran climate campaigner and author Bill McKibben considered the resilience of solar power amid modern warfare.
CLIMATE AND EMPIRE: For Black history month, the Energy Revolution podcast looked at how “race and the legacies of empire continue to impact the energy transition”.
Coming up
- 12 October: presidential elections, Cameroon
- 13-14 October: Pre-COP, Brasilia, Brazil
- 13-18 October: World Bank Group/IMF annual meetings, Washington DC
- 14-17 October: 2nd extraordinary session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee at the International Maritime Organisation, London
- 15-16 October: Circle of Finance Ministers report
Pick of the jobs
- Buckinghamshire Council, principal climate change officer | Salary: £49,354-£51,759. Location: Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
- Sustainable NI, sustainable business lead | Salary: £60,000. Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Dialogue Earth, South Asia managing editor | Salary: £1,875 per month. Location: South Asia
DeBriefed is edited by Daisy Dunne. Please send any tips or feedback to debriefed@carbonbrief.org.
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The post DeBriefed 10 October 2025: Renewables power past coal; Legacy of UK’s Climate Change Act; Fukushima’s solar future appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Greenhouse Gases
Guest post: How Caribbean states are shifting climate legislation
The Caribbean region is among the most vulnerable to climate change, despite historically contributing less than half of one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Rising sea levels, extreme heat and more frequent and intense storms – such as the 2024 Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall in Grenada – pose urgent and growing threats to the small island states, coastal nations and overseas territories that comprise the Caribbean region.
With global progress to address climate change still too slow, Caribbean countries are taking matters into their own hands by enacting more robust legislation to help protect against climate risks.
In a new study published in the Carbon and Climate Law Review, we identified 78 climate laws and legally binding decrees across 16 Caribbean states, as well as two constitutional references to climate change and a growing recognition of the right to a healthy environment.
Our analysis suggests that, together, these developments are not only enhancing resilience, but also positioning Caribbean states as influential actors in the global climate arena.
Caribbean climate laws on the rise
Climate governance in the Caribbean has expanded significantly in recent years. In the past decade, countries such as Cuba and the Dominican Republic have embedded climate obligations and programmatic guidelines into their national constitutions.
At the same time, legislative recognition of the human right to a healthy environment is gaining momentum across the region. Six Caribbean nations now affirm the right in their constitutions, while 15 have recognised it through international instruments, such as the UN Council, UN Assembly and the Escazu Agreement, as shown in the figure below.

More recently, there has been a notable rise in targeted, sector-specific climate frameworks that go beyond broader environmental statutes.
Saint Lucia stands out as the only country with a climate framework law, or a comprehensive national law that outlines long-term climate strategies across multiple domains. Meanwhile, several other Caribbean governments have adopted climate-specific laws that focus on individual sectors, such as energy, migration and disaster management.
According to our analysis, more than a quarter of climate-relevant legislation in the region – comprising 21 laws and legally binding decrees – now has an explicit focus on climate change, as illustrated in the chart below.
Our research suggests that this represents an ongoing shift in legislative focus, reflecting changes in how climate legislation is being structured in one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions.

Caribbean nations are also advancing legal reforms to structure and institutionalise climate finance and market mechanisms directly into domestic law, aligned with Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement.
For example, the Bahamas has introduced provisions for carbon credit trading, while Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and Grenada have established national climate financing mechanisms to support mitigation and adaptation efforts.
Some states, including Belize and Saint Kitts and Nevis, have incorporated regional bodies such as the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre – the climate arm of the intergovernmental Caribbean community organisation CARICOM – into national frameworks. This indicates an increasing alignment between regional cooperation and domestic law.
In addition to the influx of regulations specifically addressing climate change, Caribbean nations are also legislating broader environmental issues, which, in turn, could provide increased resilience from climate impacts and risks, as shown in the graph above.
Key trends in these types of climate-related laws include the expansion of disaster risk management governance, which addresses national preparedness for climate-induced weather events or related catastrophes. Likewise, energy law is an increasingly prominent focus, with countries including Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines integrating renewable energy and energy efficiency goals into national climate governance.
More broadly, many Caribbean nations have adopted wide-ranging and comprehensive environmental laws, many of which were developed in alignment with existing climate commitments. In combination, these legal developments reflect a dynamic and evolving climate governance landscape across the region.
Proactive vs reactive approaches
Despite general alignment with these broader regional trends, our research reveals distinct developmental pathways shaping domestic climate regulation.
In the eastern Caribbean, for example, we saw both proactive, long-term planning strategies and reactive, post-disaster reforms.
Saint Lucia’s multifaceted approach to climate resilience evolved steadily over the course of more than a decade. During this time, the country developed numerous adaptation plans, strengthened cross-sectoral coordination and engaged in institutional climate reforms in areas such as energy, tourism, finance and development.
More recently, the passage of Saint Lucia’s Climate Change Act in 2024 marked a milestone in climate governance, by giving legal force to the country’s obligations under the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement – making Saint Lucia one of the few small island states to incorporate global climate commitments into domestic law.
Our research indicates that this strategy has not only positioned the country as a more climate-resilient nation, but also solidified its access to international climate financing.
In contrast, Dominica’s efforts evolved more rapidly in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, which destroyed over 200% of the country’s GDP. The storm’s impacts were felt across the country and hit particularly hard for the Kalinago people – the Caribbean’s last Indigenous community – highlighting the role of socioeconomic disparities in shaping climate vulnerability and resilience.
In response, the government passed the Climate Resilience Act, creating the temporary Climate Resilience Execution Agency for Dominica (CREAD).
Beyond establishing an exclusively climate-focused institution, the act aimed to embed resilience into governance by mandating the participation of vulnerable communities – including Indigenous peoples, women, older people and people with disabilities – in shaping and monitoring climate resilience projects.

As noted in a recent statement by the UN special rapporteur on Climate Change, Dr Elisa Morgera, these frameworks underscore the government’s ambition to become the world’s first “climate-resilient nation.”
Although challenges persist, Dominica’s efforts demonstrate how post-disaster urgency can drive institutional change, including the integration of rights and resilience into climate governance.
Uneven progress and structural gaps
Despite significant progress, our research shows that several key opportunities for climate governance across the Caribbean continue to exist, which could enable improvements in both resilience and long-term ambition.
The region’s legal landscape remains somewhat heterogeneous. While Saint Lucia has enacted a comprehensive climate framework law, the rest of the region lacks similar blanket legislation. This includes some states that entirely lack climate-specific laws, instead relying on related laws and frameworks to regulate and respond to climate-related risks.
Other nations have yet to adopt explicit disaster-risk management frameworks, leaving Caribbean populations vulnerable before, during and after climate emergencies. Most have yet to enshrine the right to a healthy environment at the national level.
Our research suggests that outdated legal frameworks are further limiting progress in addressing current climate risks. Because many of the longer-standing environmental laws in the region were adopted well before climate policy became a mainstream concern, some fail to address the nature, frequency and intensity of modern climate challenges, such as sea-level rise, tropical storms, wildfires, floods, droughts and other impacts.
More broadly, many Caribbean climate laws include limited integration of gender equity, Indigenous rights and social justice. As Caribbean nations such as Grenada and the Dominican Republic begin to link climate resilience with these issues, the region has an opportunity to lead by example.
Ultimately, capacity and resource constraints persist as significant barriers to implementation and adaptation.
The Caribbean region faces debt that exacerbates ongoing development challenges, a burden made heavier by the repeated economic shocks of climate-related disasters. Along with regional debt-for-resilience schemes, increased funding from high-emitting countries to support adaptation measures in climate-vulnerable nations – as endorsed under the Paris Agreement – is likely to be critical to ensuring the region’s climate laws can be executed effectively.
Global implications of Caribbean climate law
Our research suggests that Caribbean countries are outpacing other regions in terms of the scope and ambition of their climate laws. This legislation has the potential to serve as a model for climate-vulnerable nations worldwide.
Continuing efforts in the region show that legal frameworks in the field can not only drive resilience, embed rights and strengthen claims to international finance, but also highlight how regional cooperation and diplomacy can enhance global influence.
These findings demonstrate that innovation in climate law need not wait for action from major emitters, but can instead be led by those on the front lines of climate change.
The post Guest post: How Caribbean states are shifting climate legislation appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Guest post: How Caribbean states are shifting climate legislation
Greenhouse Gases
IEA: Renewables have cut fossil-fuel imports for more than 100 countries
More than 100 countries have cut their dependence on fossil-fuel imports and saved hundreds of billions of dollars by continuing to invest in renewables, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
It says nations such as the UK, Germany and Chile have reduced their need for imported coal and gas by around a third since 2010, mainly by building wind and solar power.
Denmark has cut its reliance on fossil-fuel imports by nearly half over the same period.
Renewable expansion allowed these nations to collectively avoid importing 700m tonnes of coal and 400bn cubic metres of gas in 2023, equivalent to around 10% of global consumption.
In doing so, the fuel-importing countries saved more than $1.3tn between 2010 and 2023 that would otherwise have been spent on fossil fuels from overseas.
Reduced reliance
The IEA’s Renewables 2025 report quantifies the benefits of renewable-energy deployment for electricity systems in fossil fuel-importing nations.
It compares recent trends in renewable expansion to an alternative “low renewable-energy source” scenario, in which this growth did not take place.
In this counterfactual, fuel-importing countries stopped building wind, solar and other non-hydropower renewable-energy projects after 2010.
In reality, the world added around 2,500 gigawatts (GW) of such projects between 2010 and 2023, according to the IEA, more than the combined electricity generating capacity of the EU and US in 2023, from all sources. Roughly 80% of this new renewable capacity was built in nations that rely on coal and gas imports to generate electricity.
The chart below shows how 31 of these countries have substantially cut their dependence on imported fossil fuels over the 13-year period, as a result of expanding their wind, solar and other renewable energy supplies. All of these countries are net importers of coal and gas.

In total, the IEA identified 107 countries that had reduced their dependence on fossil fuel imports for electricity generation, to some extent due to the deployment of renewables other than hydropower.
Of these, 38 had cut their reliance on electricity from imported coal and gas by more than 10 percentage points and eight had seen that share drop by more than 30 percentage points.
Security and resilience
The IEA stresses that renewables “inherently strengthen energy supply security”, because they generate electricity domestically, while also “improving…economic resilience” in fossil-fuel importer countries.
This is particularly true for countries with low or dwindling domestic energy resources.
The agency cites the energy crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which exposed EU importers to spiralling fossil-fuel prices.
Bulgaria, Romania and Finland – which have historically depended on Russian gas for electricity generation – have all brought their import reliance close to zero in recent years by building renewables.
In the UK, where there has been mounting opposition to renewables from right-wing political parties, the IEA says reliance on electricity generated with imported fossil fuels has dropped from 45% to under 25% in a decade, thanks primarily to the growth of wind and solar power.
Without these technologies, the UK would now be needing to import fossil fuels to supply nearly 60% of its electricity, the IEA says.
Other major economies, notably China and the EU, would also have had to rely on a growing share of coal and gas from overseas, if they had not expanded renewables.
As well as increasing the need for fossil-fuel imports from other countries, switching renewables for fossil fuels would require significantly higher energy usage “due to [fossil fuels’] lower conversion efficiencies”, the IEA notes. Each gigawatt-hour (GWh) of renewable power produced has avoided the need for 2-3GWh of fossil fuels, it explains.
Finally, the IEA points out that spending on renewables rather than imported fossil fuels keeps more investment in domestic economies and supports local jobs.
The post IEA: Renewables have cut fossil-fuel imports for more than 100 countries appeared first on Carbon Brief.
IEA: Renewables have cut fossil-fuel imports for more than 100 countries
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