Clouds, soil moisture, and plant life are doing more climate work than most of us were ever taught and ignoring them leaves a huge gap in how we respond to warming. Here's the keynote from Dr. Katie Ross, at the recent Australian Water Association conference, that connects climate science to the living landscape, making the case that the climate “stands on two legs”: the familiar atmospheric story of greenhouse gases and a bottom-up ecological story driven by water, biology, and energy flows. We dig into radiative forcing using a simple Earth energy budget, then follow what happens when solar energy meets healthy country: diverse plants photosynthesise and transpire, shifting heat into latent form, while microbes and plant compounds act as cloud condensation nuclei that help water vapor form thicker, lower, more reflective clouds. That cloud cover matters for cooling, for gentle local rain, and for clearer nighttime re-radiation windows that let heat escape. We also zoom out to the blue planet, where phytoplankton and ocean processes support cloud formation and climate balance. Then the hard part: what changes when we clear forests, drain wetlands, straighten waterways, and degrade soils. Katie explains how altered land surfaces generate more heat, keep skies hazier, push storms toward extremes, and lock landscapes into runoff, erosion, drought, and fire. She closes with why carbon became the dominant climate narrative and what a more complete approach looks like: emissions cuts paired with regenerative agriculture, living soils, restored wetlands, and rebuilt small water cycles for real water security and local cooling. Subscribe, share this with someone working on land or water, and leave a review so more people can find the missing half of the climate story. Katie Ross PhD is a writer, Adjunct Fellow at UTS, and former CEO of Soils for Life. Chapter markers & transcript. You can watch Katie's slides attached to chapter markers as she speaks. Recorded 25 February 2026. Katie talks about our recent running of the Confluence river journey on the Murray/Dungala, in episode 302. The keynote before Katie's by Walbanga woman Sheryl Hedges is episode 303. Music: Southern Roots Boogie, by Falconer (from Artlist). Regeneration, by Amelia Barden. Send a message Support the show The RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber, gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits, and help keep the show going - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find writing too). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks for your support!
