ClimateGenn hosted by Nick Breeze

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where episodes appear early and for Water and Food level members, there is access to a growing number of longer, unpublished, and previously unseen content.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

In this ClimateGenn episode I am speaking with Jojo Mehta, Executive Director of Stop Ecocide International about the positive news that the European Parliament is proposing to include Ecocide in EU Law, an important development in the course to have this vital legislation enshrined in international law. [Support this channel and access episodes early by joining up on Patreon or Youtube] For those that are not familiar with Ecocide it has this simple definition: Ecocide means unlawful or wanton acts, committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or longterm damage to the environment, being caused by those acts. A law of Ecocide was first proposed by the late Polly Higgins and it is fantastic to see the progress the organisation is making in fulfilling its objectives. Outlawing environmental destruction is a critical part of how we as a species, reassess our relationship with nature, in the face of climate and ecological breakdown. In the next episode I am speaking with David Spratt, Research Director, Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration, in Australia about his new article on reclaiming the Climate Emergency. Thanks for listening.

Discussing the critical drought situation in Europe with a focus on Italy. Visit https://genn.cc for more information. View more in the water series by backing this channel on Patreon or by becoming a Youtube member.  Quote by Dr Francesco Avanzi: “Droughts are often called the creeping disaster because at the very beginning, you don't realise that it's coming up. And when you realise that it's often too late. And in that the dynamic is somehow similar to how the COVID pandemic played out in the early months. That awareness came when somehow it was already too late.” “what we also see is a shift towards earlier snow seasons. So a later start, earlier melt out date. There are data from some colleagues of ours from CIMA, that have just showed that the duration of the snow season right now is unprecedented over the last 600 years in the Alps. So that's also part of the problem. So this means that, on the one hand, we have to cope with less water from snow, coming earlier than usual during spring. This means that we will have to rethink, to some extent, some of our practice in terms of where and when we store water, and when and how we use it. Last year gave us already quite a lot of lessons and I think to some extent it raised our awareness of changes that are happening. We will have to continue that adaptation and mitigation.” Nick Breeze: This reminds us, as Francesco said at the outset, that drought is a creeping disaster. The water is stored as snow in the mountains. It runs down into rivers, into the soils and is stored beneath as groundwater. It is a mechanism that we regard as an infinite cycle. Human made climate change is interrupting the cycle by erasing the source of the water. Dr Francesco Avanzi “…snow that is not accumulating in a mountain during winter is water that we are not going to have during summer. That's when we need water the most for agriculture, for freshwater supply, and that translated into significant streamflow deficit… “Groundwater is a savings account. We can take from that to cope with a single dry year. But then when we look at several dry years in a row, that reserve may dry up.”

The UN Climate COP’s are not succeeding in solving the longterm problem of overshooting our Paris climate commitments. This episode focuses on the emerging voices that are defining the overshoot agenda. Full transcript at: https://genn.cc/2023-overshoot/ You can support this work on Patreon: https://patreon.com/genncc

In this ClimateGenn episode, recorded on the last night of the extended COP in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, I am speaking with US COP veteran and legal expert, Professor Dan Bodansky from Arizona State University. [Support this channel on Patreon at https://patreon.com/genncc and also access additional content at https://genn.cc ] Dan has extensive experience working with the US negotiating team over the years and shares his insights as to what motivates negotiators and how the nature pot the COP’s themselves are changing from bureaucratic conferences to mega-COP jamborees where the circus atmosphere leeches into the proceedings and influences the outcomes. However, none of this appears to be stemming the rise of global emissions to below 1.5ºC, the scientific red line that is commonly used to measure the effectiveness of climate policy. As the breakdown of trust between Global North and South countries continues to haunt the talks, a new think tank appeared at COP27 called The Overshoot Commission tasking itself with looking at navigating a climatically unstable world. With geoengineering in the form of carbon dioxide removal and solar radiation management firmly back on the table, Dan highlights that these investigations are currently about the exclusion of technologies that will not deliver, rather than the selection of technologies for deployment. The clock ticks and the world is moving into new territory on multiple fronts. Thank you for listening to this podcast. Please check the genn.cc website for the full COP27 interview and session list. Patreon backers will have access to extra content collected from the conference.

In this COP27 interview with Dr Saleemul Huq we discuss the arrival of Loss & Damage into the negotiations. We also discuss the need to urgently reduce emissions, first in the wealthy nations that have caused, and are causing, so much suffering and destruction, and then with assistance, across the Earth. Please support this work on https://Patreon.com/genncc and https://genn.cc Saleem has been involved in the negotiations here since day 1 so is well placed to discuss the function and dysfunction of the COP process whilst keeping in mind that this is the only forum in the world where poorer vulnerable nations have a seat at the table, even if, as he says, they are not listened to. All this must change, and fast if we are going to survive the onslaught of accelerating extreme climate impacts like fires, floods, and droughts. Here at the COP, in the wake of incredible destructive flooding that took lives and destroyed heritage, the nation of Pakistan offers this portentous warning: “What happened in Pakistan won’t stay in Pakistan