The UN has declared the climate crisis an existential threat to humanity. Scientists warn that rising temperatures will have catastrophic effects on our weather, our food, our homes.

On September 20 millions of people flooded streets around the world in the largest ever strike action against climate change. One of the many student organisers of the event is 15-year-old Harriet O’Shea Carre, who co-founded the Australian school strike with her friends Milou and Callum after being inspired by Greta Thunberg.

But if we fail to stop climate change, can we just… dump Earth and move to Mars? Dr Jon Clarke is the president of The Mars Society (Australia). While he’s not advocating wholesale removal to the red planet, he thinks that by looking outwards we might develop technology to help us become more sustainable on Earth.

The Few Who Do with CGU Insurance. Two hosts, one problem, two possibilities. 

Featured guests:

Harriet O’Shea Carre, co founder, School Strike 4 Climate Australia

Dr Jon Clarke, President, Mars Society Australia

As our lives increasingly move online, it’s important to maintain real public spaces—both for the local economy and to keep our communities vibrant and engaged.

Returning to his hometown of Newcastle, Marcus Westbury planned to start a trendy shopfront bar, but after counting 150 empty spaces on the main streets he started to think about how he could help people open their own businesses.

Food has the power to connect across cultures. Growing up in a multicultural suburb in North Melbourne, Loretta Bolotin learnt this at a young age. Combining her work in the refugee sector with her experience of connection through food and community, Loretta co-founded an enterprise to help newly-arrived refugees start their own businesses.

The Few Who Do with CGU Insurance. Two hosts, one problem, two possibilities.

Featured guests:

Marcus Westbury, Founder of Renew Newcastle

Loretta Bolotin, Co-Founder and CEO of Free to Feed

Hamed Allahyari , co-owner Cafe Sunshine

Running a marathon isn’t usually a requirement for job applicants, but for some homeless people around Australia it’s a key achievement that has led them towards employment.

While training for a marathon in Perth, Western Australia, businessman Keegan Crage would encounter people sleeping rough. He started wondering how to make practical changes in their lives and whether he could do it through the power of running.

But not everyone wants to run—and not everyone can. CEO of The Big Issue, Steven Persson, says that to work for the magazine you just need to walk, or roll, into The Big Issue headquarters.

Featured guests:

Keegan Crage, Founder On My Feet

Tara, participant and mentor, On My Feet

Steven Persson, CEO The Big Issue

Marcus, vendor, The Big Issue

Being told to ignore bullies and "walk away" was never an overly effective anti bullying method and now bullies are inescapable.
One-in-three Australians have reported experiencing some form of online abuse, whether that be someone posting negative comments, image-based abuse or identity theft. This kind of bullying can be anonymous, sustained and repeated.

When 18-year-old law student Noelle Martin realised an innocent selfie had been stolen and photo shopped into porn, she sought help from the police but at that point there was nothing they could do. Noelle decided it was up to her to raise awareness of online abuse.

Rosie Thomas remembers her teachers teaching anti bullying strategies like to report bullying, or to simply walk away. Fresh out of high school, she and her sister Lucy started a business to address bullying and cyber bullying in schools with effective strategies that offered more than walking away.

The Few Who Do with CGU Insurance. Two hosts, one problem, two possibilities.

Featured guests:

Noelle Martin, law reform campaigner

Rosie Thomas, co founder of Project Rockit

Mealtime could look and taste a little different in the future. The United Nations estimates that by 2050 the world’s population will rocket to almost 10 billion people, that's another 2.5 billion more mouths to feed. As global markets continue to shift, and more extreme weather patterns predicted, it raises questions about how and where we grow crops and rear livestock.

Cricket yoghurt and ant candy could be coming to a supermarket near you. Insects have a small global footprint, are chock full of protein and are already consumed by 20 percent of the world’s population. So is it about time that we jump on the bug wagon? Skye Blackburn is an entomologist and food scientist – which, it turns out, is the perfect set of skills if you want to farm an alternative food source like insects. 

If snacking on a mealworm isn't your thing- yet- take a tour of Matt Evans farm in a pocket of Tasmania. It was farm-to-table sustainable practices that compelled the food critic to move from inner city Sydney to a smallholding in Tasmania’s apple region. Matt’s approach to farming is all about sustainable methods and a circular system that values soil, diversity and a drove of pigs.

The Few Who Do with CGU Insurance. Two hosts, one problem, two possibilities.

Featured guests:

Skye Blackburn, entomologist, Founder of Edible Bugs 

Matt Evans, chef and TV presenter 

Australia has the second busiest domestic air route in the world. Over 54 thousand flights fly
from Melbourne to Sydney each year, in part because we’re limited to driving or flying. But
what if there was another way to move around the continent.

A competition led by Space X in Los Angeles is challenging University students from around
the globe to build a new type of rail system- a pod that travels in a vacuum at almost the
speed of sound. Melbourne’s Zac McClelland co captained a team that designed a prototype
for the system.

Driverless cars are an inevitable part of our future but with intelligent vehicles we need an
updated transport system. Professor Marjid Sarvi is heading up a project to ensure that our
intersections, pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles will communicate with each other, ensuring
safety and efficiency on our highways and urban centres.

Featured guests:
Zac McClelland, Team Captain, VicHyper
Dr Majid Sarvi, Director of AIMES (https://eng.unimelb.edu.au/industry/transport/aimes)

Prior to 1788 there were an estimated 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait languages and 800 dialects spoken across this continent we now know as Australia. Now there are approximately 150.

In lutruwita (Tasmania) a sleeping language has been revived and made it’s way to the Venice Film Festival. palawa kani is a community initiative. Researchers and linguists combed through historical records, word lists created by French scientists and an English missionary.

Dr Richard Walley, a Noongar musician grew up on the outskirts of Perth, out of reach of the authorities, speaking language and practicing culture- he didn’t realise that it had been outlawed. Years later he took what he’d been taught and formed a performance group- then at a festival in 1976 he got a request that he couldn’t refuse...

The Few Who Do with CGU Insurance. Two hosts, one problem, two possibilities.

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be advised that this episode of The Few Who Do may contain the voice and names of people who have passed away.

Featured guests:

Theresa Sainty, Aboriginal Linguistic Consultant, Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre

Dr Richard Walley, Co-Founder of Aboriginal Productions

When we speak of a sports pay gap we generally think of elite athletes. But what happened at a small town's annual footrace highlighted the gender inequality rife across all sporting codes.

Melanie Tait was shocked to realise that the male winner of the Robertson Show Potato Race was being awarded five times the amount of the female winner’s prize money. So she raised enough funds to equal the prize money then wrote a hit stage play based on her experience, using comedy and storytelling to highlight the issue.

At the top end of town, Elizabeth Broderick – aka Australia’s Chief Feminist – is enlisting Australia’s most powerful male CEOs to use their influence to correct the power imbalance present in Australia’s workplaces and sporting fields.

The Few Who Do with CGU Insurance. Two hosts, one problem, two possibilities.

Featured Guests:

Melanie Tait, playwright

Elizabeth Broderick, Founder Male Champions of Change