Ever heard of PBAT, poly lactic acid and plastic eating bacteria? Or the Noble prize winning reaction olefin metathesis? Well they’re all solutions to the problematic plastic waste problem, and solutions is what this episode is all about. We also discuss how a different food culture could be a solution to the oceans of plastics that end up in, yes, our oceans.

Alex is still fresh and rested back in Sweden while Mats has somewhat bewildered had to accept that working life has begun again. To make things easier, we talk about a subject Mats is working on on a daily basis: Plastics.What is, or rather, ARE plastics? Why is recycling it so difficult? And why does it pose such a pervasive environmental threat?

We discuss nuclear, something we realise we haven’t done yet despite over a year of podcasting. Is nuclear a friend or foe? Mats presents the bright future of nuclear and introduces the Thorium reactor. The discussion revolves around risks and centralisation of energy.

A bit of a late anniversary celebration for the Mats & Alexander räddar världen podcast. We record from Alexanders cottage near Nyköping, accompanied by a cracking fire.

We talk about Alex agricultural plans, and talk about what we've learnt in the past year. Mats is overall quite optimistic about the future, but recent political turmoil in the world. Anyway, cheers and welcome to the next year!

We’re taking on the third part of Naomi Klein’s book ’This Changes Everything’. The discussion revolves around the importance of place and the transient nature of the fossil fuel industry that tends to totally devastate the local cultures where it mines its resources. We also talk about ‘Blockadia’ which is Klein’s term for the movement that tries to stop mining all over the world. The discussion also includes a good dose circular economy and how fossil resources gives us the freedom to not work, whereas renewable energy requires that more people are working in the energy sector, whether that’s good or bad…

Correction: The value of the Ecuadorian oil is $7 billion, not $12 billion as Mats mentions towards the end of the discussion (p. 408 in the book), still a large stranded asset!

In the second part of the book review of Naomi Klein's 'This changes everything', Mats & Alex are pretty much in agreement with Klein's assessment of big philantrophists trying to 'save the world': The approach doesn't work, partly because it's driven by the wrong agenda. Geoengineering is also covered, leading to a reflection of why we always tend towards 'technical solutions' rather than addressing root causes of a problem.

@reflectiveengg

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Mats and Alexander are having a book circle, reading Naomi Kleins ‘This Changes Everything’ from 2014. This episode deals with the first part of the book.

The discussion is centred on Klein’s claim that climate change ‘changes everything’. Mats and Alexander discuss public spending, tar sand and liberalism vs. socialism.

In this episode, we look at climate-change (or other environmentally) induced disasters, and what it means in terms of migration and human displacement. Using the ongoing 'refugee crisis' in Europe as a proxy, Mats argues that we need to be much better prepared for these immigration numbers in the future, and reframe them as opportunities, not problems.

Alex points out the potential links to climate change in already ongoing conflicts, and in the end proposes a radical new model for how refugees / immigrants can be helped to get to work and start participating in the economy. 

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@reflectiveengg

In this episode, Sara Heinrich joins us to talk education. She shares her view on how education has to change to suit a world in rapid change, facing several huge sustainability challenges.

The world is changing more rapidly than ever and we need to teach our kids creativity, complexity, economics and a lust for experimentation to prepare them for the task to create a sustainable world. 

Mats is amazed by the new online education possibilities and the amount of knowledge available to everyone today, and Alexander brings in the local perspective with indigenous knowledge as a pillar for a more resilient local future.

In this episode the Mats & Alexander duo is reinforced by Anders, our house capitalist and oil & gas expert.

We talk about the fascinating topic of peak oil – what is it and will it ever happen? Why is the oil price so low and is this now the new normal? And what does it mean for the hopes of replacing fossil fuels with renewables?

SINCERE APOLOGIES FOR THE POOR SOUND QUALITY, we will do our best not to repeat that mistake.

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@matsllinder

@andersnorlen