This episode is brought to you by Shopify. With Shopify, 2026 is the year you make it happen. It gives you the tools to build your dream store, online and in person. Plus with marketing built in, it'll help you reach exactly who you need to. Join the millions who've already made the leap, like Jim Shark and all birds, and ring in the new year with Shopify.

Sign up for your £1 per month trial at shopify.com.uk.

org slash Spotify.

Is our planet's glass half empty or half full?

Climate one conversations with oil companies and environmentalists,

Republicans and Democrats are recorded at the Commonwealth Club of California and hosted by Greg Dalton.

In their 1968 book, The Population Bomb, Paul and Anne Ayrlich warned of the dangers of over

population. These included mass starvation, societal upheaval, and environmental ruin. Half a century

later, not all of their dire predictions have come to pass, but unless we do more to alleviate

the world's problems,

Ehrlich still sees a little hope on the horizon. I'm very pessimistic about the future, but very

optimistic about what we could do. I have to say that I've become less optimistic about what we

could do, for among other things, of course, because we're not trying any of it. Glass half empty to be sure, but cognitive scientist Steven Pinker argues that despite dark

headlines, in many ways life is getting better for most of the planet.

People are living longer. The average lifespan across the globe is about 72 years.

Global extreme poverty has been sinking. Probably

less than 10% of the world today lives in a state of extreme poverty. Two hundred years ago is

more like 90%. On today's program, Greg Dalton explores Reasons for Hope with Stephen Pinker,

author of Enlightenment Now, The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.

Later in the program, we'll hear from Paul Erlich, who is now a professor of population studies at Stanford University.

Greg talked with Erlich earlier this year.

First, here's Greg's conversation with Stephen Pinker.

...