Flooded: Is extreme weather shifting the climate front lines?

We used to be shocked by this. Hundreds of thousands displaced, millions affected, whole communities washed out. But somewhere along the way, extreme weather events have become background noise.

This week, Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson explore what it means to live in a world where extreme rainfall, displacement and repeated flood damage are no longer rare shocks but part of a rapidly changing climate reality. Last year alone, Southern Africa, Pakistan, Brazil, South Sudan, and many other countries were devastated by catastrophic flooding. We reflect on the scale of the global crisis, the lives upended, and the huge economic losses that too often go uninsured.

Then Paul speaks with Louis Ramirez, co-founder of Flooded People UK, about what happens when flooding stops being just a weather event and becomes a political force. They discuss the growing toll of flooding in the UK, from mental health impacts to rising insurance costs and falling property values, and ask what collective action looks like when communities are forced to confront climate damage on their own doorsteps.

As the front lines of climate change move ever deeper into the Global North, will governments finally respond with the urgency this crisis demands? And can the devastation that flows from climate impacts help rally a social movement for change?

Learn More:

About flooding in the UK…

🌧️ Explore Flooded People’s resources on the state of flooding in the UK

🏠 Read about the government-backed Flood Re insurance programme mentioned in this episode

📍 Check the long-term flood risk for your area (England only, with links to other UK nations)

About flooding internationally…

🌍 Read more about worldwide flood risk from the World Bank

🔎 Explore how extreme weather events are being attributed to climate change at World Weather Attribution

🚨 Understand how flooding is displacing people across the globe at the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre

🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe

Join the conversation:

Instagram @outrageoptimism LinkedIn @outrageoptimism

Or get in touch with us via this form.

Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks

Edited by: Miles Martignoni

Planning: Caitlin Hanrahan

Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford

This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(406)

Beyond Politics: Should we take the heat out of the climate crisis?

Somewhere along the way, acting on a threat to all of humanity became a political act. Not a simple matter of science and economics, but a signal of whose side you are on.So, what would it take to cha...

13 Aug 46min

Cheapest Energy in History. Still Heading for 3 Degrees?

Solar power now costs a thousandth of what it did in 1976. Batteries are down more than ninety percent in a decade. By the logic of economics, the climate problem should be close to solved. It isn't. ...

6 Aug 57min

Europe’s Summer of Fire: The New Normal?

Europe is burning. Wildfires are still alight in the hills outside Bordeaux and the countryside west of Madrid. More than 300,000 people across France and Spain have been forced from their homes, and ...

30 Juli 33min

China, COP31 and Chagos: What’s happening behind the headlines?

In the nine hours after the Los Angeles wildfires, before the climate movement could get its shoes on, the narrative was being written. Through social media, podcasts and talking heads on cable news, ...

23 Juli 45min

Rosebank, Cambo, and the Conversation Christiana Never Got to Have

Five years ago, a 21-year-old activist stood on a TED stage next to the CEO of Shell and accused him of making ‘evil decisions’ wreaking ‘devastation on communities around the world’. And then walked...

16 Juli 40min

Whose Side Is the Law On? How the Courts Became a Climate Battleground

"Even if you are small in this society, there is something you can do."Those are the words of Trixy Elle, a mother and a fisherwoman from the Philippines, and one of the claimants from the Odette case...

9 Juli 49min

Is It Over? A Direct Answer to Climate Despair

Is it already too late? If you follow the climate crisis closely, despair is a reasonable and rational response to what you're looking at.This week, we’re being led by you. We gathered the messages yo...

2 Juli 38min

London Cooking: A Climate Action Week, a Resigning PM, and the Future of Climate Diplomacy

London Climate Action Week doesn't usually have to compete with extreme weather. But this year, the case for climate action was abundantly clear: a red heat warning, schools shut, trains cancelled, an...

25 Juni 57min