Amplify

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. 

I am in conversation with Ayushi Trivedi a Gender and Social Equity Research Analyst at the World Resources Institute in Washington DC. Her research at WRI has focused on women’s role in natural resource management, gender and social equity as a solution to improved sustainability and promoting inclusive and equitable climate action. The topic we’re looking at this week is water. An essential resource that industries, energy production, our food systems depend on. It’s vital for sanitation, hygiene and access to clean, drinking water is a basic human right. Yet more than a billion people currently live in water-scarce regions and as many as 3.5 billion could experience water scarcity by 2025. Water scarcity affects women in particular who are responsible for domestic chores of cooking, cleaning, caretaking globally and are doubly affected when you take into account their employment in agriculture. Water can be used as a weapon of conflict, it can be a ground for war against governments and people and it can cause mass migration of populations. Of course climate change will only exacerbate issues of water availability which in turn affects gender equality, public health and a whole host of other issues. In this episode we’ll be looking at what water security is, how it affects women, Day Zero in Chennai in 2019 and grassroots initiatives of water management that policymakers can learn from. The link to the report we talk about in the episode is free to read: https://www.wri.org/publication/ending-conflicts-over-water. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn, subscribe to us via your podcast provider and share our episode on social media. 

I am in conversation with Lauren Ornelas the founder and director of Food Empowerment Project a food justice nonprofit working at the intersection of veganism, farm and produce worker rights and accessibility, nutrition and health. COVID19 has simultaneously caused disruptions to the food system and brought to fore the labour force that is truly essential to our economies in addition to medical practitioners. Farmers, producers, growers, grocery store owners and assistants, food delivery people and many more in the supply chains are working day and night for meagre returns and virtually no safety net. How do we acknowledge their labour in a way that goes beyond applause on our windows at a premeditated time? Then there’s the issue of what we eat. On the other hand though awareness of plant-based diets is increasing year on year many are still not able to extend their empathy for nonhuman animals to human beings who are for instance migrant workers from BIPOC communities experiencing issues such as wage theft in the US or farmers in India protesting against the new agricultural reforms to maintain the minimum support price system amongst other historic issues of debt and financial stress. So how do we go beyond focusing on individual behaviour of swapping our meat for micro greens and rallying for food justice and equity holistically? Please do listen, learn and support FEP's work over at https://foodispower.org. Subscribe to our podcast via your provider, follow us on Instagram https://instagram.com/amplifypodcast/ and give us a shoutout whenever you can. 

In conversation with Choco Evangelist Ynzo van Zanten of Tony’s Chocolonely a company that sells commercially successful 100% slave-free chocolate across the world. We get into how Tony’s Chocolonely came to be and challenge the assumption that being sustainable and ethics means staying small. It is possible to be financially viable and ethically sound and in fact extremely important in these times. Building a just and equitable future of work requires thinking big and also looking at companies who’re paving the way for others. As they say you can’t be what you can’t see. Don’t forget to rate and review us via your podcast provider and follow, share, subscribe etc. Keep in touch with us via our social media @amplifypodcast. Happy listening!

Welcome to Season 3 Episode 1! I’m in conversation with Olivia Owens who is the founding member and the business development and partnerships manager of IFundWomen of Colour. IFundWomen is the go-to marketplace for women-owned businesses and the people who want to fund them. They offer immediate access to capital through a premium online fundraising experience where entrepreneurs can access small business grants from corporate partners, expert business coaching and a network of other entrepreneurs. Olivia and I talk about the funding gap that exists, the systemic biases that prevail where women are unable to access debt-free capital to embark on their entrepreneurial journeys. How does this affect BIPOC entrepreneurs? How can we build an equitable future of work? Tune in to hear us talk about the work required to change the funding landscape so that women can start, scale, sustain and thrive as business owners. If you're a budding entrepreneur in the USA I urge you to check their work out: https://ifundwomen.com. As ever, please do like, follow, subscribe and stay in touch via our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amplifypodcast/. Until next week!