Transforming Our Futures

In this Podcast we interview Richard Gourlay who is the Director of Strategic Development in the North Mid Hospital NHS Trust. 

Here he talks about the fact that the climate crisis is a health crisis and the impact this has on his own Trust in the way they plan for the future and develop their services.  

Not only do they try to make their own site more sustainable but they also work with other statutory authorities and communities to tackle the problems that climate change will make worse like air pollution, the lack of green spaces and heat stress.  

They know that it is the most vulnerable and marginalised communities that will suffer the most and work in partnership to reach out so that there is a greater equality of health provision.  

Richard took up his current role in May 2016, having joined the hospital in February 2011 as General Manager for clinical support services and specialist medicine. From 2012 he led the hospital’s operational reconfiguration for the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Clinical Strategy. He has 20 years of acute hospital management experience, working predominantly across north London, managing medical and surgical specialties.

In this Podcast we interview Jenny Chapman who talks about her work of those of her colleagues in the London school eco network.

This is a network of schools that have got together to collaborate on addressing climate change both in creating carbon zero schools but also on integrating climate change into the school curriculum.

They are part of the Sustainable Schools Network and they host their website on “Transform Our World.”

Jenny talks about the work she and others do around issues such as food, air pollution and much more. She tells us how important integrating climate change in the whole school curriculum is and although that is beginning to happen, she says there is still a long way to go.

Jenny recommends that we look at the following websites for more information.

https://letsgozero.org/

https://addresspollution.org/

https://www.actionforcleanair.org.uk/campaigns/clean-air-day

https://www.transform-our-world.org/ukssn

https://www.transform-our-world.org/ukssn/london-schools-eco-network

https://www.transform-our-world.org/

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sustainability-and-climate-change-strategy/sustainability-and-climate-change-a-strategy-for-the-education-and-childrens-services-systems

In this Podcast we interview Geof Jukes who is a music promoter who managed Kate Bush, Bob Geldof, Underworld and a number of other notable British musicians and bands.

But recently he has turned his attention to climate change and with his colleague Robin Bath has produced a book where through illustrations and photographs children tell their story about climate change, their hopes for the future and also their deep anxiety.

This book is now available for schools and many are already using it as part of their efforts to address climate change in the classroom. The response was enormous. Schools and even Tibetan monasteries were eager to share young people’s thoughts, fears and feelings on how climate change is rapidly unfolding to their peril, in art works which are heartfelt and creative

In this Podcast we talk to Geof about this and the campaign they are now launching around the work they have done.

In this Podcast Melanie Harwood from EduCCate Global discusses how climate change can be taught in schools. EduCCate Global has set up three levels of teacher training around climate change that focusses on how to teach it in schools using a cross curriculum method.

It is an essentially team approach to teaching climate change where the emergency of climate change is embedded in the total school. It is a system that goes beyond merely teach about mitigation and adaptation but engages students in a problem solving approach to taking action to transform their environment.

EduCCate Global has schools engaged in this across the world with several hundred in the UK.

In this Podcast we interview Rudi Page a policy implementation specialist for Workforce Development, Knowledge Transfer and a skilled facilitator within politically sensitive environments at Board and senior management levels.

Here we discuss how you can create dialogue to extend engagement hard to reach groups and we look at this around the important issue of climate change and public health.

Rudi has specialised in the initiation and strategic direction of programmes and projects that influence the way that individuals and organisations access, communicate and engage with and respond to education, healthcare, cultural learning, regeneration, business support and local economic development.

Rudi devised the “Synergy Project”, a strategic communication and development tool now being used by Government Agencies, Academia, Private, Public and Not-for-profit organisations.

The Synergy Model provides institutions with a cultural insight into the needs and aspirations of diverse communities (hard to reach groups), whilst building the capacity of ethnic communities to understand the wider political and strategic context within which they are placed.

Join us in this Podcast where we interview Gregory Cohn from the Charity Seeds For Growth.

They are an amazing organisation that works with disadvantaged communities and often tenants, through a series of activities and projects to help develop well being. These include community gardens, food co-ops, support for the unemployed and they also have a criminal justice initiative in operation.

They work towards reducing our carbon footprint and sustainability which they know at a time of climate change is vital for all our communities.

They started it all in Tower Hamlets but are now planning to expand their work throughout the UK

They are a great example of how the health and well being of disadvantage communities can be improved at a time of climate change through engagement and the development of community resilience.

In this Podcast we interview Isaac Beevor from Climate Emergency UK where we explore their efforts to score the success of Local authorities climate action plans. It has already scored the efforts of Enfield Council and placed it below average.

With the help of may councillors and council officers they have developed a Climate Action Explorer that collects UK Council Climate Action Plans in a single database, alongside some data on area emissions estimates within the scope of influence of councils.

It’s being developed by Climate Emergency UK and mySociety, with input from a range of council climate officers, climate specialists, researchers, and journalists.

It assesses the success of local authorities in several areas like mitigation, adaption, community engagement, diversity and more - and does this with the use of volunteers across the UK

It is an ongoing project that will continue as the months go on as local authorities are scored as they implement their climate action plans.

In this Podcast we interview Chandra Bhatia. Of the Enfield Racial Equality Council (EREC)

Enfield Racial Equality Council’s mission is to actively promote and seek to implement a racially just, fair and equitable society which will enhance the quality of life for all who live, work and learn in the London Borough of Enfield.

We discuss how it started, what it does and how it has changed over the years as Enfield has become a much more diverse community of people.

How important is it to still fight for equality and how do the new challenges of climate change and the Borough East/West divide impact on the work that EREC does.

Join this Podcast with Anthony Fisher where we discuss the power of ideas.

Anthony is interesting as he says he has a “butterfly mind” and that the excitement of ideas is important in business, in our communities and in government.

Anthony founded Chela a company that supplies a range of specialist industrial cleaning solutions for the mass transport market but it has a research department that works to ensure that the products it produces are sustainable and with a low carbon footprint. In business he believe that having the idea about sustainability is the first step to creating a company that reflects it.

He is also a founder of Enfield poets and believe that poetry is a major way of communicating ideas and surpassing the constraints of conventional language.

Idea he believes are powerful and they can change the world.

Join us in this Podcast with Rembrandt Koppelaar where we look at the circular economy and how can be and should be applied locally. How do we move from a linear production mode where we produce, make and then waste to a circular one where we produce, make and then reuse is a central question when addressing climate change.

Rembrandt talks about how this could be done and especially how we can tackle waste without long term plans for incineration. Rembrandt is Head of the Circular Economy at Ecowise who ambition is to improve sustainability in urban ecosystems by continuing to develop smart analytics and cloud-based software solutions

Rembrandt is a senior expert in Circular Economy, Economics, Modelling, environmental material/product assessment, and techno-economic analysis. He holds a PhD degree from Imperial College London’s Centre for Environmental Policy and is experienced in leading work packages in large EU projects. He also has published two books and several articles about the future of energy, materials, society, technology, and the circular economy.