Katherine Blanford

Comedian Katherine Blanford (Catholic Cowgirl! Late Night!) joins Esteban in the sauna to talk about the sun, Philly boys, and why to stop guessing if someone got work done. Also, about the clean energy transition.

HOSTED BY Esteban Gast
DIRECTED BY Stoney Sharp
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR / EDITOR Connor Linnerooth
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Adam McKay, Staci Roberts-Steele, Anna Wenger, Jessie Bluedorn, Esteban Gast
GUEST Colin Rosenblum
PRODUCER Stoney Sharp, Carl Fieler
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Brittney Badduke
CONSULTING PRODUCER Elijah Zarlin
DP / CAMERA OPERATOR Connor Linnerooth 
SOUND Ben Chan
SET MEDIC Fred DeLaVega

SPECIAL THANKS to Ronald Reagan for removing Jimmy Carter’s White House solar panels and sending America’s clean energy future to a government warehouse in Virginia, where it sat for six years. A real visionary.

FACTS, REFERENCES, AND MORE

THE SUN SENDS 10,000 TIMES MORE ENERGY TO EARTH THAN HUMANS USE https://news.mit.edu/2011/energy-scale-part3-1026 https://physicstoday.aip.org/features/solar-energy-conversion
https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth

CHARLES FRITTS INVENTED SOLAR IN 1883 — AND INSTALLED IT ON A NYC ROOFTOP IN 1884
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/sponsored/brief-history-solar-panels-180972006/
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/strange-tumultuous-life-solar-power-white-house

$300 PER WATT IN 1956. $0.50 TODAY. SOLAR IS THE CHEAPEST ELECTRICITY IN HISTORY
https://www.energysage.com/about-clean-energy/solar/the-history-and-invention-of-solar-panel-technology/
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices
https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2020/outlook-for-electricity

JIMMY CARTER PUT SOLAR ON THE WHITE HOUSE. REAGAN TOOK IT DOWN https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/02/the-forgotten-story-of-jimmy-carters-white-house-solar-panels/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carter-white-house-solar-panel-array/

SO MANY OTHER THINGS TO LEARN AND GET FIRED UP
Books:
Let It Shine: The 6,000-Year Story of Solar Energy by John Perlin
Losing Earth: A Recent History by Nathaniel Rich
Documentaries:
Breakthrough in Renewable Energy (VPRO, 2016) — sharp, well-reported doc on the global solar revolution. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmyrbKBZ6SU
Catching the Sun (2016, dir. Shalini Kantayya, exec. produced by Leonardo DiCaprio) — follows workers, entrepreneurs, and activists in the global solar race. Available on Netflix and Amazon.