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Challenging Climate
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.
Questions or comments? Email info@challengingclimate.org or tweet @ChalClimate
See more information on Jesse Reynolds and Pete Irvine.
music by Peter Danilchuk @clambgramb (IG/Twitter).
Episodes
53 episodes
Farewell
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 ...
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8:27
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50. Maarten Albers on the Nitrogen Crisis in the Netherlands
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 enviro...
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Episode 50
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44:03
49. Gwynne Dyer on Intervention Earth: climate mitigation, CDR & SRM
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,...
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Episode 49
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46:39
48. Jonathan Blake and Nils Gilman on planetary governance
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...
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Episode 48
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51:07
47. Shuchi Talati on ethics and governance of solar geoengineering
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 ...
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51:31
46. Ulrike Lohmann on clouds, aerosols and solar radiation modification
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 inves...
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Episode 46
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45:20
45. Benjamin Sovacool and Chad Baum on global trends in public perceptions of climate technologies
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 w...
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Episode 45
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53:54
44. George Monbiot on environmentalism and climate activism
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...
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Episode 44
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48:28
43. Janos Pasztor on global climate policy and geoengineering
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 ...
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51:04
42. David Stainforth on climate models and uncertainty
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 ...
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Episode 42
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42:14
41. David Keith on Climate Systems Engineering
David Keith is a Professor in the Department of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago and the Founding Faculty Director of the Climate Systems Engineering initiative. Keith previously led the development of Harvard’s Solar Geoengine...
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43:01
40. Jennifer Allan on global climate governance and the COP28 agenda
Jennifer Allan is a Strategic Adviser and Team Leader with Earth Negotiations Bulletin, and Lecturer at Cardiff University. Jen has attended roughly 40 UN conferences where states negotiate the rules of global climate governance. Her work explo...
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Episode 40
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52:29
39. Greg Nemet on how solar became cheap (with Energy vs Climate)
Today’s episode is brought to you in collaboration with our friends at the Energy vs Climate podcast. Energy vs Climate breaks down the trade-offs and hard truths of the energy transition in Alberta, Canada, and beyond with energy experts David...
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56:34
A brief podcast review and update
As we break for the summer, listen here for some highlights of our previous episodes and catch up on the ones you've missed. See you in October!
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Episode 39
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8:52
38. Richard Tol on Climate Economics: the cost of carbon, geoengineering & IPCC
Richard S.J. Tol is a Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Sussex and the Professor of the Economics of Climate Change, Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Spatial Economics, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, t...
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Episode 38
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56:29
37. Emma Marris on our rambunctious garden: wilderness and human influence on nature
Emma Marris is an environmental writer and Institute Fellow at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. She has also written for National Geographic, the Atlantic, the New York Times, Wired, and other publications. In this epis...
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Episode 37
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43:06
36. John Moore on the melting cryosphere and glacier geoengineering
Dr John Moore is a Research Professor at University of Lapland, Finland and Chief Scientist of GCESS at Beijing Normal University. His research focuses on geoengineering, sea level change, and ice sheet dynamics. In this episode, we take a deep...
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Episode 36
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50:55
35. Steve Smith on net zero pledges and CDR strategies & tech
Dr Steve Smith is the Executive Director of CO2RE, as well as Executive Director of the Oxford Net Zero initiative, based at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. He also previously co-led the Climate Scienc...
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Episode 35
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1:02:17
34. Heleen de Coninck on the IPCC, climate tech & a just Net Zero transition
Dr Heleen de Coninck is a Professor of Socio-Technical Innovation and Climate Change at Eindhoven University of Technology, and Associate Professor in Innovation Studies and Sustainability at Radboud University. She is also the newly appointed ...
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Episode 34
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43:46
33. David Fahey on the Montreal Protocol, ozone depletion and SRM
Dr David Fahey is the Director of the Chemical Sciences Laboratory in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and he also serves as a Co-Chair of its the Montreal Protocol’s Scientific Assessment Panel, which produces the qu...
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Episode 33
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52:36
32. Chris Stark on the UK’s Climate Change Committee
Chris Stark is the Chief Executive of the UK‘s Climate Change Committee. Previously, he worked as the Director of Energy and Climate Change in the Scottish Government. In this episode, Chris breaks down the role of the CCC in UK’s climate polic...
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Episode 32
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55:10
31. Ken Caldeira on politics in research and the feasibility of the energy transition
Ken Caldeira is a senior scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science and is also a senior scientist at Breakthrough Energy. Ken has a wide-spectrum approach to analyzing the world’s climate systems - with particular interests in modeling ...
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Episode 31
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49:27
30. Andrew Revkin on climate journalism - its evolution, perils and narrative capture
Andrew Revkin is one of the world's leading science and environmental journalists, with over 30 years' experience thinking and writing about climate change and sustainability. He has written at The New York Times and ProPublica, and his current...
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Episode 30
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49:22
29. Daniel Harrison on Marine Cloud Brightening and the RRAP
Dr Daniel Harrison is an oceanographer at Southern Cross University in Australia. His research focuses on how engineering intervention in marine systems can be used to improve ecological, environmental, or societal outcomes. In this episode, we...
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Episode 29
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51:06