The Meaning of Green: The Podcast About Solving Environmental Problems
With host Dr. Vivian Thomson. Listeners come from 48 US states and 68 countries. Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pandora
A Deep Understanding of Politics, Science, and Policy Leads to Environmental Solutions
A Deep Understanding of Politics, Science, and Policy Leads to Environmental Solutions
A Deep Understanding of Politics, Science, and Policy Leads to Environmental Solutions
With help from others, podcast host Dr. Vivian Thomson analyzed in Season 1 why some environmental problems have been solved and others have not. At the end Season 1, we applied these policy lessons to the biggest environmental challenge of our time, climate change.
In Season 2 Dr. Thomson and her guests examined how power, freedom, and e
With help from others, podcast host Dr. Vivian Thomson analyzed in Season 1 why some environmental problems have been solved and others have not. At the end Season 1, we applied these policy lessons to the biggest environmental challenge of our time, climate change.
In Season 2 Dr. Thomson and her guests examined how power, freedom, and environmental problems are intertwined and what that means for COVID-19's emergence and spread.
Season 3's over-arching theme is place and the environment.
Season 4 is about protecting public health and the environment during challenging economic times.
Each season provides insights and contributions from citizen activists, ecologists, political scientists, infectious disease experts, lawyers, public health researchers, anthropologists, economists, energy experts, and policy practitioners.
Audio clip from the film Waste Land used by permission from Almega Projects Ltd. Excerpt of Ubi Caritas, as sung by Vox Clamantis, used by permission.
Background and theme music recorded by Vivian Thomson (piano), James C. Thomson (violin, viola, and harpsichord), Ken Landis, (organ), and Fred Hyde (harpsichord), and composed by Anonymous (Oh Shenandoah, arr. Keith Jarrett), Harold Arlen/Yip Harburg (Somewhere Over the Rainbow, arr. Keith Jarrett), J. S. Bach (Violin sonatas in e minor and G major, Prelude and Fugue XXII in b flat minor), William Bolcom (Graceful Ghost), Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley (Pure Imagination), Hoagy Carmichael (I Get Along Without You Very Well, arr. Claus Ogerman), François Couperin (Les Barricades Mistérieuses), Duke Ellington (Things Ain't What They Used to Be, arr. Keith Jarrett), Percy Grainger (Irish Tune, My Robin is to the Greenwood Gone, Shepherd's Hey), Edvard Grieg (Little Bird, Volksweise), Georg Frideric Handel (Sonata in D Major), Scott Joplin (Solace), Jerome Kern (Smoke Gets in Your Eyes), Joseph Kosma and Johnny Mercer (Autumn Leaves), and Maurice Ravel (Pavane pour une Infante Défunte), Antonio Vivaldi (Sonata in d minor)
The Meaning of Green is an independent production of Cedar Closet Studios, Silver Spring, Maryland.
About Professor Thomson
A Deep Understanding of Politics, Science, and Policy Leads to Environmental Solutions
A Deep Understanding of Politics, Science, and Policy Leads to Environmental Solutions
Professor Thomson taught environmental policy for 20 years at the University of Virginia, from 1997 to 2017. She retired early so she could devote herself to speaking out in public about environmental issues, which have been her life's work. Her academic background is in ecology and political science.
Professor Thomson taught environmental policy for 20 years at the University of Virginia, from 1997 to 2017. She retired early so she could devote herself to speaking out in public about environmental issues, which have been her life's work. Her academic background is in ecology and political science.
Dr. Thomson offers policy insider scoops from her work as an air pollution official at the state and national levels. She has published articles, editorials, and three books, on garbage transport, climate change politics, and how power is wielded in the air pollution policy arena. In 2018 she and a U. Va. student team published research on who might suffer the most from the Trump Administration's air pollution rollbacks.
For botany buffs: the striking tree above is a 70-year-old fig tree (Ficus drupacea var. pubescens (Roth)) that was one of the first plants landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx added to his incredible tropical preserve in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Topics
A Deep Understanding of Politics, Science, and Policy Leads to Environmental Solutions
Topics
Season 1
Acid rain
Leaded gasoline
Environmental justice
Trash
Endangered species
Renewable energy
Climate change
Partisanship
Social movements
Nuclear power
Dams in the US and Brazil
The Panama Canal
Season 2
Fine particle pollution and COVID-19
White privilege
Community trust
Denmark and the coronavirus
Power's many disguises
Why GDP fails to measure we
Season 1
Acid rain
Leaded gasoline
Environmental justice
Trash
Endangered species
Renewable energy
Climate change
Partisanship
Social movements
Nuclear power
Dams in the US and Brazil
The Panama Canal
Season 2
Fine particle pollution and COVID-19
White privilege
Community trust
Denmark and the coronavirus
Power's many disguises
Why GDP fails to measure well-being
Affluence, pollution, and water use
Biodiversity and virus spillover
Bats
Agriculture
Wildfires
Citizen power
Party polarization in the US
Season 3
Coal dust pollution in Appalachia and in coastal Virginia
The Amazon forest and flying rivers
Carbon taxes
The Panama Canal
Ukraine's Carpathian Mountains
Biodiversity and community based management
Germany's energy transition
Intergenerational climate justice
Garbage and race in Brazil
Circular economy thinking in Italy and Maine
Garbage transport in Virginia
Elephants and colonialism in Kenya
VideoS
The Surprise Oil Tank in Our Yard
S4 Episode 5: The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg
Season 4 episodes
September 6 2022
Season Preview: Déjà Vu and a New US Climate Law
Event Details
September 6 2022
Season Preview: Déjà Vu and a New US Climate Law
August surprise: Why the US climate and renewable energy policy window slammed open now.
December 2 2022
Pilgrims and Progress 2022
Event Details
December 2 2022
Pilgrims and Progress 2022
Stories of abundance that fall short, and the disconnect between well being and economic growth
January 4 2023
The Wings of a Butterfly
Event Details
January 4 2023
The Wings of a Butterfly
The US's messy political system, the states, and a butterfly that affected the course of US climate politics
January 31 2023
Shotgun Marriage, Cats
Event Details
January 31 2023
Shotgun Marriage, Cats
Water wars in the American West, US Supreme Court cases on climate change, and state-level renewable energy achievements.
February 24 2023
Shotgun Marriage, Kittens
Event Details
February 24 2023
Shotgun Marriage, Kittens
An historic African American school and a proposed mega-landfill, what happens when landfill protections fail, and a clean air battle
More Events
March 31 2023
The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg
Event Details
March 31 2023
The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg
The most polluted city on earth, seeing Brazil's forests, the US government and Brazil's military coup, and George Santos's shoes
April 29 2023
Everything Is a Size You Can't See
Event Details
April 29 2023
Everything Is a Size You Can't See
An unforgettable journey into Brazilian Amazon forest and on the Cristalino River, with history and politics ever present
June 1 2023
Mt. Mitchell, Zöbelboden, and the Taj Mahal
Event Details
June 1 2023
Mt. Mitchell, Zöbelboden, and the Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal, forests in the US and Austria, an ecologist's lunch with coal executives, and a speech by Margaret Thatcher
July 3 2023
Smoke and Mirrors
Event Details
July 3 2023
Smoke and Mirrors
Smoky skies, hiking the Oregon desert, wolves, tightening an air pollution standard, Aristotle, and the gospel of GDP
August 6 2023
The Unicorn and the Lion
Event Details
August 6 2023
The Unicorn and the Lion
Scotland and the rest of the UK leave coal behind, Net Zero, modern struggles between the unicorn and the lion, and my Scottish grandfather
Season 3 episodes
July 30 2021
Season Preview: Flying Rivers
Event Details
July 30 2021
Season Preview: Flying Rivers
Magical water delivery systems in Brazil and in the US, and what happens when they fail
August 26 2021
Coal Dust Is Black
Event Details
August 26 2021
Coal Dust Is Black
The fight for clean air in Appalachia and in Norfolk, Virginia. Part 1 of a two-part episode.
September 3 2021
The Power Game
Event Details
September 3 2021
The Power Game
Rail cars spewing coal dust for decades in an African American neighborhood, and, the faces of power. Part 2 of 2 parts.
October 10 2021
Some Germans Wake Up Earlier
Event Details
October 10 2021
Some Germans Wake Up Earlier
Germany's energy transition, a pathbreaking court decision about intergenerational climate justice, and a coffee mug. Part 1 of 2 parts.
November 18 2021
Breaking Even With Nature
Event Details
November 18 2021
Breaking Even With Nature
The Berlin Wall fall effect, German citizens as investors in renewable energy, and a soy field. Part 2 of a two-part series.
December 30 2021
Garbage In, Garbage Out, and Charlottesville
Event Details
December 30 2021
Garbage In, Garbage Out, and Charlottesville
Charlottesville and race, garbage transport and power at work, a circular economy, and why a Brazilian recycler says "99 is not 100"
February 10 2022
I Took the Isthmus
Event Details
February 10 2022
I Took the Isthmus
The Panama Canal's dependence on forests, a red phone, toucans, and US imperialism
March 15 2022
Gems of Ukraine
Event Details
March 15 2022
Gems of Ukraine
Community based management and biodiversity in Ukraine's Carpathian Mountains
April and May 2022
Elephants Grow Grasslands, Cows Grow Trees, Parts 1 and 2
Event Details
April and May 2022
Elephants Grow Grasslands, Cows Grow Trees, Parts 1 and 2
Elephant talk, ivory poaching, the Maasai, and Waza (Pt. 1). Wildlife as government cattle in Kenya, colonialism, and conservation (Pt. 2).
June 15 2022
Dignity and Banditry
Event Details
June 15 2022
Dignity and Banditry
Season 3's finale highlights common themes from places visited in the US, Ukraine, Panama, Kenya, and Brazil
Earth Day 2021
April 21 2021
Silver Bullet
Event Details
April 21 2021
Silver Bullet
Carbon taxes around the world, and why people don't believe economists' claims
Season 2 episodes
April 21 2020
Big Earth Day Birthday in the Age of COVID-19
Event Details
April 21 2020
Big Earth Day Birthday in the Age of COVID-19
Earth Day's 50th birthday, Pogo, and Dr. Jane Goodall.
June 15
Pollution and the Coronavirus vs. Prosperity
Event Details
June 15
Pollution and the Coronavirus vs. Prosperity
Danish meatballs, Harry Potter, community trust, race, and fine particle pollution
June 30
Power Wears Many Disguises
Event Details
June 30
Power Wears Many Disguises
How power's various disguises shaped efforts to reduce coal pollution in the US state of Virginia; implications for the coronavirus.
July 20
Growing Out of Pollution or Wallowing In It?
Event Details
July 20
Growing Out of Pollution or Wallowing In It?
Nobel economists on why GDP fails to measure well-being; affluence and pollution; water use in Arizona; and, a memorable page turner.
August 6
Lifeboat Earth
Event Details
August 6
Lifeboat Earth
Rachel Carson on mastery, ecosystem degradation and its impacts, bats, donuts, and, viruses that cross from animals to humans.
August 30
Batty about Bats
Event Details
August 30
Batty about Bats
Bats and the fountain of youth, virus spillover, and human disruption of natural areas
September 15
Food's Cascading Impacts, and, Wildfires
Event Details
September 15
Food's Cascading Impacts, and, Wildfires
Joel Salatin's diaper grass, wildfires on the Pacific coast, farming, the Lorax, and all of the biomass on Earth
September 29
"Adapt or Die": Industrialized Agriculture and Its Antidotes
Event Details
September 29
"Adapt or Die": Industrialized Agriculture and Its Antidotes
Wendell Berry on affection for the land, Prof. Delia Grace Randolph on virus spillover, racism and the USDA, and the "Vietnam of entomology"
October 29
Citizen Power
Event Details
October 29
Citizen Power
How citizens get control of their government in an age of party polarization, fall leaves and freedom, and moderates in America
November 20
Pilgrims and Progress
Event Details
November 20
Pilgrims and Progress
Reimagining stories of Thanksgiving and progress, how we achieve the good life, COVID-19 and air pollution in India, and "stuff"
December 13 and 30
Community; Resistance
Event Details
December 13 and 30
Community; Resistance
Season finale, Parts 1 and 2: Unequal burdens, democracy in America, Earth rules, spillovers, rebel farmers, and the singing revolution
Season 2 Sneak Peeks
Event Details
Season 1 episodes
November 1 2019
Preview episode
Event Details
November 1 2019
Preview episode
Prof. Thomson introduces Season 1, which asks: what forces aid or constrain environmental policy success?
November 7
Rachel Carson and Richard Nixon
Event Details
November 7
Rachel Carson and Richard Nixon
November 14
Whatever Happened to Acid Rain?
Event Details
November 14
Whatever Happened to Acid Rain?
November 21
"Bad Mothers" and Bad Drivers: Getting the Lead Out of Gasoline
Event Details
November 21
"Bad Mothers" and Bad Drivers: Getting the Lead Out of Gasoline
December 5
Trash Matters and Moves
Event Details
December 5
Trash Matters and Moves
December 20
Water: "Undoing the Wrongs Caused by Earlier Generations Doing What They Thought Was Right."
Event Details
December 20
Water: "Undoing the Wrongs Caused by Earlier Generations Doing What They Thought Was Right."
January 9 2020
The Legacies of Fossil Fuels
Event Details
January 9 2020
The Legacies of Fossil Fuels
Twists and turns in the US's dependence on coal, ripple effects of oil crises, and a coal miner's daughter speaks her mind.
January 22
Renewables and Nuclear Power: There Is No Free Lunch
Event Details
January 22
Renewables and Nuclear Power: There Is No Free Lunch
Energy efficiency and renewables are unquestionably the waves of the present and future. But we must watch out for collateral effects.
February 1
Rescuing Endangered Species
Event Details
February 1
Rescuing Endangered Species
Disappearing birds and oaks, the US Endangered Species Act, Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep rebound, and climate change vs. coral reefs.
February 12
Climate Change: Past Actions
Event Details
February 12
Climate Change: Past Actions
Bad housemates, the global commons, policy reversals at the national level in the US, counteracted by policy action in the states.
February 21
Climate Change Policy: Throwing Open the Policy Window
Event Details
February 21
Climate Change Policy: Throwing Open the Policy Window
A memorable landlord and summing up the season's lessons.
New! Further reading and listening
Silver Bullet
Where listeners have come from
Climate change graphs
These graphs are from the United Nations' latest synthesis report on climate change, which was published in 2014. The next report is due in 2022.
This curve is from the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), at climate.gov.
This curve shows the anomalous, sharp spike in temperatures that started in the early 20th century.
This National Climate Assessment curve shows that, without human influence on greenhouse gas levels, temperatures might have cooled slightly in the late 20th century.
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