Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode – Details, episodes & analysis

Astounding advancements have been made in clean energy technology, and rooftop and community solar initiatives have been shown to drive consumer costs down and help us reach carbon emission reduction goals. So why are solar projects hitting a regulatory brick wall? (hint: it’s about corporate greed and value for monopoly utility shareholders). In today’s episode, we’re joined by the co-director of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, John Farrell, to unravel the ins and outs of why rooftop and community solar and other clean energy advancements are being stoned-walled, and what we can do about it.

Want a deeper dive on today’s episode? Check out the links below:

Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Local Energy Rules Podcast

EWG's guide to solar energy

Fight to save rooftop solar in California heads to state Supreme Court (EWG)

Upcharge: Hidden Costs of Electric Utility Monopoly Power (ILSR)

What the Monopoly Utility Model Really Costs Us (ILSR)

The Free Delivery Farce in Solar

KIUC 2023 Annual Report

PG&E to pay $55 million for two massive California wildfires (PBS News)

Project 2025's "Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise" (The Heritage Foundation, made public by NPR)

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

A cleaner, greener, and brighter future is within our reach. But often the path we have to walk is littered with discriminatory hurdles put up by the male-dominated financial sector. From subsidies that suppress organic farming to everyday biases preventing the funding of new startups and innovative ideas from women and people of color, Wall Street often stands in the way of progress.

No one can speak to this better than our guest today, Robyn O’Brien. Robyn is a bestselling author, speaker, entrepreneur and investor. After earning her MBA from Rice University, Robyn went on to work as an equity analyst on Wall Street where she covered the food and tech industry. After falling down the convoluted rabbit hole of contaminated food and personal care products, she now sits at the intersection of environmentalism, equality and finance.

Robyn's website

Detox Development -The World Bank

Reforming federal cosmetics law: What is the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act? (EWG)

EWG welcomes cosmetics law reforms in end-of-year spending bill

MontCalm

HR5050

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

For decades the American people have been exposed to toxic forever chemicals known as PFAS with no protection from our government.

Until now… In today’s monumental episode, Ken travels to Fayetteville, North Carolina to join the EPA as they announce the first-ever legal limit on PFAS in the drinking water of tens of millions of Americans.

In anticipation of this announcement, Ken spoke with environmental attorney, Rob Bilott, who has worked tirelessly for 25 years to make this legal limit on PFAS possible.

Want a deeper dive on today’s episode? Check out the links below:

The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare

Dark Waters featuring Mark Ruffalo

The Devil We Know

EPA Says ‘Forever Chemicals’ Must Be Removed From Tap Water

Ruffalo: PFAS drinking water standard delivers justice to poisoned communities

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Each individual’s journey with food is unique. At 19, Moby confronted the contradiction of loving animals but consuming a bacon double cheeseburger, leading him to embrace veganism. Andrew Zimmern believes that our food systems are entirely broken, questioning the industrial food production practices in the U.S. and the dying art of small-business fishmongering. How can we change the public’s moral framework in regards to meat and food consumption without finger-wagging…?

Want a deeper dive on today’s episode? Check out the links below:

Andrew Zimmern's Website

Andrew Zimmern's Spilled Milk (Substack)

Coalition for Sustainable Aquaculture

Moby’s Website

Moby Pod

EWG’s quick tips for reducing your diet's climate footprint

EWG: Animal feeding operations harm the environment, climate, and public health

EWG: The health benefits of a whole foods, plant-forward diet

EWG: Climate Change & Agriculture

EWG: Meat & Dairy Alternatives

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Erin Brockovich is synonymous with environmentalism, which is why she is our inaugural guest. She is an environmental activist, author, and subject of the self-entitled Oscar-winning Steven Soderberg film, Erin Brockovich.

Erin joins Ken on today’s episode to discuss the state of U.S. drinking water and why many toxic contaminants are allowed to flow from taps at levels that are legal, but nowhere near safe.

Despite the promise of the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act, woefully inadequate regulation persists 50 years later. Join Erin and Ken as they have an episode.

Want a deeper dive on today’s episode? Check out the links below:

What are PFAs Chemicals

Safe Drinking Water Act

Erin Brockovich’s website

EWG’s national tap water database

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Join Founder and President of Environmental Working Group Ken Cook as he helps folks connect with their inner environmentalist. Through conversations with diverse innovators and disruptors, Ken delves into the challenges we face and the solutions available to address them.

Everyone on Earth has an intrinsic desire to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat clean food. So in reality, everyone already is an environmentalist, but not all of us are aware of it…yet.

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

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Many people find EWG while seeking information  about pesticides. In today’s episode Ken is joined by our in-house Senior Toxicologist, Dr. Alexis Temkin whose research establishes safety guidelines to help people (including children) minimize their exposure to toxic crop chemicals. In the second half of today’s episode, Ken is joined by renowned pediatrician Dr. Phillip Landrigan whose decades of research and advocacy  is integral for understanding the effects of pesticides on children. We see this episode as Pesticides 101, to help give our audience agency over how they (and their families) are exposed to pesticides. Our government isn’t doing enough to protect us from harmful chemical  residues often found in healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. Until that changes, we’re grateful for the work of Dr. Temkin and Dr. Landrigan which has helped  people, including parents and caregivers, better understand how they can take steps to reduce their exposure to pesticides while eating plenty of healthy fruits and veggies. 

Want a deeper dive on today’s episode? Check out the links below:

EWG’s 2024 Dirty Dozen 

EWG’s 2024 Clean 15
EWG’s Dirty Dozen Guide to Food Chemicals: The top 12 to avoid

EWG’s YouTube
Alexis Temkin, Ph.D. 
EPA warns farmworkers about risks of Dacthal

60 Minutes (CBS; 2/26/1989)
National Research Council (US) Committee on Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children

Food Quality Protection Act Signing

Safe Drinking Water Act Signing

Children and Environmental Toxins: What Everyone Needs to Know®

Project 2025's "Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise (contributed by NPR)

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Oil companies have known about their enormous and “catastrophic” contribution to climate change since the 1950s. They lied about it for as long as they could and are now lying about their newfound commitment to solving the problem they created. Who will hold them accountable?  Melissa “Missy” Sims, a lawyer from Illinois, is currently representing 52 Puerto Rican municipalities against Big Oil for hurricane-related damages caused by the climate crisis. Richard Wiles is the president of the Center for Climate Integrity, which helps state and local elected leaders, including state attorneys generals hold Big Oil companies accountable for climate damages through litigation. 

In today’s episode, Ken, Missy and Richard talk about how they got to the front lines of protecting our planet by working together on a mission to sue Big Oil and what their hope for the future looks like.

Want a deeper dive on today’s episode? Check out the links below:

She’s on a Mission From: God Suing Big Oil Companies for Damages

Center for Climate Integrity

 

The Global Climate Science Communications Action Plan “The Victory Memo”

T.I.N.A. Group Sceanarios 1998

Exxon’s 1978 report “The Greenhouse Effect”

Exxon’s 1979 report “Controlling Atmospheric CO2”

Exxon's 2019 Corporate Strategic Planning memorandum

Shell’s 2020 “Let’s Talk Energy Transition” emails and deck

House Oversight documents reveal Big Oil’s “greenwashing” climate claims to hide investments in fossil fuels

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

Local businesses and local farms are being lost in this era of monopolizing America’s food system, but the food industry didn’t become corrupt overnight. In today’s episode, Ken is joined by Austin Frerick, expert on agricultural and antitrust policy.

His debut book, “Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry” profiles a series of powerful magnates to illustrate the concentration of power in the food system. Policy language used effectively by the food industry is designed to wall people off, Austin’s book let’s people in.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Austin advised candidates Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg on agricultural policy before ultimately serving as Co-Chair of the Biden campaign’s Agriculture Antitrust Policy Committee. He now works at Yale University, collaborating on research related to competition policy and antitrust enforcement.

Want a deeper dive on today’s episode? Check out the links below:

“Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry”

EWG's Meat And Dairy Product Labels Decoder

EWG’s quick tips for reducing your diet's climate footprint

EWG’s Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate & Health

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup

In a recent New Yorker article, investigative reporter Sharon Lerner writes about former 3M scientist Kris Hansen who conducted a study in the 90s where she found PFAs forever chemicals in the general public's blood. 3M executives told her PFAS chemicals weren't harmful, she believed them. Decades later she would learn the truth about the serious risks of  PFAS exposure, and why she decided to speak out against the company she worked at for decades. 

We are aware of the harmful effects of PFAs because of Professor Philippe Grandjean, a Danish Toxicologist. In the first part of today’s episode, Ken is joined by Sharon Lerner and talks about the human experience 3m scientist Kris Hansen has gone through since finding out her employer lied to her and the general public for decades. Sharon Lerner refers to Professor Philippe Grandjean’s groundbreaking work in her article and in the second part of today’s episode, Ken is joined by Professor Grandjean to speak about one of his own articles that explores the vested interest in keeping facts about chemical exposure a secret from the public.

Want a deeper dive on today’s episode? Check out the links below:

How 3M Discovered, Then Concealed, the Dangers of Forever Chemicals (The New Yorker)
Sharon Lerner's work at ProPublica

Is Pollution Value-Maximizing? The Dupont Case (National Bureau Of Economic Research)

Paracelsus Revisited: The Dose Concept in a Complex World

EWG’s PFAS resources

Lead: Celebrate its ban, but don't cross it off your list (EWG)

Ken Cook Is Having Another Episode every other week.

@kencookspodcast

www.ewg.org

@environmentalworkinggroup