Podknife - Investigative Journalism and the New Climate Creator Movement by My Climate Journey

Help
Help

Suggested Topics
- What is Podknife?
  
  Podknife is a curated podcast information and review site designed to be accessible in your browser from any device. We’re working to build the most useful podcast information source available by providing you with as much publicly available information about each podcast in our database as we can find and keeping it as up to date as possible.
- Can I listen to podcasts on Podknife?
  
  Yeah! There's a player at the bottom of the page.
- How can I get my podcast on Podknife?
  
  We’d love to hear about your podcast and consider it for addition. You can suggest your own by logging in and selecting the “Suggest a Podcast” link from the menu. Fill out the form and we’ll take it from there.
- How can I submit a review of a podcast?
  
  To submit a review of a podcast, go to the page of the podcast you want to review and click the "Submit Review" button below the image associated with the podcast. Clicking that button brings you to a new page where you can select a rating between 1 and 5 stars and write a brief review.
- How can I submit a review of a podcast episode?
  
  To submit a review of a podcast episode, go to the page of the podcast whose episode you want to review and find the specific episode you're looking for. Clicking on any episode reveals a "View Episode" button and clicking on that brings you to an episode-specific page where you can find more information displayed about the episode along with a "Submit Review" button. Clicking that brings you to a new page where you can select a rating between 1 and 5 stars and write a brief review of the episode.
- Is there a Podknife app?
  
  Not yet - we're keeping it in the browser at least for now. No app download required to access anything on the site.
- How can I change my display name?
  
  To change your display name, log in to Podknife and select "Account Settings" in the dropdown menu. From the Account Settings page, enter your desired new display name and press the "Save" button to confirm the change.
- How can I change my password?
  
  To change your password, log in to Podknife and select "Account Settings" in the dropdown menu. From the Account Settings page, enter your desired new password in the two fields below "Update Password" and press the "Save" button to confirm the change.
- How can I keep track of all my reviews?
  
  Within the menu, click on "My Profile", you will then be able to check all your reviews for both podcast & episode. You can also check all your favorite podcasts.
- How can I keep track of all my favorited podcasts?
  
  You can find podcasts you’ve favorited displayed on the My Profile page associated with your account (https://podknife.com/profile).
  You can share your My Profile page displaying your favorite podcasts as well as any reviews you’ve written publicly with a link in the form https://podknife.com/users/[displayname] where [displayname] is replaced by your Display Name.
- How can I favorite a podcast?
  
  On each podcast page you’ll find the outline of a star above the podcast title. Clicking this star fills it in and designates the podcast as a favorite (for logged in users) or invites the user to log in or register for an account (for users who are not logged in). You can find favorited podcasts displayed on the My Profile page associated with your account (https://podknife.com/profile).
- How can I register for a Podknife account?
  
  To register, click on the “Register” button in the top right of your browser window (or visit https://podknife.com/users/sign_up). Enter a Display Name to be associated with your account on the site (alongside any reviews you contribute, for example), an Email address to associate with the account and your password (twice for confirmation). Press the “Confirm” button and you should be all set, logged in and ready to review and favorite podcasts as you wish.
- How can I get in touch?
  
  We’d love to hear from you. You can reach us using the Feedback form (https://podknife.com/feedbacks/new) which can be found either in the footer on each page (for users who are not logged in) or in the dropdown menu (for logged in users).
  
  You can also reach us on Twitter by tweeting us @podknife (https://twitter.com/podknife) or on Facebook by messaging us from our page (https://www.facebook.com/podknife/).
- Log In
- Register
- Feedback
- Help
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Use
© Podknife 2024

This episode currently has no reviews.

Investigative Journalism and the New Climate Creator Movement

Podcast |: My Climate Journey
Publisher |: Jason Jacobs, Cody Simms, Yin Lu
Media Type |: audio
Podknife tags |: Climate Change,; Interview,; Science & Medicine
Categories Via RSS |: Business,; Science,; Technology
Publication Date |: May 29, 2023
Episode Duration |: 01:12:14

Description
iTunes Summary

Michael Thomas is making a name for himself in independent investigative climate journalism. One of his earliest pieces saw him immerse himself in dozens of Facebook groups, organized around opposing local clean energy legislation. He used that exploration to pen a series on climate misinformation, which can be found on his newsletter at distilled.earth, and has recently started creating content on YouTube. He also created Carbon Switch, a Wirecutter-like guide to help people navigate home electrification, which he donated to Rewiring America.

Michael is also a co-founder of Campfire Labs, a tech-focused content marketing agency that donates 50% of its profits to climate action. This has included a significant contribution to Climate Changemakers, a climate action platform co-founded by Cody in 2020.

We started by discussing Michael's motivations for starting his investigative journalism efforts and his climate journey. We then delved into the stories he's written and the investigations he's done. Michael also shared his advice for anyone feeling the itch to get started with something that they might not have prior experience in. Spoiler alert, it involves a strong willingness to embrace and learn from failure.

At MCJ, none of us had prior climate experience, but we believe that as long as you're willing to dive in and do the work, there's so much impactful progress to be made in the climate space. We're seeing more and more people like Michael being called into action every day.

In this episode, we cover:

[03:24]: Michael's background and early journalism career
[06:16]: Moments that catalyzed his climate journey
[10:02]: His interest in home electrification and founding of Carbon Switch
[14:14]: Investigating the alarming health impacts of gas stoves
[17:35]: The origins of Campfire Labs and marketing climate tech companies
[20:49]: Rewiring America's acquisition of Carbon Switch
[25:09]: Takeaways from his immersion in clean energy opposition Facebook groups
[32:05]: Influencers in the clean energy opposition space and their misinformation playbooks
[37:52]: Clean energy misinformation in right wing cable news and links to big oil
[45:19]: How anxiety about mining is weaponized against clean energy
[49:11]: How collective action transformed Amsterdam into a bike-based beacon of hope
[54:24]: Michael's process for finding topics and publishing his writing
[57:10]: Potential legal ramifications and dealing with online harassment
[58:51]: How Michael funds his work, the generosity within the climate creator space, and advice for anyone wanting to jump in
[01:05:20]: The essential role of popular movements in shaping climate policy

Get connected: Michael Thomas Twitter Cody SimmsMCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on Apr 26, 2023

Get connected with MCJ:

Cody Simms X / LinkedIn
MCJ Podcast / Collective / YouTube

*If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a review! You can also reach us via email at info@mcj.vc, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Michael Thomas is making a name for himself in independent investigative climate journalism. One of his earliest pieces saw him immerse himself in dozens of Facebook groups, organized around opposing local clean energy legislation. He used that exploration to pen a series on climate misinformation, which can be found on his newsletter at distilled.earth, and has recently started creating content on YouTube. He also created Carbon Switch, a Wirecutter-like guide to help people navigate home electrification, which he donated to Rewiring America. Michael is also a co-founder of Campfire Labs, a tech-focused content marketing agency that donates 50% of its profits to climate action. This has included a significant contribution to Climate Changemakers, a climate action platform co-founded by Cody in 2020. We started by discussing Michael's motivations for starting his investigative journalism efforts and his climate journey. We then delved into the stories he's written and the investigations he's done. Michael also shared his advice for anyone feeling the itch to get started with something that they might not have prior experience in. Spoiler alert, it involves a strong willingness to embrace and learn from failure. At MCJ, none of us had prior climate experience, but we believe that as long as you're willing to dive in and do the work, there's so much impactful progress to be made in the climate space. We're seeing more and more people like Michael being called into action every day.