ClimateGenn hosted by Nick Breeze

In this ClimateGenn episode, I am speaking with Eden Project founder, Sir Tim Smit about the stories that need to be told to create the future we want to have. Please consider supporting this work via a small subscription via https://patreon.com/genncc Sir Tim sees the now as a moment of great revolution that is emerging from what he calls the new green enlightenment. With world leaders of low-calibre and backward thinking, it is right to ask from whence will these great game-changers emerge? If you have just got your head around exponential climate change then why not have a go at exponential biosphere healing? With 20th century style aggression erupting in Europe, it will take a leap of great faith and hope to keep the lantern burning in these dark dystopian times. Some key quotes: i. “I am at a real sea change with Eden." ii. “A very rapid reappraisal is necessary of the whole world of science, of scientific research, the way it is funded…” iii. “Our disrespect for biology has led to many of the pickles we are now in.” iv. “I think we are living at a time of great revolution… in twenty years time we will be looking at this as the start of a new green enlightenment.” v. “I know many many top business people who feel they would not like to do anything other than have a shower after they have been with many bankers!” vi. “I have met very few leaders who are champions of citizenship. They see leadership as being about being decisive!” Vii. “I see us a shop window on a future that is still ours to make!” Thank you for listening to ClimateGenn where we explore the reality of what to do, and how to come to terms with such a severely changing world. You can support this work via https://patreon.com/genncc or by subscribing on any major podcast channel and Youtube. Please also consider sharing any episodes of interest.

In this episode of ClimateGenn I am speaking with Dr Minnie Go about her recent book ‘Rethinking Community Resilience’ looking in detail at how the city of New Orleans emerged from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina. Support ClimateGenn on Patreon: https://patreon.com/genncc and visit our website at https://genn.cc Minnie’s work looks at how the dynamics between civic groups and governing bodies can determine very different outcomes. Distrust of government by those most impacted communities meant they worked hard and fast to repair the damage to the same standards experienced before Katrina hit. A better-informed approach would have looked at what was necessary to protect them against future impacts that the science tells us are increasing in power and frequency. Minnie’s work gives us insight into how civic groups and communities are likely to become more resilient based on the characteristics and efficacy of regional government. In the next episode, I am speaking to Sir Tim Smit, who created the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK just over 20 years ago. Sir Tim discusses how the Eden Project has developed and become a shop window for initiatives that are going to be key to our survival in the coming years as climate closes in. Thanks for listening to ClimateGenn - please do consider supporting the series via Patreon and/or following on any of the podcast channels or Youtube. Feedback is always welcome too so don’t hesitate to get in touch. I will try my best to respond.

In this episode of ClimateGenn I am speaking to Dr Paul Behrens about the complexity of population, consumption and climate change. Support this channel on Patreon: https://patreon.com/genncc (website: https://genn.cc) In his book, ‘The Best of Times, The Worst of Times’ Paul addresses population, presenting both a pessimistic potential outcome, and also a more hopeful outcome based on a set of choices that we, especially those of us in wealthier high emitting countries, can make to improve the chances for a better future. One big barrier to a better future is the growing narrative that stokes fears about migration. The propagating of these myths falls under the title of econativism, a term that Paul both defines and discusses in some detail. Population and migration are critical and controversial issues and when placed in the context of continually rising emissions and consequent impacts, they stress the need for reflection on how we value our own life and the lives of all those around us. In the next episode I am speaking to Dr Min Hee Go in South Korea about her recent book ‘Rethinking Community Resilience’ that looks at the politics of disaster recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Minnie’s research highlights the necessity to not just build back from catastrophe but also how we must ensure community resilience, as the frequency and extremity of these events increase. Thank you for listening to ClimateGenn. You can follow this series on all major podcast channels, on Youtube, on my website at GENN.cc and you can follow and support on Patreon.

Please do subscribe on https://genn.cc and be sure to comment or send me your feedback by email. You can also support this series via https://patreon.com/genncc.   In this ClimateGenn episode, I am speaking to author and chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy, Professor Katharine Hayhoe about how her recent book ‘Saving Us’ addresses issues relating to personal agency.    2022 has advanced out of the gate with threats of war, massive volcanic eruptions, economic and political upheavals, conspiracy theories, and the worsening accelerating degradation of the biosphere upon which we are all entirely reliant.   Awareness is growing and people from all walks of life are awakening to the need for emergency action. It now feels like we are simply being held back by an adherence by the few to the value systems and aspirations of the last century.   Thank you for listening to ClimateGenn, we have a programme of interviews for this year looking at the multi-faceted problem of rebalancing life in the biosphere.  Please do subscribe and be sure to comment or send me your feedback by email.  You can also support this series via https://patreon.com/genncc.

In this ClimateGenn episode, I speak to Dr Ye Tao at Harvard University who is head of the Mirrors for Earth Energy Rebalancing (MEER). You can follow/support/get in touch via https://genn.cc + back via https://patreon.com/genncc Addressing climate threats With global agriculture across the world at high risk from rising temperatures and associated impacts, Ye’s team are proposing increasing the Earth’s reflectivity in order to reduce the temperature within the biosphere. In this interview we go into some detail about how it works, resource requirements, where it would be deployed and the pathway to scaling up. Social response is critical Ye also highlights the need for more understanding of psychology in order to be able to align the growing numbers of people around the world who are realising that our future is in a perilous state. By bringing people together, putting our wellbeing and safety before profit and extractive endeavours, only then do we really stand a chance of seeing these grand ideas tested and eventually deployed. So much to lose, all to play for A special thank you this week to Marion Troia who sent in a transcript of my last interview with Dr Tero Mustenon. This is interview received terrific feedback and resonated with a great many people, not least myself, so I am really grateful for this support. Thank you to all my new Patrons who are supporting this series and to everyone for listening, commenting and getting in touch.

In this ClimateGenn episode, I am speaking Dr Tero Mustonen who is based within the Arctic Circle about the enormous changes happening there today and that are going to cascade across the globe impacting every one of us. Follow and support at: https://genn.cc and https://patreon.com/genncc Tero works with indigenous peoples inside the Arctic Circle and beyond, utilising what is called Traditional Knowledge Systems that include the linguistic, cultural and natural environments that are complex and holistic. These ancient ways of understanding the world also hold the key to solving many of our systemic problems and yet they are being extinguished, along with the broad swathe of life on Earth. This is all a result of centuries of extraction and consumption, that underpin our contemporary experience of living in developed nations. Despite Tero’s despairing message, he also suggests a pathway to planetary repair through rewinding and by deepening our custodial relationship with nature. Thank you for listening. Please do subscribe if you want to stay up-to-date. You can also support ClimateGenn via Patreon and please do leave feedback which I am always interested to receive.

In this ClimateGenn episode, I am speaking with author Tom Rosenstiel about his new political thriller, The Days To Come. Tom has switched hats from journalist to fiction writer, possessing a depth of insight into how both disciplines interact with the public and our experience of reality? Please visit https://genn.cc for series information, or https://patreon.com/genncc to support my work. The Days To Come is a thriller with a climate change theme that touches on many of the complex factors that can either accelerate or undermine our progress in tackling the climate crisis. In this interview we discuss how the book intersects with contemporary reality and also how fiction and journalism contribute to shaping the narrative we internalise that helps us for envision the future. In the next episode I am speaking with indigenous Sámi scholar Dr Tero Mustonen, who is based in the Finnish Arctic, about the climate changes that threaten his communities existence and by extension, our own. We will also discuss what we can do to try and reverse the extreme nature of change in these critical and vulnerable regions of the world. Thank you for listening. Please do subscribe, comment or send feedback because I do read as much as I can and try to respond where possible. Thank you.

In this ClimateGenn episode, I am speaking to professor Peter Wadhams from the University of Cambridge about his recent research for a book he is writing on the viability of greenhouse gas removal from the atmosphere.   Subscribe at https://Patreon.com/genncc Visit https://genn.cc for more information.   Some of these proposals are also referred to as negative emissions technologies, or ‘nets’  and are widely included in national emissions reduction plans despite none being proven at scale today.  We discuss the viability of various proposed techniques including tree planting, bioenergy capture and storage as well as direct air capture and ocean proposals including farming kelp and the use of diatoms for large-scale sequestration.  In the last segment we discuss the risks posed by Arctic methane releases and two proposed techniques for dealing with a potential methane emergency, whereby multiple   billions of tonnes of the potent greenhouse gas are released at once.   These are controversial proposals despite policymakers assuming they will work in the future. The danger of these suppositions is compounded by the fact that many research projects are embryonic and underfunded.   Thank you for listening.  In the next episode, I speak with author Professor Tom Rosenstiel about his new political thriller, The Days To Come. In this interview, we discuss fiction writing and journalism and how these both intersect with reality to shape our world.  You can subscribe on all major podcast channels or Youtube and you can also support my work via https://Patreon.com/genncc Visit https://genn.cc for more information.  Thanks for listening.

Political elites in the UK have never looked more out of touch than they do today. Despite this, in Scotland, we see a Climate Citizens Assembly that is working with experts to come up with ideas for achieving a lower carbon, cleaner and fairer society. back my work and access more content at https://patreon.com/genncc and https://genn.cc In this episode, I am speaking with the Secretariat of the Scottish Climate Assembly, Susie Townend, who has overseen the creation of the first report to the Scottish Parliament guided by experts but very much created by ordinary folks from across the country. The Scottish Parliament is reviewing the report submitted by the assembly and will respond with feedback by the end of this year. Given the Scottish government’s positive signals given during COP26 in Glasgow, on their commitment to Loss and Damage funding for vulnerable nations, there is some confidence that they are taking the assembly’s input seriously. This kind of informed approach, places empathy, justice, and inclusion at the heart of the policymaking process. It also acknowledges that involving citizens increases momentum towards shaping a world we actually want to live in. Thank you for listening. This whole project is now under the name of ClimateGenn and the archive of work can be seen at genn.cc. You can support this work via patreon.com/genncc - you can also subscribe on Youtube and all of the main podcasts & social media channels.

In this ClimateGenn podcast episode, I am speaking to Dr Saleemul Huq about the true outcome of COP26 highlighting how the UK Presidency abandoned the world's most vulnerable nations in order to tow the line of the USA. Follow on https://genn.cc | Become a Patron at https://patreon.com/genncc Saleem also makes it clear that 1.1ºC, where we are today, is the new 1.5ºC - climate impacts are here and they are devastating lives and also taking lives. We must stop thinking about climate action in the future tense and start taking action in the present before it is truly too late to adapt to what we now know is coming. Once highly regarded as a nation that wielded great strength in diplomacy, COP26 will be remembered for the British government's disastrous inability to manage events of global importance. As we move away from Glasgow the threat of extreme impacts grows all the time around us and in response we commit to increasing greenhouse gas emissions that are driving us off the cliff. The pledges made cannot be trusted on the basis that previous pledges have been broken. If as Saleem says, the rich countries continue to bully the poorer nations while consuming the remaining carbon budgets, then our own moral integrity is what is in question. At what point do we say 'no more'? Thank you for listening to the ClimateGenn podcast - you can catch up with my work on my website at genn.cc or support it via Patreon.com/genncc.