Episodes

As the pandemic continues, so are the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks. With weakened restrictions on monitoring air pollution, we have no idea how bad it really is. Heather McTeer Toney is the National Field Director of Moms Clean Air Force, former mayor of Greenville, Mississippi, and former Regional Administrator for the EPA under the Obama administration. We caught up with her to discuss environmental policy, trust building, and internal transformation. Listen now! More at TheC...

Young climate activists carry the weight of the world on their shoulders in a world that is ever presenting new crises and challenges. How do they cope? How do they thrive? . Jamie Margolin is the co-founder of This Is Zero Hour and author of Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use It. We caught up with her to discuss 21st century activism, colonialism and the climate crisis, intersectional environmentalism, and her new book. Listen now! More at TheCoolestShow.com and @Think100Climate. #Inters...

Words are powerful and even revolutionary. rt and culture connects our experiences and uplifts.. As an acclaimed poet, author, executive producer of Black Women Rock!, and CEO of Moore Black Press, jessica Care Moore represents the nexus of hip hop, activism, and storytelling. We caught up with her to discuss the power of poetry, knowing Black history, her hometown of Detroit, environmental justice, and her newest book We Want Our Bodies Back. More at TheCoolestShow.com and @Think100Climate. #No...

How do we create a world where sustainability values of social cohesion, environmental consciousness, inter-generational equity, and economic health are the drivers of decision-making and business practices? This is the vision of global citizen Marilyn Waite, who leads the climate and clean energy finance portfolio at the Hewlett Foundation. We caught up with Marilyn to discuss some of the steps to make that vision a reality, which requires course correcting the climate movement to become anti-r...

Systemic racism and structural inequity is deeply rooted in the history of America. But it’s not history - it’s reality for Indigenous people and people of color in 2020. As an Ingigenous leader and freedom fighter, Tara Houska is on the frontlines, using her skills as a lawyer and organizer against the machines of injustice. We caught up with her to discuss her work to stop the Line 3 Tarsands oil pipeline, COVID-19’s impact on Indigenous people, the intersection of Indigenous rights and the Bl...

While we are being killed by police and vigilante violence, we are also dying a death of a thousand cuts by pollution in our lungs. Corporations poison our air and water, violate our rules and laws hundreds of times over. But we are up against a three strikes and you’re out justice system. One out of every three Black boys born today can expect to go to prison in their lifetime, but polluters never end up behind bars. These are the realities of injustice in our country that Jacqui Patterson, Dir...

Advocating for what is right has been a journey, and Dr. Adrienne Hollis sits down with Rev to remind us that now is not the time to fear while facing the challenges ahead. Dr. Hollis is the Senior Climate Justice and Health Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She recounts what influenced her to study law and science and the impact of the youth in the climate justice movement. Rev and Dr. Hollis address the influential green organizations and the lack of diversity in these establishm...

In a period of powerful uprising for racial justice, we armor ourselves with love.. The living legend Dr. Mildred McClain joins The Coolest Show this week and shares why love is her leading force, how we can draw inspiration from those who came before us, and the necessity of communities of color taking the lead. Dr. Mildred McClain co-founded and is Executive Director of the Harambee House/Citizens For Environmental Justice, a community based organization in Savannah, Georgia, whose mission is ...

The movement for Black lives and climate justice are about the right to breathe. It is vital to understand that. Once you have listened to Tamika Mallory and Rev Yearwood in the previous episode, listen to this conversation with Emerald Snipes Garner. Her father was Eric Garner, who was choked and killed by NYPD in 2014. His last words, which were recorded on video for the world to see, were “I can’t breathe.” George Floyd cried out with the same words less than two weeks ago in Minneapolis and ...

And like that, everything changed. Since last episode, we are in a new paradigm, one that solidifies the fact that the movements to end systemic racism and to stop the climate crisis are one in the same. Climate justice is racial justice. National leader Tamika Mallory, co-founder of the Women’s March and Until Freedom, joins Rev Yearwood to discuss why we must all come together to challenge police violence, racism, and environmental injustice. Rev Yearwood caught up with Tamika as she was on th...

This week we go to “communiversity” in the deep south. Dr. Beverly Wright, environmental justice pioneer and movement matriarch, joins The Coolest Show to share her infinite wisdom on how we create equitable climate solutions and her perspective on how COVID-19 has impacted New Orleans worse than Hurricane Katrina. In addition to being a scholar, advocate, author, civic leader, and professor of sociology, she is the founding Executive Director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, ...

Returning from a brief hiatus due to COVID-19, Season 2 of The Coolest Show on Climate Change is back with weekly episodes. We could not return with a more insightful interview than this week’s conversation with Elizabeth Yeampierre, Executive Director of UPROSE, Brooklyn's, oldest Latino community-based organization. UPROSE is an intergenerational, multi-racial, nationally recognized community organization, which promotes sustainability and resiliency in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood. Rev...

Regina Hall, award-winning actress and producer, joins Hip Hop Caucus’ Think 100% Show to discuss her commitment to ‘Mama Earth’, clean energy’s role in addressing the racial wealth gap, and divestment from fossil fuels and investment in just and healthy solutions. Her empowering conversation with Think 100% cohost Antonique Smith also explores the importance of building a more inclusive and diverse climate movement. More at Think100.info.

In this episode, we come to you live from Orlando for an inspiring conversation about local solutions at the 2019 National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA). Brandi Williams, Hip Hop Caucus’ Charlotte, NC Leadership Committee Coordinator guest hosts. She chats with City of Orlando Sustainability Director, Chris Castro, and Florida activists, Michelle Suarez and Robin Harris. They engage in a deep conversation following the film screening of Paris to Pittsburgh, a new film from Nation...

Women, people of color, and young people are leading the climate movement. Three leaders join The Coolest Show live at the 4th National Adaptation Forum in Madison, Wisconsin. They discuss how they’re working at the intersections of the climate crisis and building stronger communities through local action and just-solutions. Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. hosts along with co-hosts, Mustafa Santiago Ali and Antonique Smith.

In this episode, we come to you live from Brooklyn at the Confluence Philanthropy Annual Practitioner’s Gathering with legendary journalist and co-founder/host of Democracy Now, Amy Goodman, highly recognized New York based poet/Hip-Hop artist and incarcerated youth activist, Messiah Ramkissoon, and Executive Director of Wallace Global Fund, Dr. Ellen Dorsey. Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. hosts along with co-hosts, Mustafa Santiago Ali and Antonique Smith.

Host, Antonique Smith is joined by Actor and Activist, Kendrick Sampson to discuss the importance of “artivism”, how artists are using their platforms for activism, and the need to confront issues gridlocking justice and the climate crisis, including race, politics, and money.

In this episode, we take time to listen to Zero Hour’s Jamie Margolin, and Future Coalition’s Executive Director, Katie Eder, discussing the September 20th Global Climate Strike and why we need to act now on climate in order to create the necessary framework for real change to occur. Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. hosts.

On this episode, we record in front of a live audience at Netroots Nation. We are joined by Vic Barrett of Our Children’s Trust, the incredible youth climate group that is suing the federal government over damages caused by climate change. We discuss what it is like being young and powerful in this movement and what it means to be suing your government for denying you from your life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. hosts along with co-host, Antonique Smith.

Jay Inslee, who recently announced that he’s running for President, joins The Coolest Show to discuss why addressing climate change with equity and justice should be the top priority of our elected leaders. He sits down to breakdown how he, as the governor of Washington state, has put communities of color at the forefront of climate solutions and the need for diversity in the environmental movement. Mustafa Santiago Ali hosts.

In this documentary style episode, we cover the first hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives on Climate Change in 10 years. It was held on February 6th, by the Natural Resources Committee. Our very own Rev. Yearwood testified and his message was challenged by a frontman for the fossil fuel industry, Derrick Hollie of Reaching America, who travels the country claiming the transition to clean energy is bad for African Americans. Rev Yearwood handedly took down Mr. Hollie’s claims. In this ep...

In part two of our special “State of the Climate Movement” series, we are joined by a group of prominent activists and experts to continue the conversation on lack of diversity in mainstream environmental NGOs and Foundations. Guests give testimonials on what it’s like to be a person of color at an environmental organization and discuss solutions to strengthen our collective effort for thriving communities and a healthy planet. Special guests include Dr. Michael Dorsey, Dr. Adrienne Hollis, Rose...

In part one of our special “State of the Climate Movement” series, we are joined by Green 2.0’s Whitney Tome and Erika West to discuss their new eye-opening report that traditional environmental non-profit organizations and foundations are actually becoming less racially and ethnically diverse. Their decline in diversity is not good for our collective ability to win on climate change, but there are solutions. Find Green 2.0’s report at DiverseGreen.org. Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. hosts along with ...

In this documentary style episode, we hear from a Member of the Omaha Tribe and Human Rights Activist, Nathan Phillips, who dives into what the Indigenous People’s Movement is about, what our climate movement can do to follow the knowledge, wisdom and expertise of Indigenous people’s across this country and the world, and the crossroads the Catholic Church is at today between a culture of division and a vehicle of peace. We also hear from Chase Iron Eyes of Lakota Law Project, Quese IMC, an awar...