As global Leaders attend COP27 talks few have any idea how to tackle the twin crises of cascading ‘wild weather’ events and the larger existential threats of climate breakdown that could easily follow. This series of TED talks outlines the new thinking needed to avert the worst outcomes and the refounding of meaningful democracies that must come with it.

Alan Simpson describes himself as ‘a recovering politician’. An MP for 18 years, he then worked as a consultant to Friends of the Earth and was Advisor on Sustainable Economics to the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell MP. He would still like to save humanity from itself.

Disruptive planning; zero-carbon transport networks. Paris: the 15-minute city.

Low traffic neighbourhoods and zero-emission zones. Putting communities before cars. Carbon rationing; getting the alternatives in place first.

Urban lungs; bringing nature back into cities. The war on waste; lessons in tax and circularity.