Shows
Climate PapaDigital infrastructure for the EV revolution with Apoorv Bhargava, CEO WeaveGridWhat happens when you take the two biggest sources of emissions in the US—transportation and electricity—and smash them together at breakneck speed?In this episode of Climate Papa, I sit down with Apoorv Bhargava, the co-founder and CEO of WeaveGrid. We explore the massive, unfolding challenge and opportunity of integrating millions of electric vehicles onto a grid that wasn't built for them. WeaveGrid sits at the very center—building the critical software layer to orchestrate this transition, turning EVs from a potential liability into a powerful asset for a cleaner, more resilient energy system.We div...2025-07-1459 minClimate PapaHow companies can actually build and buy clean energy with Ever.green's Michael LeggettBen sits down with Michael Leggett—former Google and Facebook design leader turned climate entrepreneur—to explore the invisible but essential machinery behind the clean energy economy. Michael is the co-founder and Head of Product at Ever.green, a startup working to democratize access to high-impact renewable energy deals.Ben and Michael go deep into the world of renewable energy credits (RECs), power purchase agreements (PPAs), and the shifting landscape of carbon accounting. Why is it that only ~1,000 companies today participate in the kind of long-term clean energy contracts that actually help bring new solar and wind proj...2025-05-201h 17
VoltsMe, on the Climate Papa podcastIn this episode, the tables are turned: I'm the guest of the Climate Papa podcast, interviewed by host Ben Eidelson. We discuss the nested fractal puzzle of decarbonization, the critical importance of the grid and urban land use, and why now is the most exciting time to jump into climate work. Plus, I share some thoughts on parenting and avoiding tech-bro culture as the climate space evolves. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe2025-04-251h 25Climate PapaClimate Papa × Volts: Live with David RobertsIn this live crossover episode of Climate Papa and Volts, I sit down with renowned climate journalist David Roberts for a conversation bridging the personal and the planetary. David traces his unlikely path from doctoral philosophy drop out into journalism—and how his early love of systems thinking shapes his work today.We dive into the puzzle that is the energy transition. With clean energy solutions now tangible and increasingly affordable, David sees his role not just as a reporter, but as a guide through the nested challenges of decarbonization—from grid reform to housing to the poli...2025-03-311h 26
American Campus PodcastThe American Psychological Association and the War on Terror with Roy EidelsonOn the APA's collaboration with CIA to develop 'enhanced interrogation techniques' for the U.S. War on Terror. Plus, Eidelson's advice for how we can hold our academic and professional organizations accountable when they violate their stated missions.Mentioned in the show:Roy J. Eidelson. 2023. Doing Harm: How the World’s Largest Psychological Association Lost Its Way in the War on Terror. McGill-Queens University Press.Roy J. Eidelson. 2018. Political Mind Games: How the 1% Manipulate Our Understanding of What’s Happening, What’s Right, and What’s Possible. Green Hall Books. [Free PDF]Roy Eidelson’s websiteProPoublica, American P...2025-03-1936 minClimate PapaLeveraging product scale for the climate with Google's Director of Product for Climate & Sustainability, Travis McCoyWhat if the biggest climate impact from companies like Google wasn’t in their operations, but in how they shape the decisions of billions of people?In this episode of Climate Papa, I sit down with Travis McCoy, Director of Product for Sustainability at Google. We talk about his journey into climate, the pivotal moment that pushed him to make the leap, and how Google is leveraging its massive distribution to help individuals, businesses, and governments make lower-carbon choices.Travis shares why he believes climate action isn’t just about reducing emissions—it’s about changing...2025-03-1952 min
Climate Papa#24: The Stepchange Podcast: Coal Part IToday I'm excited to introduce a new project, the Stepchange podcast, where we share the stories of human progress. Like Climate Papa, it's driven by a curiosity about the systems that shape our world, but focuses on the historical innovations and moments that got us here and the transformations happening now.
The show is a long-form conversation hosted by me and Anay where we unpack the technologies, systems, and infrastructure that underpin modern life. Our first episode explores coal's role in the Industrial Revolution - a story that echoes through to the many fuel debated today. You...2025-01-222h 54Climate Papa#23: Making sense of the Los Angeles fires with Jay Ribakove from Convective CapitalThere was a fire that burned for 29 hours. It destroyed over 17,000 buildings, killed over 300 people, and left more than 100,000 homeless. This was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Out of the ashes, Chicago rebuilt itself into a global model of resilience. The disaster spurred major changes, including the use of fire-resistant building materials, stricter safety codes, the expansion of the fire department, and the modernization of water and sewer systems. It ultimately set the conditions for Chicago to become the birthplace of the skyscraper and a leader in architecture and urban planning.
The fires in Los Angeles are...2025-01-1739 minClimate Papa#22: Cooking as medicine for our bodies and our planet with chef Joel GamoranOn this show, we’ve explored how people can make infrastructure changes in their lives that have long-term positive climate impacts—whether it’s upgrading your furnace to a heat pump or switching from a gas car to an EV. Food is on the other end of the spectrum. It’s the ultimate behavioral challenge: the average person has three meals a day, 21 meals a week. That's over 1,000 meals a year or 5,000 decisions over five years. Compare that to the one-time choice of a car you may drive for five years. Each of these meals—and how we prepare them—has a...2025-01-011h 05Climate Papa#21: Digging down deep for (near) free heat with Kathy Hannun of Dandelion EnergyI sit down with Kathy Hannun--the founder of Dandelion Energy, a geothermal heat pump comany that she spun out of Google X. What is a geothermal heat pump? Well, if you go outside and drill a hole a few hundred feet below ground you would get to a stable temperature--somewhere in the 50-60 degrees range. This earth is a fantastic place to transfer heat to and from. You can then cycle a fluid (like water) down there and use the transfer of heat to very efficiently heat or cool a home via a heatpump. In fact, a geothermal heatpump...2024-11-1357 minClimate Papa#20: The other half of Stepchange’s origin story: integrating fatherhood, investing, and a values-driven life with Anay ShahA bit over a year ago Ben met Anay Shah. In the months that followed Anay and Ben spent hours, then days, then months bringing forth Stepchange. Anay has not only become a fund co-founder and close friend—he’s also shared in the joy of parallel newborn parenting—both he and Ben had new babies less than a month apart over the summer.
Together, they explore Anay’s journey from his early days at the State Department to leadership roles at global fintech startups (Remitly and Tala), focusing on financial inclusion in emerging markets, and how that pat...2024-10-241h 21Climate Papa#19: Unlocking home decarbonization and a side of bluegrass, with Jeff ColemanHow do we get the money from climate legislation into the hands of someone buying a heat pump or solar? Between passing legislation, like the Inflation Reducaiton Act (IRA), and a homeowner getting new devices to run their homes there is a major coordination, paperwork, and financing problem to orchestrate. In this episode Ben interviews Jeff Coleman, founder and CEO of Eli Technologies, and fellow climate dad. Jeff’s career has a theme of building digital infrastructure to drive systemic change. He worked on the 2008 Obama campaign, numerous non-profits, and built the digital tools behind Access Clean California. This al...2024-07-261h 01Climate Papa#18: A very special Father's DayThis episode is a bit more papa and a bit less climate. Ben shares some family news and processes it with his 6-year-old and 3-year-old. They hit on some climate topics, the purpose of ants, and what was in the universe before earth. Kids are the best.
Happy Father’s Day to all the fellow climate papas out there.
Referenced in the episode:
Last year’s Father’s Day special
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
In other fun news, I made Bloomberg Green’s “13 Most Influentia...2024-06-1811 minClimate Papa#17: Why we must understand the present with Nat BullardThe presentation: Decarbonization: Stocks and flows, abundance and scarcity, net zero
In 1995, a Morgan Stanley analyst named Mary Meeker released a report called The Internet Trends Report. In 2001 it became a slide deck. Each year the release of the annual Mary Meeker deck was eagerly devoured by those trying to understand what's going on in technology1. It informed public market and venture capital investment decisions, led to board room strategy shifts, and rippled across the industry.
Those of us interested in climate and the societal and infrastructural response to climate now have our annual trend...2024-04-1142 min
CleanTechies#158 Product-Led ClimateTech, Exiting to Big Tech TWICE, Being a Climate Papa, & More w/ Ben Eidelson (Stepchange, Climate Papa)In this episode, I chat with Ben Eidelson, Co-founder & GP of Stepchange, an early-stage venture fund that invests in product-led companies that will make a “step change”, pun intended, I’m guessing?, impact on climate. When editing the episode, Alex, our executive producer, told us he could already tell one of our best episodes yet. I very much agree. This turned out to be the VC meets product meets content special I was hoping it would be. We discuss all things product in climate, Ben being a 2 time exited founder to big tech, starting a climate fund in this...2024-02-2251 minClimate Papa#16 - Introducing Stepchange, our new venture fundAs the first episode of the year, I’m focusing on a bit of a personal update. Today, I'm announcing the launch of a new climate venture fund, Stepchange. I use this week's episode to share the story behind the fund.
I struggled with putting this episode out—I felt self-conscious spending the time promoting my work so publicly. But I believe that investing our money, our time, and our social capital in these startups is the best thing that I can do right now to make a difference. These companies will be critical to our energy tran...2024-01-111h 14Climate Papa#15: Making the climate revolution irresistible with Nicole KelnerSee Nicole's work referenced here.
The world of climate tech is small and something happened about two years ago. From climate newsletters to Twitter accounts and LinkedIn posts... everything became more...colorful. There were stunning watercolors explaining the carbon cycle in oceans, the carbon impact of a hamburger, or the way that heat pump works to magically transfer heat into a home. Nicole Kelner had arrived on the scene. Taking her unique water color style and combining it with a deep desire to understand, and communicate, climate solutions.
In this conversation, Nicole...2024-01-0146 minClimate Papa#14: The urgency of this decade and YC's role in climate tech with David RusenkoIt was the summer of 2022 and David Rusenko had completed 15 years of a classic Silicon Valley success story. It started back in 2007 when he applied to the 4th batch of YC two hours before the deadline with his startup--Weebly. He grew Weebly, a website and ecommerce platform, to hundreds of employees and hundreds of millions in revenue and was acquired by Square in 2018. At Square he took on integrating Weebly and leading all of the growing company’s ecommerce products. When it came time for David to pop his head out to think about what was next he came to a...2023-11-1554 minClimate Papa#13: Maximizing climate impact and minimizing parental jerkhood with Dimitry GershensonBen sits down with fellow climate papa, Dimitry Gershenson. They head off the deep end into how to balance being a present father with being present for your start up ambitions. They explore if founding a startup makes you more of a jerk to your kids and the importance of vulnerability and apology when you mess up. They reflect on how those same skills make you a much better parent, partner, and leader.
They then turn to the money that makes the world go round and the gaps in the climate funding markets where there’s not en...2023-10-171h 06Climate PapaA personal message on IsraelI wasn't sure if I should put an episode out this week. I feel like at any given moment nearly 100% of my mind and attention and definitely my emotional energy has been on processing the events over this last weekend in Israel.
Climate Papa is not a news podcast and certainly not a geopolitical podcast. But this is a personal podcast--it's been a space over the last few months where I've shared a lot about what I'm thinking about and processing. It's a bit of a window into my lens on the world. And this week I’ve...2023-10-1703 minClimate Papa#12: What can the Climate Movement Learn From the Jewish High Holidays?Announcement: It’s PNW Climate Week next week and I’m going to host the first ever Climate Papa meetup! Next Wednesday, September 27th, at 3:30pm at Volunteer Park. Register here!
Fall is here—the leaves are changing and it’s back to school season. This time of year always feels like the “real” start to the year. Coincidentally, it’s when the Jewish High Holidays begin, the New Year, Rosh Hashanah, followed by Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. What does this have to do with climate change? Well, Jews have been on an annual rhythm of “rep...2023-09-2255 minClimate Papa#11: The Health Risks of Gas Stoves and the Future of Cooking with Weldon KennedyWell, we made it ten episodes in before hitting on the most emotionally charged of home appliances—the cooktop. Despite gas stoves not being a significant cause of emissions, they are a clever lock-in device used to drive homeowners to want to keep (or even add) gas hookups to their homes. The plan may ultimately backfire as we all become aware of how terrible it is for our (and especially our kids’) health to be combusting gas inside our homes. Fortunately, there’s a quiet, powerful, and clean alternative — induction cooking.
Ben chats with Weldon about the joyous e...2023-09-0840 minClimate Papa#10: The magic devices that cool (and heat) our homes and how to perfect them with Bill KeeIt's the middle of August. For most of us, this is a hot and humid time of year--especially with heat waves raging across much of the world. To deal with more extreme temperatures we're going to need effective cooling, and a lot of it, quickly. Fortunately, we have the right device that can suck heat out (or push it into) our homes — heat pumps.
Ben chats with Bill to get to the bottom of how heat pumps work their magic. They unpack how ductless systems make sense as the "platform of the future" for the ideal experience an...2023-08-1741 minClimate Papa#9: Methane bubble baths, bad unit conversions, and working at the frontier with Erika ReinhardtBen and Erika Reinhardt hop on post-bedtime to trade stories about their 5 and 2.5 year olds and make bathtub greenhouse gas analogies.
Erika has made it her, and Spark Climate’s, mission to find and invest in the solutions we are likely or possibly going to need in the future that are, today, woefully behind. This has led to a focus on methane–currently responsible for 0.5°C of warming. Despite methane being a leading cause (and the biggest lever) to impact near-term warming, we don’t have a plan for eliminating enteric methane or any options for atmospheric methane...2023-07-1358 minClimate Papa#8: Decarbonizing Seattle and Loving Cities with Jessyn FarrellJessyn Farrell, Director of Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment, sits down in her living room to chat with Ben about all of Seattle’s decarbonization plans. But first, two of Jessyn’s kids express their lukewarm feelings about podcasting and begrudgingly kick off the show.
They cover Jessyn’s love of cities, transit, and orca whales. This opens up into a broad conversation covering all of the things we need to do to decarbonize Seattle and the amazing future that’s in reach if we push to quickly upgrade our homes, neighborhoods, and city. They cover why...2023-06-3046 minClimate Papa#7: Noaa Avital Cohn - Data to Energy to SurrenderBen catches up with long-time friend Noaa. They quickly establish that Ben would not be a very effective sports podcaster.
They dive into Noaa’s transition from building cloud data platforms to building energy marketplaces and explore the challenge and importance of measuring impact in climate companies. Halfway through, Noaa flips the script and pushes Ben on what he’s doing with his career. They end up reflecting on climate anxiety, the existential, and the need to surrender to the present while staying focused on the work ahead.
Referenced in the episode:
Guide to Software in Climate Tech
Delta Air Line...2023-06-2249 minClimate Papa#6: Father's Day - Rewiring America x Climate Papa - Let's #ElectrifyFathersDayBen realizes Father’s Day is coming and that he didn’t want any of the stereotypical Father’s Day gifts. The team at Rewiring America agrees. It turns out a lot of dads would actually prefer we focus on improving our climate outcomes, address wildfire smoke, electrify our homes, and much, much more.
20 dads and kids send in their Father’s Day wishes. We stitch them together into this special edition of Climate Papa.
To see the full video and more information about the #ElectrifyFathersDay campaign go to climatepapa.com/fathers-day
Music: Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
Get connected:
...2023-06-1706 minClimate Papa#5: Julia - Building Emotional InfrastructureBen dives in with Julia, a psychotherapist, and Asa’s mom (Asa was the 7-year-old star of Episode #4).
After a false start leads to a parenting reflection, they dive into the psychology of thinking and working on climate change. As wide ranging as the conversation was with Asa on the external world, Julia and Ben explore the internal. They hit on fundamental tensions–how do we engage without being overwhelmed, how do we trade off our basic desires with long term planning, and do we focus on me and mine vs. the collective good.
As is o...2023-06-1432 minClimate Papa#4: Asa - A Small Voice, A Big Impact: The Climate Perspective of a 7-Year-OldBen dives deep with 7-year-old, Asa, on all things climate. In a wide ranging conversation they cover the basics of climate change, the work of Rewiring America, Indigenous practices, regenerative farming, and how to MacGyver hydropower and wind power.
The deepest insights come in exploring what we leave for future generations and the role kids can play in impacting policy and those around them. They leave grown-ups with some recommendations and Asa inspires Ben to match his donation.
Referenced in the episode:
Rewiring America
Camp Casey
Asa’s Recommendations
Magic School Bu...2023-06-1217 minClimate Papa#3: Bill Clerico - Fires, Fintech, and FatherhoodBen urgently calls on Bill Clerico, founder of Convective Capital, to help make sense of the wildfires and smoke pillaging the East Coast. Meanwhile, Bill is out visiting Boston with his one year old and navigating the AQI. After tackling flying with babies, they explore the relationship between wildfires, climate change, and the tools needed to improve our collective resilience. They also talk about the move from fintech into firetech and how more product builders can make similar moves.
They end exploring a few product ideas to accelerate our resilience and how fires touch everything from utilities to tourism.
...2023-06-0933 minClimate Papa#2: Dan Lindquist on Papa-hood, Product, Purpose, and ProbabilityBen chats with Dan Lindquist, a fellow papa and product leader, about what motivates them to work on climate, how to pick your lane among the many interesting avenues in the space, the role of software as a friction reducer, and the uniquely collaborative and open dynamic in the budding climate tech community. They explore use of generative AI, large language models, and probabilistic and non-probabilistic products in the climate space.
They also talk about kids as barnacle and the trade off between spending time with your kids vs time working on the problem that matters for t...2023-06-0534 minClimate Papa#1: Ben & Arthur - Introducing Climate Papa. What is this thing?Welcome to Climate Papa!
Ben and Arthur verbally process the impetus for this podcast and what motivates their work on climate (hint: it’s their kids and it isn’t), and set an intention for the creative act of this project. They also talk about Barbies, getting screamed at by our kids above 93 decibels, throwing pottery, and meditating to Rick Rubin.
Reading
The Creative Act by Rick RubinThe Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Music: Mellow Kinda Hype (Balkan Bump Remix)
Special thanks to Ben Gilbert, from Acquired for the podcast mentorship.
Connect with us:
Ben
...2023-06-0423 min
Into the DetailsA Sneak Peak of a New ProjectHello! Welcome back to Into the Details.When I first started this blog, I did not have a clear single idea of how I wanted to be spending my time. But I figured if I tried enough different things, one clear motivating concept would show up – and it has.Over the past few posts I’ve enjoyed researching and writing about climate & energy. What I’ve enjoyed even more has been the numerous one-on-one discussions which have resulted as folks come with their own ideas and are happy to have someone to conference with.It h...2023-02-2307 min