GoodGeist
A podcast on sustainability, hosted by Damla Özlüer and Steve Connor, brought to you by the DNS Network. Looking at sustainability issues, communications, and featuring global guests from a wide variety of sectors such as business, NGOs and government.
Episodes
118 episodes
CDR: The Third Element, with Christopher Neidl
Carbon removal: miracle fix or a dangerous distraction? Both takes miss what the science is actually telling us. We sit down with Christopher Neidl, Carbon Removal Lead for the Climate High Level Champions and co-founder of OpenAir, to pin down...
A Fair System on a Global Scale, with Suzanne Geisler
If sustainability means working in Europe while other regions pay the price, is it really sustainability at all? We sit down with Suzanne Geisler, founder of the SERA Institute in Vienna, to connect the dots between sustainable constru...
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Cutting Through the Carbon Noise, with Göker AvcI
In this episode we sit down with Göker AvcI, founder of Alalëa Social to get a clear view on what serious carbon management looks like when you move beyond the headlines of a press release or linkedIN post. If you work in sustainabi...
A Gardener as a Cultural Actor, with Jacques Soignon
A greener city is not just about planting more trees. It is about making nature easy to reach, hard to ignore, and emotionally meaningful in everyday life. In this episode we chat to ecologist and horticulturalist Jacques Sognon, fo...
Nature Is Growth, with Anusha Shah
Nature is infrastructure, and we keep paying the price for forgetting it. In this episode we’re joined by Professor Anusha Shah of Plan for Earth, as she launches the Nature Is Growth campaign, a rallying cry for the built environment, to stop ...
Telling the Transition Story, with Gamze Çelikyılmaz
In this episode we're chatting to Gamze Çelikyılmaz, Vice Chair of Climate Academy Global and a long-time climate change policy specialist, to make sense of where the global energy transition actually stands and why the picture is so uneven acr...
The Climate Barometer, with Susie Wang
Has the public has “moved on” from climate change as some commentators might like us to believe? The data tells a different story. We sit down with Dr Susie Wang, climate and environmental psychologist and co-founder of Climate Barometer, to un...
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A Garden in the Sky, with Jason Williams
Is your balcony the most overlooked piece of green space in your life? It might also be the easiest place to start changing how you feel, day to day. We sit down with Manchester garden designer Jason Williams, known online as The
Wildflowering the World, with Richard Scott and Polly Moseley
Wildflowers can feel like a “nice extra” until you see what they do to a street, a skyline, and the way strangers talk to each other. In this episode we’re joined by Polly Moseley and Richard Scott from Scouse Flowerhouse, to explore how Liverp...
Celebrating a World Connected, with Mohamed Mezghani
A new global day is being launched for something no city or region could function without: public transport. We sit down with Mohammed Mezgani, Secretary General of UITP, to unpack the story behind World Public Transport Day on 17 April 2...
The Real Cost of Nuclear Energy, with Pınar Demircan
Nuclear power: the sensible, grown-up answer to the climate crisis? Once you look past the slogan of 'carbon-free', the story becomes harder to sell and impossible to keep local. We sit down with Pinar Demircan, coordinator of nuclearfree.org, ...
Plastocene Talks, with Sedat Gündogdu
Plastic waste is not just something we step over on the street or on a beach. It is a material that has quietly rewritten ecosystems, economics, and even human biology and once you notice that, it becomes impossible to treat something like “mar...
A Mediated Reality on Net Zero, with Becca Massey-Chase
If you're feeling a bit beaten up by the relentless negative news coverage on net zero and climate action, guess what? The data tells a more complicated and more hopeful truth. We sit down with Becca Massey-Chase, Head of Citizen Engagement at ...
Change the System, Business Declares, with Sam Baker
The world is changing, and the tricky question is whether business is shaping that change or sleepwalking into it. We sit down with Sam Baker, a director at Business Declares, to talk about the 'polycrisis' of climate breakdown, biodivers...
Nature: A Critical Infrastructure, with Prof. Anusha Shah
What if we treated wetlands, rivers and forests with the same seriousness as bridges, tunnels and treatment plants? We sit down with Prof Anusha Shah, the engineer, former ICE President, and founder of Plan for Earth, to explore how putting nat...
Our Future Homes, Our Future Heritage, with Dr. Banu Pekol
In this episode we sit down with the amazing urbanist and cultural heritage expert Dr Banu Pekol to rethink our notion of 'home' as a human right, as a store of memory, and as a foundation for belonging. From Istanbul’s Sulukule to Cape Town’s ...
Investing in Political Inclusion, with Dr. Hermann J. Stern
What if the secret to national wealth isn’t faster growth or smarter tech, but a fairer invitation to participate? We sit down with Dr Hermann Stern to unpack the Prosperity Gate—a striking pattern in World Bank data showing that most countries...
The Art of Environmental Communication, with Savita Wilmott
Ever wondered why so many people say they love nature yet so little seems to change? We sit down with Savita Wilmott, CEO of the Natural History Consortium, to unpack the stubborn care–to-action gap and share practical ways to move from saying ...
The Purpose of Growth, with Öner Günçavdı
Billionaire wealth is hitting historic highs while one in four people face hunger—so what exactly is growth doing for the rest of us? We sit down with Prof. Öner Günçavdı to unpack the mechanics behind inequality and global economics. ...
Big Little Lies About Climate, with Ümit Şahin
We sit down with Ümit Şahin—physician, public health scholar, and long-time climate advocate—as he traces his journey from medical school to air pollution research and climate policy, showing why health is the most human lens for energy choices...
There's More in Common, with Chris Annous
In our first episode of 2026 we sit down with Chris Annous from More in Common to look at how values-based research can bridge divides—and why pride in place may be the most underrated lever for social and climate progress right now. <...
2025 - a GoodGeist Retrospective
It's time for some GoodGeist year-end reflections from our co-host Damla and Steve. We take you across 2025’s most revealing sustainability moments, from radical listening that halted deforestation by focusing on community health, via an off-gr...
The Creative Truth, with Steve Mayer
Want a sustainability claim that inspires without inviting a regulator into your inbox? We sit down with Steve Meyer, director of Carbon Blue Solutions, to explore how. From mangrove forests and seagrass meadows to desert halophytes...
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The Feminist Art of Walking, with Morag Rose
What if a walk could change how a city works? We sit down with walking artist, activist, and academic Morag Rose to explore psychogeography as a living practice—one that uses curiosity, conversation, and gentle mischief to reclaim streets from ...
The Myths of Aviation, with Denise Auclair
The airport‑as‑engine of growth story is powerful, but the data tells a different story. We sit down with Denise Auclair, who leads the Travel Smart campaign at Transport & Environment, to unpack a new Europe‑wide study that tracks the real...
