Futuremakers

Join Peter in 5th century Athens, a crowded city in the midst of a siege, where a devastating disease had just erupted. Our guests discuss whether this really was plague, the breakdown in law and order that began to emerge, and how the historian Thucydides survived the disease that hit his city.

This episode is part of our History of Pandemics season - follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Smallpox and Cholera, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading? Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics  

Futuremakers is created in-house at The University of Oxford, and presented by Professor Peter Millican, from Hertford College. The voice actor for this episode was Shaunna-Marie Latchman. The score for the series was composed and recorded by Richard Watts, and the series is written and produced by Ben Harwood and Steve Pritchard.

Just before our third season starts we talk with Dr Peter Drobac, a global health physician and Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, and Dr Aoife Haney, Research Lecturer in Innovation and Enterprise, about the social, economic and environmental changes that may well be heading our way after our current pandemic. 

Coming soon... Follow Professor Peter Millican as he talks to researchers from around the world about some of the devastating pandemics humanity has experienced. Peter and his colleagues will discuss ten major outbreaks: from the Plague of Athens to the West African Ebola outbreak, via the Black Death, Cholera and Smallpox, and ask how these outbreaks have shaped society, what we may be able to learn from them today, and where we might be heading?
Find out more at https://bit.ly/TheHistoryOfPandemics 

Originally recorded back in September 2019 at the AI@Oxford Conference held at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School, this 'live' episode sees Prof. Millican joined by:

In it, they revisit a number of topics from the first season of Futuremakers, from the automation of jobs to algorithmic bias to AI and so called 'fake news'.

For more information on the conference, visit: https://innovation.ox.ac.uk/innovation-news/events/aioxford-conference/ainextsteps/

Climate migration hit the headlines in January, when the United Nations made a landmark ruling about the legal rights of those displaced by a climate crisis.

The UN High Commission for Refugees has warned that millions of people could become climate refugees in the coming years, and meanwhile, tensions over scarcity are stoking fears of conflict.

With temperatures and anxieties rising, how do we prepare for changing human mobility and new kinds of conflict?

Joining Prof. Millican in this episode is Lisa Thalheimer, a 

DPhil student whose research focuses on quantifying the impacts of human mobility and extreme weather events, linked to climate change.

You can find Lisa online @ClimateLisa.

 

The world is getting hotter, drier, and more crowded. By 2050, there will be ten billion humans across the globe, while at the same time there may be far less land suitable for growing food.

There's also a growing awareness that our diet and food choices can have a significant impact on our carbon footprint: while innovations like lab-grown foods may provide lower emission options, and new technologies may make our food supply more adaptable and robust, there are clearly many challenges ahead.

Put simply: what is the future of food?

Joining Prof. Millican in this bonus episode are Dr Monika Zurek and Dr Jim Woodhill, from the Food Systems Group at the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute. You can find out more about their work here: www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/food/

Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at: bit.ly/trueplanet

In this bonus ‘reaction’ episode, we chat to several Oxford academics who were either at, or closely following the recent events at COP 25.

 

We ask them what (if anything) was decided at the meeting in Madrid, whether enough action was taken, and where we might go next - ahead of COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland (2020).

 

Interviewed on this episode were Professor Fredi Otto, Professor Nathalie Seddon, Dr Helen Gavin, DPhil students Alex Clark and Lisa Thalheimer, entrepreneur Charmian Love and lawyer Bill Clark. 

 

Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet and keep an eye on this feed, for more bonus episodes in the new year.

In this special bonus episode, originally recorded on 25th November, Professor Millican travels to the Bank of England to interview its Governor, Mark Carney. This episode was recorded before it was announced that Mark Carney will become the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance in 2020.

 

The interview covered a range of topics, but focused in particular on the challenges that markets may need to overcome if we hope to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees C, how federal banks are working to prepare for these, and if an even more fundamental change to our economic and political system is needed.

 

Can markets provide a tool to promote necessary action? Is it possible to find a middle ground of sustainable economics? Can we be green, and capitalist?

 

Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet and keep an eye on this feed, for more bonus episodes in the new year.

Solving climate change can involve either mitigation – reducing the greenhouse gases we’re putting into the atmosphere – or adaptation – the process of adjusting to our changing environment. In the last episode of series two, we wanted to learn more about how these solutions are developing, what form they take, and where we should be applying them. We were particularly interested in the contrast between two climate change solutions: engineering approaches (such as technical methods of carbon capture, novel methods of building, or physical climate defences), and natural approaches (such as reforestation, changes in farming patterns, or restoring wetlands). With the stakes so high, how far can we harness nature to help tackle climate change, or will technology provide a solution?

With Peter to discuss this are; Nathalie Seddon, who having trained as an evolutionary ecologist is now Professor of Biodiversity and Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative, Jim Hall, originally an engineer and now Professor of Climate and Environmental Risks, who is an expert on climate risks to infrastructure, and who for ten years sat on the UK independent Committee on Climate Change, and Dr Helen Gavin, Oxford Martin Fellow, an environmental scientist and sustainability professional bringing 18 years of experience in both industry and education.

Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet

In 2010, Jeffrey Mazo outlined in his book ‘How global warming threatens security and what to do about it’ four ways in which climate and environmental change could produce security threats:

·     a general systemic weakening, 

·     boundary disputes,

·     resource wars,

·     and by multiplying instability in already fragile or weak states. 

Yet so far in our second series, with conversations around energy use, international treaties and individual choices, talk of conflict has received much less attention. 

Is this a fair reflection of the relative threat, or should people be paying far more attention to these potential future developments?

Is global conflict due to climate change inevitable?

With Peter to discuss this are; Kate Guy, from the Centre for Climate and Security in Washington DC, a doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford specialising in International Relations, who focusses on the intersection of climate change and national security; and Dr Troy Sternberg, from Oxford's School of Geography and the Environment, whose research has explored how environmental and climate changes in the Gobi region of northern China and Mongolia, have impacted on security in the Middle East.

Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet

To date, there have been climate change legal cases in at least 28 countries. From Greta Thunberg leading a group of young people in filing a lawsuit against five countries at the UN to the Hague Court of Appeals upholding a historic ruling against the Dutch government, increasing numbers of people are taking legal action together to demand governments do more. 

 

And with various oil and gas companies being sued by US cities for costs of climate-related damages, today on Futuremakers, we’re asking: what does this rise in litigious climate action mean for society as we race to meet climate targets?

 

Joining Peter Millican on the panel today:

 

 

Find out more about Oxford’s climate research at http://po.st/TruePlanet