Planet: Critical

“Too many cooks spoil the broth.” That’s the old adage—but could the opposite be true when it comes to politics? Researchers and writers Susan Clark and Tom Prugh say so. Their research into deliberative democracies show that inviting local communities to take responsibility for local governance improves engagement, depoliticises debate, and achieves excellent results. And the best thing about it? The more people see their impact in the community, the more responsibility they take—creating even better results every time.What’s even more exciting is the deliberative democracy model scales up. It may not be “fast”, like the political processes we live in today, but it might just be the model we need to empower citizens to confront the climate crisis and hold their leaders to account. * Listen on Apple or Spotify* Watch on Youtube* Read the interview transcript* Bonus video out on Monday© Rachel DonaldPlanet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

From the global financial crash in 2008 to Arab Springs in 2011 to the rise of authoritarian regimes climaxing in the election of a fake-tanned despot to the White House and a compulsive liar buffoon in Downing Street, the past decade and a half has seen the unravelling of political, financial and ecological stability.What was the first domino? Academic, documentarian and author, Rupert Russell, thinks we can blame prices. Rupert spent the past few years tracking how speculative markets and the resulting volatility in prices have exacerbated and even caused much of the crises we see around the world. He joins me to explain how the coffee crash in Guatemala led to the U.S border crisis, how the Arab Springs were caused by a spike in wheat prices, and how the physical effects of the climate crisis are driving vulnerable people into market climate wars, dictated by the speculative whims of bankers in the West. * Listen on Apple or Spotify* Watch on Youtube* Read the interview transcript* Bonus video out on Friday© Rachel DonaldPlanet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

We’re living in the anthropocene — a geological period defined by the impact of human activity on the planet’s climate and ecosystems. Essentially, it’s our behaviour that’s at the root of the problem. But so often this isn’t addressed as the root. Our economic system claims tech will save us from ourselves—but imagine we do find a silver bullet, do we have the social cohesion in place to implement that solution, or any? That’s what Richard Heinberg, senior fellow at Post Carbon Institute, joins me to discuss. Richard’s devoted his life to understanding the crisis and its solutions, authoring 14 books and hundreds of articles on the topic. Richard’s a big picture thinker, and he believes it is our behaviour and our current political division which is the real threat to climate progress.We discuss energy rationing, political division, the effect of increasing economic inequality, and the knowledge gap between the public and leaders.* Listen on Apple or Spotify* Watch on Youtube * Read the interview transcript* Bonus video out on Friday© Rachel DonaldPlanet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Degrowth is making waves in academic and climate circles. Not only does the research field provide genuine hope for a more equitable and environmental future, but its advocates are hellbent on revealing the incorrect math, manipulated data and idiotic assumptions propping up capitalism’s regime. They’re debunking the myth of green growth.Ecological Economist, Tim Parrique, the lead author of ‘Decoupling Debunked’ joins me this week to explain how neoliberal ideologies have co-opted the climate movement by promoting “green growth”. He exposes the language and mechanisms economists and politicians use to lull the public into a false sense of security, gives a damning analysis of decoupling (believe me, you need to know this), drops a bombshell about the IPCC report, and puts to bed the argument that growth on a finite planet could be a good thing. This is a brilliant episode building on Jason Hickel’s Introduction to Degrowth a few weeks ago. Listen to the full interview here, catch it on on Apple or Spotify or watch on Youtube. You’ll find the bonus episode on Youtube tomorrow, and this week everyone has access to the interview transcript.© Rachel DonaldPlanet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Extinction Rebellion drew attention to the climate crisis like no other group before them. Founded in just 2018, they’ve forced the climate conversation into the mainstream, and their organisation is an inspiring reminder of what citizens can achieve when mobilized.But what happens after the alarm has been raised? How do activist groups evolve their messaging and their mission to identify a new goal: solutions.That’s what Dr Gail Bradbrook joins me to discuss. Gail is one of the original members who set up Extinction Rebellion and has now transitioned to Being The Change which empowers both activist groups and members of the public to connect with one another around the world and do something. Gail also gives insight into where activism is going wrong in the West, from white saviour complex beliefs to inadequately connecting with the public. This is a fascinating discussion from someone who really knows these movements about where they’re going and what to do about it. Listen to the full interview here, catch it on on Apple or Spotify or watch on Youtube. You’ll find the bonus episode on Youtube over the weekend, and paid subscribers have access to the interview transcript on Planet: Critical.© Rachel DonaldPlanet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

What happens when a small percentage of the population amass resources and power? Oligarchy. And polymath Sally Goerner says oligarchy is the final stage of most human civilizations—and a symptom of dysfunctional human systems.She joins me to explain why the future is integral and collaborative, why empowering people with vision and hope is key to creating systemic changes, why citizenship is the foundation of any human system, and how to measure the health of those systems.This is a far-reaching and impressive conversation covering neurobiology, history, sociology, political theory and systems thinking. I found Sally and her research utterly fascinating and hope you all get as much out of it as I did. Sally’s email: sgoerner@mindspring.comListen to the full interview here, catch it on on Apple or Spotify or watch on Youtube. You’ll find the bonus episode on Youtube over the weekend, and paid subscribers have access to the interview transcript on Planet: Critical.© Rachel DonaldPlanet: Critical is a resource for a world in crisis, supported by people like you. Join the community by becoming a subscriber today. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

What’s a resilient biosystem? Healthy soil, healthy water, healthy cycles. They’re so key that even defence departments around the world are starting to invest in creating them, as research shows we have just 60 harvests left if we stick to our industrialised system of agriculture.There’s hope for us yet, and it lies in the soil. Microbiologist and regenerative agriculture expert, Walter Jehne, joins me to explain how soil can capture carbon, promote global cooling, and feed billions on very little space. He explains how politics got in the way of progress in the 70s, and why governments are scrambling to speak to him and his team. This is an utterly fascinating discussion (please bear with the lower quality recording). Walter was suggested by listeners so, please, if there is anyone you would like me to get on the show, don’t hesitate to reach out.Listen to the full interview here, catch it on on Apple or Spotify, or watch on Youtube. You’ll find the bonus episode on Youtube over the weekend, and paid subscribers have access to the interview transcript on Planet: Critical.© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Why, when armed with so much knowledge, are we failing to tackle the climate crisis? There must be some piece of the puzzle we haven’t grasped to continue overshooting the planetary boundaries at an alarming rate. Even this week’s IPCC report—the big piece of literature that’s meant to tell us what’s going on and what to do about it—came under fire from some climate scientists for continuing to propagate the endless growth maxim.But even our valuing growth as either good or bad reveals how little we understand the complexity of natural systems—and that’s what this week’s guest joined me to discuss.Jessie Henshaw is a physicist, architect and natural systems designer who worked with the UN to reframe their sustainability goals. She believes our misunderstanding of natural systems as a whole is what’s gotten us into this mess, and why we may not get out. We discuss how and when growth is necessary, collectivism in systems, and why science’s atomisation of systems in a bid to understand them is impeding the urgent progress we need to make. Listen to the full interview here, catch it on on Apple or Spotify, or watch on Youtube. You’ll find the bonus episode on Youtube over the weekend, and paid subscribers have access to the interview transcript on Planet: Critical.© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

There are no easy solutions to the climate crisis—most governments admit their hope lies in technology which doesn’t even exist yet. Science and “visionaries” propose increasingly mad ideas, like refreezing the Arctic, or sending humans to live in Space. But given the urgency of the situation, would we be mad not to consider these mad ideas?Joseph Merz thinks we’ve run out of time to ask questions. He founded the Merz Institute to combat the climate crisis, gathering some of the world’s best scientists to establish what is going wrong and how to fix it. He says the answer is behavioural change—and they’re developing a programme that would manipulate mass behaviour on a subconscious level.How? Well, using the same techniques as the advertising industry.Joseph explains how his team came to this conclusion and how they plan to effect these change, giving examples of which kinds of changes would be most beneficial. We dive deep into the ethics of such a program, the dangers of these technologies, and whether or not we even have time to be discussing ethics. Listen to the full interview here, catch it on on Apple or Spotify, or watch on Youtube. You’ll find the bonus episode on Youtube over the weekend, and paid subscribers have access to the interview transcript.© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Geoengineering is often accused of falling prey to techno-optimism—that technology will get us out of this anthropocenic mess. A lot of proposals seem to have walked off the pages of a dystopian novel, existing only to prop up a destructive and unequal society. But do we need to diversify our strategy and accept these compromises just to buy time over the coming decades? This week, physicist and engineer Ye Tao introduces Meer, the mirror rays project which he says could halt global warming, buying humanity the necessary time to combat the climate crisis. He explains how Meer could cool the planet while decreasing energy demands, and improving water retention and food resources.But Ye is far from a techno-optimist. Whilst he thinks geoengineering could win us some battles, he believes dismantling power structures and our capitalist economy is key to winning the long-term war. He explains we’re locked onto a heating trajectory of at least 2 degrees Celcius, meaning we must deploy technologies to cool the planet. Once we’ve figured that out, he says we then must turn our attention to improving society for everyone—and offers a fascinating proposal to metric human progress. This episode involves some serious science and I hope you all enjoy it. Listen to the full interview here, catch it on on Apple or Spotify, or watch on Youtube. You’ll find the bonus episode on Youtube over the weekend, and paid subscribers have access to the interview transcript.© Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe