Talking Climate

The Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy
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Conversations about transformative research happening in the fields of climate science and policy at University of Utah.

  1. 33: How Utahns Could Support a Tax on Carbon Emissions

    DEC 10

    33: How Utahns Could Support a Tax on Carbon Emissions

    Episode Intro: A couple years ago, a Utah statewide ballot initiative called Clean the Darn Air was proposed to tackle the persistent air pollution which Wasatch Front residents deal with every year.  The proposal was to tax the things that cause the pollution -- the carbon emissions – by levying a 10 cents per gallon tax on gasoline purchases and a penny per kilowatt for electricity.  From this tax, Utah residents could eliminate an unpopular state sales tax on grocery store food, while also paying for various efforts to clean up the air. Well, before the 2024 election cycle the initiative did not pass. The organizers did not gather the needed number of signatures.  But the effort did yield a lot of information about how Utah voters, both Democrats and Republicans, feel about such big proposals to address air pollution and climate change, and it showed what kinds of issues – if packaged with the right balance – a majority of Utah voters could actually support. I spoke recently with Katelyn Tenney, a PhD student at the University of Wyoming, and Therese Cavlovic, Professor of Economics at Weber State University, who together published a study which examines how Utahns value different ways of spending carbon tax revenues, and the kinds of policies that might actually gain broad political appeal in the state. Interview Summary: Katelyn Tenney, a PhD student at the University of Wyoming, and Therese Cavlovic, Professor of Economics at Weber State University, talk about their Utah-focused study on carbon tax design using a discrete choice experiment to test how residents value different ways of spending carbon tax revenues. Findings show strong, bipartisan support for revenue uses that offset regressive impacts—especially eliminating the grocery sales tax—and meaningful support for environmental earmarks, with Democrats prioritizing clean-air benefits. The researchers emphasize that market-based, locally controlled carbon pricing paired with fair, transparent revenue uses could gain broad political appeal in Utah. Episode webpage: wilkescenter.utah.edu/podcast/33-how-utahns-could-support-a-tax-on-carbon-emissions/

    33 min
  2. 32: Could Lab-generated Lactoferrin Be Healthier, Cheaper, and Better for the Planet?

    NOV 25

    32: Could Lab-generated Lactoferrin Be Healthier, Cheaper, and Better for the Planet?

    Episode Intro: One of the two runners up for the Wilkes Center Climate Launch Prize this past year is De Novo Foodlabs, a startup with operations in North Carolina and Cape Town, South Africa, which is focused on using precision fermentation to synthesize a new kind of lactoferrin.  I had to read up on this myself, but Lactoferrin, is a nutrient found exclusively in milk from mammals. It’s in human breast milk, but commonly it’s harvest from cow’s milk and sold as an ingredient for infant formula, nutritional supplements, and health drinks. Lactoferrin is not only very important for infant health, but increasingly it’s seen as a valuable nutritional additive for adults.  BUT, and here’s where the environmental/climate impacts come in – producing lactoferrin requires A LOT of cow milk currently.  And raising cows for their milk, comes with a heavy toll on land and water resources, not to mention methane emissions from cattle.  Enter, the potential for precision fermentation – which is basically laboratory grown lactoferrin – and companies like De Novo Foodlabs, which is hoping to capitalize on this growing demand for this health product, and help to save the climate while they’re at it.  Jean Louwrens, is one of the co-founders of De Novo Foodlabs, and he recently made some time to chat with me about their work, and the opportunities he sees for precision fermentation as a climate-friendly solution.   Interview Summary: Jean Louwrens of De Novo Foodlabs discusses how his company uses precision fermentation and bioinformatic AI to produce NanoFerrin™, a sustainable, affordable alternative to bovine lactoferrin. Lactoferrin, vital for infant immunity, iron absorption, and overall health, is currently scarce and costly due to reliance on cow’s milk. De Novo aims to expand supply, reduce costs, and enable broader use in infant formula, supplements, and functional foods. He highlights market growth, competition, regulatory challenges, and the environmental benefits of reducing reliance on dairy farming, while also developing synergistic brain and gut health ingredients for longevity nutrition. Episode webpage: wilkescenter.utah.edu/podcast/32-lab-generated-lactoferrin-better-for-planet/

    27 min
  3. 31: Deciphering How Methane-Eating Bacteria Thrive

    NOV 11

    31: Deciphering How Methane-Eating Bacteria Thrive

    Episode Intro: Ross Chambless: Many believe that chemistry is foundational to understanding and solving environmental challenges. And when it comes to solving a pernicious global environmental problem – such as methane emissions – it may be basic chemistry research that ultimately leads society to innovative breakthroughs. Methane (C𝐻4) is a potent greenhouse gas. It is the main component of natural gas and is released through human activities like fossil fuel production, agriculture, and from waste decomposition. It is bad for climate change. It is extremely effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere, warming the planet 80 times more than carbon dioxide (CO2) over a 20-year period. Methane has accounted for about 30% of global warming since the pre-industrial era.  But that’s not the end of the story.  There are certain communities of bacteria, microbes that exist in the environment that actually eat methane for lunch.  So-to-speak.  These so-called “methane-oxidizing bacteria” also called “methanotrophs” literally consume methane, for energy.  Recently, Dr. Aaron Puri, an assistant professor of Chemistry at the University of Utah, along with Jose Miguel Robes, a postdoctoral researcher in the Puri lab, discovered a molecule produced by methanotrophs that captures iron which helps the methane-eating bacteria eat even more methane. This is significant because knowing how to help these microbial communities function more efficiently could potentially make them better and faster at pulling methane out of our atmosphere – which is good for solving climate change.  In this podcast interview, Dr. Puri talks about his academic journey, his research into methane-oxidizing bacteria, and their role in mitigating climate change.   Interview Summary: Dr. Aaron Puri discusses his academic journey, research on methane-oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs), and their role in mitigating climate change. His recent study identified a potent iron-acquiring molecule (a siderophore) produced by methanotrophs, which enhances their methane consumption and community stability. He emphasizes the importance of microbial communities over single strains for methane capture and highlights the potential for real-world applications. Puri also reflects on the role of chemistry in climate solutions, the use of AI in research, and offers advice for aspiring scientists. Episode webpage: wilkescenter.utah.edu/podcast/31-seeing-how-methane-eating-bacteria-thrive/

    28 min
  4. 30: How Cheaper, Safer, and Cleaner Bricks Could Revolutionize Homebuilding Across Asia

    OCT 2

    30: How Cheaper, Safer, and Cleaner Bricks Could Revolutionize Homebuilding Across Asia

    Episode Intro: Ross Chambless: In September 2025, the Wilkes Center awarded its annual Wilkes Climate Launch Prize to the organization Build up Nepal. Build up Nepal has developed a new approach to building homes for very low-income Nepalese using bricks that are not made by burning coal, but instead are compressed, and made with locally available materials, and with minimal cement. The technology is becoming a much more affordable, safer – and cleaner – design approach for tens of thousands of Nepalese families who lost their homes in destructive earthquakes. I spoke with Björn Söderberg, the co-founder of Build up Nepal, when he visited Utah to accept the award.  He talked about being a social entrepreneur and why Build up Nepal is successfully disrupting Nepal's conventional homebuilding industry. Söderberg, originally from Sweden, has lived in Nepal for the past 25 years. This conversation offers much wisdom for aspiring climate tech entrepreneurs.   Interview Summary: Build up Nepal, co‑founded by Björn Söderberg after the 2015 earthquakes, produces compressed interlocking earth bricks made from local soil, sand, and minimal cement using manual presses; the approach delivers cheaper, stronger, earthquake‑ and flood‑resistant homes, cuts brick‑making emissions dramatically, creates local micro‑enterprises and jobs, and has been validated when buildings survived the 2023 quake—now the organization is scaling a network of local entrepreneurs and system‑level training to meet urgent reconstruction needs and to enable rapid, climate‑friendly replication across the Global South. Episode webpage: wilkescenter.utah.edu/podcast/30-build-up-nepal/

    35 min
  5. 29: How Are Plant Ecosystems Adapting to the Shifting Climate?

    FEB 25

    29: How Are Plant Ecosystems Adapting to the Shifting Climate?

    When it comes to climate change, one big question is how are ecosystems adapting to shifting weather patterns, heavier precipitation events, and hotter temperatures for longer periods of time?  Are some plants better equipped to withstand these changes than others?  And if yes, then why and how?  Jacob Levine is a Wilkes Center Postdoctoral scholar here at the University of Utah.  He is interested in how climate change is impacting plant ecosystems.  Specifically, when rainstorms occur less frequently, but more intensely than before – as they have in California -- how are plants responding?  So far, he says, his findings are intriguing.     Dr. Levine has also been interested in how high severity wildfires are impacting publicly managed forest lands in California compared with privately managed lands for timber harvesting.  The goal of his research is to understand what types of forest management are beneficial for ecosystems and which types are not.  This question has been subject to a rancorous policy debate between forest managers.   For his part, Levine hopes his research can better inform better forest management practices overall, in ways that benefit and improve forestry for timber and supporting healthy ecosystems overall.  So, here is my conversation with Jacob Levine. wilkescenter.utah.edu/podcast/29-how-are-plant-ecosystems-adapting-to-the-shifting-climate/ (Featured image: University of California Sedgwick Natural Reserve in northern Santa Barbara County California. Photo Courtesy of Jacob Levine)

    44 min
  6. 28: Conversation with the Water Resources Hackathon 1st Place Team "SmartFLOW"

    FEB 21

    28: Conversation with the Water Resources Hackathon 1st Place Team "SmartFLOW"

    The Wilkes Center recently hosted its 3rd annual climate solutions hackathon at the end of January.  This year the focus was water resources. The “hackathon” as we’ve come to call it – borrowing the term from the computer coding world – is an intense problem-solving competition where we challenge U of U undergraduate and graduate students from any discipline to team-up and develop proposals in a slide deck within 24 hours. We asked students to propose an innovative, data-driven solution in one of five categories: Municipal Water SupplyInland and Coastal FloodingAgricultureDroughtWater and Energy InfrastructureUltimately, each team was graded on how we they addressed important factors, such as: Problem definition and analysis; Uniqueness and innovation;  Idea feasibility; and Implementation and scalability. Over 90 students participated in this year’s water hackathon, with 17 impressive projects submitted by the end.  Only the top 3 teams were received awards.  And recently, I spoke with the team members of the winning team, whose members include:  Sam Carter, Baylee Olds, Tyler Yoklavich -- each of them graduate students studying hydrology.  Their hackathon solution – titled “SmartFLOW City Program” formulated a program to connect municipal water managers with water researchers in academia.  Essentially, they envisioned a program to encourage cities to enhance their water-resilience tool box with various cutting edge techniques being developed by folks in academia.  Bridging on-the-ground management and emerging modern science.   So, here’s my conversation with Team SmartFLOW.  I hope you enjoy it.

    21 min
  7. 27: Could Low-dimensional Perovskites Advance Cleaner Refrigerants and Batteries?

    FEB 18

    27: Could Low-dimensional Perovskites Advance Cleaner Refrigerants and Batteries?

    Perovskites are crystal structures that can be manufactured in labs for making solar panels.  They are relatively cost-effective, and efficient, and could provide a reliable thin-film alternative to the more common silicon-based solar panels.   However, perovskite solar cells face a few challenges that must be addressed before they can become a competitive commercial PV technology. In some forms they can be unstable, and lead can be a toxic byproduct when processing them. And yet, perovskite-based materials also could have green energy potential beyond solar as batteries and alternatives to modern refrigerants that use chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are strong greenhouse gases. That’s why Jyorthana Muralidhar is fascinated by perovskites. She is a Wilkes Center-funded postdoctoral researcher working in Professor Connor Bischak’s Lab, in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Utah. There she spends her time manipulating 3-dimensional, 2-dimensional, and 1-dimensional perovskite crystals into various combinations and shapes – all with the hope of discovering a new combination that could become the next clean energy breakthrough.    Recently, Jyorthana had some time to talk about her research.

    29 min
  8. 26: Sizing Up the Melting Glaciers of the Himalayas

    12/10/2024

    26: Sizing Up the Melting Glaciers of the Himalayas

    There are an estimated 54,000 glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas. These glaciers cover 60,000 square kilometers and serve as a major source of the water in the region’s rivers, including as much as 40 percent in the Indus River system - the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan, for example. But in recent decades glaciologists – those who study glaciers – are concerned with how fast Himalayan glaciers are melting, and what that could mean for the more than a billion people downstream who depend on these glaciers for agriculture, fresh water, energy production, and basic livelihood. Smriti Srivastava is a Wilkes Center Postdoctoral Research Associate in the School of Environment, Society & Sustainability at the University of Utah.  She has studied Himalayan glaciers throughout her academic and research career, which has included several field expeditions to study the glaciers up close.  (Featured image: Smriti Srivastava’s photo of her research team led by Prof. Mohd. Farooq Azam, with the Indian Institute of Technology Indore, while hiking the Drang-Drung Glacier at 5300 m a.s.l in September 2023, one of the largest glaciers in the Himalaya-Karakoram mountain range. Photo credit: Himanshu Kaushik) https://wilkescenter.utah.edu/podcast/26-sizing-up-the-melting-glaciers-of-the-himalayas/

    29 min
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About

Conversations about transformative research happening in the fields of climate science and policy at University of Utah.

Information

  • Creator
    The Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    33
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Talking Climate
  • Show Website
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