ClimateGenn hosted by Nick Breeze

A fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty is exactly what is needed to switch off the fossil fuel pipelines that are driving crazily hot temperatures, flash flooding, and droughts that directly threaten the global food production system. [Join now to get full episodes early: https://genn.cc or https://patreon.com/genncc ] In this ClimateGenn episode I speak with the Chair of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, Tzepora Berman. Tzepora and her colleagues are designing the framework by which we can begin to switch off the fossil fuel supply that is the root cause of what is a real-time climate emergency.

Fossil fuel companies hinder climate change solutions, but collective agency is powerful. The fossil fuel industry's tactics and a need for exposing unethical practices are discussed. The podcast explores political failures and the role of personal agency in climate action. The impact of the Energy Charter Treaty on climate action is highlighted, emphasizing the need for transparency and countries to leave the treaty.

Full 25 min version: [members link: https://youtu.be/NSdk6BwsSQA or https://genn.cc/dr-alice-hill-insurance/ ] Welcome to the ClimateGenn podcast. This summary version is edited from the full interview. Included are the key points from the discussion and the full version can be accessed by all Youtube and Patreon members. Overview of topics covered: US politicians debate the causes of extreme weather, stymying effective longterm policy. “California is the 4th largest insurance market in the world… so to pull out of that is big news!” State run back-up plan - but back-up plans are ballooning as concentrated risk discourages insurers. Extensive wildfires in 2017 and 2018 wiped out quarter of a century (25yrs) of profits in California. Insurers in California are not allowed to use models that account for the growing risk of climate change. Insurance policies evaluate 1 year of risk but climate is a long-term issue. AXA: At some point the world becomes uninsurable with climate change. Can the risk be spread across the nation? How do we build national resilience (fortresses?)? Too much infrastructure already at great risk. Post Covid, many Americans moved into areas “destined to burn”. East coast of America is subsiding and has one of the worst rates of sea-level rise in the world - “A bad combination!” “A profound risk to the stability of our real estate markets. We are watching the problem but there is a reluctance to address the problem… because it is so large!” What do we need to do? We will see large movements of people and devaluation of assets over time.

Full versions on: https://genn.cc - https://patreon.com/genncc - https://www.youtube.com/@NickBreeze/membership Full 26 min members version Contents: Antarctica Sea Ice Decline Antarctic versus Arctic differences Greenland can change the global map Arctic methane release and potential warming Have we crossed a global threshold? Can we repair climate? Interventions - climate repair? Climate is only one of our challenges We need new economic models UN COPs and broken promises Climate is a today problem from Bangladesh to Vietnam Loss & Damage is the insurance of the future Can we save Antarctic Ice Sheets? COP28 nightmare

(Full Episode 27 mins - members: https://youtu.be/xZ7i5_m7udE or https://genn.cc/dr-chad-briggs-risk/) Contents: Military lens - military objectives requires enemies. A hammer in search of a nail. US Air Force - largest user of fuel in the world. Mitigation inevitably leads to less flight hours. Not an option. All military, governmental and even social responses have a technology bias. “Reducing emissions” is unpalatable. In Washington, Trump era impacts on EPA, hangover into Biden Administration. EPA not responding to disinformation, which has a negative impact on policymaking. Biden has already approved more oil and gas projects than the entire Trump presidency. Willow Project and LNG projects with 1200km pipelines across thawing permafrost. Huge cost - what benefit? Persistent belief that magical techno-fixes will remove pollution from the atmosphere. SRM - Can’t be controlled once aerosols are up in the stratosphere. Issues with deployment - companies attached to smaller countries sidestepping regulation. Conspiracies kill rational discussion. The Pentagon won’t even discuss it. New paradigm of disaster era present need for integrating disaster risk with climate policy. Companies still seeking to profit off climate destruction with business models projecting out 10-20 years into the future.

In this ClimateGenn episode I am speaking with Dr Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Climate Research Center, in the US. 2023 has already seen record breaking temperatures in the atmosphere, land and oceans, with horrific impacts to human life, communities and ecology. [Visit https://genn.cc or https://patreon.com/genncc for additional content] Here we focus on three factors in the climate system that drive these extremes and are still set to break more records, creating a great deal more destruction this year. We focus on the forming El Niño climate phenomenon, as well as ocean heatwaves, impacting the Atlantic and the North Pacific.  Finally, we also discuss the role of the thinning sea ice that is accelerating change in the Arctic region. These changes drive up heat in the Arctic faster, impacting ecosystems and altering the jet stream, these latter impacts being the focus of Dr Francis’s research for over a decade.  You can support this channel via Patreon or by becoming a Youtube member, where episodes appear early and for Water and Food level members, there is access to a growing number of longer, unpublished, and previously unseen content. Thank you.

Southern Europe is gripped by drought that could last indefinitely, representing a collapse in the sources of water that we have relied on for drinking water, industrial and agricultural purposes. In this episode we discuss the potential for using atmospheric moisture harvesting as a source for agricultural irrigation. Aquaseek have already piloted their technology in the desert in the USA and with vineyard irrigation in southern Italy. How scaleable is this technology and can we really rely on it to avert a crisis that has brought down previous civilisations? Please support this work via https://patreon.com/genncc - view more episodes at https://genn.cc.

In they climate Genn episode I am speaking with Namibian Activist, Ina-Maria Shikongo (Twitter: @IMariashikongo).  Ina Maria has been speaking out about the unlawful exploitation of the Okavango Delta in Africa, calling on the Canadian oil company, Recon Africa, to leave Namibia. Visit https://genn.cc for more information and become a member for exclusive unseen interview content via https://patreon.com/genncc) This conversation highlights the plight of countries like Namibia in Africa and beyond, where consumption in the west creates misery and destruction elsewhere. It is absolutely critical that we understand that wider destruction is accelerating back towards us and, if we don’t take radical action to change course and consume much less, as Ina-Maria points out, the future will be bleak for us too.

In this ClimateGenn episode I am speaking with California Climate Tech CEO, Dr Ethan Cohen-Cole, about the impact the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank had on his business and the niche climate tech sector as a whole. Read more at https://genn.cc/capture6-svb/ - Support this channel via: https://patreon.com/genncc Far from a 2008 financial domino effect, Ethan says this is a case of ‘one particularly mismanaged institution’, highlighting an unforeseen upside. In any conversation of this kind, it is critical to state clearly, that all of this is waste of time if anthropogenic carbon emissions are not drastically reduced to zero in the shortest possible time. That is something that is clearly not happening now and something we all need to push for. What piqued my interest in Capture6 is the potential coupling with existing large-scale technology such as desalination of seawater. In a drier world, we urgently need to make sure we can supply water without further damaging ecosystems.  The atmospheric burden of greenhouse gases is now so high that we are starting breach critical thresholds in the earth system. We don’t just need to stop burning fossil fuels, we need to accelerate the reduction of atmospheric carbon, down from the current levels of around 420 parts per million to well below 350 parts per million. Policymakers are currently not making the structural changes necessary for a system-wide downward shift of the emissions curve.

That was Professor James Hansen speaking during an interview I recorded in Vienna at the European Geophysical Union Conference, in 2012. In this ClimateGenn episode I speak with David Spratt, Research Director, Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration in Australia, about his recent article, ‘Reclaiming the Climate Emergency’ - the links to the article are in the notes. Join to get more content: https://genn.cc - https://patreon.com/genncc We discuss the origins, treatment and what next? Aspect of how do we reclaim and respond appropriately in a real Climate Emergency - much like the one we are irrefutably in. I have also inserted a segment from this first interview with Professor Hansen in the interview with David, to better highlight how perilous the lack of action over the last decade has really been.  Patreon and Youtube ‘Water Tier’ members can watch the whole unedited 26 minutes interview with Professor Hansen that I have just uploaded. Given the lack off any progress on tackling climate change, much of what Jim said in 2012 is entirely relevant today. Thank you for listening. I am currently working on the interview and article with Professor Jingfang Fan at the University of Beijing and also Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. We discuss his research on teleconnections between Earth system tipping points and the identification of possible cascade mechanisms. Thank you. Reclaiming 'climate emergency’”,  today published in English in the Slovenian journal Filozofski vestnik. The article is also available at: https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/filozofski-vestnik/article/view/12054/11185 The whole issue is at: https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/filozofski-vestnik