Sustainababble
Episodes
276 episodes
#224: Adaptation
Despite what Assorted Inhofes say, climate change is a) real b) here already c) going to get worse. We'd better get ready. So how come we're - er - not? We chat all things climate adaptation with the eminent Dr Morgan Phillips, director of The Gla...
#223: Katherine Trebeck meets Sustainababble
A 'wellbeing economy' sounds like the sort of economy that might not ruin everything, and in that sense we are very much behind it. But it also sounds like the sort of thing that we don't really know what it is.HOWEVER, this week's guest - writer,...
#222: Fairness
Does it really matter how 'fair' the solutions to climate breakdown are? So long as we stop the worst of it, who cares whether a few people have their noses put out of joint, right?Or is that missing the point, as well as being a bit inhofe-y? Is ...
#221: Soil
The list of things that enable life on earth is a pretty short one: a dollop of sunshine, drizzle of water, and a soupçon of air. But for anything fun to happen on land, you're going to need a liberal smattering of soil, too.In fact that 30cm of t...
#220: History of the Climate Crisis
It's more than 160 years since clever science people first worked out that digging up and burning long-dead bugs made Earth sizzly. So why are we still doing it? Why weren't the early warnings heeded? And was it inevitable that humanity would, at ...
#219:Ecocide
A wise person once said that when it comes to buggering up the planet, prison is an underused deterrent. And just why should it be OK to be an Earth-nausing Inhofe with impunity? NO WE AGREE WITH YOU, IT SHOULD NOT. Enter a fearsome bunch of lawye...
#218: Dams
Amster-, E-, Jean-Claude Van-. All splendid dams in their own right, but topics for another time. THIS week we set our babble sights on the massive concrete walls wot stall rivers so we can power our trouser presses.On the face of it, hydroelectri...
#217: Shell Gets A Kicking
Grand narratives of history are woven around pivotal moments, and it's just possible that when the history of this period is written, 26 May 2021 will be one of them.A little under a month ago, Royal Dutch Shell got told in no uncertain terms by a...
#216: Amazon
It's the most successful website in the world, but many of us feel icky about using it. Is Amazon terrible for the planet or is it just, y'know, big? And if it is bad, is it any worse than thousands of little shops selling crap we don't need?Amazo...
#215: Tim Jackson Meets Sustainababble
Boris "Gordon Gekko" Johnson aside, no-one likes greed. But growth - mmmmm, warm, cuddly, economic growth - well, that's another matter.Lesson one in MP school is that our collective prosperity increases as the economy swells. More GDP = more hosp...
#214: Bitcoin
Pity our tiny little brains. For some reason that escapes us now we thought it would be jolly interesting and not at all SODDING BEWILDERING to attempt to understand Bitcoin. That sobbing noise you can hear? That's us. Why? Well it may *look* like...
#213: Artificial Lawns
Pulp, the greatest band of all time, once sang that grass is "something you smoke". Perhaps that was true in 1995, but in the cool light of 2021 we sure as hell wouldn't advise smoking what's appearing in a depressing number of British back garden...
#212: Chips
Remember the past? A simpler time. A time before doxing and pile-ons and Katie Hopkins. A time when wholesome telly presenters on wholesome telly programmes told us that in the future we'd all be running our cars on chip fat and everything would b...
#211: What’s The Point?
Jo, a babble listener from Letchworth in the UK, sent in a question that kinda stumped us. What the hell, she asked, does one say to people who can't see the point in doing anything for the planet?Sweary and shouty retorts aside, the answer isn't ...
#210: Easter Eggs
Alleluia! One of the great plot twists - perhaps only rivalled by Harold Bishop returning to Neighbours with amnesia (look it up) - is celebrated the world over today by people smashing umpteen chocolate eggs down their gullets.We briefly consider...
#209: North Sea
Push is beginning to come to shove, climate action-wise, particularly when politicians ponder the fat piles of cash made doing things that are Very Bad Indeed for mother Earth.Here in Britain, peak pondering occurs re the North Sea, a large grey p...
#208: Policing
The UK Government sometimes surpasses even itself. The 'Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill' is a new bit of legislation so universally hated that even Brexiteers and Remainers are united in its opposition.At its heart is a transparent attem...
#207: Eco-Parenting
Cos capitalism, cos inhofes, cos LIFE, it's all but impossible to be the planet's BFF most of the time. Having kids arguably makes that task even harder.BUT, despite the onslaught of baby marketing, and despite grandparents-to-be going all in for ...
#206: Jobs
Saving the planet isn't really about the planet at all, it's about people. People who, for instance, currently have jobs in industries that aren't compatible with a 1.5 degree world. Or people who don't have jobs at all but need them.Which is why ...
#205: Wikipedia
"Where'd ya read that then, Wikipedia?!?@!" used to be the refrain of bell-ends everywhere who couldn't be bothered to engage with an argument. But like most insults, it carried a grain of truth because the internet's crowdsourced encyclopaedia wa...
#204: The Daily Express
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 ob...
#203: Bottom Trawling
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 ...
#202: The Trembling Warrior
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 an...
