Sustainababble

Jo, a babble listener from Letchworth in the UK, sent in a question that kinda stumped us. What the hell, she asked, does one say to people who can't see the point in doing anything for the planet? Sweary and shouty retorts aside, the answer isn't immediately obvious. So we asked you, the wise, generous-hearted, and magnanimous babble army what *you* would say. And you didn't let us down. So, herewith a rather splendid and dangerously uplifting 47 mins of "What's the point?! I'll TELL you what the point is, you little... " featuring superlative contributions from Amelie Edwards*, Sam Longman, Isabella Fisk, and Krystal York, only one of whom uses the word "nobhead". *Do also check out Amelie's excellent climate-y audio drama 5 Years from Now available from Spotify and elsewhere. More info on Amelie's website. Sustainababble is your friendly environment podcast, out weekly. Theme music by the legendary Dicky Moore – @dickymoo. Sustainababble logo by the splendid Arthur Stovell. 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 [email protected].

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/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 [email protected].

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 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 [email protected].

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/sustainababble. Email us at [email protected].

"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 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-based organisations supporting refugees and asylum seekers:* https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/support-us/volunteers/* https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer-for-us/volunteer-opportunities/* https://www.roomforrefugees.com* https://www.refugeesathome.org/ ** 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 [email protected].