08 July 2022

"Biggest scandal in climate policy"– Interview with Operaatio Arktis

by David Spratt

Operaatio Arktis (Operation Arctic) is a group of young Finnish activists campaigning to protect the Arctic. Their message is simple: "If you are an activist, politician or educator of any kind, put climate repair technologies on your agenda. We need to re-freeze the Arctic." Follow @OperaatioArktis on Instagram.

What are they talking about?  Ideas such as those coming from the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge, led by Sir David King, for marine cloud brightening or other interventions that could cool the Arctic and arrest the cascade of warming events and tipping points emanating from the Arctic that will otherwise overturn human civilisation.

Recently a discussion was recorded with Operaatio Arktis, and is available here. We talked about some big-picture issues and why the public, policy makers and even many activists have a way-too-optimistic view of the state of our climate system: tipping points, the scandal of Integrated Assessment Models, the IPCC, UNFCCC climate policies, understanding existential risks, and how to communicate these stories.

Cooling the Arctic will be the focus of the 2022 Arctic Circle Assembly at Reykjavik, 13-15 October.