Picture a city that beats brutal heat waves with cool tree-lined streets, slashes household energy bills, and cuts carbon pollution by as much as 80%, without waiting for these miracle technologies.

That future-positive vision is already taking shape in fast-growing places like Ahmedabad, India, where community-designed cooling plans and demand-side innovations are proving that climate action can double as a public health and equity upgrade.

It's co-benefits. You've heard it a thousand times. We're gonna talk about them more today.

What can you do to help your city deliver cleaner air, lower costs, and a safer climate?

My guest today is Dr. Minal Pathak, associate professor at Ahmedabad University and a former senior scientist with the IPCC who helped craft the landmark sixth assessment report.

We will explore how people-centered, data-smart solutions can transform just about any city into a climate-resilient wellbeing powerhouse and how you can start pushing your neighborhood, your spheres of influence, down that path today.

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Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth

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INI Book Club:

• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Follow Dr. Pathak's work at Ahmedabad University https://ahduni.edu.in/academics/schools-centres/global-centre-for-environment-and-energy/people-1/minal-pathak/
• Connect with Dr. Pathak on LinkedIn https://in.linkedin.com/in/minal-pathak-318827130
• Read the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/
• Read the Ahmedabad Heat Action Plan (replicated in 50+ cities)https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/ahmedabad-heat-action-plan-2019-update.pdf

Follow us:

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• Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky -

In every flood scarred bend of an Appalachian river sits a chance to rebuild something stronger, cleaner water for people, and room for a 160 million-year salamander to thrive again.

Hurricane-shaped chaos is unveiling a surprising truth when we restore stream banks, fund green storm water projects, and protect keystone species like the Eastern Hellbender, we don't just rescue wildlife, we buffer towns and farms and drinking water intakes against the next big storm. The same fixes that help a snot otter bounce back can future-proof entire communities like yours and mine.

So what can I do to turn the washed-out creeks and budget cuts into a cleaner, more resilient future?

my guest today is Jackie Flynn Mogensen, senior reporter at Mother Jones.

Jackie embedded with conservation biologists after Hurricane Helene and uncovered how saving an ancient salamander could safeguard our waterways and our towns for decades to come.

Stick around and you'll discover practical ways to turn today's river wreckage into tomorrow's resilience.

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Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com.

Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth

-----------

INI Book Club:

• Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet by Ben Goldfarb
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Read Jackie's Mother Jones Eastern Hellbenders article https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2025/04/endangered-species-salamander-hurricane-helene-eastern-hellbender-bog-turtle/
• Learn how to build a rain garden https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2023/01/rain-garden-resources-water-flooding/
• Follow Jackie and keep up with her reporting https://x.com/jackiefmogensen?lang=en
• Rain Garden app https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/rain-garden.html

Follow us:

• Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.com
• Support our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgrade
• Get our merch
• Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
• Follow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportant
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky -

There are a million legitimate reasons why standing up to bullies may require a pseudonym (and a cowl), or even anonymity.

As has been clear for centuries, and even more so in this moment of inescapable mass surveillance, some of us — by nature of our birth nation, skin color, ethnicity, sex, gender, religious beliefs, and/or who we love — are in far more clear and present danger than someone like me.

And yet — millions of people over decades and centuries have stood in broad daylight and put their names and their bodies, their finite time and resources to the test, on the line, to fight for a better future for themselves and the generations to come.

• Donate to the Electronic Frontier Foundation to defend digital privacy.
• Volunteer with organizing initiatives through Tech Shift, to help build a fairer, more just technological future.
• 🌍️ Get educated about where your data is going online by using the Markup’s Blacklight tool.
• 🌍️ Be heard about unlocking global energy data so that researchers worldwide have access to it.
• Invest in tech for good and use your capital to scale climate tech with Carbon Equity.

• Take action at www.whatcanido.earth
• Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com
• Support our work and become a Member at