Talking Climate

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 runne

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 wi

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 r

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 De Novo Foodlabs, a startup with operations in North Carolina and C

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 pernicio

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 Wilkes Climate Launch Prize to the organization Build up Nepal. Build up Nepal ha

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 l

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 com

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 relia

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

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

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

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 hig

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 Houston, Texas, the $500,000 Wilkes Cli

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 Science Research Initiative, or SRI program.  His specialty is using

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.  N

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

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

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

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 Curator of Urban ecology at