Dr Tony Juniper CBE has devoted his entire life to campaigning for nature and has been described by journalists as “the most effective of Britain’s eco-warriors”.  

Tony began his career as an ornithologist and went on to join Friends of the Earth, initially leading the tropical rainforest campaign and later appointed as Executive Director and Vice Chair of Friends of the Earth International. Now he is Chair of Natural England and a prolific writer. His books about the rainforest, parrots, climate change and the ecological economy all place nature at their centre. And he can even credit King Charles as one of his co-authors.

Tony was nominated to be on the podcast by Craig Bennett, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts.

Sarah Mukherjee caught up with him at UN COP16 Biodiversity Summit, in the Colombian city of Cali in South American. They talked about his career, being consistent and encouraging diversity in sustainability - so that campaigners can include 'the whole world' in the important conversations about nature, "without which we are nothing."

Sustainable Matters … A podcast series full of solutions and optimism for a more sustainable world, brought to you by IEMA: transforming the world to sustainability

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Craig is Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts. He has been described as “one of the country’s top environmental campaigners”, by The Guardian as “the very model of a modern eco-general”.

In 2021, was included in The Sunday Times Green Power List of the UK’s top 20 environmentalists.

He and Sarah talk the episode which inspired Craig to get into all things 'green' , how COP summits really work and what needs to be done now to make real change to our planet.

Sustainable Matters … A podcast series full of solutions and optimism for a more sustainable world, brought to you by IEMA: transforming the world to sustainability

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Martin Lines is a third generation farmer from Cambridgeshire, who takes his role as custodian of the land very seriously.

He is also CEO of The Nature Friendly Farming Network which advocates for sustainable food and farming in the UK.

Martin was nominated for the podcast by the food writer and campaigner Henry Dimbleby, who says he loves the way Martin 'shows' rather than 'tells' when he talks about things that work.

You can see Martin in action on YouTube, where he gives detailed accounts of the things he has tried on his farm.

In this episode, Martin talks about his school days and his ambitions for the future as well as the challenges he had pivoting the farm away from older production techniques.

Sustainable Matters … A podcast series full of solutions and optimism for a more sustainable world, brought to you by IEMA: transforming the world to sustainability

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Henry is the author of the National Food Strategy, co-author of The School Food Plan, founder of the Chefs in Schools and the restaurant chain Leon.

He is also the author of a new book called Ravenous - described as a “jaw dropping guide to the modern food system”. He wrote the book with his wife, Jemima Lewis. 

In this interview we talk about Henry’s love of food which ranges from cooking it, selling it, studying it and helping us to make better choices about it: As individuals and ( he hopes) as a country. 

He also nominates Martin Lines as the next guest in the series, as someone who is full of good ideas about making food production more sustainable.

Sustainable Matters … A podcast series full of solutions and optimism for a more sustainable world, brought to you by IEMA: transforming the world to sustainability

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Polly Billington, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for East Thanet at the next election. 

She worked as a reporter for the BBC for many years, before leaving to become a special advisor to Ed Miliband - she was the media director for his successful bid to lead the Labour party in 2010. 

In 2016, she founded UK100, a network of local government leaders in the UK, who have committed to ambitious action on climate, clean energy and clean air. She was the CEO until 2022.

Polly was nominated for the podcast by Rachel Kyte, whose interview was episode 3 in our podcast series.

In this episode she talks about being practical, realistic and joined up in effecting change for communities in the UK. She also reflects on her career in the media and her new job working in politics.

Sustainable Matters … A podcast series full of solutions and optimism for a more sustainable world, brought to you by IEMA: transforming the world to sustainability

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Rachel Kyte was named by Time magazine as one of the 15 women leading climate action. She is an extremely accomplished and experienced leader, with an appetite to keep on learning.

She has worked at the UN and with the World Bank, was the Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All, and was the 14th dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University until June 2023.

In this episode she talks about the influence her dad and the Girl guides had on her, and she reminisces about growing up in the East of England.

She is optimistic about the next generation and hopeful that change can happen if people work in community.

Her TED talk on sustainable cooling mentioned in the show is here.

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Abadesi Osunsade is the founder of Hustle Crew which exists to make workplaces fairer. She says her childhood spent overseas as the daughter of a diplomat, plus the tragic loss of her sister helped to make her curious about the world and determined to do what she could to make it better.

Sarah talks to Abadesi about why inclusion matters for sustainability and how her upbringing taught her to see and acknowledge the differences we face in life.

Abasedi Osunsade was nominated by Anne Marie Imafidon who said she wanted more people to know about Hustle Crew.

You can find out more about THINGTESTING and Heata which Abasedi mentioned in her interview by clicking these links.

At the end of the episode, we asked Abasedi to nominate her hero. She named Guppi Bola founder of decolonising economics.

Sustainable Matters … A podcast series full of solutions and optimism for a more sustainable world, brought to you by IEMA, the global professional body for professionals, transforming the world to sustainability

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Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE is a maths whizz - famously passing her maths A level at 11 years old.

Ten years ago, she founded the Stemettes, a social enterprise working to inspire and support girls, young women and non-binary people in STEM and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) careers.

She passionately believes that technology can help with the sustainability mission if we invite everyone in to think about how.  

Anne Marie is president of the British Science Association and was voted the most influential woman in tech in the UK in 2020. She was awarded an MBE in 2017 for her work as a renowned champion and inspiration for women in the world STEM. 

Anne Marie's book is called She's in CTRL 

As part of her episode, Anne-Marie nominates her hero. She chose Abadesi Osunsade of the Hustle Crew who will appear in the next episode.

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Sustainable Matters is a show for anyone interested in sustainability, hosted by former BBC environment correspondent Sarah Mukherjee. Sarah is now CEO of IEMA,  the worldwide alliance of environment and sustainability professionals.

Experts in the fields of: technology, food production, climate change and conservation talk to Sarah about their big ideas, their career challenges and their hopes for a more sustainable future. Follow the show to hear from guests including: Anne-Marie Imafidon, Henry Dimbleby and Rachel Kyte.

Each expert will also nominate a hero who has inspired them - and we will chat to them, too.

Sustainable Matters: a podcast from IEMA, the global membership body for people working, studying or interested in environment and sustainability.

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