Rethinking waste, the microplastics problem and women in science with Dr. Amanda Parkes, Chief Innovation Officer at PANGAIA

In this week’s episode I’m chatting with Dr. Amanda Parkes, the Chief Innovation Officer at PANGAIA and a materials engineering lecturer at Harvard. Amanda is really difficult to introduce in a few sentences as she has experience across such a wide range of sectors, from computer science, mechanical engineering, and biotech, all the way to fashion and material innovation. I met her when I was working on the Impact team at PANGAIA, and one of my favourite memories from that time was the science sessions she would run on Friday afternoons to introduce us to all the amazing science behind the material innovations we were working with. I have to admit that growing up I did have a bit of a love-hate relationship with science, and Amanda was one of the people who made me rediscover and love that space!

We spoke about how we can rethink our approach to waste and how by looking at places of abundance in nature we can find “new” materials to work with – through a process she refers to as high-tech naturalism. An example of this is FLWRDWN, an alternative to animal and synthetic down made using waste wildflowers. She also explained how microplastics are shed when we wash some synthetic materials, how these end up polluting our rivers, lakes and oceans - and what you can do to avoid this.

Want to dive deeper?

• Learn more about PANGAIA’s innovations on pangaia.com
• FLWRDWN https://eu.pangaia.com/pages/flowerdown
• Picture A Scientist documentary - https://www.pictureascientist.com/
• Fashion rental platforms: By Rotation, Hurr, Rotaro, Rent The Runway

Little links

• Amanda on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/amandaparkes/
• Why We Care on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/whywecarepodcast/
• Tiphaine on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tiphainemarie_/

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Thank you for caring and sending you lots of love!

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