Planet A - Talks on Climate Change

The heat waves of the future could produce deadly “wet bulb temperatures” that would kill millions of people by sheer heat exhaustion. How will governments, citizens and international organizations react, if a heat wave killed 20 million people in India? That is the premise of the novel “The Ministry for the Future” – a novel that mixes science fiction and environmentalism.

The guest on the premiere episode of the fifth season of Planet A is renowned science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson. In “The Ministry for the Future”, he writes about a dystopian, near future where the devastating consequences of climate change are ravaging the world. The book describes how governments and philanthropists try to use geoengineering, like spraying sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere or capturing meltwater of The Greenland Ice Sheet to stem climate change.

While his book “The Ministry for the Future” invites readers into a world where nothing is unthinkable and everything is possible, the solutions he describes are not all science fiction.

And in this episode of Planet A he discusses the promise and perils of geoengineering, the COP-process, the current energy crisis and whether we need nuclear energy in the global green transition with host Minister Dan Jørgensen.

In this 1st episode of the new 6th season of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks to Helen Thompson, Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University, about the geopolitics of fossil fuels and how the green energy transition affects the world order.

Thompson ́s current research concentrates on the political economy of energy and the democratic, economic, and geopolitical disruptions of the twenty-first century.

She is also well known for co-hosting the highly acclaimed podcast Talking Politics.

Her most recent book Disorder – Hard Times in the 21st Century was published on year ago - on the 24th of February 2022 – the same day Russia invaded Ukraine.

The book which weaves together energy and geopolitics in a historic perspective couldn’t have had a more timely launch.

Thompson’s book has received glowing reviews and was shortlisted by the Financial Times for Best Business Book of the year 2022.

The book portrays an increasing instability of the global political system today and the ramifications of the current attempt to transition to clean energy worldwide.

In this first episode of a new season of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with David Wallace-Wells about the multitude of interlinked problems created by climate change.

Wallace-Wells, a journalist and deputy editor of New York Magazine, achieved global fame by writing the long-form essay “The Uninhabitable Earth” in 2017.
The essay laid out – in excruciating detail – just how dire the climate crisis is for the prospects of human civilization. Wallace-Wells went beyond the traditional portrayals of rising sea levels and extreme weather events, by focusing on how it also affects food security, access to freshwater, spread of communicable disease and armed conflict.
In 2019, David Wallace-Wells expanded on the article and wrote a book with the same title that reached the number one spot on the New York Times Bestseller List.

On the podcast, Jørgensen and Wallace-Wells discuss how the media’s coverage of climate change has been misleading on three counts:
1) speed, 2) scope and 3) severity.

Furthermore, Wallace-Wells describes not only the range of possibilities for the destruction of our physical world, but also puts the spotlight on how climate change will affect us as human beings.

However, Wallace-Wells warns against taking a fatalistic view and points to the rapid development of renewable energy as a cause for optimism.

In the fifth episode of the podcast Dan Jørgensen talks with Dr. Jane Goodall, the world’s leading primatologist, about the similarities between chimpanzees and humans as well as how climate change impact us all.

She describes how the changing climate disproportionally affects wildlife and the poorest people around the globe.

Dr. Goodall argues, that the world must overcome poverty, consumerism and population growth to prevent an environmental catastrophe. Particularly people in the developed world need to make more ethical choices; ensuring that they do not buy products that have harmed the environment, were made in inhumane working conditions or led to animal cruelty.

Dr. Goodall began her groundbreaking research on apes in Gombe, Tanzania, in 1960, which has transformed our understanding of chimpanzees, and redefined the relationship between humans and animals in ways that continue to emanate around the world.

However, Dr. Goodall is not only an eminent scientist, but has also excelled as a conservationist and activist over the last eight decades. Most notably, she founded the “Jane Goodall Institute”, an organization that creates sanctuaries for Apes. She has also established “Roots & Shoots” - a program that works in nearly 100 countries to raise awareness of environmental issues among schoolchildren.

Furthermore, Dr. Goodall has been the subject of more than 40 films and authored dozens of books for both adults and children.

She has received countless awards, prizes and honorary titles, including her appointment as “Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire” by Queen Elizabeth II.

We apologize for the sporadic poor sound quality during the episode, which was caused by digital interference on the internet connection during the recording.

In the 10th episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Barack Obama's former Secretary of Energy, Dr. Ernest Moniz.

Dr. Moniz holds a doctoral degree in theoretical nuclear physics and made his first foray into Washington-politics as President Bill Clinton’s Under Secretary of Energy (1997-2001).

He is widely recognized as one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet, when it comes to energy, science and politics. Thus, it should be no surprise that POLITICO ranks him as a leading contender to be President-elect Joe Biden’s next Secretary of Energy

During the conversation, Dr. Moniz shares his view on the future of American climate and energy politics, in the wake of the recent elections. He also speaks on the promise and pitfalls of specific technologies, including:

• Carbon capture, usage and storage
• Technology enhanced natural processes such as “advanced mineralization”
• Advanced nuclear
• Hydrogen
• Renewables

Dr. Moniz also talks about his experience with directing governmental energy technology research and development. Furthermore, he speaks about the need for social equity in energy politics. Finally, he explains how his knowledge about politics and science came in handy as he negotiated both the Iran Nuclear Agreement and the Paris Agreement.

He started his illustrious academic career at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (perhaps best known as the MIT) in 1973 and is currently serving as Director of their Energy Initiative, working to develop no-carbon and low-carbon solutions.

A brief note on this episode:

During the interview, Moniz and Jørgensen touch upon President Theodore Roosevelt’s friendship with the Danish immigrant, Jacob Riis. Riis became a prominent activist, documenting the deplorable social conditions of the poor in New York City and calling for social equity.

You can learn more about Jacob Riis at the US Library of Congress homepage or at the homepage of the Danish “Jacob A. Riis Museum”.