How To Talk "Climate" To Keep People Safe – Allison Agsten, USC Center for Climate Journalism & Communications
Release Date: 04/07/2026
How To Talk "Climate" To Keep People Safe – Allison Agsten, USC Center for Climate Journalism & Communications
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“If there are people who are willing to talk to you about it, the first thing you got to do is listen….I grew up in a very rural area and it's very conservative also. And when I go home, I don't talk about climate change. I do talk about what's going on with hunting season. 'Oh, there's no deer this year. Why do you think that is? Tell me about the rain'….It is again about that pivoting and you have to understand what's important to the people you're talking to… I might say, 'I just upgraded my mom's generator. It's great because with all the outages we're having out here, now she can...
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How Carbon Credits Work – with Donna Lee, CEO & CoFounder, Calyx Global
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
"What I knew about Carbon Credits having watched them for many years is that they're not always what they seem...So, Calyx Global was founded in 2021 to help companies navigate the space, to really understand….(i)t's a promise that somebody has reduced methane in that landfill or planted some trees thousands of miles away. So that's what Calyx Global is, we're a Carbon Credit Ratings Agency. But really what we're doing is, for every one of these assets, helping buyers understand what's underneath that, what the quality of that asset is. Donna Lee on Electric Ladies Podcast You've...
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Creativity & Relationships Help Secure Grants – Megan Pater, CEO/Founder of Fund Nation & ECE Solutions
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“Number one reason that people get denied and they didn't read the eligibility criteria. So yeah, very, very important …If you don't have the qualifications or something for something, you partner with somebody who does and you guys go after it together.… If you don't know something, that gives you a reason to call the vendor and start that conversation and get that personal relationship with them.…Relationships, relationships, relationships. It really is the key to grants. It's really not about what you write, it's about who you're speaking to ahead of time." Megan Pater on Electric...
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"Healthcare Without Harm" to People & Planet – Dr. Katherine Gergen-Barnett & Dr. Anna Goldman, Boston Medical Center
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“Healthcare Without Harm is more of an advocacy organization that works with clinicians and other healthcare workers to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare and pollution as well as climate impacts. And then Practice Greenhealth advises hospitals on how to get there and they do this awards process…(which is) about having people aware of all these different metrics that impact your operational sustainability…(and) raise awareness among the people who are running the hospital and leadership about how they're using water, food waste, where they're buying their food from, their...
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New Nuclear Energy Is Growing Fast – Maria Korsnick, President and CEO, Nuclear Energy Institute
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“I've been in this industry for 40 years and we have never been at a moment like we are today. …About 10 years ago, a little bit more than that, the narrative at that time was we were closing down plants…. Now the narrative today is, Hey, you know what? Some of those plants you shut down, we've changed our mind. How hard would it be to restart that?... All of these hyperscalers (Google, Amazon, e.g.) are figuring out partnerships and marriages, if you will, with nuclear and trying to help nuclear be brought to the marketplace….I mean, the demand is off the charts, and that's really the...
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How To Pressure Electeds For Climate, Clean Air – Dominique Browning, Mom's Clean Air Force
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“We, the people we can definitely keep the pressure on, not only on our lawmakers, our governors, our mayors, our senators, our Congress people. We have to keep reminding them that we care about these issues…There's a real key also to the future reimagining, asking companies to reimagine themselves as energy companies, not oil companies or gas companies, but energy companies. So all of these pressure points are incredibly important. We all have favorite stores, favorite brands that we shop on. If you love Walmart writing to the customer services and to the president of Walmart saying,...
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How Hospitals Can Juggle 24/7 Care & Climate Impacts – Carol Gomes, CEO & COO of Stony Brook University Hospital
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“I believe in the power of people wishing to volunteer for initiatives rather than assignment of duties and responsibilities and having people feel as though it's a chore… (They) serve as champions in their areas to educate their fellow peers on what it means to be sustainable, what they can do that's in their power to contribute to the outcomes….And then as we started to become more mature…we formed structured committees, we leveraged those champions on the units to participate. We made it enjoyable in terms of participating. We actually have contests… (I)t just breeds excitement...
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How Utilities Are Evolving While Keeping The Lights On – Nicole Pearson & Brad Johnson of Bentley Systems
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
How Utilities Are Changing While Keeping The Lights On – Nicole Pearson & Brad Johnson of Bentley Systems “The really great thing about electric utilities is that they maintain a singular focus almost regardless of what's going on around them. It's safety, reliability, resilience. So they'll adapt and flex…They're not going to take a risk that sacrifices safety, that sacrifices your light coming on….The difference now that I've noticed is their willingness to move forward with technology and change decades, long processes and workflows and legacy built systems……. because...
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Using Software, AI To Reduce CO2 & Increase Resilience – Lydia Walpole & Chris Bradshaw of Bentley Systems
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
Using Software, AI To Reduce CO2 & Increase Resilience – Lydia Walpole & Chris Bradshaw of Bentley Systems “For example, if we have a concrete pile, we can change the parameters and use AI to suggest actually a more optimal design with regards to how much concrete is going to be used. So we quite often, as engineers, we are risk averse. So sometimes you can over design to make sure consequences in construction and infrastructure are real. We do need to be precise, but we can use AI to ensure that we have a reduced amount of carbon and concrete in that pile, but still meeting...
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88% of Companies Say Sustainability Creates Long-Term Value – Maura Hodge, KPMG Chief Sustainability Officer
Electric Ladies Podcast - Women Leaders Discuss Careers, Trends, Technologies and Innovation in Energy, Climate, and Corporate Responsibility
“There is value in being able to articulate the qualitative value of sustainability…And yes, obviously revenues can be attached to that, but obviously just the opportunity to open up new markets more broadly and innovate…There's the risk and compliance component, which tend to be more easy to actually quantify. And then there's the brand reputation…So you can make the case qualitatively in any of those three areas…There's this movement from morality to materiality now that CFOs are involved…We actually take that all the way to the financial statements, to the balance sheet, to the...
info_outline“If there are people who are willing to talk to you about it, the first thing you got to do is listen….I grew up in a very rural area and it's very conservative also. And when I go home, I don't talk about climate change. I do talk about what's going on with hunting season. 'Oh, there's no deer this year. Why do you think that is? Tell me about the rain'….It is again about that pivoting and you have to understand what's important to the people you're talking to… I might say, 'I just upgraded my mom's generator. It's great because with all the outages we're having out here, now she can get electricity and I know your husband's been sick, that could be something that could be really beneficial for you.' I do not mention climate change…I am putting out ideas that are going to save somebody's life, I'm responding to the situation of the people that I'm speaking with."
Allison Agsten on Electric Ladies Podcast
How do we keep people safe and sound in the face of ferocious weather, wildfires and floods, especially when they wince at the words "climate change"? Make it real for their world. How?
Listen to Allison Agsten, Director of the Center for Climate Journalism and Communications at the University of Southern California in this fascinating conversation with Electric Ladies Podcast host Joan Michelson. She also curates art at the intersection of art and climate at the Wrigley Marine Science Center.
You’ll hear about:
- How to keep people safe with adaptation strategies without talking about climate change.
- How art and climate intersect and how it helps people stay safe.
- How to combat disinformation and misinformation…and so much more
- Plus, career advice, such as:
"When I talk to women who are at some point in their careers and they're thinking of joining our sustainability communicator cohort, they always say to me, I just don't know if my skills are translatable. Yeah, they are. I can help you think about the language…It's scary because I've done it myself. I've made a number of career pivots, but to me, even scarier is not taking that chance and having the opportunity to feel really good about the work you do every day….I sleep well at night because I know that I used the skills that I have to do the thing that I think is most important.” Allison Agsten on Electric Ladies Podcast
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You’ll also like:
- How to Talk About Climate in a Polarized Culture - with Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D., Climate Scientist, Professor at Texas Tech University and Chief Scientist at The Nature Conservancy
- Seek First to Understand - with Jennifer Hough, Advisor, TEDx Speaker, Author
- How Do We Talk About Climate? - with Jill Tidman, Executive Director of The Redford Center, nonprofit producing environmental documentaries and media
- What's a Tech Humanist? - with Kate O'Neill, Speaker, Tech Humanist, Author
- The Politics of Climate & Energy – with Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, Co-Chair, Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus
- How Climate Modelling Affects Everything – Maria Caffrey, Ph.D., Principal Scientist, UK’s National Physical Laboratory
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