December 23, 2025 • 33 mins
In this episode, the hosts share preparations for the Christmas season before delving into the inspiring stories of three remarkable women.
First is Ms Sanae Takaichi the first female Prime Minister of Japan, known for her multifaceted personality and groundbreaking achievements.
Next is Alison Westwood from rural Wales, who launched a successful initiative to divert surplus food from landfills, creating community pantries that support thousands of households.
Lastly, the episode highlights 14-year-old Sheyna Patel from Florida, who designed a hydrogel capable of removing 93% of microplastics from water, potentially revolutionizing marine ecosystems. These stories emphasize that remarkable change can come from individuals of any age and background, driven by a commitment to benefit communities and the environment.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crkj5e73xkmo
https://baobab-bach.org/about-us/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM-2_9mWHTY
https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/everything-you-should-know-about-microplastics
https://youngscientistlab.com/annual-challenge/finalists-mentors-judges/finalists/sheyna-patel-2025-finalist
00:00 Getting Ready for Christmas
00:59 Holiday Preparations and Traditions
02:20 Creative Christmas Hacks
03:53 Inspirational Women of 2025
05:46 Spotlight on San Aka Chi
11:46 Allison Westwood's Impact in Rural Wales
15:21 Alison's Pilot Program: A Clever Strategy
16:07 Community Impact: Affordable Food Initiative
17:48 Scaling Success: From Pilot to Formalized Program
18:30 The Baobab Vision: More Than Just Food
22:32 Shayna Patel: A Young Innovator
24:13 The Hydrogel Breakthrough: Tackling Microplastics
29:34 Future Aspirations: Shayna's Vision
31:19 Conclusion: Empowering Communities and Individuals
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
audio1367423190 (00:08):
Here we are.
Are you Christmas ready?
I was just wondering if we weregoing to make reference to
seasonal.
Uh, cool.
Like what time of year?
It is amazing.
Um, yes.
95.
Well, you got your Turkeypercent.
The Turkey arrived.
'cause I told you the dog waspulling the Turkey box around
the, the entry hallway after itwas discarded.
(00:30):
That was, that was fun.
Just it was bizarre.
You just like spr up and ran atit out of nowhere.
Could you smell bizarre?
Could.
Smell that it was meat.
No, I'm kidding.
No, not even remotely.
But the weird thing is,'cause Iwouldn't think it would
transfer, but it must reallytransfer.
It was like a box within a boxas well.
So it was properly sealed.
But then Ted, you know, he someprimal level.
(00:52):
He was like, there's meat here.
I need to, I need to investigatefrom a dead sleep.
Sprinting across the house.
I say senses.
Yeah.
So how about you?
Are you, are you just aboutready?
'cause you're, I think you'retraveling.
Oh no.
When do you guys leave?
Christmas Eve, which is theworst day to leave, we've
decided to make Christmas ashard as we possibly can.
(01:12):
So, yes, it's fine.
I, it'll be fine.
I just, I feel a bit grinchy,which is very unusual for me
and.
Everything just seems to be abit of an upheaval, but we're
getting there.
We've got a few days.
Monmouth was nice and it wasnice to see it back very nice.
(01:33):
Yeah.
I got a few little, likestocking from there.
Nice.
Yeah, so it was okay, and thendropped some Christmas cards off
on the dog walk.
That was good.
So I'm doing all the rightthings.
I like Christmas cards.
They make me smile.
Oh, there you go.
If it, if it's part of you, ifit's part of like uplifting you
and getting you in the mood forthe season, then that's cool.
(01:55):
I'm fine.
I just thought nobody wants mydisease card.
Like, nobody wants a card tocome through and be like, Ugh.
I don't really understand that.
I don't do Christmas trollop,but.
That's okay.
That's fine.
Like you do you, I I don't getupset if I don't get Christmas
cards.
If someone, if I've written tosomeone and they haven't written
to me, that's, I'm not part ofthat.
(02:15):
Oh, you don't do the, thevengeance, cross'em out the
address.
No, I'm quite chill about it.
Yeah.
I'll tell you what, we usedChristmas cards for this year,
which was good.
We ran out of gift tags, so whatI did was cut out the pictures
of old Christmas and pop thewhole Oh, cute.
Yeah.
And that kind of saved up thatsuch a good idea.
Oh, you know, and they lookquite cute actually.
(02:35):
Like, they're clearly not, youcan tell they're a Christmas
card cutter, but they, you know,they, they.
Do the job.
I really like it.
I think that's a good upcycle,an old Christmas card as well.
Exactly.
So if it's like an environmentalthing, I've given of life and
they'll eventually be recycled,so Yeah.
Love it.
I'm trying that front.
(02:56):
Um, so yes, just a little bitmore wrapping.
I, that's my last like supertask is the last little bit of
wrap in.
Yeah.
And then making sure the ovensare clean enough that when Paul
is cooking the dinner, it's notsmoke owing out.
That's how I help.
(03:16):
Yeah.
Cleaning ovens is like a,there's that service isn't
there, like oven, oven, pig.
They will come to your house andthey will just clean your oven.
You just like give them a cup oftea and go see you in a few
hours, buddy.
And they, they make it like new,I don't know what toxic
chemicals are involved, butyeah, I like the, the sound of
(03:36):
that.
Yeah.
You probably don't want the foodafter, after that.
Not the first two or three cookswould be a bit stingy.
Bit stingy taste.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Just cook spicy stuff.
No one will ever know.
That's very true.
Um, so yeah, would you like tohear, well, not just one story
(03:58):
prior.
Today you got triple threat ofstories.
I mean like a selection box ofwonderful ladies.
Oh, love it.
That makes me happy.
Yeah.
Bring it on.
Selection box of women.
So yeah, we did this last year,which is basically women of
2025.
And just people who you may nothave heard in the news who have
done amazing things and wouldlike to shine a little light on
(04:22):
them.
Uh,'cause you can change historyat any time.
Um, so, and it just mixes it upa little bit I thought as well.
Okay.
And I've tried to get a goodcross section of different.
the word?
Industries, I guess, andgeographical range and, ages.
So I've tried, um, brilliant.
(04:43):
You know, spread, spread thelove wide.
Um, but, but it was really hard,I'll be honest, to like.
Drill down the list.
Like I should have done like a,like a top of the pops know 10.
Exactly.
There was so many more I couldhave spoken about.
Particularly, one lady on mylist was, El Kil Dun, who is the
(05:08):
rugby player won the Women'sWorld Cup with the Roses.
cool.
And, um, she's amazing andinspirational super duper.
Who else was there?
There was a photographer, whohad done a range, Cara Romana, I
and she'd done a range ofportraits that were like women
(05:30):
as dolls so a little bit of an oto women aren't play things, but
also like the diversity um, lifeand history.
That was really and yeah, therewas just so many.
So I've got three feet today.
The first one, San aka Chi, whois the now Japanese Prime
(05:54):
Minister.
She's the first email to holdthat title, which is very
exciting.
And on top of, I know it's verycool.
And, um, on top of that Crow,she's 64.
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
Yeah, I know.
So she's like, ticking at allthose boxes.
And it also proves you're nevertoo old to make history, which
is very exciting that she'sactually smashed that boundary
(06:15):
at 64.
So I really like the story'causeit shows, keeps striving for
what you believe in what youwant.
She also failed to secure thisrole two times before, so it's
also very good.
Oh, not.
Giving up.
Absolutely.
I mean, that's the kind of rolethat you would have to work your
way up to, like anyone, but thefact that she went for it and
(06:35):
didn't get it and carried ondidn't get put off, that is
super impressive.
I don't think there's a lot ofAmerican politicians, for
example, who do that.
They, if they fail, they'redone.
Yeah.
I don't, I guess I could neverbe in politics for, without that
sole reason.
Like, I need external validationIt's unhealthy.
Um, but she's very interestingcharacter, so she actually cites
(06:59):
Margaret Thatcher as aninspiration, which immediately
makes you go, uh oh.
No, it's not great.
But she wants to be, and she'sbeen quoted in, uh, interviews
of saying this Japanese very owniron lady.
Because of that, as you wouldexpect, her be quite
conservative, for example, onimmigration.
(07:20):
But the other interestingparallel with Thatcher is her
humble beginnings.
So she was brought up in a partof Japan called Nara, which I've
actually been to and it's reallyOh, how cool.
Stunning and beautiful.
They have a deer park therewhere deer's just rain free.
And I made few deer that day.
It's really stunning.
Oh yeah.
Really And actually this setsapart, apart a bit Japanese
(07:45):
government because a lot ofthem, I guess it's like, as in
our, Etonian pipeline politics.
Yeah.
Yeah, so apparently there'ssomething similar in Japan where
they all come through a certainpipeline, but, Ani is different.
So the other cool thing abouther is that she's a rocker.
So she played in a rock band.
(08:06):
What?
Yes.
She's a drummer.
And she was part of a band.
They did really, you know, quitea lot of performances.
They were fairly successful.
She's into heavy metal bandslike Iron Made and Deep Purple,
and she still has an electricdrum kit at home in many ways.
This is the most shocking thingyou've said so far, because
like, it's like, it's such ajuxtaposition, isn't it?
(08:28):
Yes, it is like a conservativepolitician who's, uh, you know,
trying to rock out is like,what?
But okay.
Cool.
Alright.
Other cool things about her isshe likes to scuba dive and
she's really into cars.
I'm not making it up.
It all sounds like I'm making itup, but I'm not genuinely, this
is a fascinating, multifacetedindividual.
(08:50):
Good for her.
Oh my God.
And her.
Car, which was the Toyota, ofcourse, supra, is now on display
at the Nara museum.
Um, she's also had a backgroundin media, but like I said,
earlier, that she has definitelyworked her way up.
So there's a little quote therein red just about her, uh, rungs
of the ladder.
(09:11):
To get to the top she ran in herfirst parliamentary election in
1992 as an independent but lost.
She persisted winning a seat ayear later and joining the LDP
in 1996.
Since then, she's been electedas an MP 10 times, losing only
once, and built a reputation asone of the parties most
(09:31):
outspoken, conservative voices.
Yeah, so LDP is liberal Democratparty.
But she's on, which I know frownyou said she's like Thatcher.
Um, but she's very much on theright side of that.
So she's very member of thatparty.
Okay.
Yeah.
Um, she.
Is best known as the protege, ofthe late Prime Minister.
(09:55):
She know Abe.
And she has worked in hiscabinet for a long time.
And she's kind of had lots ofdifferent roles and all this
adds up to her ability to do thejob, doesn't it?
Despite her being compared toThatcher quite a lot,
particularly on roles likeimmigration.
Her tone has softened a lot in,recent campaigns, and I think
that's her listening andresponding.
(10:18):
For example, she vowed to makebabysitters fees.
Tax deductible in some park andshe proposed corporate tax
breaks that provide in-housechildcare And if you know
Thatcher, you know, Thatcherwould never, ever in million
years have considered thesepolicies.
(10:38):
So, you know, there I just wannadifferentiate.
I'm not saying this woman'sThatcher, no, she's like rolling
with the times by the soundtoday.
Yes.
And her own it's fair.
Her own society.
That's, that's reallyinteresting.
It is really, it sounds, and italso.
Yes.
And it also shows that thatIntune piece, which is kind of
what you were saying, becauseJapan does have an aging
(10:59):
society, so care and careservices and, households and
multi-generational, sheunderstands what impacts them,
you know, so, yeah.
So really, really interesting.
And then, yeah, she took officethis year, which is fantastic.
So that is our first lady of theday.
S aka Chi.
conservative political scubadiving, rocker with a car hobby.
(11:22):
Um, there's a lot going on, but,um, yeah.
But also countries, but alsoshe's not interesting.
Yes.
And for a country as old asJapan, to only now have a
female.
Yeah.
Leader is, is.
It's, it's well time andhopefully she's using it to do
great things where she can, likeputting those, childcare
initiatives in place.
(11:44):
Absolutely.
Love that.
Um, so this one is a lot morecloser to home.
Our second lady of 2025 isAllison Westwood, and I'm
bringing you to rural Wales.
That's where we're going.
So 10 minutes away from us.
Yes.
I'm gonna take you back in timejust to recent history of 2020.
(12:05):
In the rural valleys of bridgeend, the pandemic has hit, and
obviously that is causing hugeamounts of anxiety.
Huge amounts of isolationscommunities, are completely
shattered.
Those on furlough or recentlyemployed, um, you know, is, uh,
was it isolation?
What was it called when we werelockdown?
(12:25):
You are not allowed to get in acar with anyone.
Public transport isn't on.
And particularly in those reallyrural places, that is a huge
lifeline.
In the rolling hills of ruralWales.
This really impacted on foodsecurity.
It was already difficult forpeople on the poverty line or
struggling to get let alonebefore all these other
(12:48):
restrictions by the government.
On top of that, there's a prideline?
I was really shocked, I guesswhen I volunteered for a food
bank in And, I wasn't preparedthe emotion that comes with it,
like the amount of people thatwere Crying their eyes out.
(13:10):
And we were there as a, oh look,we're here to help you, But I
just didn't aspect of that.
It is complex, isn't it?
It is, and people often wannapay their way.
They don't want handouts.
But this is where Alice andWestwood, a retired
physiotherapist.
Also a meningitis survivor, sawa gap and it needed more than
(13:32):
just a temporary fix.
full on Allison, alongside withher husband John, and the sport
of reach rural development,realized that the, solution was
already sitting in warehouses.
There was tons of surplus food.
Almost always lightly destinedfor landfills.
And this could be, oh my God,Yeah, like supermarkets, they,
(13:56):
if they can't sell it, they binit Right.
Because of law.
That is insane.
Yeah.
That's definitely a thing.
Yeah.
It's shocking.
Literally shocks me.
It's not that.
Perfectly edible food is gettingtossed to waste.
Yeah.
When people are hungry, that's,yeah.
I just can't see how That'sokay.
(14:16):
I'm gonna hold tight'cause Ifeel like we're going someplace
positive with this.
So it's slightly better than itis actually now.
You are outrageous is completelyvalid.
So before you used to get bestbefores on like.
Fresh food.
So like lettuces, tomato,cucumber, they've done away with
that now.
Which means that they're not,,supermarkets aren't bound by
those best before dates, whichmeans you can basically set, and
(14:40):
also it means that there's lessfood at the house end as well,
because the.
People quite rightly relied onthose dates.
So if it's like a day out, youdon't wanna give that to your
kids.
It's that a date.
And that would obviouslycontribute to the right waste.
So actually that's a reallypositive years.
I think that was after I thinkyou're right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you're right.
(15:00):
It is insane that, and also ittakes so much to grow this food
as well.
Like, you know, we we're verylucky that a lot of our food is
subsidized in this country, butlike it.
It's so difficult to grow foodin the first place.
And then we're like, and like itsays here, like they're in
warehouses just rotting.
It's absolutely insane.
Oh God, yes.
(15:21):
So what Alison did in 2020, shedid this very coy thing of
launching a pilot, which is avery cool strategy for if you
are want into.
Make inroads into anything newor if to challenge anything as
uh, ways, whether it's at workor whatever, just check the word
pilot in there because what thatmeans is that you, you're not
(15:43):
asking them to commitcompletely.
You're just asking them just tosee if something works.
Let's just give it a go.
It's not that big a deal.
Let's just run a pilot, youknow?
And actually, I love this, therisk.
It's such a good tactic toreduce risk.
Um, so she was very shrewdthere.
She was like, let's just do apilot and then, yeah, no big
thing.
Come on, no big thing.
(16:03):
Let's just gonna say no to that.
Be reasonable.
And she had four communityvenues in the valley, so like I
said, rolling Hills Wales, inBrin.
And she basically made an offerof all the surplus food from the
supermarket.
She was bagging that up.
And she said, look, for fiber,you get this massive bag of
food, right?
(16:23):
I think within the bags it wasat least 15 items.
Okay, so 15 items that couldeasily get you, I don't know, a
family of four for a week,right?
15 different ingredients.
That five pounds covered thefood, but it also covered, the
community center's, heating andlighting, and made it a
sustainable business And this iskind of really hanging on that
(16:46):
emotional piece that I wastalking about earlier, because
people don't want handouts,they're embarrassed, they're,
um, shock.
They're probably at their lowestpoint.
And then, you know, it's reallyhard sometimes, isn't it, to
accept charity.
And this is the problem that shewas fixing.
She was.
Encouraging more people to comein a way by asking for five
pounds because then you areopening it up again.
(17:08):
You are opening it up to themasses and you're helping more
people that way.
That that makes perfect sensebecause then she can rightly and
truly say this stuff was goingto waste, but for five pounds, I
can afford to box it all up.
And not only are you not justtaking a a handout, you're
actually supporting yourcommunity because that money is
(17:29):
also supporting the communitycenter.
Yeah.
So that's just like everybodywins.
Isn't it?
And no one's, degraded, no one'sdemoralized.
Kids have food in their bellies.
Like, it's just, it's brilliant.
Um, and it was such a success,like it was, the response of
this was really overwhelming.
That by May the next year, sowhat's that, 5, 6, 7 months
(17:53):
later, they'd gone from four to12 right.
Within the valley.
Oh yeah.
That's a good pilot.
Then by September that year,they had actually diverted 45
ton tons, 45 tons of food fromlandfill.
Oh, it's, that's disgusting.
A lot.
It's such wild.
(18:14):
And this is just like in ruralWales?
Yeah.
One, one place like across thenation.
What scale is this wastagehappening on?
That's, I know,'cause I wasthinking what, there's 1.5
million people in Wales, maybesomething like that.
Like.
It's helping that many She'sonto a winner, Alison knew for
(18:36):
this to last, it needed to kindof be a bit more formalized, you
know what I mean?
Because you're right, it was apilot, it was very successful
pilot, but now is the time tomake it, you know, a little bit
more, um, so she.
Actually formed the CommunityInterest which is BBA Back.
(18:58):
And, there's, you are thinking,Vicky, why, word?
Is that Welsh?
You know, it's not Welsh.
Um, and there's a little bba.
Ah, okay.
Why Baab?
In Africa, the Baobab tree isthe Tree of Life, a meeting
place that provides food andwater.
(19:19):
Oh, allison envisioned herpantries as more than shops.
She wanted them to be thebaobabs of South Wales.
Oh, bow Bs.
Yeah.
I'm not sure if I'm saying thatright.
I'm just going No, I wasthinking like bow running at it.
I dunno.
Great.
Um.
So through a partnership, uh,with Link, uh, curu and Welsh
(19:42):
government funding, the projectevolved.
it?
Curu?
It wasn't about bags of foodanymore, it was about cafes,
hubs, basically those communityplaces.
So places where volunteers couldcome.
More.
Support services.
So, you know, food is oneaspect, but there's so many
other parts when you are on thepoverty line.
(20:03):
And then what she actuallymanaged to do was turn grocery
trip into a point of real humanI know.
Lovely.
Um, fast forward to late 2025.
We are now at 18 pantries andcollaborative services across,
across three different Welshcounties.
Allison's vision has reached themost unlikely places, including
(20:25):
schools, and even a localprison.
The impact is staggering.
We were shocked at 45 tons offood.
We're now at 400 tons of ediblefood being saved from God.
Oh my God.
I know.
And that means that also 48,000households supported, which is
really lush.
Incredible.
Yeah.
(20:46):
Alison this year was honoredwith the 2025 EN Environmental
Game Changer Award.
And that was honored to her bythe magazine, women and Home at
Women Awards this year, which ishow I found her in the first
place.
Alison's mission isn't over.
She's trying to shift her focustowards nutritional resilience,
so that means teaching how tocook from scratch, distributing
(21:07):
recipes, encouraging gardening,all around fresh fruit and
vegetables.
Allison's philosophy is simple.
When you empower a community topay their way and support one
another, you don't just fill thecupboards, but you rebuild an
entire village.
Oh, what delightful story.
Yeah.
(21:27):
Gosh.
And that picture of her, at thetop is from oh, she looks so
happy.
Yeah.
For me, she's getting It's, avery humble, happy, happy, happy
story.
And just shows, doesn't itthough?
Change doesn't mean big, itdoesn't mean flashy.
It just means change doesn't,but also like the counterbalance
(21:49):
of that, that like she, she wasan impressive person with an
impressive career, but shewasn't ahead of a supermarket.
She wasn't politician.
Yeah.
She was just someone who went,oh, this isn't right.
I'm gonna need to do somethingabout this.
How cool that just anybody whothinks, nope, not happy with
this, can make such adifference.
(22:10):
And I mean, she must be aremarkable woman to have
achieved what she has.
But what an example that, youknow, there's no, oh, well I'm
just, you know, I'm just me.
I don't have anything to do withthat.
Like, no, just get on with it.
Good for her.
I reckon she's in nature aswell.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that was our second lady, andthen we're whizzing across the
pond to the states for ourthird, A female today who is
(22:33):
Shayna Patel.
Shayna is 14 years old, and soshe is Oh yeah.
She's a girl who changedhistory, that's for sure.
And she has done something thatis absolutely, mind blowing.
So, this 14-year-old girl has dedesigned something that could
save ecosystems and food chainsin the ocean.
She's from Florida and goes toOrlando Science School, which is
(22:56):
a STEM focused, tuition freepublic charter school.
Wow.
I've already remembered one ofthe people I should have said at
the top of this, Alice Walton, Ithink like the 20th rich person
in the world, like she is theWalmart s and she, this year has
launched a, school teaching,women primarily, like med
(23:19):
medicine, basically be doctorsand nurses some medical school
and,, she free tuition.
That is incredible.
One amazing thing to do withyour billions of pounds, right?
Like, I know putting that moneyto good use and God, I think
recent political changes meanthat nursing.
Tuition is not subsidized orgiven grants in the same way
(23:42):
that it previously has been.
Mm-hmm.
So there is going to be a real.
Shortfall, I think of nurses andshe's, maybe this is another one
of those cases where she's gone,well, it's not my field, but
that's not right and I'm gonnado something about it.
And she has the means to dosomething incredible.
Oh my God.
Just, why, why are we not alldoing that with our billions?
(24:04):
So, um, sorry, this does nottake away from, uh, Shayna Patel
in any, thing, but it's justthe, my mind went tuition free
and I was like, oh, that wasanother one.
So Shane is at school and shehas managed whilst at school to
design, a hydrogel, which iscapable of removing, get this
93% of microplastics from water.
(24:28):
What, what, what, what?
You've just saved the world,Sheena.
Okay.
Cash.
So, um.
Uh, a hydro gel, which I didn't,I didn't know they existed.
But it is a gel and it's softand flexible.
It looks a bit like that slimethat kids play with.
It's a network of, water that isswollen polymer chains, uh, that
(24:50):
ob absorb huge amounts of water,and they're often used in a lot
of products.
So, for example, nappies andthings like that.
It's just a, it's a sucker.
Oh.
Like that stuff.
That's in the absorbent layerof, I think an nappi that kind
of think that's bulks up when itgets wet.
Yes, yes.
So microplastics are anyfragment of plastic that is
(25:13):
between one nanometer and fivemillimeters wide.
So a nanometer is, like thewidth of your hair.
and a millimeter is like fivemillimeters is like if you had a
wedding band.
That's The general gist.
So anything between those twosizes is known as a
(25:33):
microplastic.
Some of microplastics areintentionally made that way.
Um, so there was, there werehuge scandals wasn't there,
about there being in face washesand stuff like that.
Oh, like the little beads,remember?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was a, that was a scandal,wasn't it?
Like, what are we doing with theworld?
But sometimes it's just largerplastics, that have been eroded
and eroded and eroded, and nowthey're nanoplastics.
(25:55):
So, you know, junk in the ocean.
That has been eroded there'slike two microplastics.
They're very common.
They're found in water, soil,even the air nowadays, which is
absolutely Um, some adults couldpotentially be consuming between
39,050 2000 microplastic peryear.
(26:19):
Oh my God.
Yeah.
And they have been foundactually in the walls So it's a
huge problem.
It's scary.
And I guess the food chain isaffected if it's in the ocean,
then.
Mm-hmm.
The animals in the ocean areeating that and then that
transfers upwards and we sithigh on the food chain.
(26:42):
We eat kind of everything, so weeat a compounded number of these
things.
But you're saying you can evenjust inhale and breathe them in.
That's so Yeah.
That is really scary.
That's a good point.
They've been found to make,,soil less fertile.
So when you are harvesting, oh,a sort of lesser quality, and
they've also been found to speedup the melting of snow and ice
(27:06):
Um, yes, it's a bit dark.
Actually, I should have maybejazzed that paragraph up.
No, but that you're showing the,the importance of the work
because the impact.
Oh my God.
Yes.
So the other thing we need toknow about microplastics is that
they carry a negative charge.
So I want you to think likebatteries north and south,
(27:27):
polar, that kind of thing.
That's the area that we're in.
They have a negative charge.
What's an hydrogel has apositive charge.
So Patel, she, her prototypefocused on polyethylene Terra
Delight, which is the petplastics.
Um Oh.
Mm-hmm.
You know those, yeah, I knowthat, that acronym, yeah.
(27:48):
I don't know the name, but thatyou're like ratchet.
Yeah.
Um, and so they tend to be theones that are in plastic
bottles, that kind of thing.
And she found.
In a lab.
So in a really contained areathat her version of this
hydrogel actually had a hugesignificant removal rate.
(28:10):
And it just sucked all theplastics up.
It like gobbled them up.
And there's a really fascinatingYouTube video of her showing it.
She's like, whipping up this geland it grows so quick.
It's obviously this is verydifferent using this in a lab
than it would be if it was ariver or like a really complex
chemical environment.
But what she has done is provewithin her invention that
(28:32):
there's a path forward.
Like, you know, it's an option.
She's also shown that it, theycan be removed.
'cause I think there was thiskind of hands up, uh, well, you
know, it's out there now kind ofthing.
And actually what she's shown isthat.
Proof is in the pudding.
There's an option, and it alsoshowed to me when I was reading
(28:53):
this story that ideas can comefrom anywhere.
It doesn't have to be the fancy,yes, it was a lab, but it
doesn't have to be the fancy orthe Oxfords a bit like we were
just saying with Alison, youhaven't make an impact at any
level that your at.
And I'm not being funny.
She's 14 and she was right.
She found this out like.
You know, it doesn't matter whoyou are or where you're from,
(29:15):
you can make inroads andeveryone is valid.
And I just found that reallyencouraging.
When I was reading her story, Iwas like, lush.
And it also showed me that thefuture generation, they're doing
it.
They're out there.
Thank God somebody's got, I'vegot someone's on it, you know?
So that was really reassuring aswell.
And I found this littleinterview with her and where she
(29:37):
was talking about lots ofdifferent things and I asked her
a couple of really goodquestions.
One was, what is your favoriteinvention of the last a hundred
years and why?
And she said, the smartphone, ithas revolutionized.
Communication, entertainment,work, and even in our health.
She said that we've gone fromresponding to texts to actually,
GPS cameras, health tracking.
(29:58):
And she was like, the access toinformation is amazing and what
we can do is use thatinformation to learn about our
planet and gain a deeperconnection.
She said a deeper connection towell planet.
I know I was so, I was about tosay, oh, she has a typical
14-year-old.
Then she just like, oh, my phoneis amazing.
No, she's still bringing a nextlevel of view.
She, next level of responsethere, the connection to our
(30:21):
planet.
Oh.
And then one of the, one of thequestions was, and I thought
this is a really cute one tofirst to end on today is what,
what do you wanna be doing in 15years?
And I wonder if you could readto answer.
In 15 years, I hope to be in aleadership role within a field.
I'm passionate about drivinginnovation, mentoring others,
(30:42):
and contributing to meaningfuladvancements that benefit not
only my organization, butsociety as a whole in stem.
Oh, society as a whole.
That's what she's aiming for.
And good for her, I hope.
And I am sure she's gonna it.
Let's, but what's makes you feelgood?
Even if she achieves that andexact the timeline.
(31:05):
Timeline she's talking aboutthere, she still won't even be
30 yet.
I know she'll be, that's what anabsolute go-getter.
I know.
Shane and Patel,, from Florida,wow.
What a cool kid.
Very Um, so there are threewomen today, Shayna, You know,
(31:29):
I, I mean, it's like you'renever too old.
It's never too late.
Mm-hmm.
You are.
Always able from any walk oflife to take on even an
overwhelming challenge.
Yes.
And you're never too young.
If you have an idea, even as anoutsider, you might have thought
of something that.
(31:49):
Even the really well trained andwell invested people who have
all the technical, knowledge andequipment haven't thought of,
you might just see it adifferent way, so go for it.
Love that.
Yeah, so good.
Such a good example.
And I guess another connection,just reflecting just then is
like actually communities, isn'twho is actually serve her help a
(32:15):
community.
You've got Allison, who isliterally serving her community
And then you've got, Shana atthe end who is all about
connection, wasn't she, to theworld and, you know, the
environment and, so actually.
Community's quite a big featurethere actually.
Oh, gorgeous.
Didn't think that when I thereyou go.
Cute as that.
Quite, quite Christmasy, really,that spirit of, yeah, I think
(32:39):
that's all come together.
Well, thank you so much forbringing those.
Well, thank you.
And thank you to yeah, all ourlisteners for the whole year and
thank you for sending me yourSpotify wraps and stuff.
That was amazing.
And yeah, thank you so much forsticking with us and learning
with letting us do this littlepodcast journey that we're It
(33:02):
has been wonderful.
Thank you so much.
you and I a very restful winterholidays and, um, I'm sure we'll
be back in happy Happy holidays.
Happy holidays.
audio2663295054 (33:20):
Thank you for listening to this episode of She
Changed History.
If you enjoyed it, please like,subscribe and comment below.
Find us on our socials,Facebook, Instagram, and
YouTube.
If you've got any ideas of womenyou'd like us to cover in a
future episode, please commenton the socials or email us at
She Changed history@gmail.com.
Here we are.
Are you Christmas ready?
I was just wondering if we weregoing to make reference to
seasonal.
Uh, cool.
Like what time of year?
It is amazing.
Um, yes.
95.
Well, you got your Turkeypercent.
The Turkey arrived.
'cause I told you the dog waspulling the Turkey box around
the, the entry hallway after itwas discarded.
(00:30):
That was, that was fun.
Just it was bizarre.
You just like spr up and ran atit out of nowhere.
Could you smell bizarre?
Could.
Smell that it was meat.
No, I'm kidding.
No, not even remotely.
But the weird thing is,'cause Iwouldn't think it would
transfer, but it must reallytransfer.
It was like a box within a boxas well.
So it was properly sealed.
But then Ted, you know, he someprimal level.
(00:52):
He was like, there's meat here.
I need to, I need to investigatefrom a dead sleep.
Sprinting across the house.
I say senses.
Yeah.
So how about you?
Are you, are you just aboutready?
'cause you're, I think you'retraveling.
Oh no.
When do you guys leave?
Christmas Eve, which is theworst day to leave, we've
decided to make Christmas ashard as we possibly can.
(01:12):
So, yes, it's fine.
I, it'll be fine.
I just, I feel a bit grinchy,which is very unusual for me
and.
Everything just seems to be abit of an upheaval, but we're
getting there.
We've got a few days.
Monmouth was nice and it wasnice to see it back very nice.
(01:33):
Yeah.
I got a few little, likestocking from there.
Nice.
Yeah, so it was okay, and thendropped some Christmas cards off
on the dog walk.
That was good.
So I'm doing all the rightthings.
I like Christmas cards.
They make me smile.
Oh, there you go.
If it, if it's part of you, ifit's part of like uplifting you
and getting you in the mood forthe season, then that's cool.
(01:55):
I'm fine.
I just thought nobody wants mydisease card.
Like, nobody wants a card tocome through and be like, Ugh.
I don't really understand that.
I don't do Christmas trollop,but.
That's okay.
That's fine.
Like you do you, I I don't getupset if I don't get Christmas
cards.
If someone, if I've written tosomeone and they haven't written
to me, that's, I'm not part ofthat.
(02:15):
Oh, you don't do the, thevengeance, cross'em out the
address.
No, I'm quite chill about it.
Yeah.
I'll tell you what, we usedChristmas cards for this year,
which was good.
We ran out of gift tags, so whatI did was cut out the pictures
of old Christmas and pop thewhole Oh, cute.
Yeah.
And that kind of saved up thatsuch a good idea.
Oh, you know, and they lookquite cute actually.
(02:35):
Like, they're clearly not, youcan tell they're a Christmas
card cutter, but they, you know,they, they.
Do the job.
I really like it.
I think that's a good upcycle,an old Christmas card as well.
Exactly.
So if it's like an environmentalthing, I've given of life and
they'll eventually be recycled,so Yeah.
Love it.
I'm trying that front.
(02:56):
Um, so yes, just a little bitmore wrapping.
I, that's my last like supertask is the last little bit of
wrap in.
Yeah.
And then making sure the ovensare clean enough that when Paul
is cooking the dinner, it's notsmoke owing out.
That's how I help.
(03:16):
Yeah.
Cleaning ovens is like a,there's that service isn't
there, like oven, oven, pig.
They will come to your house andthey will just clean your oven.
You just like give them a cup oftea and go see you in a few
hours, buddy.
And they, they make it like new,I don't know what toxic
chemicals are involved, butyeah, I like the, the sound of
(03:36):
that.
Yeah.
You probably don't want the foodafter, after that.
Not the first two or three cookswould be a bit stingy.
Bit stingy taste.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Just cook spicy stuff.
No one will ever know.
That's very true.
Um, so yeah, would you like tohear, well, not just one story
(03:58):
prior.
Today you got triple threat ofstories.
I mean like a selection box ofwonderful ladies.
Oh, love it.
That makes me happy.
Yeah.
Bring it on.
Selection box of women.
So yeah, we did this last year,which is basically women of
2025.
And just people who you may nothave heard in the news who have
done amazing things and wouldlike to shine a little light on
(04:22):
them.
Uh,'cause you can change historyat any time.
Um, so, and it just mixes it upa little bit I thought as well.
Okay.
And I've tried to get a goodcross section of different.
the word?
Industries, I guess, andgeographical range and, ages.
So I've tried, um, brilliant.
(04:43):
You know, spread, spread thelove wide.
Um, but, but it was really hard,I'll be honest, to like.
Drill down the list.
Like I should have done like a,like a top of the pops know 10.
Exactly.
There was so many more I couldhave spoken about.
Particularly, one lady on mylist was, El Kil Dun, who is the
(05:08):
rugby player won the Women'sWorld Cup with the Roses.
cool.
And, um, she's amazing andinspirational super duper.
Who else was there?
There was a photographer, whohad done a range, Cara Romana, I
and she'd done a range ofportraits that were like women
(05:30):
as dolls so a little bit of an oto women aren't play things, but
also like the diversity um, lifeand history.
That was really and yeah, therewas just so many.
So I've got three feet today.
The first one, San aka Chi, whois the now Japanese Prime
(05:54):
Minister.
She's the first email to holdthat title, which is very
exciting.
And on top of, I know it's verycool.
And, um, on top of that Crow,she's 64.
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
Yeah, I know.
So she's like, ticking at allthose boxes.
And it also proves you're nevertoo old to make history, which
is very exciting that she'sactually smashed that boundary
(06:15):
at 64.
So I really like the story'causeit shows, keeps striving for
what you believe in what youwant.
She also failed to secure thisrole two times before, so it's
also very good.
Oh, not.
Giving up.
Absolutely.
I mean, that's the kind of rolethat you would have to work your
way up to, like anyone, but thefact that she went for it and
(06:35):
didn't get it and carried ondidn't get put off, that is
super impressive.
I don't think there's a lot ofAmerican politicians, for
example, who do that.
They, if they fail, they'redone.
Yeah.
I don't, I guess I could neverbe in politics for, without that
sole reason.
Like, I need external validationIt's unhealthy.
Um, but she's very interestingcharacter, so she actually cites
(06:59):
Margaret Thatcher as aninspiration, which immediately
makes you go, uh oh.
No, it's not great.
But she wants to be, and she'sbeen quoted in, uh, interviews
of saying this Japanese very owniron lady.
Because of that, as you wouldexpect, her be quite
conservative, for example, onimmigration.
(07:20):
But the other interestingparallel with Thatcher is her
humble beginnings.
So she was brought up in a partof Japan called Nara, which I've
actually been to and it's reallyOh, how cool.
Stunning and beautiful.
They have a deer park therewhere deer's just rain free.
And I made few deer that day.
It's really stunning.
Oh yeah.
Really And actually this setsapart, apart a bit Japanese
(07:45):
government because a lot ofthem, I guess it's like, as in
our, Etonian pipeline politics.
Yeah.
Yeah, so apparently there'ssomething similar in Japan where
they all come through a certainpipeline, but, Ani is different.
So the other cool thing abouther is that she's a rocker.
So she played in a rock band.
(08:06):
What?
Yes.
She's a drummer.
And she was part of a band.
They did really, you know, quitea lot of performances.
They were fairly successful.
She's into heavy metal bandslike Iron Made and Deep Purple,
and she still has an electricdrum kit at home in many ways.
This is the most shocking thingyou've said so far, because
like, it's like, it's such ajuxtaposition, isn't it?
(08:28):
Yes, it is like a conservativepolitician who's, uh, you know,
trying to rock out is like,what?
But okay.
Cool.
Alright.
Other cool things about her isshe likes to scuba dive and
she's really into cars.
I'm not making it up.
It all sounds like I'm making itup, but I'm not genuinely, this
is a fascinating, multifacetedindividual.
(08:50):
Good for her.
Oh my God.
And her.
Car, which was the Toyota, ofcourse, supra, is now on display
at the Nara museum.
Um, she's also had a backgroundin media, but like I said,
earlier, that she has definitelyworked her way up.
So there's a little quote therein red just about her, uh, rungs
of the ladder.
(09:11):
To get to the top she ran in herfirst parliamentary election in
1992 as an independent but lost.
She persisted winning a seat ayear later and joining the LDP
in 1996.
Since then, she's been electedas an MP 10 times, losing only
once, and built a reputation asone of the parties most
(09:31):
outspoken, conservative voices.
Yeah, so LDP is liberal Democratparty.
But she's on, which I know frownyou said she's like Thatcher.
Um, but she's very much on theright side of that.
So she's very member of thatparty.
Okay.
Yeah.
Um, she.
Is best known as the protege, ofthe late Prime Minister.
(09:55):
She know Abe.
And she has worked in hiscabinet for a long time.
And she's kind of had lots ofdifferent roles and all this
adds up to her ability to do thejob, doesn't it?
Despite her being compared toThatcher quite a lot,
particularly on roles likeimmigration.
Her tone has softened a lot in,recent campaigns, and I think
that's her listening andresponding.
(10:18):
For example, she vowed to makebabysitters fees.
Tax deductible in some park andshe proposed corporate tax
breaks that provide in-housechildcare And if you know
Thatcher, you know, Thatcherwould never, ever in million
years have considered thesepolicies.
(10:38):
So, you know, there I just wannadifferentiate.
I'm not saying this woman'sThatcher, no, she's like rolling
with the times by the soundtoday.
Yes.
And her own it's fair.
Her own society.
That's, that's reallyinteresting.
It is really, it sounds, and italso.
Yes.
And it also shows that thatIntune piece, which is kind of
what you were saying, becauseJapan does have an aging
(10:59):
society, so care and careservices and, households and
multi-generational, sheunderstands what impacts them,
you know, so, yeah.
So really, really interesting.
And then, yeah, she took officethis year, which is fantastic.
So that is our first lady of theday.
S aka Chi.
conservative political scubadiving, rocker with a car hobby.
(11:22):
Um, there's a lot going on, but,um, yeah.
But also countries, but alsoshe's not interesting.
Yes.
And for a country as old asJapan, to only now have a
female.
Yeah.
Leader is, is.
It's, it's well time andhopefully she's using it to do
great things where she can, likeputting those, childcare
initiatives in place.
(11:44):
Absolutely.
Love that.
Um, so this one is a lot morecloser to home.
Our second lady of 2025 isAllison Westwood, and I'm
bringing you to rural Wales.
That's where we're going.
So 10 minutes away from us.
Yes.
I'm gonna take you back in timejust to recent history of 2020.
(12:05):
In the rural valleys of bridgeend, the pandemic has hit, and
obviously that is causing hugeamounts of anxiety.
Huge amounts of isolationscommunities, are completely
shattered.
Those on furlough or recentlyemployed, um, you know, is, uh,
was it isolation?
What was it called when we werelockdown?
(12:25):
You are not allowed to get in acar with anyone.
Public transport isn't on.
And particularly in those reallyrural places, that is a huge
lifeline.
In the rolling hills of ruralWales.
This really impacted on foodsecurity.
It was already difficult forpeople on the poverty line or
struggling to get let alonebefore all these other
(12:48):
restrictions by the government.
On top of that, there's a prideline?
I was really shocked, I guesswhen I volunteered for a food
bank in And, I wasn't preparedthe emotion that comes with it,
like the amount of people thatwere Crying their eyes out.
(13:10):
And we were there as a, oh look,we're here to help you, But I
just didn't aspect of that.
It is complex, isn't it?
It is, and people often wannapay their way.
They don't want handouts.
But this is where Alice andWestwood, a retired
physiotherapist.
Also a meningitis survivor, sawa gap and it needed more than
(13:32):
just a temporary fix.
full on Allison, alongside withher husband John, and the sport
of reach rural development,realized that the, solution was
already sitting in warehouses.
There was tons of surplus food.
Almost always lightly destinedfor landfills.
And this could be, oh my God,Yeah, like supermarkets, they,
(13:56):
if they can't sell it, they binit Right.
Because of law.
That is insane.
Yeah.
That's definitely a thing.
Yeah.
It's shocking.
Literally shocks me.
It's not that.
Perfectly edible food is gettingtossed to waste.
Yeah.
When people are hungry, that's,yeah.
I just can't see how That'sokay.
(14:16):
I'm gonna hold tight'cause Ifeel like we're going someplace
positive with this.
So it's slightly better than itis actually now.
You are outrageous is completelyvalid.
So before you used to get bestbefores on like.
Fresh food.
So like lettuces, tomato,cucumber, they've done away with
that now.
Which means that they're not,,supermarkets aren't bound by
those best before dates, whichmeans you can basically set, and
(14:40):
also it means that there's lessfood at the house end as well,
because the.
People quite rightly relied onthose dates.
So if it's like a day out, youdon't wanna give that to your
kids.
It's that a date.
And that would obviouslycontribute to the right waste.
So actually that's a reallypositive years.
I think that was after I thinkyou're right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you're right.
(15:00):
It is insane that, and also ittakes so much to grow this food
as well.
Like, you know, we we're verylucky that a lot of our food is
subsidized in this country, butlike it.
It's so difficult to grow foodin the first place.
And then we're like, and like itsays here, like they're in
warehouses just rotting.
It's absolutely insane.
Oh God, yes.
(15:21):
So what Alison did in 2020, shedid this very coy thing of
launching a pilot, which is avery cool strategy for if you
are want into.
Make inroads into anything newor if to challenge anything as
uh, ways, whether it's at workor whatever, just check the word
pilot in there because what thatmeans is that you, you're not
(15:43):
asking them to commitcompletely.
You're just asking them just tosee if something works.
Let's just give it a go.
It's not that big a deal.
Let's just run a pilot, youknow?
And actually, I love this, therisk.
It's such a good tactic toreduce risk.
Um, so she was very shrewdthere.
She was like, let's just do apilot and then, yeah, no big
thing.
Come on, no big thing.
(16:03):
Let's just gonna say no to that.
Be reasonable.
And she had four communityvenues in the valley, so like I
said, rolling Hills Wales, inBrin.
And she basically made an offerof all the surplus food from the
supermarket.
She was bagging that up.
And she said, look, for fiber,you get this massive bag of
food, right?
(16:23):
I think within the bags it wasat least 15 items.
Okay, so 15 items that couldeasily get you, I don't know, a
family of four for a week,right?
15 different ingredients.
That five pounds covered thefood, but it also covered, the
community center's, heating andlighting, and made it a
sustainable business And this iskind of really hanging on that
(16:46):
emotional piece that I wastalking about earlier, because
people don't want handouts,they're embarrassed, they're,
um, shock.
They're probably at their lowestpoint.
And then, you know, it's reallyhard sometimes, isn't it, to
accept charity.
And this is the problem that shewas fixing.
She was.
Encouraging more people to comein a way by asking for five
pounds because then you areopening it up again.
(17:08):
You are opening it up to themasses and you're helping more
people that way.
That that makes perfect sensebecause then she can rightly and
truly say this stuff was goingto waste, but for five pounds, I
can afford to box it all up.
And not only are you not justtaking a a handout, you're
actually supporting yourcommunity because that money is
(17:29):
also supporting the communitycenter.
Yeah.
So that's just like everybodywins.
Isn't it?
And no one's, degraded, no one'sdemoralized.
Kids have food in their bellies.
Like, it's just, it's brilliant.
Um, and it was such a success,like it was, the response of
this was really overwhelming.
That by May the next year, sowhat's that, 5, 6, 7 months
(17:53):
later, they'd gone from four to12 right.
Within the valley.
Oh yeah.
That's a good pilot.
Then by September that year,they had actually diverted 45
ton tons, 45 tons of food fromlandfill.
Oh, it's, that's disgusting.
A lot.
It's such wild.
(18:14):
And this is just like in ruralWales?
Yeah.
One, one place like across thenation.
What scale is this wastagehappening on?
That's, I know,'cause I wasthinking what, there's 1.5
million people in Wales, maybesomething like that.
Like.
It's helping that many She'sonto a winner, Alison knew for
(18:36):
this to last, it needed to kindof be a bit more formalized, you
know what I mean?
Because you're right, it was apilot, it was very successful
pilot, but now is the time tomake it, you know, a little bit
more, um, so she.
Actually formed the CommunityInterest which is BBA Back.
(18:58):
And, there's, you are thinking,Vicky, why, word?
Is that Welsh?
You know, it's not Welsh.
Um, and there's a little bba.
Ah, okay.
Why Baab?
In Africa, the Baobab tree isthe Tree of Life, a meeting
place that provides food andwater.
(19:19):
Oh, allison envisioned herpantries as more than shops.
She wanted them to be thebaobabs of South Wales.
Oh, bow Bs.
Yeah.
I'm not sure if I'm saying thatright.
I'm just going No, I wasthinking like bow running at it.
I dunno.
Great.
Um.
So through a partnership, uh,with Link, uh, curu and Welsh
(19:42):
government funding, the projectevolved.
it?
Curu?
It wasn't about bags of foodanymore, it was about cafes,
hubs, basically those communityplaces.
So places where volunteers couldcome.
More.
Support services.
So, you know, food is oneaspect, but there's so many
other parts when you are on thepoverty line.
(20:03):
And then what she actuallymanaged to do was turn grocery
trip into a point of real humanI know.
Lovely.
Um, fast forward to late 2025.
We are now at 18 pantries andcollaborative services across,
across three different Welshcounties.
Allison's vision has reached themost unlikely places, including
(20:25):
schools, and even a localprison.
The impact is staggering.
We were shocked at 45 tons offood.
We're now at 400 tons of ediblefood being saved from God.
Oh my God.
I know.
And that means that also 48,000households supported, which is
really lush.
Incredible.
Yeah.
(20:46):
Alison this year was honoredwith the 2025 EN Environmental
Game Changer Award.
And that was honored to her bythe magazine, women and Home at
Women Awards this year, which ishow I found her in the first
place.
Alison's mission isn't over.
She's trying to shift her focustowards nutritional resilience,
so that means teaching how tocook from scratch, distributing
(21:07):
recipes, encouraging gardening,all around fresh fruit and
vegetables.
Allison's philosophy is simple.
When you empower a community topay their way and support one
another, you don't just fill thecupboards, but you rebuild an
entire village.
Oh, what delightful story.
Yeah.
(21:27):
Gosh.
And that picture of her, at thetop is from oh, she looks so
happy.
Yeah.
For me, she's getting It's, avery humble, happy, happy, happy
story.
And just shows, doesn't itthough?
Change doesn't mean big, itdoesn't mean flashy.
It just means change doesn't,but also like the counterbalance
(21:49):
of that, that like she, she wasan impressive person with an
impressive career, but shewasn't ahead of a supermarket.
She wasn't politician.
Yeah.
She was just someone who went,oh, this isn't right.
I'm gonna need to do somethingabout this.
How cool that just anybody whothinks, nope, not happy with
this, can make such adifference.
(22:10):
And I mean, she must be aremarkable woman to have
achieved what she has.
But what an example that, youknow, there's no, oh, well I'm
just, you know, I'm just me.
I don't have anything to do withthat.
Like, no, just get on with it.
Good for her.
I reckon she's in nature aswell.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that was our second lady, andthen we're whizzing across the
pond to the states for ourthird, A female today who is
(22:33):
Shayna Patel.
Shayna is 14 years old, and soshe is Oh yeah.
She's a girl who changedhistory, that's for sure.
And she has done something thatis absolutely, mind blowing.
So, this 14-year-old girl has dedesigned something that could
save ecosystems and food chainsin the ocean.
She's from Florida and goes toOrlando Science School, which is
(22:56):
a STEM focused, tuition freepublic charter school.
Wow.
I've already remembered one ofthe people I should have said at
the top of this, Alice Walton, Ithink like the 20th rich person
in the world, like she is theWalmart s and she, this year has
launched a, school teaching,women primarily, like med
(23:19):
medicine, basically be doctorsand nurses some medical school
and,, she free tuition.
That is incredible.
One amazing thing to do withyour billions of pounds, right?
Like, I know putting that moneyto good use and God, I think
recent political changes meanthat nursing.
Tuition is not subsidized orgiven grants in the same way
(23:42):
that it previously has been.
Mm-hmm.
So there is going to be a real.
Shortfall, I think of nurses andshe's, maybe this is another one
of those cases where she's gone,well, it's not my field, but
that's not right and I'm gonnado something about it.
And she has the means to dosomething incredible.
Oh my God.
Just, why, why are we not alldoing that with our billions?
(24:04):
So, um, sorry, this does nottake away from, uh, Shayna Patel
in any, thing, but it's justthe, my mind went tuition free
and I was like, oh, that wasanother one.
So Shane is at school and shehas managed whilst at school to
design, a hydrogel, which iscapable of removing, get this
93% of microplastics from water.
(24:28):
What, what, what, what?
You've just saved the world,Sheena.
Okay.
Cash.
So, um.
Uh, a hydro gel, which I didn't,I didn't know they existed.
But it is a gel and it's softand flexible.
It looks a bit like that slimethat kids play with.
It's a network of, water that isswollen polymer chains, uh, that
(24:50):
ob absorb huge amounts of water,and they're often used in a lot
of products.
So, for example, nappies andthings like that.
It's just a, it's a sucker.
Oh.
Like that stuff.
That's in the absorbent layerof, I think an nappi that kind
of think that's bulks up when itgets wet.
Yes, yes.
So microplastics are anyfragment of plastic that is
(25:13):
between one nanometer and fivemillimeters wide.
So a nanometer is, like thewidth of your hair.
and a millimeter is like fivemillimeters is like if you had a
wedding band.
That's The general gist.
So anything between those twosizes is known as a
(25:33):
microplastic.
Some of microplastics areintentionally made that way.
Um, so there was, there werehuge scandals wasn't there,
about there being in face washesand stuff like that.
Oh, like the little beads,remember?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was a, that was a scandal,wasn't it?
Like, what are we doing with theworld?
But sometimes it's just largerplastics, that have been eroded
and eroded and eroded, and nowthey're nanoplastics.
(25:55):
So, you know, junk in the ocean.
That has been eroded there'slike two microplastics.
They're very common.
They're found in water, soil,even the air nowadays, which is
absolutely Um, some adults couldpotentially be consuming between
39,050 2000 microplastic peryear.
(26:19):
Oh my God.
Yeah.
And they have been foundactually in the walls So it's a
huge problem.
It's scary.
And I guess the food chain isaffected if it's in the ocean,
then.
Mm-hmm.
The animals in the ocean areeating that and then that
transfers upwards and we sithigh on the food chain.
(26:42):
We eat kind of everything, so weeat a compounded number of these
things.
But you're saying you can evenjust inhale and breathe them in.
That's so Yeah.
That is really scary.
That's a good point.
They've been found to make,,soil less fertile.
So when you are harvesting, oh,a sort of lesser quality, and
they've also been found to speedup the melting of snow and ice
(27:06):
Um, yes, it's a bit dark.
Actually, I should have maybejazzed that paragraph up.
No, but that you're showing the,the importance of the work
because the impact.
Oh my God.
Yes.
So the other thing we need toknow about microplastics is that
they carry a negative charge.
So I want you to think likebatteries north and south,
(27:27):
polar, that kind of thing.
That's the area that we're in.
They have a negative charge.
What's an hydrogel has apositive charge.
So Patel, she, her prototypefocused on polyethylene Terra
Delight, which is the petplastics.
Um Oh.
Mm-hmm.
You know those, yeah, I knowthat, that acronym, yeah.
(27:48):
I don't know the name, but thatyou're like ratchet.
Yeah.
Um, and so they tend to be theones that are in plastic
bottles, that kind of thing.
And she found.
In a lab.
So in a really contained areathat her version of this
hydrogel actually had a hugesignificant removal rate.
(28:10):
And it just sucked all theplastics up.
It like gobbled them up.
And there's a really fascinatingYouTube video of her showing it.
She's like, whipping up this geland it grows so quick.
It's obviously this is verydifferent using this in a lab
than it would be if it was ariver or like a really complex
chemical environment.
But what she has done is provewithin her invention that
(28:32):
there's a path forward.
Like, you know, it's an option.
She's also shown that it, theycan be removed.
'cause I think there was thiskind of hands up, uh, well, you
know, it's out there now kind ofthing.
And actually what she's shown isthat.
Proof is in the pudding.
There's an option, and it alsoshowed to me when I was reading
(28:53):
this story that ideas can comefrom anywhere.
It doesn't have to be the fancy,yes, it was a lab, but it
doesn't have to be the fancy orthe Oxfords a bit like we were
just saying with Alison, youhaven't make an impact at any
level that your at.
And I'm not being funny.
She's 14 and she was right.
She found this out like.
You know, it doesn't matter whoyou are or where you're from,
(29:15):
you can make inroads andeveryone is valid.
And I just found that reallyencouraging.
When I was reading her story, Iwas like, lush.
And it also showed me that thefuture generation, they're doing
it.
They're out there.
Thank God somebody's got, I'vegot someone's on it, you know?
So that was really reassuring aswell.
And I found this littleinterview with her and where she
(29:37):
was talking about lots ofdifferent things and I asked her
a couple of really goodquestions.
One was, what is your favoriteinvention of the last a hundred
years and why?
And she said, the smartphone, ithas revolutionized.
Communication, entertainment,work, and even in our health.
She said that we've gone fromresponding to texts to actually,
GPS cameras, health tracking.
(29:58):
And she was like, the access toinformation is amazing and what
we can do is use thatinformation to learn about our
planet and gain a deeperconnection.
She said a deeper connection towell planet.
I know I was so, I was about tosay, oh, she has a typical
14-year-old.
Then she just like, oh, my phoneis amazing.
No, she's still bringing a nextlevel of view.
She, next level of responsethere, the connection to our
(30:21):
planet.
Oh.
And then one of the, one of thequestions was, and I thought
this is a really cute one tofirst to end on today is what,
what do you wanna be doing in 15years?
And I wonder if you could readto answer.
In 15 years, I hope to be in aleadership role within a field.
I'm passionate about drivinginnovation, mentoring others,
(30:42):
and contributing to meaningfuladvancements that benefit not
only my organization, butsociety as a whole in stem.
Oh, society as a whole.
That's what she's aiming for.
And good for her, I hope.
And I am sure she's gonna it.
Let's, but what's makes you feelgood?
Even if she achieves that andexact the timeline.
(31:05):
Timeline she's talking aboutthere, she still won't even be
30 yet.
I know she'll be, that's what anabsolute go-getter.
I know.
Shane and Patel,, from Florida,wow.
What a cool kid.
Very Um, so there are threewomen today, Shayna, You know,
(31:29):
I, I mean, it's like you'renever too old.
It's never too late.
Mm-hmm.
You are.
Always able from any walk oflife to take on even an
overwhelming challenge.
Yes.
And you're never too young.
If you have an idea, even as anoutsider, you might have thought
of something that.
(31:49):
Even the really well trained andwell invested people who have
all the technical, knowledge andequipment haven't thought of,
you might just see it adifferent way, so go for it.
Love that.
Yeah, so good.
Such a good example.
And I guess another connection,just reflecting just then is
like actually communities, isn'twho is actually serve her help a
(32:15):
community.
You've got Allison, who isliterally serving her community
And then you've got, Shana atthe end who is all about
connection, wasn't she, to theworld and, you know, the
environment and, so actually.
Community's quite a big featurethere actually.
Oh, gorgeous.
Didn't think that when I thereyou go.
Cute as that.
Quite, quite Christmasy, really,that spirit of, yeah, I think
(32:39):
that's all come together.
Well, thank you so much forbringing those.
Well, thank you.
And thank you to yeah, all ourlisteners for the whole year and
thank you for sending me yourSpotify wraps and stuff.
That was amazing.
And yeah, thank you so much forsticking with us and learning
with letting us do this littlepodcast journey that we're It
(33:02):
has been wonderful.
Thank you so much.
you and I a very restful winterholidays and, um, I'm sure we'll
be back in happy Happy holidays.
Happy holidays.
audio2663295054 (33:20):
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Changed History.
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