Sometimes, climate change IS a laughing matter. Every week, The Sweaty Penguin cuts through the noise and the doom-and-gloom of the climate conversation with late-night-comedy-style monologues and in-depth conversations with leading global experts on a variety of environmental issues. Through a nonpartisan approach, The Sweaty Penguin makes environmental issues less overwhelming and politicized and more accessible and fun. In partnership with Peril and Promise, a PBS/WNET public media initiative on climate change, The Sweaty Penguin invites you to join the hottest conversation in town.
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Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 5 days 21 hours 6 minutes
Tip of the Iceberg E1: COP26 was not dead on arrival
Even before the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow started, many in the environmental movement were ready to call it a failure, feeling world leaders would just spend the two weeks making empty promises...
Tip of the Iceberg E2: Phasing “out” coal versus phasing “down” coal
COP26 concluded with the adoption of the “Glasgow climate pact,” which was revised at the last minute due to demands from China and India to change the phrase “phase out coal” to “phase down coal,” which infuriated much of the rest of the world. But are the two phrases really that different? Will phasing “down” lead to a different outcome? Why would China and India make this demand? Ethan breaks all of this down in episode 2 of “Tip of the Iceberg...
Tip of the Iceberg E3: We don’t know if climate change affected this month’s tornadoes
On December 10th and 11th, historic tornadoes wreaked havoc on Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and almost instantaneously, people made the assumption that climate change played a role. But while tornadoes of this severity in December are unprecedented, scientists have not yet determined a link between climate change and tornadoes...
Tip of the Iceberg E4: Melting the Thwaites glacier is worse than the worst-case scenario
Research presented at the American Geophysical Union this month found cracks on the ice shelf holding back the Thwaites glacier: a mass of dense, landlocked ice the size of Florida. When the shelf collapses, which scientists now estimate will happen in five years, Thwaites will start moving toward the ocean, leading to sea level rise that exceeds even our worst-case scenario projections and would threaten coastal cities and communities around the world...
Tip of the Iceberg E5: Oil companies are flailing
Two lawsuits against a group of major oil companies have made news in the last couple weeks, both initiated by local governments alleging that these companies misrepresented and buried evidence for the climate damage that their products would cause. The oil companies have responded by essentially trying to move the lawsuits to other courtrooms...
Tip of the Iceberg E6: The key takeaway from last week’s IPCC report
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released part two of the 6th Assessment Report, leading to several doom-and-gloom headlines and soundbites saying variations of “we need to act now or it’ll be too late.” But haven’t we been hearing that for decades? When is this supposed time that’s “too late?” Turns out, it’s a lot more nuanced than that, and this IPCC report actually helps clarify this “too late” concept through its in-depth analysis of climate adaptation research...
Tip of the Iceberg E7: What's the deal with these gas prices?!?!
Gasoline prices have hit record highs over the last month, and understandably, people are not happy about it. But some of the theories floating around social media that it’s because of gas taxes, greedy oil CEOs, or climate policy are actually not all that relevant to today’s high prices. Ethan breaks down why these three explanations make no sense, what has actually caused the price swing, and some short-term and long-term solution ideas in this week’s “Tip of the Iceberg...
Tip of the Iceberg E8: Scientists' reaction to the latest Antarctica news was surprise, not despair
Last week was a big one for the poles of the Earth, with record-shattering heatwaves in both the Arctic and Antarctica followed by the collapse of the Conger Ice Shelf in Eastern Antarctica. Many headlines suggested scientists were surprised, even flabbergasted! Ethan breaks down why these events were surprising, and why surprise does not mean doom-and-gloom in this week’s “Tip of the Iceberg...
Tip of the Iceberg E9: The fossil fuel dilemmas behind lithium's big payday
After pressure from both Democratic and Republican senators, President Biden is invoking the Defense Production Act to encourage domestic production of the minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles and long-term energy storage, minerals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and graphite. This move has major implications for U.S. national security and the global climate, and also serves as a reminder of some of the fossil fuel dynamics behind the Russian invasion of Ukraine...
Tip of the Iceberg E10: Is the new IPCC report... exciting?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the third part of their Sixth Assessment Report last week, titled “Mitigation of Climate Change,” and with it, came the usual doom and gloom reactions. But the report itself was overflowing with reasons to be hopeful, and even excited. Ethan breaks down why he came away from the report feeling more optimistic about the climate than ever before in this week’s “Tip of the Iceberg...