When do you think we’ll run out of oil? 2050? 2100? Never? That’s understandable given the IPCC models access to oil until 2100; politicians like Rishi are betting big on North Sea deposits. Petroleum is the life blood of our global economy, and it’s difficult to imagine it drying up. More often, when we talk about transitioning away from fossil fuels, it’s because of the necessity to limit global warming—not because we run out. But a team in Scotland are warning exactly that—we’re running out. Fast. Alister Hamilton is a researcher at the University of Edinburgh and the founder of Zero Emission Scotland. He and his colleagues self-funded research into oil depletion around the world and the results are shocking: We will lose access to oil around the world in the 2030s. They calculated this by establishing the Energy Return On Investment (EROI) and found that whilst there will still be oil deposits around the world, we would use more energy accessing the oil supply than we would ever get from burning it. This is because we’re having to mine further into the earth’s crust to access lower-grade oil. According to their calculations, the oil in the North Sea will be inaccessible—in a dead state—by 2031, and the oil in Norway by 2032. Around the world, oil reserves see the same trend through the 2030s. Petroleum is the life blood, and we haven’t yet built out a different circulatory system to support renewable energy—in less than a decade, the world as know it could crash. © Rachel Donald Planet: Critical is 100% independent and community-powered. If you value it, and have the means, become a paid subscriber today! Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

I like to think of intellectual discourse as the entangled root network of an ancient tree: everything is connected to everything else. Not so much a linear march of progress but a gnarled and entangled mess from which fruits bear. This is why, despite thousands of years, some ideas don’t travel very far, but double back and loop themselves around other roots, creating something that feels solid, but may be rotten at its core. This week I’m joined by ecologist and writer Carl Safina who has spent the past few years researching that root network of cultural beliefs from all over the world, discovering profound similarities and critical differences. He explains that the main difference between Western thought and most other cultures is the disconnectedness of humankind from nature, and he traces this back to Plato’s philosophy of absolute ideals. This is my second episode with Carl. We first spoke over two years ago when he was deep in the process of researching his latest book, Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe. That conversation was truly fundamental to my own thinking, so it was a real joy to have Carl back on the show now that the book is out. This conversation goes begins with Plato, takes us through the delightful common threads that weave together most human cultures, and ends with Carl explaining how this rift between humans and nature results in the perverse incentives in our psychotic system today. Planet: Critical is 100% independent and community-powered. If you value it, and have the means, become a paid subscriber today! Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

We need to confront political impossibility. A few months ago, I was sitting on a train bashing out a furious article about the British government’s climate incompetence. The man next to me was in a zoom call on climate change, vigorously shaking his head. I couldn’t help but ask. That’s how I met today’s guest, Jonathan Mille, a researcher at University College London’s Climate Action Unit, where he studies systemic risk and the impact of our interdependent global systems on climate change response. Jonathan focuses much of his attention on the physical and political possibility of the energy transition, and in today’s episode we discuss that exact tension between what is physically possible and what is politically possible. We explore the narrative challenge we face as a society, along with the distinct knowledge gaps found in industry, policy circles and business which create blind spots of psychological vulnerabilities, impeding the necessary psychological transition. © Rachel Donald Planet: Critical is 100% independent and community-powered. If you value it, and have the means, become a paid subscriber today! Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

We need to restore our own ecology. That doesn’t just mean fencing off parts of the earth into “nature conservation” spaces because, as this week’s guest Laura Martin points out, what does that say about the space on the other side of the fence? That human spaces are unnatural? Or that they don’t deserve to be protected? Laura is an environmental historian, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Williams College, and author of the extraordinary book, Wild by Design: The Rise of Ecological Restoration. She joins me to discuss how policies create crises, not just abstract notions of neoliberalism, fossil-fuelled capitalism, and industrialisation. She says that environmental policies offer us alternatives to our present. So which ones can we use to build a world that protects both ourselves and the species with whom we share this planet? We then discuss at length the difference between conservation and restoration, with ecological restoration—rewilding—offering a politics of care that sees humanity collaborate with fellow species to promote ecological well-being everywhere, from the grasslands to the inner city. © Rachel Donald Planet: Critical is 100% independent and community-powered. If you value it, and have the means, become a paid subscriber today! Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Nuclear: The perfect energy or perfect weapon. There are such widely-held—and understandable—fears surrounding nuclear that in 2023 the Green party in Germany were instrumental in decommissioning the nation’s final plants—in the middle of an energy crisis. The environmentalists in the sixtoies and seventies were key to the anti-nuclear movement which swept the world, with France one of the only nations to resist the calls to shut down the reactors for fear of states weaponising the waste. That decision means France is now one of the only energy resilient nations in Europe. There are obvious benefits to nuclear, and a new generation of nuclear engineers desperate to prove it. Mark Nelson is one of them. An engineer and consultant in the energy transition, Mark joined me to dispel myths around nuclear, where he believes the backlash started, and how we can transform existing fossil fuel infrastructure into truly renewable energy. We cover a lot in this conversation—including a couple of disagreements on the social and political angles—and there’s a lot to be mined in the episode. It certainly won’t be the last one on nuclear energy. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Could AI be a natural intelligence? Artist Mer Maggie Roberts, cofounder of the collective Orphan Drift, has been investigating how the natural world can inspire technological development to resist continuing anthropocentrism. The more-than-human world has so many perspectives to offer which could open our eyes to our own blind spots, and encourage a politics of care, stewardship and understanding. We need diversity, more than ever, and not limited only to human experience. But AI, an unknowably powerful tool, is being coded in man’s image, with all the biases, reductionisms, flaws and dispassion we exhibit. Maggie sought to open up the fields of possibility with a project that imagines training an AI model on the experience of an octopus. Octopi are multi-perspectival creatures, boasting one brain in each leg and a ninth, central brain in their body. The way they experience the world is complex, nuanced and utterly different to our own experience. Building technology which reflects rather than consumes the natural world could be a critical tool in marrying man’s relationship to the wider world, which we discuss in this wonderfully wide-ranging and nuanced conversation on the role of art in a crisis. Planet: Critical is 100% independent and community-powered. If you value it, and have the means, become a paid subscriber today! Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Truth is stranger than fiction—but fiction is better written. We know their playbooks and their networks, but the bad guys of this story are in no rush to change their tactics. From funding dodgy research to bleating lies on prime time television, the fossil fuel industry and its allies are audaciously villainous. They’d been getting away with it for decades—but now independent media has them running scared. Amy Westervelt is an award-winning investigative climate journalist and media founder with 20 years on the climate beat. Her investigations have exposed the worst crimes of the fossil fuel industry, and she now leads an international team of climate reporters at Drilled who uncover the connections between governments, industry and policy. She joins me today to discuss their recent exposé of The Atlas Network, the shadowy ecosystem of think tanks pushing for the criminalisation of climate activists all around the world. Amy explains the roots of the network’s beginnings in World War Two, its rapid expansion as neoliberalism sunk its teeth into global politics, and its vast grip today on policy-makers around the world. This is a startling conversation, revealing the terrifying reach of right-wing extremism and corporate capture, with Amy suggesting the only path forward may indeed be revolutionary. Planet: Critical is 100% independent and community-powered. If you value it, and have the means, become a paid subscriber today! Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

If society is sick, how do we heal? The idea of an “original trauma” bears similarities with the concept of an “original sin”: We fell, from grace, and have suffered ever since. The sinner, traumatised, cannot find his way back into paradise. The devil whispers in his ear. Hurt people hurt people. Wisdom suggests there may be some truth to these tales. That a portion of humanity aeons ago faced terrible strife and were traumatised to the extent their relationship with the world suffered, and they became extractive accumulators, unable to trust in the gift of life, suspicious of the world and one another. These people took without giving, and the trauma spread through the land. From this, the “veneer of civilisation” was imposed upon the wildness of the natural world, a bid to control which resulted in the eventual destruction of nature. My guest this week, Paddy Loughman, is my friend. He describes himself as a strategist and narrative consultant working in the climate space. I think of him as a story-teller and word-weaver. Paddy and I have weekly phone calls about the state of the world, and he kindly acquiesced to recording one of them. We discuss original trauma, civilisation vs savagery, sickness, collapse, healing and story. This conversation spans life and decay, death and possibility, love, hope and reality, with Paddy offering we may be in a position now where the best we can do is create crash pads to save all that is beautiful when the veneer comes tumbling down. Paddy is the cofounder of Stories For Life and Inter-Narratives, focusing on the interplay of narrative change and systems change. He’s a former advisor to the UN’s Climate Champions and some of the world’s biggest businesses. This week he has launched his own Substack which offers a gentle yet unflinching exploration of the world as it is, and how it could be. Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

If they won’t get it done, then we’ll do it ourselves. Chaytan Inman is uninspired by politics. The computer science student was fed up or energy-blind and materials-blind promises made by big political names, promises of unlimited economic growth on a finite planet and infinitely available renewable energy, all tied up in the language of “Net Zero”. Chaytan didn’t see anyone running on a political platform which promised a liveable future. So he decided to run for Governor of Washington State. “We cannot consume our way out of an overconsumption problem.” Chaytan joined me to discuss his decision and his political platform: Enshrining the rights of nature in the state constitution. He aims to ensure the Pacific Northwest will “still have rain, trees, food and water” for the future, envisioning a radical shift in how natural resources are valued by giving nature the same rights as people, and embedding citizenship in the state’s natural ecosystem. He also reveals two other policies around taxation and agriculture, offering a true degrowth platform for Washington residents. Chaytan is young—and he says he truly does not want to have to run for governor—but his elders have failed his generation. It's truly heartbreaking to see how many young people are having to put themselves on the line because of this failure. We should have a society of elders that knows how to lead, that can use all of their life experience to seed their imagination with possibilities for the future. Elders know when it's time to move on. In such a society, young people should have the freedom to be idealists, not burdened with the pressure of being realists. But, in our world, we are led by no one, and run by idiots and ideologues. This crisis demands leadership. It may come from surprising places. © Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

What do W.E.I.R.D countries have in common? Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic. The citizens of these countries exhibit markedly more extreme psychological characteristics than those of non-WEIRD nations. One of the weirdest characteristics is a belief in a fixed “self’ which will behave in a reliable and predictable manner no matter the environment. The belief in this unchanging self is what makes it very difficult for us to change our minds—and even concoct wild rationalisations to justify our behaviour. Welcome to the age of cognitive dissonance. Sarah Stein Lubrano, a researcher at Oxford University, joins me to explain the cognitive dissonance phenomenon, its roots in the alleged security granted to us by a fixed sense of self, and why it’s so hard to change our beliefs. She then reveals what neurophilosophy tells us about how to help others change our minds, the power of storytelling, and the importance of social infrastructure for creating cohesive, fluid and non-judgemental communities. It is these brave communities which dare examine themselves, their beliefs about the world—and change their maladaptive behaviours. This is an episode about how to dare change our minds. © Rachel Donald Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Did you know the government doesn’t spend your taxes? Welcome to the world of Modern Monetary Theory, a revolutionary way of decoding our monetary systems—and making them work better for us. I’m joined by Steven Hail, economist and lecturer, who explains, using MMT, what we get wrong about money, taxes, inflation and even currency. Steven reveals how the notion of states not being able to afford certain necessities—like education, health, the green transition—is nonsense, explaining how the supply of resources impacts our economy, not running a deficit. Alongside debunking a range of money myths, he also reveals the fascinating history of taxation as a means to create a citizenry and their dependence on a centralised state. This is a technical episode, but Steven’s explanations are clear and concise, and we successfully cover a lot of ground to uncover the real relationships between governments, markets and the monetary system they swear by. Episodes referenced include my interviews with Fadhel Kaboub, Jason Hickel and Kate Raworth. © Rachel Donald Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Neoliberalism is the disease which keeps on killing. But did you know the neoliberal economic gospel we live under today is a deliberate misinterpretation of the original theory? In her new book, The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market, historian of science Naomi Oreskes shows how a group of American plutocrats distorted the the conservative teachings of Friedrich van Hayek’s theory of neoliberalism in order to plunder the world’s resource, unleash the markets, and undermine federal power. Naomi joins me today to give an incisive and brutal summary of why our world is in crisis, detailing the criminal avarice of these plutocrats; how institutions, lobbyists and corporations continue to undermine democracy; and why a renewable world threatens the powers that be. This phenomenal explanation shows why the climate crisis is not a scientific problem, but a political, economic and social issue, with Naomi revealing tactics civilians used throughout history against the destructive elite. © Rachel Donald Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription. ‘It’s Not the End of the World’ book assumptions & omissions spark debate Check out my latest episode on Mongabay’s Newscast in Hannah Ritchie and I go head-to-head about her book, It’s Not the End of the World, and the data omissions which paint a far rosier picture of the polycrisis than her backer, Bill Gates, would have us believe. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

We can’t do this without taking power back. But with the systems of power so effectively tied up in the complex system of unelected officials, hidden relationships and the ownership of natural resources, there seems to be no clear strategy for taking power back. One theory of change is putting pressure on the system until it caves—becoming ungovernable at scale. Fabian Dablander, an energy transition researcher at the University of Amsterdam, and a member of the activist group Scientist Rebellion joins me to discuss that strategy: Is it possible? How do we do it? We also discuss nonviolence vs sabotage, hope and denial, and the tipping points of social change. We then confront power: Where does power lie? How much is power willing to give up? And should we recognise that power is not willing to come to the table to negotiate? © Rachel Donald Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

One week ago I emailed my subscribers and asked them to submit any burning question they may have about me or Planet: Critical. I expected most questions to be personal, about me and my journey. Instead, most were asking for advice or my opinion on the state of the world. I guess I never thought about the moment when I would become more than the interviewer, but three years of Planet: Critical have furnished me with more knowledge, ideas and dare I say wisdom than I ever imagined possible. Thank you to everyone who submitted to the form, there were many questions to choose from, and many of them touching on similar themes. Here are the 13 I chose: * You've had many answers to your opening question, all of which go some way to approaching a single dimension of the meta-crisis. Is there a picture building in your head which brings together and synthesises these threads, or could start a conversation to do just that? * What political ideology would you say you closest identify with? * How can we quickly change the way everyone on the planet understands and engages with the causes and effects of climate change, so that we can have more concerted and faster progress to prepare for it's effects and stop it from becoming worse? * Truly deeply madly, what do you, (you personally) - based on all the knowledge and inspiration you have acquired through your interviews - think this world will look like in 2100? * What role do you see for religious innovation/improvisation in our civilisations ongoing & unavoidable decline? * Rachel: people talk of the gut/brain axis, and the heart/brain axis. When you were moving towards Planet: Critical, what was your road between your gut, your heart, and your mind? * How has what you have learned from Planet Critical changed you? Your mindset, priorities and how you live? * How important is the United States government to the health of the planet? Can climate action happen without the government? * Do you think mainstream centrist politics will ever come round to the idea of degrowth or the steady-state economy? * Can women save the world? * What helps you stay steadfast and optimistic in the face of so much knowledge of how deeply tragic our situation is? * Members of Novara Media say it is very important to them that they work in a team with editors. You seem to be all alone. How do you manage? * I listened to your episode with George Monbiot, and you both mentioned the "machine" ratcheting up. This is despite the well-meaning people shouting from the rooftops in protest for decades, if not centuries (if we reach all the way back to, say, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and John Muir). Do you feel that your podcast and similar endeavours from other people (such as George Monbiot, Nate Hagens, Jem Bendell, James Hansen, Resilience.org etc.) make any difference or are you bound to "bark as the caravan moves on"? If the latter is the case, are you at peace with it? Is it enough for you that "you tried", as Louise Harris sings in her song that you've shared? Do you think humanity will have a change of heart at the 11th hour or do you think that the "machine" will run until it hits the hard physical, biological and climatic boundaries? Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription. © Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Carbon Colonialism won’t solve the crisis. State response to the interlocking climate, biodiversity, water, inequality, and health crises has mostly been to unleash the free market to promote solutions which perpetuate the global system of pillaging and exploitation. This only protects the status quo whilst sacrificing current and future generations. We have a name for this terrible violence: greenwashing. I’m joined today by Laurie Parsons, a senior lecturer in Human Geography, to discuss the tensions between a global political economy, national legal jurisdictions, and a populace that is drowning in information. Taking examples from his book, Carbon Colonialism, Laurie explains how the people footing the climate bill are local and indigenous people around the world who are suffering under the extractive actions of corporations and the reticence of national governments to act. He also reveals the history of greenwashing as it began in the 1960s as “Eco-Pornography”, before giving an excellent analysis of the deliberate divide and conquer tactic separating land, labour and capital has long driven wealth into the world’s most powerful nations. Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription. Laurie researches at Royal Holloway, the University of London, and is the principal investigator of the projects, The Disaster Trade, The Hidden Footprint of UK Imports and Investment Overseas, and also Hot Trends, How the Global Garment Industry Shapes Climate Vulnerability in Cambodia. © Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

We need to stop pretending we live in a democracy. The essence of a democratic state is rule by the people, for the people. This has only ever been an illusion to mask oligarchic power. Upheld by the media, this illusion serves to sequester resources, power and divide a population who should be united in the face of their exploitation. We are a society of altruists governed by psychopaths. This is the message of George Monbiot, distinguished writer and activist, on today’s episode. George’s Guardian columns are read all over the world, lauded for their big picture scope on issues of climate, justice and politics. A fervent anti-capitalist and environmental campaigner, George joins me to discuss political, economic and legal corruption, the link between colonialism and strong welfare states, social tipping points, and movement-building. This is a wide-ranging and thorough discussion covering violence, sabotage, language and system dynamics: You cannot control a complex system from the centre—we are fighting against those who want to do just that at the expense of everything else. Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription. The episode also features the deeply moving song We Tried by climate activist Louise Harris. This is the anthem we’ve been waiting for, a rallying cry in the dark to take action before all is lost. Let’s get it to Christmas Number 1 in the UK charts to pierce the mainstream. Get the song here and support Louise’s climate album fund. © Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

Public Service Announcement! I’m now collaborating with Mongabay on their weekly Newscast podcast, bringing you conservation news from all around the world. To celebrate—and to encourage you all to subscribe!—I’m sharing my inaugural episode as cohost with you today. On this episode, I interview Brandon Wu of ActionAid USA about the Loss and Damages negotiations that took place ahead of COP28—and how the USA used its political weight to bully developing nations into accepting a deal unrecognisable from the premise of L&D. Loss and Damages is, in effect, climate reparations—a fund paid into by developed nations, who are historically responsible for the emissions causing global warming, which developing nations can then use to respond to the chaos caused by climate change: floods, storms, crop failures, displaced populations. However, it was the vulnerable nations who were forced to concede at the negotiating table, walking away with a deal which serves the interests of the world’s most powerful. Brandon gives an excellent overview and analysis of the situation, revealing how the USA used its muscle to twist the arms of developing nations at the final hour. I then discuss these details with my wonderful cohost, Mike DiGirolamo. Mike and I have collaborated over the years on a couple of projects and I was truly delighted when he suggested we join forces on this project! Please join us as we uncover the most important stories in conservation and environmental journalism from around the world. Subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast: * Apple * Spotify * Mongabay website * Download the free app on Apple or Android to access all episodes Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

What maniac would suggest a hothouse earth would be economically positive? The financial services—and their incorrect models is costing us time to implement effective policies to mitigate climate change as much as possible. This is the warning from a report published by the Institute of Actuaries. The Emperor’s New Climate Scenarios warns that the world of finance is massively underestimating the destruction climate change will cause on our economy after 1.5 degrees of warming. Actuary and lead author, Sandy Trust, joins me to explain how such thinking got baked into the financial services by way of one man’s dodgy calculations, how to better interpret climate modelling, and the difference between risk assessment and scientific assessment. This is a truly fascinating conversation with Sandy expertly guiding us through technical terms to reveal a stark image: The people in charge are totally unaware of what’s coming. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

All the money and power in the world—but still the ruling class is failing. James Schneider, Communications Director for Progressive International, explains how crisis is a permanent feature of fossil capitalism, which is currently cannibilising itself. He reveals a strategy for progressive movements around the world to unite around energy rights, before explaining how we need revolution over reform, including an anti-regime campaign to overthrow the ruling class. This is an acute and scathing analysis of the ruling class—and why hope lies with a green democratic revolution. James Schneider is the cofounder of People’s Momentum, author of Our Bloc: How We Win, and Labour’s Head of Strategic Communications under Jeremy Corbyn. © Rachel Donald Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project with a paid subscription. Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe

What Big Oil knew — from climate to Iraq. John Browne, Chairman of BeyondNetZero, was CEO of BP from 1995 – 2007. In 1997, he broke ranks with the industry and delivered a landmark speech on the impact of burning fossil fuels on the climate. But this was two decades after Exxon had hired their own climate scientists and buried the results. John explains what he and his executive team knew in the mid-nineties, insisting they began working solutions as soon as they understood the planet was heating up. However, as I point out, there are clues on BP’s website which suggest the company knew beforehand. We also discuss the impact of resources and particularly fossil fuels on conflict with John revealing he was invited to the Pentagon around the time of the Iraq war to estimate how much oil was in the Middle East nation. Planet: Critical investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Support the project by becoming a free or paid subscriber. © Rachel Donald Get full access to Planet: Critical at www.planetcritical.com/subscribe