Climate Quickie: What even is COP?

Everyone’s talking about COP26, but what is it? We sit down with Rt Hon. David Lammy MP, to get a 5-minute explainer on what this curious ‘COP’ is, which according to Lammy, is actually quite like a “festival” – count us in!

Tune in to discover what really goes on at the ‘Conference of The Parties’, and why so much hinges on the 26th meeting this year in Glasgow. ​​

Enjoyed this quickie? Listen to our full-length chat with David Lammy MP from Season 1 on why climate justice can’t happen without racial justice: https://tedxlondon.com/news/climate-curious-why-climate-justice-cant-happen-without-racial-justice/

Why fossil fuels are the new weapons of mass destruction

In what world would stockpiling something so deadly it threatens the future of human survival on planet Earth, make sense? Yep, that’s right, THIS planet! We’re currently on track to produce 120% more oil, coal and gas (aka fossil fuels) in the next decade than the world can ever burn. So why are we still stockpiling it? In this jaw-dropping episode of Climate Curious by TEDxLondon, environmental campaigner, Tzeporah Berman, reveals the shocking grip the fossil fuel industry has on our governments, economies, societies… and even our minds, and what we can do to fight back. Tune in with co-hosts Maryam Pasha and Ben Hurst live from TED Countdown to learn about how we can think and act more like citizens and less like consumers, why fossil fuel polluters want us to feel guilty about our lifestyle choices, how ‘groupthink’ made us all focus on emissions instead of production, and as Tzeporah puts it, why “we don’t need better light bulbs, we need better laws.”

Read more: https://tedxlondon.com/podcast/climate-curious-why-fossil-fuels-are-the-new-weapons-of-mass-destruction/

Watch Tzeporah’s TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/tzeporah_berman_the_global_treaty_to_phase_out_fossil_fuels

Sign the Fossil Fuel Non-ProliferationTreaty: https://fossilfueltreaty.org/

Climate Quickie: What anti-apartheid can teach the climate movement

From protesting on the front lines against the apartheid in South Africa to sitting in the boardrooms of global climate change and human rights organisations, Kumi Naidoo is a lifelong activist with a tonne of experience in how to make people in power sit up and take notice. The only way? Through music, dance, culture – ‘artivism’, says Kumi, in this week’s Climate Quickie.

“When I started as a 15 year old, I had an intuitive sense of injustice. […] What I learned in the first sort of 10 years of my activism was probably the most instructive. I wish I had hung on to some of the core lessons even stronger than I did. But I got contaminated a little bit along the way, by the idea of doing things where you had big logos and marketing and communications,” says Kumi.

If you enjoyed this quickie, why not listen to Kumi’s full 2-part episode on the #ClimateCuriousPod – How culture can help us win the climate war: https://tedxlondon.com/podcast/climatecuriouskumi

Climate Quickie: Why climate change is unfair

Why is it that the communities that have the least to do with creating climate change are the ones who suffer the most harm? You only have to look at Guyana, one of the world’s few carbon sinks, to see how flooding and a dangerously low sea level is putting the nation at risk of going underwater. In this Climate Quickie with environmental lawyer, Melinda Janki, hear her thoughts on why stories of the Global South’s pioneering approaches to the climate crisis are kept quiet, and how we can rebalance the climate conversation to be more representative of global realities, as opposed to the usual Western perspectives.

If you enjoyed this quickie, why not listen to Melinda’s full episode on Climate Curious – How the Guyanese people are fighting big oil https://tedxlondon.com/podcast/climate-curious-how-guyanese-people-fighting-big-oil/

We hope you enjoy this new format we’re sprinkling in as an extra to our standard 30 minute episodes. Let us know what other interesting facts, digestible explainers and practical tips from former guests you’d like to hear info@tedxlondon.com

How we can fight air pollution, together

“Our lungs are not experiments. Every single minute, every day, damage is being done. And that’s what happened to Ella,” says clean air advocate Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah and mother of the late Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah in the latest episode of the Climate Curious podcast. Tune in with co-hosts Maryam Pasha and Ben Hurst to learn about how Rosamund took on the UK government and won a landmark case, what a future clean air act should look like and how it can help us save nearly 9 million lives a year, and the simple things you can do today to limit your exposure to air pollution – including walking on quieter streets. This episode will give you an insight into why we need to reframe air pollution as a health thing, not just an environment thing, the tension between Ella’s positive impact on the air pollution campaign and the impact it has on her family, and why poor and marginalised communities are not given equal footing in the climate debate, despite this landmark win.

Read the Coroner’s report on how to prevent future deaths like Ella’s: https://www.judiciary.uk/publications/ella-kissi-debrah/

Climate Quickie: Why cheap food is killing us

The biggest myth about healthy food? That it’s expensive. In this Climate Quickie with knowledge broker, community chef and food policy-maker Dee Woods, she breaks down how to find affordable, healthy food – think hyper-local! This visionary food actionist shares how if you cut out the middleman and shop directly from a grower, market gardener or farmer, you can shortcut to healthy, nutritious food.

If you enjoyed this quickie, why not listen to Dee’s full episode on Climate Curious – How to Be A Global Food Citizen: https://tedxlondon.com/podcast/climate-curious-how-to-be-a-global-food-citizen/

We hope you enjoy this new format we’re sprinkling in as an extra to our standard 30 minute episodes. Let us know what other interesting facts, digestible explainers and practical tips from former guests you’d like to hear info@tedxlondon.com

How culture can help us win the climate war, p.1

In the first of a special Climate Curious two-part feature, we hear from the extraordinary South African human rights and environmental activist, Kumi Naidoo, on how we can tap into culture, communications and identity to influence politics and reveal the truth about the climate crisis.

Read the highlights in our article: https://tedxlondon.com/podcast/climatecuriouskumi

Climate Quickie: What is queer ecology?

Our latest feature Climate Quickies gives you bitesize nuggets of climate goodies – in under 5 minutes! This week, we’re talking queer ecology – gender shifting fish, intersex birds, and how trees can impregnate themselves – with iconic environmental and intersectional drag queen, Pattie Gonia.

If you enjoyed this quickie, why not listen to Pattie’s full episode on Climate Curious – Why Mother Nature is a Drag Queen: https://tedxlondon.com/podcast/climate-curious-why-mother-nature-is-a-drag-queen/

We hope you enjoy this new format we’re sprinkling in as an extra to our standard 30 minute episodes. Let us know what other interesting facts, digestible explainers and practical tips from former guests you’d like to hear info@tedxlondon.com