The Gray Area with Sean Illing
The story we tell about climate change is mostly a story about loss. But look to the data, and that story starts to fall apart. Emissions are peaking in key sectors. Clean energy is scaling faster than anyone predicted. Real progress is happening. It’s just not happening in the way we imagine it.
Sean’s guest today is Hannah Ritchie, Deputy Editor at Our World in Data and author of Clearing the Air: A Hopeful Guide to Solving Climate Change. They discuss why our picture of the planet is so distorted, why despair can be as dangerous as denial, and what a truly energy-abundant, livable future could look like.
Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling)
Guest: Hannah Ritchie, author of Clearing the Air
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This episode was supported by a grant from Arnold Ventures. Vox had full discretion over the content of this reporting.
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