America Abroad Media has just released a new podcast titled 'The Carbon Conundrum: Confronting Climate Change' as part of its February program. This radio program addresses various climate change issues around the world, going beyond the politics of Copenhagen.
The program starts in Peru, with the interviewer driving down a newly formed highway with a Peruvian environmental activist. The rainforest in Peru is under real threat by ongoing economic developments and people's ever-growing needs. The new highway, for example, has been welcomed by many Peruvians as it improves access to more remote areas.
However, the rainforest provides a very real and necessary income stream for Peru, with tourists seeking out tramping adventures in the Amazon amongst the wildlife.
Other issues the rainforest faces include illegal logging and mining operations. According to the program, the government is currently taking steps to protect the pristine environment but lacks the capacity to prevent the ongoing farming and mining. A rainforest expedition manager and a store owner are also interviewed in this segment.
Following on from Peru, the program looks at the cap and trade system implemented in the United States in the early 90's as a means of controlling acid rain and asks whether a similar approach could help reduce CO2 emissions. In this segment interviewees include former members of the White House council and Robert Stavins, a Professor of Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Director of the Harvard Environmental Economic Program.
The third segment of the program also concentrates on an American issue, this time focusing on the battle over wind farms in Cape Cod. Cape Wind would be the first offshore wind farm in the US, but faces a lot of opposition from various parties including Native American groups and the Kennedy's. The plan is to have 130 wind turbines anchored 5 miles out to sea and will offset almost a million tons of emissions.
Lastly, Dr. Bjorn Lomborg, Director of The Copenhagen Consensus Center and Adjunct Professor at the Copenhagen Business School discusses some of the global challenges associated with reducing CO2 consumption and climate change. This section neatly ties up some of the issues explore earlier in the program, again touching on the importance of rainforests and the civic issues with the proposed Cape Cod wind farm.
Although the program addresses issues already widely publicized, it does offer some really good insights into these issues and provides a wide range of opinions and view points. The entire program runs in at just under an hour, but has been conveniently broken into four sections.
If you would like to listen to the podcast, be sure to visit the website here. (There also some multimedia features and images to check out that tie in with the program).
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