Green Behind the Ears: Adventures in Learning About Climate Change

This is the second in our new series of climate action challenges for ordinary folks. Each month, writer Rebecca Sharp will do a climate challenge herself. Then she’ll share her experiences and tell us about the difference she tried to make, how we can try the challenge ourselves, what it costs in terms of time, money and labour and how rewarding she found it on a scale of 1-5 sprouts. Read the intro to this series to find out more.

To start things off, this month I took a deep dive into informative podcasts about climate change and action.

As I thought about where to begin this journey in climate action, I realized that if I was going to take actionable steps toward saving the planet, then learning more about the problem and possible solutions should be my launch pad.

But fighting my strong and not necessarily helpful perfectionist tendencies, I had to talk myself down from feeling like the way forward was to read the entire history of climate change discourse.

My 9-month-old, in classic baby fashion, is either wanting to be held or racing around the floor getting into everything he shouldn’t, so given that sometimes eating is the only thing I accomplish in a day, that perfectionist approach just wasn’t in the cards—and, dear reader, I’m sure you can relate.

The Climate Podcast Challenge


Then I realized it was 2022 and there are these awesome things called podcasts—they’re hands-free, and you can fit them in when you’re walking, commuting, exercising or doing chores.

I challenged myself to listen—as much as my divided attention permitted—to as many interesting shows as I could manage. I’ve lost track of the quantity of episodes I’ve consumed over the last month, but I want to share my top 5 podcasts to help you learn about the underpinnings, corollaries and solutions to climate change.

 1. A Matter of Degrees

Smart, engaging and upbeat, this is hands-down my fave. Want to debunk the myth that climate solutions require technology not yet available to us? Want to learn more about the relationship between climate change and colonialism? Want to understand how social and gender equality promote greener culture and healthier societies? Listen to this.

2. Race against Climate Change

This six-episode mini-series is Canadian and awesome. It explores agriculture and food security, energy and power, transportation, oil and gas and the infrastructure of living from the perspectives of policy, social justice and technological solutions. There’s a high information return for every minute of airtime—I learned a lot.

3. Life Raft

Acknowledging the scariness of climate change, this one tries to bring levity to the discussion without compromising on the depth or seriousness of the issues we’re facing. Out of New Orleans, this podcast drives home the impacts of climate change that Louisiana is facing in real time—not in 10 years, but in the recent past and today. The perspectives explored are intersectional, human and resonant. There are only a few episodes, but they’re worth your time.

4. How to Save a Planet

If you like chatty, conversational, upbeat podcasts, and want to learn more about fighting climate change without getting totally depressed, this one is for you. While it actively takes a positive and optimistic approach to the problem, possibly the coolest thing about this podcast is the sense of community it offers to listeners, which might be especially empowering if you don’t have a lot of folks in your inner circle who are climate action active at the moment.

5. Climate Change for Beginners

These are bite-sized, cut-to-the-chase, 5-minute episodes that answer the basic questions you’ve been too embarrassed to ask. You can blast through the small collection in about an hour and come out with a pretty decent understanding of what the major issues are and how to talk about them. Plus, the host’s Irish accent is pretty charming.

What Did This Cost Me?


woman listening to headphones while folding clothes - green behind the ears - adventures in learning about climate change

Time: like I said, I’ve lost track of how many hours I’ve consumed. But since I only listened when I was already doing something else, I will conclude that this cost me ZERO EXTRA TIME.

Labour: The physical labour involved was obviously very low. There is for sure a mental load in imbibing a large quantity of info, as well as an emotional load in confronting the realities we’re facing. Both will vary for everyone. So I’ll just say that the mental, emotional and physical labour costs of ignoring climate change will certainly be much greater than the labour involved in learning about the issues.

Money: ZERO—I love free information.

Sprouts: overall, 5 sprouts. Big return; pretty little extra effort. Not that extra effort is the final arbiter here, but I think we can all agree it helps if a challenge doesn’t overload your day.

Choose Your Challenge


Now I invite you, dear reader, to choose your own podcast adventure at one of the following levels:

Germination: listen to an episode from one of the above collections. Then have a conversation with someone about it. Better yet, listen to it together. Then give the show 5 stars—climate change needs a more central place in popular culture and you can help make that happen. I humbly suggest starting with Season 2, Episode 10 of A Matter of Degrees: “How Gender Equality Can Save the Planet.”

Seedling: Start a pod-club for climate podcasts. You know how you’ve always wanted to participate in book clubs in the past but never managed to finish the reading in time? This time will be different because you can listen while you do the dishes! You and your pals can set the frequency and volume and have some good conversations at your own pace.

Budding: Start your own podcast! Or write an article or a social media post sharing your reflections, perspectives and goals for how you will help save the planet. Or start an Instagram or TikTok series that will inspire others to honour our home. You have important things to say, and you can make a difference.

Thanks for checking in, my friend. See you next month for some adventures in composting!

Feature image: Jaz King; Image 1: Vlada Karpovich

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