From the Roots

The only thing more overdone than someone launching a podcast in 2023 is someone announcing that podcast with a self-deprecating joke about how the world didn’t really need another podcast – so I’ll spare you the latter at least.

For a while know I’ve had concerns about how environmental news is reported, across the board, but specifically in Ireland. It tends to be framed as a special interest topic or given very little critical attention in the media. There is so much happening every day that even those journalists that do want to report accurately don’t always have to space to give context or background to their stories. The advocates and activists speaking up can often lose people who aren’t as experienced as them in a web of jargon and acronyms.

So I decided rather than making another version of my last non-fiction podcast project, which focused on expert led conversations aimed at people already invested in the environmental sector, I’d try to help people who want to know more but aren’t sure where to start.

The stated goal of From the Roots as a podcast is to demystify the science behind environmental news. A lot of the time, the people most passionate about these topics won’t even realise that how they share information alienates anyone who wasn’t already well informed. In the pilot I touch on that when it comes to UN conventions and agencies which can mean people are communicating a lot to each other through strings of initials that only make sense if you already know them.

I’m starting out with a broad overview to give a sense of just how many moving parts there can be in these conversations, and how off-putting they can be for people trying to get read in. The second episode will also be slightly introductory, running over the natural history of Ireland post-ice age up to the modern day, discussing the major landscape changes and their causes.

I’ve been looking forward to making this for a while so I’m excited it’s finally started. I just hope that people find it useful.