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PODCAST

Decouple

Dr. Chris Keefer

There are technologies that decouple human well-being from its ecological impacts. There are politics that enable these technologies. Join me as I interview world experts to uncover hope in this time of planetary crisis.

science

All Episodes

00:38:44

Sri Lanka's Fast Track to Agricultural Collapse

Decouple ·

2022/05/24

Saloni Shah, a food and agriculture analyst at The Breakthrough Institute, dives into the policy disaster that was Sri Lanka's sudden ban on the importation and use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides for farming. How did the policy come to be, and how did it go so wrong? Read Saloni Shah's and Ted Nordhaus' article in Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/05/sri-lanka-organic-farming-crisis/

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00:49:33

Getting Serious About Our Energy Future

Decouple ·

2022/05/17

Michael Edesess, a mathematician, economist, and former chairman of the board of the Rocky Mountain Institute, discusses his recent article for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, "We need to get serious about the renewable energy revolution—by including nuclear power." We discuss changes in energy spurred in the 1970s, Michael's personal acquaintance with the mastermind of the soft energy path, Amory Lovins, and the shortcomings of the all-renewables vision of our energy future. Read the article in

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01:41:07

Old Nuclear, New Ideas

Decouple ·

2022/05/10

Bret Kugelmass, host of the Titans of Nuclear podcast and Managing Director of the Energy Impact Center, joins with Dr. Keefer to share their experiences advocating for nuclear energy. They reflect on nuclear messaging, how the nuclear sector can rebrand, communications pitfalls, finding the right audience for nuclear advocacy, and the intersection of nuclear, politics, and public opinion. Dr. Keefer dives into his energy advocacy journey and recent work before the highest levels of Canadian

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00:53:37

Public Power Politics

Decouple ·

2022/05/03

Matt Huber, a professor of geography at Syracuse University, discusses his recent piece for Jacobin Magazine, "In Defense of the Tennessee Valley Authority," co-authored by Fred Stafford. He discusses the politics underlying our energy choices, from large public power projects to distributed energy resources like solar and batteries. Do distributed energy resources align with the idea of an "energy democracy," or is this an illusion? Is it time for the political left to once again embrace large,

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00:31:47

Dr. Keefer Testifies on the “Just Transition”

Decouple ·

2022/04/26

Decouple Podcast Host Dr. Chris Keefer is called as a witness to Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada to answer questions from members of Parliament on how best to "create a fair and equitable Canadian energy transformation". This is Chris' testimony (edited to take out the boring parliamentary parts).

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00:32:07

From Consultant for Gazprom to Belgian Energy Minister

Decouple ·

2022/04/19

Marco Visscher, a Dutch writer and editor, discusses some of the actors, including Tinne Van Der Straeten, who are behind the now partially postponed Belgian nuclear phaseout and their links to the natural gas industry.

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01:05:24

Electrification 2.0

Decouple ·

2022/04/11

Edgardo Sepulveda, energy economist and seven-time Decouple guest, returns to delivers a synthesis episode. We draw together our previous analysis of the financial and regulatory conditions that enabled the initial build out of our grid, explore the Amory Lovins lost decades that saw electrification atrophy and examine the tools at our disposal to achieve an electrfication 2.0 to deliver a doubling of our current grid to help us meet net zero goals. This conversation builds off of Edgardo's recent

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00:41:47

Doomberg: Famine on the horizon?

Decouple ·

2022/04/04

Doomberg, the anonymous author of the popular Substack publication on energy, finance, and the economy at-large, walks us through their recent piece titled "Farmers on the Brink." "Never have we been more certain in our beliefs while fervently wishing that we are wrong," is how Doomberg describes their prediction of widespread foot shortages following the "perfect storm" of record gas prices, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and skyrocketing costs for virtually every important farming input, such as

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00:49:45

India's Nuclear Past and Future with Dr. Anil Kakodkar

Decouple ·

2022/04/01

Dr. Anil Kakodkar—the former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre from 1996–2000 and recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour —walks us through the evolution of India's nuclear program. We discuss the early days of the program, technical choices in reactor design, the task and potential advantages of developing economies in obtaining high technology like nuclear, the importance of education, and India's

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01:13:04

The Energy Poverty Returns on Energy Malinvested

Decouple ·

2022/03/28

Commodities investor Leigh Goehring breaks down the supply AND demand origins of our current energy crisis and its dire consequences, especially for our food system. We also explore the Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI) frame for understanding how an energy transition based on wind, solar and batteries will constrain human potential, societal complexity and ultimately our ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change. This interview is based on this Goehring and Rozencwajg report.

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00:41:20

The Finns Know How to Green Party

Decouple ·

2022/03/21

Tea Törmänen discusses the exception to the rule that is Finland's pro-nuclear and biotech-curious Green Party. Tea is a member of Viite, an umbrella association of the Finnish Greens, founded in 2008. The most important goal of the association is to advance political decision making that is based on scientific knowledge. Viite combines a green value system with the methods of scientific research. Tea is also the Executive Director of RePlanet, a humanist citizens movement focused on evidence based

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00:56:33

The Canada Green Bond Framework Needs a Rework

Decouple ·

2022/03/14

Edgardo Sepulveda, a regulatory economist and the creator of edecarb.org, responds to the exclusion of nuclear energy from the recently-released Canada Green Bond Framework, alongside “sin stocks” like firearms, tobacco, and gambling. We explore the exciting world of bonds, taxonomies, and what the lack of official definitions for "green" or "sustainable" means for this framework. If you are a Canadian citizen, sign the petition to include nuclear energy in the Canada Green Bond Framework:

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00:46:10

The War on Energy

Decouple ·

2022/03/07

Kalev Kallemets, CEO of Fermi Energia, joins Dr. Keefer to reflect on energy, geopolitics, and SMRs in the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Recorded on February 24, 2022. The current geopolitical situation with Russia and Ukraine is fast-moving, and this interview does not reflect the most recent developments.

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01:02:35

The Fog of Peace Lifts on the Energy Transition

Decouple ·

2022/03/02

As the politics of energy factor heavily in the Russia-Ukraine war, Dr. John Constable, Director of the Renewable Energy Foundation, shines a light on the faltering illusion that the transition towards an energy paradigm of intermittency can progress without serious upheaval.

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00:27:34

So You're Telling Me There's a Chance: Germany's...

Decouple ·

2022/02/28

Mark Nelson breaks the news that the German Ministry of Finance is discussing rolling back the country's nuclear phaseout. Why? How foreseeable was this? And what would it mean for Germany? Mark Nelson is the Managing Director of Radiant Energy Group. https://www.radiantenergygroup.com/

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00:25:56

Russian Troops at Chernobyl

Decouple ·

2022/02/25

Mark Nelson provides early insight on the news that Russian forces have captured the Chernobyl nuclear plant. Mark is the managing director of Radiant Energy Group. He holds degrees in mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering, as well as Russian language and literature.

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01:09:38

The Lazard People Are Taking Over

Decouple ·

2022/02/21

Mark Nelson, managing director of Radiant Energy Group, explains one of the most cited yet misunderstood metrics in the energy debate: LCOE, the Levelized Cost of Electricity. What is it, what is it good and bad for, and what other metrics exist to understand the cost of electricity? Mark brings insight on energy investments, discount rates, and the conceptual differences between cost, price, and value. The most popular LCOE figures come from financial advisory and asset management firm Lazard:

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01:11:56

Romantic Agriculture

Decouple ·

2022/02/14

Iida Ruishalme, biologist and science communicator behind the blog Thoughtscapism, digs into the origins and dogmas of organic agriculture. Does the public perception of organic foods as healthier or more environmentally sustainable withstand scientific scrutiny, or is it another example of the naturalistic fallacy? Join us as we peel back the layers of the organic onion. Read Thoughtscapism: https://thoughtscapism.com/

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01:15:19

My Mother Explains Romanticism to Me

Decouple ·

2022/02/07

Janice Kulyk Keefer, literary theorist, writer, award-winning poet, and my mom decodes the Romantic tradition for me. Janice weaves a compelling narrative connecting Germany's founding national myths in the dark primordial forest of Herman the German to William Blake's dark satanic mills and Thoreau's Cabin at Walden pond. Through her storytelling, she helps us understand the importance of the Romantic tradition as an essential foundation of the environmental movement.

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00:44:44

Keeping the Northern Lights On

Decouple ·

2022/01/31

Madeleine Redfern is an Inuit businesswoman and former two-term mayor of Iqaluit in the far northern Canadian territory of Nunavut. Redfern describes the harsh energy situation in Canada’s remote, indigenous communities, which face extreme darkness and cold, a reliance on diesel generators, limited ability to fundraise for new projects, and high costs. She assesses the merits of different energy technologies for these communities, making clear the challenge of choosing an energy path in a situation

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317 results

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