What Comes After What Comes Next

Elizabeth Kolbert is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction. Her most recent book, Under a White Sky, looks at the unintended consequences of human attempts to control nature with technology. 

 "We're now intervening to counter the effects of our own intervention," Kolbert says. "I call it the control of the control of nature."

When it comes to climate change, the question that lies at the heart o...

This week James catches up with the former chief strategist and senior advisor to President Obama, David Axelrod.

James and David talk about the tensions between consensus building and the need for urgent action when it comes to climate action. They also talk about the need to tell a positive story about how climate action will benefit people's lives.

David shares his experience of working on 150 campaigns across the U...

This week James catches up with award winning author Barbara Kingsolver, whose work over the last three decades has eloquently and movingly touched on matters of genuine social and environmental concern.

Most notably, Barbara's novel Flight Behaviour conveyed the impact of climate change on a community, an ecosystem and a species. The novel also draws out the tension that can exist between one's everyday life and the changes hap...

When Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim was a child, Lake Chad in her home country spanned 10,000 km2. Today, because of climate change, it is around a tenth of that size.

As Hindou puts its "climate change is not about our future, it's about our present.”

Hindou is an expert in the adaptation and mitigation of indigenous peoples to climate change. She is a member of the Mbororo pastoralist people in Chad and President of the Association...

James catches up with author and journalist David Wallace-Wells.

David's 2017 best-selling book The Uninhabitable Earth began with the now-famous line “it is worse, much worse, than you think.” It then goes on to set out in rich and forensic detail what the impacts of climate change could be for our politics, our culture, our economy, and our psychology. It's one hell of a book and comes highly recommended, especially as more a...

This week James catches up with world-renowned climate scientist and science writer, Dr. Kate Marvel. 

Kate is research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and a professor at Columbia University’s Department of Applied Physics and Mathematics. 

One of the reasons for inviting Kate on the show was to get to the bottom of how a climate model works. How can we know with any certainty what we are doi...

Kia ora!

Welcome back for the second series of What Comes After What Comes Next, Aotearoa New Zealand's number one podcast about how we tackle the climate crisis and renew our economies in a post-pandemic world. 

To kick off series two James catches up with "probably the most important economist in the world"* Professor Jeffrey Sachs.

*according to the New York Times, no less.

James chatted to Jeff about climate c...

As we weather the economic storm of the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis continues to loom large. We also face a biodiversity crisis and a crisis of deepening poverty.

The good news is that all of these crises can be solved together and that is very much the message of this week's guest, Bill McKibben. And he certainly knows what he is talking about.

In 1988, Bill wrote The End of Nature - the first book for a ...

With the US election just around the corner, James speaks to the journalist and political commentator Ezra Klein about political polarisation and climate change.

Ezra is the founder and editor-at-large of Vox.com, the award-winning explanatory news organisation.

He is the host of the excellent podcast the Ezra Klein Show and recently published the book Why We’re Polarised, which draws from history, political scienc...

The US is a leader on climate change – just not where you might think.  

Cities, states, and businesses are America’s climate innovators, deploying bottom-up solutions - and working with legislatures, city councils, and corporate boards to drive the transition to a low carbon economy.

There is one state in particular that often comes to mind when thinking about climate action in the US, and that’s California.

James chats to the writer and activist George Monbiot.

A self-described "professional troublemaker," George Monbiot has been writing about climate change, the natural environment, and the economy for more than 35 years. As you’ll hear, he remains deeply concerned about the dangers of climate breakdown. However he is clear that we can change, that we can do things differently.

He captured this brilliantly in a recent TEDTalk...

This week James talks with the physicist, ecologist, activist and writer Dr. Vandana Shiva about the future of agriculture and the role of gender in environmental politics. 

During the conversation Dr. Shiva talks about her concept of “Earth Democracy.” Earth Democracy is rooted in the ancient Indian concept of Vasudhaiva kutumkam, the earth family. As one family, all beings have equal rights to sustenance through the ...

So far we've talked to campaigners, economists and business people about how we tackle the climate crisis in a post-pandemic world.

This week we've got something a little bit different for you. James catches up with the legendary producer Brian Eno and talks to him about the role art can play in helping us understand and tackle climate change.

Brian also shares some fascinating ideas about how different models and structures ...

This week James talks to the legendary primatologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall. 

Dr. Goodall has pioneered work in community-centered conservation and sustainable development projects. Here she talks about the power of individual action, and the important relationship between poverty reduction and protecting the environment.

Follow James on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Jane Goodall Institute

Roots and S...

This week James talks to the former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney.

Mark's term as head of the Bank of England ended in January 2020. Soon after, he was appointed as the lead financial advisor for the next global climate talks in Glasgow 2021.

Mark has been hugely influential in ensuring global financial markets understand their exposure to climate risk and develop strategies to avert them.

Alongside Michael ...

This week James talks to the brilliant economist Kate Raworth.

Kate will probably be best known to most listeners for her hugely influential book Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist. The ideas in this book have travelled all over the world and are shaping government policy making. 

This is a conversation about how we can build a better future where the goal of economic activity is a...

This week James talks to the award-winning journalist and bestselling author Naomi Klein.

Naomi has spent two decades documenting the transformations that take place under the cover of disaster. She has also written extensively about how tackling the climate crisis can both create jobs and make the economy much fairer and more equitable.

James and Naomi started their conversation by talking about how the Covid-19 pande...

Welcome to episode number two of What Comes After What Comes Next.

This week I am joined by Christiana Figueres, the former head of the UN convention on climate change who spearheaded the talks that led to the historic Paris Agreement.

Our conversation focused how we can rebuild from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to create a better, cleaner, and fairer economy.

James Shaw is New Zealand's Minister for C...