Orangutan podcast

This week’s blog comes with a big announcement and a little bit of backstory, both served with my usual dose of pragmatic optimism and a splash of behind-the-scenes shenanigans.

Next week, I’ll be recording and filming the first episode of our very own podcast series at KMTV, based at the brilliantly historic Chatham Dockyard, a place that’s seen warships, submarines and now… a bloke from Syntech Biofuel trying not to look into the wrong camera.

It’s called The Pragmatic Environmentalist, a phrase I’ve used for years to describe both myself and the way we work at Syntech. It’s also something I’ve always believed is desperately needed in conversations about sustainability, energy transition, and climate change. Too often, this stuff is all or nothing, doom or delusion. What we need is people taking consistent, achievable steps, and not waiting for permission from perfection.

But before we get into what the podcast is all about, let’s rewind a little…

Now, in full honesty, the podcast nearly had a very different name. I was this close to calling it:

“No Orangutans were hurt in the making of this podcast”

(or NOWHITMOTPa if you’re a fan of unwieldy acronyms). Others were not so sure.

The idea came to me after visiting Indonesia a few years ago, after going to a palm plantation and then on to an orangutan rescue colony, meeting these amazing creatures up close was life-changing. I was nailed on for the name,  but eventually, I realised that while “No Orangutans…” would’ve been great for a pub quiz team or a Camden indie band, it maybe wasn’t quite the tone we wanted for a climate podcast aiming to be taken at least slightly seriously.

So we circled back to something that felt like a better fit, something that reflected not just my slightly chaotic personality, but my entire approach to environmentalism.

That’s when we landed squarely back on:

The Pragmatic Environmentalist.

Short. Sharp. Slightly tongue-in-cheek. And 100% me and Syntech.

So what’s it all about you ask. Well, it’s more than a podcast. It’s a mindset. It’s a cup of builder’s tea with a side of carbon literacy. It’s what happens when you bring together real people, real stories, and real solutions, and leave the jargon and greenwash at the door.

The series will run for six episodes, and each one is designed to be a grounded, intelligent, occasionally cheeky, and always constructive conversation about climate, energy, sustainability, and how we all fit into the big picture, whether we’re MPs, roadbuilders, artists or primary school kids.

It’s going to be filmed at KMTV’s brilliant studios, nestled in the heart of the Chatham Dockyard, which adds a layer of symbolism I didn’t plan, but really love. From a place once dedicated to powering empire, war and industry… now comes a podcast about powering the future with purpose, integrity, and innovation. Who says history doesn’t pivot?

Why now?

If you’ve read any of my blogs before, you’ll know I don’t do fluffy green posturing. I’m not here to guilt-trip anyone into installing a compost toilet or going off-grid by Thursday.

Syntech has always been more BrewDog than BP, and I’ve always been more Peckham than Packham!

I’m here to show how small, sensible shifts, multiplied by communities, businesses and policymakers, can and do move the needle.

Syntech Biofuel exists for this exact reason. We don’t just talk transition, we energise it, from developing sustainable fuels to building partnerships that make actual impact. But the podcast isn’t about Syntech. It’s about the bigger ecosystem we’re part of, and all the other voices trying to push the same boulder up the hill, Sisyphus style, in their own way.

I want these episodes to feel like conversations you’d overhear in a good pub: passionate, informed, funny, but always heading somewhere useful. Less “eco-warrior doomscrolling,” more “mate, here’s something you can do next week.”

We start filming next week, and I couldn’t be more excited. We’ve got a killer production team, a strong sense of purpose, and if all goes to plan, the first episode will drop in early autumn.

There’ll be video and audio versions, and I’ll be sharing clips, quotes and behind-the-scenes snippets along the way. So if you’ve ever wondered what it sounds like when an orangutan saviour, an artist, a council leader and a climate MP all walk into a recording studio… you’ll be in the right place.

I’ll also be talking to the people who are building the greenest road ever constructed since the Romans finished the original M1.

So, as all us podcast people say… it would mean the world to me if you tuned in and gave it a watch or a listen.

Story by Syntech Biofuel