This episode is a conversation with Samantha Suppiah, Christina Mirasol Sayson, Anna Denardin and Nolita Mvunelo of Possible Futures.  We talk about colonialism and sustainability, the realities of life in the Global South and the need for communities to be able to define their own vision for a regenerative future.Note: This episode is pretty heavy and may be challenging for listeners in the Global North, who are not used to considering colonialism. I invite you to stick with it and keep an open mind. This is a really important discussion.Footnotes:In the 37th minute there is a reference to "2 degrees Centigrade".  Climate scientists typically refer to temperature in Celsius in discussing climate change. Celsius is interchangeable with Centigrade.  In the 41st minute there is a reference to "10 million people dying from climate emergencies" - there is actually no current consensus estimate on how many people will die at a temperature rise of 2 deg C.  This is speculation only.  What we do have is a consensus estimate of mass migrations: for every degree increase, 1 billion migrants.  The entire issue of mass migration has notably been omitted from IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (2022).Find out more about Possible Futures: https://www.possiblefutures.earth/ Contact the Green Urbanist: https://greenurbanistpod.com/contact Follow the Green Urbanist: https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPod https://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpod https://www.linkedin.com/company/green-urbanist-podcast - - -Get 10% off Course: Sustainability Essentials for Built Environment ProfessionalsSubscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Contact Ross Website Linkedin

In this episode, we talk about Farah's new book Net Zero City, the role of urban design in achieving a net zero city, and a clear process for cities to decarbonise in 10 years.Farah Naz, is an award winning Climate Change strategist with over 20 years’ experience in the construction sector gained in the USA, UK, Southeast Asia and most recently the United Arab Emirates (UAE). She is a Chartered Engineer (UK), Fellow of CIBSE, LEED and WELL AP and Verified Research Expert for Dubai Future Foundation. Farah Chairs CIBSE UAE Chapter and is an advocate of STEM education for the future generation. Farah recently co authored a book on Net Zero City, which is considered the first book published from the Middle East Region.Find out more about Farah and the book: https://netzerocitybook.com/The Green Urbanist website: https://greenurbanistpod.com/Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/green-urbanist-podcast- - -Get 10% off Course: Sustainability Essentials for Built Environment ProfessionalsSubscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Contact Ross Website Linkedin

Steve O'Reilly works in a policy & communications role at Ireland's national centre for the Circular Economy, The Rediscovery Centre. Steve spent over 7 years in the Netherlands, Europe's circular economy hotspot, working on many projects related to circularity and becoming inspired by the circular innovation he saw there. Upon returning to Ireland during the pandemic, Steve took up a position in The Rediscovery Centre in Dublin to help drive circularity back in Ireland.In this episode, Steve shares insights into the social potential of circularity, how it is blossoming in rural communities and what we can learn from the Dutch.Learn more about the Rediscovery Centre: http://www.rediscoverycentre.ie/Connect with Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-o-reilly/The Green Urbanist website: https://greenurbanistpod.com/Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/green-urbanist-podcast- - -Get 10% off Course: Sustainability Essentials for Built Environment ProfessionalsSubscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Contact Ross Website Linkedin

It turns out what's good for us is also good for the planet.How can we design housing for human beings that aligns with our evolution? In this episode I talk about how Co-Housing and Eco-Village concepts could be a proxy for hunter gatherer tribes by creating small, cooperative communities within urban settings. This way of living has huge benefits for our wellbeing and can also be an effective way of minimising energy and resource use. A Win-Win for people and the environment.Resources and further reading:Articles/web pages:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentional_communityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohousinghttps://journal.theaou.org/news-and-reviews/the-popularity-of-cohousing-in-demark/https://cohabitas.com/a-visit-to-saettedammen-co-housing/https://www.lilac.coop/community/https://gen-europe.org/podcast/episode-6-lets-build-an-ecovillage-lessons-from-a-life-in-community/ https://laecovillage.org/Books:Civilised to Death, Christopher RyanSapiens, Yuval Noah HarariUncivilised Genes, Gustav MilneGreen Urbanist website: https://greenurbanistpod.com/Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/green-urbanist-podcast- - -Get 10% off Course: Sustainability Essentials for Built Environment ProfessionalsSubscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Contact Ross Website Linkedin

This episode is part 1 of a series about  human evolution, our prehistory and Hunter Gatherer ways of life. Why should urbanists be interested in this? In this episode I make the argument that:We evolved over 2 million years as foragers and it is the only environmentally and socially sustainable way of life we know of.Living this way, embedded within ecosystems, is what what we are optimised for and therefore how human beings thrive.Life in our prehistoric past (and in modern hunter gatherer bands) is not nearly as awful as we think. In fact we can learn a lot from their approach to life, work, play and community.This means that our pre-history should be a key design consideration in architecture and urban design. In part 2 (and maybe 3) I will set out specifically what this means for urban design.Sources:Civilised to Death, Christopher Ryan Sapiens, Yuval Noah HarariUncivilised Genes, Gustav Milnehttps://theconversation.com/hunter-gatherers-live-nearly-as-long-as-we-do-but-with-limited-access-to-healthcare-104157https://phys.org/news/2016-07-hunter-gatherers-fundamental-human-social-networks.htmlGreen Urbanist website: https://greenurbanistpod.com/Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/green-urbanist-podcast- - -Get 10% off Course: Sustainability Essentials for Built Environment ProfessionalsSubscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Contact Ross Website Linkedin

Michael Pawlyn established Exploration Architecture in 2007 and has built a reputation as a thought leader in regenerative design and the circular economy. He has lectured internationally and, in 2011, became one of only a small handful of architects to have a talk posted on TED.com which has since had over 1.8 million views. He is the author of Flourish: Design Paradigms for our Planetary Emergency (with co-author Sarah Ichioka) and Biomimicry in Architecture.In this episode we talk about:Regenerative DesignBiomimicryIndigenous WisdomSystems Change and shifting Paradigms.All of these ideas are captured in the amazing new book Flourish, which I encourage you to read. More info here: https://www.flourish-book.com/Michael and Sarah also have an excellent podcast called Flourish Systems Change: https://www.flourish-book.com/flourishsystemschange-podcastFlourish Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/flourish.systems.change/Michael's Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelPawlynGreen Urbanist new website: https://greenurbanistpod.com/Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/green-urbanist-podcast- - -Get 10% off Course: Sustainability Essentials for Built Environment ProfessionalsSubscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Contact Ross Website Linkedin

Anna Zivarts, a prominent advocate for transportation equity, is joined by Abby Griffith and Micah Lusignan, both dedicated to the Disability Mobility Initiative. They discuss the intersection of mobility and social justice, sharing personal stories of the barriers faced by non-drivers with disabilities. The conversation highlights the urgent need for inclusive urban planning, emphasizing authentic representation in decision-making. They also tackle employment discrimination and propose innovative solutions to make transportation accessible for all.

Simon is CEO of the business improvement districts Camden Town Unlimited and Euston Town, as well as being CEO of Camden Collective, & the Camden Highline.  He is also Co-Chair of the Cross River Partnership and Chair of Camden Giving.  Simon sits on the London Enterprise Action Partnership (LEAP) and is its Champion for Small Business.  During the pandemic Simon was seconded to Mayor’s Covid Business Forum and the London Transition Board, where he Chaired the Business Reopening Strategy Group.  He now sits on the London Recovery Board.  Simon has been leading the Camden Highline project since its inception in 2017.Learn more about Simon and his Work:Camden Highline WebsiteCamden Green Loop WebsiteSimon's TwitterFollow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/green-urbanist-podcast- - -Get 10% off Course: Sustainability Essentials for Built Environment ProfessionalsSubscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Contact Ross Website Linkedin

Dr Morgan Philips is UK Co-Director of The Glacier Trust, a UK charity that enables remote mountain communities in Nepal to adapt to Climate Change, and Head of Insight at Global Action Plan. He has a PhD in Environmental Education and is the author of Great Adaptations, a new book about climate adaptation.In this episode we are talking, unsurprisingly, about climate adaptation. What is it, why we need to be talking about it and lots of examples of good and bad adaptations from cities adapting to increased heat to rural communities in Nepal using agroforestry.Morgan also tells me about two concepts called Deep Adaptation and Transformational Adaptation, which explore how we may adapt to a society level collapse due to climate change. So, we really cover climate adaption from micro to macro scales in this episode.Learn more about Morgan and his work:http://theglaciertrust.org/https://www.globalactionplan.org.uk/homeGreat Adaptations Book: http://theglaciertrust.org/great-adaptations/shop/great-adaptationsFollow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/green-urbanist-podcast- - -Get 10% off Course: Sustainability Essentials for Built Environment ProfessionalsSubscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Contact Ross Website Linkedin

"So, here's a big problem we need to talk about.Net Zero Carbon means different things in different situations. We all get to define what we "mean" by net zero (i.e. what we include in our calculations) to suit our project."In this episode I delve into the problems associated with the term 'Net Zero Carbon', particularly from an urban design and placemaking perspective.Today's episode was sparked by a Linkedin post I made criticising McDonald's Net Zero Carbon restaurant: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ross-o-ceallaigh_mcdonalds-opens-uks-first-net-zero-restaurant-activity-6878675708114153472-X3HIIt got a lot of traction, with over 40,000 views, 500 likes, 70 comments and 19 reshares so far. Some people supported my criticism while others offered challenges and corrections. This has all fed into a really interesting discussion and informed my thinking further. Rather than responding to all the Linkedin comments, I have laid out further thoughts here on the McDonalds example and on the problems with Net Zero in general.Dezeen article: https://www.dezeen.com/2021/12/20/mcdonalds-net-zero-restaurant/Follow the Green Urbanist:https://twitter.com/GreenUrbanPodhttps://www.instagram.com/greenurbanistpodhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/green-urbanist-podcast- - -Get 10% off Course: Sustainability Essentials for Built Environment ProfessionalsSubscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter Contact Ross Website Linkedin