Our guest this week is Peter Kalmus who is, among many things, a physicist, a climate scientist, a gardener, a beekeeper, a cyclist and the father of two boys. In our conversation he discusses his “Be-Cycling” response to climate change. Through a series of lifestyle changes he has reduced his personal CO2 emissions from 20 tonnes a year–which is about the US national average–to two tonnes. And he says he’s had a great time doing it. During the podcast he also touches on:

• His transition from astrophysics to climate science and why he made the switch.
• The carbon footprint of climate science.
• Not giving climate skeptics any more airtime.
• The disconnect between evidence and action.
• Meditation.
• Techo-fixes vs. “pulling back.”
• Figuring out your carbon footprint.
• Avoiding flying.
• The carbon footprint of food.
• Becoming a vegetarian.
• Dumpster diving.
• Growing food.
• RIPE Altadena.

You can find out more about Peter through his be-cycling website. You can also download an excerpt of his book-in-progress (pdf) and see slides from one of his talks (pdf).

If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. The theme music is by Dr. Frankenstein. Additional music by Rho. A downloadable version of this podcast is here.