On the Issues Episode 144: Evaggelos Vallianatos

Today’s guest is Evaggelos Vallianatos, a historian, environmental strategist, and writer who has served as a visiting professor on environmental history and environmental regulation and politics at a number of universities. He worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency for 25 years, where he studied US agriculture and pest management practices and policies.

In this episode, Alon and Evaggelos discuss the current political juncture of the climate change discussion in the United States, what countries are doing globally to combat climate change, the societal, health, and human rights impacts of climate change, and what actions everyday people can do to help combat climate change.

Originally aired April 21, 2026

Full bio
Evaggelos Vallianatos is a historian, environmental strategist, and writer. He has served as a visiting professor on environmental history and environmental regulation and politics at a number of universities, including Humboldt State University, the University of New Orleans, Bard College, American University, George Washington University, the University of Maryland, Pitzer College, and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Vallianatos worked for the US Environmental Protection Agency for 25 years, where he studied US agriculture and pest management practices and policies. His experience led him to write the book Poison Spring: The Secret History of Pollution and the EPA (2014, co-authored with McKay Jenkins), which highlights how the environmental watchdog agency became a “polluter’s protection agency.”

Vallianatos is the author of hundreds of articles on Greek history and the environment, and six books, including Poison Spring. He has a BA in Zoology and MA in medieval Greek history from the University of Illinois, and received a PhD in European and Greek history from the University of Wisconsin.