Why do we use fossil fuels and why are they so hard to quit?

This episode of Climate Sense is a Q&A with host Samantha Gross, including questions sourced from our listeners on a wide range of topics from climate as a national emergency, to electrification, bipartisan action, and adaptation versus mitigation. Concerns about the speed and consequences of climate change are valid and at times quite scary, but that doesn’t mean we should not talk about the energizing and hopeful potential of climate solutions. Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3G6klix Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

This episode of “Climate Sense” is about U.S. policy—the challenges of implementing climate legislation in the U.S. and recently enacted laws. Climate change and other environmental issues are caught up in our country’s increasingly polarized politics. Nonetheless, new climate legislation will bring real benefits to people—with emphasis on financing existing technologies, innovation for new solutions, and promoting U.S. industry. Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3FduycD Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

In this episode of “Climate Sense,” Samantha Gross explores the issue of justice and fairness in global climate action. Many of the world’s poorest countries have contributed the least to existing greenhouse gases but are on the front lines of the changing climate. It is not enough to have science, knowledge, and resources. What is essential to climate justice is making sure that climate change is not an excuse to let the developing world shoulder the work and costs of reducing emissions. Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3hYl6k0 Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

Americans love cars, and trucks, and SUVs. Our country is designed around the automobile. This episode of Climate Sense, hosted by Samantha Gross, is about transportation–an important part of our culture, our energy use, and our greenhouse gas emissions. She talks with two experts on the use of electric vehicles and seeks answers to the transportation challenge. What is the solution? Expanding our perceptions on the way we get around. Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3Ggy5I6 Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

This episode of “Climate Sense” is about electricity—the stuff that comes out of the outlet in your wall. Electricity is the future, but many of us don’t think about it beyond the wall plug. In this episode, Samantha Gross explains that electricity is central to transforming our energy system. The costs of wind and solar electricity have plummeted in recent years, making them no longer cool and expensive, but now cool and cheap, in many cases cheaper than the fossil fuel electricity they replace. And electricity is a clean, quiet, and very efficient method for using energy in everything from homes to transportation to industry. Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3E1c9ir Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

Addressing climate change must be a global undertaking, even though the world’s wealthy nations have been responsible for most of the global warming to date. In this episode of “Climate Sense,” Samantha Gross speaks with experts on why climate is such a challenging political problem, what it took to get an agreement in Paris in 2015, and how the world can collaborate on this thorniest of global problems. Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3DNlE4L Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

Fossil fuels built the modern world and brought us conveniences that we now take for granted, but science has made it clear that we need to move away from fossil fuels to prevent the worst effects of climate change. However, the energy system is the backbone of the global economy, and changing it quickly is a huge task. In this episode of Climate Sense, Samantha Gross speaks with Daniel Yergin about our energy system—how we got here and the challenges in moving to a new, greener energy system. Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3Szzsnq Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

Climate change is all over the news these days. We hear about hurricanes and heatwaves, droughts and floods, and young people protesting to fix the problem now. Climate change was a centerpiece of President Biden’s campaign in 2020, but it is still a divisive issue in U.S. politics. In this inaugural episode of Climate Sense, Samantha Gross and her guests address the science and origins of climate change and the sources of the pollutants that are warming our world. Transcript and show notes: https://brook.gs/3DrDsST Climate Sense podcast is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].

From hurricanes and floods, to wildfires and extreme temperatures, climate change is happening all around us. In this podcast series, energy and climate expert Samantha Gross, director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution, sheds light on the essentials of climate change and how to deal with it. She talks to other experts in various climate-related areas to help you understand the issue. How serious is climate change and what causes it? How does our energy system work and why do we use fossil fuels anyway? What are potential solutions and are they ready for prime time? Why is it taking so long for the world to act? Episodes 1 and 2 debut on October 26. Climate Sense is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback email to [email protected].