It’s Possible: Episode 2 With Patricia Espinosa

What’s for dinner?

On a planet wracked by rising seas, disappearing biodiversity, and hotter temperatures, that’s a tough question to answer.

The way we produce, eat and waste food is one of the largest drivers of climate change globally, with food production responsible for a whopping one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also the primary driver of biodiversity loss, with agriculture alone threatening 86% of species at risk of extinction.

At the same time, rising temperatures, heatwaves, droughts and floods, changes in rainfall patterns and other extreme events affect agriculture more than any other sector.

Scientists have found that limiting climate change will be impossible without big changes to how the world eats. But this does not have to be a downward spiral. We can reverse the negative relationship between food systems and climate change and turn it into a positive one.

That’s why the future of food is on the menu in this episode of our It’s Possible podcast.

We sat down with three experts to get a taste of what transforming the food system looks like:
 

• Peter McGuinness, CEO, Impossible Foods
• Esnath Divasoni, Agriculture Trainer, CAMFED
• Earlene Cruz, Founder and Executive Director of Kitchen Connection Alliance

With the UN Climate Change Conference COP27 set to begin in just a few days, this episode of our It’s Possible podcast sets out to answer three key questions about the climate emergency: how did we get here, what does it mean and what can we do to change course?

The first half of the podcast explores the latest science and explains why the world is in a climate emergency. The second half of the podcast focuses on what needs to happen to avert this crisis and limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

We sat down with two of the world’s leading experts on climate science and policy:

• Johan Rockström, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
• Rachel Kyte, Dean, The Fletcher School at Tufts University

Thirty years ago last month, the text of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted.

This was a significant milestone because it solidified a collective commitment from countries around the world to tackle climate change, together. It was a recognition that climate change was a global problem that required a global solution.

In this episode of our It’s Possible podcast, we reflect on the past, present and future of global efforts to address climate change.

We sat down with three guests:

• Clover Hogan, Founding Executive Director of Force of Nature
• Richard Kinley, Former Deputy Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change
• Ovais Sarmad, Current Deputy Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change

Together, we look back at 30 years of intergovernmental negotiations on climate change. The conversation is wide-ranging and touches on various topics ranging from what the public understanding of – and concern about – climate change was like in 1992 to the dramatic rise of young people calling for climate action today. The conversation also centres around where we stand in global efforts to tackle climate change and what needs to happen next to ensure we can limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Listen to the episode below or on your favourite podcast platform. Help us share these stories of climate action on social media using the hashtag #ItsPossible.

Patricia Espinosa is the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, with perhaps one of the toughest jobs in the world. She is responsible for steering 197 countries toward tackling the greatest challenge facing humanity. No small task.

In this episode, we sat down with Ms. Espinosa to look back at what the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) accomplished and look ahead at the key climate change priorities in 2022. She speaks about her career journey from ambassador of her home country of Mexico to the head of UN Climate Change, and why multilateralism is so important to her. She explains where we stand in global efforts to tackle climate change and what needs to happen next to ensure we can limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Also in this episode, we spoke to one of the musicians behind Antropoceno, as part of our #Art4Climate campaign. Christoph Müller and Eduardo Makaroff from Gotan Project are fighting climate change with the strongest weapon they have: their music. We called Christoph to learn more.

That is the reason why we wanted to talk firsthand with an astronaut, and not any astronaut. American astronaut, engineer and physician Dr Mae Jemisonis the first woman of colour that travelled to space.

Like many children, Mae Jemison grew up dreaming that one day she would become an astronaut. Finally, on 12 September 1992, Dr Jemison would realize her dream; she travelled to space on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

In this episode, Dr Jemison tells us about her journey before, and after that day in 1992, the same year the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted. 
We talk about climate action and the need to change our view on the world from being an unlimited source of resources to be exploited to seeing it as a unique but fragile system that we are pushing to its limits to a point where it risks not being able to support our existence on Earth anymore. 

Engineer and physician Dr Jemison explains what she learnt from her space experience and her work as a doctor volunteering in Sierra Leone, an engineer helping other astronauts fly safely, and more recently at the front of the 100 Years Starship initiative. 

Also, in this episode, we spoke to Maestro Dirk Kaftan, General Music Director of the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn and Bonn Opera House as part of our #Art4Climate campaign. The Orchestra is the First UN Climate Change Goodwill Ambassador. Maestro Kaftan explains what an orchestra and music, in general, can do to help tackle the climate emergency.

Listen to the episode here or on your favourite podcast platform. We hope you enjoy this first episode; if so, please subscribe and share your review and rating. Help us share these stories of climate action on social media using the hashtag #ItsPossible.