Outrage + Optimism

This week, the team talk positive tipping points, grapple with the comms coming out of the pre-COP meets and send our tributes to dearly loved colleagues who have recently passed. 

With pre COP 28 meetings currently taking place, the host team discuss the mixed messaging that is currently making headlines and anticipate what this might mean for how the future of fossil fuels will appear in the final text at COP 28. 

Tim Lenton, the founding Director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter and Chair in Climate Change and Earth System Science is our guest this week, and with Tom unable to make the interview, our brilliant colleague from Global Optimism, Freya Newman, joins Christiana and Paul to interview her former professor. With negative tipping points racing along their own ‘S curve’, the team ask Tim Lenton whether there are signs that the positive tipping points can win this race and avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis (pssst, the answer is it looks very, very possible). 

Music this week comes from Jemima Coulter with their beautiful song ‘[flowers]’.

NOTES AND RESOURCES

GUEST

Professor Tim Lenton, Founding Director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter and Chair in Climate Change and Earth System Science

Website | LinkedIn

Here is the website on Global Tipping points where you can find resources and info on all that Tim and the team discuss. Spread the word!

FREYA NEWMAN

LinkedIn

PETE BETTS

We are all very saddened by the news of the death of Pete Betts, a former guest on Outrage + Optimism and an all round incredible human being. Please check out the episode here,

to hear the man himself and his lifetime dedication to working for a better, fairer sustainable future. 

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

As mentioned by Tom here is one of the first O+O episodes recorded and it is one worth revisiting to hear the exchange between Christiana and David as they talk about the Garden of Eden and Garden of Intention. Truly worth a revisit. 

MUSICAL GUEST

Jemima Coulter

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube

Go buy/stream ‘Grace After A Party’

PLUM VILLAGE

‘An Invitation to Sit Together For Peace’

Learn more about the Paris Agreement.

It’s official, we’re a TED Audio Collective Podcast - Proof!

Check out more podcasts from The TED Audio Collective

Please follow us on social media!

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week it is over to you, our listeners as the hosts strive to answer all of your challenging and wonderful questions:  Should we be having children? How long have we got? How do international conflicts impact climate? And so many more…

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to send through a question to our hosts, you made this a very special episode. Apologies if we weren’t able to get to yours, please do go and engage with us on social media and share your thoughts. 

We also have an edited interview between our friend and colleague Sue Reid and the incredible Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, a Tanzanian biodiversity leader and lawyer, speaking in her capacity as Co-Chair of The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) on the incredible launch of TNFD’s final framework/recommendations at Climate Week NYC on 18 Sept and the urgent need to shake up current paradigms that still pervasively treat nature as disposable and limitless.

Music this week comes from Passiflora and their wonderful track ‘Bosque’. 

NOTES AND RESOURCES

Latin America and Caribbean Climate Week

Links to the report mentioned by the hosts at the top of the episode called: Latin American successes in the energy transition can be found here

Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures

Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme and Co-Chair of The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)

LinkedIn | Twitter

Here is the link to the published TNFD framework. 

MUSIC GUEST

Passiflora

Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | Soundcloud

Check out Passiflora’s Live Album ‘Noches en vela’ on Bandcamp

Learn more about the Paris Agreement.

It’s official, we’re a TED Audio Collective Podcast - Proof!

Check out more podcasts from The TED Audio Collective

Please follow us on social media!

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ahoy! With Christiana at the helm this week we’re raising our anchor and charting a course into the fascinating and complex world of greening shipping.

The shipping industry can feel removed from our daily lives. With images of huge cargo ships criss-crossing the oceans, distant foreign ports and international regulatory bodies with unfamiliar acronyms like the IMO or the GMF, you might even ask yourself: why should I care?

We’ll hear how 90% of what we consume, wear and use in our homes comes to us via a ship.  And how the predominant use of dirty fossil fuels means that the shipping industry currently contributes around 3% of the world’s global CO2 - that’s the same as the whole of Germany or Japan’s emissions.

But not any more! Christiana and her crew of shipping experts take you on a journey to explore how the shipping industry is at the forefront of an exciting transition to Net Zero, and will explain how greening the maritime sector could help us address the climate emergency.

Christiana has been a long and passionate advocate for reform in the shipping industry. With the help of guests such as AP Moller-Maersk’s Senior Vice President, Morten Christiansen; Alejandra Teran from Costa Rica’s Sailcargo; Eric Leveridge, Campaign Lead at Ship it Zero; Ambassador Albon Ishoda, Royal Marshall Islands Presidential Special Envoy for Maritime Decarbonisation, Dr Lucy Gilliam, Seas at Risk, Bo Cerup-Simonsen, CEO, MaerskMcKinney Moller Centre, Cleo Bierneza, Third Officer at Swire Shipping and many more, this deep dive episode will hope to leave no doubt in our listeners’ minds as to why shipping’s path to Net Zero is integral to our current and future life on the planet.

How these ships are fuelled now and in the future, why the recent International Maritime Organisation decision was history in the making, how the people working on these ships are treated to ensure a just transition as well as the role that we, the consumers, can play, are all questions that Christiana and her guests tackle during this special episode.

Do let us know what you think!

NOTES AND RESOURCES

GUESTS

Alejandra Terán, Chief Purpose Marketing Officer at Sailcargo

LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

Ambassador Albon Ishoda, Royal Marshall Islands Presidential Special Envoy for Maritime Decarbonisation

Twitter | LinkedIn 

Bo Cerup-Simonsen, Chief Executive Officer of Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping

LinkedIn | LinkedIn for Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping

Christine Loh, Chief Development Strategist, Institute for the Environment at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

LinkedIn

Cleo Bierneza, Third Officer at Swire Shipping

LinkedIn 

Eric Leveridge, Campaign Lead at Ship It Zero

Ingrid Irigoyen, Associate Director, Ocean and Climate, Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program & President and CEO, Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance

Twitter | LinkedIn 

Dr Lucy Gilliam, Senior Shipping Policy Officer at Seas at Risk

Twitter | LinkedIn 

Seas At Risk

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn 

Morten Bo Christiansen, Senior Vice President, Head of Energy Transition at A.P. Moller - Maersk

LinkedIn

Learn more about the Paris Agreement.

It’s official, we’re a TED Audio Collective Podcast - Proof!

Check out more podcasts from The TED Audio Collective

Please follow us on social media!

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when three wise women get together? Just an incredible series of new, mind-blowing conversations, that’s all.

In this week’s episode we are THRILLED to bring you an edited version of the AMAZING ten-part video series Uncertainty and Possibility -Meeting the Climate Future featuring Buddhist teacher, Roshi Joan Halifax; writer/activist Rebecca Solnit and of course, our own remarkable Christiana Figueres.  

Recorded by our friends at Upaya Zen Centre earlier this year while the three women were together in person, please do be sure to check out the full series in its entirety!

During the course of these discussions, Roshi Joan, Rebecca and Christiana go deep on topics ranging from personal reflections on climate grief, to how to be present to the current climate reality, to how we can rewrite the current narrative of the anthropocene.  We guarantee you will leave this conversations with a deepened understanding of the transformation, both personal and systemic, required to meet the challenges of the climate crisis.

Huge thanks goes to the team at Upaya who recorded these interviews and kindly allowed us use of their audio, and to Roshi Joan Halifax, Rebecca Solnit and Christiana for the rich conversation.

If the episode leaves you wanting to hear more from these wonderful women, you can download the previous Outrage + Optimisms episodes where Roshi Joan Halifax 

and Rebecca Solnit feature as guests. 

Please remember to send in your questions for the Listener mailbag episode we are doing at the end of October. Either submit through our social media channels or email: [email protected]

NOTES AND RESOURCES

Upaya Zen Centre

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Ten-part Video Series

Video Series: Uncertainty and Possibility—Meeting the Climate Future - Upaya Zen Center

GUESTS

Roshi Joan Halifax

Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | flickr

Rebecca Solnit 

Website | Twitter

Rebecca’s organisation Not Too Late co-founded with Thelma Young Lutunatabua.

Website

Learn more about the Paris Agreement.

It’s official, we’re a TED Audio Collective Podcast - Proof!

Check out more podcasts from The TED Audio Collective

Please follow us on social media!

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on O+O, our hosts, Christiana, Tom and Paul delve into the latest International Energy Agency report which sounds the death knell on the fossil fuel era and welcome award-winning investigative journalist Amy Westervelt onto the show.

With the IEA’s publication of their World Energy Outlook report, Christiana, Tom and Paul assess what this means for the fossil fuel industry, national governments and the companies continuing to push the exponential growth of the renewable energy markets. The IEA report still offers us an opportunity, a very, very slim opportunity to act unitedly and decisively to keep within our global targets - can we heed this advice before the door finally closes on this opportunity?

We’re extremely excited to welcome Amy Westervelt as our guest this week. Amy is an award-winning investigative print and audio journalist, loved by our team for her true crime climate podcast Drilled. Join us as she shares her journey to launching Drilled and Critical Frequency, her podcast production company, and why she’s dedicating her time to unearth the nefarious actions of a few PR firms that enable incumbents to keep a stake in the climate crisis narrative.

Music this week comes from Nick Nuttall and his debut album, Just Because Some Bad Wind Blows, which draws on rich life experiences between his eccentric upbringing in the North of England, to his nearly two decades of work at the UN fighting the climate and environmental crises across the globe.

NOTES AND RESOURCES

GUEST

Amy Westervelt, Investigative climate journalist and Head of Drilled Media

Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram

THINK TANKS Story: Meet the Shadowy Global Network Vilifying Climate Protesters

MUSIC

Nick Nuttall

Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter 

Album ‘Just Because Some Bad Wind blows’ can be purchased here, or here

Watch the music video for ‘Just Because Some Bad Wind Blows’

Learn more about the Paris Agreement.

It’s official, we’re a TED Audio Collective Podcast - Proof!

Check out more podcasts from The TED Audio Collective

Please follow us on social media!

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on O+O: UK Net Zero rollbacks, the rise of global populism and why we should all be hungry for (protein) alternatives. Pull up a chair to the table and tuck in to this week's episode.

With the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s recent announcement that he plans to ‘roll back’ Net Zero commitments, coupled with the disturbing rise of global populist politicians choosing to hack the climate crisis conversation, our hosts Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson, ask: why, and why now, are these leaders choosing to act against the scientific consensus and hit the brakes on progress? Tune in this week to hear the hosts’ lively and insightful analysis on this worrying trend in global politics.

Alternative proteins is the topic of this week’s guest interview.  Bruce Friedrich from the Good Food Institute is interviewed by the unflappable Andy Jarvis from theBezos Earth Fund, using his expertise in this area to dig into this incredibly important and hugely influential issue.

Bruce, Andy and the hosts unpacked the outsized positive impact that alternative proteins can have not only on tackling the climate crisis, but also our health, animal well-being and nature restoration.  He also issued a stark warning with regards to the huge quantities of antibiotics we feed our animals and the current and future on human health:

“The UK government said the threat to the human race from antimicrobial resistance is more certain than the threat from climate change. It's already killing 1.3 million people per year. It's predicted to be killing 10 million people per year by 2050, according to an article in The Lancet last year.  Seventy percent of medically relevant antibiotics are being fed to farm animals. Now, former head of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, has said  the end of working antibiotics is the end of modern medicine.” * Yikes.

Music this week comes from Colombian Psychedelic band ‘BALTHVS’ and their track ‘Eclipse Solar’.

NOTES AND RESOURCES

* Bruce quotes an article published in Jan 2022 by The Lancet:  Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. This article in turn quotes the UK’s AMR review’s final paper:Tackling Drug-Resistant Infections Globally: Final report and recommendations (2016) which is the original source of the figures Bruce uses in the quote above. 

PLUM VILLAGE

Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet course.

Sign up  HERE and make sure to check out their scholarships on offer if support is needed. 

GUESTS

Bruce Friedrich, President and Founder of The Good Food Institute

Twitter | LinkedIn 

The Good Food Institute

Twitter | LinkedIn 

Andy Jarvis, Director of Future of Food at Bezos Earth Fund

Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram

MUSIC

BALTHVS

Website | Instagram | YouTube

Learn more about the Paris Agreement.

It’s official, we’re a TED Audio Collective Podcast - Proof!

Check out more podcasts from The TED Audio Collective

Please follow us on social media!

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to another episode of Outrage + Optimism, where we examine issues at the forefront of the climate crisis, interview change-makers, and transform our anger into productive dialogue about building a sustainable future.

This week, Tom plays the role of roving reporter live from Climate Week NYC and shares his analysis of UNGA and the growing public concern around the UN’s ability to maintain the momentum and vision that we so desperately need to keep us on track to meet our global goals. Tom also shares an incredible finding with us all presented by former O+O guest, John Marshall, CEO of Potential Energy Coalition, that the winning message that caused people to unite behind climate change action is….love. The hosts beautifully discuss what this means for us as a global community and how we should stay as close to this source as possible. 

Throughout the episode, we also hear from a range of voices captured by Tom throughout the first part of the week from leaders representing civil society, private corporations, youth, state legislatures and communication professionals. 

Music this week comes from Annie Hamilton and her incredible track, 'Electric Night'.

NOTES AND RESOURCES

Celine Herweijer, Group Chief Sustainability Officer at HSBC

Twitter | LinkedIn 

Ellen Jackowski, Chief Sustainability Officer and EVP at Mastercard

Twitter | LinkedIn 

Mary Robinson, Chair of The Elders 

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Isabelle Offer, Photographer

Website | Instagram | LinkedIn

Phil Drew, Partner at Brunswick Group

LinkedIn 

Harjeet Singh, Head Of Global Political Strategy at Climate Action Network (CAN)

Twitter | LinkedIn 

Sally Fouts, Director of The Climate Pledge at Amazon

LinkedIn

Secretary Wade Crowfoot, California Secretary for Natural Resources Agency

Twitter | LinkedIn 

-

MUSIC

annie hamilton

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Check out the dreamy and fuzzy version of ‘electric night’

Annie’s ‘production, sustainability, and brand ethos’

-

Learn more about the Paris Agreement.

It’s official, we’re a TED Audio Collective Podcast - Proof!

Check out more podcasts from The TED Audio Collective

Please follow us on social media!

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to another episode of Outrage + Optimism, where we examine issues at the forefront of the climate crisis, interview change-makers, and transform our anger into productive dialogue about building a sustainable future.

This week, we welcome back perennial friend of the podcast Nigel Topping as he joins Christiana, Tom and Paul on a fast-paced whistle stop analysis of the recent and up-coming events (Africa Climate Week, UN General Assembly and New York Climate Week) populating the climate change calendars. If that was not enough, the team also discusses the soon to be published IEA report, set to declare the ‘beginning of the end’ of the fossil fuel industry, (watch out for the ‘Minsky Moment’) as well as the much anticipated recent UNFCCC Global Stocktake report, with an invitation to view these reports in a more integrated way.

Music this week comes from Nu Deco Ensemble and their beautiful piece of music titled 'Sacred Earth'. The orchestra’s mission is to create compelling and transformative genre-bending musical experiences that inspire, enrich and connect new and diverse audiences and artists.

NOTES AND RESOURCES

Nigel Topping, Member of the Climate Change Committee (CCC) / Non-executive director of the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB)

Twitter | LinkedIn 

Fatih Birol’s op-ed: Peak fossil fuel demand will happen this decade

THIS WEEK: Go to a March or Climate Action Near YOU - Fight Fossil Fuels Dot Net

-

MUSIC

Nu Deco Ensemble

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Check out their Daft Punk and Dr. Dre concerts on YouTube

-

Learn more about the Paris Agreement.

It’s official, we’re a TED Audio Collective Podcast - Proof!

Check out more podcasts from The TED Audio Collective

Please follow us on social media!

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to another episode of Outrage + Optimism, where we examine issues at the forefront of the climate crisis, interview change-makers, and transform our anger into productive dialogue about building a sustainable future.

Back together following our break, the hosts discuss the devastating extreme weather events that have been happening across the world and they encourage us to think about how these changes within the global climate are impacting all our environments. Looking ahead to the next few months, we’ll cover the major climate events, all requiring critical decisions to be made in this important decade. They also explore some positive news stories that have happened over the last month, including the vote by Ecuadorians to halt oil drilling in the biodiverse Amazonian national park.

We have a fascinating and passionate interview from the incredible Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, he gives us an honest account of what he feels are the top political obstacles to climate solutions.

Music this week comes from the very talented Hilang Child, a British-Indonesian alt-pop artist, songwriter and drummer from South London!

NOTES AND RESOURCES

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

Watch AG’s New TED Talk - ‘What The Fossil Fuel Industry Doesn’t Want You To Know’

-

Hilang Child

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Pre-Save or Stream the new single - ‘Lapwings’

Extra Listening - ‘Seimbang​/​Balance’

-

Learn more about the Paris Agreement.

It’s official, we’re a TED Audio Collective Podcast - Proof!

Check out more podcasts from The TED Audio Collective

Please follow us on social media!

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to another episode of Outrage + Optimism, where we examine issues at the forefront of the climate crisis, interview change-makers, and transform our anger into productive dialogue about building a sustainable future.

For the final episode of the season, Christiana, Tom and Paul answer many of your fantastic questions including: ‘We hear a lot of talk about planting trees to sequester carbon, but most of our planet is covered by ocean, and the ocean is absorbing most of the heat. Should we be doing more to plant and restore seaweed, seagrasses, and mangroves?’; ‘If anything would be possible and all of us would work together towards one goal - what would your ideal world look like?’ and “Are we gonna be OK?”’ 

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to send through a question to our hosts, you made this a very special episode. Apologies if we weren’t able to get to yours, please do go and engage with us on social media and share your thoughts. 

Music this week comes from our very own fabulous host, Christiana Figueres, check out the video of her rap here. Feel free to spread the love! 

We will welcome you back in September with a very exciting not-to-be-missed interview, followed by episodes sharing insights into New York Climate Week, COP and many more important events which will see us through to the end of the year. 

NOTES AND RESOURCES

Christiana’s incredible rap video can be found here.

Adam McKay’s video can be found here.

The song mentioned by Paul from Gracie Fields can be found here.

Here is a link to the lawsuit against big oil companies by the city of San Francisco.

Learn more about the Paris Agreement.

It’s official, we’re a TED Audio Collective Podcast - Proof!

Check out more podcasts from The TED Audio Collective

Please follow us on social media!

Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.