MEER Podcast

About MEER Podcast

The MEER Podcast and MEERTalks are dedicated to science education, exploring the latest research, ideas, and solutions to some of the world's most pressing environmental challenges. Through expert interviews, in-depth discussions, and presentations from leading scientists, researchers, and thinkers, we examine climate change, Earth's energy imbalance, urban heat adaptation, climate restoration, and innovative approaches to planetary cooling, including passive radiative cooling and surface reflection technologies. Our mission is to make complex science accessible, inspire informed discussion, and advance practical solutions for a more sustainable and resilient planet.

Publisher

MEER (Mirrors for Earth's Energy Rebalancing)

Category

science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

26 Feb 2024

Latest episode

11 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

21 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   11 Oct 2026

   MEERTalks | Dr Tom Harris – The Inversion Trap: How Carbon Sinks Are Becoming Sources as the Planet Warms

   What happens when Earth's natural carbon sinks begin turning into carbon sources, accelerating the very warming they once helped to slow? In this episode of MEERTalks, we welcome Dr Tom Harris, climate science writer and advocate, for an exploration of one of the most concerning feedback mechanisms in the climate system: the potential transformation of natural carbon sinks into sources of additional greenhouse gases. Forests, soils, oceans and other natural systems have historically absorbed a significant proportion of humanity's carbon dioxide emissions. However, as global temperatures rise, these systems face increasing pressures that could weaken their ability to absorb carbon and, in some cases, cause them to release more carbon than they take up. Topics explored include: How natural carbon sinks help regulate Earth's climate. Why rising temperatures threaten the stability of these systems. The mechanisms through which carbon sinks can become carbon sources. The risks of reinforcing climate feedback loops and accelerating global warming. The implications for agriculture, crop yields and global food security. Why understanding these changes is essential for assessing future climate risks. Drawing on scientific research and climate projections, Dr Harris examines how these processes may develop as the planet continues to warm, and why they deserve greater attention in discussions about climate change and planetary stability. About our guest Dr Tom Harris is a UK-based climate science writer and advocate who publishes Climate Uncovered on Substack, exploring climate science, environmental risks and the implications of global warming. Read his work: https://drtomharris.substack.com (https://drtomharris.substack.com) About MEER MEER (Mirrors for Earth's Energy Rebalancing) is dedicated to advancing scientific understanding and practical approaches to reducing heat stress and restoring Earth's energy balance. Through research, education and innovative surface cooling technologies, MEER explores solutions to climate change, urban overheating and environmental resilience. The MEER Podcast and MEERTalks bring together scientists, researchers and leading thinkers to explore the challenges facing our planet and the solutions needed to address them. Learn more: https://meer.org (https://meer.org) Recorded: 2 October 2026 Presented by: MEER – Mirrors for Earth's Energy Rebalancing Topics: Climate Change, Carbon Sinks, Climate Feedbacks, Global Warming, Carbon Cycle, Food Security, Earth System Science, Climate Restoration.

2. 

   1 Oct 2026

   MEER Podcast - 20. The Gargantuan Lie, Don't Look Up & Why We Still Aren't Listening with Adam McKay

   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 (https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-massive-climate-lie-that-will-destroy-human-civilization) Yellow Dot Studios – https://yellowdotstudios.com/ (https://yellowdotstudios.com/) Learn More at https://meer.org (https://meer.org)

3. 

   28 Aug 2026

   MEER Podcast - 19. Deep Adaptation, Climate Risk, and What Comes Next with Jem Bendell

   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/ (https://jembendell.com/) Jem Bendell – Website https://jembendell.com/ (https://jembendell.com/) Deep Adaptation Forum https://www.deepadaptation.info/ (https://www.deepadaptation.info/) The Metacrisis Initiative https://jembendell.com/metacrisis-initiative/ (https://jembendell.com/metacrisis-initiative/) Learn More at meer.org (http://meer.org)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.7 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings