We've touched on the use for and impact of climate models in past episodes, but today we take a deep dive into the world of climate modeling - how it works, what the challenges are, what climate models can help us understand about our future, and how to best communicate this information to a world that needs to know what's coming next in order to adapt and prepare. We're joined in studio by Yi Ming, Core Faculty Member at Schiller Institute and Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences at Boston College, and Jennifer Morris, Principal Research Scientist at MIT in the Center for Sustainability, Science, and Strategy.

In an all-Eagle kickoff to Season 2, we talk with two Boston College professors who traveled to Brazil to attend UN COP30. Hanqin Tian, Professor of Global Sustainability at Schiller Institute, and Director of the Center for Earth System Science & Global Sustainability (who attended the first week of the conference) and Tara Pisani Gareau, Director of Environmental Studies Program, and Professor of the Practice in Earth & Environmental Science at Boston College (who attended the second week of the conference), join us in studio to talk about what they saw, heard, and learned, and what events like COP30 mean in the ongoing response to the climate crisis.

In our final episode of Season 1, we talk about the basics of nuclear power, where the technology stands currently, and how it can help us reduce emissions while still meeting our rising energy needs. We sit down with Devon Battaglia, Senior Manager of Physics Operations at Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), and Jacopo Buongiorno, Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT and a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering, to talk about advancements in nuclear fission and fusion and the impact nuclear power can have on our future.

In Episode 3, we talked about energy essentials - now, we dig a little deeper into renewable energy sources specifically. We discuss the potential solutions renewables offer and the obstacles still in our way with Richard Sweeney, Associate Professor of Economics at Boston College, and Barry Reaves, Vice President of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice and Workforce Development for The Alliance for Climate Transition (ACT).

In our 6th episode, we look back at transition points in our nation's history to see what they can teach us about the crossroads we face today. Boston College Professors Conevery Bolton Valencius, an historian of energy, environment, and health, and John E. Ebel, Senior Research Scientist at the Weston Observatory at Boston College, join us at the table for a high-energy (see what I did there?) conversation exploring the lessons of history and drawing connections to our current moment.

In our 5th episode, we look at the health impacts of the climate crisis, both direct and indirect. Noelle Eckley Selin, Director of MIT’s Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy and Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, and Dr. Philip Landrigan, pediatrician, public health physician, Professor of Biology, and Director of the Global Observatory on Planetary Health at Boston College, join us to talk about all of the ways our health is impacted by the ongoing climate crisis.

In this episode, we talk with Frances Moore Lappé, co-founder of the Small Planet Institute, researcher, and author or co-author of 21 books, including Diet for a Small Planet, and Angelo Gurgel, a principal research scientist at the Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy at MIT about how what we eat impacts the climate crisis at every single level. From land use and agricultural systems and approaches to what you put on your family's dinner table, we dig into how "every bite you take is a vote for the world you want."

In this episode, we break down the energy needs of the world and discuss the best big picture approach to meet those needs moving forward. We talk with Sergey Paltsev, Deputy Director of the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy and Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative, and Cyril Opeil, a Jesuit priest, Associate Professor at Boston College, and a low-temperature physicist specializing in thermoelectrics.

At the end of the episode, Professor Opeil shares some thoughts on his recent work studying the thermal properties of meteorites, including NASA's Bennu OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return project.