Episode 6: PFAS - Where has it come from? What do we do about it?

In this two-part episode, I speak with William 'Billy' Hall, NewFields Founder and current Director of the Board, about his extensive experience of working within the environmental remediation industry. We talk about his experiences on how the remediation industry has changed over the last 40 years, what he sees as the successes and failures of the industry as a whole, and we discuss where he thinks the industry should be headed to help combat climate change and become more sustainable in the future. This is part 2 of 2

In this two-part episode, I speak with William 'Billy' Hall, NewFields Founder and current Director of the Board, about his extensive experience of working within the environmental remediation industry.  We talk about his experiences on how the remediation industry has changed over the last 40 years, what he sees as the successes and failures of the industry as a whole, and we discuss where he thinks the industry should be headed to help combat climate change and become more sustainable in the future. This is part 1 of 2.

In this episode I discuss ways of managing and reducing our ever growing global waste output. I speak with Kevin Hull, the CEO of Emergent Waste Solutions and Ray Kronquist, the President of the non-profit 'Army of Volunteers for Earth' about ways in which our waste can be re-used and converted into useful products. You can find out more about Emergent Waste Solutions via their website here: https://www.ewscanada.com/ and find out more about Army of Volunteers for Earth here: http://www.armyofvolunteers.org/

Over the last few years, concern has grown regarding PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) chemicals within the environmental community. These 'forever' chemicals are still under-researched in terms of their impacts, but they are being detected almost everywhere within our environment. In this episode I speak with Dr Mark Benotti, a Senior Environmental Chemist with NewFields, to discuss where PFAS have come from, why they are so widespread and what can be done about them. Photo by Ravi Patel on Unsplash

This is the final of our discussions recorded in 2020, around the 10-year anniversary of the Deep Water Horizon disaster. I speak with two Forensic Chemists, Dr Scott Stout and Steve Mattingly, about their use of forensic chemistry in determining the source of chemical products in the environment, and how this was used to great effect in determining the extent of the Deepwater Horizon spill impact zone. Picture compliments of NOAA DIVER - www.diver.orr.noaa.gov

This is the third of four discussions recorded in 2020, around the 10-year anniversary of the Deep Water Horizon disaster. I speak with Senior Environmental Engineer Dave Puchalski on his work managing the near shore sampling efforts during and after the oil spill. We discuss the important lessons learnt from undertaking such a huge organisational task. Picture compliments of NOAA DIVER - www.diver.orr.noaa.gov

This is the second of four discussions recorded in 2020, around the 10-year anniversary of the Deep Water Horizon disaster.  I speak with two environmental engineers, Mike Wild and Jacob Oehrig, about the importance of good data collection and management when it comes to managing environmental disasters. We how the combination of different data types and sets was crucial to the quick response needed to manage the oil spill. Picture compliments of NOAA DIVER - www.diver.orr.noaa.gov

This is the first of four discussions recorded in 2020, around the 10-year anniversary of the Deep Water Horizon disaster. I speak with Dr Shahrokh Rouhani who was involved with the Deepwater Horizon environmental response team with the investigation and clean up following the disaster. We discuss how the US Environmental Protection Agency had to implement a completely new method for managing the huge response needed to manage the oil spill and protect the environment, and how it changed how government bodies and private companies approach environmental issues. Photograph compliments of NOAA - https://darrp.noaa.gov/oil-spills/deepwater-horizon

In this episode I talk with NewFields Scientist Dr Negin Kananizadeh about her latest research paper on Covid-19 and Hospital Air quality. We explore the impacts and effects of air filtration and re-circulation on Covid-19 spreading within hospitals, and how better management can lead to a reduced infection rate.