GoodGeist

DNS

A podcast on sustainability, hosted by Damla Özlüer and Steve Connor,  brought to you by the DNS Network. Looking at sustainability issues, communications, and featuring global guests from a wide variety of sectors such as business, NGOs and government. 

  1. Investing in Political Inclusion, with Dr. Hermann J. Stern

    1일 전

    Investing in Political Inclusion, with Dr. Hermann J. Stern

    Send a text What if the secret to national wealth isn’t faster growth or smarter tech, but a fairer invitation to participate? We sit down with Dr Hermann Stern to unpack the Prosperity Gate—a striking pattern in World Bank data showing that most countries grind along a poverty “brick” until they expand political inclusion enough to trigger a steep rise in income per capita. Once through the gate, each step toward broader participation correlates with bigger gains, reframing prosperity as the outcome of social invention and open institutions rather than luck or resources. Together we trace the evidence: how universal schooling, healthcare access, labour standards and the right to start and scale a business create the conditions for innovation to spread. Hermann explains why outliers like oil states can mask the rule, and why countries without resource windfalls—think the Baltics—outperformed larger, richer neighbours by betting on inclusive rules instead of extractive control.  And as if that wasn't enough... for sustainability and ESG, Herman offers a candid diagnosis. Expecting firms to act like saints collides with fiduciary duty; the real lever is the societal framework that aligns private incentives with public goals.  The takeaway is clear and hopeful: inclusion is not charity, it’s a growth strategy. Countries can backslide when participation narrows, but they can also surge ahead when people feel secure enough to learn, spend and build. Have a listen!  Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.

    27분
  2. The Art of Environmental Communication, with Savita Wilmott

    2월 11일

    The Art of Environmental Communication, with Savita Wilmott

    Send a text Ever wondered why so many people say they love nature yet so little seems to change? We sit down with Savita Wilmott, CEO of the Natural History Consortium, to unpack the stubborn care–to-action gap and share practical ways to move from saying you love nature to doing something about it. We dig into the Festival of Nature as a living case study. By keeping it free, thematic, and woven into a city’s cultural calendar, the Consortium brings nature into everyday life while tracking confirmed behaviours during festival week—tree planting, bird boxes, meeting decision‑makers, and joining local groups. No comfort pledges. Just actions that stick because the follow‑through is built in. Savita highlights research showing that care does not guarantee action, and points to behaviour‑first campaigns that prove action can also spark care.  We also explore how the field is changing. Over twenty years, the Consortium's Communicate conference has watched channels transform—from early social media to AI, search, and influencer dynamics—while the timeless basics hold steady: framing that resonates, trusted messengers, and meeting audiences where they are.  Citizen science also emerges in our chat as both a hands‑on way to engage and a serious data engine, with an often‑invisible backbone of expert volunteers who verify records and make the magic happen.  Enjoy the episode!  Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.

    27분
  3. The Purpose of Growth, with Öner Günçavdı

    2월 4일

    The Purpose of Growth, with Öner Günçavdı

    Send a text Billionaire wealth is hitting historic highs while one in four people face hunger—so what exactly is growth doing for the rest of us? We sit down with Prof. Öner Günçavdı to unpack the mechanics behind inequality and global economics.  Starting in Turkey and widening to global trends, we trace how housing, education, and healthcare drift out of reach when asset values dominate policy, and why a recent report from Oxfam’s on inequalities reads less like a headline and more like a diagnosis. The conversation pulls apart two big drivers: the rules we live by and the tech we build. When institutions prioritise asset protection, growth becomes a numbers game detached from human welfare. Add technology concentrated in a few hands—platforms, patents, and data—and you get profits without shared prosperity. We explore what a different path looks like: participatory budgeting that gives communities real control; fair taxation and windfall measures that link extraordinary gains to public good; and housing policies tied to incomes, not speculation. We don’t dodge geopolitics either, asking whether global forums and interventions protect people or just portfolios. Join us for a clear-eyed, practical journey from problem to possibility, and learn how democratic tools can turn growth into well-being instead of a scoreboard for the few. Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.

    25분
  4. Big Little Lies About Climate, with Ümit Şahin

    1월 21일

    Big Little Lies About Climate, with Ümit Şahin

    Send a text We sit down with Ümit Şahin—physician, public health scholar, and long-time climate advocate—as he traces his journey from medical school to air pollution research and climate policy, showing why health is the most human lens for energy choices. He dismantles the idea that nuclear can deliver on time or at scale, pointing to rising costs, long lead times, and unresolved waste, while renewables and efficiency deliver rapid, affordable cuts now.  We dig into discourse power: how calling fossil fuels “hydrocarbons” sanitises harm, how “unabated” creates loopholes, and how the term “sustainability” drifted from survival ethics to a growth-friendly label.  Then we turn to COP politics. With shifting geopolitics and frayed multilateralism, COP31 in Turkey emerges as a crucial mitigation COP. Ümit  outlines a focused playbook: push an explicit fossil fuels transition, accelerate electrification of transport and heat, tighten 2030 targets aligned with 1.5 degrees, and audit false solutions against costs and timelines.  He calls for disciplined framing, health-forward benefits that voters feel, and cross-border collaboration between Turkish NGOs and the global movement. We close on urgency with hope, inspired by youth leadership that turns climate from a future worry into a present demand. Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.

    27분
  5. 2025 - a GoodGeist Retrospective

    2025. 12. 24.

    2025 - a GoodGeist Retrospective

    Send a text It's time for some GoodGeist year-end reflections from our co-host Damla and Steve. We take you across 2025’s most revealing sustainability moments, from radical listening that halted deforestation by focusing on community health, via an off-grid box turning sunlight into clean water within hours, to city-scale transport fixes that make streets safer, air cleaner, and commutes saner.  It's 25 minutes of practical optimism, gathering stories that prove change is built locally and scaled through trust, clarity, and good design. Our tour spans continents and disciplines. We revisit the ethnography of behaviour change, new money concepts and sustainable finance, and the thorny dilemmas of philanthropy and concentrated wealth. Guests challenged language itself: when “sustainability” feels poisoned by greenwash, how do we reframe for honesty and impact? From “belly’s not bins” to cocoa that respects farmers and forests, food became a lens for agency at home and accountability in supply chains.  We also dig into retrofit and property innovation, the unglamorous but essential work of upgrading what we’ve already built to cut carbon, bills, and cold homes. And the closing truth we carry into 2026? No-one can be sustainable alone.  Hold the line with us, share this conversation, and if it moved you, subscribe, rate, and leave a review so more people can find it. Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.

    27분
  6. The Creative Truth, with Steve Mayer

    2025. 12. 17.

    The Creative Truth, with Steve Mayer

    Send a text Want a sustainability claim that inspires without inviting a regulator into your inbox? We sit down with Steve Meyer, director of Carbon Blue Solutions, to explore how.  From mangrove forests and seagrass meadows to desert halophytes, Steve first of all explains why blue carbon stores CO2 for millennia and how that changes the maths on offsets, resilience, and coastal protection. Then we shift to the communications frontier and EcoApprase, an AI-assisted tool that scores green claims on clarity, evidence, scope, and risk. It flags risky phrases like planet-friendly and net zero without boundaries, offers practical rewrites, and stays current with fast-moving case law so marketers can publish with confidence. We talk with Steve about how, across the UK, EU, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India, we see the same pattern: bold sustainability stories need proof, baselines, and clear KPIs. India’s rapid enforcement and real-world pollution pressures are accelerating adoption, while “recyclable” claims face a tougher test when local facilities don’t exist. The message is simple: creativity thrives under discipline, and defensible claims help teams avoid both greenwashing and greenhushing.  And along the way, Steve shares what keeps him motivated—watching genuine builders get the backing to scale solutions that matter. Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.

    30분

소개

A podcast on sustainability, hosted by Damla Özlüer and Steve Connor,  brought to you by the DNS Network. Looking at sustainability issues, communications, and featuring global guests from a wide variety of sectors such as business, NGOs and government.