Climate Chat

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview climate scientist Andrew Dessler on his recent paper that debunks the "climate denial" report that was issued by the U.S. Department of Energy. Andrew Dessler is a climate scientist who studies both the science and politics of climate change. He is a Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and director of Texas A&M’s Texas Center for Climate Studies. His scient...

In preparation for COP30, Leon gave this keynote presentation at the global online conference, "The Global Heating Emergency, Preventing 2°C by 2040: What’s the Plan?", which took place October 15-16. In this presentation Leon talks about the increased rate of global heating and how accelerated warming will lead to rapidly crossing risk levels that the world agreed to avoid in Paris 10 years ago....

In this Climate Chat episode, hosts Dan Miller and Leon Simons recent research on the asymmetry between warming in the Northern Hemisphere and South Hemisphere. PNAS paper: Emerging hemispheric asymmetry of Earth’s radiation: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2511595122 And in Science: Observed trend in Earth energy imbalance may provide a constraint for low climate sensitivity models: https:/...

In this Climate Chat episode, We interview author Michael Grunwald about his new book, "We Are Eating the Earth": Humanity has cleared a land mass the size of Asia plus Europe to grow food, and our food system generates a third of our carbon emissions. By 2050, we’re going to need a lot more calories to fill nearly 10 billion bellies, but we can’t feed the world without frying it if we keep tearin...

In this Climate Chat episode, Climate Chat hosts Dan Miller and Leon Simons discuss recent report from the German Meteorological Society and Physical Society that says that a warming of +3ºC (+5.4ºF) is possible by 2050. This is significantly more the IPCC and many other climate scientists say. As we will discuss, when it comes to existential threats, we must assume the worse and hope for the best...

Dan Miller and Leon Simons talk about New York Times Opinion article on Sunlight Reflection Methods (SRM) by Zeke Hausfath and David Keith. Humanity will be forced to make a balanced assessment of the risks of (intentionally) cooling vs not cooling the planet. More than what we do now. See yesterday's Climate Chat, where we talk about the aerosol termination shock of the sulphur air pollution that...

In this Climate Chat episode, Climate Chat hosts Dan Miller and Leon Simons discuss recent temperature readings from the North Pacific Ocean and other areas. Please Like and Subscribe! Dan Miller has been giving talks around the world on the need for urgent climate action for over 20 years. He is co-founder of The Roda Group, a climate-tech venture capital group, and he serves as an advisor for ot...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview Svante co-founder and SVP, Brett Henkel, on Svante's carbon capture system and how it can it can produce negative carbon emissions when used to capture CO2 from pulp and paper mills. We will also discuss other applications for carbon capture including cement and steel plants, as well as direct air capture (DAC). As co-founder of Svante, Brett was instrume...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute President & CEO Bill Diamond about what the search for extraterrestrial intelligence tells us about human-caused climate change on our home planet. Bill Diamond is a Silicon Valley technology veteran and current President and CEO of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. The SETI Institut...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview author and activist Bill McKibben about his new book, "Here Comes the Sun." Bill McKibben is the founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice, and of 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign. He’s written more than a dozen books, including The End of Nature, Deep Economy, and Falter, and ha...

In this Climate Chat episode, hosts Dan Miller and Leon Simons discuss climate scientist James Hansen's recent communications about the "Venus Syndrome" and runaway climate. Link to Hansen's recent communications: "Sophie's Planet: Chapter 10. The Venus Syndrome & Runaway Climate": https://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2025/VenusSyndrome.2025.08.27.pdf Link to our recent interview with James Han...

In this Climate Chat episode, host Dan Miller goes step-by-step through a comment left on the Climate Chat interview with James Hansen that lays out 30 so-called "facts" about climate change that are, in reality, wrong, misleading, or irrelevant (or a combination of those three). The purpose of the exercise is to expose climate denier myths and discuss how climate disinformation is used to slow pr...

In this Climate Chat episode, renowned climate scientist James Hansen returns to Climate Chat to discuss Climate Sensitivity. Climate sensitivity relates to how much the Earth will warm in response "forcings" such as human-caused greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Such warming includes the direct warming in response to the forcing plus warming due to feedbacks to the direct warming. The total short-t...

In this Climate Chat episode, Climate Chat hosts Dan Miller and Leon Simons discuss climate change related quotes and memes. Leave your favorite climate quotes and memes in the comments. Please Like and Subscribe! Dan Miller has been giving talks around the world on the need for urgent climate action for over 20 years. He is co-founder of The Roda Group, a climate-tech venture capital group, and h...

In this Climate Chat episode, Climate Chat host Dan Miller answers climate-related questions posted on YouTube, Twitter/X, and Bluesky. If you would like to view an interview and missed Thursday's discussion with former US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, follow this link: https://youtube.com/live/16hxH2dTB7o Please Like and Subscribe! Dan Miller has been giving talks around the world on the need for...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Nobel Laureate Steven Chu about the state and future of climate change, why political leaders have not addressed climate change seriously, and what can be done to increase action. Steven Chu is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics, of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and of Energy Science and Engineering at...

In this Climate Chat episode, Leon Simons interviews University of Exeter climate scientist Peter Cox about the acceleration of global warming, climate tipping points, and other climate-related subjects. Professor Peter Cox is Professor of Climate System Dynamics in Mathematics and the Director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter. He has previously worked at the Met Office-...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview climate scientist Ben Santer about his lifelong work studying the human fingerprint on climate change. Ben Santer was a climate researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and former researcher at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit. He retired from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 2021 and is now a Distinguished S...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview University of New South Wales climate scientist Matthew England on his recent Nature paper "Drivers of the extreme North Atlantic marine heatwave during 2023." We will also discuss Matthew's research on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and changes in the Southern Ocean circulation and its impact on Antarctica. Matthew England is Aust...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview The Lightsmith Group co-founder and Managing Director Sanjay Wagle about his firm's focus on investing in climate adaptation and resilience opportunities. Sanjay Wagle is co-founder and Managing Director of The Lightsmith Group, a private equity firm investing in growth-stage technology companies that address critical societal needs, with a current focus...

In this Climate Chat episode, Climate Chat hosts Dan Miller and Leon Simons discuss the unintended consequences of reducing fossil fuel emissions and the problems of pursuing a "emissions reduction only" approach to addressing climate change. Leon Simons' 2023 LinkedIn post: "Unintended consequences of cleaning up our mess": https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/unintended-consequences-cleaning-up-our-me...

In this Climate Chat episode, We interview Andrew Hultgren about his recent paper in the journal Nature, "Impacts of climate change on global agriculture accounting for adaptation." The paper concludes that there will be significant drops in agriculture productivity under global warming even with adaption measures. Surprisingly, negative impacts are larger in developed countries with advanced agri...

In this Climate Chat episode, We interview Ben Carey, the co-founder of the Utopia Bureau, a climate communications lab, prototyping innovative ways to trigger climate action urgently and at scale. Its approach is to help tip social norms across multiple fronts. Its founders are Ben Carey and Henrik Delehag, authors and ex-advertising creative directors. They draw on a wide network of strategic, c...

In this Climate Chat episode, We interview Shantanu Agarwal, the CEO of Mati Carbon which was the Grand Prize winner of the Carbon Removal XPrize. Mati spreads crushed basalt rocks on farmer fields in the global south which improves soil quality and the crushed rock absorbs CO2 which earns carbon removal credits. Shanatanu Agarwal is an experienced climate tech serial entrepreneur with more than 2...

In this Climate Chat episode, Climate Chat hosts Dan Miller and Leon Simons discuss the upcoming report: "Indicators of Global Climate Change 2024: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence" which is in pre-print for the journal Earth System Science Data (ESSD). We will also discuss climate change indicators that are not included in the report. Link to...