How to Save a Planet
Episodes
Presenting: What If We Get It Right?
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hey there, Earthlings. Did you miss Ayana and Alex, your beloved How to Save a Planet co-hosts? Well, they reunited on Ayana’s new podcast, What ...
Should We Mine the Deep-Sea?
06 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the coming years, we'll need millions of batteries: batteries to store renewable electricity and power a massive fleet of electric vehicles. But th...
Am I The (Climate) A**hole?
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered if you were on the right side of an argument about climate change? Or just want to understand what everyday climate battles are...
Presenting: The Carbon Copy – Why Heat Waves Become Deadly
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today we’re sharing an episode of The Carbon Copy, a climate change podcast produced by Canary Media. The topic is extremely timely: heat waves. Thi...
What are YOU Doing To Tackle Climate Change? Four Stories From Our Listeners
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s How to Save a Planet’s second birthday! To celebrate, we’re sharing stories of climate action taken by our very own listeners. We'll hear f...
Is My Lawn Bad for the Climate?
08 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
America loves its lawns. Altogether, grass lawns in the U.S. cover an area the size of Georgia. So, what does that mean for the climate? And can we do...
Climate Change is Driving Migration. Could Smarter Ag Help?
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In recent years more and more people from Central America have tried to emigrate north to Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Many leave home not b...
Presenting: Catalyst - Solar Geoengineering: Is It Worth the Risk?
25 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today we’re sharing an episode of Catalyst, a podcast hosted by Shayle Kann and produced by Canary Media. The topic is a controversial one: solar ge...
Make Biking Cool (Again)!
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Work. School. The grocery store. We all need to get somewhere. But how we get there has huge implications for the climate. In the United States, trans...
Holy Sh*t, the U.S. Just Got Serious About Climate Change!
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Well, wow. Congress is on the verge of passing the most ambitious climate legislation in U.S. history! Don’t be fooled by its name: the Inflation Re...
Presenting: The Journal - Shein Took Over Fast Fashion. Then Came the Backlash.
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
WSJ’s Fashion Director Rory Satran explains how Shein-- now valued at $100 billion-- rose to dominate the fast-fashion industry via social media, an...
What's the Most Climate-Friendly Way to Use My Land? A HTSAP House Call
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A listener called in with a dilemma: What's the most climate-friendly thing she can do with her family farm? Her family owns 126 acres of land in the ...
Presenting: Science Vs - A Mystery in the Air
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week we’re sharing an episode from another Gimlet podcast called Science Vs. When a little girl, Ella Kissi-Debrah, suddenly got sick and lande...
Are My Retirement Savings Invested in Fossil Fuels?? Help!
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Look inside your retirement savings and you may find some surprises: oil and gas companies, pipeline operators, utilities with coal-fired power plants...
Air Conditioned Stadiums. Cruise Ships. New Hotels. Can the World Cup in Qatar Really Be Carbon Neutral?
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
More than a million soccer fans will travel to Qatar this fall for one of the biggest sporting events on Earth: The FIFA World Cup. The event sounds l...
Spark Tank! How Do We Solve the Energy Storage Problem?
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Storage! ...Exciting, right? Ok, we’ll prove it to you. Each day, more and more of our electricity comes from intermittent renewables like wind and ...
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson Helps You Find Your Climate Superpower
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a question we get all the time: “What can I do to address the climate crisis?” This week, our one and only original co-host, Dr. Ayana Eliz...
Presenting: Hot Farm – Grain of the Future
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week we’re sharing an episode from a new podcast called Hot Farm. It’s from our friends at the Food & Environment Reporting Network. The podc...
Meet The Influencer Who Wants You To Buy LESS Stuff
09 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In our episode Fast Fashion’s Dirty Little Secret (Hint: It’s Oil), we made the call to action: buy less clothing, and keep your clothing for long...
When ‘Electrify Everything’ Means Quitting Your Desk Job and Getting Your Hands Dirty
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nate Johnson didn’t plan to switch careers. But since he did he’s gone from just writing about the energy transition, to actually making it happen...
Why Is It So Hard To Fix Our Electronics, And What Can We Do About It?
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Electronics — smartphones, computers, televisions — exact a hefty toll on the planet. One way to lighten their load? Use them for longer. And yet,...
Presenting: Not Past It - The "Crying Indian" Ad
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We’re bringing you an episode of another Gimlet podcast, Not Past It, which looks at a moment from that week in history and explores how it shapes o...
Feeling Doomed? How to Tackle Climate Anxiety
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“We’re all doomed.” If you’ve ever thought this to yourself while looking down at the remnants of your paper straw floating in your plastic co...
Should I Give Up Beef?
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture and land use – and a big portion of those emissions come from producing meat. Ado...
Sacrifice Zones: ProPublica Takes Us Inside America’s Toxic Hotspots
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
All across the United States, industrial polluters are emitting toxic air... and people who live near those polluters are breathing it in. Kendra spok...
Canvassing for Climate Action: Here's How to Make it Work
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What can you do if someone you know – or an entire town – isn’t on board with renewable energy? This was the dilemma facing The West Kootenay Ec...
Presenting: Extreme Home Makeover - Threshold Edition
14 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We're bringing you an episode from a podcast called Threshold. If you've been listening to How to Save a Planet for a while, you know that our focus i...
Bringing Climate Change to the Frontlines: The Fight to Get Militaries to Go Green
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Militaries around the world emit a lot of carbon, but they aren’t required to report these emissions directly…plus they aren’t exactly known for...
Kelp Farming, for the Climate
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Seaweed and giant kelp are sometimes called “the sequoias of the sea.” Yet at a time when so many people are talking about climate solutions and r...
Mind Your Mines: The Push to Make Mining Safer and Cleaner
24 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we need to stop digging up fossil fuels. But the switch to renewables doesn’t mean we stop digging alt...
Waste, Worms and Windrows: Domingo Morales' Quest to Make Compost Cool
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Food waste accounts for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But it turns out composting — the mystical art of turning your food scraps into nutri...
Are The Coral Reefs Really Doomed?
10 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve probably heard of coral bleaching; if you live near a coral reef, maybe you’ve even seen the impacts of climate change on that reef up clos...
Fast Fashion's Dirty Little Secret (Hint: It's Oil)
03 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Whether you consider yourself a fashion maven or not one thing is true: you wear clothes. It's a basic rule of most societies. But in recent years, i...
Cold Hard Cash for Your Greenhouse Gas
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When we think about what’s heating up the planet, we may picture CO2 from smokestacks and tailpipes. But there are other greenhouse gases that are e...
What's it Like to Work at Exxon – and Then Quit?
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back in 2003, Dar-Lon Chang took a job as an engineer at ExxonMobil — a job he thought would be focused on transitioning beyond fossil fuels. But ov...
Presenting: Science Vs. Joe Rogan: The Malone Interview
11 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we’re sharing an episode from another Gimlet Media podcast, Science Vs. This episode fact-checks some claims made in a recent episode of the ...
How Adam McKay Got Climate Change on the Big Screen
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How do you get people to care about climate change? Simple: Make a blockbuster movie about it, packed full of the biggest stars in Hollywood. At least...
A Storm is Brewing. Is it Climate Change?
27 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For years, we were told it wasn’t possible to link specific weather events to global warming — and that made communicating about climate change di...
Presenting: TED Radio Hour - An SOS From the Ocean
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Today we’re sharing an episode from TED Radio Hour on NPR, which explores the biggest questions of our time with the help of the world's greatest th...
How Oil Companies Greenwash (and the Campaign To Make Them Stop)
13 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, fossil fuel companies have fought action on climate change. They've done so directly – by challenging legislation that would help reign...
Electrify This!
06 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We asked for your weirdest alternative energy ideas, and you delivered. This week, Alex — plus climate journalists and experts Brian Kahn and Amelia...
The Fight to Stop Oil Pipelines: "For Water. For Treaties. For Climate."
30 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re talking about oil pipelines. From the fight against Keystone XL to Standing Rock, pipeline protests have been central to the climat...
How Amazon Workers Got Serious About Climate (and How You Can, too)
23 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A common piece of career advice is to bring your whole self to work. But what if your whole self includes a deep concern for the climate? Can you bri...
What's Your 2022 Climate Resolution?
16 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At the end of every episode of this show, we give you all calls to action – things that you, our listeners, can do to address climate change. This w...
The Evangelical Christians Taking On Climate Change
09 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In public opinion polls, one group of Americans stand out, telling researchers they are particularly skeptical about climate change: white Evangelical...
The Earth Gets Left Off the Balance Sheet. Let’s Fix That
02 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For decades politicians and other leaders have said that acting on climate change comes at too high a cost — to jobs, to business, to the economy. ...
Trying to Talk to Family about Climate Change? Here's How.
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s important to talk about climate change. But how do you talk about it with friends and family who don't believe it's real, or don’t think we c...
We Go Inside the COP26 Climate Talks
18 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At the COP26 UN climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, nearly 200 countries signed a deal aimed at increasing efforts to tackle climate change. The goal?...
Presenting: Life Raft - Could We Just Make Our Houses Float?
11 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With flood risk increasing and flood insurance rates likely following suit, it seems like there’s got to be a better way to tackle the challenge. Fo...
The Tribe that's Moving Earth (and Water) to Solve the Climate Crisis
04 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Yurok tribe is reversing centuries of ecological damage to their land and making it more resilient to climate change by marrying two systems that ...
The Small Island Nations that Got Big Action on Climate
29 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2015, the landmark Paris Agreement was adopted. For the first time, nearly every country on Earth pledged to cut carbon emissions to tackle climate...
Sheep + Solar, A Love Story
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We all know that a key part of addressing climate change involves getting off fossil fuels. But renewable energies, such as solar energy, are not with...
Reintroducing How to Save a Planet!
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change. We know. It can feel too overwhelming. But what if there was a show about climate change that left you feeling... energized? One so fi...
Environmentalist Drag Queen Pattie Gonia Says The Outdoors Is for Everyone
14 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's no secret How to Save a Planet is a pro-nature podcast, and that’s not just because we like the mountains, or because trees suck carbon out of ...
How TV Weathercasters Went From Climate Skeptics to Champions
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nearly every night on local news stations across the country, Americans hear scientists talking about the weather…the local broadcast meteorologist,...
Presenting: Windfall
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Offshore wind’s potential in the United States — both as a renewable resource and as a job creation tool — is enormous. But the sector’s curr...
We Can’t Solve the Climate Crisis Without Gender Equality. We’ll Prove It To You.
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Take a look at many of the spaces where climate-related decisions are being made — from government to business to media — and you'll notice a numb...
How We Got our Grid and How We Get a Better One
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Wind and solar are now some of the cheapest ways to make electricity. So, what’s standing in the way of using more of these renewable energies? One ...
Should We Go Nuclear?
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to nuclear energy, many people have strong opinions. Some say that if you're not on board with nuclear energy, then you aren't serious a...
The Unexpected Idea to Get Coal off the Grid
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most effective ways to fight climate change is to quit using coal to generate electricity. And while coal-fired power plants are closing at...
The Shareholders Vs. Exxon
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In our first episode on green investing, Are My Retirement Savings Invested in Fossil Fuels?? Help!, we talked about how to get your retirement money ...
Presenting: Ologies Dives into Coral
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Will changing your sunscreen save coral reefs? What even IS a coral? Where do they grow and what do they eat and why are they so pretty? Is it reefs o...
Are My Retirement Savings Invested in Fossil Fuels?? Help!
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Look inside your retirement savings and you may find some surprises: oil and gas companies, pipeline operators, utilities with coal-fired power plants...
Climate Change is Driving Migration. Could Smarter Ag Help?
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In recent years, more and more people from Central America have tried to emigrate north to Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Many leave home not ...
Is Your Carbon Footprint BS?
29 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're tackling a sibling debate: Do your individual actions matter when it comes to climate change? Or is it all about big, systemic change? In this e...
Like The Monarch, Human Migrations During Climate Change
22 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Human migration is nothing new, but the scale at which people will need to relocate due to climate change will be different than ever before. A World ...
Fighting Fire with Fire
15 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From California’s crimson skies to smoke so thick along Colorado’s front range that sent people indoors for days, wildfires in the US have become...
Soil: The Dirty Climate Solution
08 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's episode, we meet two farmers who, at first glance, seem very different. One is a first-generation farmer in upstate New York raising fr...
Drs. Jane Goodall & Ayana Elizabeth Johnson Talk About Hope
01 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re curious to know how Drs. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Drs. Jane Goodall first fell in love with the natural world, both on land and underwa...
Recycling! Is it BS?
24 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The recycling bin — many of us have learned to view this humble container as an environmental superhero. It is, after all, the critical first step i...
An Origin Story of the Blue New Deal
17 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the inside scoop on how a climate policy gets made. In 2019, when the Green New Deal resolution was unveiled, How to Save a Planet co-host ...
Presenting: Gastropod
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past century, we've transformed the arid lands of the American west into year-round, well-irrigated agricultural powerhouses. Today, fruits, ...
How Amazon Workers Got Serious About Climate (and How You Can, too)
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A common piece of career advice is to bring your whole self to work. But what if your whole self includes a deep concern for the climate? Can you bri...
Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Climate?
20 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We love listener mail! You've sent us some amazing notes. Some made us laugh, some made us cry, and some made us say – hey, that’s a great questio...
Is Biden’s Jobs Plan a ‘Skinny Green New Deal’?
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Biden Administration's American Jobs Plan is billed as an "infrastructure" package. But it's also something else: the most ambitious climate plan...
Presenting: No Place Like Home
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re sharing some wisdom from Sherri Mitchell. Sherri is an Indigenous rights attorney, author, activist, and contributor to the book Ay...
Listener Mail: Is Renewable Natural Gas a Scam?
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s listener mail time! This week, we’re digging into a mysterious email one listener received from their utility about renewable natural gas. Ca...
Where’s Our Climate Anthem?
22 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Social movements are often bolstered by anthems, songs that help unite people and remind them of what they are fighting for. In this episode, we take ...
The Fight to Stop Oil Pipelines: "For Water. For Treaties. For Climate."
15 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re talking about oil pipelines. From the fight against Keystone XL to Standing Rock, pipeline protests have been central to the climat...
Presenting: Stolen
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, we’re sharing a Spotify Exclusive from another Gimlet podcast, Stolen: The Search for Jermain. In 2018, a young Indigenous mother named J...
Presenting: Outside/In
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It's one of the most important Supreme Court cases you may never have heard of: Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency. The ruling held that...
The Beef with Beef
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture and land use – and a big portion of those emissions come from producing meat. Ado...
Is Your Carbon Footprint BS?
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week we tackle a sibling debate: Do your individual actions matter when it comes to climate change? Or is it all about big, systemic change? In t...
Solving a Rooftop Solar Mystery, and What’s a Nurdle?
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If you put a plastic bag in a bin outside your grocery store - will it really end up being recycled? Are some utilities trying to sabotage the solar i...
Presenting: A Matter of Degrees
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Presenting: A Matter of Degrees What happens if your electric utility starts doing things you don’t agree with? What if they start attacking solar a...
Kelp Farming, for the Climate (Part II)
25 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
So, what do you do with 579 pounds of seaweed? In our last episode, we ventured into the ocean to learn how seaweed farming can help solve climate ch...
Kelp Farming, for the Climate
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Seaweed and giant kelp are sometimes called “the sequoias of the sea.” Yet at a time when so many people are talking about climate solutions and r...
Party Like It's 2035
11 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Biden has set a goal of reaching 100% clean electricity in the U.S. by 2035. That means cutting all carbon emissions from the entire electri...
The Tribe that's Moving Earth (and Water) to Solve the Climate Crisis
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Yurok tribe is reversing centuries of ecological damage to their land and making it more resilient to climate change by marrying two systems that ...
Presenting: Timber Wars
28 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When loggers with chainsaws headed into the Willamette National Forest on Easter Sunday in 1989, they found a line of protesters blocking their way. S...
Recycling! Is it BS?
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The recycling bin — many of us have learned to view this humble container as an environmental superhero. It is, after all, the critical first step i...
Meet Your New Climate Czar
14 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Gina McCarthy will serve as the first-ever National Climate Advisor, heading up the newly formed White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy. So, wh...
Soil: The Dirty Climate Solution
07 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On this week's episode, we meet two farmers who, at first glance, seem very different. One is a first-generation farmer in upstate New York raising fr...
Presenting: Resistance
31 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do you take a global movement local? What happens when you refuse to accept things as they are? This week, we’re excited to bring you an episode...
Presenting: Science Vs
24 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We know that carbon dioxide is rising and we know that it’s warming the world, but how did scientists figure that out in the first place? And what w...
Answering Your Tree-Mail (and Nuclear) Questions
17 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We love listener mail! You've sent us some amazing notes. Some made us laugh, some made us cry, and some made us say—hey, that’s a great question!...
Breaking Buildings’ Addiction to Fossil Fuels
10 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If we’re going to deal with climate change, we’ve got to talk about buildings. Thirty percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions can be traced back ...
Should We Go Nuclear?
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to nuclear energy, many people have strong opinions. Some say that if you're not on board with nuclear energy, then you aren't serious a...
If Miami Will Be Underwater, Why Is Construction Booming?
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Miami Beach could be mostly underwater within eighty years, but construction of new beachfront properties is booming. What’s behind this disconnect?...
Trying to Talk to Family about Climate Change? Here's How
19 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It’s important to talk about climate change. But how do you talk about it with friends and family who don't believe it's real, or don’t think we c...