Maggie Baird, best known as the mother of Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, is stepping into a much larger spotlight, this time as a climate storyteller.
The founder of Support+Feed has partnered with WETA Washington, D.C. to launch a new public television series, Climate Kitchen, set to begin production later this year and air nationwide in 2027. The show will blend cooking, lifestyle, and documentary storytelling to explore how everyday food choices connect to climate change, health, and social equity.
If that sounds like another celebrity cooking show a la Meaghan, it isn’t. The premise is more ambitious: to bring climate action into the most familiar space we have, the kitchen. The book Think Eat Cook Sustainably covers this space. But so much more can be done, from teaching people how to forage, to using time-honored local and seasonal recipes, to learning how to grow our own victory gardens.
“Living a more sustainable, earth-friendly lifestyle can seem… overwhelming,” Baird said in the official announcement. “Climate Kitchen is about embracing progress over perfection… showing how small, simple behavior shifts can build toward lasting difference.”
The series will feature a wide-ranging lineup that reflects where climate conversations are heading, from Indigenous activist Xiye Bastida to oceanographer Sylvia Earle, alongside mainstream figures like Martha Stewart and Baird’s own children, Billie and Finneas. That should be fun. Veganism has definitely grown from being a trend to becoming a movement.
The idea is not to preach but to translate. Climate change, in this framing, isn’t just about policy or technology, it’s about food systems, affordability, and daily habits. Baird has long argued that what we eat is one of the most accessible entry points into climate action, even if it’s not the only solution.
For WETA, the series is part of its broader “Well Beings” initiative, which focuses on public health and societal challenges. Executive producer Tom Chiodo described the goal simply: helping people make a difference “one recipe, one meal… at a time.”
There’s something strategic here. Climate messaging has often struggled to connect with mainstream audiences. But food, personal, cultural, emotional, cuts through.
If Climate Kitchen works, it won’t just teach recipes. It may redefine how climate action is communicated: not as sacrifice, but as something lived daily, one plate at a time.
Want some climate-friendly vegan recipes? Why didn’t you ask? Vegetarian hummus is the best one to start. We picked up this recipe from peacemakers in Haifa.
