A lot has happened in the six months since we launched this project. It feels like every week of 2024 has packed a decade’s worth of news. In just the past few weeks, we've seen crises hit the French and German governments, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, a day of martial law in South Korea, and, of course, Trump’s reelection to the White House.
Amidst all of it, climate has generally taken a political backseat. This is despite 2024 having been a bumper year for the climate as well — whether it’s record breaking investment in energy; the hottest year on record; the highest annual emissions on record; or an alarming number of supposedly “once in a lifetime” storms and heatwaves.
With all of this in mind, progressive and independent media voices covering climate feel more important than ever. We’re therefore delighted to welcome James Meadway, host of the hit weekly economics podcast Macrodose, to the Break Down. For today’s crossover episode, James and Adrienne take a look back at a tumultuous 12 months.
If you're not already familiar with Macrodose, you can find their feed wherever you get your podcasts.
Thank you for joining us this year on The Break Down. We’ll see you in 2025.
Further Reading
Ned Beauman, Venemous Lumpsucker, Sceptre, 2022
Thomas Ferguson and Servaas Storm, "Oil Prices, Oil Profits, Speculation and Inflation", Institute for New Economic Thinking
Michaël Aklin and Matto Mildenberger, "Prisoners of the Wrong Dilemma: Why Distributive Conflict, Not Collective Action, Characterizes the Politics of Climate Change", Global Environmental Politics
Isabella Weber et al., "Inflation in times of overlapping emergencies: Systemically significant prices from an input–output perspective", Industrial and Corporate Change
Jinshan Hong and Bhuma Shrivastava, "Yes, Everyone Really Is Sick a Lot More Often After Covid", Bloomberg