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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.

2d ago

Natural Catalysts, with Reem Asil and Alison Coburn

Send us Fan Mail So here's a big challenge: only 4.5% of staff in UK environmental charities identify as Global Majority, despite Global Majority people making up 18% of the UK working-age population. That gap is a signal that something deeper than recruitment is broken. To achieve diversity in the environment sector we need to go much, much further. We sit down with Alison Coburn from Common Purpose and Reem Asil, co-founder of Makani Cambridge, to talk about Natural Catalysts and why changing representation in environmental leadership means changing organisational culture, power and the unwritten rules people are expected to follow. We trace how Natural Catalysts is co-designed, starting with research and listening to Global Majority leaders with lived experience of racialisation, then bringing senior leaders into the design so the responsibility for change does not fall on marginalised people alone. Along the way we unpack the practical blockers that keep the sector homogenous: informal entry routes like unpaid internships, role requirements that overvalue technical ecological credentials, and the reality that many jobs sit outside diverse urban centres. We also get honest about what it feels like to be an environmental leader during a climate and biodiversity crisis, while carrying burnout, scarcity and constant pressure. Alison and Reem share why their programme is built to create connection and peer learning, using a trauma-informed, anti-oppressive approach that helps people unlearn “power-over” habits and practise shared power across teams and organisations. Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.
Jul 15

Flying Over the Limits, with Denise Auclair

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we sit down with a guest from last year, Denise Auclair, Head of the Travel Smart campaign at Transport and Environment in Brussels, to explore new research that links the growth of air tourism to rising housing rents across Europe. The headline is hard to ignore: in countries facing intense aviation-driven arrivals, unchecked growth could push rents up by as much as €250 a year on average in the coming years, on top of increases already felt. We follow the chain reaction from cheap flights to overtourism, then into the housing market and everyday budgets. Denise explains how the impacts are not shared fairly: renters and lower income households take the hit first, while property owners benefit from rising values. We also look at who captures tourist spending in the hospitality sector, why real wages can lag even as visitor numbers climb, and how investment can be pulled into property at the expense of more productive parts of the economy. Then we widen the lens to the bigger contradiction. Governments are still planning airport expansions while aviation remains a major source of tourism emissions and while destinations face heatwaves, water stress, wildfire risk, and public services stretched thin. Rather than a neat “growth story”, we’re left with tough questions about limits, liveability, and what sustainable tourism policy should prioritise. And we finish with a clear set of options: connect aviation policy with tourism strategy, pause expansion where destinations are already saturated, shift demand towards rail travel and domestic tourism, and build credible national plans for aviation decarbonisation. Have a listen! Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.
Jul 8

CDR: The Third Element, with Christopher Neidl

Send us Fan Mail Carbon removal: miracle fix or a dangerous distraction? Both takes miss what the science is actually telling us. We sit down with Christopher Neidl, Carbon Removal Lead for the Climate High Level Champions and co-founder of OpenAir, to pin down what carbon dioxide removal is, what it is not, and why it is an important part of the IPCC pathways. We unpack where CDR fits in the wider climate action toolkit alongside emissions reduction and adaptation, and why removals become a “gap-closer” for hard-to-abate sectors as the carbon budget tightens. Christopher shares how his early work in solar shaped his view of scale, timelines, and the “surprises” that happen when policy, markets, and innovation suddenly align. That perspective feeds into CDR 2030, an initiative designed to use the next five years to prove maturity, build momentum, and make progress visible through the COP Action Agenda, not just in reports but in real projects, standards, and governance. We also get honest about communications: why CDR is often confused with carbon capture, why some climate voices fear it will be used to delay systemic change, and how to build trust through evidence, salience, and relevance. And finally, we explore a place-based approach where cities can plug carbon removal into local strategies, turning community liabilities and assets such as waste streams and wastewater systems into practical climate solutions. Listen in, to GoodGeist! Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.
Jul 1

A Fair System on a Global Scale, with Susanne Geissler

Send us Fan Mail If sustainability means working in Europe while other regions pay the price, is it really sustainability at all? We sit down with Suzanne Geisler, founder of the SERA Institute in Vienna, to connect the dots between sustainable construction, energy efficiency, and the global systems that quietly keep our lifestyles up and running. We talk about why the building sector is such a high-impact place to intervene, and why measuring performance is only useful if it drives real renovations and better decisions. From there, the conversation widens into sufficiency: not just cleaner energy, but less energy and fewer raw materials demanded in the first place. That idea sounds like common sense, yet it grates against an economic model built on consumption, VAT receipts, and the promise of endless growth. Suzanne challenges the logic of “external costs” and asks what fossil fuels and mined materials would cost if we counted lost lives, poisoned ecosystems, and forced migration. If you care about the circular economy, clean production, resource efficiency, and a just transition that is actually just, this conversation will stay with you. Find out more on Linkedin: https://at.linkedin.com/in/susanne-geissler-759464217 And on Fairtube: https://fair.tube/a/seraglobal.institute/videos Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.
Jun 24

Cutting Through the Carbon Noise, with Göker AvcI

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we sit down with Göker AvcI, founder of Alalëa Social to get a clear view on what serious carbon management looks like when you move beyond the headlines of a press release or linkedIN post. If you work in sustainability, communications, procurement or finance, you will recognise the problem straight away: targets are rising fast, yet only a small share of organisations can prove they are on track. We dig into why the hardest part of corporate climate action is Scope Three emissions across the value chain, and why a net zero claim that ignores Scope Three simply does not hold up. Göker explains how he pulls fragmented carbon and regulatory data out of the noise and turns it into a living programme that works at board level and on the factory floor, linking decisions to market access, ratings and green finance. We also talk about the changing climate narrative, where greenwashing is being squeezed by tighter standards and enforcement, but greenhushing is emerging as a new failure mode. And then off that wasn't enough we go deep on carbon dioxide removal (CDR), clearing up the confusion with carbon capture and laying out nature-based versus engineered approaches like direct air capture, ocean alkaline enhancement and biochar. Listen in to our conversation with Göker and look at the carbon story from setting targets, to actual delivery of emissions reductions. Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.
Jun 3

A Gardener as a Cultural Actor, with Jacques Soignon

Send us Fan Mail A greener city is not just about planting more trees. It is about making nature easy to reach, hard to ignore, and emotionally meaningful in everyday life. In this episode we chat to ecologist and horticulturalist Jacques Sognon, former director of Green Spaces and Environment for the City of Nantes and vice president of France’s Conservatoire for Special Plant Collections. We explore how Nantes evolved from “a city of a hundred gardens” into “the city in the garden”, building a connected network of parks and routes through a major green master plan. Jacques shares why continuity, patient delivery, and opening up connections between green spaces can shift a whole city’s identity, and how public participation grows when green infrastructure feels like a shared cultural project. We also get practical with the biophilic cities 3-30-300 rule, tree canopy cover targets, and the case for cutting back unnecessary hard surfaces. From heatwaves to the hidden lessons a snowfall can reveal, we talk climate adaptation, urban biodiversity, and nature-based solutions that improve health, comfort, and everyday movement. Listen in to our story of the city in the garden! Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.
May 26

Nature Is Growth, with Anusha Shah

Send us Fan Mail Nature is infrastructure, and we keep paying the price for forgetting it. In this episode we’re joined by Professor Anusha Shah of Plan for Earth, as she launches the Nature Is Growth campaign, a rallying cry for the built environment, to stop treating nature as a constraint and start treating it as an engine of climate resilience, public health and long-term prosperity. We get practical about what changes minds: measurement, money and proof. Why do we fund highways without debate, yet hesitate to fund wetlands, trees and healthy catchments that reduce flood risk and cool cities? We talk natural capital accounting, biodiversity net gain and the Dasgupta Review, plus the need for economic models that go beyond GDP and take ecological tipping points seriously. Just as importantly, we explore how evidence and stories must travel together if policymakers, investors and industry leaders are going to act at speed. Then Anusha helps us tour the places already showing what nature-positive infrastructure looks like at scale: Singapore’s shift to a “city in nature”, Rotterdam’s climate-adaptive water squares, Scandinavian parks designed for extreme rainfall, and the UK’s Eden Project as proof that regeneration can drive jobs and tourism. It's a world tour exploring how #NatureIsGrowth so please do have a listen! Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.
May 13

Telling the Transition Story, with Gamze Çelikyılmaz

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we're chatting to Gamze Çelikyılmaz, Vice Chair of Climate Academy Global and a long-time climate change policy specialist, to make sense of where the global energy transition actually stands and why the picture is so uneven across regions. With Gamze we go from the big global picture to the local human reality of a just transition. For communities built around coal mines, power plants, oil and gas, the challenge is not only replacing jobs but also protecting health, preserving dignity, and rebuilding tax bases, institutions and social networks. Gamze explains why there is no such thing as a 100% just transition, yet also why delaying change is not fair either, and how practical measures like reskilling, upskilling, worker protections and long-term governance can keep the process as just as possible. Along the way we dig into examples that show what works in practice: Germany’s Ruhr region and Spain’s Bilbao, plus reflections on the UK’s own history and the emerging energy transition zone in Aberdeen. A recurring theme is storytelling, because successful transitions create a new identity that people can own, not just a list of projects on a spreadsheet. So if you care about climate action, climate policy, fossil fuel phase-out, clean energy jobs and what a fair transition really means for real places, listen in! Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.

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.

Creator

DNS
Years Active

2024 - 2026
Episodes

120
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© 2026 GoodGeist
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