For some, cramming a book or short article into a busy schedule is not always an option. For others, the anticipated strain on the eyes and back of spending even more time reading off a computer screen is just too much. If you are one of those people, we would like to introduce you to our team's 10 most listened to podcasts at the moment. These podcasts provide compelling commentary and updates on global and national news, especially surrounding climate related topics. Many of them provide hopeful tales of environmental resistance and cover promising local, state and national policy efforts aimed at making the world a better place. Some even cover the emerging fight against AI data centers. With a variety of podcasts to choose from, our hope is you find the one that aligns closest with your interests. We’ve linked all podcasts and our favorite episodes below, including details on the episode length and defined topic areas. Our aim is to help you more easily absorb all the great information that these podcasts have to offer. Enjoy!
The Hum: The Hum is a recently debuted podcast series with four newly released episodes dedicated to highlighting people fighting against the indiscriminate construction of AI data centers. Host Saul Levin interviews activists, typically everyday community members, standing in the way of data center construction to show that communities banding together can still take on big corporations in their own backyards and win.
A People’s Climate: Corporate sustainability practices have long taken up space in the discussions of climate solutions. So-called “green-tech” is currently valued as a roughly $31 billion market, and is projected to increase to $140 billion in just the next eight years. A People’s Climate dismantles this facade of “environmental tech”, lenient government policies, and corporate greenwashing as being sufficient for achieving climate justice and safeguarding vulnerable communities and ecosystems. Host Shilpi Chhotray offers a glimpse into conversations with community members on the frontlines who have rivaled the biggest polluters on the planet, rallied millions around climate actions, and restored entire ecosystems.
Upstream: The acceptance of the world we live in is often said to be a symptom of our individual and collective inability to imagine a world beyond the current one. Allow Upstream Podcast to be the spark of imagination needed to conceive what our world could look like. Pick and choose across six seasons of podcast episodes and deep dive series on Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Palestine, Lebanon and conversations meant to draw you into the recording studio.
The Nerd Reich: Featured podcast The Nerd Reich illustrates how big tech is systematically influencing our state and national politics. Engaging episodes investigate how Silicon Valley’s big tech regime is a dangerous affront to our democracy and personal freedoms in a world not where regulations have not adjusted to the speed at which tech is allowed to permeate and destabilize the societies in which we live.
The Nation: The Nation podcast interview series highlights expert commentary spanning topics such as big tech’s influence in our democracy and international relations in the 21st century, to domestic economic and environmental struggles. Uniting these topic areas is The Nation’s intimate dissection of the many forms of authoritarianism eroding democratic systems and practices around the globe.
If You’re Listening: Australian podcast host Matt Bevan takes an investigative lens to explaining the deeper context behind headlining stories in world news week by week in If You’re Listening – all whilst claiming to seek refuge in his basement from authoritarian regimes and assassins. Scroll through various seasons for a deep dive into US, Chinese, Australian and other national politics and their climate implications.
Drilled: True Crime: When investigative journalist Amy Westervelt debuted Drilled Media’s true crime style climate podcast in 2016, she brought 15 years of climate reporting experience to the recording studio. What was intended to be a limited-run audio series now spans across 15 seasons of various investigative deep dives into some of the most pernicious forces preventing climate progress.
Metra: The Climate Musical: Metra, an original musical fiction podcast, calls on our sense of creativity to imagine a world where collective action helps us save the world. Set in 2043, Metra takes you through the efforts of a group of revolutionaries banding together for change. Their spirited musical tracks weave in mythology, time travel, dystopian realities and quasi-utopian aspirations.
Outrage + Optimism: International climate news can often be hard to digest. From the sea of acronyms and international bodies to the names of various climate commitments, it’s helpful to have a handy reference to begin deciphering what’s really happening. For that, tune in to Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast and their weekly digest of recent climate news stories for viewers to stay abreast. The host trio includes the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, along with political strategist Tom Rivett-Carnac and sustainable business consultant Paul Dickenson. Together, they break down climate news through their longtime work in international climate spaces.
Midnight Rebellion: In a brand new podcast series for kids created by WBUR, Boston’s local NPR station, listeners can immerse themselves in climate fiction and problem solving. Each episode is not just a story, but an opportunity for the listener to make a choice for the characters - how would you do if the choice was up to you? It is a deeply engaging climate story for us all.
Check out this curated playlist on Spotify and follow The HUM on Instagram!
