COVID-19 is the dress rehearsal for the climate apocalypse

Over six episodes, HEATED explored how the emerging coronavirus pandemic and the long-growing climate change crisis were overlapping existential threats. HEATED founder Emily Atkin and Mikel Ellcessor, her co-Executive Producer for the HEATED podcast, dig into the tape to highlight the things we all learned - and what we need to do if we want to keep things from getting worse. Also...we show you what you can do if you want MORE EPISODES of the HEATED podcast!

MSNBC’s Ali Velshi has been an extreme weather reporter, he’s mastered explaining the DOW and now he’s one of the most visible journalists bringing consistent climate reporting to a large audience. Ali joins us to trace his evolution as a reporter, why a scoreboard makes it easier to keep people focused and the paradox a smog-free LA being good TV. Velshi brings his trademark candor and clarity to a conversation that takes us behind the scenes of one of the country’s largest news organizations. For the climate-concerned individual, Velsi says, “There is no one coming to save you. This is work for adults, you actually have to figure out what the right things are. We are in a world in which there's no time now for us to look for the leaders who are going to save us.”

Our interviewee Mary Heglar is a writer and a reader, so we asked her for the best ways to make ourselves smarter AND stay hot during the COVID lock-down.Here are some articles by her:“My manifesto from last summer that lays down my beef with the climate conversation and how I want to change it.”“As angry as I am about the climate crisis, that anger is, believe it or not, fueled by love, as outlined here.”“The thing about climate grief is that you can never get to the final stage of acceptance, because that’s the kiss of death. So you cycle in and out of all the other phases. Me? I like to stay in anger.”“Nothing makes me angrier than the willful obtuseness of the crowd who thinks that climate action and climate justice can be divorced.”And here are some articles by others:“The seminal essay on climate anger by the one and only Amy Westervelt.”“My Personal Hero, James Baldwin, wrote this letter to Angela Davis and it includes one of my favorite quotes to apply to the climate crisis (and general crisis) of today: ‘Well. Since we live in an age in which silence is not only criminal but suicidal, I have been making as much noise as I can.’”“When I need a kick in the pants, when I want to give up, I revisit this piece by Ijeoma Oluo.”“My favorite Arundhati Roy piece is from 1998 and about nuclear war, but at its heart it’s about what happens when a small band of cruel fools have too much power and we all suffer for it.”

Dr. Aaron Bernstein has an extraordinary commitment to children. He’s a pediatrician and is the Interim Director at Harvard C-Change -The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Besides being a great human being, he’s one of the true experts on how the climate crisis is harming our health -- particularly children’s health. Sometimes it feels like the climate community talks a lot about “the future,” but we miss what’s right in front of our noses - the children around us. Both COVID-19 and the climate crisis are extreme health threats. We have to use this moment in time to stay focused on the ways we address these interconnected threats, learn, and then act - knowing we’re also acting on behalf of the people who are trusting us to take care of them and do the right thing. Yeah… our young people.

Strap in because environmental justice organizer Anthony Rogers-Wright brings the heat. In his role as the policy coordinator for the Climate Justice Alliance, Anthony advocates for a huge network of indigenous, urban black, and low-income communities on the front lines of climate change who all share one thing in common: they are all disproportionately harmed by the effects of climate change and pollution. As Anthony makes abundantly clear, the reality that we have to face right now is that we will not be equal in our suffering when it comes to climate change. Just as we will not be equal in our suffering when it comes to coronavirus.

The New Republic’s Kate Aronoff is our guest and shares some creative policy solutions to the climate and pandemic crises. In our conversation, we can’t help but notice that Washington has ZERO interest in creative policy. Quite the opposite, the fossil fuel and legacy polluters are clamoring for some of that sweet, sweet COVID relief money. They’re jamming their usual policy agenda while Republicans are shamelessly screaming it’s “not the time” to talk about climate policy. This seems like a good time to have a serious heart to heart with your Congressional representatives.

Bill McKibben has been a leader in the climate movement for more than 20 years as a journalist, author, and co-founder of 350.org. Here he talks to HEATED's Emily Atkin about what the COVID-19 and climate crises have in common, the lessons both teach us about delayed responses, and how to continue collective action when everyone's at home on their own.