Transforming Tomorrow

The future is coming – who will be there to lead us into it? Some companies are operating with the future in mind, but how much and how so? What legacy will they leave behind?

Professor Nick Barter, from Griffith University, in Australia, returns to discuss the concept of generational governance – where organisations consider the next generation in their actions.

Nick tells us whether we are closer to the Future Normal being normal now, looks at how we think 30 years ahead, and reveals the importance of bringing younger people into the boardroom – and even having next generation advisory boards.

We consider existing examples of companies with future boards in place; talk about how Wales and Finland set examples for other countries to follow; wonder how we can help the next generation move in the right direction; and dig deeper into Nick’s survey of companies across the UK, Japan, and Australia, to see what it reveals about attitudes and practices around generational governance.

Plus, why is everything 5 out of 10 in Japan, how have we lost sight of the meaning of sustainability, what are the origins of Nintendo, and – possibility most importantly – how sustainable are the Moomins?

See how Wales has integrated future generations into its thinking: https://futuregenerations.wales/

Take a glimpse into the Finnish Committee for the Future: https://www.parliament.fi/EN/valiokunnat/tulevaisuusvaliokunta/Pages/default.aspx

Read about Dr Innan Sasaki’s work on ancient companies in Japan: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/research/fifty-four-degrees/old-and-crafty

And discover more about Nick’s work on his Future Normal site: https://futurenormal.net/

Episode Transcript

Did you make an action figure avatar of yourself? Do you ask ChatGPT every time you have a question? Does Co-Pilot write your emails for you?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, did you think about the energy consumption and sustainability consequences?

We tell you how much energy a ChatGPT search uses – and as generative AI becomes increasingly commonplace, and infrastructure spring up around the world to cope with demand, we need to understand these often-invisible costs that come with it. It might even cost you a loaf from your local bakery!

Professor Adrian Friday – still not a fan of the Sustainable Development Goals – returns to talk to us about data centres, what they are, how big they are, and what happens in them; who they provide services for; their need for rare earth metals; and the need to cool and power them – and to deal with the heat they generate. It turns out data centres use more energy each year than Italy – and the demand is growing faster than the system can cope with.

We discover why Adrian’s picture (with silly hat included) is stuck on Paul’s fridge; contemplate the logistical difficulties of putting a data centre at the bottom of the sea; discuss the potential need to take an army of ninjas to change a lightbulb; realise the importance of AI to the survival of the Welsh language; and rant about the blanket default of AI across all of life.

And remember, to turn off the AI functionality of a ‘normal’ Google search, simply type ‘-ai’ at the end of your search.

A UK Parliament research briefing provides an entry point to our discussions: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10315/

And discover more about Adrian’s work here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/sci-tech/about-us/people/adrian-friday

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People are trafficked illegally around the world every day. They are coerced and exploited – the victims of criminal gangs, of war, of poverty, and are exploited for commercial and sexual means.

We return to the topic of modern slavery, this time with someone who has experience on the ground in the UK, Greece, Australia, and Bangladesh, and who has some shocking tales to tell.

Kyla Raby is an antislavery specialist completing her PhD at the University of South Australia. She has designed and managed support services for refugees and survivors of trafficking, is a Non-Executive Director of Be Slavery Free, and was an inaugural member of the New South Wales Anti-Slavery Commissioner's advisory panel. In other words, she knows her stuff.

We uncover the extent of human trafficking into the UK and the development of response services; how Modern Slavery Acts in Britain and Australia changed the situation in the two countries; the problem of forced marriage and domestic violence; the importance of recognising the impact of trauma on trafficking victims and building support structures; and the problem of relying on consumer behaviour to force corporations to change their actions on modern slavery in their supply chains.

Kyla talks us through her time in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee camp on the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar – home to around 1.4 million people (which would make it the second-largest city in the UK). This is a hotspot for human trafficking, and one negatively affected by cuts to global aid funding. And we compare this with Greece in 2016, towards the end of the refugee crisis.

Kyla is also Australian, prompting Jan to test Paul out on his knowledge of the differences between New Zealand and Oz, and create a new species of koala bears made from kiwi fruit.

Watch the Everyday Slavery series here: https://www.youtube.com/@Everyday_Slavery

Find out about the Palermo Protocol, designed to present, suppress and punish trafficking in persons: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/protocol-prevent-suppress-and-punish-trafficking-persons

And the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act: https://oag.ca.gov/SB657

And, finally, discover more about Kyla and her work here: https://people.unisa.edu.au/Kyla.Raby#About-me

Episode Transcript

What’s the weather like in space? This isn’t the British obsession with the weather gone made, it really exists!

It may not be covered in the TV forecasts, but it affects our lives – and on technology.

This is not Michael Fish and telling us about rain on Mars, or storms on Jupiter, but how solar activity influences us on earth.

Jim Wild is President-Elect of the Royal Astronomical Society and a Professor of Space Physics at Lancaster University, and is perfectly placed to tell us all about what space weather is.

He brings us up to (light) speed about solar flares, predicting the sun’s behaviour, how space operators can protect themselves, how it might affect you and your phone, the importance of the Earth’s magnetic field (and its similarities with the shields on the Starship Enterprise), monitoring the aurora borealis, and his work with UK infrastructure operators on the risk of space weather to their operations.

Plus, we learn about the Carrington Event in 1859, when telegraph lines went haywire after a giant solar flare erupted. What might happen if something similar were to occur in the modern electronic world? How often do these big solar events happen (and could they be bigger)? And how does it all tie in with the Northern Lights over Lancaster and GPS glitches for farmers and their tractors in California?

You can find out about Aurora Watch UK here: https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/

See the latest space weather forecasts from the UK Met Office here: https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/specialist-forecasts/space-weather

And discover more about Jim and his work here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/sci-tech/about-us/people/jim-wild

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It has been a turbulent nine months for the world of sustainability – and for Transforming Tomorrow. So, what have we learned?

Paul and Jan look back over the series and discover themes that run through our guests’ thoughts on sustainability – whether they were with us to talk about plastics or biodiversity, Morecambe Bay or Malaysia.

It’s a chance to talk about how things have already changed since we talked to some guests and pick out our favourite moments from a packed series.

We consider the recognition of the importance of long-term resilience and determination to change and progress; realise just how wide a reach there is to the sustainability world; celebrate what once was theory being turned into practice; and place hope in the next generation.

Plus, we find the time to discuss which of our hosts is most likely to murder the other (and Jan’s possession of a new sword); give Luxembourg it’s due when it comes to asteroid mining; and lament Paul’s ice hockey tipping prowess.

Transforming Tomorrow will return for a third season in autumn 2025.

Episode Transcript

You might not see climate change on your doorstep every day, but you can see biodiversity loss.

Find out what businesses are doing to address biodiversity concerns, and how they can be helped to improve their actions.

Dr Michael Burgass is from Biodiversify, a consultancy company that uses cutting-edge science to develop biodiversity strategies for some of the world’s largest companies. He has long been interested in how people interact with their environment.

As businesses have become more interested and engaged with biodiversity, Michael is working with companies who are at the heart of some of the planet’s biggest issues. The mainstreaming of biodiversity into company planning means just about all organisations are becoming involved.

We learn about spatial science, physical risk and transition risk, look at action and implementation over discussion and policy, discuss why big companies are listening to external experts when it comes to biodiversity education, the impacts of biodiversity loss on supply chains, and how the Science Based Targets for Nature can help to validate company efforts.

Find out more about Biodiversify here: https://biodiversify.com/

And learn about the Science Based Targets for Nature here: https://sciencebasedtargetsnetwork.org/how-%20it-works/the-first-science-based-targets-for-nature/

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Discover how you can embed sustainability across a Higher Education organisation.

Dr Alex Ryan, Director and Founder of Learning Energy, returns to her old Lancaster University haunts to tell us about her work inside and outside universities on the ‘great big gobbling monster’ of sustainability. Alex helps people and organisations address sustainability challenges: work is not always easy.

We discuss the evolution of understanding and action in universities over the last 20 years; the importance of changes to culture and strategy; how to place the common good ahead of self-interest when making changes; and how the university sector mirrors other areas of society and the economy when it comes to attitudes and behaviours around sustainability.

We discover how a positive mindset change across an organisation can help overcome ‘change humps’; the essential role of universities in brokering systems change; and how to think differently around reporting and numbers.

Plus, Jan questions her own knowledge and skills, we discover Paul and Alex’s differing experiences of Lancaster University Library and its fines system, the Great Vowel Shift gets belated publicity, and we consider becoming the Pentland Centre for Love and Justice in Business.

Read the Advance HE Measuring What Matters report here: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/measuring-what-matters

Episode Transcript

Antibiotics have been around for hundreds of thousands of years – no, we didn’t know that either! They are harmful to bacteria, and without them we would have a world where life is much harder.

But in recent decades, overuse of antibiotics has led to the rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This evolutionary response has been accelerated as humans have developed more and more antibiotics – leading to a biological arms race.

Dr Oskar Nyberg, from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Dr Patrik Henriksson, from Leiden University and the Stockholm Resilience Centre, are part of a project looking into the effects of antibiotics in the food system on humans and the animals involved.

We take a deep dive into Thai shrimp farming (and contrast them with the shrimp living in Morecambe Bay), learn more about aquaculture, and ecotoxicology in the marine environment, consider how long it takes and what conditions are needed to raise a shrimp (they do not eat sausages), discover how you measure how much antibiotics are in a shrimp (something that many farmers do not know themselves), and discuss why the drugs are used and how you can avoid needing them in the first place.

Oskar and Patrik tell us more broadly about superbugs, the regulations and protections in place for using antibiotics in farming, and the differences between human and animal treatments.

Plus, Paul’s aversion to penicillin, Oskar’s history in the culinary industry, and why is Patrik in a German beer garden?

Discover more about the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Keystone project: https://seabos.org/anti-microbial-resistance-amr-keystone-project/

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Culture is visibly lacking from the Sustainable Development Goals – but why? History, tourism, the arts, and even video games all have a part to play in the sustainability picture, so we need to consider the sector’s importance.

Dr Chiara Donelli, from the University of Venezia, is an expert in cultural sustainability and she is here to keep us informed. She explains why culture does not have a specific SDG assigned to it, how it fits into the big picture, and how it has been involved in sustainability activity for longer that you might think.

Taking Venice as a prime example, we look at sustainable business models for tourism, the problems of over-tourism – and how the industry can be just as destructive as other more obviously damaging sectors – and how a place can lose its very nature and identity through an excess of visitors.

We discuss Venice’s new tourist tax, conservation at Machu Pichu, population displacement in the Dolomites ahead of the Winter Olympics, Lake District honeypots, Morecambe jetties, and much more.

Find out why Paul is speaking Italian – while the Biennale leaves Jan flummoxed; why Venice at one point needed to stimulate tourism; the role of hippies in the sustainability movement; and the arts as advocacy for positive change.

 Discover more about Chiara and her work here: https://www.unive.it/data/people/25748316

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If you carry out fascinating work on entrepreneurship and sustainability, you still need for people to understand it.

Professor Sreevas Sahasranamam, from the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow, pipped Jan and Paul to the Management Publication of the Year Award – but do they hold a grudge? No, they don’t!

Sreevas is a keen proponent of communicating research and expertise in novel and accessible ways. His blogs aim to reach and engage policymakers and government, as well as the public, opening previously inaccessible doors for him, such as opening up access to the world of the G20, and giving his work new impact potential.

We talk through Sreevas’s work in his India homeland looking at the role of digital ecosystems among entrepreneurs, and on how rural entrepreneurship ecosystems are built in remote communities, as well as more broadly on the links between the Sustainable Development Goals and entrepreneurship.

Sreevas has found that despite a lot of talk about entrepreneurs in the Global North engaging with sustainability, it is those in the Global South who are taking the lead – where the impacts of climate change are being felt more keenly.

Discover the difference between SDG awareness and SDG action, the familial links to natural resources in parts of India, and the benefits to business of the spread of cheap internet access across that country.

Plus, buying chai from a small roadside business with contactless payments, the rise of the Chinese sustainability market, and the benefits of QR codes (even for accounting).

Find out more about Sreevas and his work here: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/business/staff/sreevassahasranamam/

And read some of his award-winning blogs here: https://sites.google.com/view/sreevas/media?authuser=0

Episode Transcript