Anna Basman
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Anna Basman, peace negotiator from the Philippines and a 2026 Yale Peace Fellow, joins the podcast.
María Ramírez
How to Expand Climate Tech and Community Trust with Brandon Middaugh
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Most climate solutions don’t fail because the science is wrong. They fail because the market around them doesn’t get built. So, who is building more markets, and how?
In this episode of Future in Bloom, Steph sits down with Brandon Middaugh, General Manager of Microsoft’s Sustainable Markets and Climate Innovation Fund, for a conversation about climate investing and community-first AI. From measuring blades of grass in a marsh to leading one of the largest climate finance initiatives in the world, Brandon talks about the importance of data-driven decision-making in every aspect of her career. She answers questions about how and when to invest, how to work meaningfully with communities, and how to support the organizations who are building solutions for the future.
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Musical instruments and their connection to the body across 5,000 years of art and music
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A conversation with Bradley Strauchen-Scherer, a curator in the Department of Musical Instruments at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
How can we finance development that’s good for the planet and the communities that live there?
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7 out of 10 Americans don’t want a data center in their backyard, and it’s hard to blame them. But we’re also seeing backlash increase against clean energy infrastructure, which is definitely hurting our ability to transition off of fossil fuels.
Columbia’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law found 498 contested renewable energy projects in 2025, a 32% increase from the prior year. They also found a 16% increase in local laws restricting renewable energy development.
Resistance has been at the heart of every environmental movement. You look at the history, you understand the harm, and you fight to make sure it doesn’t repeat.
But building the clean energy we desperately need takes something resistance alone can’t deliver. It takes openness to the still-imperfect solutions that represent a huge improvement over the status quo for planetary health.
Building climate tech means understanding multiple truths. No development should harm. But no development at all means we fail to address climate change urgently.
My guest today, Dawn Lippert, has protected the environment for decades and understands industrial tradeoffs. Now she’s calling for an environmentalism which centers on innovating and building faster.
Why sensory inclusivity matters.
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Join in for a moving, empowering, and life-giving conversation with Sho Baraka—husband, father, artist, speaker, and sensory inclusivity advocate. In this episode, Sho shares his powerful personal journey as the father of two sons on the autism spectrum. He honestly reflects on the emotions, challenges, and joys his family has experienced on this journey. We talk through the insecurities and shame that can arise as a parent, the challenge of knowing your child could be triggered at any moment, and the difficulty of managing others’ expectations and mixed reactions. Refreshingly, we also highlight the necessity of community, the importance of learning from others and fighting against the tendency to walk in isolation. Sho also shares the ways he has embraced new normals and put increased attention on his kids’ strengths. You’ll also hear about the unexpected blessings and community Sho has found, while leaning into advocacy to create sensory-inclusive spaces. An inspiring conversation with essential perspectives that all of us need to hear on what it means to be neuro-inclusive and why it matters for all of us.
The Addy Hour is recorded at the Yale Teaching Studios, with engineering support from Ryan McEvoy, edited by Orlando Suazo, and hosted by Dr. Nii Addy. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a rating and follow our podcast page, to help us grow this podcast and our community.
Today’s top psychologists discuss mental health, social media, and everyday psychological tools
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Today, we delve into an honest and practical conversation about the place of psychology in society and in our daily lives. I’m joined by Dr. Simon Rego and Dr. Sandy Pimentel, two leading and influential clinical psychologists. We jump right in, first considering whether our culture’s increased focus on mental health is a passing fad or an emerging trend that’s here to stay. It doesn’t take long before we venture into the murky waters of mental health content on social media, wrestling with the best way to navigate through the helpful content and misinformation that circulates daily. We also talk about the unexpected impacts of our guests’ social media involvement. Things get practical, as we share advice on how to manage life’s frustrations while holding on to gratitude and hope. We even get personal, sharing about successes and failures and the growth that can only come when you stretch yourself and learn from mistakes along the way. Humorously, we consider society’s mixed feelings about psychologists – either embracing them or running away from them. Finally, we talk about ways psychologists and other mental health professionals can authentically and effectively engage with the community.
Fixing the Reason Why Nobody Wants a Heat Pump | Jeff Coleman, Eli
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Jeff Coleman woke up one morning and realized he was running a different kind of company than he started. What began as a software platform to help homeowners access clean energy incentives became a product with a much harder problem to tackle: a fintech company speeding up the rebate turnaround between utilities, governments, and contractors.
In this conversation, Eli’s founder shares the truth about scaling a company rooted in clean energy through a political reversal, why the path to energy upgrades is paved with paperwork for contractors, and why he believes leaning into the “boring” parts of climate tech is crucial to expanding clean energy access.
The climate tech company copying trees to remake our world sustainably
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On this episode of Future in Bloom, Steph Speirs speaks with Etosha Cave, co-founder and Chief Science Advisor at Twelve. Twelve is discovering new ways to recycle CO2 and transform it into the things we use in our everyday lives. Etosha discusses her journey from grad school, realizing nature doesn’t treat CO2 as waste, so why should we? She dives deep into the story of how she helped build a company that mimics photosynthesis to turn captured carbon and water into fuels and everyday products.
Along the way, they discuss why CO₂ is such a “stubborn molecule,” how Twelve chose what to make from sixteen possible options, the role the Inflation Reduction Act played in their pivot to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and why the company can now produce jet fuel almost anywhere in the world. It’s a conversation about science, commercialization, and the belief that waste and pollution are design choices we can make differently.
Reflections from an innovative scientist, leader and mentor
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In today’s episode, we delve into the world of leading a high-level biomedical research program and mentoring students who will make the key scientific breakthroughs of tomorrow. I’m joined by Dr. Faye Rogers, a pioneering researcher studying cell repair and genomic instability, with the goal of developing novel therapies for breast and ovarian cancers. In our conversation, Dr. Rogers recounts her early years, growing up on a small island and never having met a scientist. Somehow, she still gravitated towards science, performing “experiments” as a kid, and eventually developing a passion both for research and mentorship. She talks candidly about the pressures that come with navigating graduate school and the inevitable but sometimes unexpected shifts and changes that happen along the journey. Dr. Rogers shares honestly about her own experience and discusses the importance of giving students the tools to be resilient scientists. She also describes her innovative programs introducing high school and college students to cancer research. Perhaps most poignantly, she reflects on the necessity for leaders like her to be good listeners, to incorporate other points of view, to admit when they make mistakes, and to have the flexibility to incorporate different perspectives when tackling complex problems.