Listener Mail: Is Renewable Natural Gas a Scam?

It’s listener mail time! This week, we’re digging into a mysterious email one listener received from their utility about renewable natural gas. Can natural gas actually be renewable, or is this just a marketing scheme? We also take a look at Venn diagrams sent by listeners after our episode, "Is Your Carbon Footprint BS?" to see what kind of climate actions you’ve got planned! Calls to Action Check to see if your city has a building electrification effort you can support – the Building Electrification Institute has a list of some here. Check out Environment America’s resources for electrifying your college campus. Learn More Read the World Resources Institute’s report and blog post on renewable natural gas. Read Earthjustice and the Sierra Club’s report on renewable natural gas. Read the LA Times’ editorial on SoCalGas and Californians for Balanced Energy Solutions. Read this article about gas industry trade groups paying Instagram influencers to post about how much they looooove gas stoves. If you want to see what kinds of policies and marketing campaigns your utility may be supporting, you can see if they’re a member of the American Gas Association or American Public Gas Association. Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Anna Ladd The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis and Rachel Waldholz. Our intern is Ayo Oti. Our senior producer is Lauren Silverman. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard with original music from Emma Munger. Special thanks to our guests this week, Tom Cyrs and Matt Vespa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices