Code Red Podcast Series
Code Red is a climate change podcast from the DCU Institute for Climate and Society. The Code Red series looks at how the worlds of policy, politics, the media, the arts, and other sectors have responded to climate breakdown and biodiversity loss. Code Red features an interesting and diverse mix of guests from academia, policy, the cultural industries and civil society.
Series host: Dr Dave Robbins
Series producer and editor: Louise Romain
Series 1&2 producer: Monica Hayes
Sound for series 1&2: Eoin Campbell, Damien Hickey
With thanks to the DCU School of Communications.
Series 3
Lisa serves as the Strategy and Sustainability lead at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). She integrates long-term vision with environmental and social responsibility, ensuring sustainability is embedded at the heart of the museum.
Each year, she organises the museum’s flagship festival Earth Rising: an ambitious platform exploring the intersection of contemporary art, ecological innovation, and community resilience.
In this episode, she explains what it takes to curate the annual Earth Rising Festival and to steer the museum towards a regenerative approach beyond mere sustainability. Lisa highlights the challenges posed by the art institution's carbon footprint and the impact of storytelling through art.
The discussion also touches upon the Culture Declares Emergency initiative and Lisa's holistic vision for IMMA's role in community engagement, biodiversity, and critical thinking for future generations.
She explores how creativity can engage audiences on difficult topics such as the Earth Crisis in a way that speaks truth to reality, whilst also sparking hope and optimism.
Recorded at the Earth Rising Festival 2025, IMMA, Dublin.
Host: Dr Dave Robbins
Editor & Producer: Louise Romain
Music credits: Rain drops by Simon Folwar; Swimming by Torus
Intro and outro: Like Flying by Danijel Zambo
Jon is the author of ‘CITIZENS: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us’ and dedicates himself to sharing about the emergence of a Citizen Future. As a public speaker and a strategist, he supports leaders who understand the scale of the transformation we need and who are willing to play their part, and he plays a key role as a connector between institutions, community groups and social movements.
In this episode, Jon first discusses his career transition from advertising to co-founding the New Citizen Project with Irenie Ekkeshis in 2014, a consultancy aimed at transforming the societal role of individuals from consumers to engaged citizens.
He explores the concept of citizenship as an active practice rather than a static status, emphasizing the importance of collective intelligence and local community actions in addressing major issues like climate change and biodiversity loss.
Jon advocates for participatory democracy and deeper, more inclusive narratives that validate and platform community efforts, such as the wind energy project in Lawrence Weston, Bristol. He provides various international examples such as Taiwan’s COVID response and Norway’s crowdsourced investment strategies, where leaders embrace collective agency.
The discussion also touches on the potential of small yet significant shifts in narrative and policy to mobilize public engagement and trust.
Jon is also a member of the Global Advisor Network of the, where he led extensive work on Democratic Innovation. He is also on the Advisory Council of, an organisation he helped found as one of the original Strategic Advisors, and on the Leadership Council of the. He is also a Fellow of the, a Visiting Fellow at the University of Manchester, and an Associate at the Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
Recorded at the Earth Rising Festival 2025, IMMA, Dublin.
Host: Dr Dave Robbins
Editor & Producer: Louise Romain
Music credits: Resurgence by Simon Folwar; Zenith by Shane Mckenna
YouTube clip: ‘How we got a wind turbine’ by Ambition Lawrence Weston
Intro and outro: Like Flying by Danijel Zambo
Sarah O'Neill is a passionate and innovative fashion designer, and a consultant at The Zero Waster, a platform dedicated to promoting sustainable and zero-waste practices within the fashion industry.
In this episode, Sarah shares about her journey and inspirations in sustainable fashion. With her extensive background in apparel design, she leverages her expertise in sustainable design and product development to create clothing that not only meets aesthetic standards but also aligns with the principles of a circular economy, for example through using reclaimed fabrics.
The discussion covers the challenges of identifying genuinely sustainable brands, the importance of local production, and the creative potential of natural dyes. Sarah also talks about the growth of Dublin Independent Fashion Week, its role in supporting Irish designers, and the need for local manufacturing to make sustainable fashion more accessible.
The episode concludes with a conversation about the broader implications of sustainability in everyday life. Sarah is deeply engaged in brand awareness campaigns to educate consumers about the benefits of ethical fashion and has been recognised for her contributions, including winning the Sustainable Design Award at the IDI Awards in 2022.
Recorded at the Earth Rising Festival 2025, IMMA, Dublin.
Host: Dr Dave Robbins
Editor & Producer: Louise Romain
Music credits: Cutie by Sky Gienger; Eclipse by Moire; Network by Ill Kitchen; Gigil by Ten String Story
Intro and outro: Like Flying by Danijel Zambo
Series 1
Can movies help us understand climate change?
Film has a unique ability to engage and move people. It is an ideal medium to inform and motivate audiences around climate action. But can movies with an environmental theme also discourage audiences by lecturing them?
The role of eco-cinema is explored in this episode, and the influences of movies such as An Inconvenient Truth and Don't Look Up! are discussed.
Host: Dr Dave Robbins
Guests: Eco-cinema researcher Prof Pat Brereton, documentary expert Dr Eileen Culloty, and filmmaker Tom Burke, all of DCU School of Communications.
The humanities and social sciences have an important role to play in helping us find different ways to think and talk about climate change, and to engage with the defining issue of our times. In this podcast, we look at the differences between the humanities and the social sciences and speak to our guests about how their expertise and research in film studies and policy studies can help to bring about climate action.
Host: Dr. Dave Robbins
Guests:
- Prof Janet Walker, Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara
- Prof Pat Brereton, Professor in the School of Communications, DCU
- Dr Diarmuid Torney, Associate Professor in the School of Law and Government, DCU
The economic system, the energy system, the agriculture system - all of society's systems - need to change in response to climate breakdown. But just how difficult is it to change systems especially when they are supported by policy and the status quo. What will systems change look like and will it bring a better quality of life for all? These are some of the questions we tackle in this episode 'A Systems Response to Climate Change'.
Host: Dr Dave Robbins
Guests:
- Deirdre Duff, Head of Communications at Friends of the Earth
- Dr Patrick Bresnihan, author and lecturer in the Department of Geography at Maynooth University
In this episode of the Code Red climate podcast, we speak to three Irish nature writers about the recent boom in environmental literature.
What motivated them to write about the environment? Have our perceptions of what constitutes a wild landscape changed? What is the state of wild nature in Ireland?
Host: Dr. Dave Robbins
Guests:
- Mary Reynolds, reformed landscape designer, author of We Are The Ark: Returning Our Gardens to their True Nature with Acts of Restorative Kindness, and founder of the global rewilding movement We are the Ark
- Pádraic Fogarty, campaigns officer with the Irish Wildlife Trust, editor of Irish Wildlife magazine and author of Whittled Away: Ireland's Vanishing Nature
- Eoghan Daltun, sculptor, rewilder, and author of the best-selling An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey into the Magic of Rewilding
In this episode, we explore corporate responses to the climate and biodiversity emergencies. We examine the new reporting obligations that corporations are facing in terms of their sustainability, discuss greenwashing, debate the power of consumers, investors, and regulators in pressuring corporations to become more sustainable, and examine terms such as net zero and scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Host: Dr. Dave Robbins
Guests:
- Aoife Connaughton, Sustainability Strategy and Risk Lead for Deloitte Ireland
- Dr Fabiola Schneider, an Assistant Professor in DCU Business School with a research interest in Sustainable Finance
- Dr Aideen O'Dochartaigh, an Assistant Professor in DCU Business School with a research focus on Sustainability Accounting and Responsible Business
Series 2
In this episode, we unpick the problems inherent in fast fashion and explore societal and regulatory responses to creating a more sustainable industry. We examine the role of social media in driving consumption, ponder on the gender divide that makes preloved apparel more attractive to women and hear about new EU policies that will move the industry into the circular economy system.
Host: Dr. Dave Robbins
Guests:
- Gwen Cunningham, Lead for Circularity and Sustainability at NCAD and Co-founder of World Circular Textiles Day
- Laura de Barra, Author of “Gaff Goddess” and “Décor Galore”
- Mary Fleming, founder of Change Clothes Crumlin a community based clothing reuse hub in Dublin 12.
- Jo Linehan, Editor of Monthly Climate Supplement with Sunday Times, Sustainability Journalist and Host of Futurist Podcast
This podcast contains audio from a panel discussion that took place at IMMA’s Earth Rising Festival 2023.
In this episode we are delighted to chat with Dan Saladino, journalist, broadcaster and author of 'Eating to Extinction'. His research examines how the current lack of food diversity is having a negative impact on the health of the planet, and on human health as well. He discusses the power of storytelling in helping us reform the broken food system of the present through the identification of successful food production and consumption stories from the past.
In this episode we also explore the role of art in mobilising climate action with Annie Fletcher, Director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and hear about the importance of right intention in the successful delivery of climate action projects with artist Amelia Caulfield.
Host: Dr. Dave Robbins
Guest Interviewer: Prof Pat Brereton, Professor Emeritus at DCU
Guests:
- Annie Fletcher, Director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA)
- Dan Saladino, journalist, writer and broadcaster. Author of ‘Eating to Extinction’
- Amelia Caulfield, multidisciplinary socially engaged artist from Kilkenny.
This episode was recorded at IMMA during the Earth Rising Festival 2023.
The advertising industry has been hugely effective in driving the growth that has contributed to the climate crisis we now face and is instrumental in creating unsustainable consumption. In this episode we meet the agents of change within the industry who seek to catalyse advertising's climate transition towards halving emissions by 2030. They call themselves Purpose Disruptors and their vision is an advertising industry transformed in service to a thriving future.
Host: Dr. Dave Robbins, School of Communications, DCU
Guest Interviewer: Pat Brereton, Professor Emeritus at DCU
Guests:
- Laura Costello, Strategy Director of Purpose and Planet Projects in Think House, and Ireland lead for Purpose Disruptors
- Lisa Merrick Lawless, co-founder and director of Purpose Disruptors in UK
- Emer Fitzmaurice, Head of Planning at Folk Wunderman Thompson, and part of the Purpose Disruptors team in Ireland
- Thomas Geoghan, Strategy Director in PHD Media and team member of Purpose Disruptors Ireland
This episode was recorded at IMMA at the Earth Rising Festival 2023.
The media have often being criticisd for their role in climate change inaction, and their framing of the climate change discourse is regularly called into question. In this episode of Code Red we bring you a panel discussion which took place during the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s Earth Rising Festival where our host, Dr. David Robbins discussed the challenges that environmental journalists face when delivering climate change stories to the Irish public.
Host: Dr. Dave Robbins, School of Communications, DCU
Guests:
- Caroline O' Doherty, Irish Independent
- Rosalind Skillen, Belfast Telegraph
- John Gibbons, Irish Examiner and Environmental Campaigner
This episode was recorded at IMMA at the Earth Rising Festival 2023.
This episode links eco-anxiety with the ocean by virtue of our two contributors whose work and play centers around the ocean. They are Linzi Hawkin, surfer and co-founder of Project Blue and fellow surfer Easkey Britton, an author and social scientist. In this thought provoking episode we hear about what eco-anxiety is and how to deal with it, the role of the ocean in our health and wellbeing, and what the ocean can teach us in today's often challenging world.
Host: Dr. Dave Robbins, School of Communications, DCU
Guest Interviewer: Pat Brereton, Professor Emeritus at DCU
Guests:
- Linzi Hawkin, Co-founder and Advocate at Project Blue, Surfer
- Easkey Britton, Author, Social Scientist and Surfer
This episode was recorded at IMMA at the Earth Rising Festival 2023.