Welcome to Episode 200!

200 episodes feels a little bit mad! 
A LOT has happened: globally, in the sustainability space, and for Sustainable(ish).
In this solo episode, I take a little trip down memory lane, share the Top 5 episodes by download numbers, and share your podcast ripples ie the things that you've gone and done, the changes you've made, after listening to an episode.

I'm going to be having a break for a couple of weeks, but in the meantime I will republish some of the episodes that are mentioned in this one, as having inspired action!

Did you know we have lots 97% of our species rich graslands in the UK since the 1930s?
This has had a huge knock on impact to the rest of the food chain that are relaint on that habitat, things like our insect pollinators especially, but also our birds and mammals that were part of this ecosystem.
The good news is that this is something most of us can do something about!
If you have a garden, or have local green spaces, we can use them to recreate some of that lost speices rich grassland, and you don't need masses of space to be able to do it.
AND this is one of those very rare things - a sustainability action that actually requires LESS effort than the status quo, because to make it happen, we're being asked to mow LESS!

In today's episode I'm chatting to Sarah Shuttleworth, Specialist Botanical Advisor at Plantlife, all about their No Mow May campaign, and how we can all get involved, even if we don't have a garden, and/or the rest of the family aren't keen on having an entirely unmown lawn for the whole of the summer!

Have a listen, and then head over to the Plantlife website to sign up to take the No Mow May pledge . There are links to all of the fab No Mow May resources on the Plantlife website, including things like downloadable signs you can print out to let the neighbours know what you're doing!

Pets can bring a huge amount of joy into our lives, but as with everything, they have an environmental impact, and in this episode we're going to dive into where that impact comes from and what we can do to reduce it.
Now I'm very aware that 'sustainability' can sometimes look like being told that all of the things that you love doing, or having, are bad, and that to be truly 'sustainable' you have to stop doing all those things, and suck all the joy and happiness out of your life.
That is absolutely not the case, and it's absolutely not the case for pets. This episode isn't about not having pets, it's about (as I hope all the episodes are!) understanding where the impacts are, and making 'better choices more of the time'. I've got a dog, she adds to our family's carbon footprint, but she also brings a huge amount of joy, and she gets me outside every single day.

I really hope you enjoy this chat with the brilliant Laura Binnie, who is a small animal vet based in Cumbria who has been at the forefront of the sustainability movement in the veterinary profession. It's packed with hints and tips, I've summarised them all in a blog post which I've linked to in the show notes, so hopefully you'll feel more informed about the things you can do to reduce your pets carbon pawprint - enjoy!

This is Part 2, or a 'double header' episode with the brilliant Sara Grimes from Bath and West Community Energy.
Part 1 is all about community energy, and takes a bit of a dive into solar and heat pumps, as well as things like the governments's Warm Homes Plan (it's honestly more fun than it sounds if you haven't already listened to it!)
And this is Part 2, where we talking about all things home retrofit, and looking at some of the less technical , perhaps more affordable options for making our homes more efficient, more comfortable, and cheaper to run.

Enjoy! 

This week's episode is the first ever two parter!
This was supposed to be an episode on home retrofit, and I'm chatting to SaraG Grimes from Bath and West Community Energy about some of the brilliant work that they're doing, and what people can do in their own homes.

This first part is looking bigger picture and is quite a wide ranging chat! We cover community energy generally, as well as hearing about some of the specific projects that BWCE are working on; solar; heat pumps; the UK government's Warm Homes Plan; and support for renters amongst other things.
In the second part (available to listen to now!) we look more specifically at home retrofit and some of the lower cost retrofit measures available, like draught proofing and insulation.
I'm very aware that both of those potentially sound more than a little dull and dry as podcast episodes, but I really hope that they're interesting and useful! Do let me know!

There we go - I did warn you it was quite a wide ranging chat, but I really hope it was interesting and there were some nuggets there that you can take away.
Part 2 is much more focussed on home retrofit, and some of the lower tehc, more affordable options, and should be available to listen to now if you want to dive straight in, or save that particular treat for another day!
Thanks so much for listening - do let me know any thoughts, comments or questions from this episode, amd I'll catch up in Pt 2

If you were to google 'how to be more sustainable' you would get a slew of posts sharing 'ten top things to do to cut your carbon footprint' or similar.Very few (if any) mention the huge potential influence that we can all have, by sharing the things that we're doing, talking to other people, voting etc etc.

Which is why when I first came across a paper called 'Choices for climate action: a review of the multiple roles individuals play', and it included these very things, I was super excited, and promptly used it as a framework for diving into climate action in my Carbon Literacy courses.

I was delighted to be able to dive into this in more detail with one of the paper's authors, Dr Sam Hampton, who is an academic at not one, but two universities, Bath and Oxford! We discuss not only the paper I mention above, but a new paper that has just been published about the role of hairdressers as 'everyday influencers' - a phrase I absolutely love! We are ALL everyday influencers, and our choices matter and shape the decisions of those around us. I find this hugely empowering, and I hope you do too!

Football and sport don't perhaps at first glance seem like a natural 'in' for climate action. But did you know..?
- Over 100,000 grassroots football matches are cancelled every year due to bad weather such as flooding
- Over 80% of football fans want are concerned about climate change
- 65% of football fans want their clubs to take more climate action

It was such a joy to get the opportunity to chat to Katie Cross all about Pledgeball - an award winning sports sustainability charity who do an amazing job of empowering sports fans to take action for climate and nature, often framing it around the idea of 'protecting where we play'.
I wouldn't count myself as a football fan, but I took so much inspiration away from this episode and from Katie.  So many clever ways of taking something that people are passionate about and using it as a way in to talk about climate and how it's impacting on that thing that they love, and then harnessing the power of the community that they are already involved in to take action, and to see how their one action contributes to a much greater impact.

Even if you're not a football fan, I think there will be lots to take away from this episode - some way to take a little bit of the work that Plegdeball are doing with football, and in sport more widely, and apply it to the communities that you're already a part of. 

To change the world, you've got to throw a better party than those destroying it".
This is a quote from Louisa Ziane at Toast ale, and is one of my faves, and something I try and keep front of mind.
'Sustainability' has an image problem and is very often seem as something that is dull and dry and bleak, and for the keen greenies over there wearing lots of hemp, or for the lone Sustainability Manager at a company.
It's not really something we'd bring up in conversation down the pub. Or is it..?

Adam Bastock is the founder of People, Planet, Pint - a simple concept of getting like-minded people together 'down the pub' for a chat. From a What's App message at COP26 asking if anyone fancied a pint, People, Planet, Pint now hosts around 80 events every month, in 120 locations around the world! It's such a brilliantly simple idea - one of the things that many of us struggle with is feeling like we're on our own, at the same time perhaps as feeling like the more traditional forms of 'activism' aren't really for us or feel out of our comfort zone. People, Planet, Pint is a great way to connect with other people locally, and to recognise that it's not just you, and that you're not on your own, and who knows what might come of a conversation over a pint (or glass of wine/diet coke/insert other drink choice here!) down the pub.