The Elephant

Former NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen is one of the most respected climate scientists in the world. In fact he's famous for helping first-bring the issue of climate change to wide-spread public attention way back in 1988 when he testified in-front of congress to alert senators that the greenhouse gas effect was real, and that we were already starting to see its impacts on the climate. We caught up with Dr. Hansen at COP 21 to speak with him about what the world needs to do to act on climate, and why when it comes to global warming "we’re already at a level of emergency."

Nearly 150 world leaders have assembled here in Paris for the start of COP 21, the UN climate summit. And whatever may come out of it over the course of the next two weeks, it's hard to overstate the crucial importance of this year’s conference.

Elizabeth May has seen these UN climate conferences inside and out. She was at the Earth Summit in Rio when the UNFCCC was first created in 1992, and since then she has attended most, if not all of the 20 COPs. This year Elizabeth May is attending COP 21 as a member of the Canadian government’s delegation. We reached her by Skype a couple of weeks ago to talk to her about what the process is like, what the obstacles to an agreement are, and why when it comes to Paris, there's never been a more critical COP.

Yeb Saño for years was the lead negotiator at UN climate talks for the Philippines. But he first came to worldwide prominence in 2013 when he delivered an emotional speech at COP 19 in Warsaw, urging countries to set aside their differences and commit to averting the looming climate disaster.

While no longer on the official delegation for his country, Yeb hasn't stopped passionately speaking out about the climate crisis, and he recently finished a 1500km walk from Rome to Paris to urge the world of need to act. We reached Yeb to speak to him about his people's pilgrimage, and what he hopes to come out of Paris.

The United Nations climate summit in Paris - or COP 21 - is just around the corner. But there's a lot to get a handle on with how these negotiations actually work. You might wonder, why have they failed in the past? What is it like to be there in the room? And what are the main points of contention between countries?

To get insights into these questions, and just what we can expect from Paris, we rang up Kevin Conrad, who for 8 years represented Papua New Guinea at UN climate talks, and this year is on the delegation for Panama.

With the birth of the industrial revolution and the creation of the modern world, economics helped us in a sense get into the mess we're in today with the climate. But what role could economics play in helping us solve the problem? And what types of economic policies could help move us towards a sustainable future? To explore these questions, we sit down with Cameron Hepburn, an Environmental Economist at the University of Oxford.

Antarctica's ice sheet contains enough water to rise sea-levels by over 60 meters, yet we know surprisingly little about the frozen continent to our south. In fact we know more about the surface of Mars than we do the topography of Antarctica. In a live interview in Birmingham with Glaciologist Dr. Martin Siegert, we learn the innovative ways in which scientists are studying the ice-sheet, why it matters for the world, and hear about the mysterious sub-glacial lakes that lie beneath the surface of the ice

John Schellnhuber is one of the world's most influential climate scientists, advising politicians, governments, and influential figures on the numbers behind our warming planet. Not only was he the principal climatologist to the pope for the Encyclical, he’s also the mind who first forwarded the now internationally accepted 2 degree target as the global red-line that shouldn’t be crossed. We speak about the birth of the 2 degree target, what it was like working with the Pope, and what it would mean for the world if Donald Trump became president.

During the dark early hours of a morning this past July, 13 Greenpeace protesters descended off a bridge as part of an ingenious and daring plan that placed their bodies between Shell and its controversial plans to drill in the Arctic. This is their story...

The first in our short series highlighting inspiring on the ground climate actions taking place around the world. What happened earlier this year when 50 students from Fossil Free Yale occupied the administration building on campus. Story by Phoebe Petrovic

Noam Chomsky shares his insights into the threat of climate change, what can be done by ordinary citizens to combat it, and reflects on why it's so "crucial that those with the most privileged get involved."