The Planet Classroom Network and the Protect Our Planet Movement have announced a new episode of the interview series Net Zero Speaks featuring Marco Marani, a full professor at the University of Padova and director of the Centre for Climate Change Impacts, known as CRITICAL, the network said. The episode is hosted by youth climate advocate Ivan Ransom and was produced and edited by Gillian Cameron. It premiered on the Planet Classroom Network YouTube channel.
The conversation centres on relative sea-level rise, which Marani describes as the combined effect of rising oceans and sinking land. According to the announcement, the problem is especially urgent in low-lying coastal areas such as Venice and in major river deltas, where natural sediment compaction and human activity speed up land subsidence and increase flooding risk. Marani also examines the vulnerability of salt marshes and the role of Venice's MOSE storm-surge barriers, and argues that engineering should be integrated with biological and geological sciences.
The announcement states that marshes reduce flooding from storm surges and support fisheries and local biodiversity, but that their survival depends on their ability to build elevation through sediment and organic material. Estimates cited in it suggest that about 50 percent of global marsh areas have already been lost to drowning. Marani notes that while MOSE is essential to Venice's survival, blocking exceptionally high tides prevents the natural accumulation of sediment that nourishes salt marshes.
Marani urges coastal leaders to invest in youth education, to use climate projections in combining science with engineering for nature-based solutions and infrastructure, and to plan for managed retreat by protecting places such as Venice that cannot retreat while preparing other vulnerable regions for managed realignment. C. M. (Cathy) Rubin, founder and CEO of Planet Classroom, said the series lets young people hear directly from scientists confronting environmental challenges, and that protecting coastlines requires understanding living ecosystems, planning for change and acting before climate impacts make choices harder.
Net Zero Speaks is produced in partnership with the Protect Our Planet Movement and spans more than 50 episodes.
