The Climate Dispatch Podcast

In this episode, we’re joined by Amy Bowers Cordalis of the Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group to talk about the largest dam removal project in U.S. history along the Klamath River. We explore the long fight to remove four hydroelectric dams, the environmental and cultural impacts they’ve had on the river, and what it has taken legally, spiritually, and collectively, to get to this moment.

Join us as we unpack how dam removal is about more than restoring fish populations, it’s about restoring relationships: between people and place, between upstream and downstream communities, and between past harms and future possibilities.

What does it look like to center sovereignty and stewardship in large-scale environmental change? What can this project teach us about climate resilience and ecological restoration? And how might it reshape the way we think about infrastructure, power, and responsibility?

Guest:
Amy Bowers Cordalis, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Fund 

Featuring music from Emily Afton

 

Can cities function like living systems? What would it take to get us there?
In this episode, we dig into the hidden logic behind how cities are built and why so many of them feel fundamentally disconnected from the land they occupy. We explore how the rise of fossil fuel-powered development has shaped urban environments that prioritize speed, scale, and profit over resilience and community. 

Join us as we unpack how today’s profit-driven development model is fueling the housing crisis, particularly in California, and why affordability remains so elusive.  We also dive into the concept of urban metabolism, a powerful framework that reimagines cities as ecosystems with flows of energy, water, materials, and life.
What would it mean to design cities that actually sustain us? What systems need to change to make housing truly affordable? And how can we reconnect urban life to the ecological realities it depends on?

Guest:
Dr. Stephanie Pincetl, Founding Director of California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA 

Featuring music from Lacey Guthrie

 

Listen in as we discuss the legacy and controversy surrounding the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), one of the state’s most influential environmental laws. For more than five decades, CEQA has helped safeguard California’s air, water, wildlife, and communities by requiring governments to carefully assess environmental impacts before approving major projects. It’s been a powerful tool for transparency and public participation, empowering residents to protect the places they love, and ensure new development mitigates harm towards wildlife habitat and communities.

But the story doesn’t end there. While CEQA has delivered real environmental wins, critics say the law has also been weaponized by a small number of bad actors to stall or block essential projects, from housing, to transit, to even a daycare. So how exactly does CEQA work, who does it serve to protect, and who can be harmed in the process? In this episode, we unpack the history of CEQA, explore the environmental protections it has made possible, and asses the reforms on track to change this fundamental law.

Guests:
Milli Pintacsi, Le Petit Elephant Daycare Founder and Head of School
Jacob Evans, Sierra Club California Senior Policy Strategist

Featuring music from The Underground Railroad To Candyland

 

Migration has always been a part of life, whether you’re a butterfly, a whale, or a human being. But as the climate crisis accelerates, more and more people are being forced to leave their homes and even their countries in its wake. Wildfires and floods displace entire communities. Shifting ecosystems destabilize local economies. Dwindling resources fuel conflict and violence.

So how do we respond to this growing reality of climate-driven migration amid increasingly hostile anti-immigration rhetoric?

In this episode, we explore the deep connections between climate and migration, the sustainable practices immigrant communities have long championed, the often-overlooked environmental toll of ICE raids, and the critical role of community resilience in facing what comes next.

Special Co-Host: Sabrina Claros

Guests:
Isaias Hernandez, Environmentalist & Storyteller
Jose Miguel Ruiz, CultivaLA
Amanda Pantoja, Green Latinos

Featuring music from Zena Carlota

Translation Text Here
 

After the devastating LA fires, it is clear that climate disasters will continue to become more frequent and destructive - and are no longer a distant threat. This episode looks at the history and impact of wildfires in California and the changing landscape of extreme weather events in the climate crisis, plus the importance of community building for emotional resilience.

Guests:
Nina Knierim, CORE CA Area Manager
Dr. Daniel Swain, Climate Scientist
Dr. Jyoti Mishra, Climate Psychology Researcher
 

Featuring music from Los Angeles band, Down Time.
 

What’s the story behind the concrete channel running through our city?
If Los Angeles doesn’t rely on its own river for water, where does it come from? The truth is, LA imports around 80% of its water supply — a practice that has caused severe ecological damage in regions hundreds of miles away and deeply impacted Indigenous communities, whose lands were drained to meet the city’s needs.

In this episode, we trace the history of LA’s water sources and infrastructure, hear directly from members of the Paiute community still living with the consequences, and begin a conversation about what it will take to build more just and sustainable water systems for the future.

Guests:
Candice Dickens-Russell, Friends of the Los Angeles River
Charming Evelyn, Sierra Club Water Committee
Kyndall Noah & Teri Red Owl, Owens Valley Water Commission 

Featuring music from Santa Ana singer songwriter Ali Coyle

In part two of our deep dive into LA’s relationship to water, we turn to the solutions right on our doorstep.

As climate change increasingly impacts on water sources, the issues of land management and water conservation are more important than ever. From returning landscapes to indigenous sovereignty to improved infrastructure for harnessing stormwater, solutions to the water crisis do exist.

In this episode, we hear from local leaders on historic wins in water rights, and explore creative solutions already in action. Hear stories of native plant landscaping at City Hall, and a unique river project blending art, science and activism – helping to bring us closer to a water independent LA.

Guests:
Charming Evelyn, Sierra Club Water Committee
Conner Everts, Executive Director, Southern California Watershed Alliance
Kelly Majewski, Special Project Coordinator, Metabolic Studio

Featuring music from Los Angeles band, Peel Dream Magazine

How many oil wells lurk throughout the communities of Los Angeles? In a city renowned for blue skies and clean living, many would be shocked to learn it's in the thousands. Beneath its starry exterior, Los Angeles has a historic legacy of oil production that continues to this day.
In this episode, we hear first hand how the toxic impact of oil drilling is having lifelong effects on community health, and the strides being made through activism in the fight against big oil.

Guests:
Nalleli Cobo, Climate Activist
Nicole Levin, Organizer with the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter

Featuring music from Los Angeles band, Mermaid

This week, we delve into how a city like Los Angeles – famous for its reliance on cars – could be better built to serve its people, while promoting a healthier environment for all. While modern LA is a spider web of freeways and smoggy skies, it wasn't always this way, so how have we ended up here?
In this episode, we learn about LA's transit history, which communities are historically harmed or forgotten in public transportation decisions, and how we can better improve our transportation infrastructure moving forward.

Guests:
Brian Taylor, Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies
Yassi Kavezade, Associate Director of Policy and Campaigns at Building Decarbonization Coalition
Jennifer Cardenas, Campaign Organizer for the Sierra Club Clean Transportation For All campaign

Featuring music from Holy Matter

While US National Parks are — for many — a symbol of people's connection to nature, many would be surprised to learn how the Parks' history and that of the wider conservation movement have often had their origins in racism, discrimination, and land grabbing from Indigenous groups. Today, the barriers to accessing public green spaces echo a history of exclusion for BIPOC communities.

In this episode, we examine what it means to enjoy the outdoors, survey the historical legacy of our National Parks and explore how the Sierra Club is helping steer a path towards equity.

Guests:
Allison Chin, Sierra Club President and Chair of the Board
Ariel Dela Cruz, Outdoors Educator and Sierra Club Angeles Chapter Board Member
Michelle Nijhuis, science writer and author of Beloved Beasts

Featuring music from Strange Pilgrim

When you think of the term 'methane gas', you may not immediately think of cosy modern homes and sleek kitchens. But decades of clever marketing by the gas industry has firmly cemented the notion that 'natural gas' or 'freedom gas', as it's otherwise known, is a desirable domestic resource — despite emitting toxic pollutants into our daily lives.

In this episode we dig into the history of gas propaganda, the campaign striving to electrify our homes  — and we find out why the phrase “cooking with gas” has popped up in everything from Disney to rap videos.

Guests:
Julie Mallat, Founder of the Climate Propagandist
Kim Orbe, Senior Conversation Program Manager, Sierra Club Angeles Chapter

Featuring music from Harry Katz and the Pistachios

As this season of The Climate Dispatch draws to a close, we turn towards the future. Change starts by harnessing the power of our collective imagination — what could a greener future look like 20, 50, 100 years from now? Through on-the-ground organizing, advocating for policy change, and even exploring climate fiction, there are many ways to envision a healthier path for both people and the planet.

In this episode, we discuss the role of creative narratives in building a greener future, the fight for a just transition to clean energy solutions, and how we can achieve our net zero targets through collective organizing and people power.

Guests:
Tory Stephens, Climate Fiction Creative Manager at Grist
Aru Shiney-Ajay, Executive Director of the Sunrise Movement
Julia Dowell, Sierra Club Senior Campaign Organizer

Featuring music from Donald Beaman