The Future of Extreme Events

Scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just published a stark new warning about the impacts climate change is already having on our planet. Some of these impacts are already irreversible. In this episode, we talk to three of the scientists involved in the report about what the future may hold – and the narrowing window of opportunity to adapt to climate change.

Featuring Mark Howden, director of the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions at Australian National University, Balsher Singh Sidhu, postdoctoral research fellow in resources, environment and sustainability at the University of British Columbia in Canada and Edward R. Carr, professor and director of international development, community, and environment, Clark University in the US.

And a section of a rocket is about to crash on the Moon. Paul Hayne, assistant professor of astrophysical and planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder in the US tells us what he’s hoping to learn from studying the collision. (Listen from 36m)

And Jonathan Este, international politics editor at The Conversation in Cambridge in the UK, recommends some recent analysis on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Listen from 46m30)

The Conversation Weekly is produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits for this episode available here.

Further reading

• Mass starvation, extinctions, disasters: the new IPCC report’s grim predictions, and why adaptation efforts are falling behind
• IPCC report: Half the world is facing water scarcity, floods and dirty water — large investments are needed for effective solutions 
• A rocket is going to crash into the Moon – the accidental experiment will shed light on the physics of impacts in space 
• Putin’s invasion of Ukraine attacks its distinct history and reveals his imperial instincts 
• Putin’s claim to rid Ukraine of Nazis is especially absurd given its history