Episodes

Our Black Executive series highlights Black people in pivotal roles in the Biden-Harris Administration. Given the Administration’s investment in climate and clean energy and its relatively short timeline, we want to ensure those individuals who have been tasked with what could accurately be called an “impossible feat” are seen and supported. Like the rest of us, they have humanity and their own vision for the work. While the Administration might not bring the entirety of their visions to fruitio...

Our Black Executive series highlights Black people in pivotal roles in the Biden-Harris Administration. Given the Administration’s investment in climate and clean energy and its relatively short timeline, we want to ensure those individuals who have been tasked with what could accurately be called an “impossible feat” are seen and supported. Like the rest of us, they have humanity and their own vision for the work. While the Administration might not bring the entirety of their visions to fruitio...

On this Special Episode of “The Coolest Show”, Reverend Yearwood & Jacqueline Patterson join the “Climate One Podcast” , Hosted by Greg Dalton and Ariana Brocious. From Climate One: Climate affects everyone, but not equally. Those affected first and worst are often the same communities that suffer from housing and income inequality, and climate and societal injustice. Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. has made striving for social, economic and climate justice his lifelong pursuit. A charismatic leader,...

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Since our last episode on Stop Cop City, signatures of more than 116,000 Atlanta residents were gathered and submitted to the City of Atlanta in support of adding a referendum on the ballot. Atlanta officials have contested the submissions and used tactics such as doxxing signatories and enforcing RICO charges on local organizers and protesters. The case remains in limbo as we await the 11th U.S. Circuit Court’s decision on whether or not a deadline extension for signatures was lawful. In this ...

2023 marks the 30th anniversary of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, a novel that prophesied the US’ rise in fascism and the global impact of the climate crisis. While Butler was unable to finish the trilogy in her lifetime and experienced frustrations encompassing climate solutions in her writing, people who continue to be inspired by her life and writings are building solutions Butler may have hoped for. The Black Hive @ M4BL recently launched Parable of the Movement, a narrative project ...

The influence of Hollywood’s media and entertainment is undeniable. The narratives we consume impact our daily decisions and even affect changes in legislation. There are many parallels between activists and artists/entertainers, as well as the industries they are working within or fighting to end. “Profits over people is the core foundation of the issue. Because if some folks weren’t so concerned, so concerned with so much profit, then they would change their business model to be something that...

Rev Yearwood was recently the keynote speaker at the University of Maryland’s Environmental Justice and Health Disparities Symposium. The symposium theme was “people, power, & politics,” highlighting energy justice, climate change, power dynamics in environmental justice, and the use of technology in environmental justice work. On this episode of The Coolest Show, Rev Yearwood delivers an eye-opening message on the result of recent climate events impacting communities, and how big business is d...

The scale of the climate crisis requires unprecedented investments to combat its causes and impacts. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) allocated $27 billion to EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), composed of three grant programs designed to: reduce greenhouse gas emissions; deliver the benefits of clean energy technologies to “low-income and disadvantaged” communities; and mobilize financing and private capital to stimulate the deployment of additional clean energy projects. Jahi Wise is...

In Memoriam The Coolest Show presents a Tribute to ibrahim abdul-matin, Activist, Author, and Leader. Abdul-Matin passed away in California on June 21, 2023, and we would like to honor him this Labor Day by replaying his interview with Reverend Yearwood from Season 3. Remember to love yourself and each other. It is important to be grounded when doing this work. For people like Rev Yearwood and Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, urban strategist and author, they ground themselves in their spiritual faith. The...

The Office of Economic Impact and Diversity at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) was established in 1978 by Congress. This Office was designed to ensure minority businesses and minority serving institutions could utilize DOE money, while also researching the effects of the energy system on Black and Brown communities. Prior to the Biden Administration, this Office was “underfunded, under-resourced, and structurally excluded from every policy conversation in the building for the last 50 years.”...

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The City of Atlanta has leased 381-acres of Weelaunee Forest, stolen Muscogee land, to the Atlanta Police Foundation for a police military facility funded by corporations. This would be the largest police training facility in the US in a primarily Black community who overwhelmingly oppose the project. Despite over fifteen hours of public comments against the project, the City Council has approved $67 million in public funding for Cop City. The plans include military-grade training facilities, a ...

The City of Atlanta has leased 381-acres of Weelaunee Forest, stolen Muscogee land, to the Atlanta Police Foundation for a police military facility funded by corporations. This would be the largest police training facility in the US in a primarily Black community who overwhelmingly oppose the project. Despite over fifteen hours of public comments against the project, the City Council has approved $67 million in public funding for Cop City. The plans include military-grade training facilities, a ...

Hip Hop Caucus joins with activists, organizers, faith leaders and the Atlanta community who are calling for a stop to Cop City, defending the Weelaunee Forest in Atlanta, Georgia, and honoring the life of environmental activist Tortuguita who was killed by Atlanta police in January. Police violence and environmental activism are intimately connected not only through the power dynamics of economics, but also in the way they disproportionately threaten the ability for Black and Brown people to b...

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There’s a generation of organizers and activists that are burning out before they reach or cement themselves in adulthood. While this isn’t a new phenomenon because young people have been the foundation of many movements, the scale of young people engaged in the climate movement and the wide impact of the climate crisis should prompt us to be intentional with their care and repair. On this episode of The Coolest Show Destiny Hodges speaks to climate activist Vic Barrett and Mitchelle Mhaka, coor...

The fossil fuel industry isn’t the only threat to our movement. It’s also how we treat each other. “Paradoxical osmosis” has us embracing the tactics of the oppression we swore we would usurp together. Lateral violence and burnout has people leaving the movement “cynical, bitter, jaded, and broken. And if that cycle continues, then this climate crisis will continue.” Tara Houska and Anthony Rogers-Wright join Rev Yearwood to reflect on their movement experience, the nonprofit industrial complex,...