Coming up
Topics on the list
The arguments we’re circling, in no particular order. Not all of them will make it to air, and the ones that do won’t go the way anyone planned.
Should Boomers pay a climate inheritance tax?
Boomers hold most of the wealth and most of the housing. Gen Z will live longest with the consequences. Wealth taxes on the old, carbon taxes on everyone, or a bill indexed to who emitted what, and when.
What does it mean to be born in 2026?
Some younger people say they won't have children because of climate change. The older panelists mostly had theirs without thinking about it. Personal enough to be funny and uncomfortable in the same breath.
Who on this panel flew the most last year, and should they be ashamed?
Gen X and Boomers built careers on frequent flying. Gen Z invented flight shame and cheap weekend flights in the same decade. Hypocrisy on every side, receipts requested.
Did soup on a Van Gogh do more or less than the Earth Day marches?
Blocking highways, gluing yourself to things, throwing soup at paintings. Boomers marched too. What counts as a tactic, what counts as a stunt, and where the line is.
Is the suburb the real climate villain?
A house, a yard and two cars against a city apartment, a bike and no license. Plus the EV question: whether a $60,000 electric SUV is a climate solution or a status symbol, and whether everyone can have their own house at all.
Is a burger a political act?
Steak on the grill against oat milk in the fridge. A real generational shift in eating, and a test of whether anyone at the table connects dinner to emissions.
Why are Boomers still scared of nuclear?
Boomers grew up with Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Gen Z grew up without the hangover and sees nuclear as clean power. One of the few climate fights where the young take the industry's side.
Is it lying to kids to tell them we'll fix this?
Whether giving young people the honest outlook is candor or cruelty, and who gets to decide.
Does your recycling bin matter at all?
“Recycle and turn off the lights” against “a hundred companies cause most of the emissions, so stop lecturing me about straws.” Boomers were raised on personal responsibility. Gen Z was raised on “there is no ethical consumption.”
Would you give up ChatGPT to shut down a gas plant?
Electricity for AI is the newest climate fight. Gen Z uses the tools most. Whether it worries about them most is part of the argument.
Is natural gas natural?
It burns cleaner than coal. It is a fossil fuel. The methane that leaks along the way traps far more heat than carbon dioxide over the first couple of decades. The industry calls it clean, and the panel gets a vote.
Which generation got the worst deal on poison?
Lead and leaded gas for Boomers, radon and asbestos for Gen X, microplastics and PFAS for the young. Every generation got sold something by the one before it.
Is your retirement funded by the thing you're protesting?
Pensions and 401(k)s hold oil and gas, and Boomers are living off the returns. Whether there is a real way to opt out, and whether anyone would take the hit.
Should Grandma be forced to sell the beach house?
Boomers bought in Florida, Phoenix and on the coast, and many are staying put. Younger people are asking where you're supposed to live now, and whether insurance and sea level turn the family beach house from an inheritance into a liability.
Does a TikTok explainer count more than a PhD?
Older panelists came up through degrees, agencies and decades of hearings. Gen Z learned climate from TikTok and Greta and treats the credential as optional. Each side is sure the other is doing it wrong.
Did Boomers know, and does it matter that they did?
Exxon's own scientists modeled warming in the late 1970s and early 1980s (Supran, Rahmstorf and Oreskes, Science, 2023). Boomers were the working adults through all of it. Guilt, bad luck, or a lazy accusation from people who have never had to run a company or win an election.
If Gen Z voted like Boomers, would we have a climate law by now?
Young people rank climate high and turn out low. Older people turn out reliably and rank it lower. Each side gets to blame the other for the politicians we end up with.
Who owns more junk, and whose junk is worse?
Boomers built the throwaway economy. Gen Z thrifts, watches repair videos and posts Shein hauls in the same week. Fast fashion, next-day delivery, and the storage unit as a generational monument.
Are the generations getting different climate news, or the same news differently?
TV against the feed, and who the messenger is. Whether anyone is talking about this at the barbecue, the poker table or the bar, which messages land with which generation, and whether calling it “pollution” instead of “climate” changes anything.
Does anyone actually know what to do?
Whether people want to be told, whether the recommended actions differ by generation, which ones are just for feeling better, and who still joins things.
How does this end?
Technology, federal policy, the states, a global deal, a revolution, adaptation, geoengineering, or none of the above. Each generation has a favorite and a reason the others' won't work.