Sustainababble

Helen Browning is an organic farmer and Chief Executive of the Soil Association. For one very lovely summer's day, she was also our host and tour guide at her mixed organic farm in Wiltshire - introducing us to pigs, piglets and cows on the way. We ask Helen what organic farming really is, why the produce costs so much, and her views on Brexit, Michael Gove and pig slaughter. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

There's no escaping that throwaway plastic menstrual products are just as bad for the fishes as throwaway plastic anything else. But what are the alternatives? Does anyone use them? And what the hell gives two men the right to blather on about periods? Thank the lord, they're not alone. Julia Minnear from the Women's Environment Network joins Dave and Ol to explain the 'Environmenstrual' campaign and answer all our exceedingly ignorant questions. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

Ooh, dash it. Seems we may have to add cricket to the very long list of things that climate change is going to nause up entirely. We investigate, once Ol has explained to Dave what cricket actually is. More rain? Bad for cricket. Hotter summers? Bad for cricket. And that's before we even start on the SQUIRRELS. Plus, plastics: why are the Europeans trying to wee higher against the wall than our dear old Michael Gove? Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

New research suggests - somewhat irritatingly - going on holiday is four times worse for the climate than previously thought. Flying, lavish eating, hotel maintenance & souvenirs all add up to a speedo-tightening 8% of global CO2 emissions. So should we pack an extra suitcase of guilt on the easyjet to Magaluf? Can tourism ever be light touch, let alone beneficial for the places we go? And what the hell is an ecotourist when it's at home (or abroad, more to the point)? Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

Captain Birdseye and his pals have finally come to the climate party. An unprecedented agreement - signed just down the road from Babble HQ - will see global shipping cut CO2 in half. About time too. We dig around below deck to see what's really going on, and try to understand why there are 29,000 rubber ducks floating round the world's oceans. Also this week, another glorious victory for the Babble campaigning machine. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.  

  'Neoliberalism', then. What the hell is it? Is it wrecking the planet? Is it responsible for Ol's hair? And what's it all got to do with the price of bees? Strap yourself in as mega-brain Christine Berry explains all. With the patience of a saint, Christine takes Dave and Ol through the basics. Yes, it's a real thing. No, it isn't the same thing as capitalism. And could they stop being such a pair of cretins, please? Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

This week we meet one of the most influential people on climate change you've probably never heard of. Mark Campanale is Founder & Executive Director of Carbon Tracker, a think tank whose ground-breaking Unburnable Carbon report made the entire financial world sit up and go "oh, lordy, perhaps fossil fuels aren't so great after all". It also prompted Bill McKibben to write his epic Global Warming's Terrifying New Math article in Rolling Stone magazine, which quickly became one of the most downloaded climate pieces of all time and spawned an entire new activist movement. We quiz Mark on how all this came to be and what on earth a carbon bubble really is. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainab

  Sheffield's gone to war with itself over its trees. Is it all Margaret Thatcher's fault? What have bunnies, squirrels and geckos got to do with it? And who the hell is Amy? We have a natter to splendid Sheffield tree campaigner, Fran Halsall. Also this week, Michael Gove's done another good thing. But how come we didn't have a deposit return scheme years ago? We smell Inhofery. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

You'll have noticed that Russia is cross with Blighty for being cross with Russia for allegedly attempting to bump off a spy and his daughter. Allegedly. All this crossness has made people jittery about whether Blighty's gas supply might suddenly develop a mysterious... glitch. Could this actually happen? We find out. Also this week, rhinos (dead), coal mines (also dead), Tory keep cups (dear) and more fact checking with Big Dave. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

Scientists with beards have invented a battery. Trust us, it's more interesting than it sounds. Despite shameful scientific illiteracy, even the 'Babble gets that this invention - a rechargable proton battery, no less - is potentially Very Important Indeed and quite possibly planet-saving. We investigate. Also this week, Arnie pwning oil companies and the meat industry calling a spade an exquisite, thoughtfully re-imagined mastication aid. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.  

Vicious, bird-killing machines totally devoid of  conscience, or unfortunate scapegoats (scapecats?) for humanity's somewhat more ruinous ecological destruction? One thing's for certain: lots of people have VIEWS when it comes to cats. So this week we try to understand some of the facts (spoiler: cats are really good at killing), and wrestle with questions like: Can you be a greenie and have a cat without being a massive hypocrite? Can cats be vegan? Is Ol's cat a git? Also this week, less than ideal weather news from the Arctic. Gulp. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

In 2014, ten monkeys were watching cartoons in a sealed chamber, into which ACTUAL SCIENTISTS pumped exhaust fumes from a VW Beetle. For four hours. Why? Who was behind it? And why did people get so much more upset about the gassed monkeys than about the hundreds of thousands of people dying early 'cos of diesel fumes? We delve deep to find out, trying to avoid being sued by evil car companies as we go. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

Good-for-nothing lay-abouts, potnoodling their future away while the rest of us do REAL JOBS and PAY TAX. Maybe. But do today's students in fact care quite a lot about the planet? Do they get taught about it? Do they get angry about it? Or is the spectre of a lifetime's debt and vanishing employment prospects more than enough to keep them occupied? And, most importantly, how do the yoof feel about the distinctly impoverished planet they look set to inhabit when their Top Shop discount finally expires? We quiz NUS president Shakira Martin, SOAS solar supremo Hannah Short, and some actual, living breathing (and smoking, mostly) students to find out. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.

Everyone's falling over themselves to stop using plastic straws. GOOD! Will this bring an end to the scourge of ocean plastic and save the ugly fish? Or will shunning straws be the beginning and end of efforts to kick our collective plastic habit? What if hating on straws distracts people from even worse environmental inhofery? Also this week, why no-one with a brain should be pleased about 'talking' orcas, and how the Babble saved ALL the elephants. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

BUMPER EPISODE! Because we've got two very large reasons to be merry. It's CHRISTMAS, so anything can happen - even, apparently, Liam Gallagher turning out to be the voice of the planet. And as the Babble finally hits 100, we look back on a ton of podcasts and ask: have things got better or worse? Does anyone remember any of the politicians that were around when we started? And why can't Dave still say the word sqwiwwel? All this, and Boris Johnson's been drinking nuclear waste, that charming Monsieur Macron's been putting other people's money where his mouth is, and someone's making electricity out of Ol's Christmas dinner. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

As Blue Planet II comes to a close, we ask if people having spent the last 7 weeks cooing at the pretty fishies will make any difference to whether they hoik Fanta bottles into the sea. Ol and Dave would walk the plank if Attenborough told us to - will anyone else? Meanwhile, a clothing company is suing the wobbly bottom off the President of the Free World, and the Conservative party are trying very hard to not be seen to be being nasty to animals. And: Bitcoin. What the hell is it? And can it really be responsible for killing polar bears? Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

In a first for the Babble, we talk to someone very much on The Other Side. David Hone is chief climate change advisor... to Shell. After 30 years in the energy industry he's written a new book, Putting The Genie Back: Solving the Climate and Energy Dilemma, in which he maintains that fossil fuels will be with us for many decades to come. "He would say that, wouldn't he?". Very possibly, but David is also unquestionably committed to finding ways to meet the Paris Agreement aims. So we ask how on earth he squares the 'more fossil fuels, less climate change' circle; what it's like trying to save the planet inside a company that's a life member of Inhofe Corner; and why gaffa taping CO2 in the ground is such a great idea. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – https://soundcloud.com/dickymoo Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustain

Environmentalist. Author. Guardian columnist. Campaigner. Brain on legs. We grab some time at home with George Monbiot, everyone's favourite font of wisdom. In a wide-ranging babblechat, we find out why everyone being so bloody lonely is knackering the Earth, and how we can come together and make it all better again. Can saying hello to our neighbours more often really save the planet? We also chat rewilding and the perils of being a professional miseryguts. And Ol sneaks in a question he promised he wouldn't ask, but did anyway. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – https://soundcloud.com/dickymoo Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

For 27 years John Vidal was environment editor at The Guardian, scouring the world to bring underreported environmental issues to light. John talks to us about his latest story - the remarkable discovery of billions of tonnes of carbon-rich peat in the Congo basin - as well as some of the more hair-raising moments from his three decades of reporting on the state of the planet. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme and other music by the legendary Dicky Moore – https://soundcloud.com/dickymoo Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.

Right now, a lot of hideously sleep-deprived people are in Bonn, Germany, figuring out how nations should work together to stop the planet frying. Thought this was all sorted out in Paris two years ago? Think again. To find out what really goes on at these annual 'COP' meetings, we interview Rachel Kennerley, Friends of the Earth's International Climate Campaigner. Rachel explains why the Americans are still causing trouble despite Trump's very public climate chexit, and why Fijians are surprisingly crap party hosts. She never quite explains why she's talking to us from the bathroom. Also this week, GOOD NEWS for the bees! Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme and other music by the legendary Dicky Moore – https://soundcloud.com/dickymoo Available on iTunes, Acast, Soundcloud & all those types of things, or at sustainababble.fish. Visit us at @thebabblewagon and at Facebook.com/sustainababble. Email us at hello@sustainababble.fish.