Welcome back to a brand new season of Outrage + Optimism! We have missed you, friends! This summer break in the Global North was yet another massive climate summer with much to talk about. We kick off this jam-packed episode acknowledging the sad passing of Queen Elizabeth II with personal reflections from the hosts Christiana, Tom and Paul as well as a touching conversation with Henry Dallal, a photographer who was regularly commissioned to capture Queen Elizabeth during the last few decades of...
Sep 15, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 6Ep. 1
So here we are! 30 episodes later we have finally arrived at the end of Season 5 of the Outrage + Optimism podcast. And what a rollercoaster it has been for all of us in the global climate community since the start of the year! We are due to take a well-earned break over August before we return with gusto in September for Season 6 - but before we go - in this dynamic episode, we take you on a whistlestop tour of the last six months of the podcast, narrated with a present day lens from our hosts,...
Jul 29, 2022•1 hr 36 min•Season 5Ep. 31
Crippling heat, fire, and death in the U.K., Europe, and the U.S. are bringing the climate emergency to our literal doorsteps. At the same time, political antipathy一in the lack of climate depth among Britain’s leadership candidates or the collapse of sweeping climate legislation in the U.S., for example一seems to be adding fuel to the fire. Co-hosts Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson, and especially Christiana Figueres, are outraged! They explore what this means for the climate agenda going for...
Jul 21, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 5Ep. 30
With the US Supreme Court's ruling on the EPA still sending shockwaves through some quarters of the climate community, we ask in our second special episode this week: is this a sign that the tide is turning against environmental regulation, or should we be careful not to mistake the tide for the current? In this episode, co-hosts Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Paul Dickinson take leave of UK politics (in the most part) and take a look across the ‘puddle’ at what many have described ...
Jul 15, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 29
Welcome to another episode of Outrage + Optimism. As always, we examine issues at the forefront of the climate crisis, interview change-makers, and transform our anger into productive dialogue on building a sustainable future. In this episode, co-hosts Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Paul Dickinson reflect on the recent downfall of British Prime Minister (PM) Boris Johnson and what comes next for U.K. climate initiatives, with guests Ben Goldsmith, Founder of the Conservative Environ...
Jul 12, 2022•56 min•Season 5Ep. 28
Welcome to another episode of Outrage + Optimism. As always, we examine issues at the forefront of the climate crisis, interview change-makers, and transform our anger into productive dialogue on building a sustainable future. In this special episode, the Outrage + Optimism crew has teamed up with the Dartington Arts School to bring you the first episode of the school’s intriguing new podcast, Arts and Ecology . The podcast explores the nexus between art, ecology, and culture and the role creati...
Jul 07, 2022•57 min•Season 5Ep. 27
This week, our hosts Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson sit down for an exclusive interview with Paul Simpson as he exits his role as CEO of CDP after co-founding the organization over 20 years ago. CDP began in a basement with a few committed individuals to bring about a livable future through the disclosing of environmental data from companies around the globe. While it may have had humble beginnings from a small basement office and only a few employees in 2000, today CDP reports directly on...
Jun 30, 2022•57 min•Season 5Ep. 26
ESG is in hot water - Is it just simmering or is it spoiling? When Elon Musk tweets “ESG is a scam ” that “has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors.” and a day later, an HSBC executive says that “ climate change isn’t a financial risk that we need to worry about ,” and then after that Former Vice President Mike Pence writes an opinion in WSJ that “ESG is elevating left-wing goals over the interests of businesses and their employees”...You start to wonder - What is all this fuss about...
Jun 23, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 25
Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet is the title of George Monbiot’s new book and an essential challenge that we explore in this Future of Food episode, with the help of George and three other guests committed to transforming our food system. As the current global food crisis continues to push more and more people to the brink of starvation, join us as we take a deep dive into the root causes of the crisis. Surface with a diverse and exciting range of solutions that could e...
Jun 16, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 5Ep. 24
Scientists are reporting that there is now more carbon dioxide in the air than ever before, and with OPEC recently agreeing to accelerate oil production following pressure from the Biden administration to stabilize global markets, what gives? And with cracks showing in the EU as energy prices start to bite, is there a way through this crisis that keeps us on track with the goals of the Paris Agreement? Our guest this week has her own solution. We speak to Tzeporah Berman about her journey to for...
Jun 09, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 5Ep. 23
Today, a special bonus episode in your feed from British model, actress, climate activist and podcaster, Lily Cole. In this episode of ‘Who Cares Wins’, Host Lily Cole interviews Christiana Figueres on how to maintain daily optimism, why more women in leadership will deliver a better world, and how systemic change and a livable future can begin with me and you. Enjoy the episode! Click Here to listen to more episodes of ‘Who Cares Wins’ Who Cares Wins with Lily Cole Apple Podcasts | Spotify — Li...
Jun 06, 2022•46 min•Season 5Ep. 22
Reactions to the now infamous presentation of the suspended HSBC Head of Responsible Investing, Stuart Kirk, is still a source of considerable outrage here at Outrage + Optimism. Kirk’s presentation entitled "Why investors need not worry about climate risk" peddled such dangerous climate disinformation that it prompted Christiana to refer to it in her brilliant op-ed in Investor Week as one of the most irresponsible public statements we have heard in years . In this week’s episode brace yourself...
Jun 02, 2022•53 min•Season 5Ep. 21
Finally, some optimism for future generations! First, in Australia, the massive success of the so-called ‘teal’ female candidates, who are not aligned to either of the major political parties, but have essentially swept to power across a number of states. This, along with long-awaited Labour victories…Does this mean the climate wars are over in Australia? We dialed up Dean Bialek, lead negotiator and legal advisor to the world’s island states (AOSIS) in negotiations that led to the 2015 Paris Ag...
May 26, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 5Ep. 20
In this episode, we talk about the impacts of living through a global energy crisis while living through a climate crisis. Inflation is running at 10% in most major economies, the highest in decades. This is driven primarily by the cost of food and energy. And while most of us are aware of higher prices at the pump and on energy bills, today we focus on the hardest place it is hitting: Africa. Since 2019, 4% of Africans have lost access to affordable energy, undoing a decade of gains. And with a...
May 20, 2022•59 min•Season 5Ep. 19
Cities are where we will lose or win the climate change battle. Chapter 8 of the IPCC report on mitigation reported that more than half of the global population now lives in cities, and that proportion is expected to grow to about two-thirds by 2050. That is a lot of people. And that’s a lot of emissions. As of 2020, urban areas are the source of about 67-72% of emissions with about 100 of the highest emitting urban areas [currently] accounting for approximately 18% of the global carbon footprin...
May 12, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 5Ep. 18
Does Putin’s invasion mark the end of the Fossil Fuel Era? In this week’s episode we look at how the Russian invasion in Ukraine and subsequent energy crises are impacting energy deals between developed and developing countries ahead of COP27. We also subject our guest, Kingsmill Bond of RMI, to a round of Paul’s new painfully-condescending evil oil baron persona as we put his optimistic assertions on the green energy transition to the test. And be sure to stay tuned until after the interview fo...
May 05, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 17
What on Earth is happening in the US on climate policy? This week, a look at US federal climate policy ahead of the US midterm elections. We explore the scarily-small-and-measured-in-weeks amount of time we have to pass meaningful climate legislation before the US midterm elections, and where the optimism is in Senate blocked legislation, a so-called ‘Conservative’ leaning Supreme Court, and a Presidential Administration dealing with fossil fuel addiction issues - Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 5Ep. 16
Australia is turning up the volume on environmentalism for the world to hear! If you turned on your favorite music radio station, would you know we’re in a crisis? Only 1% of songs in National Australian premier radio station Triple J’s Hottest 100 (2.5M+ votes) over the last 5 years directly referenced environmental issues…and that’s following mass bleaching of The Great Barrier Reef, The devastating Australian Bushfires of 2019-2020, AND a recent study before COP26 that reported 75% of Austral...
Apr 21, 2022•57 min•Season 5Ep. 15
As many around the world turn inward this week, we bring you a special episode featuring Christiana Figueres from ‘The Way Out Is In’ podcast. Many of us are looking for a way out of the crises we face. Climate, biodiversity, ecological, nature, health, wealth inequality…not to mention the deeply personal, familial, and interpersonal. A quick log in to twitter, checking the news, or reading the latest IPCC report reveals to us that we are on a path towards breakdown. We know there is a pathway o...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 55 min•Season 5Ep. 14
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - MLK (1963) This week, we reject our flawed, siloed thinking and embrace the oneness of social justice and environmentalism as a singular, inclusive movement. In the Summer of 2020, our guest, Leah Thomas, coined the term “Intersectional Environmentalism” with a graphic she shared to Instagram that read, “Environmentalists For Black Lives Matter” as a call out to all environmentalists to stand in solidarity with BIPOC communities that face...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 5Ep. 13
The World’s scientists have come together on behalf of the web of life to deliver the most comprehensive review of how we can mitigate the effects of climate change. So what’s in this latest IPCC report? The latest from Working Group III covers a broad spectrum of topics: from mitigation pathways and in-depth sectoral analysis to finance, international cooperation, net-zero and carbon dioxide removal… Let’s simplify that - Mitigation. This report lays out how we’re going to mitigate the effects ...
Apr 06, 2022•41 min•Season 5Ep. 12
What do you get when you swap the office for a classroom and our hosts for school pupils? An incredibly special episode, we hope you’ll agree. Yes, that’s right – this week’s conversation is brought to you from Totnes Progressive School, where the children were joined by an extraordinary guest: Dr Jane Goodall DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and United Nations Messenger of Peace. With the support of Outrage + Optimism’s Tom Rivett-Carnac and his sister Bee, who together wrote and illu...
Mar 30, 2022•35 min•Season 5Ep. 11
For years in the Global North, our dialogue around climate change has been focused on the idea that it is a looming disaster with consequences that would happen in the future if we did not take immediate action. The recent years of extreme weather events where we saw flooding in Germany and London and heat waves and storms across Europe and the United States, brought the reality home that climate change was happening NOW. But for those living in Africa and the Global South, this ‘looming disaste...
Mar 24, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 5Ep. 10
As the news from Ukraine unfolds quickly, detailing the tragedy Ukrainian citizens are living through, our hosts Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Paul Dickinson cut straight to the roots of what is fueling this conflict - Our global addiction to fossil fuels. What is our response as a global community to this crisis and many other current violent crises when many will argue climate action isn’t affordable and we should ramp up independent oil and gas production? Will we gather ourselv...
Mar 14, 2022•40 min•Season 5Ep. 9
Welcome back to our series on the Future of Food! In this episode, we’ll explore the significance of adaptive transformation in global food systems. How do farming and consumption play into creating an inclusive, just, and beautiful future? From empowering women farmers in Africa, to telling the story behind every piece of organic produce, from considering food value over food price, to what to ask at your grocery store, we examine why urgent transformation is needed to protect the people – and ...
Mar 10, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 5Ep. 8
All eyes are on Ukraine as we watch the horrific events unfold as a result of Russian aggression. Are we sliding toward a global catastrophe or seeing the birth of a new political order? How will we know which one awaits us? This week, we speak to former UK Foriegn Ministers David Miliband and the Rt Hon Lord William Hague. We pitch to them this question of, “how will we know which one awaits us?” as we admire the resilience of the people of Ukraine and witness the inextinguishable might of peop...
Mar 03, 2022•52 min•Season 5Ep. 7
The latest IPCC Report from Working Group II on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability comes at an unprecedented moment in human history. A moment too late to avoid all effects of climate change baked into an already 1.1C warmer world, and a moment not too late to adapt humanity and all species to our increasingly important target of only 1.5C of warming. In a strikingly clear connection this report makes between human and ecosystem vulnerability, the science is clear; Either we adapt, or we per...
Mar 01, 2022•36 min•Season 5Ep. 6
“It doesn’t matter what your economy is. It’s just a matter of deciding of protecting your areas and committing to it.” Last week it was reported that the world’s governments are currently subsidizing our own destruction to the tune of $1.8 Trillion a year …yeah. Not good. What does it look like to turn these subsidies around to promote nature, clean energy, and equitable access to energy across continents? Maybe this week we have the answer, because in the midst of those irresponsible subsidies...
Feb 24, 2022•55 min•Season 5Ep. 5
It took 40-50% of GDP to win WWII, 15% to manage COVID in 2020, so what can 2% do? Historian, philosopher, bestselling author (and newly welcomed activist!), Yuval Noah Harari joins us to highlight how investing just 2% of global GDP into developing eco-friendly technologies and infrastructure every year could avert “the apocalypse” as he puts it. His clear, down-to-the-essence thinking shines a bright light on a dark moment. Hit play to listen! And at the top of the episode, our hosts Christian...
Feb 17, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 5Ep. 4
Today, an earth-shattering comet of an episode as Christiana, Tom and Paul talk to the phenomenally talented Adam McKay about his 4 time Oscar nominated film Don’t Look Up! Writing and directing a comedy film about climate change is not a challenge for the faint hearted. Not only did Adam McKay take this challenge on, in doing so he created a tour-de-force which dominated global news feeds after its release, quickly took the position of 2nd most watched Netflix original and got EVERYONE talking ...
Feb 10, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 5Ep. 3
