Gulf Streams

Ep. 42: The W.A. Parish Coal Plant

We sit down with the team behind Close Parish Coal, a grassroots movement to transition the WA Parish Generating Station to cleaner energy production. Parish is among the deadliest plants in the country and sit just outside Houston in Ft. Bend County. Donna Thomas and Vero Pina of the Fort Bend Environmental Organization, Haley Schultz of Public Citizen, and Alondra Torres of Air Alliance Houston join us to talk through Parish and what can be done. To learn more visit: https://airalliancehouston.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/AAH-Parish-Report-EN-8.10.pdf.

Ep. 41 When the Laws Don't Apply: Air Pollution and Grandfathered Plants

What happens when a refining plant is grandfathered in to standards that precede the Clean Air Act? An incentivized structure for pollution. We talk with two Grist reporters who share their story of digging into the Oxbow Calcining Plant in Port Arthur Texas to discover a history of evading regulators and polluting carcinogenic chemicals at otherwise impermissible levels. 

Ep. 40 Community Driven Relocation

For many worried about the changing climate, fear of displacement – being forced to leave home – tops the list of concerns. Yet humans have adapted to climate circumstances for millennia, and, with preparation, can maintain much of what they love moving from place to place. On today's show, we sit down with three of the authors of a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to talk about community driven relocation.  

Ep. 39 All About Compost

Today we're chatting with Chris Wood and Ashley Fitzpatrick of Moonshot Compost, along with Kristianna Bowles of Rice University, to talk all about compost: what it is, how it works, and how you can do it at home or encourage your neighbors and colleagues to compost collectively. 

Ep. 38 Research Along the Gulf

In this show we feature two stories concerning research initiatives around the Gulf Coast. First is the forming of two new environmental institutes at Rice University in Houston (the WaTER Institute and the Rice Sustainability Institute), and second is a dive into work on coral reefs in the Gulf. Together these show some of the important work being done to protect local environments throughout the region. 

Ep. 37 Wild Houston

Today with sit down with ecologists and authors Suzanne Simpson and John Williams who wrote the field guide to Houston's wildlife, Wild Houston: Explore the Amazing Nature in and around the Bayou City. Together we talk through some of the nature beauty of the city, the wide range of species found around town, and some of the best places to reconnect to nature. 

Ep. 36 What's Going on with our Oysters?

Oysters are something of a miracle food – they clean the water, help reduce storm damage, and offer habitat for other species. But in the last decades, oyster populations have plummeted. Today I sit down with our two new researchers, Alex Little and Caroline Pollan, to talk with Seth Blitch (Director of Conservation at The Nature Conservancy, Louisiana) all about oysters. 

Ep. 35 How We Get Around: Transportation's Role in Greener, Better Cities

On today's show our researchers Jadyn Bray-Boyce and Sienna Yiin talk about the ways we design our transportation systems, the environmental impacts these choices make, and how improving transit builds a better world for everyone. Jadyn and Sienna sit down with Veronica Davis (former Director of Transportation and Drainage Operations for Houston Public Works; author of Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities) and Christof Spieler (Senior Lecturer of Architecture at Rice University) to better understand how we build our transportation systems and what the future might hold for better transit.

Ep. 34 How Plastic has Remade Our Planet and how We Think About It

Plastics are ubiquitous. From our toothbrushes to surgical equipment, plastics have reshaped life on Earth in ways both good and bad. Today we talk with Dr. Heather Davis, Assistant Professor of Cultre and Media at the New School, about her book Plastic Matter and the history – and future – of plastic. 

Ep. 33 Gaming the Future

We spend a lot of time talking about transistions: clean energy transitions, carbon-free futures, green economies. But less often do we take time to sit down and visualize the future world we want, rather than the solution to the problem (climate change, environmental injustice) that we are confronting. Today, we're joined by Dr. Joseph Campana (Director of Rice University's Center for Environmental Justice) in a conversation with two artists, Marina Zurkow and Sarah Rothberg, to discuss a system they've created called More and More Futures. More and More Futures enables players to imagine the future they want, all through playing a game.