The Heating Arctic impacts on countries like UK, Canada and Scandinavia are worsening - Interview with Dr Jennifer Francis

Welcome to a new series of ClimateGenn where we aim to speak with a range of global experts to be better able to understand the changes in the global climate system that are rapidly impacting the world in which we live. Although some like to use the term climate chaos - if we dive into the noise, more often than not, there are signals we can learn from.

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COP29 in Azerbaijan is now also on the horizon. The world’s largest climate conference is for another consecutive year being hosted in a country with stated aim of increasing production and sales of fossil fuels - the underlying cause of accelerating climate breakdown.

If you want to learn more about the UN’s COP process and why it has failed to deliver the structural changes that could have averted much of the destruction we are currently experiencing, then my book, COPOUT, is available worldwide in paperback and audiobook. 

Order 'COPOUT' BY NICK BREEZE

I will be attending COP29 to report both on the lack of progress being made in the official negotiations, while also speaking with attendees on a wide range of related climate topics.

I recently spent 2 weeks in the summer in S. Portugal’s Alentejo region where temperatures regularly surpass 40ºC (104ºF). The climate stripes chart included here, made especially for the project by Climate Stripes creator Professor Ed Hawkins, shows the rising mean temperatures in Evora, in Alentejo, that have become much more pronounced since the 1980’s and will continue to rise. Slight rises in the mean temperature mean increased rises in the mean temperature and increased frequency of extreme temperatures. A signal of testing times ahead.

For the second week of this visit I was joined by world renowned glaciologist and climatologist Professor Jason Box, and Anglo-Chinese author and journalist, Janet Wang. With over 25 interviews recorded, I’ll be releasing a special series titled ‘Into the Heat’ looking at how these communities are adapting to the rising extremes and, as Jason Box says, ‘They are winning in sustainability’. We also discuss the thresholds of viability and why the survival of wine and olive oil producing communities in S Portugal connects to the wellbeing of communities in places like the UK and other parts of N. Europe. Subscribers will get access to additional behind the scenes footage.

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In this interview with Dr Jennifer Francis from the Woodwell Climate Research Centre in the US, we discuss her teams new research into feedbacks from the melting Arctic Ice cap. We also discuss how destructive climate impacts are starting to influence policymaking, albeit with resistance from misinformation campaigns. Finally, we discuss the rise of research into geoengineering and Jennifer’s insights into whether we should deploy risky temporary-techno fixes to buy time, while we wait for structural action at the policy-level to be implemented.