A Climate Change with Matt Matern

Matthew Matern
  • 4.1 (21)
  • Earth Sciences
  • Updated Weekly

A Climate Change with Matt Matern is a weekly show featuring influential guests from government, business, activism, academia, and culture. The show serves to inform its audience with a focus on environmental and climate issues. Join us as we commit to making "a climate change." Similar to these great podcasts: TED Climate, Reversing Climate Change, Climate One, My Climate Journey, Volts, America Adapts, & A Matter Of Degrees.

  1. 5d ago

    259. California Just Passed Balcony Solar - Now It's Up to Newsom w/ Cora Stryker

    Today, Matt is joined again by Cora Stryker, co-founder of Bright Saver. One year after first joining us on the show, a lot has changed. When she was last on, plug-in solar was legal in exactly one state and nobody in the country was selling it. Since then, 35 states plus DC have introduced legislation, nine have signed it into law, and Bright Saver has started shipping kits nationwide at exactly what they cost: $285.30, no markup. Here in California, SB 868 - the Plug and Play Solar Act - just cleared both houses of the legislature and is now sitting on Governor Newsom's desk awaiting his signature. Cora argues that the climate movement's biggest opportunity is affordability, as only about 3% of Americans rank climate as their top voting priority, while 54% name the economy and household expenses. Check out Bright Saver at https://www.brightsaver.org Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. GUEST BIO Cora Stryker is co-founder of Bright Saver, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to make plug-in "balcony" solar affordable and legal across the United States. The organization sells solar kits to its members at cost and advocates for state legislation that treats small plug-in systems like household appliances rather than power plants. She is a serial founder of mission-driven organizations, including the Climate Justice Incubator and GirlBlazer. She studied biology at Brown University and began her career as a rare and endangered plant biologist in Hawaii, later teaching basic writing at a community college.   EPISODE RESOURCES Bright Saver: https://www.brightsaver.org Is plug-in solar legal in your state?: https://www.brightsaver.org/is-plug-in-solar-legal A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

    259. California Just Passed Balcony Solar - Now It's Up to Newsom w/ Cora Stryker

  2. Aug 27

    258. The AI Beehive Fighting Colony Collapse w/ Saar Safra

    Today, Matt is joined by Saar Safra, co-founder and CEO of Beewise, to talk about one of the quietest threats to our food supply - the collapse of the world's bee colonies. Saar shares how he teamed up with a commercial beekeeper to build the BeeHome: a solar-powered, AI-driven robotic hive that monitors bees around the clock and treats problems automatically, without chemicals. They dig into why bees pollinate roughly 75% of the crops we eat, how monoculture and pesticides have turned farmland into a desert for pollinators, and how Beewise has cut colony collapse from 40–60% down to under 10%. And Saar gives Matt a peak at the company's new Bees for Buildings program bringing pollinators into cities and their goal of scaling this technology to help communities around the world. Learn more about Beewise at beewise.ag Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. GUEST BIO Saar Safra is the co-founder and CEO of Beewise, an agtech company on a mission to save bees and secure the global food supply. A serial entrepreneur - Beewise is his sixth company - he partnered with commercial beekeeper Eliyah Radzyner to build the BeeHome, a solar-powered, AI-driven robotic hive that autonomously monitors and cares for colonies. Beewise is now one of the largest pollination-services providers in the country, operating across more than 300,000 acres for growers including Blue Diamond, Driscoll's, and Taylor Farms. The company has raised roughly $170 million and reports colony collapse rates under 10%, compared with an industry average that can exceed 50%. EPISODE RESOURCES Beewise: https://www.beewise.ag A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids CURATED LIST OF EPISODES If you enjoyed this episode of A Climate Change, here is a list of some recent episodes curated especially for you: Simulating the Future: How Climate Models Shape Policy Decisions with Andrew Jones [Link] How Personal Change Sparks Global Impact: Joshua Spodek's Sustainability Secrets [Link] Bill McKibben on Renewable Energy, Political Battles & Hope for the Planet [Link]

    258. The AI Beehive Fighting Colony Collapse w/ Saar Safra

  3. Aug 20

    257: Building the “Apple of EV Charging,” w/ Zak Winnick

    Today, Matt Matern speaks with Zak Winnick, founder and CEO of Rangeway Energy, about building America’s first hospitality-forward EV charging network. Zak shares how a career running hotels - and years of frustration as an EV owner - led him to treat charging as an experience rather than just a piece of infrastructure. They discuss why so many public chargers feel unreliable and impersonal, and how Rangeway is targeting the scenic, underserved highways the big networks skip. Zak also explains why the real money is in the amenities rather than the electricity - and how he plans to make Rangeway the "Apple of EV charging."   Check out Rangeway Energy at rangeway.co. Interested investors can reach the team at investors@rangeway.co. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.   GUEST BIO Zak Winnick is the founder and CEO of Rangeway Energy, a startup building America’s first hospitality-forward EV charging network. Drawing on more than 15 years in hospitality operations and IT - and his own experience as a longtime EV owner and EV-community leader - he designs charging destinations that pair reliable fast charging with climate-controlled lounges, thoughtful amenities, and sustainable, often off-grid infrastructure. Rangeway focuses on scenic, underserved corridors, with its first sites planned for Missouri and Southern California. Winnick’s guiding idea is simple: make the stop, not just the charger, the point.   EPISODE RESOURCES Rangeway Energy: rangeway.co Matt Matern on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ACClinkedin A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

    257: Building the “Apple of EV Charging,” w/ Zak Winnick

  4. Aug 14

    256. Why the Ocean Always Wins with Bren Smith

    Today, Matt speaks with Bren Smith, co-founder and co-executive director of GreenWave, about his journey from commercial fisherman to pioneer of regenerative ocean farming. Bren shares how a cod collapse in his native Newfoundland and two hurricanes that destroyed his farm led him to a model that grows seaweed and shellfish with no water, fertilizer, feed, or land - while rebuilding ocean ecosystems. They also discuss GreenWave’s new State of the Kelp Industry report and how kelp is shifting from a “hero climate ingredient” to a working-class problem solver. Check out GreenWave at https://www.greenwave.org Read the State of the Kelp Industry report here: https://hub.greenwave.org/lms/resources/state-of-the-kelp-industry/ Bren’s book, Eat Like a Fish, is available wherever books are sold. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. Bren Smith Bio: Bren Smith is co-founder and co-executive director of GreenWave and owner of Thimble Island Ocean Farm. A lifelong commercial fisherman turned regenerative ocean farmer, he pioneered a zero-input model that grows seaweed and shellfish while restoring marine ecosystems. He is the James Beard Award-winning author of Eat Like a Fish and a winner of the Buckminster Fuller Prize and the Curt Bergfors Food Planet Prize. His work has been profiled by 60 Minutes, CNN, The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, and National Geographic, and he was named one of Rolling Stone’s “25 People Shaping the Future.” Episode Resources GreenWave website: https://www.greenwave.org State of the Kelp Industry report: https://hub.greenwave.org/lms/resources/state-of-the-kelp-industry/ A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids Music Credits Music: Theme song - SMOOTA, “Save It! (The Mother Earth Boogie)” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BRuPWPgrvA) Additional music - Stereo Reform, “Midnight Synthesizer (Instrumental)”

    256. Why the Ocean Always Wins with Bren Smith

  5. Aug 6

    255. What If We Could Store Carbon the Way the Ocean Already Does? w/ Garrett Boudinot

    Today, Matt is joined by Dr. Garrett Boudinot, founder and CEO of Vycarb, to talk about a new approach to carbon capture and storage that works with water instead of pipelines and underground wells. Garrett explains how Vycarb's reactor turns CO2 into bicarbonate and stores it safely in the ocean for tens of thousands of years. He shares why traditional carbon capture has been so expensive and hard to site, and how Vycarb bypasses the costly steps to target costs as low as $50 a ton. He also previews what's next as Vycarb scales from its Brooklyn Navy Yard pilot to full commercial projects. Check out Vycarb at vycarb.com Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.   Know a local hero for the planet? Nominate them for Cox Conserves Heroes, funded by the James M. Cox Foundation. Nominate Aug 3–16, vote Sept 28–Oct 4 at cox.partners/cch.   GUEST BIO Garrett Boudinot is the founder and CEO of Vycarb, a climate-tech company pioneering a water-based approach to carbon capture and storage. He earned a PhD studying global carbon cycling and its impacts on ocean and forest ecosystems, then led a carbon-management research program at Cornell University. As an inaugural Activate New York entrepreneurial fellow, he founded Vycarb to accelerate the ocean's natural carbon-storage process - and to measure it in real time. The company runs a pilot at the Brooklyn Navy Yard that captures CO2 and permanently stores it in the East River, and is now scaling toward full commercial projects in the US and abroad.   EPISODE RESOURCES Vycarb: vycarb.com A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids   MUSIC Theme: SMOOTA - "Save It! (The Mother Earth Boogie)"  Additional music: Stereo Reform - "Midnight Synthesizer (Instrumental)"

    255. What If We Could Store Carbon the Way the Ocean Already Does? w/ Garrett Boudinot

  6. Jul 30

    254. How Fossil Fuel Companies Are Quietly Buying Legal Immunity with David Fenton

    Today, Matt is joined by David Fenton - veteran progressive communications strategist and host of The Fenton Forecast - for a conversation about the climate movement’s biggest failure: how it talks, or doesn’t talk, about the crisis. David explains “blanket of pollution” metaphor, and why framing climate action as sacrifice backfires, the soaring insurance costs hitting Americans’ wallets, and the fossil fuel industry’s push for legal immunity as climate lawsuits close in.  Check out The Fenton Forecast here: https://www.fentonforecast.com Learn more about David’s work: https://davidfentonactivist.com David’s book, The Activist’s Media Handbook, is available wherever books are sold. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. Guest Bio: David Fenton has spent more than fifty years helping progressive movements win. In 1982 he founded Fenton Communications, the first public relations firm built for nonprofits and public-interest causes, and pioneered the use of PR, advertising, and social media for the environment, public health, and human rights. He is the author of The Activist’s Media Handbook: Lessons from 50 Years as a Progressive Agitator, a senior advisor to Yellow Dot Studios, and host of The Fenton Forecast podcast. Episode Resources The Fenton Forecast: https://www.fentonforecast.com David Fenton: https://davidfentonactivist.com The Activist’s Media Handbook Yellow Dot Studios: https://yellowdotstudios.com A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

    254. How Fossil Fuel Companies Are Quietly Buying Legal Immunity with David Fenton

  7. Jul 23

    253. He Helped Build Waymo. Now Tom Chi Builds Robots That Replant Forests

    Today, Matt speaks with Tom Chi, founding partner of At One Ventures and a founding member of the Google X team behind Waymo, about using deep tech to restore ecosystems instead of just slowing the damage.  They talk about the drone companies replanting mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass beds, and how the cost of restoration keeps falling by half. Tom explains that a park ranger in 1926 had a Jeep, a map, binoculars, and a clicker, and today the tools are mostly the same. He also shares his concerns about who is steering AI right now, why regulation may protect an economy rather than slow it, and a simple idea he calls the aperture of care. Check out Tom's book, Climate Capital: Investing in the Tools for a Regenerative Future: https://www.tomchi.com/ Learn more about At One Ventures: https://www.atoneventures.com/ Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. Guest Bio: Tom Chi is the founding partner of At One Ventures, a venture firm that invests in deep-tech startups working to make humanity a net positive to nature. He was a founding member of Google X, where he led the teams that created self-driving cars, wearable augmented reality, and deep learning artificial intelligence. Trained in physics and electrical engineering, he is a named inventor on more than 75 patents and has worked on projects at Microsoft and Yahoo. He is the author of the national bestseller Climate Capital: Investing in the Tools for a Regenerative Future. Episode Resources Tom Chi website: https://www.tomchi.com/ At One Ventures: https://www.atoneventures.com/ Tom Chi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thegoodtomchi/ A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids

    253. He Helped Build Waymo. Now Tom Chi Builds Robots That Replant Forests

  8. Jul 16

    252: Why Only 1% of US Farmland Is Organic with Linley Dixon

    Today, Matt speaks with Dr. Linley Dixon, Co-Director of the Real Organic Project and cohost of the Real Organic Podcast, about why how we grow food may be the climate lever we're ignoring. Linley explains that synthesizing nitrogen fertilizer alone accounts for 1-2% of the global carbon footprint. They also dig into what's gone wrong with the label people trust. Only about 1% of US farmland is certified organic while roughly 80% of our organic blueberries are imported, fraudulent "organic" grain shipments undercut American farmers, and the USDA allows soil-less hydroponics to carry the same seal as a soil farmer.  Learn more about the Real Organic Project: realorganicproject.org Listen to the Real Organic Podcast: bit.ly/realorganicpod Saving Real Organic: In Defense of Science (Sept 18-19, 2026, Churchtown Dairy, NY): Event info Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. Guest Bio: Dr. Linley Dixon is Co-Director of the Real Organic Project and cohost of the Anthem Award-winning Real Organic Podcast. A soil scientist with a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of Florida and a Master's in Soil Science from West Virginia University, she spent two years as a post-doc at the USDA's Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory before turning to organic policy. She has farmed organic vegetables at Adobe House Farm in Durango, Colorado since 2010, and launched the Real Organic Project's farmer-led certification program in 2018 - now over 1,100 farms nationwide. Episode Resources Real Organic Project: https://realorganicproject.org Real Organic Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/real-organic-podcast/id1573111162 Find a Real Organic certified farm near you: https://realorganicproject.org/farms A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids   If you enjoyed this episode of A Climate Change, here is a list of some recent episodes curated especially for you: The Founders Loved the Land…and Left One Thing Unfinished How We Feed the World Without Frying It, with Michael Grunwald Fast Fashion Is Killing the Planet, with Marci Zaroff

    252: Why Only 1% of US Farmland Is Organic with Linley Dixon
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4.1
out of 5
21 Ratings

About

A Climate Change with Matt Matern is a weekly show featuring influential guests from government, business, activism, academia, and culture. The show serves to inform its audience with a focus on environmental and climate issues. Join us as we commit to making "a climate change." Similar to these great podcasts: TED Climate, Reversing Climate Change, Climate One, My Climate Journey, Volts, America Adapts, & A Matter Of Degrees.

Information

  • Creator
    Matthew Matern
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    261
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © A Climate Change with Matt Matern. @ 2026
  • Show Website
    A Climate Change with Matt Matern

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