The Sweaty Penguin

For 53 years, permitting has been a core tenet of environmental protection in the United States, requiring a variety of projects to receive environmental impact statements and public input. But as clean energy, electricity transition, and forest management projects have faced delays of several years due to this bureaucratic process, many have questioned if the current permitting system could be doing more harm than good...

After a historically warm June and July 3, 4, 5, and 6 consecutively breaking records for the world’s hottest day, some headlines began to suggest these heat events were climate change run amuck. While climate change has driven the vast majority of this heat, a significant portion is also due to El Niño: a natural phenomenon in the tropical Pacific Ocean that impacts global weather patterns and slightly boosts temperatures...

Last year, The Guardian did a five-month investigation into “carbon bombs,” or fossil fuel projects that would, over the course of their life, emit over one billion tons of carbon. They found that there are 195 planned oil and gas carbon bombs around the world, and if they proceed as planned, these projects alone would blow past internationally agreed upon climate targets...

The first constitutional climate case in U.S. history wrapped up in Montana last week, with sixteen plaintiffs aged 5-22 making the case that a provision in the Montana Environmental Policy Act violates the state constitution, which guarantees a right to a “clean and healthful environment” for “present and future generations.” The case made international headlines for the plaintiffs’ age and the historic nature of a constitutional climate case, but there was a lot more to the story...

Between their cheaper operating costs, reduced air pollution, and major dent in greenhouse gas emissions, electric vehicles have often been the focus of the clean transportation transition. Leading auto manufacturers have set ambitious targets to transition sales to EVs, and policymakers have followed with regulations and tax incentives...

Weeks of unprecedented wildfires across Canada have scorched millions of hectares, displaced over 100,000 people, and pushed the nation into a crisis as crews fight hundreds of blazes. Smoke from the fires also crossed the U.S. border into cities such as New York City and Detroit, and on June 7, New York City registered the worst air quality in the world...

For the first time, Ethan welcomes to the show our Associate Producer Madeleine Salman, Social Media Manager Sabrina Rollings, and Researcher Emma Jones. They’ll discuss what they do behind the scenes, share some details on our new projects around TikTok and creating educational resources for classrooms, and then face off in a Sweaty Penguin Kahoot recapping season 6. See how much you remember from the program and find out who will be the next Sweaty Penguin Kahoot champion...

In 2022, climate activists around the world engaged in a string of protests throwing food at famous artworks such as Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” Monet’s “Grainstacks,” and da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.” The protests received their fair share of criticism for failing to engage new people in the climate movement, but what may have been overshadowed was the actual environmental messages hidden in these pieces of artwork...

On April 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced vehicle emissions standards that would require auto companies to lower the average carbon dioxide emissions from their tailpipes to 82 grams per mile by 2032. Then, on May 11, the EPA announced emissions standards for coal and natural gas power plants, requiring that natural gas plants capture 90 percent of their emissions by 2035 and coal plants capture 90 percent by 2030 unless they plan to retire the plant...

A few months ago, The Guardian did a five-month investigation into “carbon bombs,” or fossil fuel projects that would, over the course of their life, emit over one billion tons of carbon. They found that there are 195 planned oil and gas carbon bombs around the world, and if they proceed as planned, these projects alone would blow past internationally agreed upon climate targets...