Sustainable(ish)

In this episode, I'm chatting to Nick Oldridge, founder of Climate Science Breakthrough, and co-founder of the National Emergency Briefing. What Nick has done with both of those projects, as you will here, is incredible, but I'm also really fascinated in his back story and his journey to where he is now (side note, really think I need to do an episode on insurance as a lever for climate action!).I ummed and ahhed about whether to publish this episode so early in the re-launch, as (spoiler alert) some of it is pretty bleak, almost right out of the gate. I'm a big fan of focussing on action and the things that we can do, and I'm very aware that confronting the reality of where we are can be overwhelming and paralysing. However, as Nick says, I think it's important that we don't hide from that reality, and that we find a way to channel our anxiety into action, and use it as motivation to keep taking the next steps. The Climate Science Breakthrough videos are brilliant - I've linked to them all below. They're all just 4 or 5 minutes long, and do that really clever thing where they're delivering a pretty brutal message, but somehow making you laugh at the same time. The National Emergency Briefing videos are now all online - I'm working up the courage to watch them if I'm totally honest, and trying to figure out a way to maybe host a 'watch party' so we can all be in it together. If you're interested in that, let me know!I do think it's important that the videos are watched and shared and that we all understand quite what is at stake. But even more important I think, is that the Briefings result in action, ideally from the Government, but we 'ordinary people' will need to take action to make that happen. I've linked below to the Take Action page, the good news is that all of them can be done from the sofa! In the first episode of this podcast reboot, I dived in a little bit into the individual change vs system change debate. And as an individual, system change often feels like this nebulous thing that we agree needs to happen, but that we're not quite sure how that happens, or the role that we can play. The National Emergency Briefing is a route to system change, and gives us really clear ways that we as individuals can get involved. And as I said, they're not big asks, doing all of them would take less than 10 minutes and you don't even need to leave your house. And in the podcast, Nick shares that apparently once MPs receive around 20 emails (from different people!) on the same subject, it makes them start to sit up and pay a bit more attention. That number feels do-able - how many people do you know local to you, who you might be able to encourage to send your MP an email? Finally, a quick mention of the Crowdfunder, which at the time of this podcast dropping, is at over £70,000 and nearly halfway to the target. Frustratingly (but good news for the crowdfunder!) the cheaper rewards have all sold out, but that doesn't mean you still can't donate whatever amount you might feel able to. And as Nick says in the podcast, times are tight, and if you aren't able to donate, please do share it on your social feeds.Nick Oldridge LISTEN... USEFUL LINKS:Climate Science Breakthrough- Kiri Pritchard-McLean meets Prof Bill McGuire- Jonathon Pie meets Prof Joanna Haigh- Nish Kumar meets Prof Fredi Otto- Jo Brand meets Prof Mark Maslin- US version - David Cross meets Prof Michael OppenheimerNaturesaveHeat by George MonbiotThe Stern Review - the Economics of Climate ChangePlanet solvency: study by reseachers at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and the University of ExeterThe Utopia BureauAngus Rose podcastZero HourMP WatchNational Emergency Briefing- Take action- The videos on You TubeClimate OutreachLiquefied natural gas footprint is worse than coalThe People V Climate Change - doesn't seem to be currently available on iPlayer Your Brain on Climate - how to talk about the climate emergencyMPs underestimate support for climate policies - GuardianClimate Change: The Facts - David Attenborough documentaryRutger Bregman - Reith Lectures 2025 Have you watched any of the videos - either the Climate Science Breakthrough ones, or the National Emergency Briefing ones? What do you think of my idea of online watch parties. And most importantly, have you done any of the 5 things on the Take Action page of the National Emergency Briefing website? Do it now! […]

Well this is exciting isn't it? As it turns out I was wise to say never say never when I said back in April 24 that that was probably the last ever Sustsainable(ish) podcast episode, because I'm back! And in this first episode back after a looong old break, I'm answering a pretty fundamental question… is it all just bollocks?Does individual action really matter, or is it, in the words of Green party leader Zack Polanski in a 2025 interview just bollocks.Tune in to hear my thoughts, as well as my explanation for where I've been and what I've been doing since the last episode the best part of two years ago, and why the podcast is back!Enjoy! LISTEN... USEFUL LINKS:Sustainable(ish) socials - come and say hello!- Instagram- Facebook- Linked InLet's Go Zero I'd love to know what you think, and where you sit on the 'individual change vs system change' debate. Also do let me know your thoughts on the podcast's return, and whose story you'd love to hear. […]

Hello and welcome to episode 184, and as it turns out, the last episode of the Sustainable(ish) podcast! I wanted to try and get to 200, and I'm annoyed not even to be ending on a nice round number like 185, but often in life things aren't tied up in a nice neat bow. Long […]

In the spirit of London buses, ie nothing for ages and then two come along in close succession, this week's episode is another foodie one, hot on the heels of Episode 180 - Food and climate change without the hot air with Professor Sarah Bridle. I'm chatting to Frank Holleman who is the co-founder of […]

One of the things that frustrates many people, is a lack of action from governments around the world to protect nature and mitigate the worst impacts of the a warming and rapidly changing climate.The UK government was one of the first to come up with a Net Zero target back in 2019, and declared a […]

This week's episode feels a little bit liking coming full circle on an episode from nearly 5 years ago! If you're a long-time listener, and have an excellent memory, you might remember, way back in 2019, I interviewed the wonderful Tillie Mabbutt who runs Frome Eco Party Kit, renting out a party kit of reusable […]

In this week's episode I'm chatting to Sarah Bridle, who is possibly our first Professor on the podcast! Professor Sarah Bridle is Chair in Food, Climate and Society at the University of York, researching environmental impacts of the food system and potential impacts of the environment on food availability. She is also the author of […]

In this week's episode I'm chatting to comedian Stuart Goldsmith. I'm a bit of a comedy fan, so I listen to Stuart's podcast, the Comedian's Comedian where he interviews other comedians about their work and he seems to pretty much be BFFs with everyone on the comedy circuit. It might seem a bit random to […]

In this week's episode I'm chatting to Misha Dhanak, CEO of Spacehive, the home of community fundraising. We're probably all familiar with the concept of crowdfunding and may have even funded products and projects on platforms like Kickstarter. Well Spacehive is a similar concept, it's a crowdfunding platform, but it's for community projects - so on […]

In this week's episode I'm chatting to William Eccles from The Commitment. The Commitment is a campaign asking us to commit to voting for a healthy planet. You do this by heading to their website, hitting the "make the commitment" button, and ticking the box that says “ I commit to vote only for politicians […]

Advertising.It's all around us. Persuading us to buy stuff we didn't know we wanted, telling us how much happier/more popular/better our lives will be with the latest/newest whatever it is.Most of think that we're immune to it, but studies show just how insidious and manipulative it is, and how it influences our brains at a […]

Climate and play might not be two things that we naturally put together. And even less so, climate and 'playfulness'. Climate change is a huge, overwhelming, complext issue and i couldn't be more important. So we need to take this seriously and absolutely need to be bringing our best game, there's no room for messing […]

This week we're talking schools and climate action!I'm chatting to Jo Pettifer who part of a growing team of Climate Action Advisors from climate charity Let's Go Zero, which is working to help schools in the UK to take climate action, with the ambitious goal of becoming carbon zero by 2030.Jo shares in our chat […]

This week we're diving into all things digital with Matt and Will from an organisation called Carbon Fingerprint.For many of us, the planetary impact of our online lives maybe isn't something that we give much thought to – the cloud is this ethereal thing that none of us quite understand, and I personally can't even […]

"If you own a tent you can be a member of Tentshare. If you don't own a tent, you can be a member of Tentshare."Love this quote from Rebecca Heaps, founder of Tentshare -'the Air BnB for tents'!On the surface, camping feels like a pretty eco-friendly option for a cheaper holiday. And it is. However […]

Podcast episode wise it was only 7 episodes ago, but time wise, almost a year has passed since I chatted to Annie Pickering from Climate Emergency UK about their Council Climate Scorecards.In that chat we talked about why climate action from Local Authorities are important,. The operational carbon footprint of most local authroties might not […]

Tash Acres is the founder of Earth Runs, an organistaion that rewards activity by planting trees! As you will hear, Tash's approach to running and physical activity is so similar to my approach to sustainability – anything is better than nothing, it all counts, celebrating the successes no matter how small, and so much more! […]

In this episode we're talking money, and how we can make our money a bit greener.I'm chatting to Dan Sherrard-Smith, who is the founder and CEO of MotherTree – a platform that helps us all to get better informed about the impact of our money when it's in our current accounts, savings, and pensions, and […]

This week's episode starts with a confession!This episode was recorded a whole year ago, it was edited, intros were put onto it, it was all ready to go, and I somehow failed miserably to hit publish! I genuinely even thought I had published it until I had an e-mail from Heather earlier on this year […]

Following on from last week's episode looking into some of the basics of climate science with Dr Adam Levy, this week I'm chatting to another climate scientist, Dr Ella Gilbert, and this time we're diving into the murky world of climate denial!Here's some of the misinformation that Ella addresses for us, using actual science:Climate scientists […]

It's only taken 165 episodes, but I decided that it was about time we did a climate change back to basics type episode, going over the basic science of climate change. Talking about climate change is one of the most important things we can do (check out the brilliant Katharine Hayhoe for a great TED […]

After a *slightly* longer (9 months..!) than intended break, the podcast is back!No guest today - just a short solo episode to say hello, apologise for my absence and let you know to stand by your beds ready for some new episodes with some fabulous guests!GOOD NEWS!There's also a new Good News section, sharing some […]

Most of us limit our interactions with our local authority to whingeing about our bin collections and paying our council tax BUT did you know that they have a whole lot of carbon emissions within their influence and therefore a whole lot of potential for a positive planetary impact?But how do we know what our […]

In this episode we take a deep dive into the carbon footprint of Christmas.Which feels a bit weird right?Christmas is a time to let go a little, and not be so hung up on the consequences of our actions (hence the number of mince pies I may have already eaten..). I feel a bit guilty […]

COP 27...What happened?What didn't happen?And why?For those of us in the UK, COP26 in Glasgow last year felt like a BIG deal - it was everywhere in the media while it was running, and schools, businesses and organisations were all keen to get involved.This year's COP (COP27) has felt very different. And I found myself […]

You might not want to hear this but...Christmas is coming!We're about to enter silly season for consumption with Black Friday and then the Christmas shopping, so what better time to take a pause and think about the impact of what we're buying, and how we might be able to make our money do good stuff […]

Wouldn't it be great if everything we bought had a label on it telling us what it's carbon footprint it? Then we would be able to make informed choices about the things we were buying and the impact they had.Today I'm chatting to Charlie Cotton from ecollective about exactly that – what is a carbon […]

Awareness of the climate crisis feels like it is at an all-time high. All the studies tell us that 75-80% of people are worried about it, but we're still not really talking about it, and lots of people aren't really sure what they can do about it. There are lots of reasons behind this, but sometimes […]

Often one of the first ways that young people start to express themselves is via fashion, but fashion comes with a considerable environmental footprint. Textile production accounts for around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and uses 1.5 trillion litres of water annually. And we all wear clothes. In today's episode I'm chatting to someone […]

In this episode I'm chatting to Parisa Wright, who is an absolute powerhouse of positive change – to the extent that I felt the need for a nap after speaking to her! I am in absolute awe of her passion, her energy and her absolute commitment to creating a greener and cleaner world for all […]

Football – I have to confess I'm not really a fan, and it's certainly not an area I would usually associate with sustainability. And if we're not afraid of stereotyping, then I wouldn't have pegged football fans as big eco types either.Today's guest is part of an organisation looking to change that , and to […]

What's the best climate charity to donate to?How do I know that my money is actually being used for good stuff and not swallowed up in admin?What sorts of things might charities be funding when it comes to helping the climate crisis?When I think about donating to a climate charity, whether that's a personal donation, […]

I know that I'm not alone in occasionally feeling a little bit "what's the point?" Do my actions really make a difference? Will it really make any odds in the grand scheme of things if I take recycle this bottle, buy this new pair of jeans, or even take that flight? Our individual actions can feel inconsequential […]

Today's guest has been on my podcast guest bucket list literally since it began, so there may be a small element of 'fan-girling' in this episode..! Hermione Taylor is the Co-Founder and Director and DoNation - "a platform helping organisations to inspire their communities to create long lasting change."She has such a great 'founder's story', involving […]

The podcast is back after the summer break!And I'm kicking off with a solo episode from to celebrate and reflect on 10 years since we as a family embarked on a year buying nothing new.I didn't know it at the time, but that year, that slightly naive challenge, would change my life (cliche klaxon!).It changed […]

I hope you're enjoying this little trip down memory lane while the podcast takes a break for the summer. This time we're re-visiting my chat with the brilliant Lauren from Wear 'em Out pads. I did a little listener survey recently and this came out as one of the firm faves – I think largely because Lauren […]

The podcast is having a bit of a break over the summer, so we're re-running some of the fun and I'm picking some of my fave episodes from the last 140 odd. It's been a tough job choosing, but also really lovely to browse through the back catalogue and remember all the wonderful people and […]

The podcast is having a break over the summer, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to re-visit some of my favourite episodes from the archives.A few years ago there was an article on the BBC website about a school PTA who had set up a reusable party kit to rent out for […]

The podcast is having a break over the summer, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to re-visit some of my favourite episodes from the archives.I thought this episode was a good one to listen again to over the summer, as in it I'm chatting to Martin Dorey, founder of the #2MinuteBeachClean and […]

The podcast is having a break over the summer, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to re-visit some of my favourite episodes from the archives.This episode with Chris Hellawell from The Edinburgh Tool Library was one of the very first episodes published, but that's not the only reason I love it so much. […]

"The Great Big Green Week is the UK's biggest every celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature. And everyone's invited."Sounds pretty good right?That's because it is! 2021 saw the inaugural Great Big Green Week (GBGW), from The Climate Coalition, host over 5000 events up and down the country, from bat walks to […]

DID YOU KNOW..?There are over 40 million cars parked on our roads and driveways in the UKOn average, vehicles in the UK sit idle 96% of the timeFor every 1 car shared, we can take 14 off the roadA 2% switch to car sharing could see CO₂ emissions drop by 620,000 tonnesWhich all sounds awesome, […]

Wow, wow, wow.What a conversation. And what an incredible human being Angus Rose is.Some of you may have seen Angus in the news earlier on this year when he embarked upon a hunger strike to ask that all MPs receive a scientific briefing about the science of climate change and it's impacts on the UK.Angus […]

Can a travel editor travel flight free?Can they still do their job without setting foot on an aeroplane?And why would they want to?Listen in to this chat with Helen Coffey, travel editor for the Independent newspaper, and author of Zero Altitude to find out the answers! We chat about:Helen's 'ecopiphany' - what was the point for […]

Clothes - we all wear them, and we're getting through clothes at a faster rate than ever before. Clothing production has doubled globally between 2000 and 2015, and it's estimated that fashion accounts for around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions (for context, aviation is around 2-5%). Some of these clothes are only worn a […]

As individuals, a lot of the changes that we need to make to lower our environmental impact involve behavioural change and developing new habits. Which can be hard!Much of the time we develop habits, good or bad, unintentionally. We do things because they are the quickest, the easiest, the most enjoyable. They become habits as we […]

I originally got in touch with Cass after signing up for a webinar she did with Creative Mornings called How to talk about the climate crisis without losing your friends, which I thought was such a brilliant title for a session.Cass is a freelance climate communicator and editor of The Green Fix - a weekly […]

As Covid restriction ease and borders open up again, many of us are desperate to escape the unpredictability of the British weather and experience some sunnier climes. However travel, or certainly international travel, feels pretty synonymous with flying and with the associated hefty carbon footprint that comes with that.Having resigned myself to damp summer holidays […]

It's very very easy to feel despondent about the climate crisis and the state of the planet.And it's very very easy (and I think very natural) to feel overwhelmed and powerless to make a difference to such a big and complex issue.Those of you who have been following for a while and paying attention(!) will […]

DID YOU KNOW?We have lost over a million acres of wild landscapes in the UK since the end of WW2The total garden space in the UK is greater than all the nature reserves!Our gardens have huge potential to be havens for wildlife and pollinatorsI'm very much not a gardener, but I'm super aware that our […]

There's a LOT of information out there isn't there? On the internet, on the radio, in our newspapers, on the tel-box.And a helluva lots of opinions too.About everything, including climate stuff.So how do we know who to trust?How can we tell when we're reading what is essentially an opinion piece from a journalist or a publication […]