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Climate Unf*cked

Rob Cooper

"How can we unf*ck our climate and planet" is what I'm asking leaders, decision-makers, entrepreneurs, activists, policy-makers and doers taking action for our climate and planet.

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  • 27 episodes
  • fortnightly
  • Avg 1 hr 13 min
  • English

Episodes 27

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  • October 27 · 1 hr 12 min

    Are Russia and the US Spending Your Carbon Budget? | Lennard De Klerk

    Lennard de Klerk is the lead author of the Initiative on Greenhouse Gas Accounting of War and has worked on climate change for more than 25 years. Today, his focus is the emissions from war and the military, including the work of calculating the climate cost of the war in Ukraine. In this conversation, I wanted to ask Lennard whether NATO’s push towards 3.5% of GDP on defence can ever sit alongside net zero, and why most military emissions come from peacetime operations rather than active conflict. Lennard breaks down where the roughly 311 million tonnes of CO2 from four years of war in Ukraine came from, including warfare itself, landscape fires, reconstruction and rerouted flights, explains how fossil fuel dependence is also a security weakness, and shares what a post-war rebuild with hemp, recycled steel and low-carbon cement could look like. We also chat about the effort to have Russia held accountable for climate damage through the Council of Europe’s compensation process, what the social cost of carbon really measures, and why Lennard stopped flying within Europe. —— Find Lennard’s work: https://www.linkedin.com/company/warbon/?originalSubdomain=ua Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— 0:00 Does increasing defence spending shatter climate targets? 4:40 The 2 competing worlds of defence and climate 8:14 Why calculate the Ukraine war carbon emissions? 12:35 Military emissions are 5.5% of the global total 15:55 The war in Ukraine as another Finland 17:15 What militaries say when you bring up their emissions 20:53 Cutting fossil fuels is a defence strategy 27:32 Biofuels, hydrogen and the alternative fuel problem 29:36 Militaries have gone quiet on their climate targets 30:16 Where the emissions from the war in Ukraine come from 34:24 Wildfires fuelled by war and climate change 37:00 Rebuilding Ukraine with cement and steel 39:32 The flight detours caused by closed Russian airspace 43:28 Building back better, with hemp and recycled concrete 48:06 Replanting Ukraine’s forests for a hotter future 49:24 Can Russia be held liable for climate damage? 56:18 Can a Russian superyacht fund climate claims? 59:08 What on earth is the social cost of carbon? 1:03:18 Why Lennard stopped flying within Europe 1:06:48 Balancing personal footprint with the huge war emissions 1:10:00 The question Lennard wishes more people would ask

    • Transcript
  • October 13 · 1 hr 25 min

    The REAL Reason Climate Deniers Are Voting Reform | Bob Ward

    Bob Ward is Policy and Communications Director at the LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment who started out as a science reporter at the Daily Telegraph, and one of the few people willing to take on climate sceptics in public, from debating Nigel Farage on GB News to addressing oil and gas executives at International Petroleum Week. In this conversation, Bob explains why he thinks climate has become a culture war that leaves everyone stuck, why many sceptical arguments about the science are really proxies for fears about government regulation or daily life, and why he separates bad faith actors from people who have simply been misled. We get into the Frank Luntz memo, the shift from denial to delay and the rise of the “lukewarmers”, how climate got caught up in the culture war, and why Bob believes dropping the phrase “net zero” would be a mistake. We also cover the “less than 1% of emissions” argument, why the message of sacrifice doesn’t sell, what a warming climate could cost the UK economy, and why the insurance industry is so alarmed. —— Bob’s LSE Grantham Climate Institute (inc. all research, media and policy) https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/profile/bob-ward/ Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— Chapters 0:00 Who is winning the climate culture war? 3:11 Why are culture wars bad? 6:09 Who is the villain? 12:14 Does debating sceptics actually change minds? 14:35 The memo that changed science denial forever 16:31 Should you share a stage with bad faith arguments? 20:06 Being right doesn’t win arguments 25:20 From “it’s not happening” to “just grow wine” 33:41 How the UK caught the US culture war 40:36 Should we stop using the phrase ‘Net Zero’? 44:29 “The UK is less than 1% of emissions” 49:38 Have we really failed to bring the public along? 56:20 Is consuming less the answer? 1:00:49 Is flying worth it? 1:05:39 What climate change could cost the UK economy 1:10:51 Why the insurance industry is sounding the alarm 1:15:12 Why you rarely meet a CEO who denies the science 1:18:35 The question Bob is sick of being asked 1:22:10 What Bob wishes more people would ask him

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  • September 29 · 1 hr 18 min

    Climate Fixes For Doomers

    I had the privilege of hosting 3 incredible guests who each deserve an episode of their own. We tackled the topic of optimism, solutions and how the climate story needs to move on to the part where we’re saving the world, not just saying how f*cked we are. Lucy Siegle is a journalist, broadcaster and author who has reported on climate, nature and the fashion industry's footprint for two decades, including as a reporter on BBC One's The One Show. Angus Hervey is a political economist and the founding editor of Fix The News, the solutions journalism newsletter that goes looking for the progress the headlines usually miss. Solitaire Townsend is the co-founder and Chief Solutionist of Futerra, the sustainability agency, and the author of The Solutionists, a book on how business can fix the future. Together, we each brought a climate solution we’re excited about and discussed them. —— Links Fix The News: https://fixthenews.com/ Futerra: https://www.wearefuterra.com/ Solitaire’s website for books, speaking and more: https://www.solitairetownsend.com/ Lucy’s Substack: https://theweathermakers.substack.com/ —— We also cover: The stat that 50% of under 30s think we're doomed, and what that has done to the youth climate movement Why the climate movement has been stuck at the "inciting incident" of the story for 30 years How Just Stop Oil briefly pushed climate coverage level with mentions of ghosts and cake Why climate scientists are more hopeful than the public, and why recycling is still the solution people name most Angus on why 2026 has been a low wildfire year globally, and why cameras in Western Europe skew our perception Why Angus thinks the biggest climate story is China, from its EV boom to its emissions plateauing How giving indigenous groups land tenure could keep carbon in the ground (only 14% have official tenure, according to Angus) Why fear doesn't motivate most people, and the pioneers, settlers and prospectors model Lucy on Suzanne Simard's forest research and a tourism-funded recovery project with the Hamalco people in British Columbia Restage, a plan to recirculate the props and sets the UK film and theatre industry throws away How writers and filmmakers can weave climate solutions into romance, action and everyday stories The National Emergency Briefing and why it gives people something to do next Why Solitaire and Lucy argue that dismissing personal action is sexist, including the women-led sugar boycotts Angus on why the UK is doing better than most countries on cutting emissions —— 0:00 Why doom does the same job as denial 3:58 Why half of under 30s think we're doomed 6:07 The climate story is stuck in act one 9:29 The fuck doom hats and the waiter who loved one 13:20 Why optimism is a political act 15:10 Ghosts, cake and Just Stop Oil 20:37 Why experts are more hopeful than the public 23:08 Why the world isn't actually on fire 24:50 Climate change is really a China story 27:30 Indigenous land beats locked off parks 29:31 Will good news make people complacent? 32:31 Climate people are the weirdos 34:18 Growing up on coal, now living on solar 37:53 "Is coal bad?" 40:37 Suzanne Simard and the mother tree 42:50 Using tourism money to heal and restore land 47:00 What happens to film sets after the shoot 49:41 On track for five to eight degrees in 1997 51:30 Storytelling is curated emotion, not facts 57:05 Where's the electric Aston Martin in Bond? 59:20 The National Emergency Briefing 1:04:10 Inside the room at the National Emergency Briefing 1:07:33 Why we need to drop the personal action divide 1:12:34 Who benefits when personal action gets dismissed 1:15:40 The UK is doing better than you think

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  • September 16 · 50 min

    I Asked a Nepal Expert How The Devastating Floods Happened. What He Said Will Shock You

    Manjeet Dhakal is Advisor to the Chair of the UN's Least Developed Countries Group and Director of Climate Analytics' South Asia office. He’s been involved with climate negotiations and diplomacy for almost 20 years and now helps the world's most climate-vulnerable nations negotiate international climate policy. He's currently completing a PhD and recently published research on climate attribution in Nepal. Dr Manal Shehabi, an applied development economist and Senior Research Fellow at Oxford's Institute for New Economic Thinking, who also teaches Economics for Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and sits on Oxford's Children and Climate Initiative. On August 26th, 2026, a catastrophic flood devastated Nepal's Langtang Valley. A mass of ice and rock detached from a Himalayan peak at approximately 5,200 metres and triggered a flood that has killed more than 1,300 people and left 5,000+ missing. This conversation walks through what actually happened, why the Himalayas are warming faster than almost anywhere else on Earth, why Nepal producing 0.1% of global emissions makes this a sobering example of climate injustice, and much more. —— Manjeet’s July paper Climate-induced loss and damage in Nepal: attribution analysis and institutional readiness for international support: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/climate/articles/10.3389/fclim.2026.1782991/full Manal Shehabi: https://www.inet.ox.ac.uk/people/manal-shehabi —— Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— Chapters 0:00 What Manjeet saw on the ground 5:08 The new kind of disaster we're facing 9:18 Why the Himalayas are called the third pole 10:13 How permafrost collapse triggered the avalanche 12:07 Why 2 billion people depend on Himalayan glaciers, and the immediate human cost 15:32 Nepal's interconnection with China and India 22:07 Why mountain regions warm faster than the rest of the planet 24:38 The science behind ice, rock, and heat absorption 25:30 Climate justice: Nepal's 0.1% of emissions 26:37 Historical vs current emissions: who pays? 28:55 Why adaptation funding isn't enough, and intergenerational injustice 34:33 What a just response to this disaster looks like 35:34 Why the Loss and Damage Fund hasn't responded 40:55 Concessional grants vs debt, and why we can't treat disasters as isolated 44:32 What you can actually do

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  • September 8 · 1 hr 1 min

    She quit Microsoft to expose their insane AI cover-up

    Holly Alpine spent a decade at Microsoft, co-founding the company's 10,000-strong employee sustainability group and running programs for data center communities. Then she discovered something that made her leave: the company was signing contracts explicitly designed to help fossil fuel companies extract more oil and gas, faster and cheaper, using AI. Now she's leading one of the only campaigns in the world working to expose what she calls the most underestimated climate threat of the AI era. —— The peer reviewed journal article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-026-00411-0 Enabled Emissions campaign website: https://www.enabledemissions.com/ Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— Chapters 0:00 AI’s Climate Impact Isn’t What You Think 2:06 What Holly saw Inside Microsoft 5:13 The Emissions Nobody Is Counting 8:45 Why AI Helps Fossil Fuels Far More Than Renewables 12:16 Winning Sustainability Awards While Helping Exxon Drill More 16:10 What AI Actually Does Inside an Oil Well 19:34 The Undrillable Wells AI Made Viable 24:08 Why Fiduciary Duty Is Corporate Folklore 28:52 The Promises Microsoft Made and Didn't Keep 32:21 How Data Centers Became the Entire Climate Story 36:48 You're Only Looking at One Team's Points 40:33 The Biggest Loophole in Climate Accounting 43:36 The Climate Blind Spot Nobody Noticed for a Decade 47:42 Why Pension Funds Are Starting to Listen 52:00 The Coalition Forming Against AI Expansion 56:32 What Keeps Holly Going and What You Can Do

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  • August 24 · 1 hr 32 min

    Top journalist: Climate Change Is a Sexy Corruption Story | Emily Atkin

    “A newsletter for people pissed off about the climate crisis” is the tagline of Emily Atkin’s newsletter, HEATED. She’s one of the foremost climate journalists in the US and the founder of Heated, an independent newsletter with 150k subscribers dedicated to accountability journalism on the climate crisis. Originally trained in traditional mainstream media outlets like The New Republic, she left to build her own publication in 2019 after growing frustrated with the reluctance to cover climate change as the power and corruption story it really is. She now writes for people who are pissed off about the climate crisis and want to understand the forces blocking action. This conversation goes deep into why Emily believes climate change should be covered as a corruption story, not an environmental one. We talk about how BP invented the term "carbon footprint" as a marketing campaign to shift attention away from corporate responsibility, why the fossil fuel industry has been allowed to privatise profits while socialising the costs of climate damage onto everyone else, and why that arrangement is profoundly corrupt. Emily explains why she thinks journalism's obsession with objectivity has made outlets wimps and cowards, why anger is her most powerful tool as a journalist, and why she refuses to comfort people with hope when what they really need is information to act. We also cover why right wing billionaires buying up media outlets is creating an information crisis, why she spent months investigating an anti solar influencer with two million followers, and why she believes media literacy is one of the biggest barriers to climate action. Emily shares what it's like running an independent publication that refuses to paywall climate news, why she thinks individual action matters more than she used to, and why she wishes more people would leak her documents from inside their companies instead of asking her what gives her hope. —— Find Emily's work at Heated: https://heated.world/ Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— Chapters 00:00 Why is climate change a sexy corruption story? 04:30 How BP invented the carbon footprint to shift blame 09:15 Why people feel relief when you reframe climate as a power problem 13:40 What Emily tells people who ask "what can I do?" 18:20 We need to support real journalism 22:50 What the billionaire takeover of media means for climate coverage 28:35 AI’s worst impact isn’t from data centres 34:10 The anti solar influencer with 2m followers 42:25 Why acknowledging downsides makes your argument stronger 48:15 Journalism is about telling the truth, not building bridges 53:40 Why Emily's tagline is "for people who are pissed off" 1:00:20 Compassion without anger becomes pity 1:06:45 How readers respond to emotional, personal climate journalism 1:11:30 Betting platforms are incentivising wildfire arson 1:14:50 Why Emily changed her mind on individual action 1:17:20 The fiction book Emily wants to write about climate absurdity 1:20:35 Why she's tired of being asked what gives her hope 1:23:50 What Emily wishes people would ask her instead

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  • August 11 · 1 hr 8 min

    How food shortages could collapse the UK government | Professor Paul Behrens

    Professor Paul Behrens of the Oxford martin School at the University of Oxford works at the intersection of food systems, climate change, and food security. Originally trained in physics and astronomy, he spent years working on energy systems before turning his attention to what he now believes is one of the most fragile and underestimated threats we face: the food system that feeds us. Paul is the author of the popular science book, The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Futures from the Frontiers of Climate Science (Indigo Press, 2021) which describes humanity’s current trajectory and possible futures in paired chapters of pessimism and hope. His research and writing on climate, energy, and food, has appeared in scientific journals and media outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Thomson Reuters, Politico, Nature Sustainability, Nature Energy, PNAS, Nature Food, and We cover Climate change is already driving a third of food price inflation in the UK, with drought, flooding, geopolitical instability, and energy shocks potentially pushing prices to 1970s levels The UK holds between three days and three weeks of food storage; Finland has nine months A Joint Intelligence Committee report on ecosystem collapse was suppressed before being released in abridged form. Animals lose between 80–97% of the calories fed to them; that inefficiency becomes catastrophic as climate change shrinks the productive biosphere Shifting to a planetary health diet could reduce emissions by 61%, spare an area the size of Scotland, and save the NHS tens of billions of pounds a year We massively underestimate each other's willingness to act on climate — 60% of people intending to vote Reform support onshore wind turbines Over 40% of the UK supports a meat tax, despite politicians treating it as political suicide Food price spikes historically drive political instability and state collapse; climate change contributed to the Syrian conflict and is already destabilising politics worldwide Trump's election and the current political atmosphere are partly driven by climate impacts we're not naming as such Denmark's food transition plan is the most credible government approach in the world New York hospitals made plant-based meals the default and found them cheaper, healthier, and more popular Far more grazing land could support arable agriculture than commonly assumed Heritage arguments about land use are recent and shouldn't override future food security Rewilding and nature management could increase farmer incomes while restoring biodiversity —— Find Paul's work and research at the University of Oxford Read the National Emergency Briefing at https://www.nebriefing.org/ Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— Chapters 00:00 Should we be worried about food system collapse? 04:03 Are we choosing this change or being forced into it? 04:33 The thermodynamics of a shrinking food supply 07:22 What the "planetary health diet" looks like 09:30 How to rewild land the size of Scotland 11:54 Why food decisions are emotional 13:48 We wildly underestimate how much people care 16:25 Meat Tax 18:52 The purpose of misinformation 24:47 How much bad diets are costing the NHS 27:12 The supressed gov. report on food collapse 33:11 The link between food prices and state collapse 36:04 Trump, cost of living and the politics of instability 38:33 Is any country actually food secure? 41:01 The UK has 3 days of food storage. Finland has 9 months 46:19 Could we grow crops on grazing land instead? 51:07 Why plants = electrification for humans 55:58 Denmark's groundbreaking plan 59:10 The NYC hospital expreiment 1:01:02 Paul's billboard message to the world 1:03:48 The one paper Paul wishes everyone would read 1:05:14 What to actually do today

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  • July 27 · 1 hr 3 min

    The temperature that kills people 65+ | Dr Mark Harber

    Dr Mark Harber is a consultant nephrologist (kidney doctor) and the Royal College of Physicians' special adviser on healthcare sustainability and climate change. He's spent years working at the intersection of medicine and the environment as a member of the Sustainable Kidney Care committee, a clinical lead for the NHS London sustainability group, and an advisor to the UCL Partners Climate Collaborative. Now, he helps shape how the RCP advocates and lobbies on healthcare's role in the climate crisis. This conversation goes deep into the surprisingly stark relationship between heat and human health: why the death rate in London starts climbing at just 24 degrees, why 2026's June heatwave in the UK heatwave produced an estimated 2,900 excess deaths, and why chronic conditions from epilepsy to kidney failure get dramatically worse as the mercury rises. Mark explains why big national statistics can feel strangely meaningless next to a single hospital admission, and why he believes there's little point terrifying the public without giving them something practical to do about it. We talk about the NHS's own outsized carbon footprint (around 5% of the UK's total, more than the aviation industry) and why it became the first health system in the world to commit to net zero, back in 2019. Mark explains the hidden environmental cost of kidney dialysis, which can use 400 litres of water per session and carries 16 times the carbon footprint of an average NHS patient, and why the UK is on track to be 6 billion litres of water short every day by 2050. We also cover the less obvious ways climate change threatens healthcare itself: 90% of English hospitals at risk of overheating, a tenth to a third at risk of flooding, and disease-carrying mosquitoes now established in France and Italy that never used to survive this far north. —— Learn more about the RCP's Green Physician Toolkit at https://www.rcp.ac.uk/policy-and-campaigns/our-policy-priorities/climate-and-sustainability/green-physician-toolkit/ Find the National Emergency Briefing at https://www.nebriefing.org/ Find Real Zero's 7 Acts to Save the World at https://www.realzero.earth Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: /rob-coop https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— Chapters 0:00 Why 24°C Already Raises the Death Rate 2:52 The Grim Maths Behind 2,900 Excess Deaths 4:17 Why Big Climate Numbers Feel Meaningless 6:20 Should We Be Scaring the Public About Heat? 8:13 The Delhi Cooling Rooms Saving Tuk-Tuk Drivers 10:41 Why Flights Are Up 80% in 20 Years 12:15 The Healthcare Sector Emits More Than Aviation 15:43 Why Institutions Fear the "Art of the Possible" 18:43 Why Your Dialysis Machine Has a Bigger Carbon Footprint 23:13 The Hospital Built to Handle Only 28°C 25:09 The Mosquito Bringing Dengue to Britain 27:35 Methane Is 80 Times Worse Than CO2 29:53 You're More Likely to Leave Your Partner Than Your Bank 33:18 Why Doctors Won't Sell You on Climate 37:12 How One Kilo of Plastic Costs Three of Oil 40:22 Why Politicians Won't Just Tell Us the Truth 44:50 The Hidden Kidney Risk in London's Air 49:43 The Hospital That Stopped Mowing Its Lawns 53:20 What Climate Activism Can Learn From Medicine 56:30 Why "What Can I Do?" Is Almost Enough 59:43 Tell Your Canvasser Climate Change Matters

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  • July 7 · 1 hr 24 min

    A psychologist’s guide to avoiding moral superiority - Per Espen Stoknes

    Per Espen Stoknes is a psychologist, economist, and one of the world's leading experts on why climate change feels so hard to act on—and what actually works to break through that paralysis. He's the author of ‘What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming’, ‘Tomorrow's Economy: A Guide to Creating Healthy Green Growth’ and ‘Earth for All: A Survival Guide for Humanity’ He’s associate professor and co-director of the BI Center for Sustainability and Energy, and someone who's spent decades unpacking the psychological barriers that keep us stuck: distance, doom, dissonance, denial, and identity. This conversation goes deep into the mechanics of climate psychology—why telling people what to do almost always backfires, why inequality is one of the biggest accelerants of climate inaction, and why the pendulum swings of history might be our strangest source of hope. We talk about why comedy and messengers like Joe Rogan matter more than scientists think, why AI and privacy loss mirror the climate crisis psychologically, and why Per believes the next frontier isn't just decarbonisation—it's rewilding finance itself. We cover why attacking someone's identity shuts down climate conversation immediately, how social trust is the variable that determines whether governments can actually implement climate policy, and why the UK cutting 2% of global emissions matters far more than the math suggests. Per explains why the five barriers to climate action—distance, doom, dissonance, denial, and identity—also apply to digital privacy and AI, why inequality creates a vicious cycle that makes climate action nearly impossible, and why universal basic income might be one of the most powerful climate policies we're not talking about. We also talk about why Per thinks Trump's second term might accidentally be the pendulum swing we need, why possibilism is a better philosophical framework than optimism or pessimism, and why the people with the answers—indigenous communities—are the ones we keep ignoring. He shares his vision for biodiversity credits that pay land stewards for regeneration, why AI could either accelerate the climate transition or make inequality catastrophically worse, and why the questions he wishes people would ask are about the assumptions underneath everything we're doing. —— Find Per's work at stoknes.com Learn more about Earth for All at earth4all.life Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— Chapters 0:00 Why Facts Make People Believe You Less 2:35 The Real Reason Arguments Feel Like Personal Attacks 3:26 The One Question That Defuses Any Disagreement 4:09 What Jeremy Clarkson Gets Right 6:13 Why You Only Listen to People Like You 8:51 A Psychologist's Dream Messenger: Joe Rogan 9:49 The Two Groups Who Care Least About Climate 10:50 Why You Need 9 Good Stories for Every Bad One 14:49 The Solar Boom That Could Power the Entire Planet 18:11 Why Systems Thinking Kills Polarisation 22:07 The Pizza That Explains Why Your 2% Matters 24:11 How One Norwegian Tax Made Your EV Cheaper 27:35 Why You're Not as Powerless as You Feel 30:10 The Two Trends That Could Undo Everything 34:32 The 5 Turnarounds We Actually Need 37:08 Why Things Get Worse Before They Get Better 42:02 "I Fell Through the Floor When Trump Won Again" 42:45 The Black Swan That Changes Everything 46:05 The Hidden Link Between Inequality and Climate 53:16 Is AI a Confirmation Bias Machine? 57:38 How AI Could Quietly Make Us More Unequal 58:08 The Surprising Ways AI Could Save Us 1:05:37 What One Person Can Actually Do About AI 1:07:54 The 4 Roles You Didn't Know You Had 1:10:03 Why Climate and Privacy Break Your Brain the Same Way 1:12:00 The Data Trap You're Walking Into 1:15:05 Why We Can't See Inside AI 1:16:05 Paying Indigenous Tribes to Protect Jaguars 1:19:16 The Questions Per Is Sick of Being Asked 1:21:01 Why 35 Years of Sustainability Failed

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  • June 23 · 1 hr 11 min

    Does laughing about the end of the world help? Stuart Goldsmith & Professor Lauren Feldman

    Stuart Goldsmith is a stand-up comedian with 20 years of experience who's spent the last five years doing something almost no other comic attempts: making audiences laugh about the climate crisis. Professor Lauren Feldman teaches Media and Climate Change at Rutgers University, where her students regularly bring in clips of Stuart's work to dissect in class. She's the co-author of A Comedian and an Activist Walk into a Bar: The Serious Role of Comedy in Social Justice, and her research unpacks why comedy is one of the most powerful tools we have for breaking through climate denial, fear, and apathy. This conversation explores why it's so hard to make people laugh about something that genuinely terrifies you, why comedy works when facts and fear don't, and why the brand of climate action is so catastrophically bad that we desperately need comedians to fix it. We talk about the psychology of counter-arguing, why charged information shuts down the prefrontal cortex, and how comedy creates a kind of social lubricant that lets unpalatable truths slip past our defenses. Stuart explains why he had to convince himself not to cry on stage, why his climate confessions format helps people admit their hypocrisy without shame, and why he's trying to write the perfect joke about how activists are the only professionals not allowed to fly. Lauren shares research showing that comedy increases engagement, makes messages more memorable, and helps people feel less alone in their climate anxiety. We also talk about why partisan comedy backfires with skeptical audiences, why the tabloid press treated Britain's hottest May on record like a beach party, and why Stuart believes the more you learn about climate change, the less paralyzed you feel. —— Find Stuart's work and UK tour dates at stuartgoldsmith.com Find Lauren's book A Comedian and an Activist Walk into a Bar on Amazon and University of California Press Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— Chapters 00:00 Lauren studies Stuart's work 01:53 Is it odd to make people laugh about something that scares you? 04:18 What emotion should comedy target? 05:59 Comedy as a social lubricant 08:23 Why learning more makes you less scared 11:40 The brand of climate is terrible 13:44 Lauren's research: nonpartisan vs partisan comedy 17:39 Does comedy break down barriers better than other mediums? 20:11 How comedy reduces counter-arguing 23:43 Jokes as compressed files 24:38 The hypocrisy bit: flying to a climate conference 26:27 Do you lean into virtue signalling or stay away? 29:02 Climate confessions and why they work 33:05 Does shaming change behaviour? 35:44 Disrupting the doomism narrative 39:33 Does it work differently online? 45:16 The heatwave and making the invisible visible 48:48 Arthur's Seat caught fire: complexity in comedy 50:16 Talking about effects vs causes 51:34 The Joint Intelligence Committee report on biodiversity 54:52 Your phones are fine, everyone else's have slave minerals 56:17 If you had a billboard, what would it say? 1:03:09 The joke Stuart wishes he could write 1:06:51 Personal action as background work, not the solution 1:09:58 Where to find Stuart and Lauren's work

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  • June 8 · 1 hr

    Why you’ve heard of recycling but not…

    Check out the UK's most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth Vojtech Vosecky is one of the world's leading voices on the circular economy, with nearly a quarter of a million people following his work on LinkedIn. He's an environmental engineer who's spent over a decade working inside the European Parliament, advising governments, training over 350 circular economy professionals, and building a global community of changemakers across 20 cities from Barcelona to Melbourne. His mission is simple: turn as many people as possible into circular economists, because he believes that's where the exponential impact lies in unfucking our climate. This conversation unpacks why 90% of people think climate change is only about energy when the other half of the coin is resources. We dive into what the circular economy actually is, why nature has always been circular, and why recycling is the worst of all the good options we have. Vojtech explains why 45% of global emissions come from how we make, use, and waste stuff, and why the plastic bottle you drink from in 30 seconds represents months of materials, fossil fuels, and energy that's lost the moment you throw it away. This is a masterclass in rethinking waste, rethinking consumption, and rethinking what it means to be a changemaker instead of a consumer. —— This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth —— Find Vojtech on LinkedIn and learn more about his circular economy training program: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vojtechvosecky/ Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— Chapters 00:00 What is the circular economy? 06:30 Linear vs circular: the plastic bottle example 12:15 Why climate isn't just about energy 18:40 The problem with the carbon footprint 24:50 Individual action vs systemic change 30:20 Building a community of circular economists 36:45 Which sectors need circularity most? 42:10 Gothenburg's housing crisis solved without building 48:30 How Philips pivoted from selling to leasing light 54:00 The 9 circular business models explained 1:02:15 Why 40% of food is wasted before it's eaten 1:08:40 Designing waste out of the system 1:14:20 What individuals can actually do 1:20:30 Stop being a consumer, start being a changemaker

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  • May 26 · 1 hr 5 min

    How Much Europe’s Energy Dependence Costs You | Aurélie Maréchal, Postive Money Europe Director

    Check out the UK's most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth Aurélie Maréchal is the Director of Positive Money Europe, an organisation working to reform the economic system so that it works for people and the planet. She's spent 15 years inside the European policy machine, watching the Green Deal go from a fringe idea to the headline of the European Commission, and then watching it disappear from political discourse entirely in just five years. She now spends her time showing policymakers, central banks, and businesses why the way we handle money, interest rates, and investment is one of the most powerful climate levers we're not using properly. This conversation unpacks the relationship between climate and economics that almost nobody explains clearly: why fossil fuels drive inflation, why raising interest rates to fight that inflation actually makes renewable energy harder to finance, and why the European Central Bank's standard playbook is accidentally locking us into the very system we're trying to escape. We talk about fossil inflation and climate inflation, why renewable energy projects are more sensitive to interest rate changes than fossil fuel infrastructure, and why the Green Deal went from mainstream policy to politically toxic in the space of two election cycles. Aurélie also shares what it's like working as an insider in Brussels, why lobbying isn't a dirty word but power imbalances make it dangerous, and why the arguments that work today aren't about saving the planet, they're about sovereignty, security, and competitiveness. —— This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth —— Find Positive Money at: https://positivemoney.org Follow Positive Money Europe on LinkedIn, Facebook, Bluesky, and TikTok Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— Chapters 00:00 Why are we talking about money? 06:30 What is monetary policy? 12:45 What is fossil inflation and climateflation? 18:20 Why raising interest rates makes renewables harder to finance 24:10 Evidence that renewables reduce electricity prices 29:40 The rise and fall of the Green Deal 35:50 Why climate arguments don't work anymore 41:15 The insider/outsider strategy 47:30 How lobbying actually works 54:00 What can you do after this episode?

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  • May 12 · 48 min

    UN Advisor: How Al-Shabaab Is Weaponising Climate Change | Christophe Hodder

    Check out the UK's most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth Christophe Hodder is the world's first UN-appointed Climate Peace and Security Advisor, working in Somalia, the 5th most climate-vulnerable country on Earth. He's spent six years on the frontlines of where climate breakdown meets armed conflict, helping communities navigate droughts, floods, displacement, and violence in a country that contributes just 0.08% of global emissions but bears some of the heaviest consequences. This conversation goes deep into what climate insecurity actually looks like on the ground: two goat herders fighting over shrinking grazing land, clans feuding over water access, young men with guns caught in cycles of violence made worse by collapsing ecosystems. Christophe explains why climate change doesn't directly cause conflict, but it intensifies every existing tension, and why restoring land, building trust between communities, and creating economic opportunities are all part of the same solution. We also talk about what climate finance pays for when it's done right, how Al-Shabab uses resource control as a weapon, and how the instability happening in Somalia can eventually show up on Britain's doorstep through migration, terrorism, and disrupted global trade. —— This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth —— Find out more about the UN Climate Security Mechanism and follow Chris on LinkedIn Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— Chapters 00:00 What is a Climate Peace and Security Advisor? 04:15 How climate impacts show up as violence on the ground 08:45 Somalia's conflict context and why it matters 13:20 How drought and flooding drive resource competition 18:10 The Mataban project: building trust between clans 24:30 Somalia's first £100 million in climate finance 29:50 How Al-Shabab exploits resource scarcity 35:15 Why half of Somalia's population is under 30 40:20 Kenya vs Somalia: stable ecosystems vs conflict spirals 46:10 What surprised Chris most in six years 51:30 Success stories: from small trials to big programs 56:45 Why this matters to someone in the UK 1:07:10 What Chris wishes more people would ask 1:10:30 Where to learn more and get involved

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  • April 27 · 1 hr 46 min

    The National Security Topic Britain Is Too Scared to Cover | General Richard Nugee CB CVO CBE

    Check out the UK's most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth General Richard Nugee CB CVO CBE spent 35 years in the British military, rising to the executive committee of defence. He's now one of the most important voices connecting climate change to national security, arguing that the biggest threats to Britain aren't just missiles and tanks, but water scarcity, food system collapse, migration flows, and the geopolitical contests opening up in a melting Arctic. This conversation was recorded twice. The first time was on the day the Iran war started. Given that Richard's expertise sits at the intersection of conflict, energy security, and climate, we decided to re-record a few weeks later to capture how the war has changed the global energy landscape and what it means for the UK's climate and security strategy going forward. We talk about why national security is much more than defence spending, why the Straits of Hormuz closing should terrify anyone who cares about food or fuel, and why building renewable energy isn't just good for the planet, it's one of the smartest military strategies we could deploy. Richard also explains why electric tanks are a stupid idea, why biodiversity loss is the crisis nobody's talking about, and why pragmatic optimism is the only mindset that works when facing a problem this big. —— This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth —— Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— 00:59 Impact of Iran War 05:34 Will the war speed up renewables? 09:18 Africa's hidden fertilizer crisis 12:08 Defence spending vs the green transition 18:52 What national security actually means 20:49 Food, water and energy are already under threat 23:37 The 5 types of climate security 25:35 The Arctic: a new geopolitical battleground 26:58 Migration is where the rubber hits the road 43:49 Biodiversity: the dog that hasn't barked 50:00 Iraq, heat and a military turning point 56:15 How do you make the military care about climate? 1:02:46 The company that proved sustainability is cheaper 1:11:20 Why electric tanks is the wrong question 1:14:45 $250 a litre: fuel cost soldiers' lives 1:19:49 The UK port responsible for 25% of our energy 1:25:54 Pragmatic optimism: the military mindset 1:31:01 "UK is only 2%" — Richard's answer 1:39:20 Hope and opportunity: what to take away

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  • April 13 · 1 hr 29 min

    Climate YouTuber: Lies might be winning. But there's good news. | Dr Simon Clark (4K)

    Check out the UK's most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth Dr Simon Clark is a climate YouTuber with 720,000+ subscribers who's spent 15 years translating climate science for audiences who didn't know they needed it. He's a physicist by training, a communicator by choice, and someone who's watched misinformation campaigns evolve from fringe conspiracy theories into sophisticated, well-funded operations that now shape how millions of people understand the climate crisis. This conversation goes deep into why lies are winning, why the truth resists simplicity, and why the platforms we rely on to spread information are fundamentally designed to reward the wrong things. We also talk about what's actually working when it comes to UK climate policy, why Ed Miliband might be the most underrated figure in British politics right now, and why Simon thinks the Iran crisis could be Asia's Ukraine moment for clean energy. We cover: Why climate misinformation is so successful: it's simple, it fits social media, and it tells people what they want to hear The fundamental shift from debunking to pre-bunking, and why signal-boosting bad arguments by responding to them is a trap Why food misinformation has escaped scrutiny in a way fossil fuels haven't, and how Big Tobacco's playbook was inherited by the food industry The conditions that created the misinformation crisis: a deficit in media literacy, platforms designed to reward sensationalism, and billionaires buying up media to control the algorithm Why democratic oversight of discovery algorithms is one of the most important climate conversations we're not having Trojan Horse videos: how Simon packages climate content to look like skeptic material, then pulls the rug two minutes in to reach people outside the choir Why the UK has reduced domestic emissions by over 50% since 1990, and why almost nobody knows that Simon's honest assessment of the UK government's climate policy: energy gets four stars out of five, nature and biodiversity gets two Why Ed Miliband knows his stuff, why carbon capture isn't as stupid as people think, and why the decision not to introduce zonal pricing was actually defensible The Iran crisis as a potential turning point: why this could be Asia's Ukraine moment for renewables, and why it's extraordinary good fortune that the world's largest emitter is also the country building all the clean technology Why Trump might go down in history as the president who accidentally accelerated the energy transition by creating an oil crisis The balance between hope and despair, why Simon hates being asked that question, and why the only way to guarantee we don't make it is by stopping —— This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth —— Find Simon's work at www.youtube.com/@SimonClark Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— Chapters 00:00 Why is climate misinformation so successful? 08:30 How do you tackle it? 15:42 Food misinformation and the Big Tobacco playbook 23:15 What conditions created the misinformation? 32:40 Should algorithms have oversight? 38:20 Using a Trojan Horse to break out the echo chamber 47:15 The UK’s climate wins most people don’t realise 54:30 How well is the UK gov. really doing? 1:06:20 Carbon capture, zonal pricing, and Ed Miliband 1:18:45 The Iran crisis as Asia's Ukraine moment 1:27:30 Why Trump might accidentally accelerate the transition 1:35:10 The hypothetical video with £100,000 1:42:50 Hope, despair, and why stopping guarantees failure

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  • March 31 · 1 hr 21 min

    The Formula For Making ANYONE Care About Climate | Phil Korbel, Carbon Literacy Project

    Check out the UK's most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth This is a slightly different ep. The first ½ is a more traditional podcast chat. But the 2nd ½ is me putting Phil to the test by roleplaying as 4 different people: A secondary school teacher, a middle-class retiree, a young professional and a right-wing politician Phil Korbel is the co-founder of the Carbon Literacy Project, a Manchester-based charity that has trained over 153,000 people across 50 countries in climate action. Starting from a shared desk with no salary and a big idea, Phil and his co-founder Dave Coleman have built one of the most powerful climate education movements in the world - reaching everyone from security guards to IPCC scientists, wedding planners to funeral directors. We cover: Why recycling is near the bottom of the list, and what actually moves the needle The Carbon Literacy formula: how does acting on climate help you thrive in your specific role? Why polar bears are banned from Phil's training (and what that says about climate communication) The emotional structure of a carbon literacy day and why doom without agency is dangerous How 153,000 people got trained mostly through word of mouth Why professional advisors - lawyers, accountants, financial advisors - need to understand climate as a core competency The "Burt the security guard" story that perfectly captures what a culture shift actually looks like How to handle a denier in the room without letting them suck up all the oxygen What Phil says to a right-wing politician who thinks clean energy means living in caves Why anger about climate might be your most useful tool - if you channel it right —— This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth —— Find out more about the Carbon Literacy Project and get trained at carbonliteracy.com —— Chapters 00:00 Why Phil banned polar bears from carbon literacy training 03:30 What is the Carbon Literacy Project? 09:30 Why does ‘relevance’ matter? 12:40 From a shared desk with no salary to 153,000 people trained 15:42 Why they gave away the IP and became a charity 17:44 What caused the hockey stick growth 20:08 Do you work with high-emitting companies? 22:26 How to handle a denier in the room 25:50 Why doom without agency is dangerous 28:41 Phil’s approach to skeptics 37:02 Role-play 1: The secondary school teacher 46:15 Role-play 2: The middle-class retiree 1:00:26 Role-play 3: The young professional 1:09:32 Role-play 4: The right-wing politician 1:11:05 Energy sovereignty, batteries and the Reform mayor who quietly signed up 1:19:36 The 97 engineers on the bridge

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  • March 17 · 1 hr 24 min

    Climate Scientist: Why Net Zero 2050 is a Dangerous Delusion | Kevin Anderson

    Check out the UK’s most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth Kevin Anderson is one of the world's leading climate scientists and Professor of Energy and Climate Change at the University of Manchester's Tyndall Centre. A former oil and gas engineer turned academic, he's advised governments across the UK and Wales, worked closely with Greta Thunberg, and spent three decades arguing that the gap between what climate science demands and what policymakers actually do isn't accidental — it's a choice. In this conversation, we get into the raw numbers behind our climate commitments, why the people who know the most tend to say the least, and why Kevin believes the real agents of change aren't the experts or politicians. They're us. We cover: The three numbers everyone needs to understand about climate change Why 1.5°C is almost certainly already gone Why net zero 2050 is a moving goalpost that nobody's updating The academic "delusion" — why experts say one thing on microphones and something very different over a pint Carbon capture, blue hydrogen and SAF How climate change is a continuation of colonialism Why we are absolutely not "all in this together" — and why pretending we are suits exactly the people it should embarrass What he learned fromGreta Thunberg Where hope actually lives (hint: it's not renewable energy stats) —— This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth —— Find Kevin's writing and talks at climateuncensored.com —— Chapters 00:00 3 things everyone needs to understand about climate 04:50 Why 1.5 degrees is gone 08:21 Should China’s declining emissions be celebrated? 11:11 Why we should talk about impacts, not temperature 13:41 Where is the communication breaking down? 17:06 Why Kevin believes his field has been deliberately dishonest 19:54 What climate models hide 24:24 How do you find the truth when the whole system is delusional? 29:09 What happens when you challenge academics off the record? 32:28 Why Kevin won't spin the cheery yarn 36:50 How does Kevin know Greta Thunberg? 42:19 How is our approach to climate colonial? 47:03 "We are not all in this together" — emissions inequality within the UK 52:56 Private luxury, public squalor — and who's really paying 57:37 The 4.5x gap between high and low income households 1:05:15 If we could start again, how would we talk about climate differently? 1:10:07 What actually gives Kevin hope? 1:16:36 The questions he wishes people would ask 1:17:42 The question he's tired of being asked 1:19:27 What he wants to leave you with 🎙️

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  • March 2 · 1 hr 10 min

    Can you eat meat AND care about the planet? | Frank Holleman, Founder of Fork Ranger

    Check out the UK’s most trusted climate action platform, Ecologi at: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth Frank Holleman is the founder of Fork Ranger, an app and movement that's helping 150,000+ people to eat more sustainably. He's spent six years proving that the most effective climate action isn't perfection, it's making sustainable eating so ridiculously easy that it slips under people's resistance radar. His philosophy is simple: we don't need a few perfect environmentalists, we need millions of people taking imperfect action. This conversation unpacks why food is responsible for one third of global emissions, why beef is five times worse than chicken, and why replacing beef with literally anything else is the single easiest climate win most people aren't taking. We also talk about the psychology of behaviour change, why going from "never again" to "90% less" makes all the difference, and how eating seasonally became Fork Ranger's most popular product even though it only reduces 2% of food emissions. Frank also shares the framework that drives his entire approach: make the invitation to change small enough that it never triggers fight or flight, and why level three of sustainable eating isn't about cutting dairy, it's about inviting two friends to start level one. —— In this episode, we dive into: Why food causes one third of all global greenhouse gas emissions, and over half of that comes from meat (even though it contributes only 17% of calories but uses 83% of agricultural land) The carbon footprint gap: beef is five times worse than chicken, which means swapping beef for chicken is a bigger climate win than most people realize (and you don't even have to go vegetarian) Why there IS a role for animals in a sustainable food system, but only on marginal lands in small amounts, which means meat becomes a luxury, not a weekly staple The two hardest parts of eating sustainably: the unknown and behavior change itself (finding new recipes, imagining what it tastes like without meat), and then the social pressure of being the only one who cares at the dinner table Fork Ranger's three levels: Level 1 is replace beef with chicken or pork (not even vegetarian, just different meat). Level 2 is reduce food waste (one third of all food is wasted, mostly at home, and it's usually because we're too picky). Level 3 is invite two friends to start Level 1 and 2, because we don't need perfect environmentalists, we need millions taking action Why food waste is the second level, not cutting dairy: it's a huge environmental problem, and solving it reinforces the mindset that food is valuable, not a cheap commodity we can afford to throw away The 25% tipping point: if a quarter of people in a group do something against the norm, the rest become so uncertain about what's normal that they follow along and it suddenly flips (like fist bumps vs handshakes) Book recommendations: Kaizen: One Small Step to Change Your Life, Project Drawdown, Change: How to Make Big Things Happen, and You Are What You Love —— This podcast is sponsored by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth —— Find Fork Ranger at: https://forkranger.com Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— 00:00 Why is eating sustainably hard? 06:41 Why we need to talk about meat 10:52 Why You Don't Have To Go Vegan 12:57 Food Causes 1/3 Of All Climate Change 14:32 The Important Truth For Meat Lovers 21:13 The Psychology Of Behaviour Change 26:49 The 3-Level System For Eating Sustainably 30:39 Why food waste is a huge problem 35:44 Is your app actually changing behaviour? 40:01 The 25% Tipping Point That Could Change Everything 43:28 Influential Books and Resources 47:51 Shopping Malls, Consumerism & Why Eating Is Political 52:04 Unexpected impact of eating seasonally 57:26 Individual Choices vs. Systemic Change

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  • February 17 · 1 hr 9 min

    Why Britain Can't Fix Its Energy Crisis | Good Energy Founder, Juliet Davonport

    Check out Ecologi at https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth. Juliet Davenport founded Good Energy and spent 20 years proving that a distributed renewable energy business could actually work driven by the philosophy that ordinary people, not governments or corporations, should drive the energy transition. This conversation goes deep into the parts of the energy debate that almost nobody explains clearly — why your energy bills are high, who's actually responsible for fixing the grid, and whether lower carbon and lower costs can genuinely happen at the same time. We talk about why wind and solar were designed to maximise output rather than serve customers, how the national grid went from managing 30 power stations to millions of generators overnight, and the uncomfortable truth about why fossil fuel lobbying works as well as it does. Juliet also shares the framework that shaped her entire approach to climate action — and why she thinks getting angry at bad actors is one of the least effective things you can do. —— This podcast is brought to you by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth —— In this episode, we dive into: Why energy conversations should be about people, not power stations - and how we've spent decades designing renewables to maximise output instead of delivering what consumers actually need The engineering mistake that's costing us billions: wind turbines designed for maximum megawatt hours instead of smooth, predictable output that matches when people use power How the UK energy system went from managing 30 fossil fuel generators to millions of renewable sources - and why the data and software still aren't good enough to handle it Marginal pricing explained: why gas sometimes sets the energy price (and sometimes doesn't) - and why in summer we actually get too much renewable power, causing prices to go negative The price cap paradox: why the policy that protected consumers for 15 years might now be keeping energy bills higher than they need to be (because everyone buys power at the same time) Why decoupling energy prices from gas isn't the answer - it'll happen naturally as renewables grow, and there are bigger regulatory fixes that would cut bills faster The lobbying reality: fossil fuel companies will fight to protect their business model until they can't - so Juliet built Good Energy to prove a zero-carbon business could work commercially, not as a charity Why AI energy use is like "using precision laser tooling to cut bread" - we need quantum computing for low-accuracy tasks and smarter algorithms, not powering everything with coal-fired data centers The three forces needed for systemic change: activism (to open conversations), policy (to set direction), and business (to deliver) - and why anger between bad actors and activists can actually get stuck in a loop that prevents progress What Juliet would do with a billion pounds: grid reinforcement, European interconnectors, automatic meter readers in every UK home (not overcomplicated smart meters), an innovation fund for energy efficiency, and a democracy campaign so people understand energy beyond media filters Why households should run like mini power stations - using energy at the right time of day automatically, without expecting consumers to think about it The Finnish town heated entirely by waste heat from a data centre - and why tech companies aren't being smart enough about secondary energy use —— Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ —— 00:00 Energy Should Be About People, Not Power Stations 04:30 Why Renewables Were Designed Wrong From the Start 08:30 The 2030 Clean Power Plan & Fixing Government Contracts 12:00 Why the National Grid Is Struggling to Keep Up 16:30 Can We Have Lower Bills AND Lower Carbon? 20:30 How Energy Prices Are Actually Decided 27:00 Are Fossil Fuel Companies Actively Blocking Change? 33:00 Why Getting Angry at Bad Actors Doesn't Work 40:30 Why Activism, Policy & Business Are The Levers of Change 48:30 AI's Energy Problem & Why Big Tech Isn't Being Smart 56:00 Where Juliet Would Spend £1M, £1B & £100B 1:03:30 The Question Nobody Asks Her 1:06:30 How Do We Accelerate the UK's Clean Energy Transition?

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  • February 2 · 1 hr 23 min

    CEO: Capitalism vs. climate is the wrong question | Kate Williams, 1% for the Planet

    Kate Williams is CEO of 1% for the Planet, the global movement founded by Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard that's certified over $820 million in environmental giving - and they're on track to hit their first billion. She's spent the last 11 years scaling a model that proves capitalism can work differently: 1% of revenue (not profit) goes to vetted environmental nonprofits, no matter what kind of year you've had. It means rent for the planet (and its financial discipline) is baked into the P&L. And it's proof that simple actions, done repeatedly, in community, at scale, can aggregate to billions of dollars in impact - without putting a ceiling on what companies can do beyond that. —— This podcast is brought to you by Ecologi, the UK's most trusted climate action platform. They help businesses reduce their emissions, restore our planet and report their progress for every step of their climate journey. Check them out here: https://tinyurl.com/kfswnxth —— In this episode, we dive into: → What trends is she seeing in the market? → How is 1% for the Planet different from Patagonia? → Why should nonprofits exist separate from the market? → What has Kate learned from Yvon? (Patagonia’s founder) → Why did the pandemic cause a huge increase in sign-ups? → How is 1% using capitalism’s mechanisms for good? → What are non-profit’s role in climate progress? → Would Kate pick up a call from ExxonMobil? —— Find out more about 1% for the Planet at: https://www.onepercentfortheplanet.org/ Connect with Kate Williams on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katewilliams87/ Subscribe to the Climate Unf*cked podcast at https://climateunfucked.substack.com/ And connect with me on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-coop/ Timestamps 00:00 Non profit’s role in climate 05:42 What is 1% for the Planet? 11:28 Why 1% of Revenue, Not Profit? 18:35 Vetting Nonprofits and Impact Areas 23:47 Dollar-Per-Impact vs Systemic Change 27:29 How can we do capitalism differently? 29:51 How is 1% like a tax? 33:55 Why 1% on revenue, not profit? 40:38 How has Kate grown 1%? 44:37 Why did sign-ups increase in covid? 49:33 What has Kate learned from Yvon (Patagonia founder?) 55:28 Does the ‘green’ movement exclude people? 01:09:45 Being an "N of Many" vs Patagonia's "N of One" 01:06:33 Trends Kate is seeing 01:14:19 “What do you wish more people would ask you?” 01:19:47 “What are you fed up of being asked?” 01:22:00 How to learn more about 1%?

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Showing 1–20 of 27 episodes