Planet: Critical

How can we know so much and yet continue to live so dangerously? Gregg Henriques has been working on this problem for over 20 years. He believes the problem lies with our knowledge systems, which arise from the Enlightenment but fail to make sense of the fundamental system through which we understand the world—ourselves, our own psychology. He says we need a second enlightenment, enlightenment in...

"Here we are at a crossroads of human history. There's never been this historical confluence of war, political instability, economic vulnerability, on top of the impending ecological apocalypse. Here we are, just marinated in death reminders. And what we know from our research is that that turns us into depressed, demoralized, proto fascists plundering the planet in our insatiable desire for dolla...

The climate fight is a fight for children’s rights. When Carter Dillard began researching family planning systems he found a fallacy in international policy: The Children’s Rights Convention , ratified by the UN, entitles children to health, education, well-being and fulfilled potential—but no country implements family planning systems around these rights. Family planning systems are based around...

Which papers are telling the truth? And which are giving inches to climate skeptics? In this episode, Lucy McAllister , Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies at Denison University, explains how journalism's obsession with "balance" causes bias in climate reporting. She walks us through new research which shows how climate coverage accuracy has improved since the initial findings in 2004, bu...

You can’t go green without going small. Our fossil-fuelled economy is destabilising the planet. But a renewable economy might not be much better. Simon Michaux and his team at the Geological Survey of Finland have been researching how much minerals and materials we have on earth to build our renewable energy. They’ve found that we simply do not have enough—and mining for those materials would bear...

When institutions fail—communities take back control. Community organising has never been more important in a world where people are increasingly isolated from one another, competing in a deliberately precarious market, dislocated from their culture, their land, their history. We experienced the power of community resilience during the pandemic, and the deep desire to help and rebuild. Humankind h...

How can we change an economic system that has a life of its own? 10,000 years ago, homo sapiens began farming a grain surplus. This surplus led to the creation of societal and cultural hierarchies which divorced our species from our long relationship with the natural world. This week’s guest, Lisi Krall, argues that our current economic system of fossil-fuelled capitalism is an interpretation of t...

Our scientific model of the universe is changing. From the mechanistic, rational ideas of the 20th century, physics is now understanding that the universe itself is conscious—that we are all expressions of consciousness. Looks like those indigenous teachers were right. On this episode, Jude Currivan , cosmologist and author of The Story of Gaia , walks us through all of the evidence we have to sug...

What if we educated young people in how to change the world? Black Mountains College is the world’s first college dedicated to the climate crisis. The inaugural Bachelors, Sustainability: Arts, Ecology and Systems Change launches this September, aiming to educate young people in how to navigate the polycrisis, and how to steer us to safety. Set in the heart of the Brecon Beacons National Park in W...

We’re in planetary overshoot. So why are governments coercing women into having children? Nandita Bajaj is the Executive Director of Population Balance, an organisation offering education and solutions to address the intersectional impacts of human overpopulation and over consumption on the planet, people and animals. Nandita also co-hosts The Overpopulation Podcast , and teaches at the Institute...

People all around the world wonder what makes human beings so special. One scientist flipped the question on its head: What got in the way of other species developing a similar consciousness? Ajit Varki met Danny Bower, the man behind the theory, by chance at a conference. They spoke for two hours and never met again. Bower died before having published his theory, but Varki received the manuscript...

What if a nation built policies for the future, not the election cycle? Sophie Howe was the world’s first “commissioner for the unborn”, appointed to steer Welsh politics away from short-term electoral goals to long-term policies that protect the population and planet. During her seven year term she achieved incredible successes—including stopping all new road planning projects in the nation. Soph...

If politics is broken—what's the alternative? Indra Adnan is an author, political entrepreneur and psychosocial therapist. She's also the founder of The Alternative UK political platform and a global consultant on soft power. For over twenty years, Indra has been writing, consulting, network-building and event-organising on the themes of future politics, conflict transformation, the role of the ar...

Dave Jones is the Head of Data Insights at Ember , a think tank helping shift the world from coal to clean energy—rapidly. Dave joined me to discuss the energy transition, going into detail about the impact of coal, gas and oil before comparing our renewable options. He reveals the nations around the world leading the renewable race, the supply chain weaknesses that need to be addressed, and, as e...

Benjamin Franta is the founder of the Climate Litigation Lab at the University of Oxford, informing climate litigation around the world. The lab researches how to bring—and win— lawsuits against companies, institutions, and individuals who have aided and abetted public deception, the suppression of information, and put the whole world in danger by driving the climate crisis. In the episode, Ben re...

Fadhel Kaboub is a former Associate Professor of Economics at Denison University where he researched political economy, decarbonisation, colonialism, and the financial and agricultural policies necessary to facilitate a global—and just—green transition. Since recording, Fadhel has been appointed Under-Secretary-General for Financing for Development at the international intergovernmental organisati...

Kim Stanley Robinson is a science fiction writer and author of the acclaimed novel, The Ministry for the Future. Set in the near future, this work of climate fiction explores the geopolitical, technological, political and economic demands of the climate crisis, imagining how nations around the world will respond to its impacts—resulting in the destruction and reimagining of the world order. Stan j...

Max Ajl is a fellow at Ghent university researching the climate and agrarian issues. He's also the author of the acclaimed A People’s Green New Deal , a “radical alternative” to the Green New Deals peddled by government institutions over the past years. Max joined me to discuss the necessity of land reform in the global green transition, explaining the importance of peasants, the relationship betw...

Brian Czech, founder of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy , is an ecological economist and former conservation biologist. Brian joined me just after returning from COP15 and, thankfully, says the fallacy of economic growth is finally being discussed at these critical conferences. On the episode, Brian explains the relationship between economics and the planet’s biosphere b...

In July, I recorded a roundtable with six of my former guests. The aim was to create an interdisciplinary assessment of the climate crisis, and what to do about it. Today, you can listen to the roundtable here, or watch it on Youtube . There were six fascinating presentations, each followed by a round of questions. This is what to expect: Maximum Power Principle in Biology & Economics Carey King,...

Wendy Schultz is an academically trained futurist with over thirty-five years of global foresight practice. Director at Infinite Futures, she has designed futures research projects for NGOs, government agencies, and businesses. Wendy and I discuss the Law in the Emerging Bio-Age report she recently published, which asked how legal structures can support second chances at improving human relations...

“The public do trust science and scientists more than probably any other social group, according to social surveys. The public have expectations on scientists that they will speak out if they see issues of national or social concern because they expect that scientists are working in the public good. “So what’s the responsibility on us as academics then, knowing what we know, knowing that we're hea...

“How long do we keep pretending that capitalism works? How long are we going to keep pretending that there is such a thing as objectivity? How long are we going to keep pretending that we're not in a runaway climate crisis? Systems are literally collapsing – the UK is in massive crisis, the United States is in massive crisis. These countries are seen as the leaders of the western world in a lot of...

“How do we challenge the hegemony and change it, and start to plan for a future for our children, for our grandchildren, for our great grandchildren? That is the great challenge. But as I've been implying, it's really something which is or should be an incredibly mainstream and commonsensical point of view. Everybody cares about their children having a decent life, and that means they care about t...

Ella Saltmarshe is “incorrigibly plural” — an anthropologist by training, Ella is a writer, activist, organiser, founder and narrative strategist with experience in public policy and international development. Ella works at the intersection of stories and the climate crisis, channeling her immense creative energy and agency into creating a world we can leave behind for generations to come. Alongsi...