Share
![cover art for The Tories' toxic pesticide, England's over-abstraction baddies PLUS the swimworthy rivers of Swiss cities](https://res.cloudinary.com/pippa/image/fetch/h_750,w_750,f_auto/https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6177c48df62eb80013741032/1722420610853-a5b9cf1d-edee-4b7a-81b6-f5144b3d6382.jpeg)
Eco Chamber
The Tories' toxic pesticide, England's over-abstraction baddies PLUS the swimworthy rivers of Swiss cities
Season 2024, Ep. 101
•
Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.
For this week’s Big Green News, the team finds out:
- Why the toxic neonicotinoid Cruiser SB pesticide was authorised by the Conservative government without any kind of environmental assessment carried out for wildlife in protected areas.
- Which culprits are responsible for over-abstracting in England during the hottest year on record... and in an ironic twist the Environment Agency made the naughty list.
- And Rachel Reeve's infrastructure stampout, the invasive eight-toothed spruce bark beetle in the south, and £2.4bn shortfall that UK farming needs to avert a nature crisis
For our deep-dive we speak with ENDS Europes’ deputy editor Simon Pickstone to find out what the Swiss can teach us about how we can one day swim in the rivers and lakes that run through the heart of our cities…
More episodes
View all episodes
106. Highways from hell: how toxic run-off from roads is poisoning our waterways
39:17||Season 2024, Ep. 106Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.In this week’s episode the team discusses:Labour's plan to eradicate bovine TB through the use of badger and cattle vaccines and also the planned five-year badger cull still ahead.Why the new government has ditched its legal defence of North Sea oil and gas field consents.For the news-in-brief: Natural England has received just three applications for biodiversity net gain credits in the scheme’s first six months, Drax pays £25m after an Ofgem probe finds data governance failures, and conservationists have launched a judicial review to reduce livestock grazing on Dartmoor, why?And finally, in this week’s deep-dive, the team speaks to Jo Bradley of Stormwater Shepherds on toxic road run-off, the ecological poisoning of our wildlife and the poorly devised monitoring regimes that govern the fallout from our motorways.105. Airport expansion exasperation, sewage sludge time bomb, and the airline rapped over ‘misleading’ green claims
23:53||Season 2024, Ep. 105Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.For this week’s big green news, the team finds out about London City Airport's expansion and how it fits into Labour's green agenda as a whole. We also learn about the toxic sludge being spread on our farmers’ fields, who’s regulating it, and why is George Monbiot involved?And the news-in-brief: Scotland’s nature fund will be spent on public pay disputes, how does Scotland's drinking water rank globally, and why is Ed Miliband celebrating a big solar victory?For this week’s fact check, the ECO Chamber analyses the Advertising Standards Authority's pursuit of Virgin Atlantic for its claim that it had flown the world’s first flight on 100% sustainable aviation fuels.104. The cyanide spill that closed a canal, water guzzling golf courses PLUS the UK-EU chemical policy chasm
36:50||Season 2024, Ep. 104Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.For this week’s big green news, the team finds out about the Walsall chemical spill and the thousands of litres of toxic waste that’s leaked into the town’s canal.We also learn about the golf courses in the firing line for over abstraction during the hottest year on record.And the news-in-brief: Labour drops legal action against a sign-wielding climate activist, provisional fees for extended producer responsibility have at long last been published by the government, and the Net Zero Teesside legal action has been thrown out by the courts, why?For this week’s deep-dive, the ECO Chamber speaks to Ben Reynolds, the executive director of the Institute for European Environmental Policy UK about policy divergences and chemicals between the UK and the EU.103. The bat police, the EA’s pension pot problem, and Miliband’s solar ‘error’
18:52||Season 2024, Ep. 103Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.For this week’s big green news, the team finds unravels:How the pension fund used by wildlife regulators Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales holds bonds worth millions in the water companies they are tasked with regulating.Ed Miliband’s push for big solar, which could be about to give him political sun burn.And the news-in-brief, we find out about Natural England's budget drop, the millions agreed in recent enforcement undertakings and find out more about the UK’s biggest emitter of CO2 -- Drax. For our first fast ever rapid fire factcheck, we take a look at the wildlife protections afforded to the world’s only flying mammal and work out if the so-called bat police are becoming too over zealous in their work.102. Rat summer, fresh PFAS revelations PLUS Labour's planning revolution
32:14||Ep. 102Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.For this week’s big green news, the team finds out:The significance of the thousands of PFAS-related legal cases taking place in the US and the UK’s most PFAS polluted town?Labour’s planning review… what will it mean for the natural environment? And for the news-in-brief, we discuss Scotland’s beaver translocation boom, the latest apology from Walleys Quarry, and the looming budget cuts for Natural Resources Wales.For our deep-dive, we speak with ENDS Report's features editor Tess Colley to find out if Scotland's environmental record on green issues is as good as the headlines or is the government about to get a red card? With municipal waste collectors about to go on strike across Scotland this summer, will it be the rats having an easy time of it or can the Scottish National Party bring calm?100. The supersized King's Speech PLUS The Wildlife Trusts' CEO on housing, Celtic rainforests and Labour's vision
46:43||Season 2024, Ep. 100Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.For this week’s Big Green News, the team discusses:The implications of the King's Speech for the climate and the UK's natural environmentWhy the housing secretary wants to change the process of environmental assessments. And Mary Creagh, Lough Neagh's restoration plan and Wild Justice in Dartmoor, we'll give you the news-in-brief. For our deep-dive we speak with the chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts Craig Bennett on Labour's direction of green policy, the relationships with NGOs, how the Trusts' wildbelt works with Labour's greybelt, the restoration of the Celtic rainforests and how to avoid falling into corporate traps.99. Miliband’s solar power play, Ofwat gives? PLUS The greenest cities in England
31:57||Season 2024, Ep. 99Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.In this week’s episode, we focus on the politics of solar power – more than a gigawatt of solar energy has been approved by the energy minister Ed Milliband but how, where and why? And Ofwat’s draft price determinations show water bills will go up. Will the additional rates improve our natural environment? For the news-in-brief the team discusses:The asbestor waste dumper of Devon Ofwat's national sewage investigationAnd Green Electricity Wales. For this week's deep-dive, the team explores the big cities of England and where you will find the greenest urban places in the country.98. Labour landslide: who’s in, who’s out PLUS Reeves revs up building blitz
31:57||Season 2024, Ep. 98Every week, the ENDS team enters the ECO Chamber to discuss the UK’s biggest green news stories, and take a forensic look at one of the deep-rooted environmental issues facing us today.In this week’s episode, we look back and forwards at the politics of now: the slayed beasts of the Conservatives, the triumphant hunters of the labour party and the jolly Lib Dems who were laughing all the way to the polls. But who’s in charge now and what are Labour’s priorities? We’ll be working through all the political news of the past seven days.And for our deep dive, we’ll be exploring the government's latest push into the realms of planning reform as they get to building the change they promised.