The Burning Case

Have you ever taken part in a protest, signed a petition or shared a campaign on social media? Then you've already been accustomed to the different forms activism can take.

In today's episode, we deep dive into what organising, mobilising and campaigning mean with two amazing guests: Ned Howey, CEO at Tectonica Digital Campaigning and Natasha Josette, Co-founder and Director at Breathe.

We look into defining these concepts and how they translate into our everyday lives.
Our guests give us concrete examples on how to organise and what kind of challenges we are currently facing.

We talk about how organising creates deeper connections with people and how we must consider including the notion of care into every form of action we take on etc.

Find here Tectonica's Five Part Framework on digital action which helps understand and assess digital actions and its report on the State of Digital Organising in Europe.

Learn more about the amazing work done by Breathe here.

Welcome back to a new season of The Burning Case Podcast!

We’re kicking off this season with an episode all about the European Commission’s proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence and the amazing campaign “Justice is Everybody’s Business”.  With our two guests: Anya Verkamp (Campaign Coordinator - Justice is Everybody's Business) and Jill McArdle (Corporate Accountability Campaigner at FOE Europe) we discuss what corporate accountability actually is, why it is so important, what the Commission’s proposal contains, how it compares to expectations from citizens and NGOs and so much more.

This proposal could lead to a historic piece of legislation bringing about a fairer world where workers and the livelihoods of communities are both protected and respected. However, the proposal is already being threatened by corporate lobbyist who aim to water it down. Hence, our guests give us practical advice on how to get involved and make sure European companies are held accountable for the way they do business.

Learn more about the “Justice is Everybody’s Business” campaign here.

Our guests also share what they’ve read/seen/heard which gives them hope! Anya recommends  reading “Due diligence law will help global competition of systems, says German minister” and Jill tells us about Sierra Leone’s “right to say no” law which will give local communities the right to say no to big projects likely to destroy their livelihoods.

Have you heard of the EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities? In short, it is a classification system aimed to help companies, investors and policymakers better understand which economic activities can be considered as environmentally sustainable.

On paper it all sounds good, unfortunately dark forces (you know who we are talking about…) have been at play to water down the taxonomy and make the unimaginable happen, namely classify gas and nuclear as “green”.

In this episode, we discuss the taxonomy more in depth with two very special guests, namely Michael Bloss, MEP, Greens/Europe Free Alliance and Dominika Lasota, Climate activist/#NotMyTaxonomy campaigner.

We discuss the crucial vote which will be happening most likely on the 6th July at the EU Parliament, where MEPs will decide to include gas and nuclear in the taxonomy or to reject it. Our guests give us important insight on what has been happening behind the scenes and what can still be done by citizens to prevent the taxonomy in its current shape from being approved.

Below are some resources to help you take action:

• Sign a petition: 
  • We Move Europe petition: Stop Fake Green!
  • Greens/EFA petition: Stop the greenwashing of gas and nuclear power in the taxonomy
• Write your MEP: You can take a look at the list of MEPs on the EP’s website https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/home or contact the local representation of your MEP.
• Post or share content on social media - we will be providing useful material on The Burning Case’s Instagram so stay tuned - you can use the hashtag #NotMyTaxonomy
• Take part in an action locally or if you can - join the protest in Strasbourg. More information here
• Follow Fridays For Future for the latest updates on the #NotMyTaxonomy campaign: https://www.instagram.com/fridaysforfuture.europe/?hl=en

Did you know that around 1/3 of fruit and vegetables in the EU are contaminated with toxic pesticide residue?

This staggering figure comes from the report “Forbidden Fruit”recently released by Pan Europe, in which they reveal that the amount of fruit contaminated with the most hazardous category of pesticides, linked to a range of chronic diseases including cancers, cardiovascular problems or diabetes, is following a startling increase.

The report examines data shared by national authorities between 2011 and 2019 and sheds light on how Member States have failed to implement EU regulation aimed at phasing-out such highly dangerous pesticides.

In this episode, we talk to Salomé Roynel, Campaigner at Pan Europe, about the outcomes of the report including the trends they have uncovered, what they mean for consumers, but also for the environment. We also discuss the lack of action taken by Member States to reverse the pesticide curve as well as the role of the pesticide industry and lobby in discrediting “viable alternatives” and using food insecurity as an argument to push for more pesticides.

Pan Europe “Forbidden Fruit” report: https://www.pan-europe.info/sites/pan-europe.info/files/public/resources/reports/ForbiddenFruit_01.pdf

The Ukraine war is, sadly, the latest conflict to once again shed light on the links between fossil fuel and global conflicts. While in this aforementioned case, the invasion is not justified by the seize of fossil fuel resources, Putin is able to get away with so much only because Europeans are so incredibly dependent on Russian oil and gas. 

We seem to be following a historic pattern, where most conflicts in the last century have been in one way or another linked to fossil fuels.  In this episode we take a look at how companies  operating in the fossil fuel industry take advantage of ongoing conflicts and influence governments to their advantage despite the great human and environmental loss. 

What exactly does this relationship look like? How do fossil fuel companies influence governments in times of conflicts? Would a transition to renewable energy prevent future conflicts? We discuss all of this with award winning journalist and podcast host Amy Westerwelt of Drilled and Hot Take.

Have you ever felt like traditional politics do not best serve your political rights? In this special 3-episode series we take a look at how people-powered politics might be better fitted to express political voices today.

The first episode focuses on the complex relationship between young generations  and traditional politics today. How contrary to popular belief they are far from being disengaged politically and rather simply choose to express their opinions, views, voices in different ways, which tend to break from tradition. We also asked ourselves whether change could happen within the current system or whether we needed a whole new system.

To help us answer all our questions and better understand youth politics, we had the pleasure of talking to Petar Markovic, Heard of Mission of Montenegro to the European Union.

This episode was recorded a few days after the Russia-Ukraine war started. We are deeply saddened by the tragic events unfolding. Below are some useful resources if you would like (and in the position) to donate.
 
International Committee of the Red Cross
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Unicef
SaveLife
Razom
Caritas Ukraine

You can also help by joining protests organised in a city near you and by sharing information (please verify your sources beforehand)  with your friends and family.

Below you can sign the youth-led European Citizens' Initiative mentioned during the episode - Voters Without Borders which aims to give EU citizens full political rights. 

Chemicals are everywhere today: in the air we breathe, the food we eat and the water we drink.

But did you know the production of chemical products has multiplied by 50 since 1950, and that it is expected to triple again by 2050? Meanwhile, the total mass of plastics on the planet is now more than double the mass of all living mammals, and around 80% of all plastics ever produced remain in the environment,

These are some of the numbers that prompted the Stokholm Resilience Center to announce that we, humanity, have officially crosssed the 5th planetary boundary, the one on chemical pollution.

Each of the 9 boundary has indicators, under which living conditions on Earth remain favorable and "safe" for humans. While this is a pretty big deal, it's been barely covered in mainstream media, just like every other climate and environmental news.

In this episode, we discuss with Dr. Bethanie Carney Almroth, a professor of ecotoxicology and Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez, a PhD candidate at the Stockholm Resilience Centre about the planetary boundaries, the coverage of science in media, the influence of the chemical lobby and what policy makers should do to tackle chemical pollution. 

Did your energy bill increase dramatically recently? Rest assured, you're not alone. 

Europe, and most of the rest of the world is experiencing "historically high energy prices" - with disastrous consequences for the millions of people who live in energy poverty. But why now? What caused this spike? 

And how does it affect our journey towards more renewables? After all, some might say that more renewables will threaten the security of supply and make prices increase even more?

At the exact same time, the EU released its "taxonomy", a list of activities deemed green and in which investors can safely invest. Guess what? Nuclear and fossil gas are included despite being - obviously - no green sources of energy. So what's the story behind this? How does that affect our depency on Russia for gas supply? And more importantely, what can we do to prevent this non sense?

Tara Connolly, senior gas campaigner at Global Witness answered all our (something naive) questions on the issue and gave us hope about our energy future.

Have you ever seen an ad for Total, Shell or BP bragging about their climate commitments and thought "what the hell am I looking at and how can they be so shameless"?

And those campaigns are not only designed and developed to influence individuals and convince us that the fossil fuel industry is doing a good job, they're also targetting policy makers.

The very people that should lead us on a path to decarbonisation and a greener and fairer society are the targets of carefully crafted campaigns developed by creative agencies often unkown by the general public that are hired by polluting industries to make them look great.

In this episode, we're taking another trip behind the scences of corporate influence and decision making, why we're still very much facing a climate emergency and the role of creative agencies and pr firms in delaying climate action with Clean Creatives director, Duncan Meisel. 

Expect Exxon, Edelman, hydrogen and Shell to make appearances.

With #COP26 only days away, we decided to dive into the UK's government claim to "deliver the most inclusive COP ever".

For a few months now, there's been a strong backlash from many activists and frontline communities on this promise as between vaccine inequality, difficult visa procedures and skyrocketing cost of travel and lodging, it's been an extremely hard journey to access the COP.

To understand those challenges, who will be attending, the role of fossil fuel corporations and the consequences of this unfair access, we talked to Ayisha Siddiqa, co-founder and executive director of Polluters Out. 

If you're still unsure of whether you should give it a listen, read this "only very selected few will be able to attend COP26. Those who are privileged enough to afford vaccines, expensive flights and are lucky to find housing. It is a showcase of inequity as its finest".