Saving the World From Bad Ideas

Can we really solve climate change just by fixing energy — and ignore food?  In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas sits down with Bruce Friedrich , founder and President of the Good Food Institute , to tackle Bad Idea #37: “Solving energy is enough for solving climate.” Bruce argues that focusing exclusively on decarbonising energy while ignoring food systems is one of th...

Is the 1.5°C temperature target helping or hindering climate action? In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas, Mark Lynas sits down with his co-authors Kwesi Quagraine (climate scientist at NCAR) and Erle Ellis (professor at University of Maryland Baltimore County) to discuss their groundbreaking new paper published in Nature that proposes a complete rethinking of how we measure climate...

Is “degrowth” a noble environmental solution — or one of history’s truly terrible ideas? In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas sits down with Adam Dorr, Director of Research at RethinkX and author of The Degrowth Delusion: Dispelling One of History’s Truly Terrible Ideas . Dorr argues that degrowth — the increasingly popular environmental movement calling for economic con...

Welcome to season three of Saving The World From BAD IDEAS Bad Idea #35: ‘THIS is the Future’ Why Forecasts Fail – with David Wallace-Wells In the season three opener of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas sits down with David Wallace-Wells , New York Times columnist and author of The Uninhabitable Earth , to tackle a deceptively simple bad idea: the belief that we can predict the future...

Is nuclear power too slow, too expensive, or too essential to ignore? In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas sits down with Baroness Bryony Worthington — crossbench peer, climate policy architect, and co-host of the Cleaning Up podcast — to take on Bad Idea #34: “Nuclear? No Thanks.” 🧠 Topics Discussed: ● ⚛️ Why nuclear costs haven’t fallen — and why China may change that...

🔍 Episode Summary: Is the food industry slowly killing us? Is processing of food the problem? Do we really need personalized nutrition? In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas sits down with Professor Sarah Berry — nutritional scientist and Chief Scientist at ZOE — to take on Bad Idea #33: “Ultra Processed Foods are killing us” From the gut microbiome to micronutrients, ul...

Is a world powered by clean energy possible without nuclear power?  In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas sits down with Julia Pyke , Managing Director of Sizewell C , to challenge Bad Idea #32: “We don’t need nuclear.” From financing and grid stability to biodiversity and public opinion, Julia explains why nuclear is essential to reaching net zero — and why the UK’s new...

Is China secretly saving the world from climate catastrophe?  In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas is joined by Lauri Myllyvirta , Lead Analyst and Co-Founder of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) , to examine Bad Idea #31: “Climate crisis? It’s China that’s the problem!” As one of the world’s most trusted analysts on China’s energy system, Lauri expl...

Could democracy really die in America?  In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas speaks with Susan Stokes , Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and Director of the Chicago Center on Democracy , to challenge Bad Idea #30: “It can’t happen here.” Drawing on her acclaimed book T he Backsliders: Why Leaders Undermine Their Own Democracies , Stokes reveals...

Is net zero possible — and what’s really holding us back? In this second part of his conversation with Mark Lynas, clean energy expert Michael Liebreich dives deep into the technologies, policies, and economics of the energy transition. Together they explore Bad Idea #29 : “The Green transition is failing.” Liebreich, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance and host of the Cleaning Up podcast, cha...

Are sharks really the monsters we’ve been taught to fear — or the ocean’s misunderstood guardians? In this episode, Mark Lynas sits down with Arzucan “Zuzu” Askin , National Geographic Explorer, conservation scientist, and co-founder of Miyaru NGO , to take on Bad Idea #28: “Jaws - aka sharks are scary” From diving daily with tiger sharks in the Maldives to pioneering the world’s first free-swimmi...

Can thinking about the end of the world make us better people? In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas sits down with philosopher and existential risk researcher Dr SJ Beard to unpack Bad Idea #27: “There’s no hope for humanity’” Drawing on their new book Existential Hope (Polity), SJ argues that we need to look beyond fear and fatalism to build a future worth surviving for...

Can we inoculate society against misinformation? In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas sits down with Professor Sander Vanderlinden — social psychologist at the University of Cambridge and author of Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity — to take on Bad Idea #26: “Misinformation is just people being wrong on the internet.” They explore...

🔍 Episode Summary: Is “climate catastrophism” itself a bad idea? In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas, Mark Lynas is joined by longtime collaborator and eco-modernist thinker Ted Nordhaus, Executive Director of the Breakthrough Institute. Together they take on Bad Idea #21: “We must be climate catastrophists to motivate action.” Nordhaus — co-author of An Ecomodernist Manifesto — ar...

🔍 Episode Summary: Is green hydrogen the silver bullet for decarbonisation — or a trillion-dollar distraction? In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas is joined by energy analyst, investor, and podcaster Michael Liebreich to unpack Bad Idea #24: “We’ll just use Hydrogen!” Liebreich, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance and co-host of the Cleaning Up podcast , makes the...

🔍 Episode Summary Is civilisation inherently self-destructive? In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas is joined by political scientist and existential risk researcher Dr Luke Kemp to tackle Bad Idea #23 "These are the best of times" Luke unpacks what history really tells us about the fate of past societies — and how those lessons do (and don’t) apply to today’s...

🔍 Episode Summary Can the sun save civilization? In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas sits down with legendary climate author and activist Bill McKibben to take on Bad Idea #22: "Solar can’t power the world." McKibben, co-founder of 350.org and Third Act, makes a powerful case for solar as our best hope to avert climate catastrophe — and explains why a rapid, global ene...

🔍 Episode Summary Is it too late to stop climate change — or do we still have reasons for hope? In this episode, Mark Lynas talks with data scientist and author Hannah Ritchie, Deputy Editor of Our World in Data and author of Clearing the Air: The hopeful guide to solving climate change in 50 questions . Hannah tackles some of the biggest climate myths head-on: that we’re doomed to runaway warmin...

We’re back. Season 2 of Saving the World from Bad Ideas is coming — and it’s bigger, bolder, and maybe even more controversial. This time once more , we’re joined by some of the sharpest minds on the planet. 🌍 Bill McKibben on activism, power, and what we’ve learned from 30 years of climate campaigning. 🧠 Hannah Ritchie returns to dismantle more doomer myths with data. 🔥 Luke Kemp on civilisati...

In this special season finale of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , host Mark Lynas flips the script by inviting producer Rob on mic for the first time. Together, they look back on an exhilarating first season — what worked, what surprised them, what they learned, and where the podcast might go next. From nuclear debates and rewilding wolves to Just Stop Cooking and geoengineering taboos, Mark and...

🔍 Episode Summary Can Greens support nuclear power? Finnish environmentalist and WePlaneteer Tea Törmänen joins Mark Lynas to dismantle Bad Idea #19: “greens are anti-science.” With clarity, courage, and a wealth of lived experience, Tea shares her journey from feeling like an outcast in the environmental movement to helping make the Finnish Green Party officially pro-nuclear. Drawing from decade...

🔍 Episode Summary Are we addicted to fossil fuels and can we just go cold turkey? Philosopher of science Maarten Boudry joins Mark Lynas to tackle Bad Idea #18:: “we’re addicted to fossil fuels”. Drawing from his new book The Betrayal of the Enlightenment, Boudry offers a bold and clear-eyed critique of the dominant climate narrative. He argues that moralising fossil fuels as an "addiction&q...

🔍 Episode Summary Is rewilding just about wolves and wilderness, headset against farmers and rural communities, or something much more hopeful and human? In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas is joined by Rebecca Wrigley, Chief Executive of Rewilding Britain, to unpack Bad Idea #17: “Rewilding VS the people.” Together, they challenge some of the biggest myths surrounding...

🔍 Episode Summary: Is industrial agriculture the villain it's made out to be? In this episode of Saving the World from Bad Ideas , Mark Lynas sits down with award-winning journalist and author Michael Grunwald to explore Bad Idea #16: "We need to ditch intensive agriculture." Grunwald, whose latest book We Are Eating the Earth dives deep into the global land crisis, makes the provoc...

SPECIAL: This episode dives into our new campaign, JUST STOP COOKING with WePlanet Africa lead, Patricia Nanteza. 🔍 Episode Summary: What happens when climate policies from the Global North collide with the lived reality of energy poverty in Africa? Mark Lynas is joined by Patricia Nanteza, WePlanet’s Africa Lead, to expose one of the most dangerous and overlooked injustices in climate policy tod...