Climate Quandaries is a podcast about (some of) the Big Philosophical Questions raised by climate change, featuring 1-on-1 conversations with climate scientists. We traverse the personal-professional interface to explore how scientists personally see the value of their work and reckon with its implications, a.k.a. what it all means — from the long-term global level to individual life choices.
The podcast's goal is to reveal a sort of 'metadata' on the field as a whole, at this moment where climate-related issues are arguably more important than ever for both human society and the environment writ large. We describe our personal views and actions on a variety of current issues, aiming to provide in-depth reasoning and context appropriate for a science-oriented audience.
As of April 2023, Season 1 is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts.
S1E1: Radley Horton (59m) Radley and I discuss, among other things: the value of placing climate information in local cultural context; the interplay between short- and long-term-focused mitigation/adaptation efforts; finding personally meaningful motivations for environmentally friendly actions; and the ethical and social considerations around flying and eating meat.
S1E2: Marleen de Ruiter (1h2m) Marleen and I discuss, among other things: the interface between science and activism; perceptions of risk in the Netherlands versus North America; the value of travel; and what ChatGPT might mean for science education and careers.
S1E3: Arianna Varuolo-Clarke (49m) Arianna and I discuss, among other things: communicating climate variability and change; the merits of highly targeted climate risk information; balancing research and activism; and the moral obligations imposed by inequities in data access.
S1E4: Peter Gibson (59m) Peter and I discuss, among other things: thinking beyond 2100; how AI may reshape climate research and communication; climate-impacts science for island nations; and the instinctive appeal of science and the importance of scientific literacy.