Talking Climate
Conversations about transformative research happening in the fields of climate science and policy at University of Utah.
Episodes
35 episodes
35: Wastewater Treatment Could be a Solution for Cleaner, More Efficient Fertilizer
Episode Intro:A few weeks ago, I recorded an interview with Margaret Lumley who is co-founder and CEO of a small startup called Roca Water. Roca was one of the top runners up for our
34: Climate Change Should Be Funnier. Seriously.
Episode Intro:The topic we’re exploring in this episode is climate change and humor. Can climate change be funny? To explore this question, I had the chance to speak with Sara Yeo, a professor in the Department of Communication at...
33: How Utahns Could Support a Tax on Carbon Emissions
Episode Intro:A couple years ago, a Utah statewide ballot initiative called Clean the Darn Air was proposed to tackle the persistent air pollution which Wasatch Front residents deal w...
32: Could Lab-generated Lactoferrin Be Healthier, Cheaper, and Better for the Planet?
Episode Intro:One of the two runners up for the Wilkes Center Climate Launch Prize this past year is
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31: Deciphering How Methane-Eating Bacteria Thrive
Episode Intro:Ross Chambless: Many believe that chemistry is foundational to understanding and solving environmental challenges. And when it comes to solving a pernicious global environmental problem – such as methane e...
30: How Cheaper, Safer, and Cleaner Bricks Could Revolutionize Homebuilding Across Asia
Episode Intro:Ross Chambless: In September 2025, the Wilkes Center awarded its annual
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29: How Are Plant Ecosystems Adapting to the Shifting Climate?
When it comes to climate change, one big question is how are ecosystems adapting to shifting weather patterns, heavier precipitation events, and hotter temperatures for longer periods of time? Are some plants better equipped to withstand ...
28: Conversation with the Water Resources Hackathon 1st Place Team "SmartFLOW"
The Wilkes Center recently hosted its 3rd annual climate solutions hackathon at the end of January. This year the focus was water resources. The “hackathon” as we’ve come to call it – borr...
27: Could Low-dimensional Perovskites Advance Cleaner Refrigerants and Batteries?
Perovskites are crystal structures that can be manufactured in labs for making solar panels. They are relatively cost-effective, and efficient, and could provide a reliable thin-film alternative to the more common silicon-based solar pane...
26: Sizing Up the Melting Glaciers of the Himalayas
There are an estimated 54,000 glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas. These glaciers cover 60,000 square kilometers and serve as a major source of the water in the region’s rivers, including as much as 40 percent in the Indus River system - the b...
25: Climate Sherlocking: Turning Up Clues from Past Global Warming Events
It’s true the Earth has experienced periods of global warming in its past. The largest such warming event in the past 90 million years - since the time dinosaurs roamed Earth - was the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, about 56 million ye...
24: Climate Anxiety Prevalence at the U
"Eco-anxiety" or "Climate grief" are increasingly part of our lexicon when it comes to describing the heavy feelings of concern people are feeling about the state of our natural environment and global climate change. This past year, Jennifer Fo...
23: Monitoring Forests as they Change
Dr. Jon Wang, an Assistant Professor in the School of Biological Sciences here at the U, manages the Dynamic Carbon and Ecosystems Lab, or DYCE Lab. He has access to high-resolution airborne laser sca...
22: Interview with Applied Carbon – the 2024 Wilkes Climate Launch Prize Winner
In September this year, the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy awarded Applied Carbon, the climate tech company based in Hous...
21: Coexisting with Wildlife in a Changing Climate
Austin Green is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biology with the College of Science’s
20: Mapping the Infestation of Balsam Woolly Adelgid in Utah Forests
If you’ve taken a hike or a drive through northern Utah’s forests recently, you may have noticed that some areas of the forests are changing and looking a little sick. Northern Utah’s forests are increasingly experiencing an infestation o...
19: The Significance of Ancient Roman Concrete for a Decarbonizing World
For this episode we talk with Dr. Marie Jackson a Research Professor in the Geology & Geophysics department here at the University of Utah. Dr. Jackson’s work is centered in mineralogy, pyroclastic volcanism, and material science, but sh...
18: How Great Salt Lake Bird Migrations Are Changing
Zoe Exelbert studies birds at the Great Salt Lake. Specifically, she’s interested in how climate change and shifting weather patterns are affecting bird migrations and in turn, how this is impacting the overall ecosystem of Great Salt Lake. Exe...
17: How NHMU's Climate of Hope Exhibit is Improving Climate Communication Strategies
The new Climate of Hope exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Utah offers museum visitors a more localized and solutions-oriented framing of climate change than other exhibits h...
16: Urban Plants + Black Carbon = ?
For this episode we talk with Dr. Alexandra Ponette-Gonzalez, an Associate Professor in the Department of City and Metropolitan Planning and C...
15: Talking with the Wildfire Hackathon Winners
The Wilkes Center held its second annual Climate Solutions Hackathon on January 26th. This was not a coding “hackathon” but a competition to find innovative solutions to the daunting chall...
14: Should A "Contribution" Approach Replace the Struggling Carbon Offsets Market?
Listeners to the podcast are very likely familiar with the concept of carbon offsetting or carbon credits. This is the idea that a company that pollutes in the course of its business practice can purchase carbon credits, often in the f...
13: Can We Bury Modern CO₂ in Utah’s Ancient Sand?
One of the many challenges facing the world in the coming decades to reach carbon neutrality - in order for climate change to stabilize – is the challenge of both capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide that is emitted from power plants and p...
12: Making Sense of How VOCs Impact Air Pollution and Climate
Understanding how volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that originate from living organisms like trees and plants could influence climate change and air pollution is an important area of research. Recently I had the opportunity to sit ...
11: The Pitfalls of Adapting Cities for Climate Change
What does it take for whole cities to take the actions necessary to adapt to a changing climate? What is required for millions of people who live in the same metropolis to agree to certain changes to become resilient to climate change-driven na...
