Arctic Heat
New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast
06/27/24
•35m
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That the Arctic is warming is not exactly breaking news on a planet where almost everywhere is warming. But it is critical news that the Arctic is warming almost four times faster than the rest of the globe since the polar regions are essentially the planet’s air conditioners. Last year's Arctic Report Card documented that 2023 was the Arctic's hottest summer in centuries, with all the attendant consequences: massive wildfires, late June Greenland ice sheet melt, sea surface temperatures 7oC above normal, etc.
The list of firsts, or maybe better put, worst was a long one—and the early evidence is that those were trends, not anomalies, that continue in 2024.
Are we as a planet now locked into ever more warming? Are there potential tipping points that might produce even faster change? Are there actions that can be taken on a timescale that's relevant to people living today?
Even if the answers are "Yes, Yes, No" are there initiatives at scale that are worth pursuing if only to adapt to the massive changes clearly underway? If that question elicits even a tentative "Yes", then the places to start are at the epicenters: the Arctic and Antarctica.
Tero Mustonen— Finnish environmental leader, scientist, fisherman and past recipient of the Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize—is spending his life working to make that last “Yes” more muscular. More immediately, he recently returned from traveling across the Arctic, which gives us a rare opportunity for a firsthand debrief.
Please tell us what you think.
In the podcast, Tero mentioned arcticseas.org where you can hear the authentic voices of hunters, women, and fishers from Arctic villages as they share their knowledge, often for the first time. These communities, living sustainably in one of the planet's toughest environments, offer vital messages about coexisting with nature.
Previous Episode
India Votes!
June 20, 2024
•33m
Like everything else about India, its democracy is complicated. Recent parliamentary elections—more than 640 million people voted (roughly two-thirds of eligible voters)—produced a contradictory, confusing outcome. On the one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP party won a plurality, giving him a historic third term. On the other hand, the BJP lost its majority and required coalition partners to maintain control. The political opposition, including much-maligned Rahul Gandhi and Congress, won a new life as a serious political force.
So, which is it? Did Modi, denigrated by some as a Trump-like autocrat, win or lose? Did the majority of Indian voters reject the Hindu nationalism that has been his trademark? Was this election about Modi, about religious extremism, about economics, or about something totally different? Is India more or less stable, more or less predictable?
It’s India, so definitive answers are elusive. But our guest today on New Thinking for a New World, can surely point us in the right direction. Vishakha Desai is a widely respected Asian scholar focused on art, culture, policy, and women's rights. Born in India and living in the United States, Vishakha moves seamlessly between the two countries and the two cultures. Listen as she explains the elections and their consequences—and then tell us what you think.
Next Episode
France Lurches Right
July 4, 2024
•32m
Much to everyone’s surprise, France’s President Macron recently decided that—like much of the rest of the world—his country ought to have national elections this year. The outcome of the first of two rounds was devastating for his political project to govern from the center: Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally party won a bit more than 33% of the vote. A coalition of leftist parties, the New Popular Front, won 28%. And Macron's Centers party again came in third, 22%.
Headlines around described a “landslide” for Le Pen and speculated that the RN might win an absolute majority of legislative seats in the July 7th second round of voting. While that is one of the possibilities, it's not clear, whether it's the most likely one. What does seem clear is that French politics has entered an incredibly volatile, unpredictable, perhaps dangerous period.
Fear of the populist far right is one of the themes coursing through, perhaps defining French politics. Alice Barbe is a French political and social activist who is firmly planted on the left of the political spectrum in her country. Listen as she shares her fears and discusses her expectations for the second round of voting—and the morning after.
What do you think: can right-wing populism be democratic?
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