On the Climate Record: Recent Episodes
Christophe Jospe
This podcast is to amplify ideas, the people working on them, and practical solutions to solving climate change. We elevate the implications of the different pathways our planet is heading on. We cut through the hype of what is really a climate solution. There are plenty of excellent climate podcasts out there, this is not your climate 101.
What happens when you combine Web3, environmental indices, and carbon markets? Perhaps a project that looks something like 6C-Index. This episode lays out the basic concept behind the idea, how it’s different from other ideas out there, and how it can potentially scale to drive financing for projects that can reduce and remove projects. We also cover ideas around what Christophe calls “System 1” and “System 2” and a special appearance from TiMo, Thomas Morgan.
A good index can be a mirror, and a great index can be a guide. By establishing a new asset that links to a basket of financial products, 6C-Index has laid out a potential blueprint for creating a financial product. By creating a token that trades against an index for carbon offsets, 6C-Index has cracked the code on how to create something that can finance carbon projects without needing to emit a tonne of fossil carbon first to offset it.
Demian Klenk (@6C_Index)
Christophe Jospe (@cjospe)
Thomas (TiMo) Morgan (@tmoindustries)
Decisions around water policy take place at the federal, state, and local realms and directly affect how water is allocated for downstream users. Yet, designing policies that meet the needs human and natural systems can be very complex. To discuss these complexities, On the Climate Record takes to Twitter Spaces where Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, Blake Atkerson, an environmental and legal consultant and a new addition to the Carbon A List team, Dr. Nick Goeser and Christophe Jospe weigh the realities of current water policy and the opportunities for greater sustainable water management. Eric Jackson chimes in with a few questions.
On the Climate Record has taken to Twitter Spaces, an innovative to record podcast and encourage listeners like you to join the conversation. To learn about our next Twitter Space event, make sure to follow Carbon A List on Twitter and set reminders for upcoming events!
Contact Info
Sarah Porter (@sarahporteraz)
Blake Atkerson (@batkerson)
Christophe Jospe (@cjospe)
Nick Goeser (@njgoeser)
Eric Jackson (@farmtribe)
Shared resources:
Arizona State’s Water Blueprint App
Groundwater Level Change App
1980 Groundwater Management Act
Surveillance Capitalism
How low can the Colorado Go?
Climate change solutions challenge the status quo by compelling innovation to go beyond tradition. It challenges current narratives about systems and how they are used to develop alternatives that are less harmful to the planet and its residents. In this episode, Christophe Jospe sits down with Dr. Clark Miller, an Associate Director and Professor at Arizona State University, to discuss the current dependence on carbon-intensive energy systems and the critical shift necessary to transform how we think and use current energy systems.
Dr. Miller explains that we can creatively transform carbon-intensive energy systems by rethinking traditional views about energy and provides several examples from his research to show the many possibilities outside of fossil fuels. His research highlights the ways that communities who are traditionally excluded in such discussions were able to take ownership and transform their energy systems to create social value and agency for their members. As he explains these cases, he shares how renewing the narrative about energy and broadening community involvement will help build a better future.
Contact:
Christophe Jospe (@cjospe)
Dr. Clark Miller (@clarkamiller)
Referenced material:
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s - America’s Energy Future
City of Lights: A Collection of Solar Futures by Dr. Clark Miller and others
Social Value of Energy, journal by Dr. Miller and others
University of Saskatchewan, Community Appropriate Sustainable Energy Security
‘Hurricane Maria….is still there’, an article by Scott Sekel
In the late 1960s, India endured a great famine that made the country heavily dependent on foreign food aid. Shortly after, the Green Revolution granted India independence from aid by strengthening its food production capabilities. However, the Green Revolution’s benefits were soon outweighed by a combination of consequences. In this episode, Dr. Aggarwal, an Associate Professor at ASU’s School of Sustainability and podcast visitor, examines the environmental and socio-economic outcomes that stemmed from the Revolution and other
agriculture-related topics through multiple lenses.
Using the Green Revolution as a cautionary tale, Dr. Aggarwal explains that there are many lessons to be learned from the past that can be applied to the current movement to onboard farmers to adopt regenerative practices. Some of these lessons urge sensitivity to the places where these practices are encouraged and the need for hyper-awareness of outside objectives that may co-opt the movement towards regenerative agriculture.
Throughout the episode, Dr. Aggarwal offers valuable guidance for applying social science methodologies as means to frame questions and pursue long-term solutions.
Contact:
Christophe Jospe (@cjospe)
Dr. Rimjhim Aggarwal (Rimjhim.Aggarwal@asu.edu)
References:
Norman Borlaug
Indio-Gangetic Plane
The human right to water and sanitation
Ecosystem Services from Agriculture in a Rapidly Urbanizing Region, by Dr. Aggarwal and others
Pheonix Area Social Survey, by Dr. Aggarwal and others
Additional publications by Dr. Aggarwal and others
Food waste around the world creates financial, environmental, and social issues. The USDA estimates that over one-third of food produced worldwide goes to waste a year in the United States. Unfortunately, this creates an economic loss of over 160 billion dollars and a caloric loss of over 100 trillion calories a year. And when the environmental impacts are factored in, food waste is the third-largest contributor to methane gas emissions.
In this episode, Christophe Jospe invites Dr. Chirstopher Wharton, associate professor of nutrition at Arizona State University to discuss the links between food waste and climate change. As they discuss these topics, Dr. Wharton explains that food and nutrition are significantly undervalued, thus triggering overconsumption and leading to profuse amounts of waste. But, when we adequately consider the true worth of food, we can shift away from wasteful habits and promote healthier eating.
Throughout the episode, Dr. Wharton will reveal the ways food consumption can influence public and environmental health and explore the outlets for individual action.
Contacts:
Christophe Jospe (@cjospe)
Dr. Christopher Wharton (christopher.wharton@asu.edu)
References:
Dr. Wharton’s Podcast
Dr. Wharton’s Waste Watchers Research
My Plate
Eating Healthy with Walter Willet
Yale’s Sustainable Food Program
Rock and Wrap It Up!
Blockchain and AI (artificial intelligence) technology are promising innovations that have already transformed the ways that we interact, transact, and analyze information. And both technologies are still in their infancy. In this episode of On the Climate Record, Todd Taylor, a lecturer from Arizona State University, stops by to discuss his previous work as a supply consultant and ASU’s current research to advance the uses of blockchain and AI to track and trace carbon-emitting and sequestering practices.
In Taylor’s line of work, he’s observed several data challenges that prevent a corporate’s ability to collect entire supply chain data and delay developments in carbon quantification and analysis. Todd and ASU’s Thunderbird School of Global Management and Blockchain Research Lab, are currently discovering the ways technology can be used to minimize these challenges by integrating AI and blockchain technology. While describing these possibilities, he explains the additional ways that these tools can be used to develop schemes for penalizing and rewarding practices that pollute or sequester carbon dioxide.
Near the end of the discussion, Todd Taylor will share a piece of wisdom for listeners so that they may continue to learn and connect with the earth.
Contact:
Christophe Jospe (@cjospe)
Taylor Todd (twtaylor@thunderbird.asu.edu)
References:
IBM
Judy Glazer
Starbucks + Conservation International
Banking on Bitcoin
Project Drawdown
ASU Blockchain Research
Healthloq
Genbloq
The Green Revolution transformed agricultural systems by introducing modern innovations that drastically modernized food production. This inclusion of science and technology made it possible to produce higher-yielding and more resilient grains worldwide. In this episode, Christophe Jospe, from Carbon A List, and featured guest Dr. Netri Chhetri, associate professor at Arizona State University, review the Green Revolution’s impacts and characterize the best approaches for solving climate change.
When Dr. Netra Chhetri worked in India to promote Green Revolution farming practices, he saw first-hand how the transformation of food production methods created challenges for Indian farmers. In his recount of this transition, he describes several experiences that led him to realize that adopting these new practices overshadowed the value of India’s unique farming culture.
In this episode, Dr. Chhetri explains that innovations and solutions must take on a more comprehensive, system-level thinking approach. For example, innovation in food production systems should place a higher value on the farmers applying the changes. Likewise, climate change policy would need to consider cultural and social differences that may limit or challenge a region's ability to apply them.
At the end of the episode, Dr. Netra Chhetri shares powerful advice for those working to address climate change.
Contact Info:
Christophe Jospe (@cjospe)
Netra Chhetri, Ph.D. (Netra.Chhetri@asu.edu)
References:
“Green Revolution: Pathways to food security in an era of climate variability change?”
Link to additional publications written by Dr. Netra Chhetri
The 7 Healthy Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
Climate-smart agriculture continues to gain traction as an effort to mitigate climate change. Carbon markets add value to these beneficial practices by extending financial opportunities to farmers to encourage associated benefits that increase soil, air, and water quality, but often miss the point. In this inaugural episode, Carbon A List’s President, Christophe Jospe, and host to the podcast, discusses with fellow business partner Nicholas Goeser Ph.D., cover the gamut on what creates value on a farm to drive changes in ecosystem services.
In this episode, Dr. Nicholas Goeser describes his long-standing educational background in agronomy and his professional career researching and advancing climate-smart agriculture in the United States. While explaining his experience, he discusses the importance of systems thinking to address the challenges within the food supply chain. Then, he applies the technique to demonstrate the network of factors that influence on-farm decision-making and efficient Nitrogen application.
Later in the episode, the pair will fast-forward to the future - when climate change is solved and the next challenge is to restore balance to agriculture's financial and operational systems. And as a bonus, Dr. Goeser will share advice he wishes he had known earlier in his career.
The On the Climate Record podcast will include high–level discussions about the solutions used to mitigate climate change. In addition, the podcast will feature changemakers in the space and explore the pathways that “waste less time and money solving climate change.”
Contact Info:
Christophe Jospe (@cjospe)
Nick Goeser Ph.D. (@njgoeser)
References:
Nori’s Podcast Reversing Climate Change
National Corn Growers Association
American Society of Agronomy
Crop Science Society of America
Soil Science Society of America
The Soil Health Partnership
U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance
Do it, prove it, sell it: my evolving views on carbon accounting by Christophe Jospe
Mississippi River Basin Project