Planet: Critical

Brian Czech, founder of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy, is an ecological economist and former conservation biologist. Brian joined me just after returning from COP15 and, thankfully, says the fallacy of economic growth is finally being discussed at these critical conferences.On the episode, Brian explains the relationship between economics and the planet’s biosphere before introducing steady state economics, an economic model which prioritises stability and the protection of planetary boundaries. He also describes his time working for the US government, and walks us through the trophic theory which dismantles any techno-utopian argument that we can innovate our way out of the climate crisis and continue to enjoy growth for growth’s sake.Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it.© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

In July, I recorded a roundtable with six of my former guests. The aim was to create an interdisciplinary assessment of the climate crisis, and what to do about it. Today, you can listen to the roundtable here, or watch it on Youtube.There were six fascinating presentations, each followed by a round of questions. This is what to expect:Maximum Power Principle in Biology & EconomicsCarey King, research scientist and Assistant Director at the University of Texas Energy InstituteGlobal Climate CompensationHenrik Nordborg, Physics Professor and Renewable Energy and Environmental Technology Program Director at the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied SciencesMEER & Warming MitigationYe Tao, Physicist and FounderCarbon Credit CurrencySteve Keen, Economist and AcademicEconomy 3.0: Networked Societies & Energy StandardChris Cook, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Security and Resilience Studies at University College LondonOligarchy & Energy Systems PrinciplesSally Goerner, Director of Edinburgh University’s Planetary Health LabPlanet: Critical is 100% independent and reader-funded. If you value it, and have the means, become a paid subscriber today!© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Wendy Schultz is an academically trained futurist with over thirty-five years of global foresight practice. Director at Infinite Futures, she has designed futures research projects for NGOs, government agencies, and businesses.Wendy and I discuss the Law in the Emerging Bio-Age report she recently published, which asked how legal structures can support second chances at improving human relations with living systems and our planet. We also discuss how to bridle the finance industry to support a just transition, the role of activism, governments’ relationship to information, and, more generally, how to solve wicked problems.Support Planet: Critical: www.planetcritical.com Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

“The public do trust science and scientists more than probably any other social group, according to social surveys. The public have expectations on scientists that they will speak out if they see issues of national or social concern because they expect that scientists are working in the public good.“So what’s the responsibility on us as academics then, knowing what we know, knowing that we're heading for disaster, knowing that that governments aren't doing nearly enough to avert it, in fact are actually pouring fuel on the fire? What do we do? And I think for us to not then speak out about that, to not resist, that would be to really fail in our duty, both as scholars, but also as citizens.”Aaron Thierry is an ecologist and environmental activist. After spending years on the frontline of the climate crisis in the Arctic, Aaron now researches the communication strategies of activist organisations, examining the interplay between reason and emotion in the climate emergency movement.Aaron joins me to discuss his research, explaining the positive impact of scientists rebelling against government inaction, and why all academics must broaden their understanding of their role as educators to warn their students of the realities of the crisis. Aaron explains the benefits of a decentralised activist movement sharing one single coherent message—and, in doing so, reveals the true sunken cost of fossil fuel infrastructure that will likely send us well over the 1.5 degree limit. Planet: Critical is 100% independent and reader-funded. If you value it, and have the means, become a paid subscriber today!© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

“How long do we keep pretending that capitalism works? How long are we going to keep pretending that there is such a thing as objectivity? How long are we going to keep pretending that we're not in a runaway climate crisis? Systems are literally collapsing – the UK is in massive crisis, the United States is in massive crisis. These countries are seen as the leaders of the western world in a lot of ways and the reality is neither country is even a democracy anymore. We're a corporatocracy at best.“What happens in countries where there's not legitimate journalism in the mainstream is you end up with a society that's overwhelmed with information. In the United States, huge swaths of the country can't even tell truth from fiction, which is something that Hannah Arendt in Origins of Totalitarianism warned: the best subject for totalitarian rule is not someone with a certain political bias, but someone who literally just can't tell truth from fiction anymore.”Dahr Jamail is an award-winning journalist and author, who was one of the few independent journalists to report extensively from the ground during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Dahr later became a climate reporter, tracking climate disruption around the world and collating his knowledge in the wonderful book, The End of Ice.Dahr joined me to discuss what’s going wrong with journalism and how to create a journalism which can respond to the climate crisis. We discuss information pollution in the mainstream media, the fallacy of objectivity, the corruption of profit-maximising goals, self-selecting biases, and how the abject failures of the mainstream media have disempowered, disengaged and confused populaces around the world—making them ripe for manipulation by populists.Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it.© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

“How do we challenge the hegemony and change it, and start to plan for a future for our children, for our grandchildren, for our great grandchildren? That is the great challenge. But as I've been implying, it's really something which is or should be an incredibly mainstream and commonsensical point of view. Everybody cares about their children having a decent life, and that means they care about their grandchildren and their great grandchildren and their great, great grandchildren having a decent life.“So this is why perhaps this can be a hopeful moment that the kind of shift that we're talking about here, which is very, very far from where the UK government in particular is right now, is one which should be and can be and, I think, is deeply and widely appealing to a broad spectrum of people.”Rupert Read is an ecological philosopher and activist. Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of East Anglia, Rupert has written over a dozen books whilst campaigning for the climate with the Green Party and Extinction Rebellion. His recent work focuses on the precautionary principle—examining how humankind often fails to act cautiously despite not having enough evidence to warrant our choices and decisions. This can be applied both to the climate crisis and the development of AI.Rupert joins me to discuss truth, counter-histories, chance, through-topias, and the moderate flank—the next branch of activism which seeks to recruit those resistant to the radical action which more commonly makes the headline. Don’t fancy throwing soup at paintings or shutting down roads? There are myriad ways we can all get involved in resisting the fossil-fuel economy and demand change. Rupert reveals the many campaigns happening in the UK for those who want to take action but don’t know where to start. Planet: Critical is 100% independent and reader-funded. If you value it, and have the means, become a paid subscriber today!© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Ella Saltmarshe is “incorrigibly plural” — an anthropologist by training, Ella is a writer, activist, organiser, founder and narrative strategist with experience in public policy and international development. Ella works at the intersection of stories and the climate crisis, channeling her immense creative energy and agency into creating a world we can leave behind for generations to come.Alongside discussing Ella’s impressive work in the narrative field, which includes helping policy-makers around the world reframe their understanding of the future to consider our long-term impacts and responsibilities, we delve into the principles of storytelling, the fight against propaganda, short-term vs long-term thinking, and the fascinating concept of considering oneself an ancestor to future generations.© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Laurie Laybourn is a policy researcher and author. He leads Cohort 2040, which explores how to deepen rapid action toward a more sustainable and equitable world even as the effects of the environmental crisis get far worse. Laurie is a visiting fellow at Chatham House and at the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, as well as an associate fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). He is a regular commentator on TV and radio and co-author of Planet on Fire (Verso 2021). We discuss the opportunity in crisis moments throughout history, with Laurie revealing the best policies for navigating the climate crisis, nationally and internationally, as well as those for a sustainable future. He also explains how the our current fiscal ideologies, including our relationship to debt, impedes necessary climate action around the world whilst hobbling the global south’s capacity to respond to increasing catastrophes. Laurie says the climate crisis is a fiscal problem—could reimagining fiscal policies keep 1.5 alive?© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Charlie Gardner is a conservationist, activist and writer. An outspoken member of Scientist Rebellion, Charlie left academia last year to focus on raising the climate alarm through civil disobedience and science communication.Charlie joins me to discuss why scientists feel forced to choose activism. After decades of ignored data, warnings and suggestions, these same scientists who have been fighting to understand the crisis are taking to the streets to be heard.We discuss ecological systems, energy policy, corrupt politics, media, Extinction Rebellion, how to engage the public and how people can get involved in the face of disastrous inaction. Just this week, a new report on the state of climate action looked at 40 indicators of change and found not a single one is on track to keep the world from heating to the level at which world leaders promised to try to stop global warming.© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Kate Raworth is a renegade economist focused on making economics fit for 21st century realities. Senior Associate at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, she is the creator of the Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries, and co-founder of Doughnut Economics Action Lab.Kate joins me to discuss Doughnut Economics, her radical theory of a regenerative and distributive economics model which protects both planet and citizens. This is an economy which prioritises well-being, rejects the market principles and profit-maximisation, and enables the principles of community and creativity to flourish.We discuss the fallacy of growth and neoliberalism, the extractivism of “developed” nations, long-termism vs short-termism, and the principles of regeneration and distribution. Kate also shares success stories from the communities and local governments implementing the doughnut model.© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe