Get bonus content and notes at wickedproblems.earth. Is the “Abundance” discourse - and you can fit most iterations of it in a spectrum from Aaron Bastani and Zohran Mamdani to Ezra Klein to Elon Musk - an inspiring vision of the future or a dangerous delusion? Is insisting on “ limits ” just realism or is it pathological pessimism? And where does climate tech fit into all that? We think the answers to these questions are kind of important. So we were excited to talk it through onstage at Extrem...
Jun 27, 2025•55 min•Season 3Ep. 80
Get all the show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth! How am I gonna be an optimist about this? This conversation’s official exit music is from Bastille . But stick around for a twist. Turns out it’s not just men who think about the Roman Empire . Polymath raconteuse Solitaire Townsend - sustainability consultant, co-founder of Futerra , UN envoy, award-winning author of the non-fiction The Solutionists - wasn’t just thinking about Rome. She’s wondering, ‘what if I combine some Roman...
Jun 23, 2025•33 min•Season 3Ep. 79
Get full show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth In 2024, Wim Carton and Andreas Malm released Overshoot - How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown . It was praised and critiqued in various quarters - but we included it in our books of the year because it’s a) beautifully written - with plenty of lateral-thought LOLs and b) was perfectly timed to come out just as the data was increasingly at odds with the “Keep 1.5 Alive” stuff of “incantatory governance” - the magical thinkin...
Jun 22, 2025•44 min•Season 3Ep. 78
Full show notes/bonus content at wickedproblems.earth Join host Richard Delevan on Wicked Problems as he engages in a compelling conversation with Indian journalist Rishika Pardikar . They discussed Rishika's extensive work covering environmental and land rights issues in India, including her stories from the coalfields of Central India and the impacts of major development projects on tribal lands. Rishika shares insights into India's complex climate and energy landscape, the challenges of effec...
Jun 14, 2025•43 min•Season 3Ep. 77
For nearly a decade, a court in Hamm, Germany has been considering a case brought by a Peruvian farmer, Saul Luciano Lliuya, against the giant German utility RWE. The legal claim was novel: Lliuya said because RWE had caused a percentage of climate change because of its share of past fossil emissions, and that climate change threatened his farm by potentially collapsing a glacial lake, RWE should have to pay a pro rata percentage of the adaptation costs of protecting the farm against potential f...
Jun 10, 2025•36 min•Season 3Ep. 76
Full ep notes at wickedproblems.earth I have a confession to make. Even with a self-image as a world-weary cynic, I’m as vulnerable to manipulation as anyone else, especially for stories I grew up with. The Limits to Growth came out the year I was born. I grew up in the US in the 80s. So we heard a lot of things like this: So even though I’m late to it, I was delighted to have come across the work of Katy Shields , who presents (and co-produced with Vegard Beyer ) a beautifully executed 3-episod...
Jun 09, 2025•40 min•Season 3Ep. 75
Come to wickedproblems.earth to get the full-fat version! Exit music for this episode is “ Oil Money ” by Graham Barham. Because, well, it’s a bit obvious this time, no? If insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result, global climate institutions like the annual COP meetings are definitionally loopier than Elon Musk deep down a K-hole. We spend our time arguing about how to count emissions in order to avoid the real conversation, which is a struggle between three ...
Jun 07, 2025•43 min•Season 3Ep. 74
Get the full show notes and bonus material at wickedproblems.earth! How do things get names? Who decides? What happens if they’re contested? Does it matter? A brand, a label, a name, the words applied to people, places, or things change how an audience feels , and influences outcomes . “Call me Ishmael”, “deadnaming”, or try using the wrong place-name depending on what bank of the River Foyle in Northern Ireland you find yourself, and see how that goes. On the other hand, if your company so domi...
Jun 05, 2025•44 min•Season 3Ep. 73
Get full show notes, bonus content, and ad-free listening at wickedproblems.earth! “More clean energy. More affordable energy. That dual mandate is the real challenge.” In this episode, Richard Delevan talks to Cat Clifford , senior reporter at Cipher News , about what happens when data center demand collides with outdated policy, broken infrastructure, and an AI arms race nobody can afford to lose. We go deep into Cat’s reporting on: AI’s Ballooning Electricity Appetite – Why AI is driving the ...
Jun 04, 2025•46 min•Season 3Ep. 72
Full show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth. In this episode we talk about climate tech in the age of AI, state failure, and the occasional aircraft powered by poop. In this episode, Canadian climate futurist and returning champion Michael Barnard joins us for a globe-spanning conversation about why he’s still cautiously optimistic — and why, if you’re only paying attention to the U.S. or Europe, you’re probably looking the wrong way. In Conversation · Pakistan's rooftop solar revo...
Jun 03, 2025•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 71
Get bonus content at wickedproblems.earth! Mic Wright is the madman media survivor behind one of this show’s second-favourite newsletter, Conquest of the Useless . So when we heard he has a new book out in a couple of weeks we were delighted he could give us a few minutes to talk meeja matters in the age of AI and climate consequences. Breaking: How the Media Works, When it Doesn’t and Why that Matters - despite my inability to stop obsessing about whether it is missing an Oxford comma in the ti...
May 30, 2025•41 min•Season 3Ep. 70
Bonus content - wickedproblems.earth As we talked about with folk from Carbon Technology Research Foundation and Robert Höglund last week , Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) is going through some things. The Trump administration is slashing funding for Direct Air Capture (DAC) hubs, poster child CDR firm Climeworks is laying off 20% of staff and stands accused of overpromising an underdelivering on removals. But in a week when a Swiss village was wiped off the map by a collapsing glacier , and the Wo...
May 29, 2025•45 min•Season 3Ep. 69
Get bonus content at wickedproblems.earth! Why is it, every time the lights go out, anywhere in the world, there are ten influencers with pre-written posts about how it’s the fault of wind and solar on the grid? Whether it’s Spain in 2025 or Texas in 2021 or the UK in 2019 or South Australia in 2016 - before the lights are even back on, never mind an investigation, there is a lightning-fast squad of people who pop up on social media, in TV interviews, in newspaper columns, who claim with absolut...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 3Ep. 68
Full show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth Join host Richard Delevan on this episode of Wicked Problems - Climate Tech Conversations as he explores the future of carbon removal technology during Carbon Removals Week. Featuring Philippa Amina and Luke Williams from the Carbon Technology Research Foundation (CTRF), the discussion delves into the challenges and opportunities in the field of carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Topics include the role of diversified approaches, including nat...
May 23, 2025•32 min•Season 3Ep. 67
Get all the show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth. “It’ll be between a scalpel and a sledgehammer,” said Speaker Mike Johnson, describing how Republicans might gut clean energy in the Inflation Reduction Act. After last night’s vote, it looks more like a wrecking ball. In this episode, we talk to Maeve Allsup of Latitude Media about the damage now unfolding in Washington. From the brain drain at the Department of Energy to chaos around clean energy tax credits, Maeve has been trac...
May 22, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 66
Get full show notes, bonus content, and ad-free listening at wickedproblems.earth Exploring Climate Geoengineering: An Urgent Discussion with Kelly Wanser In this episode of Wicked Problems, host Richard Delevan sits down with Kelly Wanser, CEO of SilverLining, to delve into the critical topic of solar radiation modification (SRM) and geoengineering aka "climate interventions". Amidst a backdrop of growing climate risk and global warming, the conversation emphasizes the importance of robust scie...
May 17, 2025•58 min•Season 3Ep. 65
Extended show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth. In this episode of 'Wicked Problems,' host Richard Delevan discusses the shift from climate optimism to defeatism with Jeremy Wallace, a China and climate policy expert at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). The discussion covers various factors influencing this shift, including the influence of political figures like Donald Trump and Tony Blair, and initiatives such as the Council on Foreign R...
May 15, 2025•50 min•Season 3Ep. 64
We Start at the End Today’s outro track is the COVID-era reboot of a classic Peter Gabriel track , featuring Yo-Yo Ma, Angelique Kidjo, and many more. The reason will become clear. In this episode of Wicked Problems, we sat down with Charles Perry , director of Sustainable Future for All, at the Conduit Club in London. A veteran in the climate and sustainability space, Charles has changed his views from evolution to revolution - a climate revolution akin to the Industrial Revolution. He reflects...
May 13, 2025•31 min•Season 3Ep. 63
Conversations on Climate Solutions: Industry Adaptations and Global Impact at the Climate Impact Summit In this episode of Wicked Problems, host Richard Delevan brings discussions from the Climate Impact Flagship Summit in London. The episode features key guests like Carrie Lovelace and Chris Hayes from Visions 2030, who discuss their ambitious project aimed at fostering eco-consciousness through immersive experiences. Also included are insights from Belinda Perryman of Convert Well, who talks a...
May 11, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 62
Remember. It’s darkest before…things go totally pitch black. Get all the show notes at wickedproblems.earth. Whether originating with the late Senator John McCain, Paul Newman, Mao, or John McCain quoting Mao, we love that line. Embrace the dark. When you stop being afraid of the dark, your eyes get pretty good. You might even spot some undead types who are back from the grave and up to no good. And I think there might be some types up to no good, here in Britain. It’s one thing for Nigel Farage...
May 03, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 3Ep. 61
Do you want the good news or bad news first? Good news : here in the UK it’s a sunny Friday on the cusp of a bank holiday weekend. Bad news : Shiz cray. Could go either way : this is one of 3 holiday weekend episodes. Definitely good news : Lydia Collas of UK think tank Green Alliance and Rupert Read of Climate Majority Project have incisive analysis of what we’re seeing over here. And we discuss Green Alliance’s analysis of how climate effects are already hitting British household finances , in...
May 02, 2025•49 min•Season 3Ep. 60
Full show notes and bonus content at wickedproblems.earth Exit Music Today’s exit track is Fiesta by The Pogues - with Tunbridge Wells’ least-known and best-loved frontman, Shane MacGowan. We’re finishing a long-read and when we say long we mean LONG. But it’s our attempt to get behind the day-to-day reporting of the various machinations of what’s happening in the US and try to understand it by examining the things that have shaped the worldview of the two most influential people on the planet r...
May 01, 2025•36 min•Season 3Ep. 59
Get complete show notes and our newsletter, as well as ad-free listening, at wickedproblems.earth . Outro of the Day All will become clear. How F*cked Are We? NGL. It’s not great, Bob. That said, if you have even a smidge of privilege at the moment, spending a bit of your time paying attention not just to the moment-to-moment spectacle but what it means - so as to inform how you spend your future time and resource - feels kinda important. Wicked Problems is a reader-supported publication. To rec...
Apr 16, 2025•33 min•Season 3Ep. 58
Get full show notes and ad-free listening at wickedproblems.earth. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that passing 1.5C would result in previously-taboo ideas like scaling carbon removals and solar geoengineering would rapidly get traction in the mainstream discourse. I know it doesn’t take a genius because I wrote that >18 months ago. And as my bank manager and inlaws will (eagerly) tell you – “wait you’re quitting corporate... and… just as the political winds turn against it you’re going...
Apr 08, 2025•54 min•Season 3Ep. 57
You can get all of our full show notes, newsletter, and ad-free listening at wickedproblems.earth. Do you need some Zen? I need a bit of that or something, just to get my head right. So we spoke with LaUra Schmidt, one-half of the dynamic duo of climate psychology along with her Good Grief Network co-founder and wife Aimee Lewis Reau, who wrote How to Live in a Chaotic Climate that was published a little over a year ago. And blimey we need more of their coping strategies than we ever thought we ...
Apr 06, 2025•50 min•Season 3Ep. 56
Get all the shownotes, ad-free listening, and help us keep going! At wickedproblems.earth. Join Richard Delevan in this episode of Wicked Problems as he explores the recent Trump tariffs, their impact on global trade, and their parallels with mafia control tactics. He discusses historical examples of mafia extortion in Sicily with Linda Vetrano from the grassroots anti-mafia movement Addiopizzo . Learn about the economic and social consequences of extortion and how communities can resist and bui...
Apr 04, 2025•42 min•Season 3Ep. 55
Get full notes, ad-free listening, and our newsletter at wickedproblems.earth. It feels like things are coming to a head. Here in the UK, the tensions between wanting growth and not wanting anything to change are hotting up. Adam Bell from Stonehaven UK joined me to talk the implications of Heathrow’s “unusual” substation fire for UK grid investments, Kemi Badenoch’s Net Zero too-clever-by-half turn, and the Abundance debate in which I slightly traduce Dave Vetter (sorry Dave).In the US, the dar...
Mar 28, 2025•42 min•Season 3Ep. 54
Get it all and get it ad-free at wickedproblems.earth The electricity grid is more fragile and more vulnerable than it needs to be for what we’re asking the basically 120-yr-old tech to do in 2025. Last week’s outage after an explosion at the substation nearest Heathrow, London’s busiest airport, was a reminder of that. Before founding grid tech rising star ENODA , Paul Domjan advised the US defence dept, NATO and plenty of others on energy security. Paul sheds light on how the incident highligh...
Mar 24, 2025•35 min•Season 3Ep. 53
For full shownotes and ad-free listenting, sign up: wickedproblems.earth In this episode of Wicked Problems, Kristian Ruby, Secretary General of Eurelectric, shares insights from his recent visit to a Ukrainian power plant operating under war conditions. Ruby discusses the resilience and ingenuity of Ukrainian engineers maintaining energy infrastructure despite frequent bombings, the importance of Europe's preparedness for similar scenarios, and the necessity for robust energy infrastructure and...
Mar 21, 2025•23 min•Season 3Ep. 52
Get ad-free listening at wickedproblems.earth! In this special edition of 'Wicked Problems,' host Richard Delevan moderates a session at the Climate and Energy Summit 2025 held by Chatham House. The session brings together prominent climate tech startups focusing on adaptation and resilience, AI, carbon capture, and geothermal energy, and more: Julia Kumari Drapkin, CEO & founder, ISEECHANGE Taco Engelaar, SVP & Managing Director UK & Europe, Neara John Hartley, CEO, Levidian Gus Gra...
Mar 21, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Season 3Ep. 51
