Sustainable Asia

Lab grown fish could be a game changer here in Asia because our waters are becoming more and more overfished. And it turns out marine life in the ocean creates one of the largest carbon sinks...

We're back partnering again with the Break Free From Plastic movement to feature NGO advocates in Asia. In this episode. we are going to hone in on one of the big open questions at the April ...

We have a great new episode discussing the United Nations Global Plastics Treaty from the view of Break Free from Plastic advocates here in Asia. Our guests today have been working for d...

Hey Sustainable Asia Listeners!   We have some upcoming episodes discussing the United Nations Global Plastics Treaty negotiations that I think you are really going to find interesting.&...

The second meeting of the International Negotiations Committee (INC-2) had lofty ambitions.  But the first three days of these Plastics Treaty negotiations were mired in political antics...

A bonus episode about the Global Plastics Treaty from one of my favorite podcasts called Plastisphere. It’s run by Anja Krieger in Berlin, and like Sustainable Asia, Plastisphere re...

We need other solutions to the plastic waste crisis. Solutions that involve reduce, reuse, refill and repair here in Asia. And those types of solutions…need to be included in the Gl...

The Global Plastics Treaty negotiations kicked off! This is a historic moment for Asia, because after decades of plastic waste washing up on their shores…finally..there may be a path forward....

Our focus in this episode is livestock…specifically dairy products made from cows. It turns out enteric fermentation, the cow's digestive process of turning grass into food, contributes to ov...

Over half of the world’s population eats rice as its staple food. But did you know that rice production also contributes to about 10% of the world's methane emissions? And that methane i...

Are you aware of the critical role soil plays in the battle against climate change? But 75% of soil is already degraded from unsustainable farming practices...so earth's “living skin” is suff...

It turns out Seoul, Korea has the worst air pollution amongst all of the top 10 economies in the world. Why is air pollution still such a huge challenge in a country with abundant resources a...

Chermaine and Khoa move southeast and talk to a leading advocate in New Delhi who has successfully engaged the government there. Delhi’s air pollution is still one of the worst in the wo...

The next stop on the Chermaine and Khoa’s tour of Asia’s megacities is Lahore. This episode goes in depth to explore the political and social causes of air pollution, sheds light on what peop...

Chermaine and Khoa’s journey continues onto Jakarta, Indonesia where they meet with environmentalists who shed light on the health concerns surrounding the heavy air pollution there. Lac...

In their first stop across Asia’s megacities, environmental journalists Chermaine Lee and Khoa Tran head to Bangkok, Thailand. The government’s blind eye towards pollution has left Bangkok’s ...

Why haven’t the governments in Asia’s larger cities done something about the decades old problem of air pollution? Our two young environmental journalists, based in Hong Kong, Khoa Tran ...

Of the various challenges Asian countries face when tackling plastic waste…lack of funding is perhaps the one common thread.  So how can more money get to needed programs here?  See...

Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio, Legal and Policy Director at the NGO Oceana, is taking on the Philippine government.  A decades-old solid waste management law has not been enforced, contrib...

Could it be true that countries from the UN Environment Assembly committed to negotiate a global plastic treaty over the next two years? And even if the treaty is signed…will it have enough t...

Put on your headphones and get ready for two new seasons from the Sustainable Asia Podcast about the Global Plastic Treaty and Asia’s Air Pollution woes.Guests:Jennifer L. Turner, China Envir...

The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin is protected at the highest level in China, but its numbers are dwindling fast. In Hong Kong, where the species is affectionately known as the Chinese white ...

In this episode, we visit the Great Barrier Reef to discover the clamorous underwater world of marine life sounds. What can we learn from listening closely to the underwater soundscape? And a...

It turns out, sound is the dominant sense for animals underwater. For anything further than 10 meters away, marine life uses sound rather than sight to gather information. So human produ...

As ocean temperatures rise with global warming, tropical cyclones are hitting Asian nations like Japan and the Philippines like never before. So to end this season..we wanted to talk abo...

In this episode… we’ll traverse from Hong Kong to South Korea and onto Pune, India. We start with Hong Kong, where Sustainable Asia is based, because no new legislation on plastic waste ...

Sparked by the zero waste movement, Asian countries are focusing on reducing..rather than recycling... plastic waste. We start our story on the wealthy island nation of Japan…where the r...

We first travel to a waste bank on the island of Lembeh, Indonesia to see how recycling works (or doesn’t work) in small villages. Then we take a look at PET plastic recycling in Asian u...

We start with Melati Wijsen’s story….a young Indonesian civic advocate who went on a hunger strike in an effort to ban plastic bags on Bali.  With waste collection rates hovering around ...

The plastic waste crisis in Asia is real...and it doesn’t seem to be getting better.... It’s clear that we need a new approach to reducing disposable plastic waste and its impact on the ...

With Fukushima’s horrific earthquake-induced nuclear disaster still haunting Japan nowadays, the East Asian nation is finding it increasingly difficult to rehash developing nuclear plants as ...

China is set to launch its most green-focused plan during two important annual meetings, giving more details on how it plans to eliminate carbon emissions by 2060. We also cover China’s crack...

As Asia’s financial hub just announced its new budget, Hong Kong is set to launch the largest amount of green bonds ever in Asia, aiming to raise billions for sustainable projects. In this ep...

As K-pop bands like BTS and Blackpink have become global sensation, our young hosts talk about how their fans groups from all over the world are a strong new force for climate action. In this...

While the Year of the Ox kicked off, our young hosts’ celebration was cut short.  Nature’s Bite dampened Asia’s festive atmosphere - from an earthquake in Japan to an avalanche-induced f...

Is climate activism working? Our young hosts talk about how Japan, South Korea and Vietnam’s student activists rallied against building coal-fired plants. We also discuss China’s national car...

Reminiscing about good times in Japan, our tourism-hungry hosts talk about the creative but alarming graphics depicting the country at the end of this century if climate change continues at t...

Masked up for over a year, our young hosts wonder and report on what is happening to all the disposable masks in Asia. We talk about the notorious plastic crisis in Hong Kong and China, bleac...

In beanies and thick jackets, our young hosts are surviving the coldest winter in East Asia while bringing you the latest updates on the region’s green news! We talk about why climate ch...

As we are all turning over a new leaf in 2021 we cherry-pick the most important updates of the environmental sector in Asia. In this brand new weekly series from now through March, young...

We have some good news we can’t wait to share with you…. including a brand new series launching in January 2021 that differs from our previous shows.  And it gives us the opportunity to...

We are wrapping up Season 10 with highlights from our #AskSustainableAsia livestream event with guest speakers Jiliang Chen of Greenovation Hub and Zhou Wei Greenpeace East Asia.  A live...

Guest host Jennifer Turner, Director of the China Environment Forum for the Woodrow Wilson Center, talks with UN Patron of the Oceans Lewis Pugh and renowned freediver JesSea Lu about why the...

Jennifer Turner, Director of the China Environment Forum for the Woodrow Wilson Center, talks with Dr. Liu Nengye and Julian Chen. How does China’s investment in new fishing vessels and ...

Jennifer Turner, Director of the China Environment Forum for the Woodrow Wilson Center talks with two Chinese experts about rising ocean conservation awareness in China and why protecting the...

Over this season, we’ve explored how the problem of the Plastic First Mile is being tackled in countries across Asia. In the final episode of the season, we explore the bigger picture. We spe...

The way Chinese cities are handling plastic waste is changing dramatically - with new household waste separation rules starting in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. There are interesting projec...

Indonesia has more than 3 million tons of plastic leaking into the ocean every year. Its government announced a plan to cut marine plastic waste by 70% by 2025, so they reached out to th...

Bali’s natural beauty attracts many tourists from around the world, but with that comes plastic waste...a lot of it! We speak with people at McKinsey.org to understand how they developed a pl...

Hong Kong’s tall buildings, narrow streets and small retailers present a challenge for plastic beverage bottle collection and recycling. In this episode, we continue the story of Hong Kong’s ...