IN REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER… starting with our most recent show
2018 SEASON
Can We Count on Catastrophe? (Replay) December 26, 2018 – Originally broadcast October 19, 2016 – Does the nation, the economy, or even civilization need to collapse in order to start anew? Who benefits if we think like that, and would things get better or worse? A feature interview with Eddie Yuen, co-producer of “Against the Grain” on KPFA radio San Francisco, and editor of “Confronting Capitalism: Dispatches from a Global Movement.” Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Poland Talks Fail to Save Us December 19, 2018 – Reports recorded live from the NGO press center at the Poland COP24 talks. A panel includes one of our favorite climate truth-tellers, the UK’s Kevin Anderson. Kevin explains where real action could start, and the myths world governments are selling us. Then Stuart Scott goes one-on-one with another critic of these international climate shows, Britain’s ice super-scientist Peter Wadhams from Cambridge. This week’s graphic comes a detail from a painting by Kevin M. Paulsen. Thank you Kevin for sharing your work with us. I open the show with me singing a song of rebellious hope for the Paris Climate Talks of 2015. Now as the bitter winter of 2018 ends, there are riots in the streets of Paris – against the carbon tax, against climate action. The same suits and limousines have flown this time to Katawice Poland in the 24th mega-meeting of world governments for more talk about climate action. World greenhouse gas emissions have never been higher. Climate-driven weather violence is already raging. There will be no answer from COP24. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Climate Rebellion & Deep Adaptation December 12, 2018 – Should we tell young people what we’ve done to the climate? Too late: they are telling us. From the climate talks in Katowice Poland, the student rebel who started it all: Greta Thunberg, interviewed by Stuart Scott from scientistswarning.org. From Australia to Canada young people are walking out, protesting a system designed for extinction. Then Dr. Jem Bendell a well-known Sustainability Professor from Britain walks out on green fantasy to tell us: change your plans. Climate change will collapse this system within ten years. I’m Alex Smith. Don’t miss this Radio Ecoshock show. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Unintended Consequences: Bit coin and Air Conditioning December 5, 2018 – Why Bit coin and a rush to air-conditioning in India can rip your future climate. From the Rocky Mountain Institute, Iain Campbell reports the global cooling challenge. Scientist Randi Rollins from University of Hawaii explains Bit coin so we can all understand – and why digital currency can warm the world another half a degree by 2050. You should worry about methane in the Arctic, or the end of the Amazon rainforest. But room air-conditioners or Bit coin? Welcome to the deadly details on Radio Ecoshock. World leaders get dire warnings about the climate, as they will this week at COP24 in Poland. But even those grim charts are low-ball estimates of the real heat coming real fast. So much is left out, and as we discover from new research this week. Just two of many growing technologies can push up the global thermostat. Half a degree more from billions more room air-conditioners; half a degree more from the digital currency Bit coin, and pretty soon it adds up to real Hell. Let’s find out how the unintended consequences of small tech could push us off the climate cliff, with our guests Iain Campbell and Randi Rollins. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Climate Trouble Keeps On Coming November 28, 2018 – Breaking science details hundreds of changes driven by climate disruption. A break-through map of the future, with Dr. Jonathan Patz. Dr. Kimberley Miner: how a warming world releases long-lived toxic chemicals. A quick heads-up on this year’s 24 Hours of Reality world broadcast led by Al Gore. Ken Berlin is our guest. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
California Super Fire Special November 21, 2018 – Literally choking on smoke, radio host Maria Gilardin reports from fire-struck Northern California. Washington Post meteorologist Jason Samenow on climate & fire. Libbe HaLevy tips Woolsey fire at nuclear lab site 30 miles from LA. Wildfire experts Mark Cochrane, John Betts, & firefighter Lou Paulson. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
We Still Have a Chance to Save Ourselves November 14, 2018 – Your experiences can change gene expression for your descendants. Is “epigenetics” an opportunity or a curse? Dr. Peter Ward, University of Washington on his new book “Lamarck’s Revenge”. Plus the most moving climate speech 2018, Canadian Green Party Leader Elizabeth May speaks to Parliament. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Fire Fury Future November 7, 2018 – Should we fear a new burst of warming and extreme weather due to record wildfires? I ask atmospheric scientist John C. Lin from Utah. From the UK, Dr. Edward Hanna says unusual air pressure over Greenland can ruin European summers and pump up sea levels. Welcome to Radio Ecoshock, where science gets real. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Jean-Marc Jancovici: Whistling Past the Graveyard October 31, 2018 – Did you know energy is free, and Peak Oil is not dead? That comes from a French expert in technology, energy, and climate, Jean-Marc Jancovici. Jean-Marc co-founded Carbone 4 consultancy, and The Shift Project. He advises, writes books, and lectures mostly in French, but his ideas resonate with American writers like Richard Heinberg. We have a special treat for you this week: the world premiere of an English language in-depth radio interview with Jean-Marc Jancovici. Jean-Marc is well known in Europe and beyond. He a Professor, an author of several books, the latest being “Sleep quiet until 2100, and other misunderstandings about climate and energy” (French only, translation pending?). Jancovici is also a member of ASPO France, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Big Trouble on a Small Planet October 24, 2018 – Welcome to a stormy world. Canadian climate scientist Paul Beckwith and I cover the breaking science news behind the big storms and strange times. It’s not just you: the record weather on the outside, with a climate shift behind it all. From a hot Arctic to the hurricanes we investigate the big picture, while Billionaires tell us to “get used to it”. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Stopping Cruel Climate Change October 17, 2018 – Wade into the swamp of climate illusions with Australian author David Spratt. Then Aussie radio host Vivien Langford takes us to the courthouse. Kids and grannies blocked trains to the world’s largest coal port. Hear the living voice of activists – why they risk so much to save our climate. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Last Call for the Climate October 10, 2018 – Our institutions fail just as the first waves of a broken climate arrive. We get that story, and the Resistance, from our first guest Stuart Scott. Then we explore the latest science about a feedback from thawing Arctic Permafrost, with our second guest, European scientist Thomas Gasser. I am your scout, Alex Smith. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Tim Garrett: The Physics of Clouds & Collapse October 3, 2018 – A full length interview with Professor Tim Garrett, University of Utah. Clouds, Arctic pollution, & climate change. Energy, wealth & collapse. The life-cycle of civilizations and the electricity of brains. A wide-ranging interview, bound to be a classic. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Whispers of Hope September 26, 2018 – While nations dither on climate, Jodie Van Horn of Sierra Club reports on cities switching to renewable energy. Lifetime activist Campbell Plowden on the real way to save the Amazon rainforest – the “lungs of the planet”. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
RADIO CLIMATE SHOCK September 19, 2018 – Will we recognize the future? Forget about giant machines to suck out carbon. If you worry about the climate, you have to save tropical rainforests. We talk with the doyen of forest activism, Frances Seymour from the World Resources Institute. But first, one of the top American climate scientists, Dr. Jonathan Overpeck on science that warns the whole world will be reclothed in unpredictable ways as the climate goes out of control. How do we know? It has happened before, when the world warmed 5 degrees Centigrade. I’m Alex, and this is Radio Climate Shock. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
HOT HOUSE EARTH September 12, 2018 – With new heat records set all over the world, is there a threshold where this planet goes into another place? How hot can it get? You will hear new science from Dr. Will Steffen in Australia. Then meteorologist and storm-chaser Bob Henson covers the heat and storms of summer 2018. I’m Alex Smith, with eco-shocking news coming your way. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
GLOBAL HEAT CRISIS September 5, 2018 – New high temperature records set all over N. Hemisphere – major event. Author Roy Scranton on book “We’re Doomed – Now What”. Dialog with 3 top scientists M. Mann J. Francis & N. Diffenbaugh on what this global heat wave means. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Best of Radio Ecoshock Shows, Summer 2018
Collapse: Fix it or Run Away? June 27, 2018 – You hear about a crashing ecosystem, from climate disruption to disappearing species and landscapes. What to do? There are two options: try to organize social change, or try to escape to a safer place. In this show, you will hear a sample of both. From 3CR radio in Australia, Vivien Langford explores personal carbon rations with Tina Fawcett, author of the book “Suicidal Planet”. Then Californian permaculture podcaster Diego talks with Canada’s permie guru Rob Avis: how to find an “anti-fragile” place to live. The search goes on. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Carbon Climate Showdown June 20, 2018 – In this week’s show I have two top level scientists. Pep Canadell the Director of the Global Carbon Project reports a big increase in greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, mostly coming from China. We talk about whether even 2 degrees C of global warming is just a dream now. Dr. Jim Kossin of NOAA leads climate reports for the U.S. Government and the IPCC. His specialty is big storms. Kossin’s latest paper says tropical cyclones (hurricanes) are slowing down and leaving a greater trail of destruction. This is your news before it’s news, on Radio Ecoshock. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
The Thin Layer Before Madness June 13, 2018 – Will the ocean stop accepting our carbon pollution? New science with Dr. Ryan Pereira in Scotland about climate reaction in the sea. Then a new bottom for nuclear madness: floating atomic reactors to the Arctic, and around the world. From Amsterdam, scientist and Greenpeace activist Jan Haverkamp explains why this new Russian business is bad for everybody. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Calling A Lifeline June 6, 2018 – NASA scientist Matthew Rodell: where the world is losing water, and who gets too much. New science. First, transformation engineer Michael Mielke finds a new source of power and money that can wake us all up to the climate emergency and environmental collapse. He’s got experience and friends in high places – could it work? Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Turmoil: Venezuela and Ukraine May 30, 2018 – Mongabay journalist Glenn Scherer relays the latest from Venezuela, including their reporters penetrating deep into the lawless Amazon. Our second trip this hour is guided by the prominent Harvard historian Serhii Plokhii. He grew up with the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, and lived through the following collapse. Dr. Plokhii says the old Cold War manuals are working again for the Russian disinformation campaign, against the Ukraine and the United States. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Two Dangerous Myths Exposed May 23, 2018 – Scientist Mary Booth says the new drive to burn wood as a replacement for coal is backfiring in the atmosphere. Jay Coghlan on the arcane world of “plutonium pits” – the trigger for nuclear weapons. If you like ultimate gambling, this is it. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Transition Through A Fracked Climate May 16, 2018 – We made a mistake that will crash the two degree warming guard-rail not by 2100, but before 2030. That is coming right up with Professor Anthony Ingraffea from Cornell. Our second interview is with the co-founder of the Transition Town Movement, Rob Hopkins, with his personal transition. Welcome to Radio Ecoshock, let’s get going. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Two Degrees Beyond Safe May 9, 2018 – Weather has become destabilized around the world. We have new science about risk and the way forward – just released by the Royal Society. From the UK, lead editor Dann Mitchell is our guest. Environmental lawyer Robert Verchick asks: who pays for climate loss and damage made by Western civilization? How much is a country worth? Where will millions and millions of climate refugees go? It’s talk at the highest levels, right here on Radio Ecoshock. Thirty thousand experts, policy people and diplomats are in Poland, planning for the next round of climate talks. They are pushed by a wave of new science warning two degrees is too far beyond safe. Talk of desperate measures to cool planet Earth is coming out of the closet. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Hot Nature Weakens and Wilts May 2, 2018 – Another big wheel of the climate shift has turned. Scientist Levke Caesar: the Atlantic overturning current weakened due to climate change. Hundreds of millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic are affected. From Germany, Luis Samaniego forecasts European drought. Spain could be a desert within a lifetime. This is science at its best and most frightening. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Beware Marine Heat Waves! April 25, 2018 – Breaking science: unreported marine heat waves are striking more often and more violently in the seas. Scientist Eric Oliver explains. Then Mark Eakin, the coordinator of NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch reports the latest science: up to half of the Great Barrier Reef of Australia has died in the longest marine heat wave ever seen. Most of the extra heat we generate with greenhouse gas emissions goes into the ocean. Hidden beneath the waves, that is where the climate action is. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
From the Deep Green Resistance – Derrick Jensen April 18, 2018 – Are we in the twilight of a civilization which extinguishes our environment? Listen to a full length interview with Derrick Jensen, author of 25 books on deep green resistance. From Trump to fossil suicide, Jensen explains why he is “desperate” to get his message out. Is he telling us how to walk into a collapse with eyes wide open? “Today, as the world is being murdered, what are you doing to defend the Earth?” That is a question from a recent video by our feature guest this week: deep green thinker Derrick Jensen. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
The Terror Will Cost You Extra April 11, 2018 – Nuclear accidents at Fukushima and Chernobyl taught us: a blown reactor anywhere affects my listeners around the world. The nuclear and coal industries have gone bankrupt. Donald Trump just sat down for dinner with a lobbyist to make you pay to keep dangerous old reactors (and coal!) going. We cover the scam with nuke campaigner Kevin Kamps from Beyond Nuclear. Then strange new science: plants in a high carbon atmosphere determine who gets the crops, and who gets the drought. We hear from Dr. Pierre Gentine of Columbia University. The future is already here, on Radio Ecoshock. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
The Heat Goes On April 4, 2018 – News of heat records set in Australia & New Zealand. Killer heat in India, with clips from news Down Under. Pipeline news and court victory, with Karenna Gore clip. Interview with Larry Shoup on the failure of capitalism on climate, the CFR and conspiracy of inaction. Audio from Derrick Jensen’s new video. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
If It’s Warming – Why This Awful Winter? March 28, 2018 – Super-heated Arctic creates band of chaos further south – expert climatologist and pro weather caster Judah Cohen explains, with new science. Listen up North America, Europe and East Asia! Then Dr. Andrew Allen reveals why the ocean will store less carbon, as the base of life gets starved in acidic seawater. It’s a new climate feedback. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Arctic Meltdown – 50 shades of panic March 21, 2018 – Under the news radar but in this show: the wild situation in a hot Arctic. The Director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center Mark Serreze gives us the latest science. Climate information activist Jennifer Hynes explains the Arctic methane monster. Scientist Paul Beckwith reports on Hansen’s mega-storms. They are already here, throwing hundred ton boulders up on the shore. Three guests: let’s go. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Hail Mary to Save the Climate March 14, 2018 – Can we really power civilization with just hydro, solar and wind power? Scientist Ken Caldeira says almost, but not quite, in a new study. But we’ve already dumped too many greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. From the UK, scientist David Beerling explains a big new solution: laying down carbon-grabbing rock as fertilizer in the world’s fields. James Hansen is a co-author. Environmental journalist Stephen Leahy reports the good and bad news as cities lead the way. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Comet Doom – Past And Future? March 7, 2018 – Did a comet strike the Earth 12,800 years ago, causing global wildfires and starting an age of cooling? Scientists are still arguing about it. Dr. Joanne Ballard, co-author of two new papers with evidence that it did happen. Comet expert Dr. Mark Boslough says the science is flawed. I close with my own impressions of the science, the believers, and why all this matters a lot for our future. After all, the next comet strike can come at any time. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
The Valve Turners February 28, 2018 – On October 11th, 2016, five climate activists shut down every pipeline carrying tar sands crude from Canada to the United States. One of them, Michael Foster, is in the State Penitentiary in Bismark North Dakota. We talk to the other four. They will give the defense of climate necessity that so far no court has allowed them to tell a jury of their peers. You hear Leonard Higgins, Emily Johnston, Ken Ward and Annette Klapstein in exclusive Radio Ecoshock interviews. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Dirty Air or Sudden Heat? February 21, 2018 – If we clean up air pollution, the weather gets hotter and wilder. From Norway, Dr. Bjorn Hamset explains the stakes. Then from Harvard, Dr. Francesca Dominici reveals shocking new science: just a short exposure to bad air kills seniors! I’m Alex. This is Radio Ecoshock clearing the air. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Ozone Shield NOT Safe Scientists Say February 14, 2018 – The new science of ozone and UV-B is not pretty. The ozone threat is not solved, scientists say. From Zürich, lead author Dr. William Ball says Earth’s ozone shield against harmful radiation continues to weaken – despite an improvement of big ozone holes over the Poles. Thinning ozone is right over where most people, animals and plants live. It’s possible our smog is the last protection. But wait. Another study from University of California Berkeley says a weakened ozone shield 251 million years ago drove the mass extinction of forests, and all life that depended on them. Lead author Jeffrey Benca explains we underestimated the risk of significant harm from thinning ozone, and misunderstand the hidden process of mass extinction. All science from Radio Ecoshock. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Weather Bomb February 7, 2018 – Has the weather gone off the rails? Are we falling off a climate cliff already? Following another record year of “natural” catastrophes, Canadian climate scientist and You tube activist Paul Beckwith works over our tenuous situation. He’s got a Masters Degree. He taught climate science at two Universities. Now Paul is educating the world with his many climate videos. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Extreme Floods, City Heat & Politics January 31, 2018 – In this program, one of the world’s top scientists reports on the climate threat that will cause the most evacuations and maybe migration. It’s not heat or rising seas. From Germany, Dr. Anders Levermann from the Potsdam Institute joins us. From Australia, Dr. Mat Santamouris reveals shocking heat levels in cities and how to cool them. From Cambridge University, Dr. Laura Diaz Anadon warns politicized science endangers us all. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
The Psychology of Wrecking or Saving a Planet January 24, 2018 – How will human reaction to a climate shift feedback into a new future? Hot new science from Dr. Brian Beckage, University of Vermont, and psychologist Katherine Lacasse, Rhode Island College. Plus mental health impacts of knowing about a dysfunctional future, with Dr. Sabrina Helm, University of Arizona. What type are you? You know our weather has gone weird, as the climate begins to shift. Science has predicted what will happen, depending on how many more megatons of greenhouse gases we toss into the sky. But it’s not that simple. We have three guests here to explain. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Under the Weather Right Now January 17, 2018 – From NOAA, research meteorologist Dr. Thomas R. Knutson on what we know about weird weather under climate change. The real science. Plus from the UK, Dr. Edward Hanna: has the warming Arctic disrupted all our weather? Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
3 Radical Interviews January 10, 2018 – Your Food, Coral, and Free Portland – We have 3 interviews for you. Michael Brownlee: local foods as a climate lifeboat. Andrew Baird, hot new science on coral’s last stand. Nick Caleb: Yes, Portland is still standing against ending the world. Let’s get talking. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
Back Under Protest January 3, 2018 – Here we go into a new year with a new climate. In this program we look back and forward with the remarkable Dr. Paul Salaman from Rainforest Trust. Content warning: a little optimism may creep in. Then one of the strangest outcomes on a warming planet: babies who experience even a short period of heat stress in the womb, will on average have a lower income 30 years later. Think about that, as we explore new science lead by Dr. Maya Rossin-Slater from the Stanford School of Medicine. Download or listen to this Radio Ecoshock show in CD Quality (57 MB) or Lo-Fi (14 MB)
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