Show Notes
There is no denying that capitalism has played a leading role in warming the planet. As the Industrial Revolution ushered in previously unseen levels of prosperity for some people, human beings' negative impact on the natural world exploded at a ferocious rate. While it's helpful for modern-day economists to look back at the faults and failures of capitalism as a way to explain the multitude of problems facing humanity in the 21st century, it's even more interesting to understand the critiques that economists of the 19th and 20th century had about capitalism and what they were experiencing in real time that led them to these incredibly-prescient conclusions. John Cassidy joins the show this week to discuss his new book "Capitalism and Its Critics: A History: From the Industrial Revolution to AI". John has written about economics and politics for The New Yorker for over 30 years. He's also the author of "How Markets Fail" and "Dot.Con: How America Lost Its Mind and Its Money in the Internet Era." John's new book covers 250 years of economic critiques of capitalism from well known economists like Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and Joan Robinson, as well as some lesser-know, yet incredibly important critics like Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, Rosa Luxemburg, JC Kumarappa, and many more. The Climate Pod is going to be live in Chicago! Join us for our Chicago Climate Bash, the hottest comedy show on the planet! On Sunday, October 26th at 5 pm CT at The Lincoln Lodge, we're featuring an amazing lineup of great comedians and expert guests. There will be standup, panels, music, and more. This show is a live recording of The Climate Pod. Featuring Chad The Bird, Lucia Whalen, and Kat Abughazaleh! Get your tickets now: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chicago-climate-bash-tickets-1758346845749?aff=oddtdtcreator Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show. Your contributions will make the continuation of this show possible. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and more! Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
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Become a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show! It's fun. All the cool kids are doing it! ------------- In 2004, Princeton professors Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow published a paper in Science Magazine called "Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies". This paper gained wide popularity for its proposed solutions that it claimed were a comprehensive strategy to reduce emission levels over the next 50 years. Even though the goal of this paper was a pathway to reduced emissions, it didn't call for the complete phase out of fossil fuels, but rather proposed fossil fuels play a significant role in our energy system for decades. If that seems strange to you, you're not alone. Drilled and ProPublica have teamed up to release a new series titled "Beyond Denial", which examines the influence of fossil fuel industry funding on climate research and its subsequent impact on policy, public debate and our approach to environmental solutions. Series reporters Maddie Stone and Katie Worth join The Climate Pod to discuss what they found in their reporting intob who was funding the 2004 "Wedges" paper, the unfulfilled promises of Carbon Capture and Sequestration, and the critical need for climate journalism in 2026. Read: Beyond Denial: How Oil Execs Shaped a Landmark Climate Study Read: Why Carbon Capture Can't Solve Climate Change Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show. Your contributions will make the continuation of this show possible. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and more! Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Become a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show! It's fun. All the cool kids are doing it! -------------
Become a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show! It's fun. All the cool kids are doing it! -------------------------------------------------------------- This week, MS NOW anchor Jacob Soboroff is on the show for a wide-ranging conservation. We discuss his long reporting career covering the climate crisis, immigration, elections, and much, much more. I've been a longtime fan of Jacob, which you can hear about in this interview. He will anchor Connect with Jacob Soboroff on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on MS NOW. Jacob is the author Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show. Your contributions will make the continuation of this show possible. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and more! Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Money is both a concrete thing and an abstract measure. If you only look at money as an abstract measure, as traditional economists have done for centuries, you'll miss out on the real role that money plays in our society. The decisions of governments, corporations, and everyday people are influenced by money, and understanding this is helpful in understanding what's driving the decision making that's ultimately leading to a worsening climate crisis. While discussing the new book "Against Money" by Arjun Jayadev and JW Mason, we explore a variety of topics such as John Maynard Keynes' early objections to economists' treatment of money, the fuzzy math behind the measurement of inflation and GDP, and even the fallout between Trump and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Arjun Jayadev is professor of economics and director of the Center for the Study of the Indian Economy at Azim Premji University in India. JW Mason is associate professor of economics at John Jay College, City University of New York. You can purchase "Against Money" here: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo265118979.html Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show. Your contributions will make the continuation of this show possible. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and more! Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Become a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show! It's fun. All the cool kids are doing it! ------------- It's the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement. In this new series from The Climate Pod, we're looking back on the global pact to determine: how have things changed since 2015 and what has the Paris Agreement accomplished? Our first three episodes were on extreme heat, adaptation, and the state of climate action. This week, we look at the transformative change in clean energy and electrification technology over the last decade, Our guest today, Kingsmill Bond (along with the team at Ember Energy) are championing this change as the "Electrotech Revolution." As they note, "humanity is graduating from burning fossil commodities to mastering manufactured technologies—from hunting scarce fossils to farming the inexhaustible sun, from consuming Earth's resources to merely borrowing them. This isn't a marginal climate substitution. It's an energy revolution. Kingsmill Bond, CFA is an energy strategist for Ember. He has worked as a financial market analyst and strategist for over 30 years, including for Deutsche Bank and Citibank. Bond and I talk about the decade's technological advances, geopolitical implications of the changing energy system, and the future opportunities he sees. We also talk about the role of China and emerging markets in global energy transition and the economic implications of real energy independence around the globe. Check out Ember Energy's full report here. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to our newsletter/podcast, The Climate Weekly, to help support this show. Your contributions will make the continuation of this show possible. Our music is "Gotta Get Up" by The Passion Hifi, check out his music at thepassionhifi.com. Rate, review and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and more! Subscribe to our YouTube channel.