Cambridge Climate Lecture Series

#CCLS2023 A Forum For Discussing Climate Change - Cambridge, UK

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 and hosted on the CCLS website, as an appendage to the series.

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Nick Breeze

: Published: 31 March 2022

In this ClimateGenn episode I am speaking with Research Director of the Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration in Melbourne, David Spratt, about assessing climate risk and why incremental tweaks to reduce emissions are failing us.

We also discuss IPCC forecasts, political failure, and how change is possible but it requires a huge mobilisation of resources, coupled with public and political participation and leadership of the Zelensky variety.

: Published: 28 October 2021

In this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking to professor Rupert Read on the eve of his trial that has since taken place resulting in a guilty verdict and a very modest fine handed down.

Links: Live Event 8 Nov '21 in Glasgow https://youtu.be/ItixWfasssk - Patreon: https://patreon.com/genncc My site: https://genn.cc

Here we discuss the role of disinformation organisations like the Global Warming Policy Foundation who have spent the last decade denying the threat that climate change poses to ordinary people.

As we head to COP26 Glasgow, many politicians, let alone climate scientists are calling this summit: 'a last chance to save the future of humanity'. Despite this, pundits and mainstream media outlets such as The Economist are warning us to prepare for disappointment.

This should come as no surprise, thus confirming the successful work of climate denialism over the last decades. The job ahead is too unpalatable for policymakers to sell to civilians despite the growing eco-anxiety among us all.

From Sunday I will be reporting from the COP speaking to many people who I have interviewed for this podcast and many more. We will also be live-streaming an event on the 8th of November titled Adapt Now - on my Youtube Channel, so please do join us.

Thanks for listening to all these interviews and sharing your feedback which I always try to read. You can subscribe on Youtube or any major podcast channel. You can also support my work via Patreon.

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: Published: 26 October 2021

In the run-up to COP26 we face a new onslaught of mainstream media coverage of how this conference will decide the fate of humanity. The truth is that even the best outcome being sought by policymakers is far short of what the science tells us is needed to stabilise the global climate.

Since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, where the accelerating decline of planetary systems was acknowledged and leaders expressed the need for change, nothing has been achieved to stop the catastrophic circumstances that we are facing today.

In this episode of Shaping The Future I am speaking with Professor Kevin Anderson about his (and colleagues) new paper to be published on the 17th October titled, Three Decades of Climate Mitigation: Why Haven’t We Bent the Global Emissions Curve?

In this analysis also emerges potential opportunities that could shift the locus of where we are in entrenched greed by a powerful few, towards a better prepared and resilient future for the majority of us.

You can subscribe to Shaping The Future on all major podcast channels and Youtube and you can also support my work via Patreon. Please visit GENN.cc for more information.

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: Published: 10 September 2021

Dr Saleemul Huq is a highly respected climate scientist from Bangladesh who has worked for decades to progress the safety of the most vulnerable people up the climate policymaking agenda.

Traditionally the most vulnerable people have been from places like Saleem's own country, Bangladesh, but in this interview, he stresses that we have crossed a new threshold.

What we have been seeing in the US and Northern Europe clearly shows that the most vulnerable could be ourselves, our neighbors, or our loved ones.

Global climate extremes have arrived at our door and the time to adapt and build resilience is now. As an expert in this field, Saleem gives us some pertinent insights into what makes resilience really work. It is not technology and it is not wealth.

: Published: 03 September 2021

In this special episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with Regional Director for the World Food Programme in Southern Africa, Menghestab Haile

In particular, we are discussing the climate-driven drought in southern Madagascar that has over 1 million people on the brink of starvation, including many children in a state of malnutrition.

The situation is a dire emergency and very much deserves our attention because the drought that is causing the famine is caused directly by emissions from those of us in developed countries.

However, there is a direct link to the previous episode in this series with Alice Hill discussing the need for adaptation and readiness for climate extremes.

As Menghestab points out, southern Madagascar is in a period of transition, and given the right support, they can continue to grow crops here and adapt to new emergent conditions.

I initially contacted the WFP to do this interview to highlight the humanitarian emergency, however, it has been striking that this is what a real-time climate red alert really looks like.

This is a region where many people live by subsistence farming and, no matter the outcome of climate conferences, adaptation is critical.

: Published: 25 August 2021

Alice Hill | The Fight For Climate After COVID-19

Alice Hill | Adaptation Critical To Our Global Climate Preparedness Strategy

In this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with Alice Hill who was Special Assistant to President Obama at the White House and Senior Director for Resilience Policy at the National Security Council, working on climate change and pandemic preparedness.

In her new book, ‘The Fight For Climate After COVID-19’, to be published on the 5th September, Alice makes the case for why it is imperative that we begin the necessary planning for adaptation for concurrent and consecutive climate extremes that threaten society the world over.

With COP26 on the horizon, we are seeing decades of climate policy on mitigation come to virtually nothing as emissions still rise.

The case being made here is that it is essential we make adaptation and building resilience a central feature of our approach to this decade and beyond.

I want to thank the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change (GMACCC) for their help in organising this series of interviews with security experts.

: Published: 17 August 2021

In this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking to Global Security expert, Dr Chad Briggs at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Chad advises many global organisations on the intersection between climate change and national and regional security issues. His clients include the US State Department, US Air Force, the Swedish Armed Forces, the European Union, as well as US Dept of Energy, among others.

Chad explains the linkages between climate change and hybrid warfare situations that are going on now and will continue to pose a massive threat to societies around the world. These include government level sources of disinformation, such as the Global Warming Policy Foundation in the UK or the Heartland Institute in the US, who are funded by fossil fuel interest groups to sow doubt and chaos that drive us further down the road of climate catastrophe.

I want to thank the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change (GMACCC) for their help in organising this series of interviews with security experts. The next interview will be with former Obama White House advisor and Head of the US National Security Council for Climate, Alice Hill about her new book due out in September.

: Published: 05 August 2021

In this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with the Director of the Centre for Climate Repair in Cambridge, Dr Shaun Fitzgerald about how buildings can be adapted for climate resilience and the potential for flipping them from carbon sources to carbon sinks.

With many of the world’s largest future cities yet to be built and much of the existing infrastructure in developed countries being unfit for extreme climate scenarios, it is essential that building development projects and innovation are able to meet and beat the challenges that lay ahead. Recent extreme climate catastrophes demonstrate that we need to start adapting to climate change right now and at scale.

The theme of adaptation planning is one that I will be exploring more in the coming weeks. If you are listening on Youtube or GENN.cc or another podcast channel, please do post your thoughts on the content in the comments and I will always read and try to reply.

Your feedback is most appreciated. Please do subscribe to Shaping The Future at GENN.cc where you can also see the whole podcast archive as well as interviews, panels and articles from the last 5 COP’s as we head towards COP26 Glasgow.

: Published: 05 August 2021

In this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with former UK Government Chief Science Advisor, Sir David King. Sir David has recently set up the Climate Crisis Advisory Group (CCAG) to respond with agility to the real-time climate crisis.

The first report is linked below and focuses on the Arctic as a key regulator of global climate stability and more recently, chaotic disruption.

Sir David discusses the mantra they are trying to get into the mainstream consciousness of climate action: Reduce, Remove and Repair. The message is clear that climate is now the main issue threatening our civilisation across the globe.

We are now crossing tipping points and the time rapid scaled up action is now.

Sir David also suggests the creation of a UN Security Council for Climate Change to deal specifically with the international efforts of nations and regions to tackle arising issues. This connects to my interview next week with NATO and US Government Security Advisor on Climate Change, Chad Briggs.

Next week I will also be talking to Dr Shaun Fitzgerald OBE, Director of the Centre for Climate Repair in Cambridge about how we need to flip our building infrastructure from a massive carbon source to carbon sink. This includes existing buildings and the colossal amount that needs to be built with resilience around the world to weather the tide of climate adversity.

: Published: 05 August 2021

Deep Adaptation, with its subheader of ‘Navigating The Realities of Climate Chaos’ is divided into 3 parts: The Predicament, Shifts In Being and Shifts In Doing.

Adrian’s contribution gives a broad overview of the evolving field of climate psychology, including the symptoms of distress and denial assisting us to recognise and empathise when we detect them in peers and/or colleagues.

Deep Adaptation covers a range of subjects including the future of activism, leadership, the study of collapse itself and related ideas. It is itself a starting point to explore themes around both feeling, assimilating and responding to systemic as well as ecological collapse.

This subject of this book contrasts and compliments another book that will be published later this year by Alice Hill. Alice has previously served as special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council staff and will be discussing her new book here in late August just ahead of publication.

Thank you for listening to Shaping The Future. You can now see the full archive of episodes on GENN.cc along with the archive of interviews and footage recorded at the last 5 COP’s.

As we prepare for COP26 in Glasgow, it is worth considering that the climate threats anticipated 30 years ago at the Rio Earth Summit are now among us creating suffering and loss on a daily basis, while not one policy fit for purpose has been implemented to prevent them.

Someone might have warned George Bush Senior when he stated that the American way of life is not up for negotiation, that nature cares not for political grandiosity.