MEER Podcast

Description In this episode of the MEER Podcast, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Adam McKay, the creator of The Big Short, Vice, Don't Look Up, and founder of Yellow Dot Studios, joins us to discuss how storytelling, climate communication, his latest essay The Gargantuan Lie That Is Collapsing the Climate, and why telling the truth about climate has become one of society's greatest challenges. Adam reflects on his transition from comedy into political and climate-focused filmmaking, and how researching Vice profoundly changed his understanding of human-caused climate warming. The conversation explores Adam's belief that storytelling can connect empirical truth with human experience and make complex subjects more accessible and engaging. Drawing on The Big Short and Don't Look Up, he challenges the assumption that audiences do not want to engage with difficult or substantive issues. We also discuss the creation of Yellow Dot Studios with Stacy Robert Steele and its use of comedy, parody, and storytelling to challenge fossil-fuel disinformation. Adam reflects on the response to Don't Look Up, the challenges of competing with well-funded climate misinformation, and the importance of communicating climate realities in ways that resonate culturally and emotionally. Finally, we explore the role of humor in confronting difficult realities. For Adam, laughter can be a form of resilience, helping people remain engaged rather than overwhelmed. The episode asks how storytelling, humor, and popular culture can help us face difficult truths about the climate crisis and consider what we do next. Relevant Links: The Gargantuan Lie That is Collapsing The World’s Climate – https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-massive-climate-lie-that-will-destroy-human-civilization Yellow Dot Studios – https://yellowdotstudios.com/ Learn More at https://meer.org

Description In this episode of The MEER Podcast, we are joined by Professor Jem Bendell, author, researcher, and originator of the influential Deep Adaptation framework, for a wide-ranging conversation about climate risk, societal disruption, and how our understanding of the climate crisis has evolved. Jem reflects on the ideas behind his consequential 2018 Deep Adaptation paper and revisits some of its most disputed arguments in light of what has happened since. We discuss what Deep Adaptation got right, why its conclusions generated such intense controversy, and what the response to the paper can teach us about the way academia, institutions, and the wider climate movement engage with uncomfortable evidence and possibilities. The conversation explores the growing evidence of accelerating climate disruption, the lessons that can be learned from those who anticipated these risks earlier, and why acknowledging severe climate threats does not have to mean giving up on meaningful action. We also discuss Jem's wider work on the "metacrisis" — the interconnected ecological, economic, social, and political pressures facing societies — and the need to think beyond conventional approaches to climate change as the consequences become increasingly difficult to ignore. Rather than reducing the climate conversation to optimism versus pessimism, this episode asks a more important question: what can we learn from the warnings of the past, and how should that knowledge shape what we do next? Relevant Links: A Dozen Disputed but Now Demonstrable Facts About Climate Change from the Consequential Deep Adaptation Paper of 2018 – Prof Jem Bendell https://jembendell.com/ Jem Bendell – Website https://jembendell.com/ Deep Adaptation Forum https://www.deepadaptation.info/ The Metacrisis Initiative https://jembendell.com/metacrisis-initiative/ Learn More at meer.org

In this episode of The MEER Podcast, we are joined by writer, director, and climate advocate Aria McKenna to explore the powerful role of storytelling in shaping public understanding of the climate crisis. The conversation examines how film, television, and culture influence climate narratives, the origins of the Healthy Planet Action Coalition, the concept of the "climate triad," and Aria's upcoming project Revolution Earth. Together, we discuss what today's climate storytelling gets right and where it falls short, while exploring how compelling narratives can inspire action, hope, and meaningful change. Revolution Earth – https://www.revolutionearth.tv/ Saving Planet Us – https://www.savingplanetus.com/ Healthy Planet Action Coalition – https://healthyplanetaction.org/ Global Cooling Productions - www.globalcoolingproductions.com Safe Climate Alliance - https://www.safeclimatealliance.org/ Aria's Pre-Climate Work - http://www.ariamckenna.com/index.html Learn more about meer at meer.org

What if climate change cannot be understood through carbon emissions alone? In this episode of The MEER Podcast, we speak with Rob de Laet about planetary energy balance, forest cooling, biohydrology, latent heat transport, atmospheric moisture regulation, and the role of ecosystems in stabilizing Earth's climate. The conversation explores how forests, clouds, water cycles, and atmospheric processes interact within a connected Earth system, and whether climate science and policy may benefit from a broader framework that looks beyond carbon accounting alone. Learn more about Rob's work: EcoRestoration Alliance: https://www.ecorestorationalliance.org/ Global EverGreening Alliance: https://www.evergreening.org/ Cooling The Climate: https://www.coolingtheclimate.earth/ Read his book: https://books.google.com/books/about/Cooling_the_Climate.html?id=yicwEQAAQBAJ

In this episode of The MEER Podcast, we speak with physician, environmental filmmaker, and activist Dr. Sofia Pineda Ochoa, director of Endgame 2050 and Greenwashed. Together, we explore the links between human and planetary health, the psychology of climate denial, the rise of greenwashing, and the role of storytelling in confronting ecological collapse. Sofia reflects on her transition from medicine to filmmaking, the making of her documentaries, and why honest conversations about the climate crisis are more important than ever. Despite the difficult realities discussed, the episode also highlights resilience, local action, and the quieter forms of hope emerging around the world. Watch Endgame 2050 and Greenwashed through the links below. Greenwashed: https://youtu.be/XjWUKFUaoL4?si=k9Il_VdTGV15XSfU Endgame 2050: https://youtu.be/o8YomEOExkc?si=Nj2sNvczbKoTRjaJ --- Learn more about MEER’s climate adaptation and cooling projects at https://www.meer.org.