15.11.21 - NRI Special - Episode 1 - Bees & Caffeine

Welcome to the special series of The GREen Pod, made and hosted by the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) at the University of Greenwich. Tune into this series of podcasts to hear about some of the fascinating sustainability work being conducted by scientists at NRI as they study insect behaviour, pest and disease control, climate change, gender inequality, social mobility, pollution and plastics, crop disease and food systems and waste. Episode 6 - This episode is released ahead of World Food Safety day on 7th June.

Join host Linden Kemkaran as she speaks to Dr Linda Nicolaides, a food safety expert, and asks her about her long career in food safety and how food safety rules are created and applied in the industry to keep the consumer safe.

Find out about the basic rules of food safety and the potential hazards of getting it wrong .

Fun Fact: Did you know that cold smoked salmon is actually one of the most potentially dangerous foods around? 

Welcome to the special series of The GREen Pod, made and hosted by the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) at the University of Greenwich. Tune into this series of podcasts to hear about some of the fascinating sustainability work being conducted by scientists at NRI as they study insect behaviour, pest and disease control, climate change, gender inequality, social mobility, pollution and plastics, crop disease and food systems and waste. Episode 5 - This special episode is devoted to introducing NRI’s new Director, Professor Sheryl Hendriks. 

Join host Linden Kemkaran as she speaks to Professor Sheryl Hendriks, a food security policy expert, and asks her all about her life and times, and what she plans to bring to NRI.

Find out why Professor Hendriks is choosing to leave behind her life in South Africa as Director of the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Well-being at the University of Pretoria, and join NRI at the Medway campus.

 Fun Fact: What food will Prof Hendriks miss the most and how much does she know about the English obsession with the weather? 

Join host Linden Kemkaran as she speaks to Professor Ravi Kumar, an expert in Monitoring and Impact at the Natural Resources Institute, and Livelihoods and Institutions Department at the University of Greenwich.

Part of Ravi’s work is to provide monitoring and evaluation support to organisations and programmes in many sectors, including those working to reduce plastic pollution in our oceans.

 Fun Fact: Did you know that the majority of life on earth (around 94%) is aquatic? 

Join host Linden Kemkaran as she speaks to Professor Steve Belmain, an expert in ecology at the Natural Resources Institute, and part of the Agriculture, Health and Environment Department at the University of Greenwich.

Steve discusses whether rats really are too clever to control and why he thinks it’s unwise to anthropomorphise rodents and give them human characteristics. 
 
 

By examining some of the myths and fears associated with rats, Steve explains why it is sensible to fear them, but also why we should respect and praise them for their usefulness. 

Certain rodents possess behaviours and characteristics which are incredibly valuable to humans in terms of bomb and illness detection.

Steve suggests that some rats are so useful and trainable that we could see them being deployed instead of sniffer dogs at airports and ports very soon.

 Fun Fact: Rats are incapable of vomiting and they also suffer from ‘neophobia’ – the fear of new things. Why is it important to understand facts like this in order to control them? Listen and find out …! 

Join NRI host Linden Kemkaran as she speaks to Dr Conor Walsh, an environmental scientist at the Natural Resources Institute, and part of the Agriculture, Health and Environment Department at the University of Greenwich.

Conor describes how he and his team are introducing ‘climate literacy’ to the next generation by heading up a brand-new BSc in Climate Change here at the university. 
 

By examining the terminology that is used in the media to explain the phenomenon of climate change, Conor discusses how each individual on the planet will be responsible for how the future pans out. He reframes the outcomes of COP26 by looking back to the Paris summit of 2015 and asking exactly how effective has it been.  The importance of ‘carbon sinks’ is explained as is the potential of noticing ‘tipping points’ to indicate the likelihood of extreme weather events occurring.

Fun Fact: So, you’re probably wondering if we’re all doomed or is there hope that we can work to reverse the climbing temperature and ward off disaster? Conor says that yes, there is hope and that acting now, is key. 

Join host Ryan Wallace speak to David Jackson, a frequent guest and the University's Sustainability Projects Officer.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year, whether it be celebrating the religious contexts or coming together as family and friends, this festive season can bring great joy.  With all the extra indulging, Christmas can carry a higher environmental footprint, but that doesn't mean we have to stop all those traditional treats and activities we all hold dere. 

Listen to our light hearted Green Christmas tale; selecting our festive favourites and offering our top tips on how to make that Christmas hat or stocking extra green this year.  What will Ryan and David pick as their all time number one Christmas hit, and what are their thoughts on mince pies?  Listen to find out.  

Join host Linden Kemkaran as she speaks to Phil Stevenson, Professor of Plant Chemistry at the Natural Resources Institute, and Head of the Chemical Ecology Research Group at the University of Greenwich.

Phil describes how he and his team wondered, if humans’ performance and memory can be enhanced by caffeine, could the stimulant have the same effect on bees? 

By using an experiment called ‘conditioned learning’ (aka Pavlov’s dogs) Professor Stevenson provided bees with a food reward of liquid sugar while he wafted a plume of odour across their antennae so that they associated that smell with good food. Using caffeine helped this process and the bees made the association more quickly.

When the bees went out foraging the next day, they were much more able to remember a specific cue and a route that enabled them to gather good food sources, or nectar. Memory is a very important part of success for pollinating insects and the caffeine enabled the bees to remember things for much longer.

 Fun Fact: Caffeine is a fairly simple chemical that has evolved as a naturally occurring ‘defence’ chemical in many different crops, not just tea and coffee, but in legumes, citrus and ivy plants protecting them from insect herbivores. In high concentration it is bitter and sometimes toxic, but in low concentration in the nectar it is hardly noticeable, and it serves as an attractant and an aide memoir for pollinators. 

Join host Ryan Wallace speak to David Jackson, a frequent guest and the University's Sustainability Projects Officer.

The past 18 months have been challenging for us all.  With the new 2021-2022 Academic year upon us, with new students arriving and a majority of student also attending physically for the first time, it is the right time to reflect on the challenges and positives during the past year. 
The University of Greenwich takes its environmental risks seriously, and is committed to minimising its impacts and that continues to be the case.  Listen to find out about our 2020-21 highlights, our sustainable successes and what we are targeting in future years.  The wider World is also discussed; our global challenge of climate change, from the recent IPCC climate report to the strength of collective actions and the sustainable future we can still achieve. 

Fun Fact: The international energy agency has revealed that global renewable electricity capacity is expanding at a faster space.  In 2020 the capacity rose 45% to 280 gigawatts.  Renewables accounted for 90% of the global power sector’s expansion last year. 

Join host Ryan Wallace speak to David Jackson, a frequent guest and the University's Sustainability Projects Officer.

The University of Greenwich takes its environmental risks seriously, and is committed to minimising its impacts.  ISO 14001 is an international standard that the University has voluntarily signed up too that sets strict processes on how environmental risks can be reduced.  From legal requirements to waste, transport to energy and whilst continuously looking for improvement, ISO 14001 accreditations need evidence and are audited by external bodies.   Product lifecycles are crucial in this management; considering not only how things are used and disposed of, but thinking about the raw materials and the final destination of a product's waste. 

Listen to find out how we manage these risks, and what goes on beyond the scenes as you study or work across the University.
Check out the ISO website for more information into this standard.  

Fun Fact:   The ISO 14001 has existed since 1996.  ISO – which stands for the International Standards Organisation started looking into environmental care in the 1990’s and the standard was created six year later.  For those that don’t know the International Standards Organisation is an independent organisation dedicated to providing sector standards.  There are 23,737 standards today, covering nearly all aspects of technology and manufacturing. 

The third and final episode of our mini-series - in collaboration with the Green Ambassadors; a team of students working with the Greenwich Students' Union and helping to raise the awareness of sustainable issues throughout the student population.

Mini series host Martina Gozzi (a Green Ambassador) is joined again by Peter Watson (another Green Ambassador) to interview Maxim Gelmann, founder and Chief Stroodler of Stroodles, the innovative and fun alternative to plastic straws; the pasta straw!   

First off, yes you can eat the straw!  Stroodles was founded by Maxim in 2018 to bring a new imaginative way of dealing with the plastic straw.  Plastic pollution is a global issue and straws were an early product to see change.  Reusable straws are available, but in most restaurants, bars and cafes the plastic straw changed to a paper straw, with mixed results.

Made of only two ingredients, wheat and water; stroodles can be cut to size, flavourless and are 100% biodegradable, ideal for compost or you can even eat them raw or boil them to make pasta!  Stroodles can also last over an hour in a drink, making them hardier than the sometimes soggy paper straw.  Listen to find out how this idea began, the current market and how this new product is hoping to combat plastic pollution in a fun imaginative way.
https://stroodles.co.uk.