The Land & Climate Podcast

• How did China become a green economy powerhouse?

  From widespread industrial pollution to emerging as a green powerhouse, China’s economic evolution shows how grassroots activism has pushed ecological issues to the political forefront.  Tianjie and Bertie discuss China’s green evolution, Pan Yue’s introduction of environmental nationalism (now championed by Xi Jinping), flawed provincial reporting, and whether the country’s model can be sustained. Ma Tianjie is a freelance writer and environmental activist based in Beijing. He worked as Greenpeace’s Program Director for Mainland China until 2015, and then as Director of China Dialogue Beijing until 2022. His book, In Search of Green China, was published in February 2025 by Polity Press. Buy it here.  Audio engineering by Vasco Kostovski. Further reading: Après moi, le deluge: how a fight over garbage challenged China’s growth model, Land and Climate Review, 2025  Researchers unveil roadmap for a carbon neutral China by 2060, Modern Diplomacy, 2020 Clearing the skies: how Beijing tackled air pollution & what lies ahead Sustainable Mobility, 2023 Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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• Are we prepared for geoengineering?

  A UK government agency recently announced it would spend £57 million on a controversial project to develop geoengineering technologies.   The Exploring Climate Cooling Programme will fund 21 international research teams to conduct small-scale, controlled outdoor experiments to thicken Arctic sea ice and brighten clouds, to prevent global warming from increasing past irreversible tipping points. Geoengineering has long been a point of contention amongst scientists, environmental academics and conspiracy theorists - each firm in their beliefs about whether such interventions are necessary, effective, or risk irreversibly damaging the planet. Alasdair speaks with two academics studying geoengineering - Albert Van Wijngaarden and Adrian Hindes - who call for nuanced understanding and more productive conversation between the advocates and opposers of such radical interventions. They discuss the history of polar and solar geoengineering, the risks involved, and the lack of global governance. If you enjoyed this episode, stay tuned - we plan to explore geoengineering in more detail in the future. Further reading:  Plans to cool the Earth by blocking sunlight are gaining momentum but critical voices risk being excluded, October 2024, Albert Van Wijngaarden and Adrian Hindes Do-or-Die: Should we be talking about geoengineering?, December 2022, Land and Climate Review Soviet and Russian perspectives on geoengineering and climate management - Oldfield, J. D., & Poberezhskaya, M. (2023). .Wiley Interdisciplinary ReviewsControversial geoengineering projects to test Earth-cooling tech funded by UK agency, May 2025, Nature Not such a bright idea: cooling the Earth by reflecting sunlight back to space is a dangerous distraction, March 2024, The Conversation  Securing the ‘great white shield’? Climate change, Arctic security and the geopolitics of solar geoengineering, August 2024, Nordic International Studies Association After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair and Restoration, 2019, Holly Jean Buck, VersoClick here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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• Has Russia committed ecocide in Ukraine?

  On 6th June 2023, the Nova Kakhovka dam was breached while under Russian occupation, releasing a wave of toxic pollution into Ukraine’s rivers. The number of casualties – both human and animal – may never be fully known. Ukraine is one of a small number of countries to include ecocide in its domestic criminal code, and the destruction of Kakhovka Dam is one of hundreds of incidents that prosecutors are studying while building environmental damages cases against Russia. On the global stage, Ukraine is leading efforts for the International Criminal Court to recognise ecocide as the fifth core international crime, alongside genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression.  Bertie speaks to Darya Tsymbalyuk, Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago, about her new book, “Ecocide in Ukraine: The Environmental Cost of Russia’s War.” They discuss the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, the sensory impact of war, and Tsymbalyuk’s intention to bring Ukrainian environmentalists and humanities scholars into this growing legal dialogue.  Buy a copy of Ecocide in Ukraine: The Environmental Cost of Russia’s War from Polity Press here.   Further reading: Destruction og Ukraine dam casued 'toxic timebomb' of heavy metals, study finds, The Guardian, March 2025 Ukraine's Ravaged Environment, The New York Times, April 2025 Constellations of Ukranian Thought and the Environmental Humanities, Tanya Richardson and Darya Tsymbalyuk, 2024 What my body taught me about being a scholar of Ukraine and from Ukraine in times of Russia’s war of aggression, Springer Nature – Darya Tsymbalyuk, July 2023  The unlikely species entangled in Ukraine's resistance to Russia, BBC, February 2024 A Landmine Detonates in the Woods, IWM – Darya Tsymbalyuk, October 2022 Darya’s fundraising for Ukraine  Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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• How is mining in Sweden affecting Indigenous Saami communities?

  In 2022, the Swedish government granted an exploitation concession to Jokkmokk Iron Mines AB — a subsidiary of British company named Beowulf Mining — to develop an open-pit iron mine in Northern Sweden. The decision has been opposed by both Indigenous and environmental activists, who have expressed concerns about the mine’s impacts on Saami communities and the surrounding ecology.Bertie speaks to Tor Tuorda about the long history of extraction and exploitation in the region, the erasure of Saami culture, and resistance from Indigenous and environmental activists. Tor Tuorda is a nature photographer and Indigenous campaigner based in Jokkmokk. He is a long-time opponent of the Kallak mine, and a prominent voice in Saami activism. Audio engineering by Vasko Kostovski. Further reading: Read Tor's blog here [Swedish]'EU’s raw materials plan an attack on Indigenous land and culture, says Saami Council', The Barents Observer, April 2025'Swedish Court gives green light to controversial mining plans in Kallak', The Barents Observer, June 2024'‘The Klondike of ore mining’: Fighting for the Sami way of life', Al Jazeera, 2019Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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• Have monopolies broken agricultural markets?

  Nearly half of the global agriculture market is controlled by four companies. This level of concentration - driven by decades of mergers and poor regulation - has allowed agribusiness “titans” to dominate the farming sector.  Alasdair talks to Dr Jennifer Clapp, author of a new book about corporate domination of the farm sector and why it matters. Alasdair and Jennifer discuss how and why mass-merging has led to market distortions and high prices, and what solutions could improve the state of the sector.  Dr. Jennifer Clapp is a Professor at the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems and the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub.  Click here for our website to read all our most recent Land and Climate Review features and pieces.

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