Advertise on podcast: What on Earth?

In recent years, nitrous oxide has gained attention as a significant environmental threat, yet many people remain unaware of its implications for the climate, the integrity of the Earth’s protective ozone layer and for human health. While nitrogen is essential for life, excessive reactive nitrogen results in substantial pollution issues … In this episode, Climate Campaigner Tom Nickson talks with Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman about EIA’s nitrous oxide campaign and unpacks some of the complexities surrounding the gas and its negative effects.

Methane is widely regarded as the second most important greenhouse gas the world needs to address in the fight against runaway climate change. Tonne per tonne, it’s 82.5 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and is responsible for a third of the warming that has occurred so far. In this episode, EIA Climate Campaigner Jack Corscadden and special guest Christophe McGlade, an energy expert with the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, discuss the impacts of methane and what’s being done to tackle the problem with Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman.

Environmental crime is rated as the third or fourth largest organised criminal activity globally, but what motivates those carrying it out, from wealthy kingpins at the head of transnational syndicates to poachers at the other end of the scale? A new book – Green Crime: Inside the minds of the people destroying the planet and how to stop them – takes a deep dive into the world of eco crime, estimated to generate $110-281 billion annually in criminal profits. In this episode, Green Crime author Dr Julia Shaw, a criminal psychologist, writer and TV and audio presenter, talks with Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman about her book, which features a number of major case studies, including EIA’s 2017 investigation into and exposure of the notorious Shuidong wildlife trafficking syndicate.

EIA’s report Cooling the Climate Crisis analysed the climate impact of supermarket refrigeration and revealed that up to 70 per cent of a supermarket’s emissions stem from cooling. Our Climate campaigners have been directly engaging with the retail sector since 2009 to make it aware of the serious impacts of using climate-harming refrigeration while simultaneously sharing information about the alternative systems available. In this episode, EIA Senior Climate Campaigner Fin Walravens talks with Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman about the positive progress in the supermarket sector.

Fantastical cinema has long been a place where audiences can confront their darker fears in a safe environment, albeit often dressed up in the guise of shambling monsters and unknown alien threats to keep them at arm’s length. In this episode, we’re taking a look at five unsettling films with environmental themes – just in time for Halloween! Join EIA Senior Technical Services Manager Chris Buckler and Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman as they share their thoughts after viewing The Last Winter (2006), The Bay (2012), Silent Running (1972), Prophecy (1979) and Soylent Green (1973).

Our latest report, A Pivotal Player – Vietnam’s ongoing fight against the illegal wildlife trade, concludes that, although the country has made significant inroads, it still faces significant challenges. In this episode, the report’s main authors, EIA UK Senior Wildlife Campaigner Linh Nguyen and EIA US Senior Wildlife Policy Analyst Taylor Tench, discuss the latest findings and talk about what more Vietnam and other countries need to do to tackle wildlife crime with Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman.  

The final round of talks to hammer out the detail of a Global Plastics Treaty opened in Geneva in early August – and almost two weeks later collapsed with no agreement at all, due in large part to the blocking tactics employed by a handful of petrostates and a multitude of lobbyists working to safeguard corporate fossil fuel interests. To discuss what went wrong in Geneva and what the way forward for a plastics treaty might look like now, in this episode EIA Ocean Campaign Lead Chris Dixon talks with Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman.

The final round of talks in pursuit of a Global Plastics Treaty is due to get under way in Geneva shortly and there's everything still to play for.   But as ambitious countries and civil society organisations such as EIA pursue a robust agreement to meaningfully tackle the crisis, corporate fossil fuel interests seek instead to discredit the science and push for a diluted Treaty which will allow them to continue business as usual.   To discuss what’s at stake and what we might expect from the talks, Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman talks with EIA Ocean Campaign Lead Chris Dixon and special guest Bethanie Carney Almroth, Professor of Ecotoxicology at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg and a part of the Scientists Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty.

Tens of thousands of dolphins, porpoises and whales are killed each year in European waters due to being bycaught in fishing gear – and some populations are coming perilously close to extinction. To discuss the findings of her new report Catch of the Day, EIA Senior Ocean Campaigner joins Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman.

With approximately only 5,500 wild tigers left in the world, this iconic species remains under threat from a variety of factors, particular illegal wildlife trade. The illegal trade in tigers and their parts and derivatives continues to be fuelled by facilities holding tigers in captivity, especially in China. One survey estimate more than 6,000 individual tigers being held in China’s ‘tiger farms’ but more recently the country claimed that number had fallen by more than 3,300, begging the question as to where they’ve gone … In this episode, EIA Asian Big Cats Campaign Lead Debbie Banks and Legal & Policy Specialist Avinash Basker chat with Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman about the current state of tiger farming and the threats the practice represents.

Climate-damaging F-gases are synthetic substances widely used in refrigeration, air-conditioning and elsewhere. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are the most common and are so harmful that they are to be phased down under the Montreal Protocol and phased out altogether in the EU. However, the chemical industry is pushing to replace them with a new generation of lucrative products which, although easier on global warming, also come with their own environmental and health concerns … In this episode, EIA Climate Campaigner Adam Aucock, the author of our new briefing Refrigerant Myth Busting, debunks at some of the misinformation spread by Big Chemical to support its own harmful products and sow distrust over the viability of alternative natural refrigerants.

What was expected to be the fifth and final session of the UN’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee met in South Korea last month, but ultimately it failed to agree a Global Plastics Treaty. Instead of cause for celebration, our campaigners came away from the talks concerned that the process had been hijacked by vested financial interests. In this episode, EIA Ocean Campaign Leader Christina Dixon and Ocean Campaigner Jacob Kean-Hammerson join Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman to talk about what went wrong in Busan and contemplate what may happen next.

The fifth round of talks in pursuit of a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty kicks off in Busan, South Korea shortly — but will we emerge with an agreement capable of tackling the world’s plastic crisis or will vested interests compromise the final vision. In this episode, EIA Ocean Campaign Leader Christina Dixon and Ocean Campaigner Jacob Kean-Hammerson join Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman for an update on the progress so far and a look ahead to the challenges remaining for negotiators in Busan.

In the countdown to EIA’s 40th anniversary in September, as well as sharing films and stories from our archive, we’ve also recorded a short series of new podcasts with some of the longest serving campaigners to get an insight into how the organisation has evolved over four decades. In this episode, EIA’s Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman talks with Debbie Banks, the leader of EIA UK’s Tigers and Wildlife Crime campaign, about her experiences with EIA over the years and the challenges to come. Image (c) Elliott Neep / www.elliotneep.com

In the countdown to EIA’s 40th anniversary later this year, as well as sharing films and stories from our archive, we’ve also recorded a short series of new podcasts with some of the longest serving campaigners to get an insight into how the organisation has evolved over four decades. In this episode, Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman talks with EIA UK Campaigns Director Julian Newman about his early days in the organisation, from going undercover as a refrigerant trade with an unwieldy camera hidden in a sports bag to night trekking through the forests of Indonesia to expose major illegal logging operations, and looks at the challenges that lie ahead in investigation environmental crime.