Sustainability Around the World

Two alternating perspectives here - José Manuel Sanabria Díaz, Deputy Minister for Tourism and Employment in the Canary Islands, and John Beckley, founder of the non-profit Canary Green. Each share their views on challenges with the current Canarian tourism model, and what can be done about it. José Manuel discusses the policy interventions the government has decided on (and which to avoid), while John talks about his work engaging with local businesses and tourists for some more bottom-up progress.Resources:Some facts and figures on tourism in the Canary Islands: https://www.canarianweekly.com/posts/The-Canaries-had-record-tourist-figures-in-2025-but-their-stays-were-shorter-time-and-they-spent-less Demands from one group behind the Canarias Tiene Un Limite protests: https://canariaspalante.org/ The RegNext programme, supporters: https://www.canarianweekly.com/posts/Landmark-agreement-signed-to-make-tourism-in-the-Canary-Islands-environmentally-friendly And detractors: https://www.canariasenpleno.com/en/regnext-or-the-art-of-passing-the-hat-canarias-entrusts-the-health-of-its-islands-to-charity/ Proposals to improve worker ownership and democracy at work in Spain: https://reportondemocracyatwork.org/en/the-report/ Acknowledgements:That sweet music you heard was 'Gran Canaria' by Edward Fox & The Animal Kingdom: https://edwardfoxandtak.lnk.to/socialmediaFind me at: @inEmmetable (on some platforms, some of the time)

Welcome to a brand spanking new podcast about sustainability issues in different parts of the globe, and innovative approaches to tackling them. This first mini-series looks at the Canary Islands, Spain.Episode 1 features an interview with Sebastian Feimblatt, co-founder and co-CEO of Ocean Oasis, a new way to desalinate water using wave energy, via floating offshore buoys. Sebastian talks about navigating the various challenges of a startup working on something quite genuinely new, what’s it like running such a startup in the Canary Islands, and dealing with brine. The first 10 minutes give an overview of the Canary Islands and their history with water; none of this is crucial to understand the interview if you want to skip ahead!Breakdown:00:00 - 02:22 - Introduction to the series and the episode02:23 - 06:11 - Overview of the Canary Islands and a bit about their ecology06:12 - 09:45 - History of water on the Canary Islands and an overview of some solutions being tried09:45 onwards - Interview with Sebastian Feimblatt of Ocean OasisResources:As promised, a more visual overview of some of the Canary Islands’ ecology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq0MIp51p2s Ecosystem restoration camps: https://www.theglobalbridge.org/ecosystem-restoration-camps/; Youtube documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDgDWbQtlKI Documentary where you can learn more about desalination in the Canary Islands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WTkvkQSOn4Ocean Oasis: https://www.oceanoasis.co/ Acknowledgements:That sweet music you heard was 'Gran Canaria' by Edward Fox & The Animal Kingdom: https://edwardfoxandtak.lnk.to/socialmediaFind me at: @inEmmetable (on some platforms, some of the time)