Check out 10 of our most listened to podcasts of 2026: from data center resistance and tech authoritarianism to international policy debates and climate fiction with a hopeful twist! We’ve linked all podcasts and our favorite episodes below, including details on the episode length and defined topic areas.
Author Ava Lashgari, whose own health may have been shaped by local industrial pollution, sheds light on the environmental practices of Solutia Inc., a subsidiary of Eastman Chemical Company. Solutia was once a subsidiary of the notorious Monsanto Company. As communities worldwide grapple with industrial waste threatening their health, Solutia's lack of concern with PFAS-related pollution raises urgent questions around what impacts they will have on local communities.
Nigeria's plastic pollution crisis can’t simply rely on recycling infrastructure. With 12.9 million tons of plastic waste generated annually, environmental engineer Uduma Deborah Alobo makes the case that recycling is too slow, costly, and too technically limited to keep pace. Real solutions require preventing single use plastics from entering the waste stream and considering alternatives such as refill economies, and long-term investment in bioplastics.
Nepal's glaciers are vanishing at an alarming rate, intensifying floods that threaten villages at lower altitude. Nearly two billion people living further downstream face increasing water insecurity. Author and attorney Manju Khadka stresses the injustice that Nepal faces as a particularly vulnerable area that makes up just .027% of global emissions yet is disproportionately impacted by climate change. Manju critiques the International Court of Justice for placing more importance and legal incentive on protecting small island nations while neglecting other highly vulnerable areas of the world and demands for all at-risk regions to be prioritized.
As a student in Dhaka, Bangladeshi author Syeda Nahin’s experience with climate displacement is a concerning daily reality. With nearly 5 million Bangaldeshis already internally displaced, and projections suggesting 13 million more will be displaced by 2050, these populations face public health risks, lack of access to education, and economic instability. Through long-term planning instead of reactive emergency response efforts, Syeda believes Bangladesh can realize a more stable future.
As one presidential administration transitions to the next, incoming officials begin to remake policy. “Elections have consequences,” they say. What’s often not examined are the stories of individuals and communities who are harmed by whipsawing priorities. Steve Mencher takes us into the lives of three advocates who were members of the Biden administration's White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. They now must rebuild coalitions to rectify environmental injustices after the Trump administration's termination of an executive order that gave hope and agency to activists.
In Iran, low air quality looms over the country as it still relies on low cost yet low quality fuel sources while unregulated vehicles sputter unfiltered fumes out of exhausts. Erfan R. voices frustration with Iran’s prioritization of profit over quality of life for the Iranian people, highlighting the country's capitalist and industrial pursuits over preserving Iran’s vast natural resources.
The extraction of natural resources for energy production across human history is marred with injustices to local indigenous populations, it has disrupted entire ecosystems, and frequently put Black and Brown populations in harm's way. Author Moah Christensen explains that “othering” populations in pursuit of energy production has existed since the overhunting of whales for their energy-dense oils in the 19th century; it has persisted through the fossil fuel boom and into the present production of renewable energy.
As climate anxiety continues to loom over communities across the world, author Freyalise Matasar articulates the simultaneous concern she has for a degrading planet and an academic and professional future in limbo. As a high school senior applying to universities this year, Freyalise gives voice to the uneasiness of a generation in the face of President Trump’s barrage on higher education and climate initiatives.
Ancestral time, explained by author Olya K-Mehri, is cyclical, relational, and the missing piece in our current climate rhetoric. Current discourse harps on the sentiment of safeguarding the earth for “future generations”. Olya shows that by fixating on the future like this, we lose focus of our present needs, lose sight of what we’ve inherited from past generations, and uphold a capitalist technology-focused future that overlooks actual climate resiliency.
Author Abiola Davis acknowledges that while damaging, the global climate struggle presents an opportunity for unity and coalition building as varying demographics across Scotland are unilaterally impacted by climate change. As reports continue to paint a bleak picture of environmental changes around Scotland, leveraging collective foresight could curb the severity of expected damage and - critically - bring unity to a politically divided Scotland.
