Amplify

The final episode for this season features mental health advocate and climate justice activist Tori Tsui. We talk about eco-anxiety, climate grief, climate doomism in news cycles and how that affects both our wellbeing and activism. We unpack the role of social media and celebrity culture in this and discuss how mental health issues can be a double-edged sword that is used to vilify and dismiss the lived experiences of BIPOC communities. 

In this episode I am in conversation with Nishanth Chopra, founder of Oshadi a seed-to-stitch supply chain initiative, based around a regenerative cotton farm in a village in Tamil Nadu. Established as a contemporary womenswear label in 2015, over the years the project has evolved into an artisan collective and textile supplier. now housing an entire seed-to-sew supply chain in which fibres are farmed, spun, naturally dyed, woven and sewn all within a ten-kilometre radius. 

I am in conversation with Dr. Theanne Schiros, an Associate Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology and cofounder of Werewool, a biotech company creating biodegradable textile fibres. We talk about how plastic became such a ubiquitous force in our daily lives and the problem of waste colonialism. 

Disha Ravi is a climate justice activist and founding member of Fridays for Future India. In this episode we talk about how FFF has galvanised communities globally, on what an environmentally just future for India looks like and how to sustain activism. 

Welcome to brand new Season 4 of Amplify! In conversation with Jojo Mehta the cofounder and executive director of Stop Ecocide International we talk about what ecocide is, how it has been used in warfare and why criminalising it is an important step. Learn more about how you can support Jojo here. Stay up to date with Amplify news here. 

For the final episode of Season 3 I am in conversation with Vidya Viswanathan the Director of the Environmental Justice program at Centre of Policy Research-Namati. This program has created a network of grassroots legal professionals who research questions regarding environment law implementation and citizens' empowement by participating in the process of resolving environmental non compliance and related impacts that affect communities. The program's paralegals are trained in basic law and in skills like mediation, education, and legal doctrine. Through this process, the Program builds an epistemic community geared towards finding solutions to environmental challenges. And in today’s episode we talk about how we can demystify law to empower people and hold corporations accountable. Thank you so much for all your support so far! Stay up to date with Amplify on Instagram @amplifypodcast! 

This week I am in conversation with Harish Hande who is the founder and CEO of SELCO an enterprise in in Bangalore that seeks to inspire and implement socially, financially and inclusive solutions by improving access to sustainable energy. They design decentralised, replicable models for clean access to energy keeping grassroots communities as their central focus. Some of the questions we address are what decentralised, just renewable energy systems look like and why there exists this trade off between development and climate action when it comes to policymaking. As ever don't forget to subscribe to our podcast and follow us on the socials: @amplifypodcast. Happy listening! 

This week I am in conversation with the one and only Dr. Vandana Shiva, a veteran environmental activist, physicist, ecologist and author. We talk about her body of work from agro-ecology to eco-feminism, from bringing Monsanto to heel to the new forms of 're-globalisation' that are occurring and how regardless of who wins the presidential elections in the US our ecological commitment must carry on. There is also a video version of our interview on YouTube where you can see our host gazing with awe and adoration if you wish. There's an exciting announcement in the episode about a new book that Dr. Shiva has released and you can find out more about how to support her and her work at https://navdanya.org/site/. As ever don't forget to like, share, rate, review, follow and subscribe to us for more interesting conversations with environmental heroes on https://instagram.com/amplifypodcast and see you next week.