What on Earth?

Climates of fear: Five eco-themed chillers to watch for the Halloween season

Fantastical cinema has long been a place where audiences can confront their darker fears in a safe environment, albeit often dressed up in the guise of shambling monsters and unknown alien threats to keep them at arm’s length.

In this episode, we’re taking a look at five unsettling films with environmental themes – just in time for Halloween!

Join EIA Senior Technical Services Manager Chris Buckler and Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman as they share their thoughts after viewing The Last Winter (2006), The Bay (2012), Silent Running (1972), Prophecy (1979) and Soylent Green (1973).

Despite commendable efforts, Vietnam remains a hub for illegal wildlife trade

Our latest report, A Pivotal Player – Vietnam’s ongoing fight against the illegal wildlife trade, concludes that, although the country has made significant inroads, it still faces significant challenges.

In this episode, the report’s main authors, EIA UK Senior Wildlife Campaigner Linh Nguyen and EIA US Senior Wildlife Policy Analyst Taylor Tench, discuss the latest findings and talk about what more Vietnam and other countries need to do to tackle wildlife crime with Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman.

 

After the collapse of Global Plastic Treaty talks, where do we go from here?

The final round of talks to hammer out the detail of a Global Plastics Treaty opened in Geneva in early August – and almost two weeks later collapsed with no agreement at all, due in large part to the blocking tactics employed by a handful of petrostates and a multitude of lobbyists working to safeguard corporate fossil fuel interests.

To discuss what went wrong in Geneva and what the way forward for a plastics treaty might look like now, in this episode EIA Ocean Campaign Lead Chris Dixon talks with Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman.

Science in the crosshairs of industry lobbyists as Global Plastic Treaty talks go down to the wire

The final round of talks in pursuit of a Global Plastics Treaty is due to get under way in Geneva shortly and there's everything still to play for.
 
But as ambitious countries and civil society organisations such as EIA pursue a robust agreement to meaningfully tackle the crisis, corporate fossil fuel interests seek instead to discredit the science and push for a diluted Treaty which will allow them to continue business as usual.
 
To discuss what’s at stake and what we might expect from the talks, Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman talks with EIA Ocean Campaign Lead Chris Dixon and special guest Bethanie Carney Almroth, Professor of Ecotoxicology at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg and a part of the Scientists Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty.

The grim toll of fisheries bycatch on whales, dolphins and porpoises in European waters

Tens of thousands of dolphins, porpoises and whales are killed each year in European waters due to being bycaught in fishing gear – and some populations are coming perilously close to extinction.

To discuss the findings of her new report Catch of the Day, EIA Senior Ocean Campaigner joins Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman.

Taking a look inside the murky world of tiger farming and its role in illegal wildlife trade

With approximately only 5,500 wild tigers left in the world, this iconic species remains under threat from a variety of factors, particular illegal wildlife trade.

The illegal trade in tigers and their parts and derivatives continues to be fuelled by facilities holding tigers in captivity, especially in China.

One survey estimate more than 6,000 individual tigers being held in China’s ‘tiger farms’ but more recently the country claimed that number had fallen by more than 3,300, begging the question as to where they’ve gone …

In this episode, EIA Asian Big Cats Campaign Lead Debbie Banks and Legal & Policy Specialist Avinash Basker chat with Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman about the current state of tiger farming and the threats the practice represents.

Busting the myths spread by Big Chemical to keep climate-wrecking refrigerants in play

Climate-damaging F-gases are synthetic substances widely used in refrigeration, air-conditioning and elsewhere.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are the most common and are so harmful that they are to be phased down under the Montreal Protocol and phased out altogether in the EU.

However, the chemical industry is pushing to replace them with a new generation of lucrative products which, although easier on global warming, also come with their own environmental and health concerns …

In this episode, EIA Climate Campaigner Adam Aucock, the author of our new briefing Refrigerant Myth Busting, debunks at some of the misinformation spread by Big Chemical to support its own harmful products and sow distrust over the viability of alternative natural refrigerants.

As UN talks fail to deliver a Global Plastics Treaty, what went wrong in Busan and what’s next?

What was expected to be the fifth and final session of the UN’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee met in South Korea last month, but ultimately it failed to agree a Global Plastics Treaty.

Instead of cause for celebration, our campaigners came away from the talks concerned that the process had been hijacked by vested financial interests.

In this episode, EIA Ocean Campaign Leader Christina Dixon and Ocean Campaigner Jacob Kean-Hammerson join Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman to talk about what went wrong in Busan and contemplate what may happen next.

INC-5 - Will we get a viable Global Plastics Treaty or will compromise water it down?

The fifth round of talks in pursuit of a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty kicks off in Busan, South Korea shortly — but will we emerge with an agreement capable of tackling the world’s plastic crisis or will vested interests compromise the final vision.

In this episode, EIA Ocean Campaign Leader Christina Dixon and Ocean Campaigner Jacob Kean-Hammerson join Senior Press & Communications Officer Paul Newman for an update on the progress so far and a look ahead to the challenges remaining for negotiators in Busan.

EIA at 40 – ‘EIA helped change the narrative around organised criminality and environmental crime’

In the countdown to EIA’s 40th anniversary in September, as well as sharing films and stories from our archive, we’ve also recorded a short series of new podcasts with some of the longest serving campaigners to get an insight into how the organisation has evolved over four decades.

In this episode, EIA’s Senior Press and Communications Officer Paul Newman talks with Debbie Banks, the leader of EIA UK’s Tigers and Wildlife Crime campaign, about her experiences with EIA over the years and the challenges to come.

Image (c) Elliott Neep / www.elliotneep.com