Climate Action
Podcasts, Pets, and Plastics, Oh My!
September 30, 2025
At EARTHDAY.ORG, one of our goals is to educate as many people as we can about our core campaigns: renewable energy, fighting plastics and the scourge of fast fashion, championing climate education and planting trees through our Canopy Tree Project.
A great tool to help us do that is through booking our staff on podcasts. Across the world, it is estimated that over 584.1 million people have listened to podcasts already this year. They are a great way to listen, learn, and get informed – whether you are on the go driving to work, working out in the gym, or relaxing and enjoying a night at home..
We value all the partnerships we have had with podcasters around the world. So, this Podcast Day, we want to take the opportunity to appreciate and share some of our favorite podcasts and webinar partnerships:
Sean White’s Solar and Energy Storage Podcast
For Earth Day 2025, Aidan Charron, our Associate Director of Global Earth Day, was interviewed on Sean White’s Solar and Energy Storage Podcast in an episode titled “Today is Earth Day, with Aidan Charron of EarthDay.Org”.
This chat was to mark this year’s theme, Our Power, Our Planet, where we are calling for a triple in renewable energy generation globally by 2030.
Investment in the renewable energy industry will increase innovation in all sectors of manufacturing, transportation and agriculture, spurring yet more technological advancements and creating millions of new jobs.
Kathleen Rogers, President, EARTHDAY.ORG
Sean and Aidan had an enthralling conversation on a variety of topics, from how views on the changing climate can be very divisive to career opportunities in the growing renewable energy sector. In fact, employment opportunities in the renewable energy sector grew 222% between 2012 and 2023. Of these, many do not require a college degree.
To support solar, wind and geothermal energy, sign our petition to tell your state legislators to back renewable energy.
22 Minutes With…
EARTHDAY.ORG launched its very own web and podcast series, “22 Minutes With…” in 2023 featuring senior staff and special guests experts discussing climate solutions, renewable energy, plastics, activism and human health.
Guests included Denis Hayes, the organizer of the very first Earth Day, Diane Wilson, winner of the 2023 Goldman Prize, Kathleen Talbot – Chief Sustainability Officer & VP Operations, Reformation and most recently Rachel Kibbe, Founder and CEO of Circular Services Group (CSG) and American Circular Textiles (ACT).
There is no role for timidity in confronting this assault on our future. We must each dig deep enough to find a fearless core.
Denis Hayes, national organizer of the first Earth Day and Board Chair Emeritus of EARTHDAY.ORG
Thank you to all our friends in the movement who have taken part and here’s to many more episodes to come!
We work with everyone — business, faith groups, firefighters, teachers, you name it. Sometimes it’s an uncomfortable place to be, but nobody dislikes Earth Day. They all love it. It’s a platform that unites across divisions for our planet’s future.
Kathleen Rogers, President, EDO, Sustainable Business Magazine, 2025
On Planet Podcast
The One Planet Podcast, featured Kathleen Rogers, President of EARTHDAY.ORG, as a guest to discuss the theme we set for Earth Day 2024, Planet vs. Plastics.
Kathleen had an engaging discussion on the prevalence of plastic in our environment and the impacts it has on our health, using the show to talk about our Babies vs Plastics report. She was able to unpack how plastic chemicals, like Bisephenol A (BPA) and phthalates, are known endocrine disruptors, meaning they scramble our hormones, and potentially lead to such health issues as lowered fertilityinfertility, miscarriage, some cancers, strokes and heart attacks and a whole lot more.
The world recognizes that plastics have imperiled our future. Many environmentalists, myself included, view plastics as on par with, if not worse than, climate change because we do see a little light at the end of the tunnel on climate change. Babies vs. Plastics is a collection of studies, and we particularly focused on children and babies because their bodies and brains are more impacted than adults by the 30, 000 chemicals that assault us every day.
Kathleen Rogers, President, EARTHDAY.ORG
On the show Rogers revealed why EARTHDAY.ORG is demanding a 60% decrease in plastics by 2040. This requires us all to roll back our use and consumption of plastics, but it also needs policy changes at government level.
You can help us achieve that by supporting the Global Plastics Treaty and adding your name to this petition, protecting your health and your community.
Live Lightly Podcast
We care about plastics and how they impact human health and wildlife but they also hurt our pets too. Our furry friends are especially vulnerable to consuming plastics as most dogs and cats are smaller than us and are therefore closer to the ground where housego dust accumulates. Household dust is packed with microplastics which our pets inhale.
As co-author of the Pets vs Plastics report, Aidan Charron from EARTHDAY.ORG joined the Live Lightly Podcast to talk about what he had discovered. Aidan pointed out the plethora of ways plastics are sneaking into your pets lives; it’s not just from inhaling plastic laden dust either.
Pull Quote: “None of us should be ingesting plastics, including our pets. It has been associated with serious health consequences: from cancers to infertility, liver and kidney issues and more,” Tom Cosgrove, Chief Creative and Content Officer, EARTHDAY.ORG.
Pets gnaw on everything, including plastic toys and they ingest tiny plastic pieces this way. The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate pet toys. Plastic finds its way into your pets’ digestive system, potentially causing liver, kidney, and reproductive damage.
Charron explained how there is a lot you can do to keep your pets safe, including ensuring their toys are made of natural materials like organic cotton, bamboo, natural rubber, wool, and hemp.
The International Schools Podcast
Climate education has always been at the forefront of the Earth Day movement. Denis Hayes, the organiser of the first Earth Day back in 1970, and EDO’s founder, has always regarded it as an important campaign. Why? Well because around the world, schools are uniquely positioned to shape the next generation of climate leaders.
In episode 139 of the International Schools Podcast, Emily Walker, Dennis Nolasco, and Bryce Coon from our Climate Education team sat down for a powerful conversation on the role of education in addressing the climate crisis.
They collectively made the point that knowledge fosters awareness, comprehension, and critical thinking. Education is a fundamental tool in building climate resilience. Just as literacy paved the way for the first Industrial Revolution, climate education will ignite the next revolution, one that addresses the climate crisis.
Our amazing team explored how schools can empower students with the green skills they need to be competitive in the workforce, and grow their own green muscle memory to make the right choice for the planet instinctively. They shared the materials they had been working on to equip educators with the tools they needed to integrate climate change into their already busy curriculum.
Emily, our Senior Education Coordinator, also emphasized the importance of integrating climate lessons into all subjects to foster both critical thinking and curiosity in students who might not favor the sciences. To help support climate education, explore our Climate Literacy Campaign to find loads of toolkits, teaching guides, and other resources.
Fossil vs. Future Podcast
We often forget that plastics are made from petrochemicals, like oil. So, it was all fitting that Aidan Charron featured on the Fossil vs Future Podcast on an episode entitled “What About Plastics?” to discuss the hidden costs of plastics to both our health and our planet.
Hosts James and Daisy took a deep dive into the growing plastics crisis and Aidan explained how plastics are contributing to global warming because plastic production relies heavily on fossil fuels, from extraction and refining to manufacturing, transportation, and disposal. Together, these stages emit significant greenhouse gases, accounting for an estimated 5% of global emissions in 2019—more than emissions from shipping and aviation combined—and this share could grow substantially by 2050 if plastic production continues to rise.
Plastics are also polluting the planet – from the depths of our oceans to the air we breathe. Microplastics have even been found in human placentas and the ice on Mount Everest.
One surprising takeaway: despite plastic’s reputation as recyclable, only around 9% of plastic waste globally is actually recycled. The rest ends up in landfills, incinerators, our ecosystems and inside all of us!
Get Listening and Get Involved!
We hope these podcasts have inspired you to join the growing green movement and let your bosses, educators, policy-makers, leaders, friends and family know that you care about our planet, and our future and are fighting to protect it.
I believe that ordinary people are the ones driving change. I believe that when communities gather together — young people, religious groups, local activists — it is this collective power that drives real change.
Kathleen Rogers, President, EARTHDAY.ORG, Creative Process
At EARTHDAY.ORG, we don’t shy away from many topics or talking about them. Our campaigns cover everything from fast fashion to plastics to climate education to planting trees, to cleanups – our goal is to always empower people by educating them on all of these topics.
Which is why Kathleen Rogers, our President, has been all over the radio waves: she featured on the incredible Tavis Smiley Show, with an audience of 12 million, on Earth Day 2025. She also appeared on WBOK-AM and WVON-AM, discussing renewable energy and campaigns like Babies vs Plastics. Kathleen spoke with Manny Munoz on WIOD, a program syndicated to 23 channels and she guested on KNX-AM, which reaches over 600,000 listeners, across 45 channels in the U.S., discussing the 2025 Earth Day theme Our Power, Our Planet. KBME-AM Sports Talk Radio hosted her for Earth Day and she was interviewed on WHTZ, syndicated to 123 channels and over 400,000 listeners, where she discussed renewable energy. The list goes on and on, just like our work does.
If you want to keep up with the radio shows and podcasts EARTHDAY.ORG features on, you can find them on the “EARTHDAY.ORG in the News” section of the News and Stories page.
Listening is just the first step—getting involved, speaking up, and taking action is how together we turn inspiration into impact and build a healthier, sustainable future for all. Join us and sign up for updates and newsletters HERE.
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