27 min. video. Sir David King | Arctic Report | Climate Crisis Advisory Group

In this episode of Shaping The Future, I am speaking with former UK Government Chief Science Advisor, Sir David King. Sir David has recently set up the Climate Crisis Advisory Group (CCAG) to respond with agility to the real-time climate crisis. The first report is linked in the notes and focuses on the Arctic as a key regulator of global climate stability and more recently, chaotic disruption. Key points: Jet Stream Omega Event Johanne Rockstrum: Arctic tipping point has passed. Are accelerating impacts at risk of outpacing action? Scientists have mismanaged the modelling of climate change events. Greenland ice sheet is sitting in warm air and losing ice rapidly. We are not prepared for what we are currently seeing! We need a UN Security Council For Climate Change. Our future as a civilisation depends on a rapid response to the situation. UK Policy on China: Timing-wise it could not be worse! The EU, China and US are all talking together. Greenhouse Gas Removal: Build up oceans to what they used to be and we could absorb 30-40 billion tonnes per annum. Refreezing the Arctic: If we don’t manage this we are cooked! The CCAG Report is for Governments, Businesses and Financial operations. The time for action is now! Sir David discusses the mantra they are trying to get into the mainstream consciousness of climate action: Reduce, Remove and Repair. The message is clear that climate is now the main issue threatening our civilisation across the globe. We are now crossing tipping points and the time rapid scaled up action is now. Sir David also suggests the creation of a UN Security Council for Climate Change to deal specifically with the international efforts of nations and regions to tackle arising issues. This connects to my interview next week with NATO and US Government Security Advisor on Climate Change, Chad Briggs. Next week I will also be talking to Dr Shaun Fitzgerald OBE, Director of the Centre for Climate Repair in Cambridge about how we need to flip our building infrastructure from a massive carbon source to carbon sink. This includes existing buildings and the colossal amount that needs to be built with resilience around the world to weather the tide of climate adversity.

Excellent interview, thank you. However I would disagree with Sir King's conclusion. We are not "there, right now". We should, but we are not. Greenhouse gases emissions are increasing, demand for oil and coal is increasing (check the data and forecasts). There is no true mind shift. Nobody is seriously talking about making any sacrifices or modifying our lifestyles. The priority remains increasing corporate profits and returns, economic growth, financial stability, and ever-more consumption worldwide. We have a deep conceptual and philosophical problem. Our values are wrong. Our education is wrong. Our expectations are wrong. Our lifestyle is unsustainable. But we don't have the guts to look truth in the eye, or the courage to educate ourselves or renounce to anything. So reality, that is, the laws of nature, will be foisted onto us.

Politics is why we are where we're at. Same with the pandemic. Keeping the corporate profit machine going is all that matters to politics. Nice talk won't get us nowhere, it never did. It's called PR, aka marketing. See "the Century of the self", an old but excellent BBC documentary.

A UN Security Council on Global Climate Change sounds like a very good idea. Maybe the UN will talk about it in a few years, form a group in a year after that, hire scientists for the next year, study for a few more, announce findings, advise governments, argue with the IPCC over percentages, get rejected by authoritarian governments, etc, etc. If only climate change would hold off while this is all worked out.

We have seen a lot of great work being done around the UK but we know that we need to share the learning to save time.