From Stony Brook University's Collaborative for the Earth, C4E Presents explores environmental science, climate change, and actionable climate solutions through engaging talks with environmental scholars and scientists. Host Heather Lynch guides listeners through environmental science issues, including marine plastics and climate attribution, to confront today's toughest climate challenges. Discover expert perspectives and solutions for a healthier planet. Learn more at stonybrook.edu/c4e/
Forever Chemicals, Forever Consequences | C4E Presents: National Special #002
This special episode of Collaborative for the Earth (C4E) examines how PFAS—the "forever chemicals" found in everything from firefighting foam to nonstick pans— represent a rare issue uniting political opposites.
Distributed by American Public Media from July through September 2026, C4E presents in its second national radio broadcast the growing body of evidence linking PFAS and other industrial chemicals to skyrocketing illnesses among children and young adults, as well as other vulnerable people. Both the MAHA movement's concerns about environmental toxins and progressive environmentalists' fight against corporate pollution are at a flashpoint over perhaps the most obvious explanation for declining public health. As both Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s supporters and environmental advocates demand action, this story asks: why has it taken so long to confront the chemical crisis hiding in plain sight?
Learn more with:
SBU’s Collaborative for the Earth’s Second National Broadcast Special Explores Forever Chemicals (https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/sbus-collaborative-for-the-earths-2nd-national-broadcast-special-explores-forever-chemicals/)
SBU Workshop Outlines Goals in Addressing PFAS Contamination (https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/sbu-workshop-outlines-goals-in-addressing-pfas-contamination/)
Skip ahead to the chapter that interests you:
00:00 Forever Chemicals Everywhere
01:10 Better Living Through Chemistry
02:06 Why PFAS Last Forever
05:17 Detection and Drinking Water
08:30 Origins and Early Warnings
10:42 Corporate Knowledge and Coverups
13:49 Regrettable Substitution
14:36 Global Spread to Food
17:13 Long Island Farm Findings
21:44 Health Effects in the Body
23:55 Reducing Exposure at Home
25:40 Testing Water and Standards
28:21 Regulation Gaps and New PFAS
30:18 Politics and Superfund Liability
32:33 Who Pays for Cleanup
34:51 Regulatory Rollbacks and Delays
35:46 PFAS Awareness Challenge
36:56 Gen X Film Journey
41:46 Cookware Ban Backlash
44:56 Federal Policy Whiplash
47:33 Cleanup Tech Reality Check
52:41 Water Systems Under Strain
58:02 Personal Steps That Help
01:00:55 Firefighters and High Exposure
01:04:35 Labels Food and Daily Choices
01:10:02 Where We Go From Here
01:11:26 Closing Credits
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You can find all our episodes at www.stonybrook.edu/c4e or wherever you stream audio.
Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php
For all things Stony Brook on social media: https://gosbu.co/m/social
C4E Presents is a production of Stony Brook’s Collaborative for the Earth.
Special thanks to The New York Climate Exchange and Stony Brook’s Office of the Provost, Office of Marketing and Communications and the MS in Journalism program for their support.
Host: Heather Lynch
Writer: J.D. Allen
Editors: Terry Sheridan, Lori Kie
Producers: Jordan Vallone, Melanie Formosa
Post Production: Denis Murray
Program Manager: Jennifer Gilday
29 Sept 2026
Nuclear Safety Watchdog | C4E Presents #050
Edwin Lyman (https://www.ucs.org/about/people/edwin-lyman) is concerned about nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. Host Heather Lynch and Lyman, physicist and director of nuclear power safety at The Union of Concerned Scientists (https://www.ucs.org/), discuss the organization’s decades-long role as a nuclear safety watchdog.
This is a director’s cut of America's Nuclear Future (https://open.spotify.com/episode/3gHceTO9lOXuxplWKGpFE8?si=n0cnkql9SbG0fc7YZR8Xkw), a national radio broadcast special from American Public Media (https://www.americanpublicmedia.org/).
Learn more:
“Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster (https://thenewpress.org/books/fukushima/)” (The New Press; 2014)
“The NRC’s new Mission Impossible: Making Atoms Great Again (https://thebulletin.org/2025/05/the-nrcs-new-mission-impossible-making-atoms-great-again/#post-heading) (The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists)
"Disposition of separated plutonium (https://acee.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/no-272.pdf)” by Edwin Lyman et al
Skip ahead to the chapter that interests you:
01:07 UCS Nuclear Safety Stance
02:59 Renewables Versus Nuclear Hype
05:30 SMRs And Proliferation Risks
09:37 Fuel Types And Safeguards
13:13 UCS Views Over Time
14:49 Data Centers And Energy Demand
18:22 Race To The Bottom Warning
19:51 Industry Reality Check
Tell a friend and share a link to this episode.
You can find all our episodes at www.stonybrook.edu/c4e (http://www.stonybrook.edu/c4e) or wherever you stream audio.
Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php (https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php)
For all things Stony Brook on social media: https://gosbu.co/m/social
C4E Presents is a production of Stony Brook’s Collaborative for the Earth.
Host: Heather Lynch
Editor: J.D. Allen
Producer: Jordan Vallone
Program Manager: Jennifer Gilday
22 Sept 2026
Wind, Water, Solar | C4E Presents #049
Mark Jacobson (https://profiles.stanford.edu/mark-jacobson) has spent the majority of the last two decades developing roadmaps to completely transition states to wind, water and solar renewable energies — not nuclear. Host Heather Lynch and Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and co-founder of the non-profit group, The Solutions Project (https://thesolutionsproject.org/), with actor/activist Mark Ruffalo, spoke in November 2025.
This is a director’s cut of America's Nuclear Future (https://open.spotify.com/episode/3gHceTO9lOXuxplWKGpFE8?si=n0cnkql9SbG0fc7YZR8Xkw), a national radio broadcast special from American Public Media (https://www.americanpublicmedia.org/).
Learn more:
"No Miracles Needed: How Today's Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air" (https://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/WWSNoMN/NoMiracles.html) (2023)
"100% Clean, Renewable Energy and Storage for Everything" (https://web.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/WWSBook/WWSBook.html) (2020)“Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security (https://pubs.rsc.org/ee/article-abstract/2/2/148/106427/Review-of-solutions-to-global-warming-air)” by Mark Jacobson
Skip ahead to the chapter that interests you:
01:12 Meet Mark Jacobson
01:33 Why Wind, Water, Solar Works
03:58 From Global to State Plans
05:24 AI Data Centers Demand
07:56 Existing vs New Nuclear
11:25 China Nuclear Reality Check
12:59 Intermittency and Grid Balance
16:00 Policy Headwinds and Subsidies
17:25 Big Tech Bets on Nuclear
19:02 Closing Nuclear Is a ‘Duck’
Tell a friend and share a link to this episode.
You can find all our episodes at www.stonybrook.edu/c4e (http://www.stonybrook.edu/c4e) or wherever you stream audio.
Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php (https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php)
For all things Stony Brook on social media: https://gosbu.co/m/social
C4E Presents is a production of Stony Brook’s Collaborative for the Earth.
Host: Heather Lynch
Editor: J.D. Allen
Producer: Jordan Vallone
Program Manager: Jennifer Gilday
Podcast Authority Score: 25 / 100
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