TED Climate

TED Climate will be back soon -- in the meantime here is an episode of another podcast we thought you'd enjoy.This is the first episode of a five-part series exploring the European energy crisis in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In this season, we ask the trillion dollar question: Will this crisis speed or slow down the energy transition in Europe? And what does that mean for the rest of the world? Unpacking the history behind Europe’s dependence on Russian energyPutin’s assault on Ukraine triggered an energy crisis that sent Europe’s economies into a tailspin and put the European energy transition to the test. But how did the European Union, a leader in climate action, become so dependent on Russian oil and gas to begin with? This season, we look at the energy systems of Germany and Poland. Both have very different energy systems, but both became dependent on Russian energy for heating homes, firing power plants, and fueling businesses.In this episode, we look at the immediate impact of the Ukraine invasion on that dependency and the historical influences behind it– from Germany’s pursuit of natural gas to Poland’s centuries-long relationship with coal.Then we ask whether Europe’s initial response to the crisis– leaning more heavily on fossil fuels– will accelerate or slow down Europe’s push toward green energy.If you like The Big Switch, you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Not Too Late, written by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua, offers us the tools to tackle this current wave of disinformation, and provides tangible stories of hope. On this episode of Outrage + Optimism, hear how the project aims to invite newcomers to the climate movement, as well as providing climate facts and encouragement for people who are already engaged but weary. Listening to these two incredible women speak about Not Too Late, which ‘rang a bell of truth’ for hosts Tom Rivett-Carnac, Christiana Figueres, and Paul Dickinson.Outrage + Optimism is another member of the TED Audio Collective. For more episodes that help you understand that you DO have the power to solve this, follow the podcast wherever you're listening to this. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many people across the world don't have access to healthy food -- while in other places tons of food go to waste. Social entrepreneur Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli thinks we can take bold steps to fix this problem. She lays out what it would take to build a more equitable, sustainable food system that nourishes all people and asks us to widen our perspectives before eating our next meal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Breathing clean air is every child's human right," says grassroots campaigner Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, sharing the heartbreaking story of her seven-year-old daughter, Ella Roberta, whose asthma was triggered to a fatal point by air pollution. Now, Adoo-Kissi-Debrah is on a mission to raise awareness about the harmful effects of unsafe air on our health and the planet. In this moving talk, she details why governments have an urgent responsibility to take action on air pollution -- and ensure that all children have a chance to live full and healthy lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over the last two decades, the wind power industry has grown at a dizzying pace. (Fun fact: a single rotation from one of the world's most powerful wind turbines can generate enough electricity to charge more than 1,400 cell phones.) Building off this exponential growth, Denmark's climate minister Dan Jørgensen lays out his plan to end the country's oil industry by 2050 and transition to a fossil-free future powered by wind energy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"The way we cool things down is heating the planet even more," says sustainable development expert Rachel Kyte -- and the solutions go well beyond just fixing air-conditioning. She identifies four major areas with transformative solutions -- from roofs painted with bright white paint to solar control glass to more efficient cold chains for vaccines -- that can be implemented in fair and sustainable ways. Learn more about what a community designed for cool could look like. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do woolly pigs have to do with climate change? They're part of a vital, ingenious and evolving strategy to take carbon out of the sky and store it safely -- in trees, soils, the ocean, buildings, rocks and deep underground. Every carbon removal approach takes some combination of natural resources, human ingenuity and technology, says climate thinker Gabrielle Walker. If we get the mix right, we can clean up the environmental mess we've made, reverse the processes behind climate change and give nature a chance to heal. "What goes up must now come down," she says. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bjørn Otto Sverdrup leads the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), which gathers the CEOs of twelve of the world's largest oil and gas companies around an ambitious goal: to get one of the sectors contributing most to climate change to drastically lower their own carbon emissions. He describes a possible path for the industry to pivot to net-zero operations, reimagining the role it could play in helping decarbonize the economy and changing how we consume energy -- and he calls for setting a price on carbon. (Followed by a Q&A with Countdown cofounder Lindsay Levin) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most scientific literature is written only in English, creating an alarming knowledge gap for the 75 percent of the world who don't speak it. That's a big problem for climate change -- because it's hard to take action on something you don't understand. With Climate Cardinals, an international youth-led nonprofit that's working to make the climate movement more accessible, activist and social entrepreneur Sophia Kianni is furthering the global transfer of knowledge by translating and sourcing crucial climate resources into more than 100 languages. A barrier-breaking talk about the collective effort we'll need to protect the future of our planet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jim Hagemann Snabe, Chairman of the world's largest maritime shipping company, discusses the ambitious plan to decarbonize shipping by 2050. He shares a proposal to convert green electricity into green liquid fuel to power vessels. This process, called Power2X, aims to achieve zero carbon shipping. Snabe emphasizes the need for global leaders to join this sustainable and innovative future.