Challenging Climate

Nov 24 2024 53 ep. 49 mins 203

Challenging Climate Podcast artwork

Asking tough questions about the science, technology, and politics of climate change, two climate researchers challenge leading experts on one of the defining issues of our age. Every two weeks, they explore how we can fight global warming by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, carbon removal, adaptation and solar geoengineering. Dr. Jesse Reynolds and Dr. Pete Irvine consider the roles of computer models and persuasive narratives, economics and public policy, and renewable energy and national security in the climate debate, and look beyond to issues such as biotechnology and international development.

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music by Peter Danilchuk @clambgramb (IG/Twitter).

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Farewell

Nov 24 2024 8 mins

Pete and Jesse must bring Challenging Climate to a close. Since starting the podcast almost three years ago, we have each taken on more professional responsibilities and no longer have the time for this volunteer effort. In this short recording, we describe what we are now up to:The Degrees InitiativeThe Degrees Global Forum on SRMSRM360Climate Reflections, the SRM360 podcast - com

50. Maarten Albers on the Nitrogen Crisis in the Netherlands

Aug 12 2024 44 mins

Our guest is Maarten Albers, a journalist who reports on agriculture and food for the Volkskrant, one of the Netherlands’ leading newspapers. In today's episode, we draw our attention to the 'nitrogen crisis' in the Netherlands - a major environmental story that has reshaped politics in the Netherlands and societal views on environmental regulation, science and technology, and ev

49. Gwynne Dyer on Intervention Earth: climate mitigation, CDR & SRM

Jul 02 2024 46 mins

Our guest is Gwynne Dyer, an author, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs. In this episode, we discuss the key messages from his new book Intervention Earth: Life-Saving Ideas from the World’s Climate Engineers, based on extensive interviews with the world’s top climate scientists. We discuss his insights from these interviews on the state of our climate

48. Jonathan Blake and Nils Gilman on planetary governance

May 28 2024 51 mins

Jonathan Blake is Associate Director at the Berggruen Institute, where he leads the Planetary Program. Nils Gilman is Senior Vice President at the Berggruen Institute and Deputy Editor of Noema magazine. In this episode, we discuss the ideas in their recently published book, Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crises. We grapple with ideas of sovereignty, pl

47. Shuchi Talati on ethics and governance of solar geoengineering

Apr 30 2024 51 mins

Today’s guest is Dr. Shuchi Talati, a climate technology and governance expert and the founder of The Alliance for Just Deliberation on Solar Geoengineering. In this episode, we discuss ethics and governance of solar geoengineering, the formal cancellation of Harvard’s SCoPEx experiment, and the UN Environment Assembly deliberations on Solar Radiation Modification.Links:Shuchi

46. Ulrike Lohmann on clouds, aerosols and solar radiation modification

Apr 02 2024 45 mins

Today’s guest is Ulrike Lohmann, Professor of Experimental Atmospheric Physics in the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zurich. Lohmann is also the Principal Investigator of the CLOUDLAB project, a multi-year project to investigate aerosol-cloud interactions in wintertime stratus clouds over the Alps. In this episode, we discuss the role of clouds and aerosols

45. Benjamin Sovacool and Chad Baum on global trends in public perceptions of climate technologies

Mar 07 2024 53 mins

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Benjamin Sovacool and Dr. Chad Baum, about their newly published, high-impact paper, “Public Perceptions and Support of Climate Intervention Technologies across the Global North and Global South”. Join us as we discuss the key findings of their work, and how these findings can and should influence policy and governance methods.Dr. Benjamin Sov

44. George Monbiot on environmentalism and climate activism

Mar 05 2024 48 mins

George Monbiot is a renowned British author, The Guardian Columnist and environmental activist. George is the author of more than a dozen books, the most recent of which is Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, and he was awarded the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2022. In this episode, we discuss topics of his insightful and provocative articles such as de-thr

43. Janos Pasztor on global climate policy and geoengineering

Feb 06 2024 51 mins

This episode’s guest is Janos Pasztor. He has four decades of work experience in the areas of energy, environment, climate change, and sustainable development, including roles as Executive Director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G) and UN Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Change. In this episode, we explore the political lens of carbon dioxide removal (CDR

42. David Stainforth on climate models and uncertainty

Jan 09 2024 42 mins

David Stainforth is a Professorial Research Fellow at the London School of Economics. David has had a long career studying the climate problem and the challenges of making predictions of future climate change. His research spans the philosophy of climate science, climate economics, climate modelling, and decision-making under deep uncertainty.In this episode, we discuss David’s n