EcoDoc Podcast
A series of podcasts hosted by Dr Will Liddell, family doctor and ecologist, comprising conversations about biodiversity, health and the environment. Contributors include healthcare professionals, farmers, scientists and conservationists and the content explores their work, their careers and their thoughts about environmental issues. Sound enginering is by Rob Wynne-Griffiths.
Episodes
16 episodes since 2021
An interview with Dr Jonny Groome about greening anaesthesia with GASP
The healthcare sector is a major contributor of greenhouse gases and plastic waste. GASP (the Greener Anaesthesia and Sustainability Project) is a collaboration between anaesthetists and a range of NHS workers, who want to reduce the environmen...
June 08, 2022
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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46:23
Andy Byfield discusses the conservation of wild flowers and the work of Plant Life
Andy Byfield has a long-standing interest in botany, including the flowering plants traditionally associated with arable farming, some of which have become very scarce due to changes in agricultural practices. He has been involved in botanical ...
August 19, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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50:54
John Cherry on regenerative farming and the Groundswell Conference
Regenerative Agriculture aims to put soil health and sustainability at the heart of farming practices. John Cherry has spent his career farming in Hertfordshire. He became aware of the importance of looking after soil when he noticed farm produ...
July 25, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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53:42
Dr Alan Kellas on how climate change is affecting our mental health
Dr Alan Kellas is a psychiatrist with an interest in environmental issues and sutainability. He discusses the current and future impacts of global warming on our mental health and how psychiatry can be made greener with GP Dr Will LIddell.S...
July 19, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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45:45
Prof Chris Reynolds on how we can cut the environmental impacts of animal production
Farming is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Farm animals play a big role in these emissions. At the same time we increasingly recognise the importance of animals to soil health and therefore the long term sust...
June 25, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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49:45
Helen Browning OBE on organic food production
Will Liddell talks to Helen Browning OBE, CEO of the Soil Association, about the origins of the organic movement, her career in farming and campaigning and the role of the Soil Association. Support for the principles of the organic movement has...
June 21, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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50:55
Hendrikus van Hensbergen on Action for Conservation and bringing on the next generation of environmentalists
Will Liddell in conversation with Hendrikus van Hensbergen, the founder of a remarkable charity, Action for Conservation, which has developed a programme for inspiring young environmentalists and equipping them with the knowledge and skills the...
June 21, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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56:31
The Marlborough Downs Space for Nature project with Dr Jemma Batten
Will Liddell talks to Jemma Batten about how a group of farmers on the Marlborough Downs started working together on wildlife conservation at landscape scale. The collaboration has been a great success and includes restoration of a networ...
June 21, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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49:16
Dr Sue Stuart Smith discusses how gardening can help our mental health
GP Will Liddell talks to Dr Sue Stuart Smith, consulant psychiatrist and psychotherapist, about her best-selling book exploring the links between gardening and our mental and physical health. There is a long history of gardens...
June 21, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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51:32
Dr Richard Summers on the evolution and domestication of wheat and the potential of GM and gene editing
Will Liddell discusses the science behind plant breeding with Dr Richard Summers . We discuss the origins of wheat as a hybrid of wild grasses, its subsequent domestication by early farmers and the techniques of modern wheat breeding which have...
June 01, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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45:54
Dr Fiona Godlee discusses health, climate change and the role of the BMJ
Dr Will Liddell and Dr Fiona Godlee, Editor in Chief of the British Medical Journal, discuss the threats to public health posed by environmental change and the role of medical journals in alerting doctors to the challenges we face in conf...
May 24, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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52:52
Professor Simon Potts discusses biodiversity in agricultural crops and how farming can benefit nature
Dr Will Liddell talks Prof Simon Potts of Reading University about his career in agroecology. Many of our food crops are crucially dependent on ecosystems services provided by insects and plants we call weeds. As the pressure to increase the yi...
May 24, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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47:26
Ben Asaw on the fascination and extraordinary diversity of beetles
Dr Will Liddell talks to Ben Asaw of the Field Studies Council about the extraordinary diversity of beetles and their importance in ecosytems as predators, pests, pollinators and waste disposal specialists. Did you know that the great Australia...
May 14, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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43:20
Dr Grace Thompson talks about Doctors for Extinction Rebellion
Dr Will Liddell talks to Dr Grace Thompson, family doctor and environmentalist, about combining medical practice, training doctors and activism. Sound engineering by Rob Wynne-Griffiths.
May 08, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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41:59
Dr Andrew Morrice discusses Human Givens and a different view of medicine
Dr Will Liddell talks to Dr Andrew Morrice, a family doctor in Somerset, about the principles of Human Givens and how this has shaped his practice of medicine. Conventional medicine tends to focus on disease, its diagnosis and management (often...
May 08, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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55:06
Keith Betton of the Hampshire Ornithological Society talks birding
Will Liddell talks to Keith Betton, Chairman of the Hampshire Ornithological Society about his life-long interest in birds and how this developed into a successful career in public relations. Keith was recruited in a London park by a peer of th...
May 08, 2021
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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43:26