The Disruptive Environmentalist

End of Season 1

Nov 7 • 2 min

For a variety of reasons I thought now was a good time to have a short ‘end-of-season’ break to help reflect and plan the future of the podcast. This break should hopefully allow me to book lots of interesting guests and improve the overall quality of the…

27 - The Open Innovation Green Lab - Designing Beautiful Solutions To Complex Food Problems In The Heart of London- Andrew Gregson, Green Lab

Oct 24 • 43 min

As more people move to live in cities, the disconnect between where food comes from and our plate seems to be growing all the time. But today’s interviewee is hoping to change that by helping design alternative food solutions from the very heart of…

26 - Carbon Negative Shipping - Buidling a Sailing Vessel in Costa Rica - Danielle Doggett, SailCargo Inc.

Oct 11 • 51 min

With approximately 90% of the world’s freight moved about by large ships, it’s perhaps not surprising the industry has a big impact on the environment. In this episode, I interview someone who is on a mission to change that. Danielle Doggett is one of the…

25 - The Philosophy of Pseudoscience - Is GMO Opposition Valid? Or Simply Another ‘Belief’ - Stefaan Blancke, The University of Tilburg

Sep 27 • 36 min

There are certain topics amongst environmentalists that seem particularly controversial. One of these is Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). In this episode, we explore the topic of ‘beliefs’ within the environmental community and whether those beliefs…

24 - Biochar as a Climate Change Solution - Creating the Google of Carbon - Jamie Bakos, Titan Projects

Sep 12 • 30 min

Biochar is a product created by applying lots of heat to plant matter in the absence of oxygen. This creates a form of pure carbon, not that dissimilar to what you would put on a bbq, but much purer. This substance that is created can then be stored in…

23 - Conservation Engineering and Open Data - Applying The Mindset Of The Tech Community To Environmental Issues - Shah Selbe, Conservify

Aug 29 • 50 min

Shah Selbe is a spacecraft engineer turned conservation technologist and founder of non-profit Conservify, whose mission it is to lower barriers to entry for effective conservation by providing anything from equipment to apps and all with a big push…

22 - The Litter Collecting App - How A Hashtag Evolved Into A Platform To Take On Big Brands - Jeff Kirschner, Litterati

Aug 15 • 45 min

We’ve spoken about the issue of plastic waste in a few previous episodes, but the problem of litter extends much beyond that. There are many other materials and items that are used in an increasingly disposable manner and that contribute to this epidemic.…

21 - Building Roads With Plastic Waste - Toby McCartney, MacRebur

Aug 1 • 37 min

Currently, the equivalent of one garbage truck full of plastic enters the oceans every single minute of every day. So until we cut out this plastic habit completely, we need to find a way to put it to use and stop it harming wildlife and ecosystems. In…

20 - 3D Ocean Farming - A Greener Way of Producing Food from the Sea - Bren Smith, GreenWave

Jul 18 • 48 min

Land-based food production is in crisis - driven by climate change & population increase. We have to grow 70% more food by 2050 to accommodate 2 billion more people on the planet (World Bank 2017). So with the oceans covering over 70% of the earth’s…

19 - Circular Economy Fashion - Redesigning the Clothing Industry - Mart Drake-Knight, Rapanui

Jul 4 • 37 min

Fast fashion focuses on speed and low cost delivering new ‘collections’ of clothing for every season of every year inspired by the latest catwalk looks or celebrity styles. But this low-cost, disposable way of buying clothes is having an impact on the…

18 - Biomimicry - Taking Inspiration From Nature To Solve Environmental Problems - Megan Shuknecht, The Biomimicry Institute

Jun 20 • 35 min

Biomimicry is the process of looking to nature for ideas and inspiration on how we can solve human problems and design things that better fit in with life on earth. Taking advantage of 3.8 million years of evolution to give us a ‘jump start’ on research…

17 - Taking the Train to China - The Climate Academic Leading by Example by Refusing to Fly for Work - Dr. Roger Tyers, University of Southampton

Jun 6 • 51 min

With the issue of climate change seeming so vast with so many factors influencing our carbon emissions, many people have started to focus on what they can do as an individual. Because at least we have control over that. In this episode, I speak to Roger…

16 – Small Farming Robots – Rethinking Food Production to Help Restore the Environment– Ben Scott-Robinson, The Small Robot Company

May 23 • 53 min

This episode focusses on the environmental problems caused by agriculture and I speak with the co-founder of a The Small Robot Company who aim to tackle many of those problems by approaching farming in a completely different way. We speak about the…

15 - Vertical Forests - The Benefits of Creating Buildings for Trees and Humans Together - Stefano Boeri

May 9 • 28 min

The first vertical forest in the world was designed by Italian architect Stefano Boeri in Milan, completed in 2014. The Bosco Verticale towers are residential apartment blocks, one of which is over 100m high. But most strikingly they are both covered from…

14 - Electric Flying Cars - They’re Almost Here, But Will it be Good News for the Environment? - Akshat Kasliwal, University of Michigan

Apr 25 • 37 min

Apparently electric flying cars will be appearing very soon, with some big names such as Uber and Boeing currently developing them. Some newspaper headlines have said they could solve our greenhouse gas and pollution woes….this seems like a bold claim…

13 - Cryptonature - Using Blockchain Technology to Tackle Environmental Problems - Pete Howson, Nottingham Trent University

Apr 11 • 47 min

This week we are talking about the blockchain. Could the technology behind Bitcoin help us tackle some of the worlds biggest environmental problems? In this interview I speak to Pete Howson a Lecturer in International Development and Nottingham Trent…

12 - Human Psychology and Climate Change - Forgetting the Deniers and Having Useful Conversations - Dan Rubin PsyD, Clinical Psychologist

Mar 29 • 49 min

Today I take a deeper look into the human psychology behind climate change. Is there any way we can change tactics to convince the denialists?…..or are there more important battles we should be fighting first? I interview Dan Rubin PsyD, a clinical…

11 - Growing Meat in a Lab - Can We Reduce the Environmental Cost of Meat Production Without All Going Vegan? - Shir Friedman, SuperMeat

Mar 14 • 29 min

It is now pretty common knowledge that cutting down on meat consumption is one of the best things we can do individually for the environment…. but globally we just keep eating more of it. So is there another way we can greatly reduce this impact and…

10 - Could Computer Games Help us Save the Planet? - Dr Umran Ali, University of Salford

Feb 28 • 42 min

The computer games industry is now estimated to be worth over $100 billion. But could this ultimate disruptive industry help us save the planet? In this episode, I speak to Dr Umran Ali a computer games professor and self-confessed ‘digital native’ from…

09 - Where’s My Water Fountain? - The Problem of Bottled Water - Justine Rose, Water For London

Feb 14 • 41 min

Most of us want to cut down on the amount of bottled water we buy, but why is it so hard to find anywhere to fill bottles in our cities.?This episode’s guest is part of a volunteer group called Water for London who are campaigning for more water fountains…

08 – The Food Sharing App – Tessa Clarke, Olio

Jan 31 • 28 min

Olio is an app that aims to tackle the problem of food waste by in their words: Connecting neighbours with each other and with local businesses so surplus food can be shared, not thrown away. In the episode I speak to founder Tessa Clarke how the idea for…

07 - Biodegradable Plastics From Waste - Jeff Beegle and Tony Bova, Mobius

Jan 17 • 39 min

The environmental issue of non-biodegradable plastics is more well known than ever before. Despite efforts to recycle more of it a huge 91% of plastics still aren’t recycled, ending up in landfills or in the oceans, taking around 400 years to degrade. One…

06 - How To Start Your Own Disruptive Environmental Business – Jay Clouse, Unreal Collective and Upside.fm

Jan 3 • 31 min

A big part of this podcast series is about seeking out new inspiring businesses that are bettering the environment by disrupting the status quo. But what if you have one of these ideas yourself? Where do you start, especially if it is a big idea that…

05 - Values And Framing - Tom Crompton, Common Cause Foundation

Dec 20, 2018 • 34 min

There is a great misperception in our society that others place values of self-interest higher than values of compassion and care. Fixing this perception gap is massively important in the way we approach how we try and influence behaviours regarding…

04 – Influencing Environmental Behaviours – Lessons From Trump and Brexit – Dr David Rose, University of East Anglia

Dec 6, 2018 • 41 min

Moving away from innovations and onto new perspectives this week, as I interview an academic who says we need to get down from our ivory towers, stop the finger pointing and start communicating better about environmental issues. This podcast series isn’t…

03 - Creating Animal Feed From Human Waste - Mathieu Chaix-Bar, Weendle

Nov 22, 2018 • 33 min

This weeks episode focuses on two environmental issues, the production of animal feed and also the processing of waste, especially in developing countries. Mathieu Chaix-Bar is attempting to tackle both these problems with a solution sourced from nature.…

02 - Dogs In Conservation - Louise Wilson, Conservation K9 Consulting

Nov 7, 2018 • 40 min

In this episode, we speak to Louise Wilson who has started the company Conservation K9 Consultancy using the experience she had gained in other forms of detection dog training at home and overseas. Based in the UK the company trains rescue dogs for use in…

01 – Bootstrapping Conservation - Surveying Endangered Species With Drones – Tom and Tom, Project Erebus

Oct 17, 2018 • 26 min

In the very first episode of the Disruptive Environmentalist podcast we are starting with a huge environmental issue, biodiversity loss. I speak to Tom and Tom two university friends who combined one’s knowledge of building drones with the others…

00 - An Introduction

Oct 15, 2018 • 3 min

A brief introduction to what the podcast is all about, and what I mean by disruptive environmentalism