S1E9: Dialling God on climate crisis - A conversation with the Pope's climate scientist: Speaking of Asia Ep 9

  • 14 Jan 2022

Synopsis: Join The Straits Times's associate editor Ravi Velloor, in this series of podcasts as he distils his experience from four decades of covering the continent.

In this episode, he hosts Professor Veerabhadran Ramanathan of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California in San Diego. He also happens to be a member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences, which makes him the Pope’s climate scientist.

Highlights of conversation (click/tap above):

03:27 Professor Ramanathan on the outcomes of the COP26 in Glasgow and whether the world is doing enough to curb fossil fuels

16:26 Global warming morphing into a global disruption of the weather systems, including those along the equator and the polar region

22:05 Remedies for climate change and ways to cut global warming

30:36 Geopolitics coming in the way of taking effective steps to cooperate on climate change?

33:54 How Professor Ramanathan built his relationship with the Vatican leading up to the encyclical that was issued by Pope Francis in 2015 and is there a need to enlist religious authorities into climate effort?

48:43 The Pope's view that poverty is the main pollutant and Professor Ramanathan's thoughts on a possible future world leader who might dismiss climate change issues

Produced by: Ravi Velloor (velloor@sph.com.sg) and ST Video

Edited by: ST Video & Fa'izah Sani

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