Australian soil and climate scientist Walter Jehne discusses how the five kingdoms of life have created water cycles, moving water through sea, soil and air, navigating tumultuous changes through geological ages to the present, and how the human presence has brought earth’s systems into a crisis in which water is also the potential vehicle for stabilization and renewal.
Presented at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate’s “Restoring Water Cycles to Reverse Global Warming” conference October 16th-18th, 2015 at Tufts University.
Learn more about Biodiversity for a Livable Climate: https://bio4climate.org/ Please donate to our ecosystem restoration work: https://bio4climate.org/donate/ Australian soil and climate scientist Walter Jehne discusses how the five kingdoms of life have created water cycles, moving water through sea, soil and air, navigating tumultuous changes through geological ages to the present, and how the human presence has brought earth’s systems into a crisis in which water is also the potential vehicle for stabilization and renewal. Presented at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate’s “Restoring Water Cycles to Reverse Global Warming” conference October 16th-18th, 2015 at Tufts University.
The changing climate and the human response to it are a movable feast and being independent means I can operate a from the horse’s mouth interview policy. I seek out experts who can give us insights into this hugely complex situation we are in and I want to share these with you.
Since 2009 the interviews I have recorded have received millions of views on my channels as well as many others. I have learned a great deal from speaking directly to experts and I hope that some of this learning has been shared with viewers across the web. The ultimate goal of this work is to help us envisage a future that is as realistic as it is worth striving for.
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In this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with former UK Government Chief Science Advisor, Sir David King. Sir David has recently set up the Climate Crisis Advisory Group (CCAG) to respond with agility to the real-time climate crisis.
The first report is linked in the notes and focuses on the Arctic as a key regulator of global climate stability and more recently, chaotic disruption.
Key points:
Jet Stream Omega Event Johanne Rockstrum: Arctic tipping point has passed.
Are accelerating impacts at risk of outpacing action?
Scientists have mismanaged the modelling of climate change events.
Greenland ice sheet is sitting in warm air and losing ice rapidly.
We are not prepared for what we are currently seeing!
We need a UN Security Council For Climate Change.
Our future as a civilisation depends on a rapid response to the situation.
UK Policy on China: Timing-wise it could not be worse! The EU, China and US are all talking together.
Greenhouse Gas Removal: Build up oceans to what they used to be and we could absorb 30-40 billion tonnes per annum.
Refreezing the Arctic: If we don’t manage this we are cooked!
The CCAG Report is for Governments, Businesses and Financial operations.
The time for action is now!
Sir David discusses the mantra they are trying to get into the mainstream consciousness of climate action: Reduce, Remove and Repair. The message is clear that climate is now the main issue threatening our civilisation across the globe.
We are now crossing tipping points and the time rapid scaled up action is now.
Sir David also suggests the creation of a UN Security Council for Climate Change to deal specifically with the international efforts of nations and regions to tackle arising issues. This connects to my interview next week with NATO and US Government Security Advisor on Climate Change, Chad Briggs.
Next week I will also be talking to Dr Shaun Fitzgerald OBE, Director of the Centre for Climate Repair in Cambridge about how we need to flip our building infrastructure from a massive carbon source to carbon sink. This includes existing buildings and the colossal amount that needs to be built with resilience around the world to weather the tide of climate adversity.
Thank you for listening to Shaping The Future. You can see the full archive of podcast interviews and reporting from the last 5 COP’s at GENN.cc. Please subscribe to the podcast on any of the main channels and please do consider backing my work on Patreon.
Sir David King is a Professor of Physical Chemistry from the University of Cambridge. He served as Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government and later as Special Representative for Climate Change. He is the Founder and Chair of the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge and his recent work involves raising awareness on the climate change crisis to global stakeholders.
During this interview, he talks about the importance of international collaboration among the scientific community to have a real impact. To him it is also the only way to tackle global challenges, like the climate crisis, which he describes as the biggest existential challenge to humanity ever. This threat also means to involve the political community to lead a massive worldwide effort in science, engineering and social science over the next ten years.
Special guest Raymond Ford, specialist in Mass Spectrometry, joins Dr. Peter Carter, Paul Beckwith, and Regina Valdez as they discuss Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) and the other extreme weather events that have occurred during the past few years in British Columbia, Canada.
As a resident of Central British Columbia, Raymond has personally experienced some of the extreme weather events that have occurred over the last few years.
This program was recorded on December 10th, 2021, and published on January 14th, 2022.
Topics discussed include the following:
– The atmospheric rivers (ARs) that caused extensive damage to infrastructure and farmland
– The heatwaves and other extreme weather events that will accelerate in frequency and intensity as the climate continues to warm.
– The Lytton fire, which destroyed most of the town
– The numerous wildfires
– The mental health challenges brought on by these persistent extreme weather events in the last few years and their consequences
– The use of the Earth.nullschool.net web application as a tool to analyse extreme weather events
– The need to rapidly reduce emissions from the burning of fossil fuels
– The seeming contradictory nature of government policy that, on the one hand declared a climate emergency and the other hand funds the construction of a pipeline
Special Guest:
Raymond Ford – Specialist in Mass Spectrometry
Regular Panelists:
Dr. Peter Carter – MD, Expert IPCC Reviewer and the director of the Climate Emergency Institute
Paul Beckwith – Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa’s in the Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as Carleton University
Regina Valdez – Program Director, Climate Reality Project, NYC. GreenFaith Fellow and LEED Green Associate
What’s it like to live without running water? In Peru’s sprawling capital, Lima, this is the everyday reality for 1.5 million children and adults, forced to pay up to a week’s salary for just one day’s water. And the problem isn’t confined to the capital, across the country, the shortage of water is putting lives in danger and provoking conflict, as it displaces communities and threatens their agricultural livelihoods.
This film goes right to the heart of the water crisis – showing how society’s poorest are caught in the middle of a struggle between business, climate change and international politics.
This film investigates the future of the world’s water, and paints a disturbing picture of a world running out of the most basic of life’s essentials.
8 year old Vanessa and her parents have to walk almost a mile down the cliffs of El Alto in Bolivia to collect water from an unreliable well every day. Yet, they live just a few hundred metres from their city’s main water treatment plant and can see millions of gallons just beyond the barbed wire fence. They are victims of waters increasing commodification.
The struggle for this precious resource and the battle for its ownership is explored through compelling stories of families living in Bolivia, Detroit, Dar Es Salaam and Rajestan. As the background to these stories we explore the conflicts over the future of water and see how even those living in the relatively water-rich UK hold the survival of the planet in our hands.
Learn more about Biodiversity for a Livable Climate: https://bio4climate.org/
Please donate to our ecosystem restoration work: https://bio4climate.org/donate/
Australian soil and climate scientist Walter Jehne discusses how the five kingdoms of life have created water cycles, moving water through sea, soil and air, navigating tumultuous changes through geological ages to the present, and how the human presence has brought earth’s systems into a crisis in which water is also the potential vehicle for stabilization and renewal. Presented at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate’s “Restoring Water Cycles to Reverse Global Warming” conference October 16th-18th, 2015 at Tufts University.
Biodiversity for a Livable Climate presents
A talk by Walter Jehne
Australian climate scientist and soil microbiologist
Director of Healthy Soils Australia
Introduction by Didi Pershouse
Biodiversity for a Livable Climate presents
A talk by Walter Jehne
Australian climate scientist and soil microbiologist
Director of Healthy Soils Australia
Introduction by Didi Pershouse
Welcome to Transition Studies. To prosper for very much longer on the changing Earth humankind will need to move beyond its current fossil-fueled civilization toward one that is sustained on recycled materials and renewable energy. This is not a trivial shift. It will require a major transition in all aspects of our lives.
This weblog explores the transition to a sustainable future on our finite planet. It provides links to current news, key documents from government sources and non-governmental organizations, as well as video documentaries about climate change, environmental ethics and environmental justice concerns.
The links are listed here to be used in whatever manner they may be helpful in public information campaigns, course preparation, teaching, letter-writing, lectures, class presentations, policy discussions, article writing, civic or Congressional hearings and citizen action campaigns, etc. For further information on this blog see: About this weblog. and How to use this weblog.
Calendar – Click on Date for links entered on that Day
Transition Studies 