ARLINGTON, VA –
The Rice Stuff podcast is taking a deep dive into climate change with a planned five-part series that kicked off today with
episode 30, “Climate Change – The Science.”
“Climate change is arguably one of the most important issues facing not just agriculture, but humankind,” said Michael Klein, USA Rice vice president of communications and domestic promotion and show co-host. “We know ag is important in the conversation and rice has a great story to tell. But at the same time, the issue can be seen as divisive. We’re hoping to rise above that – no politics, no opinions, just facts. We want to talk about climate plainly and honestly, so we’re starting with the science of it all to set the stage.”
Klein and co-hosts Lesley Dixon and Dr. Steve Linscombe were joined by meteorologist, journalist, and author Bob Henson who explained the difference between climate and weather, talked about extreme weather patterns, ways to talk about climate that are solution-oriented, and much more.
“I interviewed Bob for a
Whole Grain article a few years ago when we were in the wettest year ever on record,” said Dixon. “Now we’ve got drought and wildfires out west and big hurricanes in the south. We asked him about weather whiplash, the Texas freeze that tripped many of us up last year, how climate change is impacting supply chains, and even got into hurricane and typhoon naming.”
Henson tweets as @bhensonweather, and has recently updated his book, “The Thinking Person’s Guide to Climate Change.” He writes for
Yale Climate Connections, a non-partisan multimedia service delivering daily commentary and analysis on climate issues.
Future
Rice Stuff climate episodes will look into agronomy, public policy, global markets, and how to effectively communicate what the industry is doing on the topic.
“We really want this to be a dialogue with the industry and our listeners,” Klein said. “I hope folks will tweet at us or leave us messages or questions on our website that we can cover in future episodes. You can do that right from our website
www.thericestuffpodcast.com – ‘Talk to Us.’”
New episodes of
The Rice Stuff are published on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month and can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.