ClimateGenn investigates environmental issues with world experts

ClimateGenn editor Nick Breeze (centre) with Fr Joshua Kureethadam and Natalia Baloghova,

Editor Nick Breeze writes about his groundbreaking media project ClimateGenn.

Much of the world's mainstream media is now in the hands of corporate ownership and messages are biased and skewed by vested interested or political leanings. Never has the need for independent journalism with a motive to serve the greater public interest been more necessary and deserving of value.

I set-up ClimateGenn as an independent journalist following a decade of interviewing the world's leading authorities in the field of climate change from science to politics and business, as well as faith and activism.

The threat is not only real, it is now

The conclusions of the scientific community is that the predictions about climate change are not only certain, they are here. You no longer need a scientist to tell you that sweeping fires in Siberia that are destroying vast areas of boreal forest and accelerating the thawing of permafrost, are being driven faster by climate change. You can just ask the people who live there.

In the tropics millions of people are already suffering and hundreds of millions, if not billions are at risk of losing their homes and even their lives. As a scientist living inside the Arctic circle said to m recently, we are entering a new world.

A future we want to live in must be imagined

At the beginning of the lockdown living in London, I decided to start a podcast focusing on interviews with many of the scientists and other experts that I had met over the years in reporting on climate change.

The podcast grew out of a project that I cofounded at Cambridge University called 'The Cambridge Climate Lecture Series'. The series was started in memory of the late Sir David Mackay, the former UK chief government scientist.

The pandemic meant the live series was canceled. The podcast attracted much more interest that I had imagined it might with scientists from NASA, New Zealand and even the Head of Ecology at the Vatican, Father Joshua Kureethadam, joining me to discuss the action needed or being planned to shape the future.

It was with great surprise that we noticed in late 2020 that we were rated second by Feedspot on the list of global podcasts discussing the climate crisis.

Laudato Si, Pope Francis' Mobilisation

Following the interview with Father Joshua, we were lucky enough to meet again in Rome when I visited in September 2021. Father Josh has been working tirelessly on implementing the 'Year of Laudato Si', a bottom up cascade of climate action.

Father Josh is affectionately called 'The Green' by Pope Francis and has proved his worthiness of the title by publishing his own book 'The Green Commandments of Laudato Si', a spiritual and theological guide to the encyclical.

Father Joshua speaks passionately about the momentum with which Christian communities around the world have seized the moment to act on protecting the earth, which of course is God's creation.

New Year's Momentum

This process of speaking with people who are experts in their respective fields has given the series momentum and at the outset of 2022 we already have interviews planned with leading contributors including Professor Katherine Hayhoe in Texas, Sir Tim Smit of the Eden Project, and Dr Paul Behrens in the Hague.

It is critical now that we all start to think about the impact the climate crisis is going to have on our own lives and also on those who are most vulnerable. It was Charles Dickens who expounded the belief that if one part of our society is sick, then the whole body of society is sick. It is essential that we come together to tackle this challenge as a collective.

Triumph over adversity

One important fact is that we now know without doubt that the climate crisis has been caused by greed and consumption in developed countries and by the exploitation of those in poorer countries.

Research has shown that the richest 10% of the global population are responsible for 50% of the worlds emissions. The top 1% in the millionaire and billionaire classes are many times this amount.

A future together

The world needs equity and justice like never before. We need peace and cooperation to be the main drivers of our motivations to create a better world. People will have to move because of climate change. This can happen in wealthy western nations as well as in poorer global south nations.

Most of all we must speak openly about the world we want to live in and create our own visions of how we are going to make it happen. This is what we are doing at ClimateGenn. You can find out more at https://genn.cc or subscribe for free on Youtube or on any major podcast platform like Apple or Spotify. Feedback from our audience is part of the shaping the future process.

LINKS

ClimateGenn - https://genn.cc

CimateGenn Youtube - www.youtube.com/channel/UCOfWROvWestkWbBhZTk147w