See Christmas Differently

The Royal Society and Professor Mark Miodownik invite you to "See Stuff Differently".

The world is changing fast, and materials science is more important than you think. It's everywhere in how we do things, why we do things, and how we see the world. In this panel discussion, we gather some of the UK's brightest minds to see if they can See Christmas Differently.

It may be “the most wonderful time of the year”, but Christmas, at least as we know it, comes at a not insignificant cost to the environment. The UK’s disposed-of Christmas trees produce over 100,000 tons of greenhouse gases, and the average 2-metre artificial tree has a footprint of around 40kg of carbon. And Britons use enough wrapping paper each year to wrap the entire island of Guernsey. In fact, it’s estimated that the UK produces an additional 3 million tons of waste over the Christmas period.

The festive travel, gift-buying, energy and food consumption, and waste, all add up, so how can we rethink Christmas to be just as joyous, but more environmentally sustainable, less polluting and less carbon intensive?

Speakers:

See Stuff Differently is a programme that invites you to discover the materials that shape our everyday lives and explore their impact on people and the planet. As part of Professor Mark Miodownik's Professorship for Public Engagement in Science, the programme brings together materials scientists from across the UK to spark conversations, foster curiosity and encourage new ways of thinking about the material world around us.