Series #2: Climate Change, Populism, & the Ukraine War
This series explores three of the crises of our time, interviewing experts from across the spectrum of views to offer a broad perspective and help motivate everyone both to think harder and to act more.
Episode #1: Are we thinking about climate change all wrong?
We tend to think about climate change in terms of crisis, apocalypse, and personal responsibility. But is this the best way to understand what is going on? Barney chats with Drs Carmody Grey and Bethany Sollereder about how we conceptualise the changes that are going on in our world, and how there are other surprising ways to interpret them.
The article Carmody mentioned, 'Losing Earth', is available here.
Episode #2: The Limits of Freedom: or, Why it's So Hard to Act on Climate Change
Why is it so hard to believe that our daily actions cause changes to the climate?
Why is it so hard to act in ways that are environmentally responsible?
How much responsibility do we have as individuals to make ecological choices?
These questions and others are discussed by Carmody, Bethany, and Barney in a follow-up to the previous episode.
Episode #3: Climate refugees in a climate of fear: why catastrophizing makes things worse
Barney, Carmody, and Bethany are back for a third episode on how we conceptualize climate change. We address questions like:
Why is there so much resistance to welcoming migrants?
Why do we feel that things are getting worse all the time?
Do we expect more comfort and security than we ought?
Is climate change a punishment for greed and negligence?
Join us for a rollicking ride through these questions!
Episode #4: Putin’s Crusade: the religious side of the Ukraine War
Barney, Carmody, and Bethany are back for an episode on the Ukraine War. We discuss questions like:
What are Putin's real reasons for attacking Ukraine? Are they religious or political?
Why is the media not discussing these reasons?
Why does Bethany know how to do Ukrainian dancing?
Why does Barney have an icon in his house that came from Putin's confessor?
The article from The Tablet that we refer to is here. Tune in to join the conversation!
Episode #5: Western culture is not relativist & the Ukraine War proves it
Is Western culture relativistic? Has it ever been relativistic? We were raised with the answer ‘yes’, but now Carmody, Bethany, and I are doubting this claim. The Ukraine War seems to have evoked a strong reaction from everyone that points in the direction of universal moral principles, whether one agrees with them or not.
What do you think? Share your views using the Spotify poll, or tweeting us @atthefrontiers, or emailing us.
Episode #6: What has right-wing populism to do with Christianity?
Right-wing populism is growing in the West and its members talk a lot about recovering Christian values. But how Christian are they really, what do they mean by Christian values, and does the media tell the truth about who they are?
This is part one of a double episode with Dr Tobias Cremer of Oxford University. He surprised us all with his insights about ‘cultural evangelicalism’, the tension within the idea of ‘liberal democracy’ and what right-wing populists say when you ask them ‘What is Christianity?’
Episode #7: Populism, Elitism, and healing the divide - Part 2 with Dr Tobias Cremer
How do we stop living in echo chambers that only repeat what we already agree with? How do we ensure everyone's opinion is taken seriously and represented in positions of power? This is Part 2 of the double episode with Dr Tobias Cremer of Oxford University. After some more discussion of Christianity and right-wing populism, the conversation turns to questions of what we do about populism and the elitist backlash against it. It turns out that religious institutions like churches and mosques have a unique capacity to do something here, for reasons you may not have thought of.
Episode #8: Climate change denial and the politics of science - with Dr Ondrej Dyck
We (Barney, Carmody, & Bethany) interview Dr Ondrej Dyck (material science PhD) on whether climate change is really happening and, if so, whether we should care. This episode goes to the heart of questions about how far we should trust science in a world saturated with political agendas and hidden motivations. And even if we agree on the facts, what ought we to do in light of them? That, we all recognise, is not a scientific question at all.
Here are links to the two documents we mention in our conversation:
- IPCC Mitigation of Climate Change
- NIPCC Climate Change Reconsidered
Would you like to hear more conversations with Ondrej? Share your views using the Spotify poll, or tweeting us @atthefrontiers, or emailing us.