Out now: The Environment, April 2023

Fresh thinking

Spring is in the air in the global north and with the new season comes time to think afresh.

This issue of The Environment looks at climate psychology, modelling and innovation – at ideas and approaches to help the water and environment sector to bring the change we need to see.

Hubbub founder Trewin Restorick admits he’s a serial starter-upper. From launching a charity to help people into climate-smarter choices, he’s now winning business hearts and minds.

His new venture, Sizzle, aims to cut through the talk about systems change, to unite the right people to turn business-as-usual into fresh ideas.

Our smarter water slot is a three hander.

It brings you three very different stories about how to help public bodies adapt to cope with climate impacts, how to make smarter use of the infrastructure we have and how to persuade people and communities to accept new ways to provide water.

People have lost trust in water providers, David Feldman says; that becomes a barrier to smarter water use.

In our new section, Ask the Expert, Climate Crisis Advisory Group member and IPCC advisor Lorraine Whitmarsh looks at how we talk about climate change. If fear provokes a flight-or-fight reaction, how do we make people feel they too can deliver change?

It’s a theme our third interview picks up. Ella Al-Shamahi is a rising star in science broadcasting – you’ve seen her meeting our neanderthal ancestors and using the latest hi-tech equipment to unearth lost cultures.

Her latest show takes her back to the Mekong, where an Indigenous group has saved the Siamese crocodile from extinction.

Reporting globally on science gives Al-Shamahi a fresh perspective. We worry ourselves silly about reusing our plastic bags, she points out. But real change will come only when we force giant producers and retailers to make sustainable packaging – we should focus more time and energy on that.

Which is exactly the kind of systems change that Restorick’s new venture seeks to tackle...

Karen Thomas

Editor, The Environment

@KT_Environment

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