ClimateGenn hosted by Nick Breeze

Zack is well known on social media for his engaging graphics that tell the climate change story. He also played a pivotal role at the US National Oceanic Atmospheric Association, or NOAA, in advancing climate modelling and forecasting through innovative AI and machine learning approaches. His forced departure, along with hundreds of other scientists due to DOGE-led federal cuts, has significantly undermined NOAA’s research capacity. The loss not only stalls progress in critical climate science but also poses real risks to public safety and the global understanding of climate change. “The data is actually in a pretty fragile ecosystem... in some cases in their free time, just kind of turning a crank to update the data.”“The data is actually in a pretty fragile ecosystem... in some cases in their free time, just kind of turning a crank to update the data.”“The data is actually in a pretty fragile ecosystem... in some cases in their free time, just kind of turning a crank to update the data.”

[Dr Alexander MacDonald]We've been lucky. The day could come where most of the world loses electricity at exactly the same time. So we have to modernise electricity centred around the supergrid that protects the flow of electricity because it is life-giving.[Nick Breeze]In this ClimateGen episode, I'm speaking with Dr Alexander McDonald, a former head of climate research at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, NOAA. Alexander outlines the need to urgently upgrade electrical energy generation in the US and around the world using supergrids. The vulnerability of existing grids was illustrated recently in Spain and Portugal, where an outage hit the entire Iberian Peninsula in May 2025.Without a massive transition to resilient electrification, we are all exposed to huge risks posed by power outages. In the next episode, I speak with Dr Sumitra Das about the proposed cooling plan for India. What we have found last year, 37 cities crossed 45 degrees Celsius and with humidity that means 55 degrees to 65 degrees Celsius, real fill that you'd have.90% of the people do not have air conditioning today. Dr Sumitra Das and his colleagues have proposed a national cooling policy plan in an effort to counter the deaths caused by extreme heatwaves. This includes geoengineering techniques that many will find controversial.And yet, as the emissions keep rising, so do the temperatures and the humidity. Thank you to all members and subscribers for supporting this channel. There are more episodes in the pipeline covering interrelated climate topics from experts across the globe.Thank you for listening. Alexander, thank you very much for taking the time to speak to me today. We're going to talk about the whole supergrid proposal that you're very involved in.And I just wanted to ask you to give a brief status quo in the US for electricity generation and transmission and also considering the future demand for, especially when we're talking about new technologies like AI, for example.

IN this ClinateGenn episode I am speaking with Dr Mike MacCracken, a pioneering climate scientist whose research on atmospheric physics and global climate change has significantly advanced our understanding of human impacts on the climate system. His leadership roles at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the US Global Change Research Program established him as a key figure in climate science. As chief scientist for the Office of the US Global Change Research Program, he played a crucial role in advising multiple US administrations on climate science and policy.In this episode we explore counter and cross-over views to opposition to solar geoengineering. With great respect to experts on all sides of this discussion– Mike offers some compelling reasons as to why we cannot just denounce proposals to cool the planet.This is at a time when the UK government is significantly funding research into solar geoengineering. With such a split in views on this topic, I hope you take the time to consider what Mike says, and also what Professor Raymond Pierrehumbert says in a previous episode, in order to inform your own perspective.In the next episode I’ll be speaking with Alexander McDonald, a former head of US National Oceanic and atmospheric Agency, NOAA, who is the leading proponent behind SuperGrid’s for supplying the world with clean abundant electrical energy– without which, all our dreams of the future will fail.Thanks to all subscribers. Please do like and share and feedback in the comments. I try to respond to as much as I can.

In Alentejo, techniques to conserve water are transforming the outlook for the region. As large olive oil and wine estates start to deploy regenerative farming techniques, we see the landscape come alive with biodiversity thriving. Indigenous grape varieties mean that new wine styles that are both elegant and charming are giving Alentejo a new character that resonates with international markets. This is an exciting chapter in the journey of this wine region that predates the Romans.Download the FREE ebook: https://sustentabilidade.vinhosdoalentejo.pt/uploads/ebook/into-the-heat.pdf

Sustainability is often framed and presented as a purely environmental subject. The truth is that the economics of any given sustainability effort are underpinned by economic viability. It is the market place that determines whether products are desired and thus bought. If the producers get it wrong, there is no business, meaning job losses and environmental objectives are abandoned. Here we dive into the economic challenges that face Alentejo’s wine industry but also are mirrored in many regions around the world.Download the FREE ebook: https://sustentabilidade.vinhosdoalentejo.pt/uploads/ebook/into-the-heat.pdfFrancisco Mateus was the President of the Wines of Alentejo wine commission at the time of this interview. He stepped down in 2025. His broader picture view helps us to place the economic pillar of sustainability into a broader context.

In this episode Nick Breeze speaks with a range of producers hearing how critical it is to invest in communities, building house, schools, offering scholarships to children and transport links.Download the FREE ebook: https://sustentabilidade.vinhosdoalentejo.pt/uploads/ebook/into-the-heat.pdfWithout communities in this scarcely populated region, there would be no development of regenerative agriculture. Without the economic structure of business the land, degraded from decades past, would turn to desert and spread north. Supporting communities in Alentejo is literally holding back the Sahara.

Southern Portugal’s alentejo region is the location setting for our tour of sustainability practices but Portugal is facing a range of different environmental challenges that will become more pronounced in coming years. In this episode with guest prof. Francisco Ferreira, we delve into the water, heat and other climate issues.Francisco Ferreira is a professor of Environmental Engineering at Universidade Nova de Lisboa and president of the environmental NGO ZERO, recognized for his extensive work on air quality, climate change, and sustainable development in Lisbon and across Portugal.Download the FREE ‘Into The Heat’ ebook:

Jason Box accepted the invitation to come Into The Heat with Nick Breeze and here he gives insights into what he saw. At the outset, Jason thought the efforts to survive in these conditions were ‘fighting gravity’. After 2 days, that view changed. Jason also offers great insights into the potential for using data rich landscapes to create digital twins that can help produce greater quality products resilience in anticipating future climate.Download the FREE ebook: https://sustentabilidade.vinhosdoalentejo.pt/uploads/ebook/into-the-heat.pdfProfessor Jason Box is an American glaciologist renowned for his pioneering research on the Greenland ice sheet, having participated in over 30 expeditions since 1994 and leading projects such as the Dark Snow Project and the Extreme Ice Survey to study ice-climate interactions and glacier dynamics. He is a professor at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) and is prominently featured in the documentary film Into the Ice, which follows his fieldwork investigating the mass balance and melt processes of Greenland’s ice sheet. Box is among the most cited scientists in his field, has contributed to major climate reports including the IPCC, and is recognized for his impactful science communication and advocacy on climate change. Jason has also featured in many Climate.Genn podcast episodes on this channel in the last ten years.

In this episode, Nick Breeze discusses with author and broadcaster Janet Wang, how interventions in landscapes and agriculture can have a positive impact, and how what may appear out of control, might just be a very happy ecosystem.Janet Z. Wang is a British-Chinese wine journalist, author, and TV pundit renowned for her expertise on Chinese wine and culture. She is the author of The Chinese Wine Renaissance: A Wine Lover’s Companion (Ebury Press, 2020), a comprehensive guide exploring the history, varieties, and cultural significance of wine in China, with a foreword by Oz Clarke OBE. Wang is a principal Chinese-speaking member of the prestigious Circle of Wine Writers and the Association of Wine Educators.The video podcasts can be viewed here or on Youtube, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Download the Into The Heat ebook: https://sustentabilidade.vinhosdoalentejo.pt/uploads/ebook/into-the-heat.pdf

Diving into what regenerative really means and how it both increases resilience to climate extremes and rebuilds soil climate sinks. The soils currently hold roughly twice as much carbon than the atmosphere.Download the FREE ebook: ⁠https://sustentabilidade.vinhosdoalentejo.pt/uploads/ebook/into-the-heat.pdf⁠Kimberly Nicholas is a sustainability scientist and full professor at Lund University in Sweden, renowned for her research on climate change, sustainable food systems, and the connections between people, land, and climate. She is the author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller UNDER THE SKY WE MAKE: How to be Human in a Warming World, has published over 65 peer-reviewed articles, and communicates climate solutions through her widely read newsletter and frequent international lectures.