Saving the World isn't Rocket Science

The episode tackles sustainable agriculture by looking into plastic waste and microplastic pollution in freshwater. A study conducted by Norwegian Research Center at Vestlandet in 2020 shows that almost all rivers contained hay bale plastics and that agricultural plastics made up 70% of the total plastic. An interview with Martin Wagner, associate professor at NTNU, highlights his research of microplastic’s effect on living organisms and the toxicity of said plastic.

This episode looks at the human-wildlife conflict between moose and forestry in Trøndelag. During the last 100 years, the status of moose has changed from being a relatively rare species to becoming a dominating species all over the forested part of Norway. Anders Kolstad, guest researcher at NTNU, talks about his research on the effect of moose populations on the forest in Norway.

In this episode, we investigate the environmental impacts of hiking trails in the Trondheim area. Norwegians are active practitioners of “friluftsliv” and hiking is one of the most popular activities. Ronja Wedegärtner, Ph.D. candidate at NTNU, joins us to discuss the influences of hiking trails on vegetation shifts in mountains in the Northern Scandes.

This episode looks at sustainable urban development. Currently, about 83% of Norwegians are living in urban areas and the cities are growing continuously, making urban development more important than ever. In this episode, Helge Brattebø, a professor of Industrial Ecology at NTNU, talks about the concept of Zero Emission Neighbourhoods (ZEN) and how it can help Norway reach its climate goal.