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Plastic waste is not just something we step over on the street or on a beach. It is a material that has quietly rewritten ecosystems, economics, and even human biology and once you notice that, it becomes impossible to treat something like “marine litter” as a simple tidy-up job.

We sit down with Sedat Gündogdu, a marine biologist and environmental researcher whose work focuses on plastic and microplastic pollution, plastic waste trade, and the social and political forces that keep plastic production growing. Together we unpack the idea of the Plastocene, a grounded way to understand the Anthropocene through the one material that has become a permanent global signature. We follow the thread back through industrial growth and wartime scale-up, then forward into daily life where plastic shows up in far more than bags and bottles.

We talk about why plastic recycling so often functions as greenwashing, how it shifts responsibility from producers to consumers, and why that comforting story still works. Sedat also breaks down the main routes of exposure to microplastics and chemical additives through food, drinking water, air, and even medical settings and why systemic regulation matters more than perfect personal habits.

Listen in, and share with someone who still trusts the recycling myth.

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If you're feeling a bit beaten up by the relentless negative news coverage on net zero and climate action, guess what? The data tells a more complicated and more hopeful truth. We sit down with Becca Massey-Chase, Head of Citizen Engagement at IPPR, to unpack their new research on public opinion, media narratives and the real risks to climate progress. If you care about climate action, democracy and what happens next for UK climate policy, this conversation sharpens the picture fast.

We look into the perception gap: why politicians can believe voters have soured on ambitious decarbonisation even when the public remains broadly supportive. Becca explains how right-wing populism and partisan media try to reframe net zero as ideology, and why many of those attacks do not “land” unless they tap into something deeper: distrust in institutions and low confidence that government can deliver.

We also talk about what climate communication can learn from this, including why messages around energy security and energy independence resonate.

And is if all of that wasn't enough, we the switch to transport decarbonisation, where the same dynamics show up in miniature. Low traffic neighbourhoods, ULEZ, active travel and electric vehicles get dragged into culture war narratives, even as most people just want safe, reliable ways to get around.

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The world is changing, and the tricky question is whether business is shaping that change or sleepwalking into it. We sit down with Sam Baker, a director at Business Declares, to talk about the 'polycrisis' of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, widening inequality, and the way these shocks reinforce one another in daily life, markets, and politics.

We find out how Sam has moved from consulting and corporate strategy to a deeper reckoning sparked by the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. We talk about how “purpose-led business” can stall when it reaches the hard part: changing the business model rather than polishing the story. If competition rewards short-term profit and GDP growth, what happens to leaders who prioritise long-term resilience, real impact, and a just transition?

We also challenge the reflex to double down on fossil fuels during geopolitical disruption, and explore a clearer alternative north star: private sufficiency and public abundance within planetary boundaries.

If you care about sustainability, ESG, net zero, and the future of business, subscribe, share this conversation, and leave a review. What part of the current system do you think needs to change first?

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