106. Bertrand Piccard: Combining science and adventure to tackle climate challenges

In today's world, the term "ecology" often evokes images of sacrifice, expense, and inconvenience. In this final episode of our Climate Solutions series, renowned explorer and environmentalist, Bertrand Piccard explains why focusing on ecology is not only profitable but also exciting.

Piccard is best known for his groundbreaking achievements in exploration: flying around the world in a solar-powered airplane and circumnavigating the globe in a hot air balloon. These adventures allowed him to witness the beauty and fragility of our planet firsthand, instilling in him a deep sense of responsibility to protect and preserve it.

Talking to host, Sue Stockdale, who is also an explorer, Bertrand discusses the importance of giving ourselves permission to invent our future, highlighting how we are often trained to remain in our zone of comfort, which ultimately limits our potential for adventure and growth. He emphasises the need to step outside of our certainties and embrace the unknown in order to create the life and society we want and shape the future we desire.

About Bertrand Piccard : Clean Tech Pioneer- Founder and President of the Solar Impulse Foundation

Bertrand Piccard is a pioneering spirit and an influential voice to encourage the implementation of efficient solutions. As one of the first, as early as the 2000s, to consider ecology from a profitability perspective, Bertrand Piccard is considered an opinion leader on the themes of innovation and sustainability. As President of the Solar Impulse Foundation, he promotes qualitative growth by demonstrating the economic potential of clean technologies. Denouncing the absurdity of the polluting and inefficient systems still too often used today, he pleads for the modernization of the legal framework in order to facilitate market access for efficient solutions. His voice is heard within the most important institutions, such as the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Economic Forum and his commitment has earned him several nominations, such as Champion of the Earth, and Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations.

Connect with Bertrand Piccard via Twitter @bertrandpiccard and @solarimpulse and the Solar Impulse website

Key Quotes

• I was born and raised into that vision of running scientific expeditions to protect the environment.
• It’s wrong to say the sky is the limit. The real limit is the fuel.
• I wanted to identify in the world all the efficient solutions that are economically profitable to be able to protect the environment.
• We explore with my foundation, the best solutions, we explore new ways to make them known, we explore new ways to implement them, to create an enthusiasm around these solutions.
• Ecology is not anymore something expensive, boring and sacrificial. It is something exciting. It is something economically profitable. It's something that can bring people together.
• You have to give an incentive to people to change.
• If you see somebody who is afraid of changing, you have to show him that he has inside of himself all the tools, all the resources, all the potentials that can help him to do something differently. We have to show him that it's better to do it in another way.
• There was a time in exploration when it was new continents, then it was new planets. Now it's really how to live better on this planet, how to protect our planet, how to improve the quality of life, how to find new solutions.
• When we speak of solutions, it's important to understand that most of the time it's not high-tech solutions, it's common sense.

Partners and Supporters

We partnered with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society to bring you this series. Take a look at their Climate Solutions course, developed by leaders and experts in climate change and endorsed by the Institute of Directors.

We are also supported by Squadcast –the remote recording platform which empowers podcasters by capturing high-quality audio and video conversations.

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