Back to Blue by Economist Impact: Recent Episodes
Economist Impact
Back to Blue is an initiative by Economist Impact and The Nippon Foundation that aims to improve evidence-based approaches and solutions to the pressing issues faced by the ocean, and to restoring ocean health and promoting sustainability. The initiative will focus initially on aspects of the vexing challenge of pollution.
What is green and sustainable chemistry and can it be the solution to marine chemical pollution? What role can the private sector play? How can the circular economy accelerate the transition to safer and less hazardous chemicals?
Charles Goddard, editorial director at Economist Impact discusses the responses to chemical pollution with Joel Tickner, professor of public health at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. Professor Tickner is also the founder and executive director at the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council.
Follow the Back to Blue series for more podcast episodes, or visit backtoblueinitiative.com for more content.
Back to Blue is an initiative of Economist Impact and The Nippon Foundation.
Charles Goddard, editorial director at Economist Impact speaks to Pascal Lamy, president of the Paris Peace Forum, and Naoko Ishii, director at the Centre for the Global Commons at University of Tokyo, about marine chemical pollution in a broader context.
Is chemical pollution a key anthropogenic challenge on a par with climate change and biodiversity loss? Why do we need to include chemical pollution as a broad set of global environmental challenges? Are we already at a tipping point?
Relevant content:
- More Back to Blue podcasts
- Report | The Invisible Wave: Getting to zero chemical pollution in the ocean
- Data story | Chemicals and our oceans: A gathering crisis
- Video | The Invisible Wave
Back to Blue is an initiative of Economist Impact and The Nippon Foundation.
In the second podcast of this series, we look at the extraordinary number of chemicals that have been created, produced and in use, what inventories exist on these chemicals, how much we know about their toxicity and potential for harm, and how well they are regulated. We’ll also explore the legislative, regulatory and other interventions needed to better manage, reduce and prevent chemical pollution. This episode is hosted by Charles Goddard, editorial director at The Economist Group, he is joined by Dr Zhanyun Wang, scientist at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, and a leading thinker on this issue.
To learn more, watch Dead zones: how chemical pollution is suffocating the sea, or listen to other Back to Blue podcasts.
Back to Blue is an initiative of Economist Impact and The Nippon Foundation.
Charles Goddard, editorial director at The Economist Group speaks to two experts about the scope and scale of the problem of chemical pollution in the ocean, and asks how worried we should be about the impact of chemical pollution on ocean life and ecosystems, and human health. The guest speakers are:
- Elsie Sunderland, the Gordon McKay professor of environmental chemistry, and professor of earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University
- Alex Rogers, director of science at REV Ocean, a privately funded research and expedition vessel, and visiting professor at Oxford University
Relevant content:
- World Ocean Summit Asia-Pacific on-demand
- Other Back to Blue podcasts
This is the first of a series of podcasts on chemical pollution under the Back to Blue initiative of Economist Impact and The Nippon Foundation.