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How to Save a Planet

We Go Inside the COP26 Climate Talks

How to Save a Planet

Gimlet

Science, News, Society & Culture

4.81.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

At the COP26 UN climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, nearly 200 countries signed a deal aimed at increasing efforts to tackle climate change. The goal? "Keep 1.5 alive" — that is, set the world on a credible path to limit warming to 1.5°C and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. So, did countries succeed? We take you inside COP26: from the protests at the gates to the late night negotiations — and the single word that almost brought the whole deal down. Calls to action How do you get better results at the UN climate talks? By taking action at home! And if your home is the U.S., there’s a particularly effective action you can take right now: Call Congress! Yes, we know, we’ve said it before. But lawmakers are still, right this very moment, debating the “Build Back Better” plan, which includes major investments in renewable energy, electric vehicles and more — and would get the U.S. much closer to meeting its pledge to cut emissions in half by 2030. Not sure how to call? Check out call4climate.com where you can find contact information for your representatives and simple scripts to help when you call. Want to learn more? For more on the history of COPs, the Paris Agreement, and the 1.5°C goal check out our episode, “The Small Island Nations that Got Big Action on Climate” Check out our Calls to Action archive for all of the actions we've recommended on the show. Send us your ideas or feedback with our Listener Mail Form. Sign up for our newsletter here. And follow us on Twitter and Instagram. This episode of How to Save a Planet was produced by Rachel Waldholz. The rest of our reporting and producing team includes Kendra Pierre-Louis, Anna Ladd, and Hannah Chinn. Our supervising producer is Lauren Silverman with help from Katelyn Bogucki. Our editor is Caitlin Kenney. Our intern is Nicole Welch. Sound design and mixing by Peter Leonard and Lonnie Ro with original music by Peter Leonard and Emma Munger. Our fact-checker this episode is Claudia Geib. The man you heard singing in the Darth Vader suit is Jamen Shively. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to How To Save a Planet.

0:04.3

I'm Alex Bloomberg and this is the show where we talk about what we need to do to address

0:07.8

climate change and how to make those things happen.

0:25.1

It is 8.30 in the morning and the first thing I have to do every morning before I go

0:30.4

to COP is I have to take an at home COVID test.

0:35.4

Oh, this makes me sneeze.

0:40.8

That sneeze, that is the sneeze of our intrepid reporter Rachel Waldholz who all last

0:45.7

week was attending COP26, the big UN Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

0:50.7

And Rachel, you're joining us today on the podcast to tell us all about it.

0:54.1

Hello.

0:55.1

Hey, Alex.

0:56.1

I am a little embarrassed that we're starting the episode with that very loud sneeze.

1:01.5

But I guess our goal today is to give people the real behind the scene story of COP.

1:06.5

And certainly my COP and everybody's COP involved a lot of no swabs.

1:10.9

Hey, listen, this is why people come to How To Save a Planet.

1:14.1

We're going to give you the full story, no swabs at all.

1:17.6

Just last week, the COP26 talks ended and the world emerged with an actual agreement.

1:23.5

And there is a lot in that agreement, there was a lot of drama getting to that agreement.

1:28.3

And on today's podcast, Rachel, you're going to tell us what exactly the world agreed

1:32.1

to and all about that messy process that got us there.

1:36.2

And maybe you can just start by sort of setting the scene a little bit.

1:39.7

What's it like at a COP?

...

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