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The Big Switch

Dec 28, 2021

Aviation is a notoriously difficult sector to decarbonize. So as Melissa plans a family trip, she wrestles with her options. Which flights emit the least carbon? How well do offsets work? Should we even be flying at all?

Melissa and colleague Kirsten Smith task producer Daniel Woldorff with calling up airlines to look...


Dec 15, 2021

When one of the biggest ships in the world got stuck in the Suez Canal, it threw a giant wrench into international supply chains. It exacerbated shortages of everything from semiconductors to snuggies

Journalist Maria Gallucci explains how this overlooked sector plays an essential part in supplying – and...


Dec 1, 2021

Heavy trucks emit an outsize share of greenhouse gasses and toxic pollutants. But we rely on them for nearly everything we buy. What will it take to decarbonize them?

We hear from staff at the Community Center for Action & Environmental Justice. They’re demanding clean air in “America’s shopping cart,” a...


Nov 19, 2021

Electric autonomous vehicles shuttle us to high-tech mass transit hubs. Our fare system is contactless. We’ve already paid via a customized, equitable subscription model. All the trains and buses are on time. And we don’t have to wait in traffic. This is a world in which we can hop in a car to get somewhere, but...


Nov 3, 2021

In the next five episodes, we'll take a deep dive into decarbonizing the entire transportation sector -- everything from bulldozers and planes to ships and trains.

In this episode we start with cars. How do we switch the world's over 1 billion fossil-fuel-powered cars to zero-carbon alternatives, and fast? 

Dr. Melissa...