Cities 1.5

This past January, our editorial counterparts at the the Journal of City Climate Policy and Economy published an issue dedicated to Ecological Economics; this episode showcases two experts in wellbeing economics who contributed their knowledge to that edition.

Image Credit: Photo by Milly Vueti on Unsplash

Featured guests:
Amanda Janoo is the Economics & Policy Lead at the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, a global collective striving to deliver systemic economic change which prioritises human and ecological wellbeing. These concepts are outlined in the article she co-authored, “Policy Design for a Wellbeing Economy – Lessons from Four...

Energy consumed by buildings accounts for almost half of cities’ carbon emissions on average. Because buildings can last over 100 years, increasing their energy efficiency is critical if we are to meet our current global climate goals. To achieve these goals, cities must transition fossil fuels out of their buildings.

Image Credit: Tristan Capacchione

Featured guests:
Frankie Downy is the Head of Building Strategy and Implementation at C40. Through her work, cities in the C40 networks can deliver the significant emission reductions required to assure a cleaner urban future for the planet.

Last episode of Cities 1.5, we took you into the Arctic region through the perspectives of a world-renowned scientist and seasoned canoeist and river guide. This time, we’re staying in that region - but we’re speaking to an expert who hails from the circumpolar North about the connections between climate change and human rights. Because Indigenous communities have been calling attention to warming temperatures in the Arctic, and the resulting impacts on their ways of life, for decades already.

Image Credit: Right Livelihood Award 2015 Stockholm 12 / 2015, Wolfgang Schmidt

Featured guest:
Sh...

The Arctic is heating at four times the rate of the rest of the planet, and is a key indicator region for mapping the impacts of the climate crisis. Glacial melt is predicted to contribute to disastrous rates of sea-level rise which will have catastrophic impacts on global cities, coastal communities and the millions of people who live there. It is crucial that we  do everything we can in our cities to ensure that the Arctic does have a future…because all of our futures depend on it.

Image Credit: Photo by Roxanne Desgagnés on Unsplash
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Cities 1.5 Host David Miller’s book Solved: How the World’s Greatest Cities Are Fixing the Climate Crisis has just been released to paperback in a revised version and with an all new chapter just in time for World Book and Copyright Day! In it, he chronicles the stories of cities who have taken action to meet - and exceed - the emissions targets laid out in the Paris Agreement to transition away from fossil fuels.

In this episode, we turn the tables: David takes his place in  the interviewee hotseat, and his editor, Jodi Lewchuk, asks him a...

 By 2035, global fossil fuel use must be reduced to 50% of 2020 levels - or else we will face uncertain and serious consequences. But the fossil fuel industry keeps forging ahead, making billions at the expense of all of us, through attempts to re-brand fossil gas as a clean energy alternative, using disinformation narratives to delay and deceive, and advocating for the building of new fossil fuel infrastructure. One way to combat these actions of the fossil fuel industry is to collate and make available existing fossil fuel infrastructure. In other words, to map it.

Photo by Zaptec on U...

Next time on Cities 1. 5, it's a special takeover episode! Acquisitions Editor at University of Toronto Press, Jodi Lewchuk, interviews David about his book, Solved: How the World's Great Cities Are Fixing The Climate Crisis. Solved has just been released in paperback this week with an all-new chapter.

David will be at the University of Toronto Bookstore on Wednesday, April 17th to celebrate the launch. Visit utpjournals.press for all the details - we'd love to see you there.  And tune in to the next episode of Cities 1. 5 to hear Jodi turn the tables on David and interview h...

Cities stand on the frontline of the climate crisis - so they must also work to create frontline policies that support the global systems change required to ensure that cities have a future. Thanks to philanthropic support from both Global North and Global South organisations, the scientists, artists, and community leaders around the world who are making a climate-assured future possible are ensuring we are one step closer to this becoming reality.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

Featured guests:
Jesper Nygård is the CEO of Realdania, a Danish philanthropic association.  As...

Efforts to address the climate crisis are under siege beneath a rising tide of mis- and disinformation, with smear campaigns often funded and coordinated by vested interests such as the fossil fuel industry, climate conspiracists looking for cash and clicks, and even national governments. We all have a part to play - we must take responsibility for the information we consume and share to ensure a prosperous, healthy future for ourselves…and our planet.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash

Featured in this episode: Xuemei Bai, distinguished professor for Urban Environment and Human Ec...

Being able to breathe clean air should be a human right but, according to the World Health Organization 99% of the world’s population lives in areas exceeding safe pollution limits, which has huge impacts on public health. Air pollution, climate impacts, and social justice are three sides of the same issue, demanding an intersectional response that not only makes space for the voices of the most impacted, but also the most disenfranchised. 

Image Credit: Photo by Sai De Silva on Unsplash

Featured in this episode: The Great Smog of London, 1952, BBC Archive, Originally broadcast 5 December, 1962