Here’s The Plan

In this final episode of Here's The Plan, we recap everything we have discussed in the last 10 weeks, and draw it all together in one final plan.  FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Join in the conversation by following the podcast on social media. Find Here's The Plan on Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn. Follow James Miller on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin.  Follow Bella Lack on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin. SUPPORT THE PODCAST There are three main ways you can help support our podcast, for which we would be very grateful. 1. Subscribe! Hit that big 'Follow' button. 2. Share our episode with friends. It's quick and easy way to help get more ears on our show. 3. If you're on Apple Podcasts, leave us a review! It helps to get the podcast recommended to more listeners. If you're on Spotify, give us a 5 star rating. AND IF YOU REALLY LOVE IT We put this series together completely unpaid - all funding has gone towards production. If you've enjoyed it, and want to support us to do more of this work in the future, we would really appreciate a small donation at Ko-fi.com

For the final step of our 10-point plan, we sit down with Ralph Regenvanu, the Minister of Climate Change, Energy and Environment and Disaster Management of the Republic of Vanuatu.  Vanuatu is the most vulnerable country in the world to the impacts of climate change. We hear about the damage being caused by everything from sea-level rise to cyclones, and the difficulties faced the government in trying manage them. We discuss the leading role that Vanuatu is playing in negotiating a 'Loss and Damage Fund' to help the most affected countries cope with climate impacts, what outcomes it is pushing for at COP28, and what true global solidarity needs to look like in the 21st century. NOTES Here's The Plan is presented by James Miller and Bella Lack. It is produced by Airaphon. Correction to episode content: since the time of recording, data has been released indicating that the $100 billion finance goal was most likely met in 2022 as well as 2023. WHAT YOU CAN DO 1. Support and amplify voices from communities most impacted by climate change. Listen to Liz Wathuti's speech at COP26 2. Help push for a fossil fuel phase out (not phase down) at COP28 and beyond.  3. Hold governments accountable to financing the Loss and Damage Fund, meeting the cumulative shortfall in the $100bn/year target, and increasing the proportion of global climate finance dedicated to adaptation to 50%.  FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Join in the conversation by following the podcast on social media. Find Here's The Plan on Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn. Follow James Miller on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin.  Follow Bella Lack on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin. SUPPORT THE PODCAST There are three main ways you can help support our podcast, for which we would be very grateful. 1. Subscribe! Hit that big 'Follow' button. 2. Share our episode with friends. It's quick and easy way to help get more ears on our show. 3. If you're on Apple Podcasts, leave us a review! It helps to get the podcast recommended to more listeners. If you're on Spotify, give us a 5 star rating. AND IF YOU REALLY LOVE IT We put this series together completely unpaid - all funding has gone towards production. If you've enjoyed it, and want to support us to do more of this work in the future, we would really appreciate a small donation at Ko-fi.com

Climate change, biodiversity loss, plastic pollution - it's all pretty scary. But more worrying still - imagine if our main plan to tackle them was inherently scientifically flawed?  This week, we speak to Timothée Parrique, a French social scientist and author of the book 'Slow Down or Perish'. We find out exactly where our obsession with GDP came from and whether we can grow the global economy and avoid the collapse of ecosystems. And - if we do decide to stop chasing growth at all costs - what do we do instead? NOTES Here's The Plan is presented by James Miller and Bella Lack. It is produced by Airaphon. Studies referenced in episode: A Doughnut for the Anthropocene: humanity's compass in the 21st century (thelancet.com) A good life for all within planetary boundaries | Nature Sustainability WHAT YOU CAN DO Think holistically about the environmental crises we face, and make sure that any sustainability strategy (whether for a business, organisation or school) doesn't consider climate change in isolation - often solutions to one problem can have trade-offs that negatively impact others. Aim to adopt a well-rounded 'Doughnut Economics' model of thinking. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Join in the conversation by following the podcast on social media. Find Here's The Plan on Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn. Follow James Miller on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin.  Follow Bella Lack on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin. SUPPORT THE PODCAST There are three main ways you can help support our podcast, for which we would be very grateful. 1. Subscribe! Hit that big 'Follow' button. 2. Share our episode with friends. It's quick and easy way to help get more ears on our show. 3. If you're on Apple Podcasts, leave us a review! It helps to get the podcast recommended to more listeners. If you're on Spotify, give us a 5 star rating. AND IF YOU REALLY LOVE IT We put this series together completely unpaid - all funding has gone towards production. If you've enjoyed it, and want to support us to do more of this work in the future, we would really appreciate a small donation at Ko-fi.com

Imagine - what if we could cut emissions drastically faster, with no change in political leadership or public support, just by being a little smarter? This week, we welcome onto the podcast Simon Sharpe, author of the book Five Times Faster, who thinks we can do exactly that. He explains how we can rethink the way we do policymaking and diplomacy to exploit tipping points in the economy and unlock exponential action. Prepare to have your mind BLOWN. NOTES Here's The Plan is presented by James Miller and Bella Lack. It is produced by Airaphon. WHAT YOU CAN DO 1. Get better at system thinking. Simon's book is good start, Kate Raeworth has also done some fantastic talks and books. 2. Think about where your points of leverage in the system are - your professional position, your connections, your skills and expertise.  3. Consider your activism not only as a standalone contribution but also how it might play into system feedbacks. Is it helping to dismantle balancing feedbacks that maintain fossil fuel dominance? Is it accelerating positive feedbacks to upscale green technology deployment? FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Join in the conversation by following the podcast on social media. Find Here's The Plan on Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn. Follow James Miller on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin.  Follow Bella Lack on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin. SUPPORT THE PODCAST There are three main ways you can help support our podcast, for which we would be very grateful. 1. Subscribe! Hit that big 'Follow' button. 2. Share our episode with friends. It's quick and easy way to help get more ears on our show. 3. If you're on Apple Podcasts, leave us a review! It helps to get the podcast recommended to more listeners. If you're on Spotify, give us a 5 star rating. AND IF YOU REALLY LOVE IT We put this series together completely unpaid - all funding has gone towards production. If you've enjoyed it, and want to support us to do more of this work in the future, we would really appreciate a small donation at Ko-fi.com

It's often said about the climate crisis that we know what we need to do, we're just not doing it. But why?  This week James and Bella catch up with fellow climate activist Luisa Neubauer to discuss the barriers that are holding back progress across all sectors. Luisa is the most prominent climate activist in Germany - she started the German Fridays For Future movement, took her government to court (and won), and also finds the time to write books and host a podcast on the climate crisis. They talk about how the climate movement needs to change its communication tactics, the nature of the fossil fuel industry's power in society, and how to build a movement that can catalyse real social change. NOTES Here's The Plan is presented by James Miller and Bella Lack. It is produced by Airaphon. WHAT YOU CAN DO 1. See yourself not just as a consumer but also as a political being - you could have a far more profound impact through your political engagement than your material carbon footprint. (But it is also healthy to live by your values!). 2. Join a career or sector-specific movement to advocate for leadership in your profession. Examples include 'Music Declares Emergency', 'Lawyers Are Responsible', and 'Teachers for Future'. This way you can push for specific, constructive change in the area you know most about and have most influence on. 3. If you're based in the UK (or Norway), join the Stop Rosebank campaign to prevent the drilling of a huge new oil field in the North Sea.  4. Plan your activism in small, manageable chunks. Decide on 3 days you want to get out on the street protesting, 3 more sustainable consumer choices you want to make, 3 meetings to go to to advocate for stronger environmental action. Just make a start. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Join in the conversation by following the podcast on social media. Find Here's The Plan on Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn. Follow James Miller on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin.  Follow Bella Lack on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin. SUPPORT THE PODCAST There are three main ways you can help support our podcast, for which we would be very grateful. 1. Subscribe! Hit that big 'Follow' button. 2. Share our episode with friends. It's quick and easy way to help get more ears on our show. 3. If you're on Apple Podcasts, leave us a review! It helps to get the podcast recommended to more listeners. If you're on Spotify, give us a 5 star rating. AND IF YOU REALLY LOVE IT We put this series together completely unpaid - all funding has gone towards production. If you've enjoyed it, and want to support us to do more of this work in the future, we would really appreciate a small donation at Ko-fi.com

Carbon credits. Offsets. Removals. In all their terms and forms, they are perhaps one of the most divisive concepts among environmentalists today. Some see them as a cop-out for companies to claim carbon neutrality and continue business as usual. Some fear they will lead to no emissions reductions at all - and worse, human rights violations. Others believe it is the only way we can channel enough finance from the Global North to climate solutions in the Global South to stay below 1.5 degrees.  This week James and Bella talk to Anil Madhavapeddy, who is a Professor of Planetary Computing at Cambridge University and the director of the Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits. They discussed the - frankly appalling - state of the carbon market, the ways in which forest protection projects can go wrong, and how Anil thinks the system can be fixed to allow massive amounts of finance to go to protecting threatened rainforest. NOTES Here's The Plan is presented by James Miller and Bella Lack. It is produced by Airaphon. WHAT YOU CAN DO Get your business or institution to sign up to the Science Based Targets Initiative for decarbonisation. If they want to use carbon credits, encourage them to read up on and stick to the VCMI Claims Code of Practice, and purchase ICVCM-approved credits. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Join in the conversation by following the podcast on social media. Find Here's The Plan on Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn. Follow James Miller on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin.  Follow Bella Lack on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin. SUPPORT THE PODCAST There are three main ways you can help support our podcast, for which we would be very grateful. 1. Subscribe! Hit that big 'Follow' button. 2. Share our episode with friends. It's quick and easy way to help get more ears on our show. 3. If you're on Apple Podcasts, leave us a review! It helps to get the podcast recommended to more listeners. If you're on Spotify, give us a 5 star rating. AND IF YOU REALLY LOVE IT We put this series together completely unpaid - all funding has gone towards production. If you've enjoyed it, and want to support us to do more of this work in the future, we would really appreciate a small donation at Ko-fi.com

Often described as the third environmental crisis of our time, plastic pollution is a rapidly growing problem. And it's not just killing turtles. It's everywhere: in our air, our food, our water... and in our blood.  In this episode, Bella and James meet a student who has invented a way to clean up microplastics from water - Fionn Ferreira. They dive deep into the plastic problem, Fionn's microplastic solution, and how innovators come up with world-changing ideas. As well as how we can all help fight the scourge of plastic pollution before it becomes disastrous for public health. NOTES Here's The Plan is presented by James Miller and Bella Lack. It is produced by Airaphon. WHAT YOU CAN DO 1. Get your business, school or organisation to drop single-use plastics! 2. Join campaigns to get retailers to eliminate plastics (especially major supermarkets!). Greenpeace often has good campaigns on plastics - check them out. 3. Campaign for your government to introduce stronger legislation on plastics - the Global Plastic Pollution Treaty is being negotiated this November, and could be a really important influencing moment.  4. Join a community clean-up! It's a great way to have a tangible impact and meet like-minded people. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Join in the conversation by following the podcast on social media. Find Here's The Plan on Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn. Follow James Miller on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin.  Follow Bella Lack on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin. SUPPORT THE PODCAST There are three main ways you can help support our podcast, for which we would be very grateful. 1. Subscribe! Hit that big 'Follow' button. 2. Share our episode with friends. It's quick and easy way to help get more ears on our show. 3. If you're on Apple Podcasts, leave us a review! It helps to get the podcast recommended to more listeners. If you're on Spotify, give us a 5 star rating. AND IF YOU REALLY LOVE IT We put this series together completely unpaid - all funding has gone towards production. If you've enjoyed it, and want to support us to do more of this work in the future, we would really appreciate a small donation at Ko-fi.com

The way we produce food is the single biggest underlying driver of species extinction, and a major contributor to the climate crisis. When you add to this the understanding that we may have to produce as much food in the next 40 years as we did in the last 8000, it becomes obvious that we need to make drastic changes to our food system if we are to maintain a habitable planet. This week on Here's The Plan, we speak to Arnavaz Schatten, who was then the Director of Sustainability for Infarm. Infarm is a vertical farming company, who are beginning to produce crops in a radically different way to traditional agriculture. James and Bella dive into what is wrong with our current food system, the opportunities and challenges that vertical farming presents, and how a wider agritech revolution may change the world in the coming decades. We hope you enjoy it! NOTES Here's The Plan is presented by James Miller and Bella Lack. It is produced by Airaphon. Arnavaz Schatten was, at the time of interview, the Director of Sustainability for Infarm, but is no longer.  WHAT YOU CAN DO 1. Educate yourself and others on what a sustainable food system might look like! It's often not as simple as you might think. This episode was a great start but there's so much more to explore: regenerative agriculture, closing crop yield gaps, fixing distribution and food waste - have a read up!  2. Join organisations that are pushing for implementation of better food systems, like Oxfam, WWF and the Nature Friendly Farming Network. 3. Think global, act local! Help cut food waste in your school or company canteen, or join a community garden that promotes sustainable local farming. This is the level on which tangible change happens. FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Join in the conversation by following the podcast on social media. Find Here's The Plan on Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn. Follow James Miller on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin.  Follow Bella Lack on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin. SUPPORT THE PODCAST There are three main ways you can help support our podcast, for which we would be very grateful. 1. Subscribe! Hit that big 'Follow' button. 2. Share our episode with friends. It's quick and easy way to help get more ears on our show. 3. If you're on Apple Podcasts, leave us a review! It helps to get the podcast recommended to more listeners. If you're on Spotify, give us a 5 star rating. AND IF YOU REALLY LOVE IT We put this series together completely unpaid - all funding has gone towards production. If you've enjoyed it, and want to support us to do more of this work in the future, we would really appreciate a small donation at Ko-fi.com

Over the last thirty years, Costa Rica has undergone an incredible transformation. They doubled their rainforest cover and transitioned to 100% renewable electricity -  all at the same time as doubling their population and tripling the size of their economy. This feat remains an unparalleled example of environmental leadership on the international stage. This week, we spoke to Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, who was Environment and Energy Minister for Costa Rica for three terms during that period. We dived into how precisely the country managed to achieve what it did, whether those techniques could be replicated to reverse deforestation worldwide, and what obstacles remain to the same environmental leadership being shown in other countries. As always, we finish by looking at what you at home can do to help accelerate this change. NOTES Here's The Plan is presented by James Miller and Bella Lack. It is produced by Airaphon.  Paper on Costa Rica's forest transition WHAT YOU CAN DO 1. Support organisations that are helping to protect forests around the world. There are so many fantastic NGOs campaigning for governments to create new protected areas, standing up to defend indigenous territories, or directly purchasing land to prevent deforestation. Our personal favourite is Reserva: The Youth Land Trust - an youth-led organisation creating protected areas all across the world. 2. Help cut deforestation out of supply chains. Work within the communities and institutions you are a part of to examine your supply chains and ensure that you are obtaining materials sustainably. Every time another actor improves their supply chain, it creates ripples through all the other links to accelerate system-wide change!  FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Join in the conversation by following the podcast on social media. Find Here's The Plan on Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn. Follow James Miller on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin.  Follow Bella Lack on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin. SUPPORT THE PODCAST There are three main ways you can help support our podcast, for which we would be very grateful. 1. Subscribe! Hit that big 'Follow' button. 2. Share our episode with friends. It's quick and easy way to help get more ears on our show. 3. If you're on Apple Podcasts, please leave us a review! It helps to get the podcast recommended to more listeners. If you're on Spotify, give us a 5 star rating instead. AND IF YOU REALLY LOVE IT We put this series together completely unpaid - all funding has gone towards production. If you've enjoyed it, and want to support us to do more of this work in the future, we would really appreciate a small donation at Ko-fi.com

This week, 6 Portuguese youth will take 32 countries to the European Court of Human Rights, in what will be the biggest climate lawsuit in history. The implications, should they succeed, would be world-changing.  We speak to a senior lawyer on the case, Gerry Liston, to delve further into the details. We explore the motivations and strategy behind the lawsuit, the reality of taking on 32 states in one go, and what's behind the global rise in youth-led litigation. Finally, we discuss the role of law in driving systemic change and how you at home can pitch in! NOTES Here's The Plan is presented by James Miller and Bella Lack. It is produced by Airaphon.  WHAT YOU CAN DO 1. Spread the word about this case! This is a lawsuit of global significance, and the more eyes on it the better. You can find more information about the case, and how to support it, on https://youth4climatejustice.org/ 2. Accountability doesn't end with the law - it's down to everyday citizens to put pressure on their governments to abide by it. Watch for when rulings come through, whether it's illegal levels of air or water pollution or threatening human rights through climate inaction, and don't let the news be forgotten. Call your MP, stage a protest, join a campaigning organisation; you know the drill. 3. Join the mission to get new, progressive laws in place that will shape the world for the better. For two recommendations from us: - An international fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty: https://fossilfueltreaty.org/ - Ecocide as an international crime: https://www.stopecocide.earth/  FIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIA Join in the conversation by following the podcast on social media. Find Here's The Plan on Instagram, Tiktok and LinkedIn. Follow James Miller on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin.  Follow Bella Lack on Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin. SUPPORT THE PODCAST There are three main ways you can help support our podcast, for which we would be very grateful. 1. Subscribe! Hit that big 'Follow' button. 2. Share our episode with friends. It's quick and easy way to help get more ears on our show. 3. If you're on Apple Podcasts, leave us a review! It helps to get the podcast recommended to more listeners. If you're on Spotify, give us a 5 star rating. AND IF YOU REALLY LOVE IT We put this series together completely unpaid - all funding has gone towards production. If you've enjoyed it, and want to support us to do more of this work in the future, we would really appreciate a small donation at Ko-fi.com