109. The Race to Resilience!
Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast
Persephonica
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 July 2021
⏱️ 71 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Race to Resilience is on!
This week has seen another extremely harsh wildfire season and searing temperatures in the global North, Tropical Storm Elsa ripped through the Caribbean, becoming the first hurricane to hit Barbados in 60 years, and way down in the south of the planet, New Zealand has its hottest winter.
It is absolutely vital that the Race to Zero (emissions) and an equally important set of measures for adaptation and resilience be undertaken - at the same time - to allow humanity to thrive in the near and distant future.
So what exactly is the Race to Resilience? Join Christiana, Tom and Paul as we explore the links between tackling climate change, protecting and enhancing biodiversity, ensuring ocean health and changing how we use land. Among a few other notable guests, we talk to two city leaders building resilience in two very different communities, addressing local challenges and bringing thousands of citizens together to tackle climate change.
This week you’ll hear from:
Elizabeth Mrema, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
Anne-Marie Trevelyan, COP 26 International Champion for Adaptation and Resilience, and UK Energy and Climate Change Minister
Enric Sala, National Geographic Explorer in Residence, National Geographic Pristine Seas
Mayor Kate Gallego, Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona
and
Mayor Mohammed Sowah, Mayor of Accra, Ghana
We are racing against time - and rather than allowing fear to paralyse us, let’s use this energy to fuel our spirit and determination. Hit play for your weekly dose of outrage - and stubborn optimism.
—
Christiana + Tom’s book ‘The Future We Choose’ is available now!
Subscribe to our Climate Action Newsletter: Signals Amidst The Noise
PBS Learning Media melted our hearts with a beautiful film The Age of Nature
Join the Race to Zero
Learn more about C40 cities
Click here to listen to the previous episodes of our The Race to Zero Series
—
Thank you to our guests this week:
Elizabeth Mrema
UN Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
UN Biodiversity
Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram
Anne-Marie Trevelyan
COP 26 International Champion for Adaptation and Resilience, and UK Energy and Climate Change Minister
COP 26
Enric Sala
National Geographic Explorer in Residence, National Geographic Pristine Seas
Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram
NG Pristine SeasWebsite | Twitter | Instagram
Mayor Kate Gallego
Mayor of Phoenix, Arizona
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Mayor Mohammed Sowah
Mayor of Accra, Ghana
—
Keep up with Christiana Figueres here:
Tom Rivett-Carnac:
Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn
Paul Dickinson is on LinkedIn!
—
Follow @GlobalOptimism on social media and send us a message!
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:01.0 | Race to zero! |
| 0:09.0 | Five |
| 0:11.0 | Four |
| 0:13.0 | Three |
| 0:15.0 | Two |
| 0:17.0 | One |
| 0:19.0 | Four |
| 0:25.0 | Hello and welcome to Outrage and Optimism, I'm Tom Rific Khanak. |
| 0:29.0 | And I'm Paul Dickinson. |
| 0:30.0 | This week we return to our Race to Zero series with a special episode on the Race to Resilience. |
| 0:37.0 | Thanks for being here. |
| 0:49.0 | So I think on this podcast we've fallen into a bit of a trap that many people who focus on climate change have fallen into over the years. |
| 0:56.0 | And I'm curious to know if both of you agree with this or don't. |
| 0:59.0 | And that is we have focused not exclusively but I reckon maybe 90% on the issue of mitigation. |
| 1:05.0 | And of course, mitigation is about reducing emissions and that's very important, that's how we get on top of the climate crisis. |
| 1:10.0 | But also, a significant amount of warming is now baked into the system. |
| 1:15.0 | And we as humanity are going to have to adapt and we're going to have to make natural systems resilient as well. |
| 1:21.0 | And we haven't focused on that enough in this podcast but today we're going to rectify that. |
| 1:25.0 | What do you both think about this issue that we're now finally pivoting to focus on resilience? |
| 1:29.0 | Well, you're absolutely right Tom, that we have all gravitated toward mitigation, which means reduction of emissions. |
| 1:37.0 | And most people who work on climate, but gratefully not all, have put adaptation or resilience on the back burner. |
| 1:46.0 | Now, what is important to remember is that there is an inverse relationship between these two. |
... |
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