The Rainbow Turtle Fair Trade Podcast: Recent Episodes
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Our Podcast aims to explore & unpack the issues surrounding Fair Trade: What is it? Why does it exist? How can we make a difference? Why should we?
Back in September of last year, I met Philipp Abel, who is the head of sustainability at Fürth City Council in Germany. He revealed to me that Fürth was twinned with our town Paisley in Scotland and wanted to establish fair trade links between our two towns. Embarrassingly, I didn’t know that we were twinned… Continue reading Philipp Abel Interview
This short taster is to give you advanced notice of a special podcast episode that will be appearing on the 9th February 2026. I’ve been recently talking to Philipp Abel, the head of sustainability at Fürth City Council in northern Bavaria, in Germany, about their commitment to fair trade. I met Philipp back in September… Continue reading Philipp Abel interview taster
In this episode of the podcast we meet Emma Hillcoat of Greencity Wholefoods in Glasgow. Emma has got to be the most positive person I’ve met and when you combine that with a job that matches her personality and ethics, you have the perfect combination. Emma is also a relatively new recruit to Green City and views… Continue reading Emma Hillcoat Interview
Welcome to episode 3 of the fourth series of our podcast. In this edition I interview Howard Msukwa, a rice farmer from Malawi. He is a member of the Kaporo Smallholder Farmer Association in his local area and has been its chair in the past. He has also served as director of The National Smallholder… Continue reading Howard Msukwa Interview
Welcome to episode 2 of our 4th season of Rainbow Turtle Rebooted. In this interview we meet Scott Irwin of Green City Wholefoods in Glasgow. As we mentioned in our last episode, Green City is a workers’ cooperative where everyone has an equal vote and receives equal pay. Scott has worked across the organisation for… Continue reading Scott Irwin Interview
Welcome back to series 4 of the Rainbow Turtle Rebooted Podcast. In this episode we interview Babs Nicgriogair of Green City Wholefoods in Glasgow. Green City is a worker cooperative where everyone has an equal voice and receives an equal pay, regardless of their role or the length of time that they’ve been working there.… Continue reading Babs Nicgriogair Interview
Welcome to series 4 of Rainbow Turtle Rebooted Podcast. This is a short taster to give you an idea of what will be coming up during fair trade fortnight 2025. Earlier in the year Linda Okhouya Ologe and I went out to meet some of the staff from Green City Wholefoods in the east end of Glasgow.… Continue reading Rainbow Turtle Rebooted Podcast Series 4
For quite a while I have been wanting to visit Green City Wholefoods in Glasgow and I finally got that opportunity recently when our education officer, Linda Okhuoya-Ologe, and I went to interview them for our podcast. We were accompanied by Linda’s daughter, Zoraya, who, at 15 months, was by far the youngest of our… Continue reading Visit to Green City Wholefoods, Glasgow
In this episode we introduce you to two more volunteers with the organisation. First up is Anne Scriven. Anne has been involved in fair trade for a long time, starting with her local church group in Kirkintilloch though to helping out in the Rainbow Turtle shop, various stalls and events. We finish with Steph Mayo… Continue reading Meet the volunteers episode 5
In this mini podcast episode we meet our education officer, Linda Okhuoya Ologe. Linda has been on maternity leave for this past year and, just before fair trade fortnight, I popped round to Linda’s house to interview her and to hold her new baby, Zoraya! As well as talking about fair trade, Linda spoke about… Continue reading Linda Okhuoya Ologe Interview
In episode 6 of our current series we meet 3 more volunteers from Rainbow Turtle. First up is Kitty McEachen, an escapee from Glasgow who, to her surprise, found that Paisley wasn’t such a bad place to live in, especially when she came upon Rainbow Turtle and some of the committed volunteers, including the inspiring… Continue reading Meet the Volunteers Episode 4
In episode 5 of series 3 of our podcast we meet Elise Kelly, our creative shop manager. Elise has been in charge for about three and a half years. She joined us when we were just coming out of covid when things were tight and sales were poor. During that time Elise has transformed Rainbow… Continue reading Meet the Volunteers Episode 3
In this edition of our podcast, Rainbow Turtle Rebooted, we introduce you to Joyce Jackson who started out as a fair trade stall holder in her local church before being inveigled into volunteering at the shop by Liz Cotton when she retired 7 or 8 years ago. Following Joyce we have Clotilde Raydon, who 6… Continue reading Meet the Volunteers Episode 2
In this episode we meet Juliet Robb of Olive Tree, a charity that buys products from crafts people in Palestine and then sells them in Scotland. The money provides the artisans with a living and any profits made from the sales goes to support charities in Palestine. Juliet first thought about working with people from… Continue reading Juliet Robb Interview
In this mini podcast episode, we meet long standing Rainbow Turtle volunteers: Gillian Henry, Roisin Mulholland and Maureen Brough. In it they share why fair trade is important to them and what are their favourite products that they can buy in the shop. Unsurprisingly, chocolate and coffee feature high on their lists!
Michael Gidney, currently the chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation, has worked for at least 30 years in international development (which corresponds nicely with the 30th anniversary of FT movement in UK). He started out as a teacher in Kenya and then for their children’s services in an orphanage, has worked with Voluntary Services Overseas… Continue reading Michael Gidney Interview
We’re delighted to announced that series 3 of our podcast, Rainbow Turtle Rebooted, is planned to be released during fair trade fortnight 2024 with episode 1 out on Monday 9th September. So if you’d like to listen to it, please subscribe to it in your relevant app. In the meantime, here is a taster…
In this episode I am delighted to be talking with Rachel Farey of the One World Shop in Edinburgh. It’s a beautiful shop positioned at the western end of Princes Street in Edinburgh with the historic castle as a backdrop. Rachel has had an interesting journey that started with working with L’Arche after she left… Continue reading Rachel Farey Interview
In this episode we play a recording of a talk by Sally Sawaya of Meru Herbs in Kenya that she gave recently to the staff of True Origin and Rainbow Turtle in Paisley, Scotland. Sally is the managing director of Meru Herbs, the Kenyan fair trade company that produces tasty sauces, jams and herbal teas.… Continue reading Interview with Sally Sawaya of Meru Herbs
In this episode we meet Mary Popple the current chair of JTS, the company that imports fair trade goods into Scotland and distributes them throughout the UK. Mary grew up in Northern Ireland during the 50s and 60s on the border between the republic and the north. Her father was a church minister who tried… Continue reading Rainbow Turtle Rebooted – Mary Popple interview
In this episode we bring you part 2 of the John Riches interview. (If you’ve not heard it, do check out part 1 where John talks about his early life and influences.) We join John where he talks about setting up the Balmore Trust and The Coach House, instruments that were used to generate funds… Continue reading Rainbow Turtle Rebooted – John Riches Interview – Part 2
John Riches of JTS, The Balmore Trust and Gavin’s Mill, talks to Rainbow Turtle about his life and fair trade. In part 1 of a two part interview, John tells interesting stories of working in a refugee camp in Austria after the 2nd world war, of being a chaplain at Cambridge University at the height… Continue reading Rainbow Turtle Rebooted – John Riches Interview – Part 1
We’re in the final stages of preparing series 2 of our podcast, Rainbow Turtle Rebooted. We thought that we’d put out a wee taster as preparation for the start. In this new series we have interviews with: We hope to have our first episode of this new series out for the beginning of fair trade… Continue reading Rainbow Turtle Rebooted Series 2 taster
We’re excited to announce that we’ve started planning the 2nd series of our podcast, Rainbow Turtle Rebooted. We hope to have the first episode out for the beginning of Fair Trade Fortnight 2023. Look out for our taster episode that will be coming out in the next couple of weeks. If you’d like to be… Continue reading Rainbow Turtle Rebooted – Series 2
We’re back to February 2016 to the original Rainbow Turtle podcast series which was previously thought to be lost. This is part 2 of that first episode which takes us to an number of interesting places: Josh interviews Martin Rhodes and Graham Clark of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum at their AGM, where he also… Continue reading Part 2 of a throwback to the original podcast, episode 1, from 2016
This episode takes us back to February 2016 to the very first Rainbow Turtle podcast which was previously thought to be lost. Part 1 of this episode takes us on a fair trade journey: It starts with founder, Liz Cotton, talking to school pupils. It then chats to attendees at the Scottish Fair Trade Forum… Continue reading Throwback to original podcast episode 1 part 1 from 2016
Welcome to this special Christmas episode of the Rainbow Turtle Rebooted podcast where I’m delighted to be able to interview Pauline Tiffen of the Journal of Fair Trade. Ever since I started this series I have been trying to get Pauline onto it. I first heard her speak at a Scottish Fair Trade Forum lecture… Continue reading Pauline Tiffen interview
This is the 2nd part of Martin Rhode’s talk that he gave to Rainbow Turtle at their AGM back in October. In part one he talked about the links between COP26 and Fair Trade. In this episode he answers questions from the audience and goes into some of the areas more deeply. Some of the… Continue reading Martin Rhodes talk on COP26 and Fair Trade Part 2
Welcome to our 7th edition of Rainbow Turtle Rebooted podcast. In this episode we talk to Mauro Pereira from Brazil. He is the executive director of Defenders of the Planet, an environmental campaign group based in Rio de Janiero. He is attending the COP26 summit as the focal point for Latin America for the sustainable… Continue reading Mauro Pereira interview
Martin Rhodes of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum recently spoke at the Rainbow Turtle AGM about the importance of fair trade to the COP26 talks starting in Glasgow at the end of October. He states passionately that there can be no climate justice without trade justice. This is part one of the podcast. Part two… Continue reading Martin Rhodes talk on COP26 and Fair Trade Part 1
Welcome to the 5th episode of the Rainbow Turtle Rebooted podcast. In this episode, I’m delighted to interview former Rainbow Turtle education officer, Josh Brown. Josh offers some interesting insights into fair trade and the concept of development in relation to developing countries. He spent some time studying indigenous peoples in Australia, which formed his… Continue reading Josh Brown Interview
Welcome to the 4th episode of our podcast series with our interview of Martin Rhodes of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum. For this episode I’m delighted to introduce the chief executive of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum, Martin Rhodes. Martin is an incredibly busy person and it was hard trying to match our diaries for… Continue reading Martin Rhodes interview
Welcome to the 2nd part of the Liz Cotton interview. Liz talks about her decision to move on from Rainbow Turtle, what she did after she left the organisation and what she is doing now in the furthest north of Scotland. Please subscribe to our podcasts on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and Google podcasts. If you… Continue reading Liz Cotton interview part 2 of 2
Welcome to our very first interview in our new podcast series, Rainbow Turtle Rebooted. To mark the beginning of Fair Trade Fortnight 2021 we’re bringing you the first part of a two part interview with founder and former director, Liz Cotton. Liz has had an interesting and successful life which culminated for us in the… Continue reading Liz Cotton interview part 1 of 2