You don't have to look much further than your grocery receipt to see how climate change can affect our food supply chain. But some of the key drivers of climate change are sitting right in our carts. It's a chicken-or-egg debacle that we're happy to explore on this episode if it means understanding how we can create a more adaptable, equitable food supply chain.

Farms are dealing with historic heat waves slashing wheat and maize yields, record rainfall collapsing corn harvests, sea level rise swallowing farmland on the East Coast, and disappearing pollinators that one-third of our food supply depends on. And we're paying the price. We hear from our community about how the rising price of groceries has meant making sustainability tradeoffs on what they buy at the store.

Food insecurity and the climate crisis are also intertwined. Maggie Baird, founder of Support and Feed, helps us understand how the animal agriculture industry is at the center of many climate (and health woes), challenging us to rethink food traditions rooted in culture and family identity. To better understand how we got here, Commons founder Sanchali Seth Pal follows the money through animal agriculture subsidies.

Episode rundown:

• (00:54) - How our food choices and the climate crisis feed each other
• (02:30) - How climate change is affecting food prices
• (04:41) - When sustainable food becomes a luxury you can't afford
• (09:07) - Animal agriculture, culinary tradition, and food inequity with Maggie Baird
• (27:49) - Our tax dollars are making meat cheaper?
• (33:59) - Changing what we eat can change the climate

📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .

🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.

📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!

📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits

• Listener contributions: Sophia Anderson, Jeanne, Mary Klene, Molly Barton, Katherine, Dom Altomari
• Research : Makenna McBrierty
• Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
• Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham

Government seems to move slower than the pace of climate change, so do our votes for climate candidates and policies actually make a difference?

‍

In this episode, we're connecting the dots between climate and policy and hearing from people around the world about how their governments’ policies are affecting their lives and their regions. We're also catching up with HEATED editor-in-chief Emily Atkin to hear how climate reporting has changed over the past couple of presidential terms and how she keeps her head above water after a decade of reporting on climate. We'll also talk to Commons founder Sanchali Seth Pal about climate policies around the world that have actually worked.

‍

If you're looking for resources to help you vote for the planet in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, or any upcoming U.S. election, here are some resources that could help: Vote Climate U.S. PAC's Voter Guide, Climate Cabinet's Climate Scorecard, League of Conservation Voter Scorecard.

📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .

🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.

📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!

📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits

• Listener contributions: Anandi Yadav, Clara, Danielle Bird, Lindsay Kerns, Michael Chase, Nick Blocha, Shai
• Editing and engineer: Evan Goodchild‍
• Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham

Episode rundown:

• (01:29) - Every vote you cast is a climate vote
• (03:34) - The price tag on our planet's worst year yet
• (10:46) - Emily Atkin won't let Big Oil off the hook
• (30:06) - Which climate laws are actually working?
• (39:30) - Local elections are crucial

Your workout leggings, your morning commute, and the fertilizer to grow your food — what do they have in common? They're all fossil fuel legacies of war. In this episode, we connect the dots between the military and the climate crisis, tracing how wartime decisions made decades ago still shape and pollute our everyday lives.

We sit down with Neta C. Crawford, professor of international relations at the University of St. Andrews and author of The Pentagon, Climate Change, and War, to unpack a staggering blind spot in our global emissions picture: the military. We also follow the money with Commons co-founder Sanchali Pal to understand how the U.S. kept military missions out of the Kyoto Protocol, and what that means for climate targets today. We also hear how our community feels about using their money to avoid funding wars they don't support.

Episode rundown:

• (00:22) - The US military is the world's single largest institutional fossil fuel consumer.
• (01:31) - War's Industrial Afterlife: Nylon, fertilizer, and freeways.
• (05:55) - Community action: from campus divestment campaigns to rethinking their everyday spending.
• (09:02) - A deep dive into military emissions, hidden history, and the case for diplomacy.
• (38:07) - Following the Money: How Big Oil lobbied to keep military emissions off the global books
• (44:18) - Your vote and your wallet are more powerful climate tools than you think.
• (46:10) - Community Classified: Citizens’ Climate Lobby

📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .

🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.

📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!

📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits

• Listener contributions: Braden Marazzo-Nowicki, Diana Holguin, Drew, Julia Nolasco, Fionaa Bhatia, Nicole Collins
• Research: Makenna McBrierty
• Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
• Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham

[This episode originally aired June 19, 2024] Composting is one of the easiest, most rewarding climate actions. You get to repurpose food waste, save money on fertilizer, and give back to the soil. Plus, there are so many ways to do it! On this episode, you'll get a straightforward explanation of how composting works and all the inspiration and guidance you need to start composting — no matter where you live. Listen in to hear:

• Our community's firsthand advice for composting in any living situation
• Your composting questions answered by Dr. Sheridan Ross of Compton Community Garden
• The carbon impact of composting our food waste

📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .

🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.

📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!

📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode credits

• Listener contributions: Nicole Collins, Joëlle Provost , Lindsay Kerns, Bo Meisl, Sameera Mokkarala, Melissa Athina, Yolanda Gonzalez, Gracon Ladd, and Daniel Goh‍
• Featured guests: Dr. Sheridan Ross and Sanchali Seth Pal‍
• Editing and engineer: Evan Goodchild‍
• Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham

In a world that tries to get us to shop fast, slowing down our shopping is an act of resistance. In this community episode, our listeners share how slowing down their shopping habits saved them money, cut down on waste, and made them appreciate their stuff any more.

Episode rundown:

• (00:00) - Why is slow shopping important?
• (03:07) - Slow shopping tips from our community
• (11:25) - Reflections on slow shopping

📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .

🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.

📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!

📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits

• Listener contributions: Grace Kinney-Broderick, Grace Hebert, Molly Barton, Sophia Anderson, Keionna Spalding, Gaby Beaudoin
• Research: Makenna McBrierty
• Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
• Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham

The aviation industry has gotten twice as fuel-efficient since 1990, and emissions have still quadrupled. In this episode, we reckon with the guilt of flying, tracing it from economy class all the way up to private jets, where a handful of ultra-wealthy passengers emit up to 500 times more carbon than the average person annually. Plus, we dig into sustainable aviation fuel with Alyssa Norris from Aether Fuels and what it would actually take to make flying something we don't have to feel guilty about.

Episode rundown:

• (00:35) - Should we feel guilty about flying?
• (03:12) - Our flying footprint
• (05:17) - Reckoning with guilty consciences
• (09:52) - What is SAF and why aren’t all planes using it?
• (27:19) - Following the money from private jets to economy
• (37:08) - Individual actions for systemic change

📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .

🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.

📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!

📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits

• Listener contributions: Lorena, Morgan Gallagher, Bruno Olmedo Quiroga, Darice Chang, Jessica Tucker, Kayla Joy , Lena, Dom Altomari
• Research: Makenna McBrierty
• Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
• Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham

Lawns cover more American soil than any other irrigated crop — but who decided they should look this way, and at what cost? In this episode, we trace the centuries-old aristocratic tradition behind the modern lawn, expose the billion-dollar industry profiting from invasive grasses and toxic chemicals, and with the help of nature educator Jason Wise (aka Journeyman), we’ll explore how your patch of green could become something far more prosperous. If you've ever questioned the monoculture outside your front door, this one's for you.

Episode rundown:

• (00:00) - Chapter 1
• (00:49) - Why are lawns a climate issue?
• (02:38) - How did lawns become popular?
• (06:05) - How is our community adapting their lawns?
• (12:34) - Tips to rewind your lawn from Jason Wise (aka Journeyman)
• (34:02) - Who’s profiting off the lawn industry?
• (43:07) - Imagining a lawn-free future

📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .

🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.

📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!

📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

Episode Credits

• Listener contributions: Craig Brown, Nick Blocha, Lena, Grace Kinney-Broderick, Haley Murphy
• Research: Makenna McBrierty
• Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
• Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham