ClimateGenn hosted by Nick Breeze
137 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 days ago -Interviews with environmental / climate change experts discussing the choices we collectively face in determining what future we will shape for ourselves, future generations, and all other life within the biosphere.
The podcast is produced by Nick Breeze - find out more at https://genn.cc + https://patreon.com/genncc
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Nick Breeze
ClimateGenn
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Episodes
Russian Arctic Methane Releases & Subsea Permafrost Degradation | Professor Örjan Gustafsson (Part 2)
May 26, 2021 21:18 - 32 minutes - 60.4 MBIn this second episode of the methane miniseries, I speak to Professor Orjan Gustafsson from Stockholm University about his team's ongoing collaboration with the Russian research team, led by Professor Igor Semiletov, investigating the Siberian Arctic. Orjan has published over 80 research papers jointly with his Russian colleagues on their findings in the Russian Arctic over the course of more than a decade. In this episode, he highlights why understanding this region is among one of the mo...
Glaciologist Dr Heidi Sevestre | Fight Hard For 1.5ºC | Have We Crossed Permafrost Threshold?
May 16, 2021 11:52 - 17 minutes - 31.9 MBIn this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with Glaciologist, Dr Heidi Sevestre, about the changing state of the Arctic, the outlook for the Russian Chairmanship of the Arctic Council, of which Heidi herself is an advisor, and how thawing permafrost could be past the threshold of irreversibility. Heidi combines the spirit of the modern polar explorer with the weight of important scientific work. She is also an excellent communicator and will be speaking at the ChangeNow climate su...
Arctic Methane Releases In Siberia | Professor Igor Semiletov PT 1
May 12, 2021 22:21 - 14 minutes - 26.5 MBThis can also be seen as a video edit with previously unseen footage from the last voyage in late 2020: https://youtu.be/lGgcUSJbAqE The transcript will also be posted on https://genn.cc and https://climateseries.com/climate-change-podcast This is part 1 in series of three posts on methane releases from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf recorded in 2021. This is the first in a miniseries discussing the ongoing work in the Russian Arctic talking to Dr Igor Semiletov, one of the lead scientist...
Striving for an equitable pathway to the future | Saffran Mihnar
May 05, 2021 19:50 - 20 minutes - 38.7 MBIn this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with the Director of Development and Communications at EarthLanka, Saffran Mihnar. Saffran is an advocate for climate solutions focused on communication, campaigning, and policy negotiations. In this discussion, we discuss the struggles ahead for any journey towards zero or even net emissions. The UN Conference of the Parties (or COP) process is over a quarter of a century old and has achieved little by way of reducing global emissions b...
Dr Wolfgang Knorr | Net Zero Is A Trap
April 28, 2021 14:46 - 21 minutes - 40.7 MBIn this episode of Shaping The Future, I am talking to DR Wolfgang Knorr - a climate scientist with over 25 years working for many agencies and laboratories around the world. Currently, Wolfgang is a Senior Research Scientist at Lund University measuring CO2 fluxes from terrestrial vegetation and human activities among other things. This conversation is to discuss the concerns that he and his colleagues have about the use or misuse of the term Net Zero and their concern that collectively w...
Earth Day Special | Flipping Agriculture from Carbon Source to Sink
April 22, 2021 06:36 - 27 minutes - 51.8 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future - in this special Earth Day Episode I am discussing the exciting prospect of how we can turn the global agricultural large-scale carbon source into a potential carbon sink. This would mean bringing back our soils that have lost an estimated 50 billion tonnes of carbon since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Agriculture accounts for over 20% of our global carbon footprint so this is a big subject. I am speaking to Julien Gervreau, Vice President of Su...
Tipping Points In Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier
April 20, 2021 21:11 - 22 minutes - 42.1 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future. In this episode, I am speaking with Dr Sebastian Rosier about his work studying the tipping points in Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier. Antarctica is of course absolutely huge and the Pine Island Glacier is just one part of it. If Pine Island collapsed into the ocean it would raise sea-levels by several metres which would be catastrophic for many coastal areas around the world. Sebastian discusses his view of whether we have crossed this tipping point that is...
Professor David Keith | Hacking The Climate
April 04, 2021 17:09 - 38 minutes - 71 MBThis was recorded as a collaboration between my podcast Shaping The Future, Cambridge Zero and the Cambridge Festival. Below is more information. Includes excerpt with Dr Rowan Williams, Former Archbishop of Canterbury, on his thoughts on geoengineering research. New Patreon Page: You can now support this channel via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/genncc - Patreon backers will access content earlier and much more of it. For more information on the podcast visit: https://climateseries.co...
Rupert Read discusses Philosophy Public Lecture Series 2021: Bad News is Good News? The Upside of Down
January 29, 2021 17:38 - 16 minutes - 30.7 MBIn this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking to philosopher, author and climate activist Professor Rupert Read. Rupert has organised the ‘Philosophy Public Lecture Series 2021: Bad News is Good News? The Upside of Down’ The series seeks to ask if there is any silver lining from the tragedy of Covid and what can be learned in the context of living through ecological break-down. Here we discuss some of the underlying themes and also what exactly is meant by the term ‘transformational...
Antarctic Ice Melt: A Recipe For Global Catastrophe Unless We Act Now | Professor James Renwick
January 28, 2021 08:51 - 16 minutes - 31.3 MBIn this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking to climate scientist Professor James Renwick, about the scale of the risks posed by the melting of the East and West Antarctic ice sheets due to human emissions from our relentless burning of fossil fuels. Sea-level rise is the most obvious impact that will destroy cities around the world but there are also other less obvious impacts on agriculture and population displacement that can also lead to conflict if we choose to continue to do n...
COVID & Climate | mental Health Crisis Among The Most Vulnerable Needs Us To Cooperate | Saima Wazed
January 24, 2021 22:08 - 17 minutes - 32.5 MBWelcome to Shaping Te Future - in this episode, I am talking with Saima Wazed who is one of the 25 experts advising the World Health Organisation’s panel on mental health and she is also the founder of the Not For Profit Shuchona Foundation. Recently Saima has also taken up the role of the Thematic Ambassador for the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), which represents 48 countries and 1.2 billion people, who are on the frontlines of climate change. There is a widespread tendency among many of...
Decoding NOAA’s Arctic Report Card With Contributing Climate Scientist, Dr Zack Labe
December 10, 2020 20:54 - 19 minutes - 36.7 MBIn this special inserted episode of Shaping The Future, we are discussing the 15th National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (or NOAA) Arctic Report Card that was published this week giving a detailed overview of how climate is changing the Arctic. Zack helps to break down the complexity of this annual report and highlights some of the major impacts that climate change is bringing to the polar Arctic region. With melting sea ice, extreme wildfires and the expanding population of Bowhea...
Dr Jennifer Francis - Abrupt cooling in the Arctic?
December 08, 2020 12:31 - 9 minutes - 18.4 MBIn this episode of Shaping The Future, we discuss the abrupt cooling of the Arctic in the late summer months that is preventing the widely anticipated further collapse of summer sea ice, whilst intensifying heatwaves at lower latitudes. This new hypothesis was recently published by Professor Jennifer Francis from the Woodwell Climate Research Centre in Falmouth, Massachusetts and Dr Woo from Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, and Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Fudan Univers...
Will Biden’s climate plans bear fruit? - Dan Lashof, World Resources Institute US Director
December 02, 2020 17:49 - 15 minutes - 29.2 MBIn this episode of Shaping The Future, we are discussing the incoming Biden administration’s agenda on climate change and whether they can achieve it. Dan Lashof is the US Director of the World Resources Institute based in Washington and has a long history spanning decades working in environmental policy. In this interview, Dan discusses the need for an integrated action plan that tackles the pandemic, racial inequality, and the economy, with environmental policy being a key driver of change....
The Vatican’s head of Ecology, Father Josh, ‘Pandemic is a warning to humans’
November 27, 2020 19:56 - 18 minutes - 34.5 MBIn this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking to the Vatican’s head of ecology, Father Josh, who also happens to be coordinating the COVID-19 response within the Holy City. In May 2020 Pope Francis declared a year of Laudato Si, building on the work of his encyclical on climate change in order to inspire exponential change across all walks of life, including all forms of Christianity, other faiths, and like-minded people around the world. Through many advisors that make up the Ponti...
Turning Oil Green | Wall Street Energy Analyst Dan Dicker Discusses His New Book
November 19, 2020 22:35 - 19 minutes - 35.4 MBIn this episode of Shaping The Future I am talking to Wall Street energy analyst Dan Dicker about his new book, Turning Oil Green- A market based path to renewables. Dan’s book gives us a lot of fascinating insights into how the oil markets work and how we should use the existing infrastructure of the markets and this toxic industry to literally turn oil green. Like many of the complexities around the climate crisis, pathways to progress often appear counter-intuitive at the outset. What I...
Skyseed | What can fiction teach us about climate catastrophe? Interview with author, Prof. Bill McGuire
November 09, 2020 22:18 - 14 minutes - 26.2 MBIn this episode of Shaping The Future, I’m discussing the risks posed by Geoengineering in the context of averting worst-case climate change, with author Professor Bill McGuire. Bill's new book, Skyseed, is his first full length foray into writing fiction, from a distinguished career as Emeritus Professor of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at University College London as well as being one of Britain's leading volcanologists. Skyseed presents the reader with a narrative of when humanity’s fai...
Laptev Sea Not Refreezing & Other Arctic Climate Notes With Dr. Zack Labe
November 04, 2020 19:47 - 19 minutes - 36.8 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future. In this episode I am speaking with Dr Zack Labe at Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science about the perilous heat trends reshaping the Arctic. Zack is very well known on social media for bringing the climate data to life, in a series of visualisations and charts that depict extremes, such as we have seen recently in the Laptev Sea where the start of the sea ice formation is yet to begin. In this discussion also we talk about improving t...
Climate Psychology Podcast | US Election, COVID19 and Climate & Ecological Breakdown |CPA’s Adrian Tait discusses
November 02, 2020 12:50 - 19 minutes - 35.2 MBIn this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with Adrian Tait, a founding member of the Climate Psychology Alliance, (the CPA). Adrian discusses how the linkages between events such as the US election and COVID-19 are compounding the anxiety that many people feel about the climate and ecological crisis. In particular, he discusses Through The Door, a CPA initiative that has been utilised to help create a space where people who share anxieties about climate and ecology can come toge...
Rabbi Yonatan Neril | New Book EcoBible | Spiritual Beings In A physical World
October 29, 2020 18:32 - 15 minutes - 28 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future - In this episode, I am speaking to Rabbi Yonatan Neril in Jerusalem about his newly co-authored Eco-Bible, a book that reaches back through more than 2000 years of religious texts. At a time when religion in the US is being politicised and views are expressed about Gods will in consuming the Earth, Eco Bible uses 450 identified texts that clearly demonstrate the role religious teachings have had in promoting stewardship of the Earth. It has been my experience...
Food & Climate Change Without The Hot Air - Prof Sarah Bridle discusses
October 25, 2020 20:24 - 17 minutes - 32.5 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future - in this episode, I am speaking with scientist and author, Professor Sarah Bridle, about her recently published book, ‘Food & Climate Change Without The Hot Air’ - Sarah’s book provides an invaluable perspective on the reality-versus-perception of the impact on climate change that our diet actually has. Sarah not only gives examples of how misleading, ideals about food buying, preparation and consumption can be, she also explains how the UK government (and I s...
How We Can Use Meteorology as a tool for a safer future and save vulnerable lives in the face of climate change
October 20, 2020 18:55 - 15 minutes - 28.2 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future - in this episode, I am talking with meteorologist Scott Duncan, about how weather data is used to inform both the public and the organisations we rely on to insure us against the worst of life’s low-probability high-impact events.. We also discuss the recent Storm Alex that struck parts of western and southern Europe, in the context of frequency & extremity, as well as how the findings of meteorology can be used to alert those people who are in the path of fut...
ICOS: a system that spots collapsing carbon sinks & is a vital tool for our future
October 15, 2020 20:35 - 17 minutes - 31.7 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future and in this episode, I am talking to the Secretary-General of ICOS - The Integrated Carbon Observation System, Dr. habil. Werner L. Kutsch. ICOS is a network of ocean and ground-based carbon monitoring stations that is giving us a wide spread of open-source scientific data, expanding our understanding of our changing environment. Werner talks about how ICOS data can explain the collapse of a carbon sink from summer drought, as much as it can lead us towards cl...
The Climate App | A new innovation for the people, by the people
October 08, 2020 21:27 - 16 minutes - 30.3 MBDoing our bit to avert the very worst of climate change means going beyond nodding along in agreement with those who are sounding the alarm about the dangers we all face from pumping hundreds of billions of tonnes of carbon pollution into the atmosphere. It means we individually and collectively have to make drastic changes in our lives to reduce carbon emissions to beyond zero. How many of us cast our guilt into the recesses and shadows of the mind as we book that next flight, or order on...
Professor Peter Wadhams | Climate Vaccines, Carbon Removal & COVID-19 Go Exponential
September 24, 2020 20:44 - 20 minutes - 37.5 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future - this interview is with author and Cambridge polar ice scientist Professor Peter Wadhams. WE discuss the common exponential factors that exist between the COVID-19 pandemic and in the positive feedbacks of the changing climate system. WE also discuss the urgent need for carbon drawdown or greenhouse gas removal as it also known, to tackle the excess burden of 1 trillion tonnes of pollution that humanity has pumped into the biosphere. Professor Wadhams is a l...
Sir Jonathan Porritt discusses his new climate change book, Hope In Hell
September 17, 2020 09:44 - 23 minutes - 43.9 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future - this week I am speaking with long-term environmental campaigner and author, Sir Jonathon Porritt, about his new book ‘Hope In Hell’. I urge anyone looking for a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted subject of climate change, to read this excellent piece of work. The book covers the science, policy, policy obstructions, as well as current and future challenges and the impact on the human psyche that we see emerging as a result. In this interview, Sir Jo...
University Of Cambridge’s Hugh Hunt On Geoengineering The Arctic: ‘crazy ideas have potential’
September 09, 2020 11:15 - 20 minutes - 37.9 MB“Surely if you are going to be intervening with some risk in something where the risk is greater if you don’t intervene then let’s research the intervention!” Welcome to this episode of Shaping The Future - From Pandemic to Climate Change. In this episode, I am speaking with Cambridge University’s Dr Hugh Hunt who is also working as part of the Centre For Climate Repair In Cambridge looking at ways to repair the climate. Hugh makes the point that the risks of Geoengineering are less than t...
Extinction Rebellion Cofounder Gail Bradbrook | It's Time For Autumn Rebellion
September 02, 2020 21:14 - 17 minutes - 31.8 MBIn this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with Gail Bradbrook, environmental activist and co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, as the Autumn rebellion gains momentum in major cities across the UK. Gail talks about the XR demands for this rebellion and the power of activism for the individual and how that can lead to systemic change at the societal level. We finish discussing the potential for a global citizens assembly to be held in parallel during next years UN climate conferenc...
Climate Scientist & Author Peter Kalmus speaks out
August 29, 2020 20:16 - 41 minutes - 78.1 MBIn this episode, I interview NASA climate scientist and author, Peter Kalmus, about the extreme fires in California and Hurricane Laura that struck Louisiana. Peter talks about the underlying drivers of these frightening impacts that stem from our collective addiction to burning fossil fuels. He also talks very personally about his conscious decision to speak out about how terrified he is with regard to the worsening climate breakdown. Thanks for listening.
How Big data is a vital resilience tool in responding to in creased frequency & intensity of climate impacts
August 22, 2020 18:12 - 21 minutes - 40.3 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future - In this episode, I am talking to Kontur CEO Arben Kane about How Big data is a vital resilience tool in responding to increased frequency and intensity of climate impacts. Kontur was born out of a research project at the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in the US and is still evolving new perspectives for viewing information that can enhance how we live on Earth at a time when the viability of life itself is being called into question from Climate Change. Arbe...
Climate Psychologist Dr. Renée Lertzman - Principals for attuned thinking in a time of crisis
August 13, 2020 22:46 - 29 minutes - 55.8 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future - from pandemic to climate change and in this episode I am speaking with Dr. Renée Lertzman, a pioneer in bridging the gap between human psychology and the environmental and climate crisis. Renée talks here about how climate professionals can become better leaders and show guidance by becoming attuned to those whom we engage with. Renée also offers a set of principals developed as a tool-set for psychological survival at a period in time when uncertainty about...
Rupert Read discusses new book- Extinction Rebellion: Insights From The Inside
August 02, 2020 21:39 - 25 minutes - 47.6 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future - from pandemic to climate change (More info on the podcast series: Cambridge Climate Lecture Series website here) In this episode, I am speaking with Philosopher and prominent Extinction Rebellion spokesperson, Dr Rupert Read, about his new booked titled, ‘Extinction rebellion: Insights from the inside’. This is a collection of works, including essays, interviews, and internal XR memos, reflecting Rupert’s thoughts on what has been and what next for XR. We d...
Warm Holes & Cold Blobs in the North Atlantic due to climate change
July 23, 2020 15:22 - 16 minutes - 29.9 MBWelcome to Shaping the Future. In this episode, I am talking to Paul Keil who is a PhD candidate at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology about the mysterious cold blob in the northern Atlantic Ocean. This cold blob appears conspicuously on global temperature anomaly charts located south of Greenland. It is currently the focus of a lot of research looking at the mechanisms that contribute to climate change and how these are being impacted by the billions of tonnes of CO2 we add annually...
Climate computing with Met Office Chief, Prof. Penny Endersby
July 10, 2020 08:59 - 20 minutes - 37.9 MBIn this interview, I am speaking to Professor Penny Endersby, the Chief Executive Officer of the UK’s Met Office who is in charge of one of the most important climate change modelling computers in the world. Penny takes us inside the climate model and reflects on the hard truths that the data outputs are telling us. It is worth listening to Penny talk us through the Earth system simulator the UK has developed to navigate us through what is currently an undecided and uncertain future. Quot...
Professor Jason Box - Greenland and the climate system
June 12, 2020 14:44 - 32 minutes - 60.3 MBProf. Jason Box: "It's not too hyperbolic to talk about Mad Max!" Welcome to Shaping The Future Podcast. In this episode, I am speaking to Professor Jason Box at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. We are discussing how the colossal Greenland ice sheet is changing as the Earth warms and what impact this will have on the global climate system. So much of Jason’s work bridges the void between climate science in obscure corners of the planet, and the risks posed by pollution from ...
Prof. Kevin Anderson - Climate action failure, equality and the climate crisis
May 29, 2020 14:34 - 38 minutes - 44.5 MBWelcome to Shaping The Future climate change podcast - In this episode, I speak with Professor Kevin Anderson who is Deputy Director of the UK’s Tyndale Centre for climate change research, he is also a part-time professor at the University of Uppsala in Sweden and even squeezes in a day a week at a university in Norway. In this episode, we discuss who are the culprits of climate action failure, how coronavirus has shown us we are all equal in society and how solving current inequality is an...
Prof. Katharine Hayhoe - COVID & Climate Linkages To A Better World
May 26, 2020 21:38 - 38 minutes - 44.1 MBProfessor Katharine Hayhoe is well-known the world over for her clear communications on the risks posed by climate change and why these risks and can be addressed in a non-political and non-partisan way. Katharine is an atmospheric scientist, the Political Science Endowed Professor in Public Policy and Public Law at Texas Tech University in the US and directs their Climate Center. Life on Zoom In the period of lockdown, Katharine discusses how technology has played a critical role human in...