While oil and energy garner the bulk of attention for the climate crisis, there is another major culprit - the fashion industry that is responsible for 8 to 10 per cent of global carbon emissions.

Impacts include water and plastic pollution and fashion is also a major human rights issue through fast fashion’s unethical production.

There is a lot of work to do for the industry to align with the Paris Agreements 1.5-degree pathway and in Australia, we are large fashion consumers. With a population of approximately 26 million, on average, Australian’s buy 56 brand new items of clothing a year.

So here to help me explore how we can all improve our fashion footprint is communication and brand specialist Tiffanie Darke.

With over 30 year’s experience in editorial sensibility and commercial strategy, Tiffanie is the co-founder of Ibiza’s luxury sustainability fashion boutique, AGORA and the creator of Rule of Five – a global movement where participants only buy five fashion items a year.

Tiffanie and I discuss what makes a garment truly sustainable from fabric and production to sale. She also offers advice on how to shop sustainably and even alter current items in our wardrobes to give our clothes longevity. We also discuss the sustainability concerns around new plant-based materials and the responsibility of designers to create fashion items with circularity.

Tiffanie’s transformation from luxury fashion consumer to one of sustainable fashion advocate is inspiring and achievable without costing the earth.

I hope you enjoy the episode.

You can follow Tiffanie via her Instagram and read her newsletters at:

Its Not Sustainable

Rule of Five

This audio was edited by Peter Magill.

Forget what you know about slimy seaweed washing up ashore as seaweed is now the fastest growing food in aqua culture.

Seaweed is in fact a nutritious superfood and a very clever and climate friendly plant with high carbon sequestering qualities.

Helping me explore the potential of the seaweed sector is Cam Hines, who is Owner and Co-Founder of Southern Seagreens who run regenerative commercial seaweed farms in Flinders, Victoria.

Southern Seagreens are growing sustainable seaweed for human consumption along with supporting marine ecosystems.

Cam runs the daily operations at Southern Seagreens and today we discuss how he moved from an entrepreneurial journey in craft beer to seaweed. We discuss how they grow and harvest seaweed plus behind the scenes details on the business from their lab, diving for wakame and what he believes the future looks like for this power plant.

You can learn more about Southern Seagreens and make a purchase via their website or connect with them via their Instagram.

I hope you enjoy the episode.

This podcast is edited by Peter Magill.

Mike Coots grew up on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The lifestyle fuelled his obsession with the ocean along with an aspiration to be a professional bodyboarder.

When he was 18 years old, Mike and his teammates took to the water one morning looking to catch a wave at Majors Bay where Mike was almost killed by a Tiger Shark. Mike’s survival instincts helped him paddle back to shore and with the help of his friends and passersby who witnessed the attack, Mike survived but underwent emergency amputation surgery losing his leg.

But instead of turning his back on the water, Mike went from shark survivor to shark supporter. Mike began to learn about sharks – their behaviour, their quirks and their environmental challenges.

He has since spent his life advocating for their protection and has turned his hand to photography in a bid to share sharks’ beauty and their critical place in the oceans ecosystem.

Today, Mike and I discuss his recovery, shark conservation and his new book, Shark Portraits. To create this captivating book, Mike travelled the globe, free diving and scuba diving, often without a cage to record sharks.

Mike has turned his adversity into activism and his respect for sharks and the ocean is contagious and inspiring. I hope you enjoy his story today.

You can find out more about Mike via his website or Instagram or purchase a copy of Shark Portraits here.

Two documentaries are also mentioned during this podcast. One is Shark Water and the other is Envoy – Shark Cull.

This audio is edited by Peter Magill.