Fascinating interview exploring the interwoven geopolitical, economic, and political history of Western democratic societies since the early 20th century, revealing the way in which the battles for energy and for resources has shaped politics, the fault lines ultimately leading to many recent crises. Helen shares her perspective on the evolving relationship between the US and China—the underlying dynamics, emphasising how the Chinese leadership thinks in strategic terms about green energy –unlike the US. Helen also highlights the scale of the challenge of the energy transition which, she argues, is often underestimated, pointing out how energy transitions in the age of fossil fuels has largely been about more energy sources, not directly replacing one energy source with another.
Helen Thompson is Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge and a fellow and Director of Studies at Clare College, Cambridge. Her current research concentrates on the political economy of energy and the long history of the democratic, economic, and geopolitical disruptions of the twenty-first century. She is the author of Oil and the Western Economic Crisis (2017), China and the Mortgaging of America (2010), and Might, Right, Prosperity and Consent: Representative Democracy and the International Economy (2008). Helen is a contributing writer to the New Statesman and has written articles for the London Review of Books, the New York Times, and the Financial Times. Her new book Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st century was published in February.
Episode 72: Interview with Rob Hopkins, founder of Transition movement
Episode 71: Interview with evolutionary biologist, Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris
Episode 70: Interview with Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth Systems Science, UCL, author of The Human Planet
Episode 69: Interview with Marc Ventresca and Michele Scataglini
Episode 68: Interview with Rachel Dreskin, US Executive Director at Compassion in World Farming
Episode 67: Interview with Ann Pettifor, director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics (PRIME)
Episode 66: Interview with author and filmmaker Helena Norberg-Hodge, founder and director of Local Futures
Episode 65: Interview with Martin Kirk, co-founder /The Rules
Episode 64: The importance of behaviour change to reduce CO2. Interview with CEO of Rare, Brett Jenks
Episode 63: Interview with Peter Barnes, author of Capitalism 3.0
Episode 62: Interview with Daniel Pinchbeck, author of How Soon Is Now: From Personal Initiation to Global Transformation
Episode 61: Interview with Carlota Perez, Centennial Professor of International Development at the London School of Economics
Episode 60: Interview with Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics: seven ways to think like a 21st century economist
Episode 59 Interview, with Ian Gough, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at University of Bath on the need for new eco-social policies to deal with the environmental crises we are now facing.
Episode 58: Interview with Gillian Caldwell, CEO of Global Witness
Episode 57: Interview with Jeremy Lent, author of The Patterning Instinct
Episode 56: interview with Dr. Jason Hickel, author of The Divide
Episode 55: Professor Daniel Nyberg discusses the challenges companies face maintaining their sustainability commitments to climate change over time
Episode 54: Dr Steve Cohen talks about the Sustainable City
Episode 53: Deep dive on sustainable agricultural supply chains with Tobias Webb, founder of the Innovation Forum, a sustainability events and publishing company based in London.
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