Sustainababble

Latest Episodes:

#204: The Daily Express Feb 21, 2021

Show notes

It's awful confusing when those who've spent decades saying climate change is a hoax suddenly ask us to join their 'Green Revolution', but that's what's happened at one of the UK's least reputable tabloids, the Daily Express. More famous for its obsession with the Royals, the weather, Brexit, and unsubstantiated 'miracle' health breakthroughs, the paper appears to have had a damascene conversion and now touts its 'Green Britain' campaign loudly from the front page. So. Many. Questions. Not least: why?do we believe them?how the hell are we supposed to feel about it? Also this week, season ticket holders at the stadium of babble, Coca-Cola, are back with their latest greenwashing wheeze, a paper bottle. Yeah, us too. Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRETA THUNBERG! 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.

#203: Bottom Trawling Feb 15, 2021

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Stop it. STOP IT! This is a terribly Serious and Important thing, all to do with industrial fishing and delicate marine ecosystems and we could do without any sniggering at the back. Or the bottom. So then, fishing. A political lightning rod of an industry, but an absolute minnow, economically speaking. Largely out of sight and unknown, modern industrial practices make an 'orrible mess of the ocean floor as super-trawlers dredge, scrape and otherwise embugger delicate aquatic ecology. Which is why this week's news that bottom trawling (STOP IT!) is to be banned in certain so-called Marine Protected Areas is welcome. Welcome, but also begs the question 'why the HELL were you allowed to trawl the ocean's bottom in Marine Protected Areas in the first plaice'? To answer that and myriad other fishy enquiries, Chris Williams, a marine economist at the New Economics Foundation, joins Dave* for a chinwag. Let's hope he doesn't clam up. Or carp on. *Ol continues to flounder in the face of covid and is therefore AWOL for another week. To follow Chris' work, find him on Twitter @marineeconomics. 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.

#202: The Trembling Warrior Jan 31, 2021

Show notes

Many of us are reluctant activists, perhaps so reluctant we barely consider ourselves 'activist' at all. So how do we become less reluctant? How can we expand our comfort zone so trying to save the planet doesn't seem so freakin' terrifying? The answer is almost certainly in a new book, The Trembling Warrior,by author and coach Gill Coombs, who's written what she says is a 'guide for reluctant activists'. Gill natters to us about finding one's true voice; why some people (*ahem* Ol *ahem*) are so scared of what other people think; the perils of social media; and ukippers whacking songbirds out of the sky with solar panels.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.

#201: British S**t for British People Jan 24, 2021

Show notes

Where once this small island in the mid-atlantic was famous for exporting cricket, heavy industry, global oppression and the rule of law, we're now known for the contents of our bins. For, despite a promise by Boris Johnson (we know, we know) that the UK would stop sending our crap abroad, it turns out we're still doing just that. This barefaced porkie has provoked a child to start a petition, now signed by hundreds of thousands of irked humans. So this week we jump aboard the irk express and ask why TF we can't sort out our own rubbish in our own country.PLUS, we celebrate a non-maniac becoming world boss; get all goo-ey about the Guardian doing a green thing; blow gaskets at a Cumbrian coal mine; and expose Ol as the consumerist Inhofe he truly is. Two petitions for you to sign: * Stop the UK exporting its plastic waste https://www.change.org/p/boris-johnson-stop-the-u-k-from-exporting-its-plastic-waste * Stop Whitehaven coal mine in Cumbria https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/568475 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.

#200: America, WTF Jan 17, 2021

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The last few weeks stateside make earlier Trumpgasms appear almost normal by comparison. Armed insurrection, an attempted coup, social media bans, a manatee having 'TRUMP' carved into its back. Srsly. Perhaps worst of all, though, is the uneasy feeling that Americans may be at the beginning of a very unpleasant period in their history, not the culmination of it. Still, the bellicose bell-end IS on his way out, to be replaced by someone who would like to stop the planet frying. Woop and yay! To celebrate, and to commiserate about the ongoing descent of his country into civil war, we talk to actual American and recovering Babble veteran (see episode #30) David Turnbull, Strategic Communications Director at Oil Change U.S.. 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.

#199: Is it really green? Jan 10, 2021

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Among today's intractable divisions, few are more bitter, more incendiary than that between the washing-up-by-hand loyalists and the using-the-dishwasher hardliners. So which *is* better for the planet? And while we're at it, what about vegan leather vs real leather, or soy bean tears compared to almond sweat? Thankfully for prospects of world peace, Georgina Wilson-Powell has written a thoroughly well researched book - 'Is It Really Green? Everyday Eco Dilemmas Answered' - that resolves the hitherto unresolveable. Georgina, a journalist and founder of Pebble magazine, joins us to natter about what she discovered along the way. 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.

#198: Hugo Tagholm meets Sustainababble Jan 03, 2021

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Ever wound up in the ocean with human faeces on your head, or a used sanitary product bobbing by? Us neither, thankfully, but many UK surfers have, which is why a bunch of them campaign for cleaner seas with Surfers Against Sewage, a national marine conservation charity headed up by Hugo Tagholm. For this opening episode of 2021, Hugo joins us to explain why Dave should try surfing (he really shouldn't, ed.), why lobbying MPs in wetsuits is effective, and to shed light on the, well, shitty practices of water companies.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.

#197: SustainaBAUBLE 2020 Dec 20, 2020

Show notes

Well here we are, a festive season distinctly lacking in bantz. BUT THAT'S WHAT YER BABBLE IS FOR! So strap in for an unashamedly lol-centric and straw-clutchingly positive look back at 2020.As we learned in Sustainabaubles 1-5, there are few things more Christmassy than a shameless Coca-Cola ad. So we dig out their 2020 Christmas offering, in which - astonishingly - not a single piece of their whale rectum-clogging plastic is featured. Though given what a miscreant known to this podcast recently emailed Coca-Cola after one too many single malts, the less said about rectums the better.AND for the first time, we unceremoniously ditch Dicky Moore and instead provide our own musical accompaniment on keyboards, tambourine and recorder, none of which either of us can really play. We too have had enough of experts, so it seems.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.

#196: Juliet Davenport meets Sustainababble Dec 13, 2020

Show notes

These days energy companies fall over themselves to tell us how good for the planet they are, with varying degrees of chutzpah. When it comes to actual goodness though, Good Energy is unquestionably, well, good: buy leccy from them and you can be confident it comes from the sun or the wind or Jeremy Clarkson's backside, no funny business. More to the point, your money will directly lead to *more* wind and solar power getting built, thereby negating the need for JC's derriere altogether. Juliet Davenport has been the firm's boss for two decades, and joins us to explain what makes energy good or miserable, why she can't be doing with moving to Mars with Elon Musk, and why she's letting children run her company.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.

#195: COP 26 Dec 06, 2020

Show notes

Had 2020 been a bit less pandemic-y, we'd be celebrating / commiserating the conclusion of another mahoosive climate shindig about now. A shindig in Glasgow no less, hosted by the UK Government. Deep-fried pizza canapés all round, etc. etc..Offensive cultural stereotypes aside, there's LOTS at stake at COP 26, not least countries announcing how they'll do the thing they all agreed was a good idea five long years ago in Paris, i.e. stop the planet burning.Good hosts that they are, Bojo and co have just revealed what the UK will be bringing to the table, planet-saving wise, so we fire up the babble-ometer. Also this week, we sink our teeth into lab-grown meat. Is it good? Is it the worst thing ever? Would Jeremy Clarkson punch anyone for cooking it badly? 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.

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