ClimateGenn hosted by Nick Breeze

In this episode, I speak to the philosopher, Martin Bunzl, about his new book, Thinking While Walking, Reflections on the Pacific Crest Trail. As Martin traverses the 2650 mile trail from the Mexican-US border to the US-Canada border, questions emerge around our own relationship with what we call the natural world. If humanity has curated the landscape for thousands of years, both for-profit and pleasure, what are the impasses and delusions that we are to face in solving the huge ecological and climate problems that currently block our road to the future? These ideas have been discussed before in terms of man versus nature but Martin gives concrete examples of where our romantic view of nature has already shaped the world around us. Thinking While Walking is a fascinating book that considers many of the entrenched positions that many of us hold when we think or speak about action on climate change. Thank you for listening to Shaping The Future. There are many more episodes on the way, so please consider subscribing via our podcast or Youtube channels. You can also support my work by backing it at patreon.com/genncc. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro by Nick Breeze 01:21 Role of philosophy in responding to climate challenges. 05:00 Tension between stemming energy and stemming population among global poorest. 07:00 Our relationship with nature. “We forget that human beings started changing nature at least ten thousand years before the Christian era.” 11:20 Manmade versus nature-based solutions. 13:50 We need to remove 8 billion tonnes of CO2 for every part per million of carbon dioxide that we want to remove from the atmosphere. 16:15 Does the precautionary principle as a term oversimplify the reality of the climate predicament or is it an apt term given there are so many vulnerable people? 20:30 Manmade interventions that create winners and losers. 25:40: Genetical engineering for greenhouse gas removal that could see 40% of our emissions removed by agriculture. Is the potential risk too unpalatable? 31:02 Are we saving the world or creating an idea of nature that fits our anthropocentric interest? Visit the main site at genn.cc More on https://climateseries.com

In this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with Gold Standard CEO, Margaret Kim. Gold Standard sets the standard for climate positive implementation of a wide range of global-scale projects. The global push to eradicate emissions means that activities and processes must be credible and effective if they are to build trust that we are on target to avert overshoot due to the billions of tonnes of human greenhouse gases emitted annually. Margaret has enormous expertise in understanding the processes that solve these issues and also the reality of what it means if we fail to deliver. Recent heatwaves and storm events are causing devastation across the world regardless of where people are located. The need for accelerated transformation of our society to one that absorbs rather than emits carbon has never been greater. Thanks for listening to Shaping The Future. You can support this channel via my Patreon page or by subscribing to channels and giving feedback. There are many more episodes on the way discussing a wide range of climate issues so please stay tuned. Time Stamps: 00:00 Intro by Nick Breeze 01:30 Ensuring carbon reduction project manage negative environmental risks 03:30 Establishing public trust in the fight against greenwashing 07:20 Assessing impacts: “If you don’t know, you don’t care!” 14:00 On policy shifts: “We have seen huge movements from civil society groups, youth communities, making more progress than the 198 negotiators and governments supporting that. I really hope that COP26 shows leadership that is badly needed. 16:00 “Scope 3 emissions are key to Net Zero… but there is still a large gap…” 19:00 “We have clear science-based mile stones…. This is not something we can say is nice to have. It is a must.” More: https://www.goldstandard.org/ https://genn.cc Support this work: https://patreon.com/genncc

Support this channel via https://genn.cc or https:patreon.com/genncc This episode features an interview with former Pakistani Defence Minister General Ghazi. I recorded this at COP25 in Madrid and am replaying here because General Ghazi identifies with great clarity, a stage process that can lead a nation or region into conflict. General Ghazi also outlines the critical role of the military as first responders, when climate extremes create society-wide suffering. The question is here, what more can we learn from experts in risk that can help us build societal resilience and promote cooperation as opposed to conflict in the face of a challenging future? General Ghazi is a member of the Global Military Advisory Council On Climate Change (GMACCC). Thanks for listening to Shaping The Future - I will be posting more in this series on ‘Preventing Human Chaos’ in the coming weeks. Please subscribe to any of the podcast channels or Youtube. You can also support this work via Patreon and do send feedback or comment on GENN.cc. Preparing younger officers for climate-related conflicts and perturbations How water represents a huge risk to societal stability and what can be done Need for cooperation instead of conflict? Politicians lead by numbers so the military is well placed to translate risk into actionable plans? Military as first responders in climate chaos and can be prepositioned for disaster management despite the increasingly erratic nature of climate-driven impacts. The biggest concern is catastrophic conflict over resources that cross geopolitical lines. Future stresses from overpopulated urban areas to pandemics and conflicts.

View more at https://genn.cc  Back this channel at https://patreon.com/genncc   In this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with French philosopher Mark Alizart about his new book The Climate Coup.   The Climate Coup makes for fascinating reading as Mark identifies the forces of financial and self-interest who are either actively profiting or seeking to gain power from the misery and suffering that is a result of regional and global ecological and climate disasters.  I n identifying these Carbofascists, Mark suggests there are parallels between events such as the Nazi burning of the Reichstag in 1933 and President Bolsonaro’s more recent wilful burning of the Amazon rainforest that has shocked the world.    Linking this seeming madness to the rise of populism, Mark suggests key responses that those of us interested in saving the global commons must consider if we are to win the struggle for a stable future.  The book is only 60 pages and available to buy online at the usual places. I would welcome any thoughts or feedback about The Climate Coup, so please do comment or get in touch with your thoughts.   Following this episode, I am going to post an interview I recorded at COP25 in Madrid with retired General Ghazi from Pakistan. General Ghazi was also formerly the Pakistani Defence Minister and explains how current trends of climate disruption increasing pressures on water supply, are a key indicator of future conflict in the region.   Conflict risk and human suffering are only going to increase as the world becomes hotter and resources more restricted. How we behave in the face of such pressures will be the true test of our humanity.   Thanks for listening to Shaping The Future - please subscribe on any of the podcast channels or Youtube, or if you can, support my work via Patreon.

Christian Kroll, Founder and CEO of Ecosia, discusses his transformative vision for a search engine that plants trees with its profits. He emphasizes the need for tech companies to embrace regenerative business models instead of focusing solely on profit. Kroll envisions a future where users can contribute to climate action through simple actions like web searching. He also highlights a new generation of green innovators dedicated to repairing the Earth, calling for a shift in how we define success in business.

In this episode of Shaping The Future, I speak with the author, Allison Cobb, about her new book titled ‘Plastic - An Autobiography’. With poetic sensitivity, Allison explores the complexity of how plastic has become part of our lives and how this material, that can endure for generations, has been wilfully categorised as a ‘single use’ disposable product becoming as ubiquitous as food with a highly toxic indigestible after-life. This autobiography is also personal, linking the horrendous WW2 invasion of Poland with her ancestors who also worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on the now infamous Manhattan Project to create the first atomic bomb. This is a story about complexity, personal journey and the plasticity of all life as we venture forth into the next big existential challenge of preventing climate and ecological collapse. Thank you for listening to Shaping The Future - there are many more episodes coming so please do subscribe and also consider supporting this work via Patreon. Timestamps: 1:30 - ‘I wanted to write about the Anthropocene, the geologic scale human impact on the planet, in a way that made it personal’ 3:00 Dupont, “See to it that American’s are never satisfied” - consumer capitalism has proliferated across the world. 5:20 - Heidegger’s essay ‘The Thing’ - technology reduces everything to its use-value. 7:30 The baby albatross with ingested plastic is emblematic of the disposable culture. 10:00 Complexity through personal stories that give us hope through empathy. 13:00 How are we doing in terms of the global collective tackling these huge ecological challenges. 15:00 The role of artists and creators along with every human to make the global shift. Buy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Autobiography-Allison-Cobb/dp/164362038X?ref_=nav_custrec_signin& Visit our main site: https://genn.cc Back us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/genncc Visit Cambridge Climate Lecture Series Page: https://climateseries.com/climate-change-podcast

In this second episode of the methane miniseries, I speak to Professor Orjan Gustafsson from Stockholm University about his team's ongoing collaboration with the Russian research team, led by Professor Igor Semiletov, investigating the Siberian Arctic. Orjan has published over 80 research papers jointly with his Russian colleagues on their findings in the Russian Arctic over the course of more than a decade. In this episode, he highlights why understanding this region is among one of the most important research areas in climate change today. Despite the complexity of geopolitics that often infects peoples thinking in dealing with Russia, the opportunities for scientific collaboration in pursuit of critical knowledge can, in the long run, prove more beneficial than any short term political aims. Thank you for listening to Shaping The Future. More interviews and podcasts can be found on climateseries.com, GENN.CC and on all major podcast channels and Youtube. There are many more episodes being recorded. In fact, I am working really hard to turn them all around. Please do subscribe and all feedback is much appreciated. CONTENTS: Interview contents by Timestamp[min:sec]|Subject 00:00 Overview of research programme looking at how carbon feedback processes work. 03:50 Degradation of subsea permafrost. 07:00 Different sources of methane. 09:00 Subsea permafrost not a risk? 11:30 Quantity of thermogenic methane. 13:30 Why this matters for policy. 14:40 Defining megaseeps. 17:00 Extrapolating estimates of megaseeps. 18:38 Is there a known countervailing force? 20:30 Is policy and rate of research in the area sufficient? 21:00 Is the Russian Presidency of the Arctic Council good for research? 21:50 Why what is happening in Siberia should be considered top scientific priority. 23:45 Slope hydrate vulnerability due to Atlantification of Arctic (warm inflow of water). 26:35 Russian Presidency a good opportunity for collaboration. 26:58 Research to be published in 2021. 27:38 New open access database live - CircumArctic Shelf Carbon database, “CASCADE”. 30:45 Science as diplomacy. Support on Patreon: https://patreon.com/genncc Visit & subscribe to genn.cc: https://genn.cc

In this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with Glaciologist, Dr Heidi Sevestre, about the changing state of the Arctic, the outlook for the Russian Chairmanship of the Arctic Council, of which Heidi herself is an advisor, and how thawing permafrost could be past the threshold of irreversibility. Heidi combines the spirit of the modern polar explorer with the weight of important scientific work. She is also an excellent communicator and will be speaking at the ChangeNow climate summit later this month in the company of Sir David Attenborough and world-renowned scientist, Johan Rockström, who will be premiering their new documentary, Breaking Boundaries, as part of the virtual summit. Heidi also gives her perspective on why we literally must fight hard to limit global average warming to 1.5ºC, giving a rare insight into how someone who wanted to be a glaciologist from a very young age actually feels about the rate of loss of the world's glaciers. Thank you for listening to Shaping The Future - please subscribe and share the podcast as we have many more episodes on the way exploring the change needed to avert the worst impacts of climate change. Links: https://climateseries.com/climate-change-podcast More interviews and transcripts: https://genn.cc Change Now Summit: https://www.changenow.world

This can also be seen as a video edit with previously unseen footage from the last voyage in late 2020: https://youtu.be/lGgcUSJbAqE The transcript will also be posted on https://genn.cc and https://climateseries.com/climate-change-podcast This is part 1 in series of three posts on methane releases from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf recorded in 2021.  This is the first in a miniseries discussing the ongoing work in the Russian Arctic talking to Dr Igor Semiletov, one of the lead scientists who has been studying the region for over twenty years.    Old deep thermogenic pool   In assessing whether the potential for increased climate warming is a significant risk, scientists look at the size of the carbon pool and also the origin of the methane.   In many cases where methane is produced from biogenic sources, such as animals and plants, it is created by microbes and although has the same global warming potential, it is created very slowly and is often broken down to CO2 before it reaches the atmosphere.    The other source is thermogenic methane that occurs due to the decay of organic matter at high pressure and temperature. For these conditions to occur, the sediments where they are found are older and deeper.  In terms of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, many scientists have believed that the methane emissions are from biogenic sources. This means they would be slower to form and overall a lesser risk to the global climate. This article has been created using extracts from recent interviews with Dr Semiletov. In part 2 I speak to Professor Orjan Gustafsson from the Department of Environmental Science at Stockholm University. Orjan has been visiting the East Siberian Shelf for many years working alongside an international group of scientists including the Russians. He discusses how research into the escaping methane and thawing permafrost in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf should be greatly expanded considering the magnitude and changing stability of the carbon pool. He also suggests that this research could have enormous ramifications for how carbon budgets that inform policy, are calculated.

In this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with the Director of Development and Communications at EarthLanka, Saffran Mihnar. Saffran is an advocate for climate solutions focused on communication, campaigning, and policy negotiations. In this discussion, we discuss the struggles ahead for any journey towards zero or even net emissions. The UN Conference of the Parties (or COP) process is over a quarter of a century old and has achieved little by way of reducing global emissions but as a regular participant, Saffran offers a voice that speaks to people like me as to why we have to redouble our efforts and start on a real journey to try and save the global commons. A big part of this journey is about climate justice for those in the least developed and developing nations. Consumption in rich countries is currently a death sentence, first for the poorest on Earth and eventually the majority of us. We discuss why aligning our personal and human interests with those of the wider world and ecology is, in the long run, good for all of us. Thanks for listening to Shaping The Future. There are many more episodes being produced so please do subscribe to be a part of the conversation. Find out more at: https://climateseries.com/climate-change-podcast Also at: https://genn.cc