Sustainababble
Episodes
276 episodes
#74: Rules (& Squirrels)
A bad time to be either a piece of green law and/or a grey squirrel. What's with all the war? We investigate.Plus, some Trump nepotism that may yet save us all from certain doom. And Ol orders a curry.Sustainababble is your weekly podcast about th...
#73: Geoengineering
Mirrors in space? Artificial volcanos? Refreezing the Arctic?! Can we? Will we? SHOULD we?Dave & Ol embark on a terrifying interview with geoengineering expert, Duncan McLaren.We've also got some Babble from an unholy Caledonian alliance, and an A...
#72: Wasps
Climate change = more wasps. Is it time we all stopped freaking out and started to love the little blighters?Plus, Microsoft Excel has a plan for the nation's newts - and clean coal oxymoronicism from our orange friend over the pond.Sustainababbl...
#71: Amazon Reef
An ENORMOUS coral reef has been discovered hiding near the Amazon and - in a welcome development - it's not dead yet.We talk to Greenpeace's Sara Ayech to find out all about it.Also this week, spectacular eco-guff from a Cornwall councillor and we...
#70: The Resistance
Pipelines approved, climate plans deleted, environmental workers silenced. It’s a tad bleak in Trumpsylvania.But vast marches and spikey twitter protests are kicking off in response. We ask: do they make the slightest difference?Also this week, so...
#69: Northern Ireland
What? Has a renewable energy scheme REALLY just brought down the Northern Ireland government?We interview Belfast's Niall Bakewell to find out more, learning that the nation is very far from as green and pretty as it looks on Google Maps.In other ...
#68: Sustainabauble
Hark! Sleigh bells! That can only mean one thing: FESTIVE ECO-GUFF! Dave and Ol stuff your stocking to the brim with seasonal blether, and some hypocrisy of the highest order.Also this week, the magical scarpering Transport Minister; the oil baro...
#67: Standing Rock
Nuff respect to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota: they faced down the Man, his water cannons, and his plan to hoik a massive oil pipeline under their lake. But does the Donald make it only a temporary reprieve?In other news, several h...
#66: The Arctic
20 degrees warmer than normal. Bugger all sea ice. WTF is going on in the Arctic? We interview clever person Dr Mark Brandon to find out.Also this week, heroic old people defending trees in Sheffield and a much deserved promotion for that nice Mr ...
#65: Babies
Are children an unjustifiable burden on the planet, as well as noisy and financially ruinous? And why on earth are Ol and Dave talking about them all of a sudden?Also this week, the triumphant return of Boaty McBoatface and a new section dedicated...
#64: President Trump
The world's most notorious climate denier is about to become the most world's most powerful man. AAARGH!Ol and Dave, back from their hols, are properly freaking out. Is it time to put away the placards and give up? Has America just doomed the pla...
#63: The Ethical Carnivore
Is it only ethical to eat meat you kill yourself? We interview author and journalist Louise Gray, who spent a year doing just that.We find out what it's really like inside an abattoir, how likely you are to be a psychopath if you work there, and w...
#62: State of Nature
The UK's nature is in a state, say the country's biggest green charities, and they're blaming the farmers. Is that fair? Have farmers REALLY got beef with the hedgehogs and the bunny rabbits? Why? And should they have all their subsidies taken awa...
#61: Blackouts
Is running the country on renewables REALLY 'fanciful nonsense' that'll make all the lights go out? How likely are blackouts? What causes them? And is YOUR fridge downloading nudey pictures when you're not looking? We talk to an energy expert with...
#60: Amy Liptrot meets Sustainababble
Ol and Dave chat to Amy Liptrot about The Outrun, Amy's phenomenally successful debut book in which she discovers how the wild can restore life and renew hope.Recently out in paperback, The Outrun is this year's winner of the Wainwright prize for ...
#59: Microbeads
Very big numbers of iddybiddy bits of plastic in the sea, and it's all the fault of YOUR face scrubs. Should we ban microbeads? Who thought they were a good idea in the first place? And what's it all got to do with Dave's jam tarts?All this, and W...
#58: Biodiversity offsetting
Bio-what? Good question. We find out, via mining in the article circle and the age old question "how many chaffinches equals one owl?"Also this week, bees related babble, a model Inhofe, and Arabella pronouncing a complicated word that Dave cannot...
#57: Grouse Shooting
There's been a lot of squabbling about grouse shooting with Ian Botham and Chris Packham taking, er, shots at each other. Why? Can hunting animals really be good for conservation?We've got a revolutionary American township that's changing the law ...
#56: Mrs May Gets Busy
We're back, and EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT. Where's Osborne gone? Who put Boris in charge of Foreign? And can we have our climate change department back please?Mrs May's been hard at work doing stuff, including irking the Chinese by delaying the new ...
#55: Air
It's 60 years since the UK's Clean Air Act. Hooray! So why are so many people still dying from air pollution? Ol knows stuff, so Dave grills him. Not literally.There's an attempt to make sad pigs happy, and heavens-to-betsy, has the UK done somet...
#54: Brexit
Wait, what? We left? WE ACTUALLY SODDING LEFT? Jesus wept.Brexit, then. Not only an ugly word, but, it turns out, an exceptionally ugly reality.We rake over the ashes of political and economic union to see if there's a glimmer of hope for the envi...
#53: Fish
Is the EU killing the UK fishing industry? Is Nigel Farage a fisherman's friend? And what the hell has Bob Geldof got to do with it? Dave and Ol interview piscine expert, Griffin Carpenter, to sift the facts from the fish-ction.They also discuss h...
#52: Football
Everybody's going football-crazy, football-mad. But will the planet make it out of the group stages? We look at some spectacular eco-guff from UEFA and ask whether the beautiful game has a dirty underbelly.We heap praise on a cricketer standing up...
