Planet Policy Pals Podcast

EP 40: Discussing Integrity in Green Finance with Ibrahim Pam (Part 1)

Mr. Ibrahim Pam, head of the Independent Integrity Unity (IIU) at the Green Climate Fund joins the policy pals to discuss how sustainable  projects can be financed with integrity. The GCF is currently the world’s largest dedicated multilateral climate fund and the main multilateral financing mechanism to support developing countries in achieving a reduction of their greenhouse gas emissions and an enhancement of their ability to respond to climate change. As such managing large funds across many projects requires major oversight and that is what we discuss with Mr. Pam in this episode.
Links used for references are below: 
The trillion dollar climate finance challenge (and opportunity) | | UN News
Green Climate Fund Update 
Green Climate Fund
Captions of transcript available on our YouTube Page
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EP 39: Discussing Soot in Port-Harcourt with Ibim Semenitari PT 2

Mrs. Semenitari is back for part 2 to get into the details of the causes behind the soot issue in Port-Harcourt, Nigeria. How effective are the government’s strategies? How valid are the claims of transitioning to greener energy? What do the people in the Niger Delta community get as a response to their worsening environmental issues? We tackle these difficult questions together and we want to hear what you think as well!
Links used for references are below: 
Africa's largest refinery, Nigeria's Dangote, to start operations in H2 2022: officials
Nigeria's Petroleum Industry Act: Addressing old problems, creating new ones
COP26: Nigeria To Reach Net-Zero Emissions By 2060, Says Buhari  
Captions of transcript available on our Youtube Page
Head to https://newsly.me/ and use promo code PLANETPALS to receive a 1-month free subscription on the revolutionary app that lets you listen to news, podcasts, and pretty much the internet in one place.

EP 38: Discussing Soot in Port-Harcourt with Ibim Semenitari PT 1

There is a literal cloud hanging over the city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria that has existed for several years. For the local people of Port Harcourt, the soot has made life hell. In our first ever interview, Ibim Semenitari joins us to discuss an issue she and other members of her community are working to tackle. Mrs. Semenitari worked for over three decades as a journalist, in public service as Honorable Commissioner, Ministry of Information and Communications, Rivers State, Nigeria as well as being a former Ag Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, an agency responsible for driving development in Nigeria's troubled oil-rich region. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Port Harcourt Cosmopolitan where she serves as club advisor and was president of the group in 2020-2021.
Links used for references are below: 
Port Harcourt soot: Why is this Nigerian city covered in black soot? | CNN
Black Soot in Rivers State: 'Government Have Failed to Protect Citizens'
Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment, Nigeria
Captions of transcript available on our Youtube Page
Head to https://newsly.me/ and use promo code PLANETPALS to receive a 1-month free subscription on the revolutionary app that lets you listen to news, podcasts, and pretty much the internet in one place.

EP 37: Ozone Depletion (What Happens When?)

The ozone layer filters out incoming radiation in the "cell-damaging" ultraviolet (UV) part of the spectrum. One example of ozone depletion is the annual ozone "hole" over Antarctica that has occurred during the Antarctic spring since the early 1980s. The effects of ozone depletion range include poor air quality, imbalance in bio-geo-chemical cycles, loss of biodiversity and a negative effect on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. However, tackling the issue of ozone depletion is one of the greatest environmental successes we have achieved on a global scale. Listen to find out how we did it, why we did it and what we can do to keep our very useful ozone layer intact.
Follow the link for show notes and references. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1l4w_2I-32hoNZv1kyeDADjsNEpJe0EanILGoIVPTvQU/edit?usp=sharing 
Captions of transcript available on our Youtube Page
Head to https://newsly.me/ and use promo code PLANETPALS to receive a 1-month free subscription on the revolutionary app that lets you listen to news, podcasts, and pretty much the internet in one place.

EP 36: Climate Crisis is More than Global Warming (What Happens When?)

It has been 1 year exactly since we launched our first official episode and we are so grateful to all our listeners, so although we made sure to cover an environmental topic this week, we went real big picture and decided to just tackle the entire climate change issue in one go! LOL not even. It took nearly a century of research and data to convince the vast majority of the scientific community that human activity could alter the climate of our entire planet and still not everyone is convinced. In this episode, we discuss the history behind this division, the mechanisms and policy in place and the other effects of human impacts on the climate beyond rising temperatures. We also get real personal with our environmental preferences guys, it’s a good time.
Follow the link for show notes and references. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d1bkfeevNPW-NJZ26xadj28HOrj4iLzU82Jhx7qov5E/edit?usp=sharing 
Captions of transcript available on our Youtube Page

EP 35: Polar ice melts Pt 2 (What happens when?)

In this episode, we continue our discussions on polar ice melting by shifting our focus to the Arctic and water. Changes to the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are of considerable societal importance, as they directly impact global sea levels, which are a result of climate change. Sea level rise will reshape coastlines as incoming water floods dry areas and erodes coastal features like beaches, cliffs and dunes. Policies and regulations governing this area are tricky because the region is a geographical area comprising eight countries including five coastal states with jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic Ocean. So, what will happen and what can we do? The pals get into it!
Follow the link for show notes and references. 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13b-0dMeT4iqMXpU4jfxW6HQWUYZkts1aE7KA7LdgQ4c/edit?usp=sharing 
Captions of transcript available on our YouTube Page

EP 34: Polar ice melts Pt 1 (What happens when?)

In this episode we are going to talk about what happens when the polar ice caps melt, with a focus on effects seen in the earth’s crust and permafrost loss. Ongoing ice loss in West Antarctica has increased over the past few decades. Measurements since the 1950s indicate that the amount of sea ice in the Arctic has been declining. Permafrost in the Arctic alone is estimated to hold nearly twice as much carbon as exists in the atmosphere now, as well as a sizable amount of methane, and losing it turns what is one of the greatest carbon sinks on earth to a major emissions source. Since the retreat of a glacier can reduce stress loads on Earth’s crust underneath, impacting the movement of subsurface magma, this can lead to volcanic activity and other surface implications.
Follow the link for show notes and references. 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O630cQPc-aUAWj3hRbufoK0aX4uP7xyzfAQpkoWbO84/edit?usp=sharing 
Captions of transcript available on our Youtube Page

EP 33: What happens when we do bad things?

WE'RE BACK! Series 4 is coming and we are tackling some more big picture environmental dilemmas based on feedback from our loyal listeners. In this mini episode, we catch up with you all and discuss what we are looking forward to this year personally and for the planet policy pals podcast.
Captions of transcript available on our Youtube Page

EXTRA POLICY- EP 32: More Oil

We have had an amazing year and series sharing stories with our policy pals and now in this last episode of the year, we would like to share two more oil spill stories that reflect what this series was about- how human negligence and rash actions can be detrimental to our continued existence. 
The Exxon valdez oil spill was the largest oil spill in the US until Deepwater Horizon and was caused by one man's irresponsibility. The Gulf war oil spill is our pettiest disaster on this list and took decades to recover from.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/environmental-effects-of/ 
https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/exxon-valdez-oil-spill
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2018/ph240/barber1/
http://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/7427/

EP 31: The Worst Oil Spill in US History (Story time)

About 17 percent of the U.S.’s total crude oil production comes from offshore projects in the Gulf today and the region provides more than a fifth of U.S. oil and gas production. The BP Deepwater Horizon rig capsized 36 hours after an explosion, on the morning of April 22, which is coincidentally Earth Day, a globally recognized day promoting environmental protection. As the rig sank, it damaged the pipe leading down to the well. Oil began spilling from the well and did not stop for 87 days, with eleven people and thousands of animals lost to this tragedy. It turns out many mistakes were made prior to this accident. Join us as we discuss how cutting corners and ignoring warnings lead to the worst oil spill in US history. 
Follow the link for show notes and references https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VsVgcn_AXhiM8jP-v_UB2RkMb7xX5mi4j7BwqejBajg/edit?usp=sharing 
Captions of transcript available on our Youtube Page