Climate Chat

In this Climate Chat discussion, we speak with climate scientist Gabriel Pontes about his recent paper in Nature Geoscience titled "Weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation driven by subarctic freshening since the mid-twentieth century." Gabriel's research shows that the AMOC is weakening faster than previous climate models show, including models used by the Intergovernmental P...

In our third interview with climate scientist Kevin Anderson, we will cover why climate scientists need to be more frank and honest about emissions scenarios, why the rich cutting their emissions is key to staying below 2ºC of warming, the need for solar geo-engineering, COP29, and other subjects. Kevin Anderson holds the Zennström professorship at Uppsala University and is chair of energy and cli...

In this Climate Chat episode, we will discuss how the Rebound Effect (a.k.a Jevons' Paradox) is impacting and will impact computer/data center/AI energy usage. While computer efficiency has improved by a factor of 10 TRILLION in past 80 years, computer energy use has only increased over that period and is expected to grow multiple-fold over the next 6 years as data center and AI energy use soars....

In this Climate Chat episode, we will discuss the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan with Dan Kammen, a Professor of Energy in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California at Berkeley. We will also discuss the climate implications of the next Trump administration and other topics. Dr. Daniel M. Kammen is a Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, with parall...

In this Climate Chat episode, we will discuss the challenge of governing solar geoengineering (also called Solar Radiation Management or Sunlight Reflection Methods) with Shuchi Talati who is the Founder & Executive Director of The Alliance for Just Deliberation on Solar Geoengineering. Dr. Shuchi Talati is a climate technology governance expert and founder of The Alliance for Just Deliberation on...

In this Climate Chat episode, we will discuss the U.S. election and the potential impact it will have on climate action -- both good and bad -- and the actions we can take. Climate scientist Leon Simons will take us through recent climate change data including ocean warming data that shows a fundamental change in the past two years. Climate change is based on physics and it doesn't care about poli...

In this Climate Chat episode, we speak with Aaron Thierry about how climate scientists can play a bigger role in driving action on climate change by becoming more involved in climate activism. Dr. Aaron Thierry has background as an ecological scientist, science communicator and environmental campaigner. Having received his original PhD in ecology from the University of Sheffield, he went on to a p...

In this Climate Chat episode, we will discuss how to electrify everything with inventor, author, and 2007 MacArthur "Genius" recipient Saul Griffith. The purpose of electrifying everything is to transition away from fossil fuels. Saul Griffith is an engineer and inventor. As Founder and Chief Scientist at Otherlab, an independent R&D lab, he helps government agencies and Fortune 500 companies unde...

In this Climate Chat episode, we will discuss the benefits and risks of cooling the Earth by implementing solar geoengineering (a.k.a, Solar Radiation Management or Sunlight Reflection Methods - SRM) with Cornell climate scientist Daniele Visioni. Daniele Visioni obtained his Ph. D. in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics from the University of L’Aquila, in Italy, in 2018. He moved to Cornell in the...

In this Climate Chat episode, we will discuss the link between climate change and extreme weather including hurricanes, droughts and floods with UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain. Daniel also hosts the Weather West blog. Dr. Daniel Swain is a climate scientist in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles, and holds concurrent appointments as...

In this Climate Chat episode, we will discuss the need for governance of both research and deployment of solar geoengineering, aka, Solar Radiation Management (SRM) with Cynthia Scharf who is senior advisor to the International Center for Future Generations, a European think tank, where she leads their work on climate intervention technologies. Cynthia was previously the senior strategy director f...

In this Climate Chat episode, we will discuss the role of aerosols in the recent rapid acceleration of global warming as well as how aerosols have impacted warming since the industrial revolution. My guests for this discussion is climate scientist Leon Simons and Prof. Eliot Jacobson Leon Simons is a climate scientist based in the Netherlands. He was a co-author with James Hansen on last year's "G...

In this Climate Chat episode, we talk with Prime Coalition's Keri Browder about what Prime is doing to invest in more risky climate solution companies and how Prime's Project Frame is trying to make it easier for all investors to invest in effective climate solution companies. As Prime Coalition’s Director of Impact Accountability and Director of Project Frame, Keri Browder creates opportunities f...

In this Climate Chat episode, we talk with Make Sunsets co-founder Luke Iseman about his approach to "cooling the Earth" by launching balloons into the stratosphere with tiny amounts of sulfur in them. While purposefully putting sulfur into the stratosphere at large scale (called solar geoengineering or solar radiation management (SRM)) is proposed as way to offset global warming, many in the SRM...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe about how to engage the public and policymakers on climate action. We will discuss her book, "Saving Us," and talk about the state of climate and the actions needed to maintain a safe climate for future generations. Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist whose research focuses on understanding what climate change m...

In this Climate Chat episode, we discuss Jevons Paradox and the related Rebound Effect. Jevons Paradox says the the more efficiently a resource is used, the more that resource will be used in total. This presents a challenge for climate solutions because it says that improving the energy efficiency of products will not necessarily result in lower energy use (in total) and may actually increase ene...

In this Climate Chat episode, we speak with Stanford climate scientist Rob Jackson about his new book "Into the Clear Blue Sky" in which he describes how we can restore the atmosphere to near pre-industrial condition. We will discuss methane, CO2 and other greenhouse gases that are too plentiful today and how we can get back to a safe climate. Rob Jackson is the Chair of the Global Carbon Project,...

In this Climate Chat episode, we discuss greenhouse gas forcing, ocean temperature records, and Earth Energy Imbalance (EEI), and other subjects with Eliot Jacobson an Leon Simons. While Eliot is known as a "climate doomer," he also compiles and presents climate information is useful forms for everyone to use, view, and understand. Prof. Eliot Jacobson received his Ph. D. in mathematics from the U...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview author Genevieve Guenther about her recent book "The Language of Climate Politics." In the book, she points out how certain words and framings promoted by the fossil fuel industry make their way into our everyday discourse and are used even by climate action advocates. Dr. Genevieve Guenther is the founding director of End Climate Silence and affiliate fa...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview Ken Berlin, former President & CEO of Al Gore's Climate Reality Project and Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council, a think tank focused on climate and energy. We will discuss how the Climate Reality Project engages people on climate and we will also discuss Ken's work on cost competitive climate solutions at the Atlantic Council. Ken Berlin is a senior fe...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview climate scientist David Keith, Professor of Geophysical Science at the University of Chicago where he leads the Climate Systems Engineering program. David previously ran a similar program at Harvard. Dr. Keith founded Carbon Engineering, a company that captures CO2 from the atmosphere. We will discuss the feasibility, safety, scalability, and political ra...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview Adam McKay, a screenwriter, producer, and director known for "Don't Look Up", "The Big Short", "Vice", "Anchorman", and "Succession", among many, many other films and TV shows. Adam was head writer for Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 2001. In 2023, Adam founded Yellow Dot Studios, a non-profit production company that makes short-form videos that raise aw...

In this Climate Chat episode, we interview Stanford professor Mark Z. Jacobson about his research that shows we can rapidly transition to 100% renewable energy. This is a controversial position, yet with renewable energy costs dropping rapidly, many parts of the world already generate 100% of their electricity in certain parts of the day from renewables. We will discuss the state of renewables tod...

In this second Climate Chat interview with George Marshall, we discuss George's previous book, "DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Ignore Climate Change" which dealt with how our brains are not very good with dealing with future, long-term problems that don't trigger our threat response. We will also discuss George's upcoming book where he explores how we (as individuals, gover...

In this Climate Chat discussion, we discuss climate scientist James Hansen's and Leon Simons's recent white paper titled "The World Will Cool Off – A Bit – and Other Good News!” and we will also talk about the US Supreme Court's recent "Chevron Doctrine" decision, as well as other climate-related news. Link to Hansen's white paper: https://mailchi.mp/caa/the-world-will-cool-off-a-bit-and-other-goo...