Will POLITICS save or destroy the planet? We need to talk about eco-anxiety

Force of Nature

About the Episode

In this episode, We Need to Talk about Eco-Anxiety, Clover investigates how modern politics have generated the climate crisis and heightened global eco-anxiety; and what we must do to find a unifying vision for the future.

First up, Clover meets Colombe Cahen-Salvador, co-founder of ATLAS, to learn more about how politicians have escalated the climate crisis and whether they actually want us to politically disengage. We then hear from young people around the world on how they think politicians have shaped the climate conversation and Clover sits down with Jeremy Oppenheim, the founder of SYSTEMIQ, to learn why it's so hard to find political consensus on tackling the crisis and whether there’s opportunity in our ‘climate odyssey’.

Top Quotes

"Why don't we have an age limit in politics? How come you can run when you're 80 but you can't run when you're 20? It's ridiculous. Someone who is so much older cannot properly represent the youth" - Colombe Cahen-Salvador

"Just look at history. When you look at any society shifting event it wasn't easy. It looked impossible until it was done and it will always look impossible until it's done." - Colombe Cahen-Salvador

About the Guests

Colombe Cahen-Salvador is the co-founder of ATLAS. They push for global change through social campaigns, electoral activities, and direct actions. The movement is fuelled by the passion of people and communities uniting all over the world to fight common global challenges. They are present in over 130 countries with a membership of more than 20,000 people.

Jeremy Oppenheim is the Founder and Managing Partner of SYSTEMIQ - a systems change company that partners with business, finance, policy-makers, and civil society to make economic systems truly sustainable. Jeremy is a regular speaker at global resource productivity and sustainability events, and is lead author of Resource Revolution: Meeting the World's Energy, Materials, Food and Water Needs.

Caroline Hickman is a psychotherapist and Climate Psychology Therapist in Education at the University of Bath. Her research specialises in children and young people's relationships with nature, and their feelings about the climate and ecological crisis.

About the Sponsor

SYSTEMIQ was set up in 2016 and today, is a team of over 250 professionals across the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Indonesia and Brazil. They started out to bring business, institutions and governments around the same table to drive the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Rather than focus on individual companies, SYSTEMIQ takes a coalition and partnership-based approach to ensure the right people are in the room for systems-level transformation. This includes working closely with civil society, academia and finance. Its distinctive approach combines cutting-edge analysis with practical advice, policy insights, and scaling solutions that work locally and globally.

Resources

Follow Force of Nature

https://www.instagram.com/forceofnature.xyz/

https://twitter.com/fon_xyz

https://www.linkedin.com/company/forceofnature/

Check out more podcast content, eco-anxiety resources, and opportunities to join us at Force of Nature https://www.forceofnature.xyz/podcast

View our recent collaboration with Colombe Cahen-Salvador on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/forceofnature.xyz/ and follow them at https://www.instagram.com/colombecs/

https://www.instagram.com/atlas.movement/

Our production partners at OneFinePlay https://www.onefineplay.com/

Sign up to our newsletter to receive the podcast direct to your inbox, as well as exclusive invites - like our mid-season event with speakers from the show https://view.flodesk.com/pages/611e4f7e1a673a30ce698795

Take our 5-minute quiz ‘Which Changemaker Are You?’, featuring activists like Colombe Cahen-Salvador who feature in the podcast https://www.forceofnature.xyz/change-maker-quiz

Learn if you have eco-anxiety by taking our quiz here https://www.forceofnature.xyz/eco-anxiety-quiz

Read our latest blog over on The Bloom, written by one of our young content creators inspired by this episode https://www.forceofnature.xyz/the-bloom