Sustainababble

Latest Episodes:

#184: Robert Llewellyn meets Sustainababble Aug 02, 2020

Show notes

Kryten is on the Babble! SMEGGIN' HELL!Robert Llewellyn is an actor and comedian who since 1989 has played angular faced mechanoid Kryten in cult sci-fi classic Red Dwarf. But he's equally well known for presenting the legendary Scrapheap Challenge and, for the last ten years, phenomenally popular YouTube electric car review show Fully Charged. It's like Top Gear, but without bellends or CO2.Once Dave and Ol get over the fanboy thing, Robert talks to us about all things whizzy tech and clean cars, based on 10 years' experience driving and reviewing the things. We learn how EVs might put all the mechanics out of work, why greenies getting upset about lithium and cobalt may be a wee bit misguided, and - talking of wee - just how long one has to cross one's legs between charges of the latest models.Oh, and why Jeremy Clarkson called Robert a very rude word indeed.This show is dedicated to the memory of Seb Patrick.Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainababble. MERCH: sustainababble.teemill.com Available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

#183: Gillian Burke meets Sustainababble Jul 26, 2020

Show notes

The BBC's Springwatch is a cultural institution in the UK, showcasing the extraordinary but often overlooked wildlife of these crumbling isles with warts 'n all realism (i.e. lots of baby Blue Tits getting munched). Biologist Gillian Burke has for three years been at the heart of the show's presenting team, earning the nation's affection for her passion and powers of communication as much as for her unblinking resolve in the face of uncooperative protagonists and innuendo-tastic co-presenters.Gillian is also a Black woman in an industry - conservation, nature TV and the environment movement as a whole - notable for its woeful lack of representation of people of colour.In a longer-than-usual episode, we hear Gillian's reflections on why those banging on about the planet - the Babble very much included - present so little ethnic diversity, and on the extraordinary Spring of 2020, a period that will surely be remembered for the elevation of racial injustice laid bare by George Floyd's killing and the Black Lives Matter protests, and when millions took solace in the natural world as the global pandemic raged.Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainababble. MERCH: sustainababble.teemill.com Available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

#182: Roman Krznaric meets Sustainababble Jul 20, 2020

Show notes

Are you being a good ancestor? Are WE being good ancestors? What the hell is a good ancestor and do I have to buy them a present? Public philosopher Roman Krznaric thinks these are the most important questions we should ask ourselves (well, certainly the first two) if we're to escape the 'tyranny of the now', the hideous short-termism dominating our lives and knackering the planet in the process.His new book ('The Good Ancestor: How to think long term in a short term world') explains how our brains are perfectly capable of serious long-term thinking, despite our apparent crapness at it, and sets out key principles for public decision making fit for the next century, not just the next news cycle. Shockingly, none of those prinicples includes reacting in fury to something on twitter you didn't know you cared about 30 seconds previously. Who knew?Check out the wonderful empathy museum, founded by Roman, and Neal Agarwal's equally magestic animation of just how deep the deep sea is, as mentioned by Dave in the show. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainababble. MERCH: sustainababble.teemill.com Available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

#181: Litter Jul 12, 2020

Show notes

The instant we were allowed out again we covered everything in rubbish: plastic and cans and humous packets and, er, cool boxes and chairs. Why? Has four months of lockdown made us all beserkers, or is this just what it's always like and we'd forgotten? Who's doing the littering anyway? And what even IS litter? We investigate. Also, the Government's promising to give us cash to insulate our homes, which sounds like a good thing. And governments doing good things make us very suspicious indeed. Links to some of the things we talked about: Kirsty McNeil's piece talking about activism after coronavirus Chris Rose's investigation into the 'Crying Indian' advert Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainababble. MERCH: sustainababble.teemill.com Available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

#180: Being Ecofriendly Jul 05, 2020

Show notes

"Smash capitalism" is among the least helpful answers people like Dave and Ol give when asked "So what should *I* do to help the planet?". But for most campaignery types, individual lifestyle change plays second or third fiddle to political action and corporate restraint. And - if we're completely honest - we're also luke-warm about personal behaviour change because so many of its proponents are such... hard work. You know, people who tilt their heads to one side and pity the poor soul yet to discover the wonders of £50 biodynamic toothpaste made from upcycled cow shit.HOWEVER, two things are also true: 1) the above question is one we get asked *a lot* and therefore feel like we should answer, and 2) Lianne Bell, entrepreneur and author of 'How on Earth can I be eco-friendly?', a new book on this subject, is very much not of the holier than thou eco-mould. Just listen to the workout she gives the bleep machine in this episode, for a start.We ask Lianne what our priorities, as individuals, should be, whether it's OK to go to a supermarket, why on earth so many breakfast condiments seem to end up on her face, and whether the mob should be in charge of recycling. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainababble. MERCH: sustainababble.teemill.com Available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

#179: Footballers Jun 28, 2020

Show notes

Modern footballers eh? Spoilt, obscenely rich, carbon-guzzling narcissists who couldn't spell planet, let alone save it. They're an open goal for moralising and high-handery, or at least must have seemed so to the UK Health Secretary when he pooh-poohed players' high pay at the pandemic's outset (omitting, accidentally no doubt, to pass comment on the wages of hedge fund managers or the like).Well, we in Babble towers don't buy that. We're unapologetic disciples of the beautiful game, for all its flaws, and we can't help noticing that, far from conforming to (stereo)type, high profile stars of both the men's and women's game have led from the front on all manner of social issues of late, not least the environment.So this week we pick our starting 11* of poverty-tackling, environment-defending, racism-clattering footie heroes and ask: might they be rather better at campaigning than the 'professionals' are?Also in today's episode, a belching bumful of macro-inhofery from the 'natural' gas industry, and some world-beating sustainababble from the world's richest man.*In fact, we only had time for a five-a-side team, but do check out this Global Citizen piece detailing more players doing excellent things.Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainababble. MERCH: sustainababble.teemill.com Available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

#178: Jonathon Porritt meets Sustainababble Jun 21, 2020

Show notes

If you've taken so much as a passing interest in environmentalism in the UK, you'll have doubtless encountered the campaigner and writer Jonathon Porritt.Since the '70s he's been at the forefront of the wider green movement: prominent in the Ecology party (what became the Green party), running Friends of the Earth, advising the UK Govt and the likes of Kelloggs & Unilever how not to be gits, and now working with the school strikers.Raising eyebrows in the process, he also had a crack at persuading oil companies to see the light, before publicly concluding that they basically don't want to.Now, with his new book out - Hope In Hell: A Decade to Confront The Climate Emergency - Jonathon takes on his biggest challenge yet: 40 minutes of Paxman-esque grilling by the Babble. We think he just about survives the interrogation, but judge for yourselves.Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainababble. MERCH: sustainababble.teemill.com Available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

#177: Q&A Jun 14, 2020

Show notes

You asked, so we filibustered, obfuscated and prevaricated. That's right, just 177 episodes in we've dared to switch from 'broadcast' to 'dialogue' with the babble army, actively soliciting questions from our band of wise and forgiving listeners.We've hand-picked a tasting menu of succulent enquiries from the smörgåsbord submitted. Some are silly, some serious, but all are certified 100% free from sustainababble or inhofery. We're confident your bouche will be amused.Thanks to everyone who took the time to send in questions. Terrificly bigly big up to Julia, Anna, Simon, Claire, Shannon, Emma and Kayleigh, whose Qs we attempt to address in the show. Enjoy!Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainababble. MERCH: sustainababble.teemill.com Available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

#176: Nappies Jun 07, 2020

Show notes

Poor wee infants can't help it but they *do* produce an awful lot of poo and wee. Ol should know, he's got two of the little, er, darlings. Problem is, said effluvia ends up in nappies (diapers), overwhelmingly 'disposable' ones - thousands of them per child. And the nappies end up in the ground, or being burned to make noxious air for us all to breathe. Yuck. What's a sleep-deprived tree-hugging parent to do? Fresh from his 1,045th day without enough sleep, Ol takes Dave slowly through the basics of why it's so hard to green his babies' bottoms, and why it probably isn't a good idea to apply a nappy in the way Dave thinks it should be applied. In other news, Dave's finally watched that controversial Michael Moore film everyone's losing their temper about - and he has Views on it. And it's the return of Sustainababble of the Week, courtesy of a supermarket with some very odd opinions on how its customers grill sausages. Show notes this week: shout out to Bambino Mio eco-nappies, who gave us the idea for the show in the first place; to @MilesKing10 on Twitter for exposing Tesco's peculiar thoughts; and to Dr Chris Newman for his splendid rap - see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnmfuKZdQkI . Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Ecoguff read out by Arabella (who we forgot to thank this week, oops). Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainababble. MERCH: sustainababble.teemill.com Available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

#175: Swifts May 31, 2020

Show notes

Swifts: bloody 'ell. The weight of a Creme Egg, Apus Apus spend their entire lives in flight; eating, sleeping and shagging on the wing before popping 6,000 miles north to a European roof for a rest and a spot of breeding.As evocative of British summers as drunk men fighting, screeching Swifts have returned to our skies and are bloody noisy - unless and until Ol gets his microphone out, of course.So with World Swift Day coming up (7 June) we get straightforwardly misty-eyed about these avian superstars, and only momentarily distracted by Kanye West.Special thanks to Gavin Gamble for his wonderful blog that inspired this episode. Big up to Patrick Aberg for swifts sounds scattered throughout. Kudos to Ruth Everett for the splendid swift drawing. And check out the RSPB's guide to making your own swift box if you'd like to help them not be dead.Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainababble. MERCH: sustainababble.teemill.com Available on iTunes, Spotify, Acast & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected