This week on Sea Change Radio, we circle back with the leaders of two nonprofits trying to make a difference in two very different ways. First, we speak with Shannon Fernando, the founder and CEO of Alabaster International, as she describes her organization’s business model and tells us about the promising African staple crop enset. Then, we hear from the Executive Director of Vote Solar, Sachu Constantine, to learn more about all things energy-related under the sun. We discuss the harm inflicted upon the solar industry by the current administration, look at some encouraging developments in both residential and commercial solar, and examine what we can do to keep lowering costs and get away from fossil fuels.

Developing countries around the world are finding themselves in a vicious cycle. As global emissions rise, climate disasters accelerate, hitting the developing world hardest. These countries then take out high-interest loans, sinking deeper into debt, which forces them to shelve climate change mitigation strategies. This week on Sea Change Radio, we welcome Niranjali Amerasinghe of ActionAid USA to discuss the work of her organization. We look at how debt in the Global South severely hampers the ability of those countries to fight the devastating impacts of climate change, and talk about the harms of the Trump administration’s drastic aid cuts on the earth’s most vulnerable populations.

This week on Sea Change Radio, we revisit two conversations focused on renewable energy technology. First, we speak with Umair Irfan, a Climate Reporter from Vox.com, to examine air conditioning and how some of the planet’s hottest cities are trying to survive in the face of consistent, record-breaking high temperatures. We talk about how breakthroughs in the battery storage sector provide some hope that the renewable energy market will continue to grow. Then, we hear from University of Southern California Business Professor Shon Hiatt to learn more about the lithium industry – how this mineral is mined, its importance to the energy and transportation sectors, and why lithium’s market price has collapsed over the past few years.