Outrage + Optimism Podcast Episodes
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376: Beyond Politics: Should we take the heat out of the climate crisis?
Somewhere along the way, acting on a threat to all of humanity became a political act. Not a simple matter of science and economics, but a signal of whose side you are on. So, what would it take to change the political narrative around climate? This week, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson answer some difficult questions gathered for our live event at Bath Abbey, postponed when extreme heat made the venue unsafe - as if we needed another reminder of the urgency of this crisis.
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Season 12 Energy + Climate
375: Cheapest Energy in History. Still Heading for 3 Degrees?
06 August 2026
Solar power now costs a thousandth of what it did in 1976. Batteries are down more than ninety percent in a decade. By the logic of economics, the climate problem should be close to solved. It isn't. We are on track for close to three degrees of warming, and politics is sliding in the wrong direction.
Season 12 Adaptation + Climate
374: Europe’s Summer of Fire: The New Normal?
30 July 2026
Europe is burning. Wildfires are still alight in the hills outside Bordeaux and the countryside west of Madrid. More than 300,000 people across France and Spain have been forced from their homes, and both countries remain on high alert as they enter the fourth heatwave of the summer. As we publish this episode, new fires are breaking out across Greece and Turkey.
Season 12 Policy + Climate
373: China, COP31 and Chagos: What’s happening behind the headlines?
23 July 2026
In the nine hours after the Los Angeles wildfires, before the climate movement could get its shoes on, the narrative was being written. Through social media, podcasts and talking heads on cable news, the truth was buried behind a deliberate strategy of disinformation. In the twenty-one months since China's emissions have flatlined, everyone is asking whether this is a blip or a trend. And across 640,000 square kilometres of protected ocean, nobody is quite certain what happens next. You have probably seen these stories reported. But what is actually going on out there?
Past Episodes
Season 12
372: Rosebank, Cambo, and the Conversation Christiana Never Got to Have
Season 12
371: Whose Side Is the Law On? How the Courts Became a Climate Battleground
Season 12
370: Is It Over? A Direct Answer to Climate Despair
Season 12
369: London Cooking: A Climate Action Week, a Resigning PM, and the Future of Climate Diplomacy
Season 12
368: From SpaceX to City Streets: Who Pays for the AI Data Centre Boom?
Season 12
367: Extreme Heat Breaks: The hidden climate story behind the World Cup
Season 12
366: The Agency Crisis: Heatwaves, Tony Blair and the Politics of Powerlessness
Season 12
365: Can $30k Change the World? The Power of Climate Giving
Season 12
364: Can the rules keep up?: Lawsuits, LLMs and the looming oil recession
