Now, That's What I Call Green‪.‬ Brianne West

Today it is all about World Oceans Day (8th June).

They are the life blood of our planet, but they are under incredibly serious threat.

For this episode I’m going to be blunt and maybe a little bit depressing, at least to start with.

Our oceans face multiple threats and there is already catastrophic damage being done to them. Don’t worry, in this episode I’ll also offer some hope and some options on how to help, but to start I’m really going to reveal how dire things are.

In this episode I share:

-         Why less than 10% of coral reefs are going to survive global warming

-         Why coral reefs are so important for our continued survival

-         The horrifying mass bleaching event we are experiencing right now

-    What ocean acidification is and why it is life threatening for a lot of ocean life

-         Why plastics in the oceans are actually getting worse

-         What dead zones are and why it's horrifying

-         The 30 by 30 campaign and why it's important

-         The disappointing amount of oceans that Aotearoa is protecting

-         The ways we can make change to help our oceans

 Key Quotes

 “At the end of the day if the ocean fails, we do too, end of story.”

 “Climate change is not something that is going to happen, it is happening now.”

 “You may like them, but our oceans cannot cope with people liking fish.”

 “They cannot do studies on how microplastics are affecting humans, because they cannot find a control population. Which means they cannot find any human that has not been affected by microplastics.”

 “We're doing a bloody poor job of looking after our oceans.”

 

You can get involved with the podcast online

Find our full podcast plus our sister podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatswhaticall.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallpodcasts/


You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannemwest/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@briannemwest

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/

For our latest big project, find out more about
Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/

It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and to celebrate we did things a little differently. Kate, one of the team from Business, but Better joined me and peppered me with millions of questions.

It's a behind the scenes peek at my life, business thoughts and sustainability advice. Kate wouldn't let me leave until she had asked all the questions she wanted.

In this episode we share:

- What the process of rewilding my yard was like at the start

- What is holding kiwis back from developing their lawn into something environmentally supportive

- My tips on how to be sustainable

- The times that she cried over Ethique

- The 3 questions people always ask Kate about Brianne

- The kind of businesses who should contact Insprie

- Why not all mentors work well for all mentees

- How we make social enterprise business the mainstream

- My guilty pleasures that I wouldn’t normally share

Key Quotes

“At the end of the day being sustainable is about doing everything you can with stuff you already own.”

“Not every mentor works for everybody”

“I don’t like the term social enterprise, because I think that that should just be all business.”

You can get involved with the podcast online

Find our full podcast plus our sister podcast via the website here: https://www.nowthatswhaticall.com/

Or follow the podcasts on our socials: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallgreen

You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannemwest/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@briannemwest

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/

For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/

It’s world Bee Day, and to delve further into the topic, I have been very lucky to get Ruud Kleinpaste (or you may know him as ‘the bug man) onto the podcast. He is a bug enthusiast, tv presenter and is always happy to share his face with a wētā so who better to join my on the annual day of the Bees!?

In this episode Ruud shares:

 -       What his actual background and education is

-       How to get people to not be scared of insects anymore

-       How and why he keeps wētā in his home

-       What his career highlight is

-       Why the insect apocalypse is bad for us all

-       How we can get adults to care about insects and the environment

-       Why we are having an insect apocalypse

-       Why ‘sustainable’ is the wrong word to be using

-       How Aotearoa compares to the rest of the world in how it treats the environment

-       What the inaturalist app is and why you should use it

-       What biomimicry is and how it can help us in the human world

-       Things we can all do to make our homes more insect friendly

-       How we can learn  to work together from nature

-       Why he is not scared of most spiders

-       Why he believes bees are not in trouble

Key Quotes

 “Have you ever seen a 90 degree bend in nature?”

“If you've got kids doing this, they will teach 3 generations for the price of one.”

“I do full frontal nerdity.”

You can get involved with the podcast online

Find our full podcast plus our sister podcast via the website here: www.nowthatswhatsicall.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallpodcasts/

You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannemwest/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@briannemwest

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/

For our latest big project, find out more
about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com

If you’re like me, you might have constantly conflicting feelings about travel

On one hand I can’t help but feel a little bit guilty about all the associated impacts.

But of course on the other hand there are the benefits of that travel for both the traveler and they places they go to.

This usually results in a very confused conscience. So to help clear things up a little, maybe, today I am going to be talking about how to travel sustainably, or as I prefer to call it, travel fairly.

To help me unpack all of this I am joined by Jessica Lockhart from Lonely Planet. Jessica is one of their authors and her specific focus is on how to make travel fairer and kinder to ensure it gives back to those it should.

She is an award winning journalist, has contributed to loads of books on travel and has a specific interest in science and conservation.

In this episode Jessica shares:

- What she would describe sustainable travel as

- What the Tiaki promise is

- Her thoughts on carbon offsetting and travel

- Why we shouldn’t stop travelling

- What community based tourism is and why it is important

- Examples of community tourism you can partake in

- Ways we can make sure we are actually helping out communities when we visit

- What people should not do when travelling

Key Quotes

“Not everyone wants to go on holiday and partake in cultural tour after cultural tour…but it is doing that research and making sure that as much of the money that you’re spending is staying in the local community.”

“I will say about carbon offsetting, there are good projects and there are bad projects, you need to do your research.”

More about Jess and Lonely Planet

If you want to look up the article Jessica wrote about sustainable/ethical travel you can find it here: https://www.vergemagazine.com/articles/beyond-the-guidebook/2677-essential-guide-to-responsible-ethical-travel.html

For more on Jess you can find her online here: https://www.instagram.com/wynnelockhart/?hl=en

The lonely planet site for their sustainable handbook is here: https://shop.lonelyplanet.com/en-au/products/the-sustainable-travel-handbook

You can get involved with the podcast online:

Find our full podcast plus our sister podcast via the website here: www.nowthatswhaticall.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallpodcasts/

You can follow me on socials on the below accounts.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannemwest/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@briannemwest

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/

For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/

Caring about the environment can be quite isolating.

The news is rarely cheerful about the state of the planet (despite plenty of good things going on) and that is leading to skyrocketing rates of eco-anxiety even in children as young as five.

There is a general sense of apathy is settling in amongst people who are beginning to feel it is too late. It certainly isn't. And I did an episode about that a few weeks ago, so I won't rehash that story.

But I want to tackle the isolating part. Because you are not alone.

Millions of people around the world are working every day to protect and rehabilitate our planet. Just listen. I put the call our on social media last week for people to send me in messages with what they do to make the world a better place.

Some of you sent in voice messages, some of you sent in written ones, and I am going to share them here, so you don't feel so alone.

Happy Earth Day everyone! It can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people and this year I have decided to make it about sharks. Obviously.

I am obviously somewhat obsessed with sharks, but people are so scared of them, sometimes to the point of wanting to cull them all. But sharks are essential for our planet and I am going to explain why and how you can help them in this episode.

To help I am joined by my guest co-host Kate, one of the team from Business, but Better, who is also a sustainable events planner.

In this episode we share:

- Why removing sharks would be bad for everyone and everything

- The ways that sharks help biodiversity and the ecosystem

- The scary number of sharks we kill every year

- Some fun shark trivia facts

- My experience diving with sharks

- How we can protect sharks better

- How to check if seafood is sustainably sourced

- My sharky request to film makers

Key Quotes

“If sharks vanished from the oceans we'd all fucking die, end of story.”

“I know a few people who think we should get rid of sharks altogether. Not only is that a tragedy it would be a death sentence for our oceans.”

You can get involved with the podcast online

Find our full podcast plus our sister podcast via the website here: https://www.briannewest.com/podcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowthatswhaticallpodcasts/

You can follow me on socials on the below accounts. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannemwest/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@briannemwest

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briannemwest/

For our latest big project, find out more about Incrediballs here: https://incrediballs.com/