10 episodes

UK Research and Innovation brings you hope for the planet in the form of a nine-part podcast.Hosted by broadcast journalist Kim McAllister and featuring experts from across the UK, ‘Emissions: Impossible?’ showcases some of the most ground-breaking research and innovation in climate change. We look at fashion, food, transport, health, space, and more.From eating grasshoppers to turning rubbish into fashion, Kim asks “what can we each do to help get to net zero?”

Emissions: Impossible‪?‬ Kim

    • Science

UK Research and Innovation brings you hope for the planet in the form of a nine-part podcast.Hosted by broadcast journalist Kim McAllister and featuring experts from across the UK, ‘Emissions: Impossible?’ showcases some of the most ground-breaking research and innovation in climate change. We look at fashion, food, transport, health, space, and more.From eating grasshoppers to turning rubbish into fashion, Kim asks “what can we each do to help get to net zero?”

    Christmas Special: All the tips you need for a greener lifestyle

    Christmas Special: All the tips you need for a greener lifestyle

    Kim McAllister is rejoined by the EPSRC's Claire Spooner to look back over the episodes from the series and gather all the tips in one place. Claire also shares her experience of presenting at COP26.
    How to make sustainable fashion choices, with tips from Dr Mark Sumner, Lecturer in Sustainable Fashion at the School of Design, University of Leeds
    (listen to episode 2: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1852092/9205895)
    The food system and its consequences for global emissions, with comment from Riaz Bhunnoo from the Global Food Security Programme.
    (listen to episode 3: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1852092/9248212 )
    Saving the earth from space and how you can get involved, thanks to Dr Caroline Cox from STFC's RAL Space. Try it for yourself: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/caroline-cox/cloudcatcher
    (listen to episode 4: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1852092/9305817)

    Considerations for a greener economy - Leeds University research fellow Andrew Sudmant explains how jobs will evolve.
    (listen to episode 5: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1852092/9342859 )
    Health and our environment, including pollution, with information shared by Dr Ben Barratt from Imperial College London.
    (listen to episode 9: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1852092/9342859 )
    Home energy use and reducing the resources we consume, with advice from UKRI's  Mareike Schmidt.
    (listen to episode 8: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1852092/9463752 )
    Transport and the impact of delivering our goods to us;  Professor Alice Larkin | The University of Manchester is working on alternatives.
    (listen to episode 1: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1852092/9178010)

    Not to mention the incredible technology involved in carbon storage and getting CO2 safely back into the ground.
    (listen to episode 6: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1852092/9373329)

    UK Research and Innovation brings you hope for the planet in the form of this bonus episode for a nine-part podcast.
    Hosted by Broadcast Journalist Kim McAllister and featuring experts from across the UK, ‘Emissions: Impossible?’ showcases some of the most ground-breaking research and innovation in climate change. We look at fashion, food, transport, health, space, and more.
    You can read more about UKRI’s climate-related research here.  Or follow them on Instagram  or YouTube .

    • 44 min
    Human health and climate change

    Human health and climate change

    Rising temperatures and air pollution have huge implications on human health.

    In the final episode of Emissions: Impossible we explore the work of the Medical Research Council (MRC) both at home and abroad.

    Dr Ben Barratt from Imperial College London co hosts with Kim McAllister as they discuss the effects of climate change on our health.

    Dam Khan from the MRC's Unit in the Gambia discusses the effect of burning biomass on the health of people living in rural communities.

    Dr Ana Bonell is a medical doctor studying the effect of heat on pregnant women working as subsistence farmers in the Gambia.

    Kate Langford, programme director at Urban Health, is managing projects to look at the effects of air pollution and inequalities in the system.

    UK Research and Innovation brings you hope for the planet in the form of this nine-part podcast.
    Hosted by Broadcast Journalist Kim McAllister and featuring experts from across the UK, ‘Emissions: Impossible?’ showcases some of the most ground-breaking research and innovation in climate change. We look at fashion, food, transport, health, space, and more.
    You can read more about UKRI’s climate-related research here.  Or follow them on Instagram  or YouTube .

    • 42 min
    Heating and eating in your home, the greener way

    Heating and eating in your home, the greener way

    Cutting the energy we use to heat our homes and cook in them is key to reducing the UK's carbon emissions.

    In this episode hosts Kim McAllister and Mareike Schmidt discuss the new technology projects making a huge difference.

    Lee Chambers from  Active Building Centre, funded by the ISCF Transforming Construction, explains how building a net zero housing development can cost the exact same as a traditional one.

    Barbara Hammond introduces us to Project LEO, funded by the ISCF Prospering from the Energy Revolution, which aims to unite all of Oxfordshire in its energy efficiency.

    Finally Harry Keeling from Rolls-Royce discusses the potential to heat entire cities using what is effectively waste heat from nuclear reactors.

    UK Research and Innovation brings you hope for the planet in the form of this nine-part podcast.
    Hosted by Broadcast Journalist Kim McAllister and featuring experts from across the UK, ‘Emissions: Impossible?’ showcases some of the most ground-breaking research and innovation in climate change. We look at fashion, food, transport, health, space, and more.
    You can read more about UKRI’s climate-related research here.  Or follow them on Instagram  or YouTube .
     

    • 36 min
    The future of planes, trains and automobiles

    The future of planes, trains and automobiles

    The UK's transport emissions aren't going down fast enough - so here's what we're doing about it.

    Broadcaster Kim McAllister and Innovate UK's David Leipziger take a hydrogen-powered journey to find out how cars, planes and trains are going to look in the future. 

    Paul Hilton and Jenny Kavanagh from Cranfield Aerospace (www.cranfieldaerospace.com) explain how they're changing 9-seater airplanes to electric engines powered by hydrogen fuel cells - and it's all starting in Scotland.

    Will Nock from Bramble Energy (www.brambleenergy.com) is building recyclable fuel cells to improve the battery range on cars and they could be commercially available soon.

    Alice Gillman from Vivarail discusses the alternative to electrification on train tracks and the possibility for joined up journeys.

    UK Research and Innovation brings you hope for the planet in the form of this nine-part podcast.
    Hosted by Broadcast Journalist Kim McAllister and featuring experts from across the UK, ‘Emissions: Impossible?’ showcases some of the most ground-breaking research and innovation in climate change. We look at fashion, food, transport, health, space, and more.
    You can read more about UKRI’s climate-related research here.  Or follow them on Instagram  or YouTube .

    • 30 min
    How can we get CO2 safely back into the ground?

    How can we get CO2 safely back into the ground?

    In this episode we're trying to clean up the atmosphere with Carbon Capture and Storage - CCS.

    Executive Chief Scientist at the National Environment Research Council's British Geological Survey, Mike Stephenson, explains that CCS is how we capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, turn it into liquid and pump it back into deep layers of porous rocks.

    Professor Jon Gibbins, from the University of Sheffield, explains how this works in practice and the successful pilots which have proved its viability.

    Lawyer and lecturer Navraj Singh Ghaleigh, from the University of Edinburgh, then discusses how the market for carbon capture and storage might work - and how well placed the UK is to lead the way.

    UK Research and Innovation brings you hope for the planet in the form of this nine-part podcast.
    Hosted by Broadcast Journalist Kim McAllister and featuring experts from across the UK, ‘Emissions: Impossible?’ showcases some of the most ground-breaking research and innovation in climate change. We look at fashion, food, transport, health, space, and more.
    You can read more about UKRI’s climate-related research here.  Or follow them on Instagram  or YouTube .

    • 32 min
    What does a Net Zero economy really look like?

    What does a Net Zero economy really look like?

    UK Research and Innovation brings you hope for the planet in the form of a nine-part podcast.
    Hosted by Broadcast Journalist Kim McAllister and featuring experts from across the UK, ‘Emissions: Impossible?’ showcases some of the most ground-breaking research and innovation in climate change. We look at fashion, food, transport, health, space, and more.
    In this episode we have the opportunity to rip it all up and start again, asking 'what does a net zero economy really look like?'

    Kim is joined by ecological economist Professor Tim Jackson to discuss whether an economy can be as much about health as it is about wealth.

    Dr Anna Valero , ESRC innovation fellow at London School of Economics reveals where the UK's strengths lie, while Leeds University research fellow Andrew Sudmant provides some clues as to how our workforce can change.

    This episode features work from the Economic and Social Research Council - you can find more information on CUSP here, the CCEP here, the Economics Observatory here and  the Place Based Climate Action Network here.

    Read the UKRI's articles on responding to climate change here and here and here.
    Find out more about the Festival of Science and COP26.

    You can read more about UKRI’s climate-related research here.  Or follow them on Instagram  or YouTube .

    • 39 min

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