After Corona? - SUSTAINABILITY

Blue skies, clean air, birdsong, wild animals in town centres, falling back in love with gardens and open spaces - for a moment, the conversation in 2020 was that there are positives to public health lockdowns. Things we might want to keep. And in 2021, the libertarian-leaning, free-market driven, friend of industry UK Conservative government will be hosting one of the most important UN climate change conferences in history - at COP26. The United States are back on board. China say they are on board. And the UK can legitimately declare that it is halfway to reaching carbon net zero in 2050, with emissions down 51% from 1990 levels. But is it even remotely enough? Are there still people who don't get it? And should we be worried that when restrictions are all over for COVID-19, we'll have all forgotten how much better our environment was in such a short time? In this episode of the After Corona? series, we're looking at sustainability. Steve Creed is a Canadian sustainability expert, living in the UK a former director of the UK Waste & Resources Action Programme and now advising on circular economy mechanisms and community land trust development. Robert Jones-Mantle has been involved in running the Magpie recycling co-operative in Brighton for over 25 years, launching one the UK's first ever kerbside recycling collection services in 1996. Leo Barasi is a writer, TV and radio broadcaster, climate change consultant, an expert on public opinion around sustainability and author of the 2017 book 'The Climate Majority: From Apathy to Action'. Ben Miller is co-founder of Latitude Social Design, an agency using cognitive diversity, design thinking and problem-solving to enable people from across society and business to have a shared approach to tackling big challenges. We asked the same seven questions of these four special contributors, who are all giving personal testimony about their pandemic experiences and what it has meant for their professional mission. ---- Useful links: https://magpie.coop/ https://ethicalshop.org/the-climate-majority-by-leo-barasi-8360.html https://podcasts.apple.com/pa/podcast/making-eh-happen/id1554340195?l=en https://latitudesocialdesign.com/ --- For more information on how you can get involved with The Possibility Club – an inclusive community of professionals working out what's next, have a look here > www.thepossibilityclub.org You can also receive Finding Chances, a free weekly letter from Richard Freeman, looking behind-the-scenes at business, culture, community and education by signing-up at www.findingchances.substack.com/ We'd love to know what you think of this podcast. Please review and share your responses to this podcast on your favourite podcast platform. This is an always possible podcast. The interviewer was Richard Freeman for always possible and the producer was Chris Thorpe-Tracey for Lo Fi Arts.