Ok, Doomer! The NEVER podcast – How to save the world

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Welcome to “How To Save The World” the final episode of Ok, Doomer!, the podcast series by The European Leadership Network’s (ELN) New European Voices on Existential Risk (NEVER) network. Hosted by the ELN’s Policy and Impact Director, Jane Kinninmont, and Project and Communications Coordinator, Edan Simpson, this episode takes a step back to assess what we’ve learned about existential and global catastrophic risks in previous episodes and what comes next.

In “What’s the Problem?”, Jane and Edan wrap up the series by reflecting on key themes, including the importance of long-term planning and collaboration across different sectors and countries.

We then turn to Edan’s “How To Fix It” panel, featuring Sophie Howe, the former Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, dubbed by the UK’s Guardian newspaper as “the world’s first minister for the unborn” Sophie served as the Welsh Government’s first-ever Future Generations Commissioner. Her role gave her a statutory obligation to serve as “the guardian of the interests of future generations in Wales” and to provide guidance and advice to the government and public bodies in Wales when making decisions to ensure that they think about the effects on people in the future as well as now.

We are also joined by NEVER member Florian Ulrich Jehn. Florian is a Senior Researcher in Environmental Science at AllFed (Alliance to Feed the Earth in Disasters ) where they focus on food security, climate, and civilisational resilience. Florian is passionate about existential risk education and runs a newsletter, “Existential Crunch”, that serves as a living literature review on the topic.

Our third and final guest is NEVER member Nadine Andersen, who works as a Research Assistant at the SIPRI Climate Change and Risk Programme. She previously worked with UNDP, UNOPS, and IUCN, and her projects included addressing environment and resilience issues in Kenya, empowering youth for nature conservation in Sri Lanka, and planning an international workshop on hydro-diplomacy in Thailand.

The panel discusses their own contributions to the field of existential risk mitigation, what work is being undertaken at the local, national, and international levels, and the importance of citizen involvement in making long-term policy decisions and ensuring that policymakers create the appropriate governance structures to properly tackle existential and global catastrophic risks.

In this episode’s Turn Back The Clock segment, Jane is joined by historian Frank Gavin, who takes us back to the early days of the nuclear non-proliferation movement. Frank explains how, in the 1960s, the world was deeply pessimistic about the ability to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Yet, against the odds, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was established, a major success in reducing the global nuclear threat. This historical perspective offers a lesson in how bold, coordinated action can lead to breakthroughs, even in times of intense geopolitical tension. Frank also discusses parallels between the Cold War nuclear crisis and today’s challenges, such as AI and climate change, emphasising the importance of international cooperation.

In The Debrief, Jane and Edan reflect on the key takeaways from the series, emphasising the power of collective action and long-term thinking. They touch on the optimism shared by panellists like Sophie Howe, who called for “making long-term governance sexy,” and how common sense should be at the heart of addressing global risks. They also revisit the importance of democratic engagement, ensuring that the public is part of the conversation on existential risks. Finally, they highlight Frank Gavin’s powerful reminder that history has shown us that, with enough effort, we can pull back from the brink of catastrophe.

As the series comes to a close, Jane and Edan thank their listeners and guests for joining them on this journey. While this is the end of their six-part series, they promise to return with one-off episodes in the future, starting with an exploration of nuclear weapons in the age of AI and emerging technologies.

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The European Leadership Network itself as an institution holds no formal policy positions. The opinions articulated above represent the views of the authors rather than the European Leadership Network or its members. The ELN aims to encourage debates that will help develop Europe’s capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time, to further its charitable purposes.