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Episode 259Aug 19, 2020

The climate is still changing

Man, it’s a hot one.

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Damaged grain bins are shown at the Heartland Co-Op grain elevator on August 11, 2020 in Luther, Iowa. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said early estimates indicate 10 million acres, nearly a 1/3 of the states land used for crops, were damaged when a powerful storm battered the region a day earlier.
Damaged grain bins are shown at the Heartland Co-Op grain elevator on August 11, 2020 in Luther, Iowa. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said early estimates indicate 10 million acres, nearly a 1/3 of the states land used for crops, were damaged when a powerful storm battered the region a day earlier.
Daniel Acker/Getty Images

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It’s not easy to keep your eye on the ball with an election, an economic collapse and a pandemic hanging over your head, but here’s the thing: Climate change is as much of an existential threat as it ever was.

The Trump administration has dismantled dozens of environmental regulations during the president’s first term. Of the 100 rules the White House targeted, 68 have been reversed. And while much of that effort predated the COVID-19 pandemic, the administration has used the crisis to justify some of its recent actions. In June, for instance, President Trump signed an executive order calling on government agencies to waive environmental requirements to fast-track infrastructure projects in a bid to revive the flailing economy.

It’s a lot. Here to help us get our heads on straight is Kendra Pierre-Louis. She was a reporter on The New York Times’ climate team and now works on Gimlet’s podcast “How to Save a Planet.” Pierre-Louis will help us put the recent rule changes in perspective and provide insight on how the pandemic plays into it all. Ultimately, she’s hopeful we can save our environment after all.

Later, we’ll hear from listeners and experts on voting concerns, the digital divide and what effect all those disposable face masks could have on the environment. Man, it’s a hot one.

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Here’s a list of everything we talked about today:

The Team