The editorial team from The Land and Climate Review interview thinkers and policymakers in the world of economics, land-use and climate policy. Find more on our...
With India kicking off 2025 with an historic space-docking experiment, and Elon Musk's growing power in the US government raising questions over the future of his spacecraft and satellite companies SpaceX and Starlink, we may be at the dawn of a new era for space exploration.Unlike the 20th Century Space Race, however, it will likely be private companies that cross new mildstones - not public agencies. But who will regulate mining on the moon and tourism in space, and what are the environmental implications? Bertie talks about these issues with D. Raghunandan, Director of the Delhi Science Forum, as well as discussing the positive contributions of the space sector towards climate and environmental science. Further reading: 'Indian Space Sector on a High This Year', News Click, February 2025'Mining the moon for minerals could be worth billions, but astronomers warn it's bad news for science', Business Insider, February 2025'India File: Jostling for position in the space race', Reuters, January 2025'How Elon Musk’s partnership with Trump could shape science in the US — and beyond', Nature, December 2024'Donald Trump’s approach to US space policy could throw up some surprises, especially with Elon Musk on board', Durham University, November 2024'The dark side of SpaceX’s flight of innovation', People's Dispatch, November 2023Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.
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30:44
Why has the US government profiled pesticide scientists?
Alasdair speaks to journalist Margot Gibbs about her investigation into a US government-funded PR firm that profiled pesticide scientists. Last autumn, Lighthouse Reports - in collaboration with media partners across Europe - published an investigation into v-Fluence, a US-based PR firm that worked to discredit anti-pesticide scientists and campaigners.Alasdair speaks to Margot Gibbs, a journalist who led the investigation, about its findings and what it reveals about the agro-chemicals lobby.Margot Gibbs is an investigative reporter at Lighthouse Reports focusing on money trails and food systems reporting. Before joining Lighthouse she was a reporter for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Finance Uncovered. Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski.Further reading:'US-funded ‘social network’ attacking pesticide critics shuts down after Guardian investigation', The Guardian, February 2025'Poison PR', Lighthouse Reports, September 2024'How the US agrochemical lobby is meddling in the future of Kenyan farming', The New Humanitarian, September 2024'Secret files suggest chemical giant feared weedkiller’s link to Parkinson’s disease', The Guardian, October 2022'"Monsanto papers": the pesticide giant's war against science', Le Monde, June 2017Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, 2010Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.
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25:22
What is the future for Ukraine's energy sector?
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 shocked global energy markets, and changed the EU's long and short-term plans for decarbonisation. But how have three years of conflict changed Ukraine's own policies and plans around energy security and net zero? Bertie discusses this issue with Ukrainian economist Maksym Chepeliev, Research Assistant Professor at the Center for Global Trade Analysis, Purdue University, USA. Read Professor Chepeliev's research: 'Net-Zero Transition in Ukraine: Implications for Sustainable Development Goal 7', Aligning the Energy Transition with the Sustainable Development Goals, 2024'Can Ukraine go “green” on the post-war recovery path?', Joule, 2023'What is the future of nuclear power in Ukraine? The role of war, techno-economic drivers, and safety considerations', Energy Policy, 2023'The role of bioenergy in Ukraine's climate mitigation policy by 2050', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2021See our previous episodes on: nuclear power and net-zero, in which we discuss security concerns about Zaporizhzhiamilitary emissions, in which we discuss the carbon cost of the Russia-Ukraine Warthe future of Russian oil, from 2022Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.
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25:35
Is the clampdown on climate protest a threat to democracy?
In a recently published report, “Criminalisation and Repression of Climate and Environmental Protests”, Dr. Oscar Berglund and his colleagues identified four key mechanisms through which climate and environmental protests are repressed: the introduction of new anti-protest laws, the broadening use of existing legislation, excessive policing and killings and disappearances of activists. Alasdair and Oscar discuss the findings of the report and the ways in which the clampdown on climate protest represents a threat to both democracy and net zero targets. Oscar Berglund is Senior Lecturer in International Public and Social Policy in the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol. He is an expert on climate change activism and civil disobedience.Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski.Further reading:Criminalisation and Repression of Climate and Environmental Protests, University of Bristol, 2024Civic Activism in an Intensifying Climate Crisis, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2024 Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action, Columbia University Press, 2024Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.
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25:12
Is climate crisis really an economic threat?
“The capitalist system is necessarily built on creating ecological crises.” Bertie speaks to Ståle Holgersen about his new book Against the Crisis: Economy and Ecology in a Burning World, in which he argues that, contrary to popular economic thought, economic crises are not triggered by ecological ones but instead the capitalist economy benefits from ecological crises. Bertie and Ståle discuss the ways in which crises are defined, the drawbacks to arguments for degrowth and the potential solutions to the climate emergency. Ståle Holgersen is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at Stockholm University and a member of the Zetkin Collective, an ecosocialist group of scholars and activists primarily working on the political ecologies of the far right.Against the Crisis was published last month and is available to buy from Verso here.Further reading:Read an extract from Against the Crisis on Land and Climate Review. White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism, The Zetkin Collective, 2021Searching for “Solutions” to Crisis: A Critique of Urban Austerity and Keynesianism, Uppsala University, 2018Destroy what destroys the planet: Steering creative destruction in the dual crisis, Uppsala University, 2016Click here to read our investigation into the UK biomass supply chain, or watch a clip from the BBC Newsnight documentary.
The editorial team from The Land and Climate Review interview thinkers and policymakers in the world of economics, land-use and climate policy. Find more on our site at www.landclimate.org
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