As consumers we now expect, or perhaps are willing to pay a premium for, goods and services with green credentials – recycled paper and plastics, no single use plastics, less packaging, carbon-neutral delivery and so on. It makes us feel good; it makes us feel like we are doing out bit.  The UK government celebrates the country's reduction in carbon emissions - we are moving towards cleaner more environmentally-friendly future.

And yet, global emissions are growing. Levels of carbon released into the atmosphere are increasing. What is going on?

I am joined by Dr Laurie Parsons who has grappled with this challenge in his  book Carbon Colonialism: How rich countries explore climate breakdown (Manchester University Press, 2023).

Episode 3: Carbon colonialism

What are the political consequences of the Fire Age?  What does dust tell us about the modern world?  Who should be driving international development?  Is green consumerism really leading to a cleaner world?  Why is it OK to tell women to stay off the streets at night to increase safety, but not men? 

These are some of the questions we will be exploring in the first few episodes of Beyond the Map – a podcast that looks beyond the obvious to understand the hidden geographies that make our world.

Your host is Jo Sharp, a professor of geography and Scotland’s Geographer Royal. 

Beyond the Map

I am Jo Sharp, a Professor of Geography and Scotland's Geographer Royal.