This year‑end episode of Climate Emergency Forum brings together host Herb Simmens and climate system scientist Paul Beckwith to look back at the biggest climate stories of 2025 and the highlights from over 250 CEF programs. They discuss five major global themes—from record‑high global temperatures hovering around 1.5 °C, to the “big shrug” from political leaders, the rise of land and ecosystems as net carbon sources, and another year of escalating climate disasters around the world. Herb also revisits the planetary boundaries framework with an update from Johan Rockström’s team showing seven of nine boundaries now exceeded, including ocean acidification.
This video was recorded on December 17th, 2025, and published on December 30th, 2025, and represents the opinions of the discussion participants.
Paul then turns the spotlight on the people and ideas that shaped the channel this year: popular CEF videos on polar vortex collapses, methane and Arctic risks, and interviews with “Giants of Climate” such as Peter Wadhams, Sir David King, James Hansen, and Jennifer Francis. The conversation ranges from AMOC slowdown and Antarctic sea‑ice loss to innovative proposals like cooling the climate through ecosystem restoration and the “biotic pump,” as well as new outreach efforts using fiction, art, and even climate‑themed stand‑up comedy to break through public indifference. The episode closes with a rapid news roundup—coal use hitting new records, accelerating glacier loss, the threatened Tigris River—and an invitation to viewers to suggest guests, topics, and stories for 2026 as CEF continues weekly coverage of the climate emergency.
Water Restoration - Reduction of Aquatic Methane (RAM) (CEF Video)
Devastation in Pakistan - Inside the Monsoon Floods (CEF Video)
Dr. James E. Hansen in Conversation with Paul Beckwith (CEF Video)
Dr. Hansen’s Climate Warning: It’s Worse Than We Thought (CEF Video)
Marine Cloud Brightening - Tribute to Stephen Salter (CEF Video)
Katharine Hayhoe in Conversation with Paul Beckwith (CEF Video)
Elizabeth May in Conversation with Paul Beckwith - At COP15 in Montréal (CEF Video)
COP30: COP30: Climate Hope Through Plankton Power (CEF Video)
Beyond Carbon: Healthy Oceans and Forests Could Be Key to Climate (CEF Video)
Trump administration moves to break up leading U.S. climate and weather center
No water, no life’: Iraq’s Tigris River in danger of disappearing
Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University
Herb Simmens - Author, Co-founder of the Healthy Planet Action Coalition (HPAC), Climate Emergency Board Member and former college instructor.
Charles Gregoire - Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth & the Climate Emergency Forum; Climate Reality Leader
Heidi Brault - Climate Reality Leader, BA(Psychology), Library & Information Technician Diploma - Video production and website assistant - Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP Team Lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum.
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