Episodes

The Black church has played a major role in many social justice movements. There is a history of politicians and the climate movement being transactional and extractive with Black churches. Rev Yearwood speaks with Rev. Michael Malcom, the Executive Director of Alabama Interfaith Power and Light. He shares insight on the performance of worship, the role of the Black church in the movement, and the intersections of church and climate. The post Ecology of Liberation w/ Rev. Michael Malcom appeare...

Many grassroots organizations have found themselves in a competition for support from donors. Unfortunately, organizations vying for attention have created a circumstance where groups step on each other for resources, leaving those who need help the most buried. Rev Yearwood speaks with Actress, Activist, and Author Alyssa Milano about her work connecting organizations to people on the ground in the movement. Alyssa dives into the realities of being a celebrity activist, cancel culture, and the...

Historically in the United States, building new or better communities hasn’t always benefited people of color in these areas who have been systematically oppressed due to tactics like redlining and gentrification. President Biden’s proposal of the Build Back Better plan will include investments in infrastructure and is projected to create 10 million clean-energy jobs. Expenditures would also have government funds on housing, education, economic fairness, and health care. Rev Yearwood Speaks wi...

The fight for Energy Justice has an adversary posing as a friend. The fossil fuel companies have begun to use their tactics in the clean energy space by taking indigenous lands to create solar farms in Hawaii and other island nations that have historically depended on their energy solutions from outside sources. Rev Yearwood speaks with Raya Salter, the “Climate Auntie,” an attorney, consultant, educator, and the Lead Policy Organizer for the NY Renews Climate Justice Coalition. Raya explains t...

Transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy has been a hot issue for activists, communities, and the people most affected by the climate crisis. While actions like mountain top removal pollute the air, water, and food in neighborhoods surrounding the Appellation region in West Virginia and Kentucky, 68% of Black Americans also reside near coal fire power plants in their communities, making this an issue that affects us all. Rev Yearwood speaks with Mary Anne Hitt, the Senior Director of Cli...

Everything is interdisciplinary and intersectional. As our analysis of the world evolves to include the root of our issues (global racial capitalism and white supremacy), it must inform our work. Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, columnist, and author. Naomi discusses with Rev Yearwood the effects of exploiting states of trauma from Climate Gentrification, building public support for fights with fossil fuel companies, and reflections on President Biden’s first 100 days in office. The ...

Energy Combat requires a hand-to-hand fight with policymakers and interest groups who have persuaded the passing of laws that benefit corporations and disengage communities most affected. Dr. Leah Stokes, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, discusses with Rev Yearwood her book “Short-Circuiting Policy”. She shares the tactics that Fossil Fuels companies use over the years, from graduating from Climate Denial to now Climate Delay and even hiring actors to protest i...

Energy poverty is the lack of access to reliable energy, and energy insecurity stems from the lack of affordability and a higher energy burden due to cost, infrastructure, and more. In the midst of a pandemic disproportionately impacting low income and people of color, a federal mandate on energy shut offs would have averted almost 15% of COVID-19 deaths (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2021). In this episode, Rev Yearwood speaks with Shalanda Baker, the deputy director for energy justice ...

The climate movement has missed its chance to intersect with other fights for equality since the 1960s. The Environmental Justice movement has been treated like an unwanted stepchild during this time. The stakes are high now, and fossil fuel companies’ business plan leads to a death sentence for our people. The Coolest Show speaks with Climate Justice writer Mary Annaïse Heglar and journalist Amy Westervelt, host of the Hot Takes Podcast. We discuss religion in the climate space and the differen...

This Good Friday, The Coolest Show presents a difficult discussion intersecting Climate, Religion, Family, and Race. Rev Yearwood speaks with Anna Jane Joyner, the founder of the Good Energy Project and co-host of the No Place Like Home podcast. Anna Jane is also the daughter of Rick Joyner, an evangelical preacher who has called for white evangelicals to arm themselves against Liberals. Anna Jane gives us a personal account of who her father is and where she draws the line between family ties a...

Environmental Liberation is a movement for and by Black people. Nature is an integral part of African spiritual systems, and the extractive systems of global racial capitalism disconnect Black people from their essence. This week on The Coolest Show, we speak with Ayana Albertini-Fleurant, the Co-executive director and policy director, and Jaylin Ward, the diaspora engagement director at Generation Green. They share with Rev Yearwood the roots and significance of Environmental Liberation while g...

In the words of Leah Thomas, “Intersectional Environmentalism would not exist without environmental justice… They work together really harmoniously.” Leah Thomas is the founder of Intersectional Environmentalism and Green Girls Co. Leah Shares with Rev the targeting of Black environmentalists with wokewashing, the need for cannabis reparations, and the environmental movement historically ignoring the intersectionality of other movements. The post Intersectional Environmentalism w/ Leah Thomas a...

Black people are environmentalists. Eco-conscious and zero-waste lifestyles are inherently Black and Indigenous. While the climate and environmental movement is labeled progressive, it is failing to ensure that our climate future centers Black lives. Wanjiku “WaWa” Gatheru is the founder of Black Girl Environmentalist. WaWa shares with us her research on colorism as a barrier to the outdoors, destroying green ceilings, and creating spaces that center BIPOC folx. The post Black Girl Environmenta...

There has been disinvestment in Black and brown communities. You can see how a city treats its people by exploring the environment. Resources tend to show up in these communities as the neighborhoods become gentrified. Better stores, cleaner streets, parks, and upgraded schools are usually a by-product of this upscaling. Kerene Tayloe is the Director of Federal Legislative Affairs at WE ACT for Environmental Justice (WE ACT). Kerene shares with us WE ACT’s history of educating the community, the...

Sanitation is a nation-wide issue for rural communities. America’s dirty secret is that there are third-world conditions in the richest country in the world. Lowndes County, Alabama is home to the original Black Panther Party, also known as the Lowndes County Freedom Party. 34 percent of its residents tested positive for hookworm, known as a disease of poverty. Catherine Coleman Flowers, a native to Lowndes County and founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ), ...

We are back with a special 4-part series on transportation justice, trucking, and the climate crisis. In this 4th and final part of this special series, after visiting Long Beach, Kansas City, and Chicago, we now take a national view. And we dive into the question of why and how poor Black and brown people can and can’t move freely within cities and within our country. Part 4 of the Transportation Series features Darnell Grisby, the Executive Director of TransForm and a national thought leader ...

We are back with a special 4-part series on transportation justice, trucking, and the climate crisis. Part 3 of this series lands us in the Chicago region, where North America’s largest inland port is just 40 miles southwest of the city. Approximately 3.5% of America's GDP flows through this area, yet resources are purposely withheld from the community. While industry seeks to pit laborers against the community, leaders like Roberto Clack, the Associate Director of Warehouse Workers for Justice ...

We are back with a special 4-part series on transportation justice, trucking, and the climate crisis. In part 2 of this special series we visit Kansas City. Kansas City straddles the border of Missouri and Kansas, serving as a midpoint between the West and East coasts of the United States. This inland port is polluted with rail yards, highways with heavy freight traffic, and petrochemical facilities. In part 2 of The Coolest Show’s Transportation Series, we visit Kansas City and speak with commu...

We are back with a special 4-part series on transportation justice, trucking, and the climate crisis. In part 1 of this special series we travel to Long Beach, California to speak with community and national leaders Laura Cortez, the Co-Director of the East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, and Angelo Logan, the Director of the Moving Forward Network. Long Beach is a port city in Southern California and the site of ship traffic, oil refineries, and cancer clusters along freeways. Elect...

This is the finale to season 2 of The Coolest Show! There is no guest, it’s our host, Rev Yearwood, sharing his reflections on this season. It’s been quite a year and we’re so honored to have been able to continue this show through the pandemic, through the increasing climate disasters we are working so hard to stop, through the 2020 election, and most profoundly, through our society’s largest-scale reckoning on racial justice in decades. This season of The Coolest Show wove together all these i...

Philanthropy operates in fundamentally unjust, oppressive systems. In order to be effective, grassroots work must be funded with unrestricted money, offering core support with grassroots intermediaries who know the work. The CLIMA Fund is led by Kate Kroeger, the Executive Director of Urgent Action Fund, Laura García, President and CEO of Global Greengrants Fund, and Solomé Lemma, the Executive Director of Thousand Currents. We caught up with them to discuss racism in philanthropy, moving money ...

We continue the discussion in this 2 part series recorded live in November 2019 from Media Impact Funders in Boulder Colorado. Thomas Lopez Jr. Thomas is an activist, water protector, defender, and the Partnerships Coordinator for Future Coalition. We caught up with him to discuss tokenization, cultural assimilation of Indigenous people, and how assimilation affected the lost in values and traditions for the next generation.

In this 2 part series recorded in November 2019, Rev. Yearwood travels to Boulder Colorado to host a town hall at Media Impact Funders. He is joined by co-host Vic Barrett from Our Children's Trust. Kaitlin Yarnall is the Chief Storytelling Officer at the National Geographic Society. We caught up with her to discuss the importance of comprehensive storytelling, how National Geographic has played a role in informing people about climate change, and her role in that process. Listen now! More at Th...

We had the largest voter turnout in history in the 2020 election. “The status quo is no longer acceptable… We need to push further.” Tina Johnson is the Director of the National Black Environmental Justice Network. We caught up with her to discuss the EPA turning 50, the energy of young people in the EJ movement, and Black women leading. Listen now! More at TheCoolestShow.com and @Think100Climate. #EnvironmentalJustice #RacialJusticeNow #Think100