In recent years Americans have suddenly begun paying attention to what Korea has to offer culturally: from K-Pop to television dramas, to mouth-watering Korean barbeque. But how many people know about Korea’s climate innovations and policy? This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to Hansae Song who works with the South Korean-based nonprofit, Solutions For Our Climate. We get a summary of Korea’s involvement in fighting climate change, look at the country’s energy grid, and discuss South Korea’s recent decision to stop subsidies for biomass fuel. Then, we dig into the archives to learn a little bit more about biomass, also known as wood pellets, from Mongabay contributor Justin Catanoso.

Carbon offsets are often touted as a solution to humanity’s bad habit of emitting an awful lot of CO2. But how many of us actually know what things like carbon offsets and carbon dioxide removal are all about? This week on Sea Change Radio, we revisit our 2023 discussion with David Ho, a professor in the oceanography department at the University of Hawaii and a co-founder of the nonprofit, [C]Worthy. We discuss his piece in the science journal Nature explaining the shortcomings of carbon offsets, learn more about the mission of [C]Worthy, and take a look at how some corporations greenwash the admirable goal of producing net zero goods. Then, we hear an excerpt of a conversation we had earlier this year with Andrew Kaminsky, a journalist for Triple Pundit as we look at the environmental impacts of extracting various minerals and discuss how mining companies are changing the way they operate.

If you haven’t yet personally witnessed the very odd feeling of driving up to a four-way stop sign only to realize that the vehicle across the street from you has no driver behind the wheel, chances are you will soon enough. Like it or not, autonomous vehicles are coming, and this week on Sea Change Radio we are speaking with Samuel Abuelsamid, an expert on self-driving technology. We take a look back at the evolution of autonomous vehicles, examine the purported “full self-driving mode” offered by Tesla, and discuss some of the sustainability issues surrounding this technology.