Sustainababble

Epping Forest, or "Effing Forest" as it's known to the locals, is at the heart of Luke Turner's wonderful 2019 book about sexuality, trauma, god and personal recovery. The forest, Luke says, hums with an energy of people both enjoying the place but also getting up to things they can't do, and being people they can't be, in their normal lives. It's a human landscape, and kinda always has been - in contrast to the hippified, somewhat problematic idea of 'untouched' woodland. And despite all its undeniable loveliness, it's not necessarily a place which magically 'cures' your ills, no matter what forest-bathing evangelists might claim. We natter to Luke about all this, covering off grumble mags, Throbbing Gristle, Peter Lilley MP and the soullnessness of St Albans along the way. As you may have gathered, this week's episode features what prudes describe as 'adult themes', so you might want to avoid it if you're listening with kids and don't fancy trying to explain what a jazz mag is. You can find L

The babble, it must be said, has a problem with authority. Probably cos of our upbringing or something. But this week, The Authority – specifically the Advertising Standards Authority – shot up in our estimation after it said NO, PURVEYORS OF SH*T LAWNS, YOU CANNOT CALL SH*T LAWNS ECO-FRIENDLY. Huzzah! BUT, they simultaneously stamped on vegan ads, so The Authority is firmly back in the bastards column again. We think. Also this week, Joe ‘Hey! I’m still alive!’ Biden gets all militaristic about heat pumps and Dave gets all heat pumped about Rishi Sunak. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell at Design by Mondial. 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 @thebab

If you were until recently, say, sustainability overlord at IKEA, should you be viewed as a suit who slapped green respectability onto a company that flooded living rooms with unnecessary tat? Or, perhaps, as a radical, transforming one of the word's biggest businesses into among the greenest while bringing veggie balls to the masses? Well, Steve Howard is said person - currently boss of sustainability at Singaporean investment fund Temasek - and as luck would have it he agreed to come on the babble and be asked about all things 'business' and the planet. And he doesn't even have a book out. Because if we're totally honest, for so many of us greenies, the 'B' word alone gets our babble antenna pinging. But, y'know, should it? Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell at Design by Mondial. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon

Bring out the bunting, close the streets, give everyone an extra holiday! No, not for the Queen's platinum wotsit, for the fact that the Aussies have voted out another massive inhofe! Yep, believe it or not, this week we say cheery bye-bye to former PM Scott Morrison, purveyor of weapons grade bullshit and world-leading climate inaction. And, it must be said, Olympic standard inhofery towards anyone who isn't Scott Morrison. To understand how and why ScoMo got the heave-ho, and to avoid an entire episode of Dave and Ol yelling HA HA HA HA and doing a silly dance, we natter to noted Aussie climate guru and politics wizard Ketan Joshi. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell at Design by Mondial. 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

The night sky, it seems, is getting brighter. At least according to some not-science we got sent by some not-scientists. But whether it's true or not (it almost certainly isn't) the question of light pollution got us thinking. So this week we rattle off all the ways in which the simple act of making sure we can see where we're all going is in fact abysmally bad for life on earth. Here's to another 250 episodes eh. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell at Design by Mondial. 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.

We live in a desperately cynical world - christ, the Babble should know - but a few public figures remain untarnished, standing tall as beacons of trustworthiness while our shared consensus collapses around us. The O.G. Big Dave is perhaps the most trusted of them all, the mere idea of him lying too horrible to comprehend. Which is perhaps why, when *he* tells us the planet is on fire and it's all our fault - unlike, say, every climate activist - the message is heard, listened to, and believed. It's also why he must never be allowed to retire or, frankly, drop off the perch. So to celebrate his recent 96th birthday, we ask: who really is this nonagenarian newt nuzzler? What did he do before he was climbing mountains of bat shit on telly? And do his dodgy views about birth control mean he should be a permanent resident of Inhofe corner? Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stove

You might think being dead is when you can finally stop worrying about your impact on the planet. You'd be wrong. Be it burrying, burning, or buggering off to space, there are myriad options for dealing with one's remains, and not all of them particularly courteous to the living organisms you leave behind. So, inspired by an email from the intriguing sounding www.earthfuneral.com, this week Dave quizes Ol on the different ways people (or at least, Americans) have come up with to dispose of the recently departed. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell at Design by Mondial. 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. E

In a rare bit of good news for the nation's youth, a new natural history GCSE means 16 year olds might one day appreciate fauna as much as they do Fortnite. Author & conservation goddess Mary Colwell is the driving force behind the 10 yr + campaign to persuade the UK government to introduce this new qualification, no mean feat given the introductions they prefer to make are between plutocrat A and party fundraiser B. ALLEGEDLY.We natter to Mary about how on earth she got this campaign over the line - featuring Bond-style train chases, among other things - as well as the spell-binding power of the natural world, and why she's cur-razy about curlews [sorry, ed.]. So strap in for an immensely heart-warming chat with someone to whom future generations may owe a significant debt. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell at Design by Mondial. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Lov

Kelp. That's what's gonna save the world. Not trees, kelp. Or seagrass. Or some other form of wibbly algae that lives in the sea and isn't a plant. Bingeing carbon; hoovering up chemical nasties in the water; being home for the ickle fishies; being turned into non-plastic plastic - seaweed does myriad very important jobs without so much as a sniff of inhofery. And, lest we forget, it can be damn tasty, especially if you're the Welsh. So why don't western countries pay attention to the stuff? Why aren't we farming it at any meaningful scale? Is it really the green Jesus some people claim it to be, or is it just... green? And why, WHY, would anyone put something as unattractive as laver bread in their gob? Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell at Design by Mondial. Ecoguff read out by Arabella. Love the babble? Bung us a few pennies at www.patreon.com/sustainabab

Keep Out. Two little words that carry such unquestioned authority. But why are we so well behaved when what we're kept out of is often the thing we're all lacking - green space, the beguiling attraction of the natural world, things that aren't manicured and sanitised? How did England's green and pleasant lands come to be so hostile to most of us plebs? We quiz author and illustrator Nick Hayes, who has literally written the book on trespass. Two in fact - the latest, The Trespasser's Companion, being the follow up to his mind-expanding 2020 effort The Book of Trespass. Head to https://www.trespasserscompanion.org/ for more, including the opportunity to contribute to the Trespass Tripadvisor by uploading pictures and notes from your own transgressions. And join the Right to Roam campaign, demanding far better access to the countryside for everyone in England. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo b

Babble listeners are definitionally a wise and discerning bunch, so just occasionally we permit the besplurgification of our inbox with probing questions that we absolutely promise to answer on air - unless they're shit. This week, then, it's Dave and Ol doing the shutting up and listening, minus the shutting up bit, as we subject ourselves to interrogation by you, our loyal enablers. Lines of enquiry include:- why haven't you covered the most controversial enviro topic in UK politics over the last few years, you cowards?- what *wouldn't* you do to save the planet, you cowards?- why don't you put your mics down and do some real activism for once, you cowards? Herewith 50 minutes of us inhofes trying to justify our cowardliness. ** Donate to frontline organisations in Ukraine:* Medical relief – https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/emergency-response/war-in-ukraine/* Aid packages – https://novaukraine.org/* Support for journalists – https://cpj.org/2022/02/cpj-calls-for-protection-of-journalists

"No please, tell me MORE about your cavity walls!" said absolutely no-one, ever. And that's kinda the problem for poor ol' insulation: it's dull. Yawningly, achingly, Michael-Owen-in-that-weird-Dubai-helicopter-video dull. And as such, few people so much as shrug when Governments comprehensively fail to insulate Britain. BUT any muppet can see it's a spectacularly good idea not to waste heat. Especially when there's a war on, fuelled in part by people paying for that wasted heat. So why do politicians lag (geddit? GEDDIT??) so far behind the curve when it comes to making homes less leaky? Will the newly gruesome geopolitical context finally jolt suits into action? And - AND - is it ever OK to say that yes, actually, some people's homes are too damn hot? ** Please support organisations assisting Ukrainians and victims of war everywhere, if you can: Donate to frontline organisations in Ukraine:* Medical relief – https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/emergency-response/war-in-ukraine/* Aid pack

Suing national Governments for gross Inhofery, whilst simultaneously laying the smackdown on oil and gas companies, sounds daunting and, frankly, a lot of work. Thank bejeezus then that international environmental & human rights lawyer Tessa Khan is busy doing all this and more, with no little success. We natter to Tessa, who founded and directs Uplift, about Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its connection to all things fossil fuelled; the merits and pitfalls of trying to save the planet via the courts; and what to do with all the shit white men in positions of power. As mentioned in the show, please support organisations assisting Ukrainians and victims of war everywhere, if you can: Donate to frontline organisations in Ukraine:* Medical relief - https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/emergency-response/war-in-ukraine/* Aid packages - https://novaukraine.org/* Support for journalists - https://cpj.org/2022/02/cpj-calls-for-protection-of-journalists-in-ukraine/Volunteer or offer practical help to UK-b

They're not birds, and approximately half aren't ladies. But ladybirds very much ARE beetles, and that alone is reason to celebrate them. Even if they do puke from their knee-joints. However, not everyone coos over these perfect shiny wonders. SOME PEOPLE (*cough* Dave *cough*) seem to think they're inhofes, especially the foreign ones coming over 'ere ruining aphid-munching for our natives species. So we delve into the mysterious world of Coccinellidae, from STDs to tooth powder, all in the name of helping Dave answer the entirely unnecessary question: Ladybirds - are they good or not? Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell at Design by Mondial. 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 sustainaba

What is a culture war? Are greenies like us now fighting one? Are we... the baddies? All questions we must, regrettably, now grapple with, because a phalanx of Tory MPs - ably assisted by their outriders in the shite-wing media - are labelling 'net zero' advocates as woke-ist elites, determined to heap misery on the poor. So who are these finger-jabbing inhofes, and how much support do they have? Why do they hate climate action so much? Do they... have a point? Show notes:* Excellent Guardian piece on Net Zero Watch* 538 Podcast - 'Americans aren't as polarized as the news makes it seem' Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell at Design by Mondial. 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 susta

If you thought Bitcoin was confusing, wait 'til you hear about 'non-fungible tokens'. In fact you've probably already heard about them, after a major conservation charity decided to flog NFTs of pictures of tigers and the like, only to be met with the mother and father of all backlashes. NFTs are modern and confusing, for sure. But are they really environmental kryptonite? Was the backlash deserved? Also this week, two wonderful and separate examples of creative activism from the good folks at Greenpeace and Insulate Britain. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell at Design by Mondial. 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/

Very, VERY excitingly, this week we natter with one of the best climate communicators around, who also happens to be one of the planet's foremost climate scientists. Professor Katharine Hayhoe is a United Nations 'Champion of the Earth', chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy, and one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people. Her new book, Saving Us, makes the case that the most important thing we can do about climate change is the one thing we're terrible at - talking about it. But by talking, Katharine doesn't mean passive aggressively quoting IPCC reports and hurling Keeling curves at each other. Instead, we must 'bond, connect and inspire' if we want to actually change anything. If you, like us, want more Katharine in your brain, you can:- Pick up a copy of her new book- Watch her 2018 TED talk- Read her Time article about hope- Follow her on Twitter- Head to 'Count us in', a Don't Look Up follow-on, advised by Katharine Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly.

It is bonkers that so much effort, land, water & energy is used to make so much food that never goes in anyone's gob. Bonkers and, as babble listener Alysia points out, VERY planety-imperilly. Alysia also notes that we've gone 236 episodes without focussing our babblenoculars on the matter, so this week we pinch our noses, gingerly approach the kitchen caddy and gag on the maloderous stench of the global food waste scandal. Question one, of course, is who are the inhofes? Supermakets and their BOGOFs? Governments and their "meh"s? Or is it Ol, Dave, and the rest of us? Should we be better at planning our portions? Should we ignore use-by dates?* Should we stop being scared of our children and tell them to EAT WHAT THEY'RE DAMN WELL GIVEN? And how, if at all, can we get the mountain of edible wasted food into the mouths of the hungry? Read Jack Monroe's excellent twitter thread, as mentioned in the episiode, here. *Please under no circumstance actually do this. Sustainababble is your friendl

SPOILER ALERT! This week we natter about the Netflix film 'Don't Look Up', so EFFIN' WELL WATCH IT it before listening. The second most viewed Netflix film ever, Don't Look Up tells the story of two astronomers attempting to warn humanity about an approaching - and, more to the point, LARGE - comet that will go bang on planet earth. The writer, Adam McKay, says the crashy comet is an allegory for climate change, and the film is a satire of various inhofes' indifference to the climate crisis even when it's literally falling from the sky. But what *we* can't decide is, is it any good? Should we be pleased that there's a popular film about climaggedon? Should we be cross that the analogy is a bit crude? Are we sure that it even is a climate change film? We dust off the Christmas hangovers to waffle our way towards an answer, aided significantly by some splendid listener reviews. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sus

A statement from Dave and Ol: "All Sustainabaubles complied with the rules at the time of recording. Not that there have been any Sustainabaubles. But should there have been, they would have been babble-secure. And, just to be sure, we've instructed Arabella to investigate a Sustainabauble that definitely didn't happen, in case it in fact did." RIGHT, ON WITH IT. **You can still watch Dave and Ol in a livestream event, together with access to watch the wonderful film The Atom: A Love Affair, until New Year's Eve. Find out more here.** Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell at Design by Mondial. 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 Faceboo