For the final episode of this season of Earth Shakers, your host, eco-campaigner and non-profit CEO Lizzie Carr sits down virtually with David Lindo, also known as The Urban Birder.

David is a broadcaster, writer, naturalist, photographer, urban tour leader and of course, a birder. David spends a large amount of his time promoting bird conservation and seeks to bring awareness and education to global citizens alike, encouraging everyone to step outside, wherever they are in the world to enjoy some urban birding and connect with nature. 

During the pandemic lockdown, record numbers of people around the UK have taken up birding, the RSPB has seen a 69% increase in its website traffic and we have recently seen the Big Garden Birdwatch, the largest citizen science project in the UK. Birding is suddenly cool and long time birder David Lindo is here to tell us more...

In this episode Lizzie and David discuss how he has made a career out of birding and conservation, dispelling the myths of the stereotypical ‘anorak’ birders, the challenges facing the bird populations and David passes on some tips for first time urban birders!

Resources David mentions in this episode:

https://www.rspb.org.uk/ 

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/ 

https://www.wwt.org.uk/ 

https://theurbanbirderworld.com/ 

http://theurbanbirder.com/

https://www.instagram.com/theurbanbirder/

This week Earth Shakers host, Lizzie Carr,  is in the hot seat while producer Stevie takes over host duties asking Lizzie about her world as you may not see it through the lens of her non-profit and social media channels.

Get to know Lizzie as she discusses the challenges that she has faced in the last year as a result of the pandemic; how she has shifted her business, her climate change campaigning, her community engagement on plastic, while also being pregnant, giving birth and managing health anxiety. We pack a LOT into this episode as Lizzie lets us letting you behind the scenes of her life as an intersectional campaigner, podcaster and of course, new mum.

For more information about Lizzie’s non-profit Planet Patrol head over to https://planetpatrol.co to see how you can get involved - from community clean-ups, fundraising, downloading their app to report litter and being part of their Global campaign to collect 1 million pieces of litter!

As a special bonus for this episode, Lizzie has asked 3 campaigners for their top tips especially for you for 2021, thinking about ways that you too can be an Earth Shaker!

Campaigners you hear from are:

Lungi Mchunu @lungisails

Ella Daish @Elladaish

Elie Gordon @elioutside

This episode was produced and hosted by @steviekentproductions.

Richard Thompson is one of the world’s leading experts on plastic pollution. In 2004, he published the first paper describing the long-term accumulation of microscopic fragments of plastic in the environment, naming them ‘microplastics’. He and his team have been at the forefront of microplastics research and have shown their global distribution, the potential for transfer from the gut to the circulatory system, and their role in the transport of chemical contaminants. 

In this fascinating episode, activism and science come together as Lizzie and Richard get to grips with some of the big questions around the way we produce, use and dispose of plastic; why there are huge benefits to using plastic and in manufacturing, some disadvantages of living plastic-free that would in fact have equally negative effects on the environment, the impact of the inevitable and current consumption of plastic via the food chain, and what should we expect when something says “biodegradable” in its marketing.

Resources:

2004 paper coining the term “microplastics”: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/304/5672/838 

2011 Paper on the Accumulation of microplastics globally: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es201811s 

Royal Society Publishing - Plastics Issue compiled by Richard Thompson: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/2009/364/1526 

Article mentioned by Richard published by SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies): https://www.sapea.info/topics/biodegradability-of-plastics/

Have you ever considered leaving the 9 to 5 for something a little different? Then this episode is for you!

In this episode Lizzie talks to Justine Gosling. Justine is a professional explorer and Respiratory Health specialist for the World Health Organisation. Normally based in Denmark, Justine returned to the UK to work on the front-lines in the NHS to support the effort against COVID.

She has extensive expedition experience having completed many multi-week, self-supported journeys by foot, kayak and skis, mostly in the mountains or high arctic. These expeditions have earned her ambassador roles with the likes of Land Rover, The North Face, Hurtigruten and Talisker whisky among others. Justine is also a freelance travel journalist for the UK's national newspapers and travel and adventure magazines (Guardian, Times, Telegraph, Red Bull) and has delivered a TEDx talk on her Polar adventures

In this episode Lizzie and Justine discuss their mutual sabatacles that turned into full on career changes into the nature and adventure industry, Justine’s vocational call back to the UK to help deal with the pandemic and the stress and emotional exhaustion working as a health worker and the worries of infecting loved ones, her very first expedition of the Iron Curtain and how she has had to deal with serious in the middle of an expedition to get to the finish line.

Check out Justine’s 7 tips for being an arctic explorer here: https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/arctic-survival-tips

https://www.instagram.com/justine_gosling/

Ryland Engelhart is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of a non-profit called Kiss the Ground, and is the producer of ‘Kiss The Ground’ the Movie on Netflix which aims to spread the message of the importance of soil regeneration in the fight against climate change. He has spent the last 15 years as an entrepreneur, building a family business of sustainable, organic plant-based restaurants called Cafe Gratitude and Gracias Madre in Southern California.

In this episode Lizzie talks to Ryland about his journey of entrepreneurship and environmental activism that led him to producing the Netflix documentary ‘Kiss The Ground’.

Ryland was at an environmental conference in New Zealand where many scientists and environmental experts were describing the state of the climate crisis and whether we are too late to reverse the damage. He heard a talk from Graeme Sait, a leader in sustainable agriculture technology, describing the magnitude of the potential for soil to save our planet that changed his life. Ryland took this message back to California and went to work on taking the message of hope from the echo-chambers of science and giving it to the world.

Lizzie and Ryland discuss the making of the film, the importance of using the power of celebrity to spread the message, why hope is so important to engage and motivate people to change their behaviours and involve governments.

Kiss The Ground has a couple of resources to help you become a soil advocate that were mentioned in the episode.

Find your Path: Get your FREE individualised action plan to help you take part in the global soil regeneration movement https://kisstheground.com/find-your-path/ 

Kiss The Ground soil course: If you want to become a soil advocate you can take the training here:

https://kisstheground.mykajabi.com/kiss-the-ground-s-soil-advocate-training-90befcf2-102f-4937-a839-6f8bf7d8957c?preview_theme_id=2591978

https://kisstheground.com/

https://www.cafegratitude.com/

https://kissthegroundmovie.com/

Douglas McMaster is a known throughout the food industry for his innovative and ethical practices. In 2014 he won the ‘BBC Young Chef of the Year Award’ followed by ‘Britain’s Most Innovative Chef’ at the first Young British Foodie awards. His Hackney restaurant, Silo, is the world’s first ever zero-waste restaurant. By working with suppliers who deliver ‘package-free’ produce, flour milled on-site and compost machines, Silo has achieved the zero-waste concept serving food that would have otherwise been wasted in the name of fine dining.

In this episode Douglas shares his 3 zero-waste pillars for success and he and Lizzie discuss the culture change needed to live a zero-waste life, get back to nature and encourage sustainable living. 

You can follow Douglas on instagram @mcmasterchef and his restaurant Silo here: https://silolondon.com

Also discussed was Oddbox, where you can rescue odd and surplus fruit & veg directly from the farm and help save the planet: https://www.oddbox.co.uk

Farmbox, ethically and sustainably sourced groceries direct from the farmers to you: https://www.farmdrop.com/ 

Doug’s 3 pillars  for zero-waste living shared in this episode

1. Direct Trade
2. Whole Food preparation
3. Composting

In this episode of Earth Shakers, Lizzie chats with Shani Dhanda, an award-winning disability specialist, listed as one of the UK's most influential disabled people. As a keynote speaker and practitioner for inclusion across business, government, non-profit and wider society, Shani helps organisations break barriers and integrate inclusion into their business frameworks.

Shani and Lizzie get comfortably uncomfortable dispelling myths and commonly held beliefs about disabled people, we learn how valuable inclusion is not only to humanity but to the business world as well, and Shani discusses what helped on her own journey of self discovery and acceptance of her own experiences living with a disability.

Shani's style and approach are described as 'a winning combination of authenticity and passion, helping to remove the awkwardness and fear of having confident conversations about disability within business and society.

In this episode Shani discusses her diversability Card initiative which you can read more about here: https://diversabilitycard.co.uk

@shanidhanda 

https://shanidhanda.com 

For the launch of Season 2, Earth Shakers host Lizzie Carr interviews actor and climate change activist Rainn Wilson. Rainn is best known for playing the role of Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office, but Rainn is also fiercely passionate about bringing attention to Climate Change and highlighting the work scientists are doing on the front-line.

In this episode Lizzie and Rainn discuss how Rainn moved into the Climate Change activism space, how celebrities can use their platforms for positive change and help get the message out from within the echo chambers of science, and of course they talk about his most famous role as Dwight from The Office and how Dwight’s alter-ego ReCyclops mimicked his own passions on Climate Change. 

Wilson co-founded SoulPancake, a digital media company, and the Lide Foundation (https://https://www.lidehaiti.org), an educational initiative in rural Haiti that empowers at-risk women and girls through the arts.

Rainn’s docu-series an “An Idiot’s Guide to Climate Change” can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nIMQrpDgaQ