America Adapts the Climate Change Podcast

17 Nov 2025 09:22

The Federal Climate Retreat and the Rise of a New Adaptation Ecosystem

In episode 241 of America Adapts, host Doug Parsons explores what happens when federal climate services retreat—and a new adaptation ecosystem rises to fill the gaps. As agencies like NOAA, FEMA, and EPA scale back their climate work, adaptation professionals are turning to emerging climate-service innovators for the tools, data, and guidance they need. We kick off with Dr. Jesse Keenan framing the big-picture implications of this federal pullback, then hear from leaders at Climate.us, EcoAdapt, the Georgetown Climate Center and Probable Futures, who are stepping forward with practical solutions. This episode highlights the essential adaptation tools available right now, the people building them, and why decentralized innovation may be one of the most hopeful developments in the field today.

This episode was generously sponsored by the CO2 Foundation.

Experts in this Episode:

Dr. Jesse Keenan - Favrot II Associate Professor of Sustainable Real Estate and Urban Planning at Tulane University (transcript)
Rebecca Lindsey – Editor at Climate.us (transcript)
Annie Bennett - Associate Director for the Adaptation Program with the Georgetown Climate Center (transcript)
Alison Smart - Executive Director, Probable Futures (transcript)
Deb Rudnick, Ph.D. - Senior Scientist at EcoAdapt (transcript)