In this ClimateGenn episode I am speaking with Extinction Rebellion cofounder, Gail Bradbrook, about the role of activism today and the inner world of those taking action that can and does result in severe imprisonment, and in some countries, even death. ORDER COPOUT BY NICK BREEZE: https://genn.cc/copout-nick-breeze/ GAILS LINKS: https://www.praler.net/ https://buymeacoffee.com/gailbradbrook/the-leadership-able-bring-just-transition Gail identifies her own position on taking risks and how, in her words, to "live an honourable life in these times.” Climate activists in the UK today risk prison sentences that we might expect to be handed out to people convicted of violent crimes, presenting a danger to society. But by silencing dissenting voices, the risk to society is that collective failings can be easily be swept under the carpet. During COP21 in Paris, Naomi Klein pointed out that the pressure of activists between the failed COP in Copenhagen 2009 and COP21 Paris 2015, created the momentum for countries to come together and sign the Paris Agreement. Since then the world has changed dramatically with climate impacts pushing the thresholds of safety for communities all around the world. The failure of countries to honour their Paris commitments is contributing to the severe climatic consequences we are seeing now. In a recent email I received, the case was put that activist calls for revolution are misplaced because we do not have time to restructure our society before large impacts overwhelm our ability to adapt. However, many activist calls - like Gail here - are for expanded democracy, such as the creation of civil assemblies, where citizens are given expert insights, allowing them to better inform policy. In this sense, the role of activism is to maintain momentum towards better policies that increase adaptation and resilience in as fair and equitable way as possible. Next ClimateGenn Episode With carbon emissions stubbornly high, we are seeing the rising trend of destruction. In the next ClimateGenn episode I speak with Climatologist, Professor Hayley Fowler from the University of Newcastle and Chief Meteorologist at the UK Met Office, Paul Davies. We discuss their work bridging the gap between meteorology and climatology to enhance severe storm warning systems in order to save lives. Whether in Europe, North Africa, the US, Philippines, the Himalayas, or beyond, severe life threatening storms are increasing in strength and frequency, in all cases posing an existential threat. Paul and Hayley discuss the intricacies of how these storms form and how they have found new ways to decipher critical signals within the expanse of noisy data. This episode will be available to subscribers very shortly and be public in a weeks time. Thank you to all subscribers and to everyone who has gotten in touch with feedback and episode suggestions. It is greatly appreciated. Remember you can support this channel by subscribing on Patreon or Youtube, as well as by ordering my book ‘COPOUT - How governments have failed the people on climate’ which is available worldwide in paperback and audio. COPOUT is based on my UN COP reporting from Paris 2015 to Dubai 2023. I take the reader behind the scenes to witness first-hand how the failure of successive global climate summits has led us to this era of dangerous consequences. Thanks again for listening.

Intro with clips - Prof. Jason Box (Geological Survey of Denmark & Greenland), Prof. Kevin Anderson (Tyndall Centre for Climate Research), Prof. Heidi Sevestre (AMAP, Arctic Council), Joshua Aponsem (Green Africa Youth Organization, Ghana), Anni Pokela (Operatatio Arktis, Finland) Lord Rowan Williams (Fmr. Archbishop of Canterbury).

I started recording interviews on geoengineering over ten years ago and the thought back then that in the mid 2020’s nothing would have been achieved in global emissions reduction, would have been too depressing to contemplate. Yet here we are.

The Paris Agreement was meant to steer the world towards a cleaner brighter future but it has been ignored. Emissions from forest fires and melting permafrost are way beyond their thresholds and extreme weather impacts are testing infrastructure and ecosystems all over the planet.

Climate activists are even being locked up with cruel prison sentences for trying to act for the collective good. I discuss this in my next episode with XR cofounder, Gail Bradbrook.

The UN Climate summit, COP29 will be held in one of the most significant cradles of the fossil fuel industry - Baku in Azerbaijan. There is no expressed intention to reduce emissions but instead the the COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev has a (quote) a ’vision to enhance ambition and enable action.’ - whilst the widespread extraction of fossil fuels continues unabated.

With all this in mind, the conversation of engineering interventions to try and delay the most destructive impacts of extreme climate, is moving along. It is controversial and divisive and yet voices from across the world, including in the Global South are saying that we need to take the research seriously.

In this interview with Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, Director of the Centre for Climate Repair at the University of Cambridge, we discuss the controversy and the viability of schemes. The news broke during our recording that the UK government agency, ARIA, have put out a call for proposals, offering £56.8m in grant funding for geoengineering projects. The largest government funding of it’s kind.

The failure of the global negotiations is discussed in my book COPOUT - How governments have failed the people on climate that is available worldwide in paperback and audiobook format. Sadly, the failure of the 3 decades of global climate summits means we are getting much deeper into the era of consequences. Central Europe is experiencing deathly storms and flooding while the smoke from Portugal’s forest fires are spreading a toxic blanket over Spain and beyond. From the Amazon to Asia, ecosystems and infrastructure are being pummelled by natures response to carbon pollution. Next week I will be recording a 3 way interview with Dr Paul Davies from the UK Met Office and Dr Hayley Fowler from Newcastle University about their recent research paper titled 'A new conceptual model for understanding and predicting life-threatening rainfall extremes’ - which is both important and fascinating.

Thank you to all subscribers - there is extra content being uploaded for Patreon and Youtube subscribers.

Welcome to a new series of ClimateGenn where we aim to speak with a range of global experts to be better able to understand the changes in the global climate system that are rapidly impacting the world in which we live. Although some like to use the term climate chaos - if we dive into the noise, more often than not, there are signals we can learn from.

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COP29 in Azerbaijan is now also on the horizon. The world’s largest climate conference is for another consecutive year being hosted in a country with stated aim of increasing production and sales of fossil fuels - the underlying cause of accelerating climate breakdown.

If you want to learn more about the UN’s COP process and why it has failed to deliver the structural changes that could have averted much of the destruction we are currently experiencing, then my book, COPOUT, is available worldwide in paperback and audiobook.

Order 'COPOUT' BY NICK BREEZE

I will be attending COP29 to report both on the lack of progress being made in the official negotiations, while also speaking with attendees on a wide range of related climate topics.

I recently spent 2 weeks in the summer in S. Portugal’s Alentejo region where temperatures regularly surpass 40ºC (104ºF). The climate stripes chart included here, made especially for the project by Climate Stripes creator Professor Ed Hawkins, shows the rising mean temperatures in Evora, in Alentejo, that have become much more pronounced since the 1980’s and will continue to rise. Slight rises in the mean temperature mean increased rises in the mean temperature and increased frequency of extreme temperatures. A signal of testing times ahead.

For the second week of this visit I was joined by world renowned glaciologist and climatologist Professor Jason Box, and Anglo-Chinese author and journalist, Janet Wang. With over 25 interviews recorded, I’ll be releasing a special series titled ‘Into the Heat’ looking at how these communities are adapting to the rising extremes and, as Jason Box says, ‘They are winning in sustainability’. We also discuss the thresholds of viability and why the survival of wine and olive oil producing communities in S Portugal connects to the wellbeing of communities in places like the UK and other parts of N. Europe. Subscribers will get access to additional behind the scenes footage.

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In this interview with Dr Jennifer Francis from the Woodwell Climate Research Centre in the US, we discuss her teams new research into feedbacks from the melting Arctic Ice cap. We also discuss how destructive climate impacts are starting to influence policymaking, albeit with resistance from misinformation campaigns. Finally, we discuss the rise of research into geoengineering and Jennifer’s insights into whether we should deploy risky temporary-techno fixes to buy time, while we wait for structural action at the policy-level to be implemented.

In this episode I am speaking with three young people from the Cayman Islands about the existential climate threat they face. They are taking their case to the British Government to ask for assistance in what could eventually lead to an evacuation plan.

The Cayman Islands are a British Overseas Territory lying to the south of Cuba and the North East of Honduras. Currently an estimated 85% of the worlds hedge funds are located in these islands.

The irony is that a significant percentage of the funds flowing through the Cayman isles will be invested in or derived from fossil fuels - the very cause of the regional climate destabilisation that is getting much worse.

Aleigha, Rickeem and Connor from Sustainable Cayman all have a case to make to the British people that could end up being part of the transformational change we need immediately.

The London meeting at the House of Commons with MPs is in collaboration with OnePlanet in the UK and is the start of a dialogue that aims to encourage the UK to act responsible in the face of existential threats to these islands.

Thank you to all subscribers for support. This is a special episode timed for the event I nLondon and more episodes will be forthcoming. Please like and share and continue to subscribe to support this work.

You can also order my book COPOUT from Amazon or any other book store, which highlights the structural failures that are driving the worsening worldwide climate emergency.

This episode with Dana R fisher is the unofficial part 2 of 3 looking at the sociological side of collective action, while we try to slow the sinking of the Titanic, to make homes on the lifeboats.

The rub in all this is that Dana’s message is not dissimilar from Roger Hallam’s (unofficial part 1). She agrees that millions will likely die before the so-called Anthroshift kicks in and we get the cascade of structural policies we need to respond en masse to the crisis.

The detail in all we discuss is in Dana’s new book, ‘Saving Ourselves - From Climate Shocks To Climate Action’.

If you want a close up lens on the structural failures to date, coupled with the determination of those in power to ignore the loud and clear science, then please do consider buying my book COPOUT. I’ve had great feedback from climate luminaries such as Sir David King, Bill McKibben, Alice Hill, Rupert Read, and others.

Thank you to all subscribers for your support. It is greatly received as it allows this series to continue. I get so many requests for interviews and it is getting harder to keep up. More supporters means more interviews can bet processed. Thanks again.

In this ClimateGenn Episode I speak with Dr René van Westen about the recent research he published with colleagues looking at what it would take to cause the Atlantic Meridonial Overturning Circulation (AMOC) to pass through it’s tipping point. Interpretations of this research have been published in media around the world and debated across social media. Here René gets a chance to clarify the potential for catastrophic impacts that would indiscriminately devastate Europe as well as many other regions in proximity to the Atlantic and beyond. If you want to read about how governments have consistently lied to get us into this mess then make sure you order my book COPOUT from this link: https://amzn.to/3uzuH7y In the next episode will be Dana R Fisher discussing her new book, Saving Ourselves, and what it will take to create the ‘Antroshift’ or social tipping point to change course for the better. If the collapsing AMOC is the answer - I will pass on that!! Thank you to all subscribers - your support is always welcome. Extra episodes and episode previews will continue to be forthcoming. There is a huge influx of requests for interviews and climate/ecological stories out there to cover and I am totally overwhelmed. Thanks again for interest, feedback and support.

In this ClimateGenn episode I speak with Dr Chris Kettle. Chris is Principal Scientist within the International organization Alliance Bioversity International and CIAT, one of the global CGIAR centers for Agricultural research for development.  Chris leads their work globally on restoration and the role of trees in transitioning food systems.  This is a critically important episode and Chris really dives into the complex interconnectivity between forestry, biodiversity, climate, food systems  security, knowledge and so much more.   Links to additional work & resources related to Dr Chris Kettle: www.myfarmtrees.org www.diversityforrestoration.org You can also look at the institutional webites https://alliancebioversityciat.org/ And the https://www.cgiar.org/ Chris is leading the restoration component of the naturepositive Initiative https://www.cgiar.org/news-events/news/africa-climate-summit-advanced-tree-restoration-pledges-but-a-big-seed-shortage-remains/ This recent FAO publication led by Dr Chris Kettle: https://www.fao.org/3/cc8955en/cc8955en.pdf You can find all Chris's publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8ViBluIAAAAJ&hl=en Actioning the knowledge we already possess in the science and indigenous communities, while taking a global instead of national perspective, has the potential to radically improve our prospects. This is the real challenge that we face today.   Chris offers a wealth of information on both the status quo and the potential for righting the wrongs of the past to fight back and try to conserve and regenerate global forests, while supplying the worlds food at the same time. In the next episode I speak to Honduran youth activist Ricardo Pineda who I heard speaking at COP28. It is a fascinating conversation that touches on justice issues and why he is now calling for research in climate interventions that could possibly save lives in his community.   I am also just about to edit the interview with sociologist Dana R Fisher about her new book, ‘Saving Ourselves, from climate shocks to climate action’. This is an unofficial sequel to the interview with Roger Hallam. There are parallel lines that we all need to comprehend.    Thank you to all supporters and subscribers. I am recording a lots of interviews at the moment and I appreciate all feedback, good and bad.   PREORDER COPOUT:  https://amzn.to/3SqI4ii   If you want to gain more insight into how these issues all connect together and actually fail at the political and structural level, then please do order my book COPOUT. It is available to order on Amazon and from a wide range of bookstores worldwide.