Category: Experts in the Field

Posted on

Inventor Fionn Ferreira on Removing Microplastics from the Oceans

13 November 2023 – by Earth Refuge Correspondent Freya Mutimer

In this interview, correspondent Freya Mutimer and ⁠Fionn Ferreira⁠ from Ireland talk about his experiences as a young inventor, chemistry student and climate activist. They discuss the terrible consequences of micro-plastic pollution and the innovative ways that he proposes to solve this crisis. Fionn also expresses his passion for encouraging young inventors as a way to fight the climate crisis.

“I wanted to find out, how much plastic is there? Do we have a lot of microplastics in our environment? And when I started looking into this, I realized that there is a lot of plastic in the waters and somebody has to do something about it. That’s why I thought: Well, what if I just do something?”

Posted on

Zimbabwe: Climate Change Researcher Nyasha Turuza on Climate Change Realities in her Home Country

02 August 2022 – by Earth Refuge Correspondent Samantha Chinyoka

In this interview, correspondent Samantha Chinyoka was speaking with Nyasha Turuza from Zimbabwe. Nyasha is a Researcher in Climate Change who holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Dynamics and Climate Change and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies.She has contributed to key research whilst working with the Environment Management, Renewable Energy and Climate Change (EMRECC) Research Center at the Harare Institute of Technology, Zimbabwe, and has also collaborated with Africa Rise Foundation on addressing the Sustainable Development Goals. At present she volunteers for Advocates4Earth, an organization that works on environmental and climate justice issues.

During the conversation, Nyasha shares her experiences and real testimonies of women and girls living in Zimbabwe that have been most affected by the impact of the brunt of climate change. She highlights the need to well-educate and conscientize the communities on climate change, especially those whose views on climate change are centered on their traditional beliefs.

“In the child-headed families the elderly girls end up working as sex workers just to provide
for their younger siblings due to food poverty in the drought seasons.”

Posted on

Climate Migration in Academia: Lauren Grant on her International School on Climate Migration

01 July 2022 – by Earth Refuge Correspondent Ole ter Wey

In this interview, correspondent Ole ter Wey speaks with Lauren Grant, director of field research at Earth Refuge. Together they discussed the world’s first international school on climate migration, which was founded and is run by Lauren. In the first half of the interview, Lauren talks about how her desire to start an academic space like the school came about, and how that idea eventually became a reality. Then, in the second half of the interview, Ole and Lauren elaborate on the substantive focus of the five-week summer school. They provide an overview of each session, which focused on the causes of forced climate migration, the different vulnerabilities and strengths of different social groups that are forced to migrate, and legal protections for climate migrants, among other topics.

“There is such a limited space to address climate migration at an academic level. From the very beginning I felt quite isolated, educating myself about it on my own. […] But when I found that there was an interest in climate migration im more people than myself, it was clear to me that there was not really a shortage of interest [but of academic space for discussion]. So this led me to the idea to establish something like a research center on the topic.”

Posted on

Climate Change’s Overlooked Consequence: Aimée-Noël Mbiyozo on Involuntary Immobility

17 June 2022 – by Earth Refuge Correspondent Polly Nash

In this interview, correspondent Polly Nash speaks to Aimee-Noel Mbiyozo, a senior researcher specialising in human migration at the institute of security studies in Pretoria. The pair discusses the concept of involuntary immobility, which occurs when people wish to migrate but are not able to do so. Mbiyozo recommends how Earth Refuge and lay people globally can shine a light on this overlooked issue and talks of the challenges of advocating for greater protection for climate refugees.

“One of the biggest outcomes that we don’t talk about very much is involuntary immobility … there are people who aren’t going to be able to move even if they want to and that poses really big humanitarian development threats.”

Posted on

Student Grace Fong on the Importance of Climate Change Education

11 March 2022 – by Earth Refuge Correspondent Ole ter Wey

In this week’s interview, correspondent Ole ter Wey talks to climate activist Grace Fong about the importance of climate education. Drawing on her very personal experiences with the impacts of climate change in her home country of Fiji, Grace Fong provides insights into what led her to work for Climate Science, an international organization that promotes comprehensive and accessible climate education for children and young adults around the world.

“Imagine if the politicians that are in power right now had this climate change education when they were in school. That can impact all their decisions they make right now taking into account the whole problem.“

Posted on

Researcher Hellen Dawo on Adaptation and Mitigation as Responses to the Climate Crisis

25 November 2021 – by Earth Refuge Correspondent Laura Corrigan

What role can mitigation and adaptation play in preventing climate migration? What barriers exist to the implementation of long term strategies?

In this interview, correspondent Laura Corrigan and Hellen Dawo discuss adaptation and mitigation as responses to the climate crisis. Hellen shares her insights on the complexity of sustainable entrepreneurship, the collaboration needed to create successful businesses that protect natural areas and the importance of context when looking at climate issues.
If long term solutions to climate problems are to be reached and further displacement avoided, affected communities must not only be brought into the conversation – they must be brought into the work of finding and implementing solutions.

“When you’re dealing with global issues, or national issues or regional issues, it’s always more complex than it really seems, and the solutions really do need a lot of collaboration. And that’s where it gets messy.”

Hellen Dawo (MSc.) is a PhD researcher at the Centre for Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Campus Fryslân, University of Groningen. She completed an undergraduate science degree in her home country of Kenya, where, as a chemist, she held a variety of diverse roles in the industry before continuing to pursue a career in research in The Netherlands. Her research now focuses on the interaction between entrepreneurs and sensitive ecological and cultural environments.

Posted on

Meteorologist Mauna Eria on the Adverse Impacts of Climate Change in Kiribati

1 October 2021 – conducted by Earth Refuge Correspondent Ole Ter Wey

In this interview, Correspondent Ole Ter Wey and Meteorologist Mauna Eria speak about the adverse impacts of extreme weather patterns and rising sea levels in the small-island nation of Kiribati. Together, they explore the concepts of “Migration with Dignity”, implying a need for making preparations for the inevitable, and “Resilience”, a movement towards building a future on the Kiribati Islands. But local adaptation and mitigation efforts aren’t enough, Mauna Eria urges the international community to take action by reducing their own carbon emissions and help in the mitigation of perhaps the greatest crisis of our era. 

Posted on

Researcher Dr. Donald Kingsbury on Extraction and Carbon Capitalism

2 July 2021 – conducted by Samantha Quadros

In this interview, Dr. Donald Kingsbury dives into his research on energy transitions and carbon capitalism with Earth Refuge Correspondent Samantha Quadros. Dr. Kingsbury saw how his community, located in the rust belt of the United States, was being affected by economic restructuring and NAFTA, which inspired him to look more closely into the social, cultural and political structures that facilitate resource extraction in Latin America. During his time in Venezuela working with social movements, he came to realise how deep the extraction of resources, ie. oil, underwrites political economy and social identity. Adopting lithium and water extraction as an example, Dr. Kingsbury explores the nuanced intersections between climate change, displacement and inequalities in the extraction sphere.

You can also listen to the podcast version of this interview on our Earth Refuge Spotify:

Posted on

Ethnographer Daniel Briggs on His Book ‘Climate Changed: Refugee Border Stories and the Business of Misery’

4 June 2021 – conducted by Yumna Kamel

You can buy his book Climate Changed: Refugee Border Stories and the Business of Misery here.

Daniel Briggs is an experienced ethnographer and social researcher who has studied some of the most disturbing and challenging social realities of the 21st century. He is currently a part-time Professor of Criminology at Universidad Europea, and an award-winning author in the field of Criminology. 

In this conversation with Yumna, he discusses what ethnographic research entails, and what led him to research and write ‘Climate Changed: Refugee Border Stories and the Business of Misery’, an honest, humane account about the rapid downsizing of the world’s natural resources and the consequences this has for millions who are displaced from their home countries because of politically-instigated and economically-justified war and conflict. The book is centred upon interviews with 110 refugees who arrived into Europe from 2015-2018 and observations of refugee camps, border crossings, inner-city slums, social housing projects, NGO and related refugee associations. Briggs sets this against the geopolitical and commercial enterprise that dismantled refugees’ countries in the international chase for wilting quantities of the world’s natural resources.

“… i counted about [200 people] in [Basmane Square] … and there was a boy, probably 2 years of age at the time…playing with a [discarded] lifejacket as if it were a toy with which he didn’t know how to play… You realise that actually, these people want everything you or I want in life: a safe place for their family to live, a job, and to not be terrorised. And I just thought to myself, “My God, that kid has no idea what has happened in his home country, no idea why he is sitting on a dirty pavement playing with a lifejacket…it really brings it home”

Posted on

Public Interest Lawyer Rebecca Ballard on Fast Fashion and Climate Justice

21 May 2021 – conducted by Yumna Kamel

A public interest lawyer and entrepreneur who has worked in DC and throughout Asia, Rebecca Ballard founded @MavenWomen to meet an unmet market need for additional socially conscious options for professional women’s attire, and went on to found the recently launched @The.Fashion.Connection (FTS) to “move the needle” in the global garment industry through product creation and partnership, consumer education, and advocacy. This year, FTS is highlighting the links between the impacts of fast fashion and human trafficking. During this interview, she discusses the vulnerability of the – largely female – fast fashion workforce, the modern day slavery landscape, and the overlaps between fast fashion, human trafficking, and climate justice.