Just in time for Earth Day, Ways & Means, the Sanford School’s long-running documentary podcast series, wraps up a season focused on climate change solutions. Each episode offers a new or surprising research-based idea for tackling climate change. From strategically targeting solar subsidies to upgrading cookstoves in the developing world, the stories highlight fresh, hopeful ideas that enrich the important conversation about our changing climate.
Episode 1
Paying for a Healthy Planet
Stories from Colombia, Africa and China illustrates how economics can help slow deforestation and combat the climate crisis. Featuring:
- Lina Moros, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia
- Wumeng He, Wuhan University, China; Duke Kunshan University
- Alex Pfaff, Professor, Duke Sanford
Episode 2
Getting Strategic with Solar
How to get the best bang for our buck when it comes to solar incentives. The key? Target the incentives where they make the most difference. Featuring:
- Joe Opyoke, retired coal miner
- Elizabeth Opyoke Cruikshank, Solar Holler
- Bobby Harris, PhD, Environmental Economics and Policy, Duke ’22
- Steven Sexton, Professor, Duke Sanford
Episode 3
Greener Pastures
Can we find ways to raise animals as food and help the climate at the same time? Featuring:
- Cameron Oglesby, Duke Sanford Master of Public Policy student
- Johnny Rogers, farmer
- Jennifer Curtis, Firsthand Foods
- Lee Miller and Michelle Nowlin, Duke’s Environmental Law and Policy Clinic
- A-dae Romero-Briones, Native Agriculture and Food Systems program at First Nations Development Institute
Episode 4
How Cleaner Cookstoves Can Help Build a Healthier Planet
How upgrading stoves for people in the developing world can improve lives and fight climate change. Featuring:
- Subhrendu Pattanayak, Professor, Duke Sanford
Episode 5
Bringing Water to Thirsty Fields With Help From the Sun
New research into how solar mini-grids could change lives for farmers in Ethiopia, and why that matters for the climate as a whole. Featuring:
- Jonathan Phillips, Director, James E. Rogers Energy Access Project at Duke University
- Rahel Bekele, Postdoctoral Associate at Duke Sanford, DREAM Project Team
- Marc Jeuland, faculty member at Duke Sanford, Principal investigator DREAM Project
This Ways & Means series is hosted by journalists Simran Sethi and Lauren Rosenthal.
Ways & Means is produced by Carol Jackson and Alison Jones of the Sanford School. Jackson previously served as the managing editor for the nationally distributed public radio program The Story with Dick Gordon. Jones is an award-winning writer, editor and audio producer whose worked has aired nationally on public radio.
Ways & Means can be found on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Duke Climate Commitment
Season 8 of Ways & Means is made possible thanks to support from the Office of the Provost at Duke University. This collaboration reflects the Duke Climate Commitment, which unites the university’s education, research, operations, and public service missions to address the climate crisis. The commitment builds on Duke’s longstanding leadership in climate, energy, and sustainability to educate a new generation of climate-fluent innovators and create equitable solutions for all.