The Agency Crisis: Heatwaves, Tony Blair and the Politics of Powerlessness

The Agency Crisis: Heatwaves, Tony Blair and the Politics of Powerlessness

The UK, Ireland, France, Spain, and Portugal shattered their May heat records last week. Scenes reminiscent of high summer arrived months early, across Western Europe. And like all extreme weather events, there was a human toll. Infrastructure under strain, health services stretched, and lives lost.  But as records fell, the political conversation was moving in the other direction. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair published a lengthy essay calling on the government to halt its net zero acceleration and prioritise cheap energy. Rory Stewart made a similar case on The Rest is Politics, invoking AI data centres and industrial competitiveness. Both are figures from the centre of British politics. Neither is a climate denier. So what's happening?  This week, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Christiana Figueres sit with this dissonance. They ask what it means when hopelessness becomes self-sustaining, a cultural condition as much as a feeling. They ask whether grief, properly faced, might be what unlocks action rather than foreclosing it. And they look at the history of transformations that began long before success seemed likely. Is the real crisis not just the climate, but one of agency? And what does it take to act with conviction when outcomes are genuinely uncertain? Learn More: ☀️ See Severe Weather Europe's recap [https://www.severe-weather.eu/global-weather/heat-dome-europe-heatwave-may-summer-2026-recap-mk/] of the historic heat dome across Europe  🌡️ Follow CNN's coverage [https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/26/climate/europe-heat-climate-intl] of the human and scientific dimensions of the event  📝 Read Blair's original essay [https://institute.global/insights/politics-and-governance/the-labour-party-is-playing-with-fire-over-its-future-and-the-future-of-the-country] at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change  ⚡ Explore BusinessGreen's coverage [https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4530296/last-investors-politicians-slam-tony-blairs-uk-remove-net-zero-agenda] of the investor and political response to Blair's essay  🧠 Dig into the Lancet Planetary Health study [https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00278-3/fulltext] on climate anxiety in children and young people globally, and how perceived government failure shapes distress  📊 Check out Yale's research on distress, agency, and climate action [https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/distress-about-climate-change-and-climate-action/] and how they interact  🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe [https://www.speakpipe.com/OutrageandOptimism] Join the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimism [https://www.instagram.com/outrageoptimism/?hl=en] LinkedIn @outrageoptimism [https://uk.linkedin.com/company/outrageoptimism] Or get in touch with us via this form [https://www.globaloptimism.com/contact?hsLang=en]. Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks Planning: Caitlin Hanrahan  Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Can $30k Change the World? The Power of Climate Giving

When climate wins happen, we often credit the market. Or the policy. But is philanthropy the most underappreciated force in the climate fight? And can less than 2% of global giving actually change anything? Behind the headlines, people like Jennifer Kitt of Climate Lead are identifying where finite resources can be spent in order to make a real difference, and helping to grow the pie. Tom Rivett-Carnac, Christiana Figueres, and Paul Dickinson sit down with her to ask: what does well-targeted philanthropic money actually unlock? Who decides where it goes? And why, when it works, do we so rarely notice? From the coalition that quietly accelerated the EV transition by decades, to the $30,000 grant that helped take climate responsibility all the way to the World's Court. The uncomfortable truth is that climate action is becoming reliant on the generosity of a wealthy few. The good news is that this money is growing; the bad news is that it needs to grow much, much more. So how much would it take to start solving some of tomorrow’s problems today? And are there risks in expecting a small and privileged group to fund a movement that belongs to everyone? Learn More: 🌱 Learn more about Climate Lead [https://climatelead.org] and and their work advising philanthropists new to climate giving ⚖️ Catch up on the ICJ advisory opinion on climate obligations of states [https://www.icj-cij.org/case/187] ⚡ Explore the Drive Electric Campaign [https://www.driveelectriccampaign.org], the global NGO coalition whose story Jennifer tells in the episode  🌍 Learn more about ClientEarth [https://www.clientearth.org] and the legal battles Tom references 📊 Track progress on climate transitions with the Systems Change Lab [https://systemschangelab.org], referenced by Jennifer in the episode 📺 Read about the Trump AI video throwing Stephen Colbert in a dumpster [https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5892405-trump-shares-ai-video-colbert/], posted and reposted by the White House the day after the Late Show ended, via The Hill 🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe [https://www.speakpipe.com/OutrageandOptimism] Join the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimism [https://www.instagram.com/outrageoptimism/?hl=en] LinkedIn @outrageoptimism [https://uk.linkedin.com/company/outrageoptimism] Or get in touch with us via this form [https://www.globaloptimism.com/contact?hsLang=en]. Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks Edited by: Miles Martignoni  Planning: Caitlin Hanrahan  Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Can the rules keep up?: Lawsuits, LLMs and the looming oil recession

An unprecedented government move to outrun the courts. A country racing to write AI into its constitution. And a global energy crisis that's already moved faster than any possible fix. Are our institutions and the rules they rest on still fit for the world they're supposed to protect? This week, Tom Rivett-Carnac, Christiana Figueres, and Paul Dickinson look at three stories the headlines may be missing. In New Zealand, the government has moved to retroactively kill a landmark climate lawsuit -  before it even reaches trial. Tom shares a voice note from ClientEarth CEO Laura Clarke [https://www.clientearth.org/about/who-we-are/experts/laura-clarke/] who gives us the inside scoop on what is actually at stake. If this works, where does it end? Then Greece, which wants to write a legally binding obligation for human-centred AI into its constitution. But can a national document meaningfully govern a borderless technology? And as we increasingly rely on AI for our information, where do these large language models actually go for their climate science? Finally, the Strait of Hormuz. Financial markets think the situation is priced in. Geopolitical analysts disagree. We ask which sectors might unexpectedly accelerate the energy transition, why the climate movement seems frozen at exactly the moment it should be loudest, and whether this decade's decisive window is already starting to close. Learn More: ⚖️ Learn more about ClientEarth [https://www.clientearth.org] and its work 🌿 Read about New Zealand amending its climate law [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19052026/new-zealand-amends-climate-law-protects-polluters/] via Inside Climate News 🌐 Catch up on the ICJ case on climate obligations of states [https://www.icj-cij.org/case/187] 🏛️ Discover more about Greece's constitutional AI proposal [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/05/07/greece-constitution-artificial-intelligence/7e9f8ffa-4a06-11f1-a119-857cd2bf4fd4_story.html] via the Washington Post 🛢️ Dive into the Strait of Hormuz disruptions [https://unctad.org/publication/strait-hormuz-disruptions-implications-global-trade-and-development] with analysis from UNCTAD 🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe [https://www.speakpipe.com/OutrageandOptimism] Join the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimism [https://www.instagram.com/outrageoptimism/?hl=en] LinkedIn @outrageoptimism [https://uk.linkedin.com/company/outrageoptimism] Or get in touch with us via this form [https://www.globaloptimism.com/contact?hsLang=en]. Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks Edited by: Miles Martignoni  Planning: Caitlin Hanrahan  Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

The Jet Fuel Crisis: What’s next for aviation?

Are flights across the world about to be grounded? Is a terrible war about to create an unlikely good news story for the climate? As conflict in the Middle East threatens the Strait of Hormuz, jet fuel shortages are forcing aviation to confront a structural vulnerability it has spent decades avoiding. This week, Tom Rivett-Carnac, Christiana Figueres and Paul Dickinson examine what the shortage reveals: aviation's near-total dependence on fossil fuels, the structural reasons it has proved so hard to break, and whether it’s ever going to be possible to fix.  They speak with Karel Bockstael [https://nl.linkedin.com/in/karel-bockstael-034547171] and Roxanne van Rijn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/roxannevanrijn/?locale=nl], former aviation insiders who co-founded Call Aviation to Action, a movement designed to reach the industry’s senior leaders and push for much-needed change. They explain why kerosene remains the only viable option for long-haul flight, how thin margins trap airlines into opposing the very regulation they need, and why this fuel shock may be the scarcity event that finally forces the model to shift.  Could this crisis become aviation’s turning point? And in a world where up to 80% of people have never set foot on a plane - and 1% account for half of all aviation emissions - what would a truly fair future for flight actually look like? Learn More: ✈️ Explore Call Aviation to Action [https://www.callaviationtoaction.org] - the movement co-founded by Karel and Roxanne and others, pushing for industry-wide transformation from within 📊 Read the UK Climate Change Committee’s aviation analysis [https://www.theccc.org.uk/], and understand why aviation is on course to become the UK’s single largest emitting sector by 2040 ⛽ Get up to date on IEA data on global oil and jet fuel markets [https://www.iea.org/topics/oil], including what the Strait of Hormuz disruption means for aviation fuel supply 🌿 Learn more about Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) [https://www.iata.org/en/programs/environment/sustainable-aviation-fuels/] via IATA: what it is, why it currently accounts for less than 1% of aviation fuel use, and what scaling it would require 💸 Pay the true price of your next flight [https://futurefriendlyfund.com/en/what-we-do/pay-the-true-cost/] via the Future Friendly Fund’s calculator, or check your CO₂ estimate on Google Flights [https://www.google.com/travel/flights].  Check out Bumprints [https://bumprints.org/] for practical tips or Travel Alternative [https://travelalternative.eu/], Roxanne’s recently launched platform highlighting alternatives to flying 🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe [https://www.speakpipe.com/OutrageandOptimism] Join the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimism [https://www.instagram.com/outrageoptimism/?hl=en] LinkedIn @outrageoptimism [https://uk.linkedin.com/company/outrageoptimism] Or get in touch with us via this form [https://www.globaloptimism.com/contact?hsLang=en]. Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks Edited by: Miles Martignoni  Planning: Caitlin Hanrahan  Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

David Attenborough at 100

Monarch butterflies crossing a continent. Peregrine falcons above Manhattan. A giant lemur most of the world had never heard of, until one man pointed a camera at it. For seventy years, Sir David Attenborough has been asking us to look - really look - at the world we share with three and a half billion years' worth of other life.  This week, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac, and Paul Dickinson mark the 100th birthday of the world’s longest-serving television presenter. To celebrate, they're reaching into the archives to share the very first episode of the podcast - a conversation recorded in person with their friend Sir David himself, at the Attenborough Centre in Cambridge in 2019. They also take stock of seven years of Outrage + Optimism, and on a world that’s changed since that first episode dropped. What's moved faster than anyone expected, what's gone sideways, and what still keeps us at night? Then Sir David. On why young people's outrage is entirely justified. On what the natural world actually needs from us. On the rare moments in history when nations chose agreement over conflict. And on why understanding might be the thing that saves us. Learn More: 🎂 Discover moments from Sir David Attenborough's life and career [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cwypr2kdxvwt] on the BBC 🌿 Watch Secret Gardens [https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002sthz/secret-garden], Sir David's recent series exploring the hidden natural world of the British urban garden, mentioned by Tom in this episode (UK login required) 🐋 Explore the history of the International Whaling Commission moratorium [https://iwc.int/management-and-conservation/whaling/commercial], which Sir David cites as a rare model of nations choosing to act before it was too late 🌍 Learn more about the global youth climate movement Fridays For Future [https://fridaysforfuture.org/], from the early days mentioned in this interview to its activity today 🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe [https://www.speakpipe.com/OutrageandOptimism] Join the conversation: Instagram @outrageoptimism [https://www.instagram.com/outrageoptimism/?hl=en] LinkedIn @outrageoptimism [https://uk.linkedin.com/company/outrageoptimism] Or get in touch with us via this form [https://www.globaloptimism.com/contact?hsLang=en]. Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks Edited by: Miles Martignoni  Planning: Caitlin Hanrahan  Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.