Sustainable(ish)

Now this is a cracker of an episode...I ummed and ahhed about whether to publish  this one now (in the run up to Christmas), or to wait until the New Year, but decided to go with now. Because this episode is all about shopping, or rather stopping shopping, and it feels like now might be a time when we’re all perhaps uber aware of just how much extra we’re buying at the moment. The intention is not...

I talk a lot on this podcast about changes that we can make as individuals, and as households but possibly don’t talk enough about the other spheres of influence we have where we can create change.  Businesses and government have big roles to play too, but whilst most of us are unlikely to have the ear of our MP or the PM, the majority of us have some kind of connection with businesses – whether w...

So then.....COP26 is all done and dusted, and the circus has moved on out of town. There was a LOT of coverage (at least there was in my little social media bubble!) and it was amazing to see climate issues as headline news nearly every day through out the fortnight. And there were a helluva a lot of opinion pieces written, tweeted and spoken - many of them contradictory, and at times (all the tim...

At first glance, healthcare and the NHS might not seem to be linked to the climate crisis. And doesn't the NHS have enough on it's plate at the moment without being expected to 'green' itself? Tune in to this great episode with GPs Dr Fran Cundill and Dr Matthew Sawyer discussing how sustainability and healthcare and inter-linked and how they impact each other, with climate action leading to healt...

So then. How are you feeling? It’s coming up to the end of COP and two weeks of intense negotiation and shenanigans. Someone asked me this morning how I was feeling about it all, and my answer was confused. Or should that be COPfused – see what I did there…And I get a sense that I’m not the only one. My social media feeds have been full of posts – lots of them contradicting each other. On the one...

Here in the UK we get through around 2.5 BILLION disposable cups a year – 1 million trees are felled just for coffee cups, and a typical cup uses around 05 litre of water in being made. And sadly, disposable coffee cups are very hard to recycle – a 2017 study found that only around 1:400 are recycled – due to the difficulty in recycling the plastic coated paper, and also I would imagine to the lar...

COP 26. You can’t fail to have heard about it – my social media feeds are full of it, and even though these are very definitely skewed for eco stuff, it’s been all over the mainstream news and there’s been lots of great TV programming around it. But, erm, what is it? Hopefully I’m not alone in not really knowing – or having a kind of idea, but not really feeling like I could explain it very well t...

Today we’re talking education, specifically eco-education. For me it feels like schools are a really big part of the jigsaw when it comes to changing hearts and minds, and to educating and empowering us all around the changes that we can make, both individually and collectively. More and more schools are running eco clubs, and hosting Green Days or Green Weeks, but ‘sustainability’ is a huge topic...

Gas prices are going through the roof, energy bills are soaring, and energy companies are dropping like flies. Why is this happening, and what is the best thing for us to do as consumers, for our household budget and for the planet? Tune in to this episode with Jon Fletcher from green energy comparison site Big Clean Switch, where I ask him 'all the questions' about exactly what is happening, and...

Strap yourself in, this episode is all about emotions and feelings - specifically emotions and feelings related to the climate crisis and the teensy matter of the planet burning and us all going to hell in a handcart. That kind of stuff. Before we dive in, hopefully it goes without saying that I’m not a therapist, or a psychologist, or in any way qualified to give actual advice about any of this s...

In this episode I’m chatting to James Murray, editor of Business Green, and contributor to a recently publish book How to raise a global citizen – a book with the tagline "For the parents of the children who will save the world".We chat about why we’re both not really very keen on that tagline, the pressure that is on parents in our rapidly changing world, what it means to raise a global citizen,...

I'm still not quite sure how this happened, but in this episode I'm chatting to the co-CEO's of Friends of the Earth! Listen in as I chat to Miriam Turner and Hugh Knowles about their roles as co-CEOs, Friends of the Earth's 50th anniversary, and how Friends of the Earth can help to support us taking climate action in our local communities. LISTEN... CHECK OUT... Friends of the Earth UK- Website -...

This episode was recorded live at Timber Festival over the summer and was my first every experience of a live podcast recording - I think it went ok! Timber Festival is an annual festival in the National Forest in the middle of England, that this year happened at the beginning of July - there was  a brilliant line up of talks, music, food and everything else you would expect from a festival (inclu...

Earth Overshoot DayHave you heard of it? You may have seen a post or two on social media telling you that today is Earth Overshoot Day, and you may well be wondering what on earth that is! Which is a great question. Here's the official definition:"Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in tha...

Weird weather. We’re all feeling it aren’t we? We've had some of the hottest temperatures recorded in the UK, on the back of a cold cold May. And do you remember the really hot spring we had the year before? And a couple of years ago when it hit 20C in February and everyone was wondering around in t-shirts eating ice creams? I think most people have noticed the weird weather, but maybe not everyon...

While we're all hopefully pretty on top of using our own water bottles now, the next step if you're looking to increase your refill repertoire (do you like that?!) is to check out your local refill shop for all kinds of things from washing up liquid and shampoo, through to pasta and chocolate covered raisins (one of my faves). Which sounds easy peasy - we're all grown ups right? But I think for lo...

In this episode I’m chatting to Jo Royle, founder and CEO of Common Seas – an organisation on a mission to quickly and significantly reduce the amount of plastic produced and stop it polluting our rivers and seas. As a former sailor Jo was very aware of the issues that plastic is causing to our marine environments, and is the world record holder for the longest voyage made out of a boat made from...

Plastic free July is a campaign that started in Australia as small, local campaign – the brain child of Rebecca Prince-Ruiz.  Now in it’s 10th year it is a truly global and hugely impactful campaign, - in July 2020 over 300 million people took part in the challenge from over 170 different countries.  If this doesn’t demonstrate the power of just one person wanting to make a difference, I'm not sur...

I’m still having to pinch myself a little but I got to spend an hour hanging out and having a chinwag with a past winer of the Great British Bake Off! I met Nancy Birtwhistle, the 2014 winner of my very favourite TV show, virtually, for an event we did together for Glasgow's Aye Write Festival earlier on this year. Nancy has got a book out called Clean and Green, and we were paired up for a talk o...

We all often have the very best intentions – whether it’s getting fitter, losing weight, saving money, or being a bit greener. We have all the good intentions, but they don’t always translate into action. There’s often a gap, or a mis-match, between our intentions and our actions. We might watch the latest David Attenborough and be brimming over with motivation and determination to do our bit, but...

Trees. We all love them right? But how much difference can they actually make? Are we all just being conned into feeling like everything will be ok if we just plant a few more trees? And how do we as individuals and families living in your average 3 bed semi plant enough trees to make a difference? Come and listen in to my chat with the awe inspiring Amanda Bronkhurst from Just One Tree to answer...

In the Knackered Mums Eco Clubhouse, lovely Julia recently posted this: "Just wondering how you all cope with not doing it all and not all at once. I get so overwhelmed with the differing things I could be doing it seems like nothing actually gets done." Oh wow. I can relate to this - can you? I'm super aware of just how overwhelming it is to think about the climate crisis, and I think it's someth...

Today we're talking palm oil... The viral banned (too political apparently!) Iceland advert of Christmas 2018 highlighting the impact of palm oil on rainforests and the wildlife that live there really thrust palm oil into the spotlight, and I think we’re all aware now of the issue, but knowing what’s the best thing to do is another kettle of fish entirely. Should we be trying to avoid it? Or look...

I talk a LOT about the changes we can make as individuals and the power that we have to create real, meaningful change. I talk about the power of our choices, and the power of our voices. But during a recent chat with a brilliant lady called Sandra Sydow from Climate Pitch , she talked about the four areas where we have power and I LOVED this! So much so that I asked if she'd mind me sharing it, a...

Episode 100!How did that happen? I’m the least planny ahead planning type person, so it only occurred to me to start thinking about what to do for this episode a week or so ago. Short of having Greta or Sir David Attenborough on, I was short on ideas for what I could do to mark the occasion. So I asked the audience. Or more specifically, my audience, you guys, on social media. And you all said tha...