Gulf Streams

Ep. 18 Regulation Evasion

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has been in the news this week across Texas for a story that exposes how industry polluters have managed to avoid regulation by misrepresenting their emission levels and going through less comprehensive regulatory processes than should be required. We sit down with three reporters who broke the story, Dylan Baddour (Inside Climate News), Martha Pskowski (Inside Climate News), and Alejandra Martinez (Texas Tribune) to talk about this statewide issue. 

Ep. 17 Petrochemicals

Petrochemicals are everywhere, but their use and manufacture involves highly toxic processes that endanger nearby communities across the globe. Gulf Streams host Dr. Weston Twardowski is joined by Chaney Hill (PhD Candidate at Rice University) to talk with Dr. Alice Mah (University of Glasgow) and Dr. Joseph Russo (Purchase College) about what petrochemicals are, how they impact local communities, and what organizers are doing to demand more responsible practices by industry around the world. 

Ep. 16 Concerns Over Recycling?

Recycling has a lot of positive connotations, after all, it's the green thing to do right? But with the prospect of a new advanced recycling plant opening in Houston – one that doesn't seem to be recycling – what are the risks around something most of us think of as an unqualified good. We talk with James Bruggers (Investigative Reporter at Inside Climate News), Jennifer Haidaya (Executive Director of Air Alliance Houston), and Brandy Deason (Climate Justice Coordinator at Air Alliance Houston), about this new development. 

Ep. 15 Elizabeth Rush

Putlizer Prize Finalist Elizabeth Rush joins us to discuss her recent book The Quickening: Creation and Community and the Ends of the Earth. In a conversation about her work we discuss her adventure to Antarctica, the dangers represented by a rapidly disintegrating glacier, and what it means to bring a child into the world in an age of uncertainty. 

Ep. 14 Preparing for the Next Big Storm

We sit down with Jim Blackburn, an Environmental Lawyer and Co-Director of the Severe Storm Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disasters (SPEED) Center at Rice University. Jim walks us through what the future holds regarding severe storms, and what we can and should be doing to better prepare the region for what might come.

Ep. 13 Urban Agriculture

Where does our food come from? How are local farmers bringing food to us directly from our neighborhoods. Tommy Garcia-Prats (Co-Founder and Executive Director of Small Places), Rachel Lockhart Folkerts (Farm Programs Director of Plant It Forward), and Erin Cooney (Instructor in Rice's Environmental Studies Program) join us for a conversation all about food. 

Ep. 12 Sustainability on College Campuses

Universities are like small cities, often encapsulating at a minimum of 5,000 students, faculty, and staff but frequently reaching populations as large as 50,000 or even 70,000. Richard Johnson, Senior Executive Director for Sustainability at Rice University, Elizabeth Clark, Sustainability Coordinator at the University of Houston, and Kristianna Bowles, a doctoral candidate in Higher Education Administration at Texas A&M, join us for a conversation about what college campuses are doing to prioritize sustainability around schools and how college students are leading the way. 

Ep. 11 Urban Planning

Houston is changing fast. It's a city famous for the fact it doesn't stay the same, but what does the future hold as the city continues to grow, and how can it do so sustainably. Margaret Wallace Brown, Director of Planning and Development for the City of Houston, and David Fields, Chief Transportation Office for the City of Houston, sit down join us for a conversation on what the future of urban Houston looks like, what it means for those living here, and how it will impact our local environment. 

Ep. 10 Disaster Recovery

We're joined by three expert Rice University sociologists focused on disaster recovery: Dr. Rachel Kimbro (Dean of Social Sciences at Rice and author of In Too Deep: Class and Mothering in a Flooded Community), Dr. James R. Elliott (author of Sites Unseen: Uncovering Hidden Hazards in American Cities), and Dr. Anna Rhodes (co-author of Soaking the Middle Class: Suburban Inequality and Disaster Recovery with Max Besbris). Our expert panel discusses inequities in disaster recovery, how communities respond to disasters, Houston post-Harvey, and what we should do to ensure stronger responses to future calamities.

Ep. 9 Houston Parks

Beth White (President and CEO of Houston Parks Board) and Dr. Daniel Potter (Senior Director of Research at the Kinder Center for Urban Research) join us for a conversation about the state of our parks in Houston. Beyond enjoyable green space, parks can help improve health, reduce crime, and increase educational outcomes for children. Beth and Daniel discuss the importance of our parks to resiliency and environment, as well as issues around park equity and how our parks are funded (and how that compares to other cities). At the end of the episode we check in with Dr. Sylvia Dee (Assistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at Rice University) about Hurricane Otis and what this storm means for those of us who live under the threat of these storms.