Episodes

  • Climate News: From pessimism to enthusiasm: Matt Kean on COP29

    Climate News: From pessimism to enthusiasm: Matt Kean on COP29
    Dec 1 2024
    Former NSW Liberal Party Treasurer, Matt Kean (pictured), talks with Michelle Grattan about how he felt before and after COP29 at Baku - "Politics with Michelle Grattan: Climate Change Authority head Matt Kean says ‘put more solar panels on commercial rooftops’"; "Social media can harm children's mental health. The question now is whether a ban will help or make it worse"; "A $13 billion, 30-year flop: landmark study reveals stark failure to halt Murray-Darling River decline"; "From Limits to Growth to Earth for All with Sandrine Dixson-Declève"; "Grant is a coal miner. He’s been arrested for protesting against coal exports"; "‘Everything is Country’: these 4 projects blend First Nations knowledge and science to rewrite our understanding of the past"; "To Grow or Not to Grow: That Isn’t the Question"; "Navigating Climate Catastrophe: Part 2 – The Response"; "The Third Thing"; "Australia on track to meet 2030 43% emission’s reduction target, on latest figures"; "Maine Becomes the Latest State to Sue Oil Companies Over Climate Change"; "A triumph for greed over commonsense and humanity"; "City streets flooded after ‘biggest downpours in years’"; "Are All These U.N. Climate Talks Doing Any Good?"
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    15 mins
  • Climate News: End of year Transition Towns dinner conversation: 'Climate change, we just don't get it!'

    Climate News: End of year Transition Towns dinner conversation: 'Climate change, we just don't get it!'
    Nov 30 2024
    Transition Town's end-of-year dinner reminds us that most people can't grasp or even attempt to understand the implications and ramifications of climate change. "The struggle against climate change is foundering. Enter Trump."; "A strange new climate era is beginning to take hold"; "Post US Election Blues: Where Do We Take Our Activism from Here?"; "‘Unprecedented’ climate extremes are everywhere. Our baselines for what’s normal will need to change"; "Spain introduces paid climate leave after deadly floods"; "Six things we learned about the Australian government’s response to the climate crisis"; "Photos show record-breaking South Korea snowfall"; "Walter Jehne on urban agriculture and the climate emergency"; "Albanese kills off deal with Greens to pass ‘nature positive’ legislation after intervention by WA premier"; "Rising Tide protesters arrested in Canberra for blocking road to Parliament House"; "Labor’s term began with promise on the environment. It ends with things worse than ever"; "Australia’s electricity market is getting a big makeover – and these 3 changes will make it future-proof"; "‘A dose of nature’: each time you visit a national park, you save the health budget almost $100"; "Europe’s Cruise Ships Produce Toxic Sulphur Emissions Equivalent to 1 Billion Cars, Study Finds"; "Record renewables go into the grid in 2024, generating 45% of electricity in 2025"; "‘Silent majority’ of Australian farmers found to support renewable energy transition"; "
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    43 mins
  • Event: 'Climate restoration is an idea whose time has come': Peter Fiekowsky, co-founder of Foundation for Climate Restoration

    Event: 'Climate restoration is an idea whose time has come': Peter Fiekowsky, co-founder of Foundation for Climate Restoration
    Nov 26 2024

    Peter Fiekowsky (pictured) has played a critical role in developing The Foundation for Climate Restoration. At the recent finale of the Founders Series for 2024, he said, "It is an idea whose time has come."

    Peter has agreed to be a guest on Climate Conversations, but as I confused the international time zones (Peter's in the U.S. and I'm in Australia) we failed to connect - my fault.
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    19 mins
  • Climate News: A decade ago Rob Dietz and Daniel O'Neill were concerned about the overuse of resources and so wrote 'Enough is Enough'

    Climate News: A decade ago Rob Dietz and Daniel O'Neill were concerned about the overuse of resources and so wrote 'Enough is Enough'
    Nov 25 2024
    A decade ago Rob Dietz and Daniel O'Neill were so concerned about our prolific use of Earth's resources that they wrote the book: "Enough is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources" "Delhi’s air turns deadly"; "Are we locked in a dangerous illusion?"; "Future Council: How Children are Responding to our Planetary Crises"; "AI’s hunger for electric power is threatening U.S. climate goals"; "The Safer Air Project"; "How a change in rice farming unexpectedly made India’s air so much worse": "Great-grandma, teen student, doctor: Kayak activists arrested disrupting coal ships"; "State’s wind-power plans rocked as key hub quietly delayed by two years"; "Climate talks reach finance deal blasted as inadequate by developing nations"; "Turning Kazakhstan Into a Beef-Producing Machine, the American Way"; "Cop29 agrees $1.3tn climate finance deal but campaigners brand it a ‘betrayal’"; "‘Protect the climate for whom?’: Palestinians highlight Gaza at Cop29"; "Developing countries urged to reject ‘bad deal’ as Cop29 climate talks falter"; "World will be ‘unable to cope’ with volume of plastic waste in 10 years, warns expert"; "‘We live in a climate of fear’: graphic novelist’s Elon Musk book can’t find UK or US publisher"; "‘I find hope in sticking together and keeping each other warm’"; "From a US$300 billion climate finance deal to global carbon trading, here’s what was – and wasn’t – achieved at the COP29 climate talks"; "Green hydrogen could decarbonise entire industries in NZ – but there’s a long way to go"; "‘Divorce’ in songbirds: extreme weather pushes couples past breaking point"; "Humans are killing off the old and wise animals that hold nature together. Here’s what must change"; "As it happened: COP29 agrees historic climate finance goal"; "COP29: Key outcomes agreed at the UN climate talks in Baku"; "COP29: Summit ends with $300bn a year climate finance deal for developing nations"; "Climate Talks End With a Bitter Fight and a Deal on Money"; "U.N. climate deal, $300 billion for poor nations, sparks backlash"; "Cop29 agrees $1.3tn climate finance deal but campaigners brand it a ‘betrayal’"; "Huge election year worldwide sees weakening commitment to act on climate crisis"; "How a Trump administration will impact the environment"; "The World Seeks an End to Plastic Pollution at Talks in South Korea"; "The Adaptation Game (TAG) wins National Resilience Award"; "This is climate breakdown This is Sybil’s story"; "Think the Cop29 climate summit doesn’t matter? Here are five things you should know"; "‘It’s really an honour’: people of oil-rich Azerbaijan welcome climate summit"; "Are we locked in a dangerous illusion?"; "‘Sewage’ is the secret ingredient in Singapore’s beer - a country with no natural water resources"; "Plagued by pollution and violence, is the COP30 host city ready to take over from Baku?"; "Climate Talks End With a Bitter Fight and a Deal on Money"; "Trump’s science-denying fanatics are bad enough. Yet even our climate ‘solutions’ are now the stuff of total delusion"; "
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    46 mins
  • Event: 'Shade, shade and more shade' - GV Community Energy CEO, Geoff Lodge talks about cooling your home

    Event: 'Shade, shade and more shade' - GV Community Energy CEO, Geoff Lodge talks about cooling your home
    Nov 24 2024

    A hybrid event featuring the GV Community Energy CEO, Geoff Lodge (pictured), attracted about 80 people, who heard about how to "Cool Down your Home, this Summer".

    Geoff, who some would describe as the "full bottle" when it comes to home energy efficiency, talked about improving insulation ("installation trumps insulation"), maximising ventilation, and broadly capitalizing on energy efficiency.

    The event, or at least the in-person aspect, happened at the Marungi St Shepparton Library on November 21 and was organised by the City of Greater Shepparton's Sustainability and Environment Team.
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Climate News: The scientific dilemma, is it toilet paper and potatoes or research - it has to be both says Professor Matt King

    Climate News: The scientific dilemma, is it toilet paper and potatoes or research - it has to be both says Professor Matt King
    Nov 21 2024
    Hundreds of researchers and scientists have gathered in Hobart this week for what they're calling an "emergency" summit on Antarctica. It comes as the federal government defends its level of funding for scientific research in the region but it's resisting calls to fund a second ice-breaker vessel to help carry it out - listen to Professor Matt King, the director of the Australian Research Council's Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science during an interview on the ABC Breakfast program - "'Emergency' Antarctica summit in Hobart amid funding uncertainty"; "Green Lab roundtables to confront urgent climate adaptation challenges" - Green Lab DirectorA/Prof Anita Foerster (pictured); "The maps that show the tree-free heat islands in your city"; "Opinion How to save the climate in a second Trump term"; "Richard Flanagan knocks back $100k literature prize over sponsor’s fossil fuel links"; "Climate summit host faces backlash over support for fossil fuels, crackdown on dissent"; "Trump Wants to Kill the E.V. Tax Credit. Here’s What to Know."; "Episode 6: Phil Jones" - Micromobility Report; "If You’re Sure How the Next Four Years Will Play Out, I Promise: You’re Wrong"; "12 big changes Trump could make to climate and environment policy"; "How Trump 2.0 might affect the wildfire crisis: ‘The harms will be more lasting’"; "Drought Status Update for the Northeast"; "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Northeast Is Burning"; "Solar energy is powering public landscaping in Oak Park, Illinois"; "Cop29: ‘We’re here for life and death reasons,’ says ex-climate minister of Pakistan"; "Biden marks his climate legacy during Amazon visit, asserting 'nobody' can reverse it"; "Coalition against fossil fuel subsidies expands but misses initial targets"; "Why children like me have a right to be heard at the People’s Blockade of the Newcastle coal port"; "Record-setting bomb cyclone, intense as a hurricane, lashes Northwest"; "Construction is the world’s biggest carbon emitter, yet Labour still refuses to tackle it"; "EU zones in on $200B to $300B target for global climate fund"; "Could Russia be prosecuted for environmental war crimes?"; "New Calls for Reform Emerge as COP29 Negotiations Struggle"; "Planet-warming pollution is growing at the fastest rate in history, scientists say"; "Cop29 live: Slashing methane emissions is ‘our emergency brake’, UN says – as it happened"; "Hundreds of lobbyists for industrial farming attend Cop29 climate summit"; "The Guardian environment pledge 2024"; "At COP29, Climate ‘Optimism Has Been Dampened"; "Where Glaciers Melt, the Rivers Run Red"; "UN climate talks no longer fit for purpose, say experts"; "NZ footballer leads fight against Fifa’s fossil fuels"; "COP29: Small island states ‘feel abandoned’ as climate talks grind on"; "Spain's royals return to flood-hit region weeks after being pelted with mud"; "This seaside town will power thousands of homes with waves"; "
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    46 mins
  • Climate News: 'Relax' Festival allows access to two 'ordinary people' -Dave and Wynan

    Climate News: 'Relax' Festival allows access to two 'ordinary people' -Dave and Wynan
    Nov 20 2024

    The recent "Relax Festival" in Tatura organized by "Tatura Transition Towns" was highly successful, on a comparative basis.

    More than 100 people came to the town's Stuart Mock Place to enjoy free music; a free barbecue cooked on induction hotplates powered by an electric car; learn about composting; watch a karate display; book in to either see a rather special garden and visit another home and learn about making biochar; join the GV Gamers Guild to enjoy play without electric power; talk with John Laing about the damage our way of living is causing to other life forms, learn about insects (watch them crawl up your arm) and hear about the valuable work of Landcare; hear from Hilary Grigg about how we should be dealing with our waste; and get som home energy tips and ideas from Terry Court of "Zero Carbon Tatrura".

    The Melbourne-based "Bicycle Network" was represented, and the idea of using an electric bike was illustrated through the display of a privately owned electric trike and a folding electric bike from Shepparton's Leading Edge Cycles.

    Climate Conversations also attended and talked with two 'ordinary" people - Dave Wischer (pictured) from Rushworth and Wynan Dollar from Tatura.

    Dave is concerned about the impact of climate change and encouraged others to watch "Nature Bats Last" by Professor Guy McPherson.
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    13 mins
  • Climate News: To avoid global catastophe and the reversing of human progress we must bend the curve away from fossil fuels - Johan Rockström

    Climate News: To avoid global catastophe and the reversing of human progress we must bend the curve away from fossil fuels - Johan Rockström
    Nov 17 2024
    Professor Dr Johan Rockström (pictured) from the Potsdam Univerity fears both environmental catastrophe and catastrophe reversal of human progress if we don't bend the curve away from fossil fuels. "A Kennedy daughter offers a hand to Pacific nations threatened by climate change"; "Foodprint Melbourne: Building the Resilience of Melbourne’s Food System"; "Poorer nations need $1tn a year by 2030 in climate finance, top economists find"; "Argentina withdraws negotiators from Cop29 summit"; "‘Minimal progress’ made this year on curbing global heating, report finds"; "What Is Project 2025, and Why Did Trump Distance Himself From It During the Campaign?"; "‘Fossil Fuels Are Still Winning’: Global Emissions Head for a Record"; "Global Warming Made Helene More Menacing, Researchers Say"; "What are tariffs?"; "Proposal at UN climate talks to tax business-class flights, crypto and plastics"; "From Chile and Taiwan via Glasgow, youth call for climate justice"; "The all-male Cop29 committee is a big step backwards for climate"; "The Tug-of-War on This Climate Super Pollutant Has Big Implications for the Future"; "What the Earth’s Recent Heat Uptick Could Mean for the Climate Fight"; "Climate Advocacy Groups Say They’re Ready for Trump 2.0"; "Oil Industry Asks Trump to Repeal Major Climate Policies"; "Cop summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’, say leading climate policy experts"; "Climate Change Is Losing Its Grip on Our Politics"; "Albanese unlikely to announce new climate targets until after federal election"; "To Protect the Ozone Layer and Slow Global Warming, Fertilizers Must Be Deployed More Efficiently, UN Says"; "‘COP Fatigue’: Experts Warn That Size and Spectacle of Global Climate Summit Is Hindering Progress"; "As New York Congestion Pricing Turns a Corner, Experts Point to Lessons From London"; "Good To Go? Decarbonising Travel After the Pandemic"; "The case for COPs (even this one)"; "Did people have to fly to COP29? Private jet use soared, but one group got to Baku overland"; "Picture an all-seeing eye scanning the dying Earth – and then lighting on our ‘solutions’ at Cop29"; "At UN climate talks, nations big and small get chance to bear witness to climate change"; "COP29 climate finance in numbers: How much is needed and where is it coming from?"; "Katharine Hayhoe’s Post-Election Advice: Fight Fear, Embrace Hope and Work Together"; "In a Parched US, Human-Triggered Wildfires Are Poised to Thrive"; "Severe drought puts nearly half a million children at risk in Amazon – report"; "How will offshore wind fare under a second Trump term?"; "A new generation of cheaper batteries is sweeping the EV industry"; "Global Warming Made Helene More Menacing, Researchers Say"; "If our hot water heaters ran off daytime solar, we would slash emissions and soak up cheap energy".
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    29 mins