S10 Ep6: Climate action: small human acts can make a big difference with Tim Lenton

The consequences of climate change are everywhere. From record-breaking wildfires to catastrophic floods, climate disasters are killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions. In the past decade alone, climate-related disasters have forced an estimated 250 million people from their homes.

So why aren’t we moving faster? What’s holding back the systemic shifts needed to avoid disaster? Professor Tim Lenton is one of the world’s leading climate scientists tackling exactly that question, but with a positive twist.

Tim is a Professor of Climate Change and Earth System Science at the University of Exeter and founding Director of the Global Systems Institute. He is renowned for his pioneering work on climate “tipping points”; critical thresholds in the Earth system that, once crossed, can trigger dramatic and irreversible change.

More recently, his research has focused on positive tipping points: how rapid, self-propelling shifts in technology, economics and social behaviour could accelerate climate action. His work shows that change does not always move slowly. Under the right conditions, it can cascade.

Tim’s research and latest book tell a more hopeful story, one in which shifting and adjusting our lifestyles can create a positive ripple of change and steer us away from the current trajectory of climate disaster.

In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society’s most pressing problems.

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The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

Producer: Emily Uchida Finch
Assistant Producer: Emily Gilbert

A Whistledown Production for the Academy of Social Sciences