Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast

This week, Tom and Christiana are in Seattle recording in the Amazon studio where they are joined by special guest Kara Hurst, Chief Sustainability Officer at Amazon. Together they bring you an eclectic mix of topics of outrage and optimism ranging from the introduction of the Bechdel test for climate change, storytelling with the national geographic and mosses! The nature sounds that close the po...

Can one vegan with no car really help the planet? Today, a special presentation of a podcast we think O+O listeners will love from The Anti-Dread Climate Podcast. The climate crisis gets more terrifying every year. The impact is undeniable and can feel totally overwhelming. Hope won’t solve it, but neither will hopelessness. A surefire way to manage anxiety and stress over the existential problem...

This week, our hosts each arrive with one specific issue they feel freshly outraged or optimistic about. Tom talks about how Earth Day 2024 will come to be known as the beginning of the end of the climate crisis. Christiana is outraged (and a tiny bit optimistic) about the plastics pandemic. And Paul gets fired up about investor and corporate transition plans - can he convince his co-hosts to ‘lig...

To mark Earth Day, Christiana shares her conversation with the incredible young climate justice activist, indigenous rights advocate and author Xiye Bastida. From the Otomi-Toltec indigenous community in Central Mexico, Xiye’s life and work demonstrate how indigenous wisdom and principles unearth solutions to the climate crisis. She is driven to create a climate movement that is more inclusive and...

This week, the hosts discuss the much celebrated ruling last week at the European Court of Human Rights when over 2000 women aged 64 and up, took the Swiss Government to court for failing to protect them from the growing effects of climate change which proved detrimental to their health. The court in Strasbourg ruled in favour of the women, opening up a pathway for other similar cases to now be he...

The How To Academy Podcast is the biweekly show from London’s home of big thinking. Each episode they take a deep dive into the life and ideas of one of the most significant thinkers, artists, or leaders of our time – from Gordon Brown and Bill Clinton to Mary Beard and Marina Abramovic. This episode features a live, on-stage conversation between Christiana Figueres and the former CEO of Unilever,...

In this week’s episode, Tom files an exclusive report live from London, where he's on the ground covering Simon Stiell's highly anticipated Chatham House speech, "Two Years to Save the World". Not stopping there, Tom also snags a quick interview with Simon right after the event.  Back in the studio, Christiana, Paul, and Tom dive headfirst into the heart of Simon's speech. They navigate through th...

In this week's special episode, while our team takes a well-deserved break, we're excited to present an exclusive, unedited conversation between Christiana Figueres, Isabel Cavelier Adarve, and the award-winning Krista Tippett, host of "On Being." Join us as we delve into "Our Story of Nature: From Rupture to Reconnection." Take a moment to relax and immerse yourself in this expansive and inspirin...

This week, the hosts welcome Hannah Ritchie, Deputy Editor at Our World in Data and a Senior Researcher at the University of Oxford as our guest and discuss her book ‘ Not the End of the World, How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet ’.   In this compelling episode, join the hosts and special guest Hannah as they delve into the intricate dynamics of data, cautious optimism...

This week, our hosts are rejoined by the incredible Isabel Cavelier Adarve. Tune in to hear them answer some of the brilliant questions listeners sent in following Christiana’s and Isa’s launch of their masterful recent mini-series, Our Story of Nature: From Rupture to Reconnection. Christiana, Isabel, Tom and Paul muse on an intriguing range of questions from ‘how to teach citizens and government...

This week, we bring you a US democracy special, discussing Joe Biden’s energetic State of the Union Address in which climate action played a significant role, and also the new guidelines from the Securities and Exchange Commission, a move which has seen the Commission attract a slew of legal challenges from both sides of the climate divide. The hosts ask: can Biden’s campaign for presidency in 202...

Get ready to celebrate International Women's Day with Tom and Christiana on Outrage + Optimism! We're discussing the fallout from Super Tuesday and the uphill battle for female parliamentary leadership. Plus, don't miss our exclusive interview with the incredible Gaia van der Esch! Tune in for insights, inspiration, and empowerment! Gaia van der Esch, is an executive in the non-profit and public s...

This week, our hosts discuss the global farmers’ protests, what's behind them, how they are being co-opted by right leaning populist parties as an ‘anti-net zero’ rhetoric and what needs to be done to support both farmers and the planet to thrive. Given how essential food production and distribution is to our survival, this is an issue that needs our full attention and global cooperation! Music co...

1.5C degrees is back in the news again as the recent Copernicus report reported that the world had exceeded this politically agreed temperature limit for the majority of 2023. But what does this mean? Do we abandon this target and set a new one? Is it still useful to use this as our north star in tackling the effects of man-made climate change? Is now the right time to start a serious conversation...

This week, Christiana Figueres and her guest co-host Isabel Cavelier Adarve introduce the third and final episode in their mini-series, Our Story of Nature: From Rupture to Reconnection. In this episode, Living As Nature, co-hosts and a stellar cast of guests use the pandemic as their jumping off point to unpack how a moment of physical separation, from each other and the natural world, became a s...

This week, Christiana Figueres and her guest co-host Isabel Cavelier Adarve introduce the second episode in their mini-series, Our Story of Nature: From Rupture to Reconnection.  In this episode, Living With Nature, the hosts share a series of conversations with experts from the worlds of food, the economy, energy and design to illuminate how our man-made systems are rooted in a separation from th...

This week, Christiana Figueres introduces a new mini-series, Our Story of Nature: From Rupture to Reconnection. Over three episodes, Christiana and guests will shine a light on our relationship with the rest of nature. Does transforming our connection with the natural world hold the key to transforming our response to the multiple environmental, political and social crises we face?  Christiana’s a...

Welcome back to Outrage + Optimism! Season 9 starts here… Our hosts - Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson - are back in conversation, sharing expertise, insights and camaraderie at the outset of the biggest election year in history with more voters than ever heading to the polls globally. Tune in as we explore what on earth does this all have to do with climate change? The th...

For the final episode of the year, we asked you, our listeners, to submit any awkward, painful or difficult climate questions you've encountered from (often well-meaning) friends and family, and Christiana, Tom and Paul told us how they would respond. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to send through a question to our hosts, you made this a very special episode. Apologies if we weren...

This week on Outrage + Optimism we bring you a serving of sizzling Cuban black bean soup in the form of a special live panel that was hosted by Tom Rivett-Carnac during COP 28!    Joined by special guests Ellen Jackowski, Chief Sustainability Officer for Mastercard; Kate Brandt, Chief Sustainability Officer at Google; and Craig Hanson, Managing Director and Executive Vice President for Programs at...

With Christiana away, Tom and Paul invite Jennifer Morgan, Germany’s Special Envoy for International Climate Action, to share her thoughts on the final text achieved and what we can take from this year’s COP 28 process.   NOTES AND RESOURCES Jennifer Morgan, Germany’s Special Envoy for International Climate Action LinkedIn | Twitter     Listen to O+O regularly? Please fill out our 10 minute survey...

With much of the world’s media focusing on the language of the final text at COP 28 to determine the success or failure of the COP and Dr Sultan’s presidency, Tom, with the help of friend of the show and High Level Climate Champion for COP 26, Nigel Topping; and H.E. Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High Level Champion for COP 28, take a different lens on what has been unfolding at COP 28 aside...

This week on Outrage + Optimism we bring you news that over 1000+ signatories from across business, finance, philanthropy, politics, academia and civil society have joined forces to call on Sultan Al Jaber and all Parties to deliver a 1.5C aligned outcome in response to the Global Stocktake - because later is too late! Tom reflects on this huge concerted effort to deliver outcomes at COP 28 and sp...

This week on Outrage + Optimism our hosts give a crucial update from Dubai’s COP28 opening days.  With Tom and Paul dialling in direct from Dubai and Christiana offering an outside perspective, the hosts ask: Will the word 'out' be in? What role will governments play in the climate crisis going forward? How brave was it for Dr Sultan to launch with a COP outcome (loss and damage) on day 1? They al...

This week on Outrage + Optimism our hosts discuss the leaked documents revealing how Adnoc, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Dr. Sultan were planning to use COP 28 meetings with other countries to promote deals for its national oil and gas companies. With Dr Sultan set to give his speech on Thursday, our hosts ask what needs to happen to restore the faltering trust in his presidency and avoi...