We Need to Act

Sara Rego
  • 5,0 (4)
  • Ensino
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We Need to Act, hosted by Dr. Sara Rego, dives into the biggest questions shaping our planet’s future. From climate change and biodiversity loss to social justice and environmental degradation, each episode unpacks what sustainability really means. Through candid conversations with activists, scientists, Indigenous leaders, entrepreneurs, and policymakers, we explore the roots of today’s crises—and the bold actions needed to build a just, resilient, and regenerative world.

  1. 30/07

    The Fashion Industry Is Broken And Ghana Is Paying the Price with Yayra Agbofah

    What does your wardrobe have to do with a beach in Ghana covered in discarded clothing? Yayra Agbofah grew up trading secondhand garments at Kantamanto Market in Accra — one of the largest secondhand clothing markets in Africa, where millions of garments arrive every single week. He saw firsthand what happens to the ones that don't sell: they end up in rivers, in landfills, on beaches. He also saw something else: extraordinary creativity. Tailors transforming discarded fabric. Traders extending the life of damaged clothes. Communities practicing circularity long before it became a sustainability buzzword. In 2018, Yayra founded The Revival — a community-driven upcycling initiative that transforms textile waste into products, education, and opportunity. Named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025, he has since redirected an estimated 12 million garments from landfill, reduced CO2 emissions by more than 12,000 metric tons, and built free online courses so communities around the world can learn from the knowledge developed at Kantamanto. In this conversation with Sara, Yayra makes the case that fashion's crisis is not just environmental — it is a story of inequality, colonialism, and extraction, where the Global South pays the price for the Global North's overconsumption. He talks about what the future of fashion could look like, why synthetic materials need to go, and why the most important question a consumer can ask is: where is this garment going to end up? "It has always been dignity over charity. We're not trying to save communities — we're trying to build together with them." In this episode: How Ghana became the epicentre of global textile waste — and who pays the real priceWhy Kantamanto Market is not a dumping ground but a space of innovation and resilienceWhat the Global South actually needs from the fashion industry — not charity, but accountabilityThe Revival: upcycling, education, job creation, and free online courses from AccraWhy fast fashion is a story of extraction — of labour, resources, and now wasteWhat the future of fashion should look like: slower, more local, more honestWhy synthetic materials are the driving force of fast fashion — and need to be abolishedA call to action: think about where every garment ends up before you buy it About Yayra Agbofah: Yayra Agbofah is the founder and creative director of The Revival, a community-driven sustainable fashion initiative based in Accra, Ghana. Named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential Climate Leaders of 2025, he has spent over seven years working at the intersection of textile waste, circular economy, and community empowerment. The Revival has diverted an estimated 12 million garments from landfill and reduced CO2 emissions by more than 12,000 metric tons. https://www.therevival.earth/ We Need to Act is a podcast about the people, ideas, and movements shaping a better now.

    The Fashion Industry Is Broken And Ghana Is Paying the Price with Yayra Agbofah

  2. 23/07

    Environmental Law and Climate Change: Why Collective Action Is Our Most Powerful Tool with Daniel Farber

    What happens to environmental law when the federal government turns its back on climate action? Dan Farber is the Sho Sato Professor of Law at UC Berkeley and one of the most respected voices in US environmental and constitutional law. A former law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens of the US Supreme Court, he has spent decades at the intersection of environmental policy, democracy, and justice. In this conversation with Sara, Dan offers a clear-eyed and surprisingly hopeful assessment of where we are. He talks about why simply limiting emissions is no longer enough — and why we need to think seriously about what we are going to build in place of the fossil fuel world. He talks about the role of state governments as the real drivers of durable climate action in the US, and about why California and other states are effectively doing the lab work for the federal government. He speaks about environmental justice — who is most exposed to risk, who is most vulnerable, and why those two things are not always the same. And he addresses political polarisation head-on, arguing that climate change was never and should never be a left-right issue. But the most important message he leaves is this: change is not all or nothing. Every ton of carbon we stop emitting makes the world a little bit better. And collectively — in communities, in states, in cities — we are far more powerful than we feel. In this episode: What environmental law actually is — and why companies won't act without itWhy limiting emissions alone is not enough — the case for investment-led climate policyHow the war in the Middle East is accelerating the global energy transitionWhy state and local governments are the real engine of durable climate action in the USEnvironmental justice: who is most exposed, who is most vulnerable — and why these aren't the samePolitical polarisation and climate change — how we got here and how we get past itWhy democracy, despite its slowness, produces more durable climate solutions than authoritarianismWhat ordinary citizens can actually do — from voting with their wallet to writing to their state legislatorsWhy community is the antidote to powerlessness About Dan Farber:Dan Farber is the Sho Sato Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, where he leads two research centres focused on law, energy, environment, and democracy. A former law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens of the US Supreme Court, he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the author of several influential books including Eco-Pragmatism and Contested Ground: How to Understand the Limits on Presidential Power. We Need to Act is a podcast about the people, ideas, and movements shaping a better now.

    Environmental Law and Climate Change: Why Collective Action Is Our Most Powerful Tool with Daniel Farber

  3. 16/07

    Six Years Without Salmon: Sámi, Europe's Only Indigenous People on Climate Change with Áslat Holmberg

    What does it mean to watch the river that shaped your entire life fall silent? Áslat Holmberg is a former member of the Sámi Parliament of Finland and former President of the Saami Council — a salmon fisher, teacher, and holder of a master's degree in indigenous studies whose work expertise includes human rights, culture, indigenous knowledge, and environmental policy. He grew up in Njuorggán, the northernmost village in Finland, fishing salmon in the Teno River from the age of two. Today, that river is in its sixth consecutive year of complete salmon fishery closure — with stocks at roughly 1% of a healthy population. In this conversation with Sara, Áslat shares what it means to be part of Europe's only indigenous people — a community of around 100,000 people largely invisible in European institutions, rarely taught in European schools, and yet holding some of the most profound ecological knowledge on the continent. He talks about the dramatic changes the Arctic is undergoing: collapsing salmon stocks, reindeer herding disrupted by rain in January, and insects arriving all at once. And he talks about the Sami worldview — the tradition of asking permission before entering a place, the rule of leaving it exactly as you found it, and the understanding that humans are not above other species, but simply one among many. This is a conversation about identity, self-sufficiency, indigenous rights, and what Europe still has to learn from the people who have lived in the north for thousands of years. In this episode: Who are the Sami — Europe's only indigenous people — and why are they so little known?Six consecutive years of complete salmon fishery closure — and what that means for a communityHow climate change is transforming reindeer herding across the ArcticThe Sami worldview: asking permission, leaving no trace, humans as one species among manyThe gap between Sami rights on paper and real decision-making power in practiceWhy protecting the human rights system and protecting the environment are the same struggle About Áslat Holmberg: Áslat Holmberg is from Njuorggán, situated on the banks of the great river Deatnu at the border between Finland and Norway. He has worked for over a decade with Sámi and indigenous issues through NGOs, activism, and academia. He is a former President of the Saami Council and former member of the Sámi Parliament of Finland. He is a salmon fisher and teacher and holds a master's degree in indigenous studies. His work expertise includes human rights, culture, indigenous knowledge, and environmental policy.

    Six Years Without Salmon: Sámi, Europe's Only Indigenous People on Climate Change with Áslat Holmberg

  4. 8/07

    Do Not Try to Save the Earth - The Earth Is Here to Save You with Paul Hawken

    What if the climate narrative itself is the problem? Paul Hawken is one of the world's most influential environmentalists, entrepreneurs, and authors. Founder of Project Drawdown and Project Regeneration, and New York Times bestselling author of nine books — including The Ecology of Commerce, Drawdown, Regeneration, and his latest, Carbon: The Book of Life (2025) — he has spent over 50 years working at the intersection of ecology, commerce, and regeneration. In this conversation with Sara, Paul challenges the very language of the climate movement — the word "sustainability," the phrase "climate crisis," the idea that we can "fix" the Earth. He argues that treating nature as something "out there" to be saved or managed — what he calls "othering" — is not just intellectually wrong. It is why, after 50 years of knowing exactly what to do, less than 1% of the world is doing anything about it on a daily basis. He talks about carbon not as a villain but as the source of all life itself — present in 10 billion molecules in every cell of your body. He speaks about indigenous languages as the deepest ecological teaching humanity has ever produced. He introduces the Parliament of Earthlings — the idea that there are 3.9 trillion voices on this planet, most of which we never listen to. And he shares the Alliance for Earth, a new global platform connecting regenerative communities across 105 languages. But beneath all of it runs one conviction: that the largest movement in human history is already arising — quietly, everywhere, in small communities dedicated to restoring life. And it closes with a line that will stay with you long after the episode ends. "Do not try to save the Earth. The Earth is here to save you." In this episode: Why the climate narrative has failed — and what "othering" nature really meansWhy carbon is not a villain but the source of all life — and what we lost by demonising itWhy "sustainability" is a meaningless word — and what to say insteadHow Western noun-based languages keep us separate from the living world — and what indigenous verb-based languages teach usWhy capitalism cannot deliver regeneration — and what natural capital would actually look likeThe Parliament of Earthlings: what it means to listen to 3.9 trillion voicesElephants communicating through concrete walls, and mother bats naming their childrenThe Alliance for Earth: connecting regenerative communities across 105 languagesWhy the largest movement in human history is already happening — and why we can't see it About Paul Hawken: Paul Hawken is a renowned environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author committed to the regeneration of nature and humanity. Founder of Project Drawdown and Project Regeneration, he is the author of nine books — six of them New York Times bestsellers — including The Ecology of Commerce, Blessed Unrest, Drawdown, Regeneration, and his latest, Carbon: The Book of Life (Viking/Penguin, 2025). He has received six honorary doctorates and lives in the Cascade Creek watershed with his wife Jasmine — alongside coyotes, foxes, bobcats, ravens, red-tail hawks, and pileated woodpeckers. We Need to Act is a podcast about the people, ideas, and movements shaping a better now.

    Do Not Try to Save the Earth - The Earth Is Here to Save You with Paul Hawken

  5. 2/07

    Abejas Meliponas: Ciencia e Identidad en la Amazonía Peruana con Ornella Muñoz, ARI

    Aquí está: ¿Sabías que las abejas meliponas polinizan hasta el 80% de la flora amazónica — y que la mayoría de la gente ni sabe que existen? Ornella Muñoz creció en Dos de Mayo, a orillas del río Ucayali, en la Amazonía peruana. Desde pequeña se preguntaba de dónde venía el aire fresco, cómo los árboles hacían posible la vida y por qué su comunidad dependía tanto de la naturaleza. Esa curiosidad se convirtió en vocación. Hoy es ingeniera forestal e investigadora en Amazon Research International, donde trabaja en la conservación de las abejas nativas sin aguijón y en la investigación forestal en Loreto, Perú. En esta conversación con Sara, Ornella nos lleva al corazón de la Amazonía: a las comunidades remotas, a las colonias de abejas meliponas que sostienen la regeneración del bosque, y a los jóvenes investigadores indígenas que están transformando la relación de sus comunidades con la ciencia. Hablamos de meliponicultura, conocimiento indígena, deforestación, y de dónde encontrar esperanza cuando la Amazonía sigue demostrando una capacidad de resiliencia extraordinaria. "La conservación no es responsabilidad exclusiva de investigadores, gobiernos u organizaciones. Es una tarea colectiva." We Need to Act es un podcast sobre las personas, ideas y movimientos que están construyendo un presente mejor.

    Abejas Meliponas: Ciencia e Identidad en la Amazonía Peruana con Ornella Muñoz, ARI

  6. 24/06

    Whales Are Our Ancestors - Dr. Mere Takoko on Legal Personhood for Whales

    What if whales are not just animals — but ancestors? Dr. Mere Takoko is a Māori Ocean and Climate conservationist from Aotearoa New Zealand and one of the leading voices behind the movement to grant whales legal personhood across the Pacific. A descendant of Māui and Paikea — the ancestor who arrived in New Zealand on the back of a whale — Mere holds what she describes not as a job, but an inherited sovereign duty: to protect her ancestors and rebuild the relationship between people and nature. In this conversation with Sara, Mere explains why whales are the ocean's greatest climate engineers — each one capable of storing the carbon equivalent of over a thousand trees — and why restoring one million whales to the Pacific is not just an ecological goal, but a cultural and spiritual one. She talks about authoring He Whakaputanga Moana, the declaration that confers legal personhood on whales under customary law, signed by paramount chiefs across Polynesia and championed by the late Māori King. She speaks candidly about the rise of "blue colonialism" — large conservation organisations moving into the Pacific and absorbing resources that rarely reach the Indigenous communities doing the actual work. And she shares her quiet concern about artificial intelligence falling into the wrong hands in the race to "communicate" with whales. But beneath the critique is something rarer: a genuinely different way of seeing. Not nature as resource. Not whales as biomass. Kinship. Ancestry. A 22-generation-old covenant still being honoured today. In this episode: Why whales are the ocean's most powerful climate engineers — and what industrial whaling really cost the planetThe whale fall, the whale pump, and the science behind whale-driven carbon captureHe Whakaputanga Moana: the declaration granting whales legal personhood across the PacificThe Āvei Moana voyage — a two-year, 6,000-mile expedition to protect ancestral sea roads"Blue colonialism": why conservation finance rarely reaches the Indigenous communities doing the workThe concerns Pacific communities have about AI being used to "communicate" with — or control — whalesWhy Mere believes restoring the relationship between people and nature is the real climate solutionAbout Dr. Mere Takoko: Dr. Mere Takoko is a Māori conservationist of Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, and Rongowhakaata descent, and Executive Trustee of the Moananui Sanctuary. She is the author of He Whakaputanga Moana, the declaration granting legal personhood to whales across the Polynesian triangle, and Chief Executive of the Pacific Whale Fund, where she is leading efforts to establish a US$100 million biodiversity blue bond for marine conservation. A descendant of Māui and Paikea, Mere leads a global effort to recover one million whales across the Pacific.

    Whales Are Our Ancestors - Dr. Mere Takoko on Legal Personhood for Whales

  7. 17/06

    The Golden Age of Sustainability Hasn't Happened Yet with John Elkington

    What does the godfather of the global sustainability movement think is coming next? John Elkington has been working at the intersection of business, environment, and society for over 50 years. He coined the Triple Bottom Line. He wrote the Green Consumer Guide. He conceived the Green Swan. He has advised governments, corporations, and movements across the world. And after all of that — after five decades of watching the system from the inside — he is, unexpectedly, more optimistic than he has been in a very long time. In this conversation with Sara, John doesn't pull his punches. He talks about capitalism not surviving more than a decade or two in its current form. About the UN becoming obsolete. About democracy being under existential threat. About a major financial crash coming. About the very real possibility of nuclear weapons being used. And yet — through all of it — he keeps returning to one conviction: the golden age of sustainability hasn't happened yet. It's still ahead of us. And the people alive today will be part of building it. This is a conversation for anyone who has ever wondered whether the people who have worked longest in this field still believe change is possible. John's answer, at 76, with a seven-year-old grandson, is a clear and considered yes. In this episode: The origin of the Triple Bottom Line — and why John chose "profit" over "prosperity" deliberatelyWhy the TBL Venn diagram was never John's idea — and how he would have mapped it differentlyWhy capitalism cannot survive more than a decade or two in its current form — and what comes nextChina, the Global South, and the new geopolitical order taking shape around usWhy the UN will likely disappear in the next 10-15 years — and what needs to replace itThe Green Swan: exponential solutions for exponential problemsWhy green consumers alone will never drive systemic change — and what actually willIntergenerational working: why older generations can't just hand this to young peopleWhere John finds hope — and why he envies the younger generationAbout John Elkington: John Elkington is one of the world's most influential voices in sustainability. Often described as the godfather of the global sustainability movement, he coined the Triple Bottom Line in 1994 and has spent over 50 years advising businesses, governments, and civil society organisations. He is the author of more than 20 books, including Green Swans and The Green Consumer Guide. He is co-founder of Volans and SustainAbility, and continues to work at the frontier of systems change, business innovation, and regenerative futures.

    The Golden Age of Sustainability Hasn't Happened Yet with John Elkington

  8. 4/06

    Coal Kills: How Young Ghanaians Stopped a Power Plant and Built a Movement with Portia Adu-Mensah

    What does it take to stop a coal plant from being built in your community — when you're young, when the government is pushing it, and when the promises of jobs and opportunity are pulling people the other way? For Portia, the answer was relationships, strategy, and an unshakeable belief that there is always an alternative. A grassroots climate advocate, royal native of Asuom in Ghana's Eastern Region, founder of Dreamhunt, and member of 350 Ghana, Portia has spent over a decade working at the intersection of climate justice, renewable energy, and community empowerment. In this conversation with Sara, she shares the story of the Coal Kills campaign — how a group of young people took on the fossil fuel industry, engaged ten chiefs in their local dialects, used the media as their most powerful tool, and won. But this episode goes far beyond one campaign. Portia talks about what it really means to work with communities — not for them. About why climate finance is failing the Global South. About the women in the Savannah region living without electricity in the 21st century. About why, for an African, just energy transition is not just energy — it's food, shelter, and clothing. And about hope. Not the abstract kind, but the kind you build by showing up with solar panels and staying long enough to see the light come on. In this episode: The Coal Kills campaign: how young Ghanaians stopped a coal plant through community organising, media strategy, and nonviolent advocacyWhy greenwashing and broken promises made community engagement the hardest part of the fightWhat the Global South really needs from climate finance — and why loans are not the answerThe Women in Renewable Energy project and what it means to bring real-time solutions to communities without electricityDreamhunt: raising young environmental advocates through tree planting, recycling, school gardens, and climate-smart agricultureWhat indigenous and royal identity means for grassroots advocacy — and why you never enter a community without meeting the chief firstWhy putting people before profits is not a slogan but a survival strategy"Just energy transition to an African is not just energy — it's food, shelter, and clothing"About Portia:Portia is a climate justice advocate, founder of Dreamhunt, and member of 350 Ghana. A royal native of Asuom in Ghana's Eastern Region, she works at the intersection of renewable energy, community empowerment, and climate finance advocacy. With a background in banking and finance, she brings both grassroots experience and policy-level understanding to the fight for a just and sustainable future. Available on: ⁠Spotify⁠ ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠ ⁠www.weneedtoact.org ⁠

    Coal Kills: How Young Ghanaians Stopped a Power Plant and Built a Movement with Portia Adu-Mensah
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We Need to Act, hosted by Dr. Sara Rego, dives into the biggest questions shaping our planet’s future. From climate change and biodiversity loss to social justice and environmental degradation, each episode unpacks what sustainability really means. Through candid conversations with activists, scientists, Indigenous leaders, entrepreneurs, and policymakers, we explore the roots of today’s crises—and the bold actions needed to build a just, resilient, and regenerative world.

Informação

  • Autoria
    Sara Rego
  • Anos em atividade
    2023 - 2026
  • Episódios
    73
  • Classificação
    Para todos
  • Copyright
    © Sara Rego
  • Site do programa
    We Need to Act