87. Moving America Beyond Coal

10/09/20 • 30 min

As wildfires blaze along the West Coast, extreme weather devastates the Gulf Coast and Midwest, and temperatures rise to record levels, a majority of registered voters in the United States say that climate change will be an important issue in the 2020 presidential election. Bloomberg Philanthropies has been working with the Sierra Club to phase out coal power in favor of cleaner, healthier forms of energy. Through our work on the Beyond Coal campaign, we’ve helped retire 60% of domestic coal plants, and are on track to retire 100% of the nation’s coal plants by 2030. Beyond Coal estimates that these plant closures have saved an estimated 7,600 lives, prevented nearly 12,000 heart attacks, and resulted in an estimated annual savings of $3.6 billion in health care costs. Beyond Coal has been named one of the most successful environmental campaigns in the country, and has inspired the launch of grassroots campaigns in Europe, Korea, Japan, and Australia. On this episode, Antha Williams – global head of Climate & Environment programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies – sits down with Mary Anne Hitt, the Sierra Club’s National Director of Campaigns, and Reverend Yearwood, the President and CEO of Hip Hop Caucus. Together, they discuss the impact of retiring coal plants and transitioning to clean energy, how climate justice and racial justice are connected, and why it’s important to vote for candidates who believe in climate change in the upcoming election.

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86. How Buenos Aires, Argentina Is Responding to COVID-19

This week, Johns Hopkins University data confirmed that the global coronavirus death toll crossed one million. Though we are learning new information about the virus every day, cities are home to 50% of the global population – and therefore at the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis. So the Partnership for Healthy Cities – which was created by Bloomberg Philanthropies to prevent noncommunicable diseases and injuries in 70 global cities – is stepping up and expanding its support for cities and local leaders during the pandemic. On this episode, Fernando Straface, the Secretary General and Secretary of Foreign Relations of the City of Buenos Aires, joins Dr. Kelly Henning – head of Bloomberg Philanthropies public health team. Together, they discuss how Buenos Aires is collaborating with other Latin American cities to coordinate coronavirus response, how the city government is utilizing data from its COVID-19 dashboard, and what’s keeping local leaders hopeful now.

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88. The Politics of Food

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed virtually everything about the way we live – including how we eat. The pandemic has drastically increased the number of people around the world who are food insecure, while obesity and other diet-related conditions like diabetes and hypertension increase the risk of hospitalization and severe illness from COVID-19. Improving the quality of our diets and building resilient food systems is critical to public health – which is why Bloomberg Philanthropies is investing another $250 million over the next five years in order to accelerate progress toward creating healthier food environments globally. On this episode, Dr. Neena Prasad, who leads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ food policy program, sits down with Dr. Marion Nestle - the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University, and a Visiting Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell. She recently wrote Let’s Ask Marion: What You Need to Know About the Politics of Food, Nutrition, and Health, a series of essays around food politics. Neena and Marion join the podcast this World Food Day to discuss why food is political; the connection between hunger, obesity, and climate change; and how the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need - and opportunities - to create a healthier and more socially just food system. This is the first episode in a mini-series around food policy. To learn more about Marion Nestle’s work, you can read her blog here: http://foodpolitics.com/ You can buy her book, Let’s Ask Marion: What You Need to Know About the Politics of Food, Nutrition, and Health, here: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520343238/lets-ask-marion