The Sweaty Penguin – Details, episodes & analysis

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP28, wrapped up in the United Arab Emirates last month, bringing several steps forward for global climate cooperation. Chief among them: all 195 countries signed onto a “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.” That said, some countries’ plans are not in keeping with this commitment. A new investigative report revealed Saudi Arabia is working with developing countries to try to set up oil-based infrastructure, locking in future oil demand for the coming decades. In this week’s Tip of the Iceberg, Ethan explores the good news from COP28, how Saudi Arabia’s Oil Demand Sustainability Program could derail it, and why wealthier countries like the U.S. should outcompete the Saudis with clean energy partnerships in this week’s “Tip of the Iceberg.”

Now more than ever, The Sweaty Penguin needs your help to continue! Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at ⁠patreon.com/thesweatypenguin⁠.

CREDITS

Writers: Ethan Brown, Shannon Damiano, Mo Polyak, Emma Quarequio

Fact Checker: Alia Bonanno

Editor: Megan Antone

Producers: Ethan Brown, Hallie Cordingley, Shannon Damiano, Megan Antone

Ad Voiceover: Mo Polyak

Music: Brett Sawka

As climate change drives the melt of Arctic sea ice, polar bears are facing a major challenge. Scientists have said it is likely the global population of polar bears will fall by more than a third within the next three generations. But why does this issue matter, beyond polar bears being really cute? Today, we explore the ecological and economic importance of polar bears, the variety of threats they face in a changing climate, and a variety of tangible solutions to protect polar bears moving forward. With special guest Dr. Andrew Derocher: Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta.

Now more than ever, The Sweaty Penguin needs your help to continue! Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at ⁠patreon.com/thesweatypenguin⁠.

CREDITS

Writers: Aana Shenai, Emma Quarequio, Emma Jones, Ethan Brown

Fact Checker: Alia Bonanno

Editor: Megan Antone

Producers: Ethan Brown, Hallie Cordingley, Shannon Damiano, Megan Antone

Ad Voiceover: Mo Polyak

Music: Brett Sawka

As Hurricanes Idalia and Lee hit Florida and ocean temperatures reach record highs across the world, there's much reason to be concerned about the state of our oceans. Unfortunately, some in the media took this sentiment way too far. A few weeks ago, several news outlets published stories with headlines saying the Gulf Stream could collapse as soon as 2025, sparking global climate chaos. The study they reference found that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) — not the Gulf Stream — could collapse sometime in the next century, with error bars spanning from 2025 to 2095. Moreover, this was one study, far from scientific consensus. An AMOC collapse would be very bad, but it is extremely unlikely to happen in two years. Ethan breaks down the current state of our oceans, the difference between the Gulf Stream and AMOC, and why this mixup damages the public’s understanding of climate change in this week’s “Tip of the Iceberg.”

Now more than ever, The Sweaty Penguin needs your help to continue! Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin.

CREDITS

Writer: Ethan Brown, Velina Georgi, Mo Polyak, Emma Quarequio

Fact Checker: Aana Shenai

Editor: Megan Antone

Producers: Ethan Brown, Hallie Cordingley, Megan Antone

Ad Voiceover: Emma Quarequio

Music: Brett Sawka

Monkeypox — a zoonotic disease native to tropical rainforest regions of central and west Africa — has spread outside its usual range, reaching Europe and North America. Seeing the global reaction to this new pathogen prompted a few questions. How serious is monkeypox? Why were we not discussing monkeypox when it was causing dozens of deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this year? Why are we not discussing other pathogens in the Global South right now? And as climate change worsens and zoonotic diseases spread more easily, how do we prepare? Ethan contemplates all these questions and more in this week’s “Tip of the Iceberg.”

The Sweaty Penguin is presented by Peril and Promise: a public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York, reporting on the issues and solutions around climate change. You can learn more at pbs.org/perilandpromise.

Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin.

CREDITS

Writer: Ethan Brown, Maxwell Pociask, Maddy Schmidt

Fact Checker: Isabel Plower

Editor: Frank Hernandez

Producers: Ethan Brown, Megan Crimmins, Shannon Damiano, Frank Hernandez

Ad Voiceover: Lindsay Cronin

Music: Brett Sawka

The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Peril and Promise or The WNET Group.

In March, news outlets everywhere rang alarm bells after the collapse of the Conger Ice Shelf — a mass of ice the size of Rome in East Antarctica. But what is an ice shelf? And why are they so important? This week, we explore what purpose ice shelves serve, why they collapse, and where we go from here. With special guest Dr. Peter Neff: Assistant Research Professor of Soil, Water, and Climate at the University of Minnesota.

The Sweaty Penguin is presented by Peril and Promise: a public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York, reporting on the issues and solutions around climate change. You can learn more at pbs.org/perilandpromise.

Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin.

CREDITS

Writers: Megan Crimmins, Shannon Damiano, Ethan Brown

Fact Checker: Ysabel Wulfing

Editor: Frank Hernandez

Producers: Ethan Brown, Megan Crimmins, Shannon Damiano, Frank Hernandez

Ad Voiceover: Maddy Schmidt

Music: Brett Sawka

The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Peril and Promise or The WNET Group.

Following last year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, The Guardian did a five-month investigation piecing together as clear a picture as possible of planned future oil and gas exploration and production. They found that the world’s biggest fossil fuel firms are quietly planning 195 projects nicknamed carbon bombs, due to the fact that they would emit over a billion tons of carbon from start to finish. If they proceeded as planned, these 195 projects together would produce 646 billion tons of carbon emissions and make global climate targets all but impossible to achieve. Ethan breaks down The Guardian’s report, discusses why the economic interests of oil and gas companies aren’t aligned with those of the overall economy, and considers what comes next in this week’s “Tip of the Iceberg.”

**Correction: In the "Ask Me Anything" segment, Ethan mistakenly says that to have a 50:50 chance of containing global warming to 2°C, the world would be able to emit 1.5 trillion tons of carbon. The correct figure is 1.35 trillion tons.**

The Sweaty Penguin is presented by Peril and Promise: a public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York, reporting on the issues and solutions around climate change. You can learn more at pbs.org/perilandpromise.

Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin.

CREDITS

Writer: Ethan Brown, Maxwell Pociask, Maddy Schmidt

Fact Checker: Hallie Cordingley

Editor: Frank Hernandez

Producers: Ethan Brown, Megan Crimmins, Shannon Damiano, Frank Hernandez

Ad Voiceover: Lindsay Cronin

Music: Brett Sawka

The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Peril and Promise or The WNET Group.

Outdoor cannabis cultivation can have several environmental benefits, from sequestering carbon to remediating polluted soil. But most U.S. cannabis is grown inside greenhouses with sophisticated climate-control systems and high-powered lights that require a lot of energy — over 1% of total U.S. electricity use. Seeing as cannabis is projected to have a $70 billion market by 2028, this energy issue has the potential to get a lot worse if left unchecked. Today, we discuss how cannabis cultivation affects the environment, the links between cannabis and climate change, and how policymakers could help steer the industry’s environmental, economic, and social impacts in the right direction. With special guest Dr. Brandy Phipps: Research Assistant Professor of Food, Nutrition and Health at Central State University.

The Sweaty Penguin is presented by Peril and Promise: a public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York, reporting on the issues and solutions around climate change. You can learn more at pbs.org/perilandpromise.

Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin.

CREDITS

Writers: Olivia Amitay, Maddy Schmidt, Ethan Brown

Fact Checker: Isabel Plower

Editor: Frank Hernandez

Producers: Olivia Amitay, Ethan Brown, Megan Crimmins, Shannon Damiano, Frank Hernandez, Dain Kim, Caroline Koehl

Ad Voiceover: Lindsay Cronin

Music: Brett Sawka

The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Peril and Promise or The WNET Group.

Last week, the World Meteorological Organization issued a report stating that there is a 50:50 chance that at some point in the next five years, the global annual temperature could spike past 1.5°C hotter than preindustrial times. The goal that nearly every country in the world has agreed upon is to keep global warming under a threshold of 1.5°C by 2100, making the possibility of breaching it in the next five years particularly noteworthy. However, there is an important distinction: a blip over 1.5°C in a single year does not mean the world failed its climate goal. Ethan explains why year-to-year average temperatures are not the measuring stick for climate change and how the WMO’s report successfully explained that nuance in this week’s “Tip of the Iceberg.”

The Sweaty Penguin is presented by Peril and Promise: a public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York, reporting on the issues and solutions around climate change. You can learn more at pbs.org/perilandpromise.

Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin.

CREDITS

Writers: Ethan Brown, Shannon Damiano, Maddy Schmidt

Fact Checker: Hallie Cordingley

Editor: Frank Hernandez

Producers: Olivia Amitay, Ethan Brown, Megan Crimmins, Shannon Damiano, Frank Hernandez, Dain Kim, Caroline Koehl

Ad Voiceover: Lindsay Cronin

Music: Brett Sawka

The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Peril and Promise or The WNET Group.

For many people, sustainable housing brings to mind either show heads and toilets with zero water pressure or futuristic buildings that look like a spaceship. In reality, sustainable houses can actually look quite normal, and achieve carbon emission cuts, water conservation, and long-term cost savings. But what will it take to make millions of houses sustainable? Today, we explore what sustainable housing could look like, what stands in the way of making it happen, and how any of those hurdles could be overcome. With special guest Dr. Andréanne Doyon: Assistant Professor of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University.

The Sweaty Penguin is presented by Peril and Promise: a public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York, reporting on the issues and solutions around climate change. You can learn more at pbs.org/perilandpromise.

Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin.

CREDITS

Writers: Hallie Cordingley, Shannon Damiano, Ethan Brown

Fact Checker: Megan Crimmins

Editor: Frank Hernandez

Producers: Olivia Amitay, Ethan Brown, Megan Crimmins, Shannon Damiano, Frank Hernandez, Dain Kim, Caroline Koehl

Ad Voiceover: Lindsay Cronin

Music: Brett Sawka

The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Peril and Promise or The WNET Group.

Last week, Politico published a leaked draft opinion in the Mississippi abortion case facing the Supreme Court, showing the majority of justices in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade’s precedent of a constitutional right to abortion. In the climate world specifically, this draft sparked many conversations about how sexual and reproductive health is, in fact, a climate issue. So what do these two seemingly unrelated topics have to do with each other? Ethan gives a very truncated summary of the links between climate change and sexual and reproductive health and shares some climate solutions that could help both issues in this week’s “Tip of the Iceberg.”

The Sweaty Penguin is presented by Peril and Promise: a public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York, reporting on the issues and solutions around climate change. You can learn more at pbs.org/perilandpromise.

Support the show and unlock exclusive merch, bonus content, and more for as little as $5/month at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin.

CREDITS

Writer: Ethan Brown, Shannon Damiano, Maddy Schmidt

Fact Checker: Hallie Cordingley

Editor: Frank Hernandez

Producers: Olivia Amitay, Ethan Brown, Megan Crimmins, Shannon Damiano, Frank Hernandez, Dain Kim, Caroline Koehl

Ad Voiceover: Lindsay Cronin

Music: Brett Sawka

The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guests. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Peril and Promise or The WNET Group.