Episode 12: Peak plastics: bending the consumption curve
The world will continue to drown in plastic waste unless a bold and comprehensive set of policy changes is applied – this is according to Peak plastics: bending the consumption curve – a new report by Back to Blue, an initiative of Economist Impact and the Nippon Foundation. We delve into how we can decisively tackle plastic waste that is polluting our ocean and land environments with guest, Winnie Lau, project director of the Preventing Ocean Plastics project at The Pew Charitable Trusts. What will it take to decisively tackle the plastic waste crisis? Can we bend the consumption curve?
Episode 11: Ocean Acidification: A crisis in the making
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 14, Target 14.3, calls for minimising and addressing the impacts of ocean acidification through co-operation at all levels. There is an urgent need for scientific communities to come together with the media, education systems, policymakers and civil society to help bring more attention to the issue and to come up with technological solutions and robust legislation.
Listen to the panel discussion on ocean acidification by Steve Widdicombe, director of science, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Peter Thomson, United Nation Secretary-general’s special envoy for the ocean, Malaika Vaz, Explorer, National Geographic, and Founder, Untamed Planet and moderated by Charles Goddard, editorial director, Economist Impact.
Episode 10: Deep sea-mining and ocean pollution (Part 2)
In part 1 of this 2-part episode, we discussed the environmental impact of deep sea mining on our oceans and marine life, and it being an issue on the COP agenda.
In the second part of this podcast, released during the World Ocean Summit Asia-Pacific, we dive deeper into the pollution risks of deep sea mining with Craig Smith, deep sea ecologist and professor emeritus at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Episode 9: Deep sea-mining and ocean pollution (Part 1)
In this 2-part episode on deep sea mining, we talk to Phil McCabe, an ocean campaigner, a member of the deep sea conservation coalition about the past, present and future of deep sea mining projects.
Episode 8: Back to Blue at the UN Ocean Conference
The Back to Blue team was at the UN Ocean Conference in Portugal and spoke to President Surangel Whipps Jr. of Palau about the ocean pollution issues they face, and Professor Bethanie Carney Almroth, Associate Professor of EcoToxicology, University of Gothenberg about her research into marine pollution and why she and her colleagues believe the pollution planetary boundary has been breached in the ocean.
Episode 7: The Invisible Wave: Can green and sustainable chemistry be the solution?
What is green and sustainable chemistry and can it be the solution to marine chemical pollution? What role can the private sector play? Charles Goddard, editorial director at Economist Impact discusses the responses to chemical pollution with Joel Tickner, professor of public health at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Professor Tickner is also the founder and executive director at the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council.
Episode 6: The Invisible Wave: how is marine chemical pollution linked to climate change?
Is chemical pollution a key anthropogenic challenge on a par with climate change and biodiversity loss? Charles Goddard, editorial director at Economist Impact speaks to Pascal Lamy, president of the Paris Peace Forum, and Naoko Ishii, director at the Centre for the Global Commons at University of Tokyo, about marine chemical pollution in a broader context.
Episode 5: Registration and regulation of chemicals
Charles Goddard, editorial director at The Economist Group, speaks to Dr Zhanyun Wang, scientist at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, about the hundreds of thousands of chemicals in existence, how they are managed, and the case of the EU.
Episode 4: Back to Blue – Chemical pollution
Charles Goddard, editorial director at The Economist Group, speaks to Elsie Sunderland at Harvard University and Alex Rogers at REV Ocean about the scope and scale of the problem of chemical pollution in the ocean.
Episode 3: Back to Blue – Plastics Management Index
The inaugural Plastics Management Index (PMI) was launched in early October. Naka Kondo, editor of the report, and Shreya Mukarji, manager of the index development, discuss findings of the PMI.
Episode 2: Back to Blue – an ocean health and sustainability initiative
Senior editor Naka Kondo spoke to Charles Goddard, editorial director, about the Back to Blue initiative by The Economist Group and The Nippon Foundation.
Episode 1: Turning the tide on ocean plastic
On World Oceans Day, senior editor Naka Kondo spoke to Tom Peacock-Nazil, founder of Seven Clean Seas, and his colleague Oli Kade, sustainability specialist, about tackling the problems of plastic pollution in the ocean.
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