Planes, Protests, Pensions... and have banks given up on saving the planet?
Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast
Persephonica
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 17 July 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Can a pilot really be the change-maker who helps us to holiday nearer home? Why aren’t governments and institutions doing more to help climate activists? And can climate progress happen without sacrificing prosperity, especially in countries like Brazil?
Christiana Figueres, Paul Dickinson and guest host Fiona McRaith (Director of The Climate Pledge at Global Optimism) are back with more of the knottiest and most urgent questions you’ve ever sent us.
Plus: are the world’s biggest financial institutions abandoning climate action? Sue Reid (Climate Finance Advisor at Global Optimism) explains how banks and insurers are reacting to political pressure, why some net zero alliances appear to be fracturing, and why “green hushing” doesn’t mean giving up entirely.
And: from climate visas to sponge cities, adaptation is finally rising on the global agenda - but is it fast or fair enough? Irene Suárez Pérez (Senior Advisor to Groundswell) walks us through some of the global hotspots of climate resilience, and why adaptation isn’t a consolation prize.
Learn more
Listen back to episodes referenced in this Q&A, including:
⏳ Momentum vs Perfection, where Fiona joins Tom to explore different theories of change within the climate movement.
💼 When Business is Political: Climate Commitments in an Age of Backlash, where Tom and Paul speak to Helen Clarkson about the moves of large companies in the context of rising anti-ESG forces.
💰 Learn more about greening pensions and investments: ShareAction, Third Act’s Banking on our Future and Make My Money Matter
🎤 Get your chance to be featured on the show! Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe
And follow us on social media for behind the scenes moments and to watch our videos:
Instagram @outrageoptimism
LinkedIn @outrageoptimism
Or get in touch with us via this form.
Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks
Video Producer: Caitlin Hanrahan
Additional production: Miriam Hall
Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford
Commissioning Editor: Sarah Thomas
This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to outrage and optimism. |
| 0:04.2 | I'm Paul Dickinson. |
| 0:05.3 | I'm Christiana Fierrez, and we still have with us the magnificent. |
| 0:09.7 | Fiona McGrath. |
| 0:12.3 | Okay, so this week we're going to go into the second batch of questions from listeners, |
| 0:16.8 | and we have another weird, wild and wonderful set of ways to advance the conversation. |
| 0:22.5 | So let's get into it. |
| 0:25.9 | Okay, from Joel, we have a fascinating question. |
| 0:29.9 | Listen first to his story and then to his question. |
| 0:33.7 | Hi, Christiana, Tom and Paul. |
| 0:35.6 | I am an airline pilot, shortly to be an ex-airline pilot. I'm finding my |
| 0:39.9 | feelings on climate change too difficult to reconcile with a career in that industry. The question is, |
| 0:44.4 | what next? I'd love to help the climate movement. My ambition at the moment is to create an organisation |
| 0:49.5 | which inspires local travel. A big problem with airplanesoplanes is that their speed encourages us to travel |
| 0:55.2 | huge distances, but while they cut the time required to travel far, they certainly don't cut |
| 1:00.2 | the amount of fuel needed. Stacations are often seen as second best to what some might call proper |
| 1:05.0 | travel, but I know that there are millions of people who find everything they want from their |
| 1:09.0 | holidays and adventures within a few hundred miles or less. The challenge is to cut emissions by persuading more people to try |
| 1:15.6 | and do the same. I'd love to make my organisation a platform for anyone who's been able to find |
| 1:20.5 | all the joy they need without travelling far to share their passion and knowledge. I'm hoping that |
| 1:25.2 | with enough people, including hopefully some famous people, |
| 1:32.4 | setting the example, it could inspire a cultural shift. I'm intending to call the organisation look near first. But although I'm excited by the idea, in many ways I'm struggling. I need help. |
... |
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