This Year in Climate: 2025

This Year in Climate: 2025

Author: Climate One from The Commonwealth Club December 19, 2025 Duration: 59:22
2025 has been a doozy in so many ways. And climate news has been no exception. Climate One hosts Ariana Brocious and Kousha Navidar look back at what the year has meant for climate progress: the good, the bad, the ugly — and the joyful. According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2025 will go down as one of the top three warmest years in the 176-year observational record. Climate-change-fueled extreme weather continues to wreak havoc on communities across the world. And yet, it’s not all bad news.  As Bill McKibben points out, we now live on a planet where the cheapest form of energy basically comes from pointing a piece of glass at the sun. And globally, renewable energy surpassed coal for the first time ever. Despite the federal government’s attacks on climate science and policy, local climate action is still happening across the country and globe, and each of us holds power to make change. Guests: Adrienne Heinz, Clinical Research Psychologist, Stanford University School of Medicine Roxanne Brown, Vice President at Large, United Steelworkers Pattie Gonia, Drag Queen and environmentalistFor show notes and related links, visit ClimateOne.org Highlights: 00:00 - Intro 02:00 – 2025 has been the year of AI 04:30 – Trump admin attack on science, climate and environmental regs and rules 06:45 – Good news on renewables and the rise of China as an electrostate 08:30 – New York implements congestion pricing 10:00 – US has removed itself from global climate negotiations 12:45 – Remembering Jane Goodall 15:30 – Adrienne Heinz on how to support yourself and others after a weather disaster 25:30 – Roxanne Brown on how Trump’s pullback of IRA, BIL and CHIPS acts have hurt American workers and industry 34:00 – Growing threat of disinformation in climate conversations 36:30 – Pattie Gonia on how drag performance fits in with their climate and environmental activism 51:00 – How joy is strategic 53:30 – A look ahead at 2026 ***** Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today at patreon.com/ClimateOne.  Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The conversation about our changing planet is often reduced to headlines and political noise, but Climate One moves beyond that. Hosted by Greg Dalton, Ariana Brocious and Kousha Navidar, this podcast from The Commonwealth Club creates a space for the full, complex dialogue we need. Each episode features candid discussions with scientists, policymakers, activists, and thinkers who are on the front lines. The focus is on drawing connections-between personal action and economic systems, between daunting scientific reports and tangible community solutions. You’ll hear analysis that doesn’t shy away from the severity of our situation while actively exploring pathways for genuine progress, from technology and finance to culture and justice. This isn't about alarmism or easy answers; it's about equipping listeners with a deeper understanding of the intertwined challenges and opportunities. Tuning into this podcast means joining a crucial exploration of how we adapt, mitigate, and fundamentally rethink our relationship with the natural world. The dialogue here is built on the idea that confronting the climate emergency honestly, in all its facets, is the first necessary step toward shaping a livable future.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Climate One
Podcast Episodes
Biomimicry & Green Burial: Living and Dying with Nature in Mind [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:46
Nature can feel distant from our everyday lives. Maybe it’s a place we visit on the weekends, a getaway from the hustle and bustle, something “out there,” just beyond the edges of our neighborhoods. But we are part of it…
ENCORE: Drag Queen Pattie Gonia on Bringing Joy to Climate Action [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:41
When individuals want to take action on climate, it’s often in the form of electrifying a home, voting, or maybe even traditional activism. Those are very important, but we often overlook how individual skills and talent…
BONUS: He Started Tesla Employees Against Elon. Then Got Fired. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:58
Matt LaBrot was the Tesla sales manager who got so fed up with how Elon Musk’s public persona affected the brand that he published a website called “Tesla Employees Against Elon.” He was subsequently fired, allegedly for…
Is the EV Transition Stuck in Neutral? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:59
In 2024, BloombergNEF predicted electric vehicles would make up nearly half of U.S. new car sales by 2030. Now, they’ve revised their projection down to less than 30%, just one year later. In a time when we need to be sp…
Dead Heat: The Danger Of Home Power Shutoffs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:11
Summer is here, temperatures are rising — and so are electric bills. That also means many people are facing a severely overlooked issue: power shutoffs. In 2024, over 600,000 households in the United States had their pow…
Super Pollutants: The Hidden Half of Global Warming [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:13
Carbon dioxide is a big deal. It’s responsible for about half of global heating. But what about the other half? There’s actually good news here: Nearly half of the temperature increases driving climate disasters come fro…
Three Big Thinkers With No Room for Doom [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:09
There’s so much hard and heavy news out there right now, climate related and not. It feels like decades of progress is being lost. But — good news! — there are many solutions that can be deployed right now. This week we’…
I’m Walkin’ Here! A Report Card on Congestion Pricing [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:31
In January, congestion pricing went into effect in New York City. The policy’s implementation took decades; along the way, multiple moments suggested that it wouldn’t happen at all. Now, drivers entering Manhattan south…
Murder, Pollution as Policy, and Two Women Who Won’t Give Up [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:16
“In the course of saying no with their bodies, they were met with more violence… including moms who were carrying babies on their backs and were pushed to the edge of the river — and had to choose the river.” That’s Abby…
Honoring Environmental Heroes in 2025 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:05
Would you stand up against a giant corporation to stop toxic chemicals from harming your town’s water? Could you get policy enacted to cut emissions affecting people living in your state’s “diesel death zone?” How would…