Seismic Wales

We're back after a 6 month break for our last ever episode! For our finale, Lynsey talks to two of those behind Cardiff's buzzing bee scene: Tamsin, owner of eco gift shop Blossom and Nectar and Liz from Pharmabees project at Cardiff University's School of Pharmacy. Discover how researchers are creating a bee friendly city and helping the fight against superbugs, and how you can help our pollinators thrive. The team also catch up on life in the pandemic and reflect on their highlights from producing the podcast over the last couple of years. Many thanks to you all for listening and contributing - and we wish you Nadolig llawen / merry Christmas and a happy & sustainable 2021.

The whole team are back together this month, to look at the latest developments as Wales deals with the effects of the pandemic. Across the country, communities are showing their strength in the face of Covid-19. We hear from Katie Hastings from Planna Fwyd and Mach Maethlon about Machynlleth's rapid response to emptying supermarket shelves and its ambitious veg growing schemes. Rich also talks to Emma Shepherd from BCT Wales about how various communities have come up with imaginative solutions to the lockdown, as well as Jess Silvester from the MaesNi project in Bangor. Hosts: Christian, Lynsey, Rich and Rachael

Rich speaks to John McCrory from Repair Cafe Wales, which have now expanded to 25 locations from Wrexham to Fishguard. With the cafes closed due to Covid-19, they've taken the service online, running workshops to help people fix things at home - starting with bikes, furniture and jewellery. LINKS https://repaircafewales.org/ https://www.facebook.com/repaircafewales CREDITS Image by Becky McKimmy on Flickr (cropped) - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/becky_mckimmy/8626808336/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/legalcode

Wales is rising to the challenge of feeding its people during the Coronavirus crisis. In this episode, Lynsey and Rich hear from some of the people making that happen, despite our heavy reliance on food imports and high levels of poverty. Pearl from Food Cardiff explains the nature of the challenge and how local food growing could help in the long term. Lauren from Wild Thing Cafe and Sarah from South Riverside Community Development Centre explain how action on the ground is helping the poorest access healthy food. (Image courtesy of Wild Thing Cafe) LINKS: https://foodcardiff.com/ https://www.wildthingcardiff.com/ https://www.srcdc.org.uk/ If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and give us a review on Apple Podcasts :-)

Nature is the boost we need in these strange times. Spring has sprung, and before the lockdown Lynsey and Rich spoke to Wildly Pip, who champions wildlife in her home city of Cardiff and runs #WildCardiffHour. And in our post-lockdown chat, we then catch up via Zoom to reflect on how we can get closer to nature in our everyday lives. LINKS Wildly Pip: http://www.wildlypip.co.uk/ Wild Cardiff Hour: https://twitter.com/wildcardiffhour Creating a wildlife-friendly garden: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/gardening-for-wildlife/creating-a-wildlife-friendly-garden/ No Mow May: https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/about-us/news/plantlife-launches-no-mow-may

Storm Dennis left a trail of devastation, not only wrecking homes but also dumping rubbish across a wide area. In this bonus episode, Rich joins over 100 others involved in the community clean-up effort in Bute Park, Cardiff and hears from Dave King MBE from Cardiff Rivers Group about the incredible grassroots response.

This month Rich and Lynsey visit The Sustainable Studio, to hear how sisters Julia and Sarah have created a vibrant, creative community and co-working space in a old industrial warehouse in Cardiff. The studio is more than just a space, it's an evolution of over 14 years of hard work and collaboration to create something quite special! We also hear from studio resident, Demi from Workshy on what it means to be part of this community.

In this bonus episode, Christian chats with Heidi, who along with her husband, runs Maykher, a profit with purpose, ethical fashion company. As Heidi puts it: 'It's a small business with big goals!' and she tells us about her passion for ethical fashion, finding the right artisan makers, the difference between fast and slow fashion, and how they're investing their profits into the education of young girls and women in areas of the world where they need it most. Huge thanks to Heidi for taking the time out to talk with us just before Christmas!

In our festive episode, Rich pays a visit to an ethical market, Christian tells us about his cream and Rachel and Lynsey join them to answer questions from the Christmas hat, thanks to special guest Gwilym. Expect a curious mix of responsible purchases and wine-fuelled innuendo. If you like this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating on Apple Podcasts or your platform of choice! 'Christmas bells' sound by zoefitzgerald on Freesound, released under a Creative Commons license and repeated once under Seismic theme music. Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0)URL: https://freesound.org/people/zoefitzgerald/sounds/371221/

Lynsey and Rich talk to Jane Booty from Benthyg, a 'library of things' in Rumney, Cardiff.

In this episode, the team join thousands of people marching through the streets of Cardiff in September's #climatestrike, speaking to people (young and old) demanding action on the climate crisis. Christian also pops along the launch of CAST (the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation based in Cardiff), and speaks to a few experts to get their take. A huge thanks to everyone who took the time to speak to us. We hope you enjoy the episode.

Lynsey and Rich catch up with Sally and Mike from Share Cardiff, the capital's 'online hub for social good'. Web: sharecardiff.co.uk

In our 3rd bonus episode, Christian and Lynsey catch-up with Jane (aka Cardiff food and travel blogger 'Hungry City Hippy') to chat about her wedding, and desire to make it as eco friendly / zero waste as possible. From the venue and booze, to save the dates and flowers, we find out how Jane got on. And for anyone planning their own big day, Jane shares some of her top tips.

This month, Christian and Rich meet up with Sophie at Cardiff Salad Garden, a social enterprise growing fantastic high quality salad leaves in Cardiff city centre, delivered locally by bike, and bringing a wide range of people together to promote well-being. Christian also chats to David at Pettigrew Bakeries, a Cardiff based bakery to find out what it's like to be a customer of Cardiff Salad Garden. And after a couple of ciders, the group chat about all things salad, people and cities.

This month Rich travels to Llandrindod in Powys to meet some of the fantastic folk who run Llandrindod Pomarium. It's a community orchard project which has transformed part of a former school playing field into a wildlife haven and source of free food. Back in Cardiff he's joined by Lynsey and Christian to talk about nature and how food brings us together.

Rich and Lynsey join, Lowri, Sian and Katie for the first leg of the Big Lunch community walk - the start of an epic two week walk across Wales to meet the people and communities coming together in June for food, feasting and fun!

In our second bonus episode, we catch up with Ceri and Selwyn from Cwmni Bro Ffestiniog. Cwmni Bro Ffestiniog is a pioneering development in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales; a network of successful community enterprises which have come together to co-operate under the banner of one overarching community company to make a difference in their local area. It's early days, but these are exciting times for the area!

Lynsey and Richard check out Cardiff Cycle Workshop, which aims to reduce waste, teach maintenance skills and reduce perceived barriers to cycling. They do this by recycling unwanted bikes, creating new, affordable machines! We hear from organiser Jon Howes, as well as a volunteer learning new skills, and one of the satisfied customers picking up a bike on one of the sale days. Joined by Rachael and this month’s host, Christian, they reflect on the benefits and challenges of cycling in the capital, and what can be done to help people take to two wheels.

In this episode, Rachael and Lynsey catch up with Sarah Philpott, Swansea based food blogger and author of The Occasional Vegan. Sarah shares her love of good food, cooking and how we can all benefit from a vegan diet (and don't worry it's not about clean eating!). The team also share their own experiences of Veganuary and the challenges and successes in switching to a vegan diet.

In this mince-pie fuelled bumper episode, we chat to lots of wonderful people about all things Christmas. We hear from Matt and Jane (Cardiff's 'Hank' podcast), Natalie Rees (Cater Nature), Elen Jones (Fairtrade Wales), Hannah and Beca (Green City Events), and Lucy(Mind Cymru) talking about supporting your local high street, gifts, events, traditions, our 'power' as citizens, and being mindful how this can be a difficult time of year for many people. Make sure you listen to the wonderful montage at the end of the episode, where our guests share what makes a great Christmas.

In Episode 03, Richard and Lynsey head out to meet two different community litterpicking groups in Cardiff, to hear how litter is only the starting point for many different community benefits. We hear from the Dave King, one of the main organisers of the Cardiff Rivers group - who have been active for over 9 years in and around the waterways of Cardiff before meeting up with Becca Falvey from Keep Riverside Tidy, who are just embarking on their litterpicking journey. Finally, Louise Tambini from Keep Wales Tidy shares the bigger picture behind all these amazing groups and volunteers, who together are keeping our communities more than tidy.

Welcome to the first Seismic Wales bonus episode, where we catch up with Sophie, founder of Ripple. Ripple will be Cardiff's first not-for-profit zero-waste store, opening soon in Roath, Cardiff. Sophie's working overtime to get the store ready for opening, and chats to us about how it's all going. We can't wait for it to open, and we'll be back to do Ripple justice with a full podcast episode when it's open!

Welcome to the second episode of Seismic Wales – a monthly podcast celebrating sustainability stories from Cardiff, Wales & beyond! From organising and facilitating fundraising events to making delicious coffee, this month the team found out how Bigmoose - the non-profit raising money for wonderful causes in fun ways – are trying to inspire people to live better and kinder lives. Through their coffee shop in the centre of town, Bigmoose are helping the homeless and other disadvantaged people get back into work and living their mantra - ‘leaving the world better than we found it’. This month, Christian and Rachael chat to the founder of Bigmoose, Jeff Smith, and manager of Bigmoose Coffee, Chloe, about the challenges they face and the projects they’re working on. With Rich and Lynsey, they also chat about how Bigmoose is more than just a coffee shop and the value it brings to the local community.

Welcome to the first ever episode of Seismic - a monthly podcast celebrating sustainability stories from Cardiff, Wales & beyond! From broken bikes to a much loved Furby, this month the team find out how the Repair Café movement is helping to reduce landfill and encourage people to learn new skills. Christian and Richard spoke to the folk behind Repair Café Wales in Cardiff, hearing from a fixer, a happy customer and committee member John McCrory who tells us all about the project. Along with Lynsey and Rachael, they also share their thoughts on the challenge of getting stuff fixed. You can find out about Repair Café Cardiff on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/repaircafewales/ Twitter: @repaircafewales

An introduction to team Seismic and our new monthly podcast, celebrating the amazing things people are doing to make the world a better place.