S16E1: Soil｜The Silent Climate Fighter

The second meeting of the International Negotiations Committee (INC-2) had lofty ambitions.  But the first three days of these Plastics Treaty negotiations were mired in political antics…making many representatives from Asia feel as though they were back to square one of just talk and no action on dealing with the plastic crisis.  

And it seems that two camps have surfaced in these negotiations:  Those that want the treaty to be voluntary commitments like the climate change Paris agreement, and those who want a treaty with more teeth and regulations.   Any commitments under the global plastic treaty will eventually be adopted as national targets by the signatory countries, and then translated into National Action Plans to implement programs and strategies for meeting these targets. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is planning on finalizing the treaty by 2024 over the next few INC meetings…and committed at INC-2 to make the first draft treaty to discuss at INC-3.  

So to continue our focus on how reuse, reduce and refill will be highlighted in the treaty negotiations….  we wanted to bring back Marian Ledesma Zero Waste Campaigner with/ Greenpeace Southeast Asia in Manila.  Marian attended the INC-22 meetings in Paris, and we wanted to get her thoughts on how that went.  We also invited Christina Dixon, Oceans Campaign Leader from the Environmental Investigation Agency to talk in more detail about the action steps and types of language needed to get the treaty moving in the reuse, refill and repair direction.  

To wrap up we talk about what you listeners can do to support their efforts at the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations….

Production credits:

Host: Marcy Trent Long

Producer: Carol Mang

Contributing Editor:  Jill Baxter

Intro outro music:  Alex Mauboussin

Sign up to find out when new Sustainable Asia seasons are launched!

We have partnered with Break Free From Plastic (BFFP), headquartered in Asia, to produce this series.  BFFP has numerous resources on their website about the Global Plastics Treaty and the Reuse | Refill | Repair initiative:

https:  www.breakfreefromplastic.org plastics-treaty 

https:  www.breakfreefromplastic.org 2023 04 28 youth-summit-2023-global-plastics-treaty 

Video Credits: 

UNEP: "A once in a planet opportunity" Inger Andersen, INC-2 | Paris, France

A bonus episode about the Global Plastics Treaty from one of my favorite podcasts called Plastisphere. It’s run by Anja Krieger in Berlin, and like Sustainable Asia, Plastisphere really looks at the science behind this plastic waste crisis. I thought listeners would appreciate this episode, as it gives a great background to the Global Plastics Treaty. In the past months, Anja asked scientists and experts to send her their thoughts and demands. In this episode, you’ll get to hear messages from Richard Thompson, Bethany Carney Almroth, Sonia Dias, Tridibesh Dey, Martin Wagner, Trisia Farrelly, Rebecca Altman and Lesley Henderson.

Plastisphere is a research and interview podcast by Anja Krieger, published in the spirit of the gift economy. Please rate and review the podcast and support the production costs via PayPal: plastisphere.earth support 

Transcript with links to music and sources: anjakrieger.com plastisphere 2023…13-plastictreaty 

Subscribe: www.plastisphere.earth

Theme song: Dorian Roy

Music: Blue Dot Sessions www.sessions.blue

UNEP video 1: www.youtube.com watch?v=28mNomsFsFY

UNEP video 2: www.youtube.com watch?v=N_GSIL0lLDs

Thanks for kind permission, additional audio and images to Miranda Grant, Ahmed Yusuf and the UNEP press team.

Cover art: Maren von Stockhausen

Thanks to: Baldeep Kaur

Follow regular updates on Mastodon: @plastisphere@podcasts.social

Follow occasional posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram: @PlastispherePod

We need other solutions to the plastic waste crisis. Solutions that involve reduce, reuse, refill and repair here in Asia. And those types of solutions…need to be included in the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations. The Global Plastics Treaty agreement is not a mechanism to control plastic waste. It is a roadmap for the world to control the life cycle of plastics that have come to dominate our natural environment and impact our health in ways we still don’t fully understand.

So that’s what we are going to talk about in this episode. Luckily, I had the opportunity to speak with two incredibly knowledgeable people about this. Marian Ledesma, Zero Waste Campaigner with Greenpeace Southeast Asia based in Manila, who will be attending the INC-2 meetings in Paris next week. Greenpeace Southeast Asia is a Break Free From Plastic member organization, and Marian has a deep knowledge of the plastic crisis here in Asia, as well as how to focus policies so that single use plastic…with all of its health and environmental impacts…can be eliminated from our lives. My other guest Darina Maulana, of Enviu Indonesia based in Jakarta, works with startups in the reuse and refill space in Indonesia. She has a hands-on view of what types of programs and regulations work in megacities in Asia…so that single use plastic consumption can be dramatically reduced…if not totally eliminated!

To wrap up we talk about what you listeners can do to support their efforts at the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations….

Production credits:

Host: Marcy Trent Long

Producer: Carol Mang

Contributing Editor: Jill Baxter

Intro/outro music: Alex Mauboussin

Sign up to find out when new Sustainable Asia seasons are launched!

Resources:

We have partnered with Break Free From Plastic (BFFP), headquartered in Asia, to produce this series. BFFP has numerous resources on their website about the Global Plastics Treaty and the Reuse | Refill | Repair initiative:

https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/plastics-treaty/

https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/2023/04/28/youth-summit-2023-global-plastics-treaty/

Video Credits: 

UN Agrees to Roadmap for global plastic pollution treaty, The World

The Truth About Plastic Recycling..It’s Complicated, Undecided with Matt Ferrell 

The Global Plastics Treaty negotiations kicked off! This is a historic moment for Asia, because after decades of plastic waste washing up on their shores…finally..there may be a path forward. Join us as we talk to BFFP members and other experts about each INC meeting, to find out what YOU can do to support their work at the treaty negotiations.

Production credits:

Host: Marcy Trent Long

Producer: Carol Mang

Contributing Editor:  Jill Baxter

Intro/outro music:  Alex Mauboussin

Sign up to find out when new Sustainable Asia seasons are launched!

Resources:

We have partnered with Break Free From Plastic (BFFP), headquartered in Asia, to produce this series.  BFFP has numerous resources on their website about the Global Plastics Treaty and the Reuse | Refill | Repair initiative:

https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/plastics-treaty/

https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/2023/04/28/youth-summit-2023-global-plastics-treaty/

Video Credits: We urgently need a Global Plastics Treaty. Here's why. By Greenpeace International

Our focus in this episode is livestock…specifically dairy products made from cows. It turns out enteric fermentation, the cow's digestive process of turning grass into food, contributes to over 40% of global emissions from the livestock supply chain. And the US is a major producer and consumer of beef and dairy products…with China slowly catching up. How are the two global food superpowers innovating ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from dairy cows?

Guests (in order of appearance): 

Roberta Franco, California Department of Food and Agriculture

Ermias Kebreab, University of California at Davis

Meian Chen, Innovative Green Development Program in China

Liu Ying,  Former Director of the Biogas Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture

Li Ying, The Nature Conservancy in China

Matthew Harrison, California Air Resources Board

Production credits:

Executive Producer: Marcy Trent Long

Co-Host and Producer: Chermaine Lee

Sound Engineer: Estima

Associate Producers: Sam LiXiaoYu, Zack Chiang, Lara-Nour Walton

Music Composition: Cole Chiu 

Contributing Editor: Jill Baxter

Intro/outro music: Alex Mauboussin

Sign up to find out when new Sustainable Asia seasons are launched

Resources:

This podcast series is part of a Wilson Center China Environment Forum and Ohio State University initiative called Cultivating U.S. and Chinese Climate Leadership on Food and Agriculture. The initiative explores the actions both these “food superpowers” are taking to rein in agri-food greenhouse gas emissions and identifies potential areas of mutual learning and collaboration.

Blogs from the China Environment Forum:

• Soil’s Key Role in Fighting Climate Change in U.S. and Chinese Agriculture: The Wisdom of Dr. Rattan Lal
• Milking the Dairy Industry for Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions in China
• Rice: A Recipe for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the U. S. and China?
• The Forgotten Greenhouse Gas: Nitrous Oxide as an Issue for U.S. and Chinese Agriculture
• Farming Our Future Carbon Neutral Agriculture in the US and China

China Environment Forum Webinars:

• Reining in the Methane Hoofprint of Cows in California
• The Blue Planet Turns Green: Algae Fouls Waters as the World Struggles to Grow More Food in a Changing Climate
• Opportunities for Enhanced Near-term U.S.-China Climate Action: The Food System
• Digging into Soil for Food Security and Climate: A Green Tea Chat With Rattan Lal, 2020 World Food Prize Winner
• Mapping China’s Pathway to a Carbon-neutral Food System
• Climate Action Down on the Farm: Food and Climate Nexus Opportunities in China and the US

LOGO images Created by Jennifer Nguyen and Ann Williams

Cartoon tractor is from NatBasil/Shutterstock, farmer from Canva

Video Clip of cow sounds: Cargill Backs Cow Masks to Trap Methane Burps by Bloomberg Quicktake

Over half of the world’s population eats rice as its staple food. But did you know that rice production also contributes to about 10% of the world's methane emissions? And that methane is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in warming the planet? Reining in rice methane is a sticky problem. Different rice types and growing strategies to limit methane often create other problems like lower farming yields. An innovative SRI method developed in Madagascar in the 1960s increases yields and has the promise of reducing greenhouse gas emissions And if that’s not good enough news…Scientists in China, the world's largest rice producer, are collaborating with U.S. researchers to cultivate a hybrid rice that will be a game changer for our ever-warming planet.

Guests (in order of appearance): 

Dr. Uphoff, Cornell University

Dr Niu Kunyu, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Kenneth Graves, Arkansas Rice Growers Association

Dr Lu Shihua, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Tim Crews, The Land Institute

Dr Fengyi Hu, Yunnan University

Production credits:

Executive Producer: Marcy Trent Long

Co-Host and Producer: Chermaine Lee

Sound Engineer: Estima

Associate Producers: Sam LiXiaoYu, Zack Chiang, Lara-Nour Walton

Contributing Editor: Jill Baxter

Music Composition: Cole Chiu 

Intro/outro music: Alex Mauboussin

Sign up to find out when new Sustainable Asia seasons are launched!

Resources:

This podcast series is part of a Wilson Center China Environment Forum and Ohio State University initiative called Cultivating U.S. and Chinese Climate Leadership on Food and Agriculture. The initiative explores the actions both these “food superpowers” are taking to rein in agri-food greenhouse gas emissions and identifies potential areas of mutual learning and collaboration.

Blogs from the China Environment Forum:

• Soil’s Key Role in Fighting Climate Change in U.S. and Chinese Agriculture: The Wisdom of Dr. Rattan Lal
• Milking the Dairy Industry for Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions in China
• Rice: A Recipe for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the U. S. and China?
• The Forgotten Greenhouse Gas: Nitrous Oxide as an Issue for U.S. and Chinese Agriculture
• Farming Our Future Carbon Neutral Agriculture in the US and China

China Environment Forum Webinars:

• Reining in the Methane Hoofprint of Cows in California
• The Blue Planet Turns Green: Algae Fouls Waters as the World Struggles to Grow More Food in a Changing Climate
• Opportunities for Enhanced Near-term U.S.-China Climate Action: The Food System
• Digging into Soil for Food Security and Climate: A Green Tea Chat With Rattan Lal, 2020 World Food Prize Winner
• Mapping China’s Pathway to a Carbon-neutral Food System
• Climate Action Down on the Farm: Food and Climate Nexus Opportunities in China and the US

LOGO images Created by Jennifer Nguyen and Ann Williams

Cartoon tractor is from NatBasil/Shutterstock, farmer from Canva

Are you aware of the critical role soil plays in the battle against climate change? But 75% of soil is already degraded from unsustainable farming practices...so earth's “living skin” is suffering from a “diet problem,” we are feeding it the wrong menu. In a world of growing political tensions, can the US and China work together to restore this balance? 

Guests (in order of appearance): 

Rattan Lal, Ohio State University

Kevin Mo, iGDP China

Jessica D’Ambrosio, The Nature Conservancy

Fan Mingsheng, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Production credits:

Executive Producer: Marcy Trent Long

Co-Host and Producer: Chermaine Lee

Associate Producers: Sam LiXiaoYu, Zack Chiang, Lara-Nour Walton

Sound Engineer: Estima

Music Composition: Cole Chiu 

Contributing Editor: Jill Baxter

Intro/outro music: Alex Mauboussin

Sign up to find out when new Sustainable Asia seasons are launched

Resources:

This podcast series is part of a Wilson Center China Environment Forum and Ohio State University initiative called Cultivating U.S. and Chinese Climate Leadership on Food and Agriculture. The initiative explores the actions both these “food superpowers” are taking to rein in agri-food greenhouse gas emissions and identifies potential areas of mutual learning and collaboration.

Blogs from the China Environment Forum:

• Soil’s Key Role in Fighting Climate Change in U.S. and Chinese Agriculture: The Wisdom of Dr. Rattan Lal
• Milking the Dairy Industry for Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions in China
• Rice: A Recipe for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the U. S. and China?
• The Forgotten Greenhouse Gas: Nitrous Oxide as an Issue for U.S. and Chinese Agriculture
• Farming Our Future Carbon Neutral Agriculture in the US and China

China Environment Forum Webinars:

• The Blue Planet Turns Green: Algae Fouls Waters as the World Struggles to Grow More Food in a Changing Climate
• Opportunities for Enhanced Near-term U.S.-China Climate Action: The Food System
• Digging into Soil for Food Security and Climate: A Green Tea Chat With Rattan Lal, 2020 World Food Prize Winner
• Mapping China’s Pathway to a Carbon-neutral Food System
• Climate Action Down on the Farm: Food and Climate Nexus Opportunities in China and the US

LOGO images Created by Jennifer Nguyen and Ann Williams

Cartoon tractor is from NatBasil/Shutterstock, farmer from Canva

It turns out Seoul, Korea has the worst air pollution amongst all of the top 10 economies in the world. Why is air pollution still such a huge challenge in a country with abundant resources and advanced infrastructure?  And does South Korea use any high-tech solutions to handle its dirty air that South or Southeast Asian megacities can learn from?

Guests (in order of appearance): 

Jieon Lee, Korea Federation for Environmental Movements 

Gyuri Cho, Solutions for Our Climate

Sign up to find out when new Sustainable Asia seasons are launched.

Review us on listennotes!

Check out the other research from the Heinrich Boell Foundation in Hong Kong, India, and Southeast Asia.

Production credits:

Producer and Co-Host: Chermaine Lee

Co-Host:  Khoa Tran

Associate Producer:  Jack Lee

Executive Producer:  Marcy Trent Long

Intro/outro music: Alex Mauboussin

Chermaine and Khoa move southeast and talk to a leading advocate in New Delhi who has successfully engaged the government there. Delhi’s air pollution is still one of the worst in the world, and we find out that instead of blowing north to Lahore…the pollution travels towards the pristine Himalayan mountains of Nepal and settles in the city of Kathmandu. Luckily, there is a new mayor there that might finally make a difference.

Guests (in order of appearance): 

Anumita Roychowdhury, Center for Science and Environment India

Kunda Dixit, Nepali Times 

Bhupendra Das, Nepal Energy and Environmental Development Services

Sign up to find out when new Sustainable Asia seasons are launched.

Review us on listennotes!

Check out the other research from the Heinrich Boell Foundation in Hong Kong, India, and Southeast Asia.

Production credits:

Producer and Co-Host: Khoa Tran

Co-Host: Chermaine Lee

Sound Engineer: Avery Choi

Associate Producer: Jack Lee

Lead Writer and Executive Producer: Marcy Trent Long

Intro/outro music: Alex Mauboussin

Music and Soundscape Credits:

Blue Dot Sessions:  Taoudella

Freesound: People

Baleh Shah music compilation 

Economics Time India Nepal Health Emergency

Nepali Times survey on bad air quality

The next stop on the Chermaine and Khoa’s tour of Asia’s megacities is Lahore. This episode goes in depth to explore the political and social causes of air pollution, sheds light on what people can do in their everyday lives to improve the air quality in Lahore, and calls upon the youth of Pakistan’s capital to raise awareness to protect their own future.

Guests (in order of appearance): 

Rafay Alam, Environmental Lawyer and Yale World Fellow

Abid Omar, Pakistan Air Quality Initiative

Ayesha Nasir, Lahore ScarryAmmi Mothers Group

Sign up to find out when new Sustainable Asia seasons are launched.

Review us on listennotes!

Check out the other research from the Heinrich Boell Foundation in Hong Kong, India, and Southeast Asia.

Production credits:

Producer and Co-Host: Chermaine Lee

Co-Host:  Khoa Tran

Sound Engineer:  Zoe Law

Associate Producer:  Jack Lee

Executive Producer:  Marcy Trent Long

Intro/outro music: Alex Mauboussin

Music from Blue Dot Sessions:  Harper’s Desk, Tionesta, Slow Dial, Bauxite, and The Zeppelin