Tag: environment

The Disappointing Madrid Climate Talks Scuttled by Big Polluters

We begin with the disappointing conclusion to the COP25 U.N. Climate talks in Madrid which had been extended but in the end the fossil fuel producers Saudi Arabia, Australia and the United States, along with Brazil led by the “Trump of the tropics”, the rainforest arsonist Bolsonaro, were able to delay efforts to halt global warming while postponing the regulation of a global carbon market until next year. Andrew Revkin, the Founding Director of the Initiative on Communication and Sustainability at the Earth Institute of Columbia University and a reporter at The New York Times and creator of the paper’s Dot Earth blog where he covers global environmental issues and climate change since the 1980’s joins us. He is the author of “The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest” and “The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World” and we discuss how science took a back seat to the delaying tactics of the big polluters at the expense of the small island nations being submerged by rising sea levels. And while delegates from close to 200 countries endorsed a declaration to help poor nations that are suffering the effects of climate change, no additional funds were promised or allocated. We also assess the role of Chile, whose embattled leader presided over the COP25  climate talks which had to be moved to Madrid because of unrest and rioting against the government of President Pinera which proved to be irresponsibly weak in getting rolled by a handful of powerful carbon economies.

The Real Lessons from Labour’s Loss in the UK

Then we speak with Kate Aronoff who covers climate and U.S. politics at The Guardian and is a contributing writer for The Intercept. She joins us to discuss her latest article at The Guardian, “Democrats beware – the UK election was actually a terrible night for centrists” and her new book, just out, “A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal”. We assess Trump’s claim that the results of the UK election are a harbinger for his reelection and Joe Biden’s warning that the Democrats should not move too far to the left as the UK’s Labour Party did.

The Economic Consequences of Getting Brexit Done

Then finally we go to the UK to speak with economist Stephany Griffith Jones, Emeritus Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University and a Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute in London. She joins us to discuss the economic consequences of getting Brexit done as Boris Johnson has promised and the likelihood that the massive hit to the UK economy could have a ripple effect in dragging down the European and even the American economy.