The Land & Climate Podcast

• Can U.S. climate science survive under Trump?

  Yesterday, the U.S. Congress approved President Donald Trump's so-called 'Big Beautiful Bill'. This controversial federal budget is set to defund a huge proportion of the nation's climate and environmental science - what will the impacts be for America, and for global efforts against the climate crisis?Bertie spoke to John Holdren, who served as President Barack Obama's Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy from 2009-2017, becoming the longest-serving Science Advisor to the President in U.S. history. He is now a Research Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Further reading: ‘How the G.O.P. Bill Will Reshape America’s Energy Landscape’, The New York Times, 3/7/25 ‘Key climate change reports removed from US government websites’, The Guardian, 1/7/25 ‘Turmoil at US science academy as Trump cuts force layoffs’, Nature, 1/7/25 ‘Here Is All the Science at Risk in Trump’s Clash With Harvard’, The New York Times, 22/6/25 ‘Time for Congress to save American science … and the nation’, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 6/6/25 ‘The Trump administration has shut down more than 100 climate studies’, MIT Technology Review, 2/6/25 ‘The U.S. Under Trump: Alone in Its Climate Denial’, The New York Times, 19/5/25 ‘The Future of the U S Climate and Environmental Science Funding’, The Salata Institute, 14/5/25 [video] Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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• Colombia versus oil and gas: what’s the truth behind the transition?

  In 2022, Gustavo Petro became the first left-wing candidate to win the Colombian presidential election. During his election campaign, Petro pledged to end the granting of new oil and gas exploration contracts, a commitment his government has so far succeeded in maintaining. This week, Alasdair speaks with third-year doctoral student Guy Edwards who has interviewed over 50 people - from former government ministers to academics and industry representatives - about the impact of Petro’s pledge on Colombia’s energy transition.  Guy and Alasdair discuss what the pledge entails, how it was received by the fossil fuel industry and right-wing media and what will likely become of it following fresh presidential elections next year.    Guy Edwards is a PhD candidate in International Relations at the University of Sussex and a member of the Working Group on Natural Resources, Energy and Climate Obstruction in the Global South of the Climate Social Science Network Further reading: Commentary: The Petro government’s big gamble on ending fossil fuel licensing, University of Sussex, 2025 Climate obstruction in the Global South: Future research trajectories, PLOS Climate Journals, 2023 Supply-side climate policy: A new frontier in climate governance, WIREs Climate Change, 2024  El dilema de Colombia y el mundo: salir de la era fósil o sufrir sus impactos devastadores, Elespectador, 2023 Retrasar la transición energética podría costarle a Colombia 88.000 millones de dólares,  Elespectador, 2023 Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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• Has neoliberalism undermined climate action?

  Germany's 2025 federal election saw the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) double its support to 20.8%, becoming the second largest party, while the Green Party fell from 14.8% to 11.6%. The AfD denies climate science and opposes environmental policies on economic grounds. This week, Alasdair interviews academic Felix Schulz, whose recent research has examined public attitudes toward climate policy across six countries - three in the global north and three in the global south.  The research found that core values – particularly those derived from neoliberalism and free-market ideology – are more effective than socioeconomic factors in indicating how people will respond to climate policies.  Felix and Alasdair discuss how neoliberal thinking has shaped public opinion, why climate policy must integrate social and economic considerations, and how job security concerns in industrial roles affect political support for climate action. Felix Schulz is a postdoctoral research fellow at Lund University researching public opinion and climate policy.  Further reading:  Why focusing on “climate change denial” is counterproductive, 2023,  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences People with neoliberal views are less likely to support climate-friendly policies, 2025, The Conversation Public support for climate policies and its ideological predictors across countries of the Global North and Global South, 2025, Ecological Economics Navigating sustainable futures: The role of terminal and instrumental values, 2024, Ecological Economics German elections: why most political parties aren’t talking about the climate crisis, 2025,   The Conversation Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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• How did China become a green economy powerhouse?

  From widespread industrial pollution to emerging as a green powerhouse, China’s economic evolution shows how grassroots activism has pushed ecological issues to the political forefront.  Tianjie and Bertie discuss China’s green evolution, Pan Yue’s introduction of environmental nationalism (now championed by Xi Jinping), flawed provincial reporting, and whether the country’s model can be sustained. Ma Tianjie is a freelance writer and environmental activist based in Beijing. He worked as Greenpeace’s Program Director for Mainland China until 2015, and then as Director of China Dialogue Beijing until 2022. His book, In Search of Green China, was published in February 2025 by Polity Press. Buy it here.  Audio engineering by Vasco Kostovski. Further reading: Après moi, le deluge: how a fight over garbage challenged China’s growth model, Land and Climate Review, 2025  Researchers unveil roadmap for a carbon neutral China by 2060, Modern Diplomacy, 2020 Clearing the skies: how Beijing tackled air pollution & what lies ahead Sustainable Mobility, 2023 Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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• Are we prepared for geoengineering?

  A UK government agency recently announced it would spend £57 million on a controversial project to develop geoengineering technologies.   The Exploring Climate Cooling Programme will fund 21 international research teams to conduct small-scale, controlled outdoor experiments to thicken Arctic sea ice and brighten clouds, to prevent global warming from increasing past irreversible tipping points. Geoengineering has long been a point of contention amongst scientists, environmental academics and conspiracy theorists - each firm in their beliefs about whether such interventions are necessary, effective, or risk irreversibly damaging the planet. Alasdair speaks with two academics studying geoengineering - Albert Van Wijngaarden and Adrian Hindes - who call for nuanced understanding and more productive conversation between the advocates and opposers of such radical interventions. They discuss the history of polar and solar geoengineering, the risks involved, and the lack of global governance. If you enjoyed this episode, stay tuned - we plan to explore geoengineering in more detail in the future. Further reading:  Plans to cool the Earth by blocking sunlight are gaining momentum but critical voices risk being excluded, October 2024, Albert Van Wijngaarden and Adrian Hindes Do-or-Die: Should we be talking about geoengineering?, December 2022, Land and Climate Review Soviet and Russian perspectives on geoengineering and climate management - Oldfield, J. D., & Poberezhskaya, M. (2023). .Wiley Interdisciplinary ReviewsControversial geoengineering projects to test Earth-cooling tech funded by UK agency, May 2025, Nature Not such a bright idea: cooling the Earth by reflecting sunlight back to space is a dangerous distraction, March 2024, The Conversation  Securing the ‘great white shield’? Climate change, Arctic security and the geopolitics of solar geoengineering, August 2024, Nordic International Studies Association After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair and Restoration, 2019, Holly Jean Buck, VersoClick here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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