The Boring Climate Podcast

#BoringDeeperWe recently took #theboringclimatepodcast offline, to hold Boring Deeper, our first-ever dedicated conference on carbon capture, utilisation and storage (#ccus) In this session, Dr Ashish Lele (chair of India's high-level taskforce that developed the CCUS roadmap) and Dr Anjan Ray (one of our country's foremost experts on our net-zero transition), speak to GPS Renewables CEO Mainak Chakraborty on what it would take to make India’s ambitious CCUS roadmap a reality.

India's trees are flowering earlier than they used to. Geetha Ramaswami and Suhirtha Muhil M have spent 15 years documenting exactly this through SeasonWatch, a citizen science initiative they helped build that has now logged nearly 900,000 observations of tree behavior across India.Geetha is an ecologist and one of the principal researchers behind SeasonWatch. Suhirtha led the development of SeasonWatch's Climate Change Educator Handbook — designed to be age-appropriate, culturally grounded, and taught through the tree outside the classroom window.We ask them what phenology is and why it matters, what 900,000 data points reveal about India's shifting seasons, what happens when a mango tree flowers three weeks early but its pollinators don't follow, and how citizen science turns everyday observation into a data revolution.

The Sundarbans is one of the most biodiverse — and most climate-vulnerable — places on Earth. A vast mangrove delta straddling India and Bangladesh, it is home to 4.5 million people, the Bengal tiger, and an ecosystem that has absorbed centuries of storms, floods, and now, a rapidly rising sea.In the past decade alone, the region has been struck by five major cyclones. It has lost over 210 square kilometres of land to the Bay of Bengal since 1964. And long before islands sink, salinity is quietly poisoning the soil — forcing migration, dismantling livelihoods, and unravelling communities.To understand what is really happening here — and what it means for the future — we speak with Dr. Annu Jalais, environmental anthropologist and Associate Professor at Krea University. Annu has spent decades living with and studying the communities of the Sundarbans. Her work sits at the intersection of climate change, conservation, and human–nonhuman relations, and has fundamentally challenged how we think about people, tigers, and coexistence in a landscape under siege.

Bill McKibben wrote the book on climate change — literally. In 1989, The End of Nature told the world what was coming. Thirty-six years later, his latest book Here Comes the Sun makes the case that the energy transition is already here — and moving faster than most people realise.In this episode, we talk to one of the most influential environmentalists in history about the solar revolution that's reshaping global power. We cover why the Global South is leading the renewables charge, what energy democracy looks like for the world's poorest communities, whether solar risks replicating fossil fuel inequalities, and why Bill believes India is positioned to leapfrog the old energy order entirely.We also get into storage, panel efficiency, end-of-life recyclability, and why McKibben thinks hope — not outrage — is the more durable fuel for climate action.

The Himalayan glaciers are retreating, and the water, energy, and geopolitical futures of over a billion people hang in the balance.We begin Season 3 with Dr. Anil V. Kulkarni, one of the world's leading glaciologists and a pioneer in Himalayan cryosphere research, to understand what's really happening at the roof of the world.Dr. Kulkarni's career reads like a story of firsts. He was the first to use satellite data to track the retreat of nearly 1,900 Himalayan glaciers. He developed India's first glacier mass balance model and snow-melt runoff model, exposing how climate change is quietly eroding hydropower potential across seasons. And his research on mid-winter snowmelt has identified a chilling story of global warming hiding in plain sight. With an M.Tech in Applied Geology from IIT-Roorkee, an M.S in Geography from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, a Ph.D in Geology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, and 40+ years watching the mountains change - this is THE episode for you to better understand our Himalayas.

Some of the most powerful storms on Earth form where science has looked the least.Despite being home to nearly half the global population, tropical weather remains one of the most poorly understood parts of the climate system. In our Season 2 finale of The Boring Climate Podcast, 2025, MacArthur Fellow Ángel F. Adames Corraliza explains how tropical storms form, and gets into why better understanding of moisture, atmospheric waves, and warming is overturning long-held assumptions. From the Madden-Julian Oscillation to humidity in the mid-latitudes, his insights could transform forecasts for four billion people.

Heat is the "invisible" disaster – it’s all around us, kills as many, perhaps more people, in India than other extreme weather events, yet doesn't capture public attention like floods or cyclones. Aditya Valiathan Pillai, doctoral researcher at King’s College London and a Visiting Fellow at the Sustainable Futures Collaborative, New Delhi, joins us on The Boring Climate Podcast to help us understand heat, ways to act upon it, the policy interventions we need as our planet warms, and why this is not just a climate problem, but very much a human problem.

Our climate and ecological crises are often seen as problems of the future. In this episode of The Boring Climate Podcast, Prof Mahesh Rangarajan, Professor of History & Environmental Studies at Ashoka University, joins us to talk about why history might offer critical lessons to address the planetary crises of the present.

When we talk about rising sea levels, we usually think of melting glaciers.But there’s another, quieter crisis unfolding underground.Over the past two decades, NASA satellites have tracked massive groundwater depletion- a shift now contributing more to sea-level rise than melting ice sheets.In this episode of the Boring Climate Podcast, Dr Hrishikesh Chandanpurkar, Earth System Scientist at Arizona State University, joins us to explain how human overuse of groundwater is dehydrating the planet and altering its hydrological balance.He unpacks how terrestrial water storage, the invisible layer beneath our feet, connects our taps to the oceans, reminding us that what we draw from the ground eventually finds its way to the sea.

Why study frogs and toads? And why are they featured on a climate podcast?That's because frogs are "indicator species" - their behaviour, songs and traits can tell us a lot about our planet - but are we listening? Our guest in this episode, Seshadri K.S. , takes us on an immersive audio-visual tour of the Western Ghats, sharing anecdotes, actual footage and song recordings from his fieldwork, as well as mind-blowing insights into these creatures and their secret lives.

Why do one-size-fits-all climate solutions often fail? Are EVs part of the solution or part of the problem? And, could the solutions we chase to combat climate change end up creating new problems for the people and environments we hope to save?In episode 4, we sit down with Dr Chirag Dhara, a quantum physicist turned climate scientist, whose work challenges us to look beyond easy solutions and embrace the complexity of our warming world.

Invasive plants with an "A" type personality, Padayaippa, the wild elephant who likes to play football and an ancient carbon capture technique all feature in this fascinating episode as Dr Tarsh Thekaekara, Director, The Real Elephant Collective and a trustee of The Shola Trust takes us on a journey that asks us to look at how close we are to nature, and what we can do to co-exist with it better.

Aerosols are tiny but powerful particles, shaping air quality, human health, and the climate in ways that are often invisible yet profound. Depending on their makeup, aerosols can reflect sunlight and cool the planet or absorb heat and warm the atmosphere, making them one of the most complex and consequential pieces of today’s climate puzzle.Dr. Richard Peltier, Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he leads research on air quality, aerosol chemistry, and the health impacts of pollution, joins the podcast to unpack aerosol chemistry, exposure, and health impacts—from measurement and monitoring to real-world policy relevance in a warming world. His research focuses on which particulate components drive disease risk and how improving air quality can protect health globally, bringing rigorous science and on-the-ground insight to the climate–health conversation.

What fish we choose to eat and when could have more of an impact on the health of our seas than you can imagine. How are our seas, fish and fisher communities coping with our changing climate? In this episode of The Boring Climate Podcast, Dr Divya Karnad, Associate Professor at Ashoka University and co-founder of InSeason Fish joins us for a conversation that could make you look at our seas differently.

Forget faraway glaciers – the climate crisis is unfolding in our cities. In India's booming urban landscapes, the relationship between people and nature is at a critical juncture. For our season finale, we zoom in on this vital connection and the urgent need to build climate resilience right here in our cities. Joining us is Dr. Harini Nagendra, Director at the School of Climate Change and Sustainability, Azim Premji University.Dr. Nagendra, a leading urban ecologist and IPCC author, uses everything from satellite imagery to community insights to understand the socio-ecological sustainability of cities in the Global South. Prepare to have your perspective shifted as she reveals how crucial urban ecosystems are for our well-being and resilience. Discover why that local park isn't just a nice-to-have, but a must-have for our future.

Did you know that the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is using treated wastewater from the city's sewage treatment plants to recharge groundwater in the drought-affected districts of Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Ramnagara etc - the world's second largest program of its kind? Which goes to show that with good planning, Bangalore and other major metropolises can continue to be water-secure and provide for regions around it, even in the face of climate change. "It's not a lack of water, but a lack of imagination," says S Vishwanath, our guest on this episode of The Boring Climate Podcast.

Dr Uma Ramakrishnan's lab at the National Centre for Biological Studies in Bengaluru is pioneering innovative methods to study the population genetics of tigers. We walk with her along the tigers' jungle trails to look at how their poop and genes can help us understand their past, present and future in a changing natural world and how nature is the best solution to mitigate the detrimental effects of climate change.

How do wild animals adapt their behaviour and patterns to global climate change and increasing human footprint? In this episode, travel to the deserts of Kutch and the reserves of Zambia with NatGeo explorer and engineer-turned-ecoloigist Dr Kadambari Devarajan as she talks about using technology to study large datasets on wild animals, creating open source resources for other scientists, and the implications of her work on designing more robust conservation and development plans.

In Ep 4 of #TheBoringClimatePodcast, veteran climate scientist Prof NH Ravindranath joins us to meticulously unpack the incredible potential of India's forests in making us less vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. We delve into the essential models scientists are using to understand and predict the specific impacts of climate change on our precious forest ecosystems. We also try to understand what far-reaching consequences we will face if we don't act now to protect our forests.Learn what's at stake and how we can safeguard our natural heritage!

As the world’s largest producer of millets, India has the unique advantage of harnessing this climate-smart plant to insure us against food insecurity in the face of increasing droughts, salinity and deteriorating soil qualities. Joining us today to help make sense of why millets are so robust is Dr M Muthamilarasan, whose work focuses on understanding the genetic traits that make millets climate resilient and on editing their genes to enhance these qualities.Tune in to find out more about Dr. Muthu’s Millet Lab and his research's potential for improving millet production, boosting economic growth and generating decent jobs. Drone shots courtesy: Dr M MuthamilarasanLocation: University of Hyderabad, Gachibowli

Rising CO2 levels is one of the primary causes of global warming. CO2 in the atmosphere stems from combustion of fossil fuels in our everyday lives - the electricity we use, the cars we drive, all of our industrial activities.What if we could capture and transform this CO2 into a valuable resource? Joining us in this episode is Prof. Vivek Polshettiwar, winner of one of India's highest science awards. His Nanocat group at Mumbai's Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) works on developing novel nanomaterials as catalysts to combat “climate change”.

The Indian monsoon impacts everything - from agriculture to our GDP. So, understanding and predicting this enigmatic but robust weather system is crucial. In this episode, Dr Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, a distinguished climate scientist whose career spans nearly four decades -- and the man behind the Rajeevan dataset that till date helps the IMD better predict the monsoon -- helps us decode the complex Indian monsoon and the impact climate change might be having on it.