We bring Season One of Transforming Tomorrow to a close with Jan answering some of the questions that have come up during previous episodes. Three big topics are covered.

We take a deeper look at externalities, which have been mentioned several times. Jan explains what they are, and how (not a matter of when) they can be internalised. Jan lays out the case for business to know about externalities and do something proactive to address them before someone else internalises them for you.

Jan also reflects on how the EU creates social and environmental effects outside of its borders and why it is important to know that this can happen.

Justice – in its many forms – has also come up in many of our episodes, and Jan gives a taster of what it involves. Spoiler alert: there are many elements to justice.

Plus, a sneak peek at what is coming up in Season Two.

Find details on the Frontiers of Justice book Jan mentions here: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674024106)

And the paper on justice and earth systems is here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01064-1

What is ‘future normal’? How will the world look years from now? How will businesses operate? How could they make your children proud? And how does sustainability fit into all this?

Professor Nick Barter, from Griffith University, takes Jan and Paul through the origins of the phrase from his time working with industry while completing his PhD with Jan at the University of St Andrews.

Covering topics from corporate direction-setting and vision to culture and language, learning from nature, and enabling others, Nick talks to us about how companies can change to be part of a world they want to live in.

Find out more about Future Normal here: https://futurenormal.net/

It’s a full house in the studio as Jan and Paul welcome Dr Elisavet Christou and Violet Owen to enlighten them on the world of creative evaluation.

They are co-authors of the Little Book of Creative Evaluation, and explain just what Creative Evaluation is, and how it can be used across many disciplines, giving examples of how they have seen it applied.

Elisavet and Violet discuss their EViD tool, which helps people with their evaluation processes; the value of hearing from many different voices, the importance of design, and why evaluation is so much more than a tick-box exercise.

Jan gets to talk benchmarking again. And is Paul right to be worried that the team are secretly being evaluated the whole time?

Check out the Little Book of Creative Evaluation here: https://creativeevaluation.uk/

And read a little more about the work here: https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_FiftyFourDegrees_Issue_20/34/

Linden Edgell – Inquisitor, Collaborator and Explorer extraordinaire – joins Jan and Paul from Perth, Australia, among her 150 mango trees.

Linden is ERM’s Global Sustainability Director and is also a member of the Pentland Centre’s Advisory Board. Trained as a social scientist, Linden has worked in government and latterly in consulting, where she is seeking to bring about change in corporate behaviour.

Linden explains how she works with executives on how they can change their operations and attitudes – from nature restoration to modern slavery – and how it is hard to get people to accept the difficulty of the task.

What changes has she seen over the decades? How do companies balance profit, sustainability and longevity? Can you walk and chew gum?

As we approach the conclusion of Series 1 of Transforming Tomorrow, find out what is still to come on the remaining episodes.

Farmed salmon is the UK’s biggest food export – and Dr Josi Fernandes is obsessed!

Josi joins Jan and Paul to talk about her work looking at salmon farming practices and sustainability in the UK and how her research in the area all started over a conversation in the pub.

We discover what Josi has learned from speaking with salmon farmers, processors and retailers – though not everyone wanted to talk.

We take in the differences between farmed and wild salmon; how farmed salmon came to be such a big market; the industrial scale of production; the environmental impacts of the practice; potential futures for the industry; and whether anyone in the studio eats salmon in the first place.

Find out more about Josi’s research here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/people/josiane-fernandes2

You can discover Paul Greenberg’s Four Fish book here: https://www.paulgreenberg.org/books/four-fish/

And see more on Mark Kurlansky’s Salmon book here: https://www.markkurlansky.com/books/salmon-a-fish-the-earth-and-the-history-of-their-common-fate/

Jan and Paul welcome Professor Mark Shackleton to the podcast to discuss the world of finance and how it intersects with sustainability.

They discover why the King can’t enter the City of London without permission; whether investors actually care about sustainability – or are only in it for the profits; how data can be used to influence ‘green’ investing; and the power of shareholders to instigate change.

Among discussions of ethics and politics, they find the time to talk about physics and Paul’s strange childhood fascination with global stock exchanges.

Find out more about Mark’s research here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/people/mark-shackleton

Is it possible that consumers can change how businesses operate through buying more sustainable products?

Jan and Paul welcome back Professor Dakshina De Silva, and Drs Anita Schiller and Aurelie Slechten to discuss the factors that influence consumer spending on green goods; different cultural attitudes towards green spending; how income levels affect these attitudes; and whether the future is carrying your own ice cream spoon around in your pocket.

Read more about the team’s research into green consumer spending in this short article: https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_FiftyFourDegrees_Issue_18/10/