86. The Scientific Case for The Race to Zero with Johan Rockström
Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast
Persephonica
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2021
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to Season 3!
With a renewed sense of optimism felt around the world with the inauguration of President Joe Biden in the United States this month, our collective sigh of relief is quickly met with the sobering reality of the moment - Nature’s systems are collapsing and we are running out of time to stop irreversible changes to our planet.
The science is clear. If we do not rapidly cut global greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% in 2030, we will push our Earth beyond the ‘planetary boundaries’ that have sustained life for millions upon millions of years.
So what exactly are these ‘planetary boundaries’ we are dangerously approaching, and what are the science-based solutions to achieve our 2030 emissions target? Is there hope for our future? Our guest this week, Johan Rockström, is here to present the sobering, scientific case for why science demands a united global commitment for the race to zero.
Johan Rockström is an internationally recognised scientist and director of the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research. He is best known for his influential work on the ‘planetary boundaries’ framework on which he has delivered two outstanding Ted Talks, the most recent as part of the Ted Countdown series.
Stick around for an unbelievable music performance from Ayoni!
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Help us shape Season 3 of Outrage + Optimism by filling out our short listener survey! – Thank you!
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Thank you to our guest this week, Johan Rockström.
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Watch two of his TED Talks mentioned in the episode here:
10 Years to Transform The Future of Humanity - or Destabilize The Planet
5 Transformational Policies For a Prosperous and Sustainable World
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Our musical guest this week is Ayoni!
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Tom Rivett-Carnac:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Outrage and Optimism, I'm Tom Ravikarnak. |
| 0:16.0 | I'm Cristiana Piedes. |
| 0:17.0 | And I'm Hall the Genson. |
| 0:19.6 | This week we set the scene for the race to zero in the 2020s by setting out what's at |
| 0:24.8 | stake for all of us. |
| 0:26.8 | We discussed the reentry of the US into the Paris Agreement and we speak with world-renowned |
| 0:31.4 | scientist Johan Rockstra. |
| 0:33.6 | Plus there's music from Ion. |
| 0:35.7 | Thanks for being here. |
| 0:43.4 | So, here we are 2021, the beginning of season three, we're back together again. |
| 0:51.3 | Of course, the break that we were supposed to take hasn't really been a break because |
| 0:54.4 | so much has been going on, we've been doing bonuses and dropping in investigative reporting, |
| 0:58.2 | but that's all been good and we hope that you, the listener, have been enjoying it. |
| 1:02.1 | But here we are. |
| 1:03.1 | This is the year that 2020 was supposed to be. |
| 1:05.6 | We're kicking off 2021. |
| 1:07.5 | This amazing road ahead of us now with an unbelievable wind at our backs that we could barely |
| 1:12.4 | have imagined a year ago. |
| 1:13.8 | We have science-driven policy in the White House. |
| 1:17.0 | We have clarity from government leaders all around the world. |
| 1:20.6 | We have a US back in the Paris Agreement. |
| 1:23.0 | Actually, it's very strange. |
... |
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