How one company is turning greenhouse gases into a plastic alternative that biodegrades.

As Scientific American points out, "carbon is the giver of life - your skin and hair, blood and bone, muscle and sinews all depend on carbon. Bark, leaf, root and flower; fruit and nut; pollen and nectar; bee and butterfly; Doberman and dinosaur—all incorporate essential carbon. Every cell in your body—indeed, every part of every cell—relies on a sturdy backbone of carbon." Carbon isn't a monster, although it’s sometimes painted that way.

Carbon dioxide, however, is obviously causing us serious problems. We can't keep pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Reducing emissions and switching to renewables are the obvious first ports of call. But might we also be able to rethink unwanted greenhouse gases as a feedstock - something useful that we could turn into a product?

That's what this week's guest is proposing. Meet Mark Herrema, co-founder and CEO of Newlight Technologies, the company behind Air Carbon. He’s hoping this bio-based material will revolutionise the plastics industry. And Nike agrees...

Climate change means more extreme weather events, and calls on communities to find resilience and active hope. After catastrophic floods in Australia hit northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, how are communities responding and helping each other out? What was the clean up like? And what's this got to do with fashion and clothes? Clare Press talks to environmentalist, fashion activist and Northern Rivers local Zoe Gameau.

Have you bought digital garments for your avatar yet? Would you like to? You need to listen to this! Moin Roberts-Islam is the Technology Development Manager at the Fashion Innovation Agency, at the London College of Fashion, and he’s here to answer all our questions, from how digital fashion works, why it’s exploding and what brands are doing, to how gaming is involved, who is buying digital garments and why. Plus we discuss the Metaverse and NFTs, and how all this relates to sustainability.

How should fashion respond to war? What is our moral obligation? Should brands the retailers impose their own sanctions on Russia and halt business there? What support do Ukrainian designers need? Is it okay not to speak out? And when does this become simply, as guest today puts it, common sense, or an expression of our common humanity. In this Episode, Clare sits down with Venya Brykalin, fashion director of Vogue Ukraine to ask these questions and more.

Have you heard about New York’s proposed sustainable fashion law? It’s called the Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act, and if it is passes those behind it say: this groundbreaking piece of legislation that will make New York the global leader in accountability for the $2.5 trillion fashion industry. Supporters include the likes of Stella McCartney and Jane Fonda.

So, why do we need it?

If New York were a country, it would rank as the world’s 10th largest economy, bigger than Canada, Russia and Korea. You already know that the global fashion industry has major climate impacts. It is responsible for around 4% of carbon emissions (some say 10%). Meanwhile, supply chains remain stubbornly opaque, garment and textile workers continue to get a raw deal and fashion waste is a major polluter. And New York, as an iconic commercial rag trade hub, has the potential to play a powerful role in transforming things.

This week, Clare sits down with Maxine Bedat, founder of New Standard Institute, one of the driving forces behind the Act. They discuss how it came about, what it hopes to achieve and whether it's likely to fly. Maxine is sustainable fashion pioneer, formerly one half of Zady and last year she published her first book - Unravelled, The Life & Death of Garment.

This week we sit down with New Yorker Mara Hoffman to find out how she turned her namesake brand into a sustainable fashion leader, what makes her tick - from astrology and to the inspirational beauty of Mother Earth, and being a mamma thinking about the next generation.

Do we really believe that we can pursue infinite growth on a finite planet? Why would we even want to?

This week's guest is Tim Jackson, the ecological economist who wrote Post Growth, Life After Capitalism.

It's a very persuasive argument for a complete rethink of how we define success, and why we need a new type of economy, one that prioritises relationships and meaning, over profits and power. Tim sees this book as "both a manifesto for system change and an invitation to rekindle a deeper conversation about the nature of the human condition.” Sound good?

What that might look like practically? How could we get there? On this Episode, Tim and Clare discuss all this and more, from how advertising fuels overconsumption and why big companies are banking on green growth, to the future of work, what a single universal income could do for us, and even a bit of fashion – by way of an 18th century philosopher.

As fashion weeks return globally, Clare sits down with Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week to discuss their future. Discover how Thorsmark introduced pioneering new sustainability requirements as a condition of brands showing on the Danish runway, and what it takes to get the carbon footprint of an event like this down.

And you thought Zara was fast fashion! Buckle up because new trends are landing daily if not hourly, as a new breed of online disruptor throws out thousands of styles a week to see what sticks. Brands like Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing and Fashion Nova are part of a new ultra-fast fashion era, but Shein is by far the biggest player.