This week on Thinking Is Cool 🌎

Stop what you’re doing right now and turn on one of these three songs: “Burnin’ Up” by the Jonas Brothers, “We Didn't Start the Fire” by Billy Joel, or “Ain't No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye. Today, we’re talking about climate change. The mood has to be right.

Now that we’ve given artistic credit where due (early Jonas Brothers > married Jonas Brothers), welcome back to another edition of the Thinking Is Cool newsletter. If this is the third day of a long weekend for you, I advise downing your Advil (take three) with Pedialyte (strawberry) and reading on. They do say the best hangover cure is a good podcast.

And boy do I have a good one for you. I pour figurative blood and sweat and literal tears into every episode of this show, but this one has a special place in my heart. I hope you enjoy listening and thinking as much as I did creating.

Right now, I’m about to give you a little more context for an episode that uses the words “geological record” and “anthropogenic.” As always, you have two options:

1. Listen to the episode on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else immediately then come back here for more information after the credits roll. Recommended for canned cold-brew drinkers.

2. Read this and then listen to the episode on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else with more background. Recommended for French press users.

Whatever your preference, get amped for a really good, really thought-provoking episode. And some really good follow-up conversations. Let’s do it.

This Week on Thinking Is Cool

You probably can’t save humanity from itself.

It’s a realization that’s as dread-inducing as it is freeing. When you recognize your own insignificance, you can really let go. You can also freak the F out. I’ve done both in making this episode.

That’s because I’ve come to learn that my own actions are limited as far as reducing our likelihood of continued climate disaster is concerned. I can drink from a metal straw and reduce and reuse and recycle, but my singular decision-making probably won’t keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, at least not during my lifetime.

It’s because I simply don’t have scale as a measly individual. Like most of us, I still try pretty hard to reduce my carbon footprint, but it’s more to make myself feel better than it is to stop New York City from suffering through another 48-degree Memorial Day Weekend.

But what I lack in scale, I make up for in the commitment to figuring out who’s responsible. That’s what this episode of Thinking Is Cool is about. To whom or what should we look for leadership when all 8 billion of us are staring down a problem as monumental as climate change? If not us, then who?

Here’s who: The real agents for change are public policymakers and corporate leaders. We all share in the guilt of turning this planet into a dumpster fire, but the capacity for doing something about it falls on those with scale. And anyone who’s ever been to the DMV or bought something on Amazon knows that our bureaucracy and the businesses that support it have no problem with heft.

If we really want to leave this planet livable for future generations, we have no choice but to reduce carbon emissions. And while it does feel nice to buy offsets when you travel by plane, the real change has to be bigger, broader, and messier to give us a fighting chance.

We have to rethink entire systems and economies. We have to go through the painstaking process of unlearning all that fossil fuels have indoctrinated in us. We have to make it more expensive to be a polluter than it is to be an environmental steward.

It’s not going to be easy. But, as they say, it’s not impossible.

And the good news is this: All we have to do is force the hands of policymakers and the corporate elite. We, as individuals, actually can do something to get the ball rolling. Well, two things, according to this week’s guests.

1. Talk

2. Vote

On talking: Most paradigm shifts start as conversations. Social change precipitates policy change. The more we talk about the life-altering and life-ending negative externalities of our fossil fuel economy, the more we get comfortable being uncomfortable with the future we’re staring down...the more we can affect change.

On voting: At the end of the day, it’s our policymakers who are ultimately responsible for enacting climate-minded legislation. It’s that legislation that will in turn force corporations to adapt to new, greener standards (or die). And those policymakers, at least in theory, work for us.

With that, here’s what you can expect in this episode of Thinking Is Cool:

• An honest and kinda depressing assessment of what we’ve done to the planet in the post-Industrial Revolution years

• A very quick turnaround to optimism, recognizing that all hope is actually not lost despite what you might see on the news

• A call to arms for anyone who wants to avoid climate disaster but isn’t sure how or where to start

Perhaps our biggest commonality is that we only have one planet to call home, at least for now. We share this Earth and in that share responsibility for ensuring she can make it to see the next hundred, thousand, million years.

To defend our turf, we have to start talking. So listen to this episode, think about it, and then go talk to someone about climate change and accountability.

I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but “idk whatever you wanna do” just isn’t going to cut it this summer. We’re seizing the day, being hot, and making decisions.

First decision to make this summer: Find a bank account that will help you make the most of your money. HMBradley is making that decision as easy as saying “yes” to another spicy marg.

There are plenty of reasons to choose our exclusive launch sponsor HMBradley as your next fintech platform, but their annual percentage yields, aka APYs, aka the money your money makes? That’s way up there.

HMBradley Deposit Accounts offer APYs that are smarter and better than most traditional bank accounts. The rates automatically adjust based on your saving habits, so you can earn more when you save more.

If you use this exclusive link, you can access HMBradley’s highest rate as soon as your first direct deposit arrives...meaning 3.00% APY, or up to 50x what the average savings account pays, on deposits up to $100,000 for up to three months. Easy decision. Easy money.

Deposit accounts are provided by Hatch Bank, Member FDIC. Credit cards are issued by Hatch Bank under a license with Mastercard. This is a paid endorsement.

Now, the details of this week’s episode of Thinking Is Cool…

Who: This week’s guest list isn’t super long, but it is super stacked with insight. You’ll hear from…

• David Wallace-Wells, an American journalist whose climate coverage is known far and wide for being really good. He wrote the 2017 essay "The Uninhabitable Earth," which he later made into the 2019 book The Uninhabitable Earth.

• James Casey, an associate professor of economics at my alma mater, Washington & Lee University, and the teacher whose environmental economics course inspired this entire episode.

Where: Everywhere, especially on Spotify and Apple. If you’re a cool alt pod listener, Thinking Is Cool is on all your platforms of choice too.

When: Now? Idk we published it last night sooo...

Why: Because it’s good and it’ll make you think.

How: See above.

Who again: Forward the episode to a friend and start a conversation.

See you Friday for another edition of the Thinking Is Cool blog. Have the best week ever.

Love,

Kinsey