Climate Action Show

Monday 16th July 2018Today’s guests:Mark Crossweller –  Head of the National Resilience Task ForceJo Dodds – Councillor at Bega Valley Shire CouncilRob Roggema – Professor of Sustainable Urban Environments UTSAre global climate disruptions finding us unprepared for some emergencies, even in countries with high tech warning systems?  Psychologists say it is bad to paralyse people with frightening prospects.  The antidote is to BE PREPARED.Mark CrosswellerMark Crossweller  made a raw admission  about unsuccessful emergency responses in the Canberra and 2009 Victorian bush fires.  He said that communications with the public and media need to be a lot earlier.  He was speaking at the NCCARF Climate Adaptation Conference.  As Craig Lapsley says “There will be an increase in emergency days and disaster means you have to repurpose the city. People need to know where to go”   Jo DoddsJo Dodds witnessed the Tathra Bushfire this year and challenged the PM by saying “This is the very time to be talking about climate change.”  As Tathra is a town that is on the front foot with renewable energy and carbon sequestration, they were not comforted by our lack of urgency in cutting the emissions that intensify the weather.As a writer Jo  conveys the emotional pain of loss that can sometimes linger for years after the climate emergency.  She spoke on the platform with Bill Mc Kibben at Collingwood Town Hall about accelerating our move away from fossil fuels and her vivid words will move you.. Rob RoggemaRob Roggema  has put his mind to flood emergencies in Bangladesh.  He speaks about strategies to help the city of Dhaka grow more food in the city and detour the floodwaters that are increasingly disruptive.  His experience in the Netherlands has led him to collaborate with people in Bangladesh on landscaping the city to retain flood water, to calm it in extended or elevated rivers, to catch it in fish ponds and rooftop gardens. Check out this link to see thrilling  pictures of  these plans which could repurpose a megacity for resilience.   16 Jul 2018|Categories: Community Show

Monday 9th July 2018Sarah Brenan talks about the role philanthropy plays in seeding climate action.  She admires the boldness of BZE with its reports showing the way to decarbonise our society.“Rethinking Cement” was one of our projects supported by the Hamer Family Fund and we talk about how brave ideas need to be nurtured and are underpinned by a wonderful team of pro bono researchers and publicists.She was the publisher for Guarding Eden which is ideal for teachers looking for a text that will inspire action and which should be in every senior classroom.We talk about the influence of writers like George Monbiot and Tim Winton and how there needs to be a new narrative for the next generation.Will the disaster stories of Cli Fi and the dystopias on TV paralyse or push us to action?  What is the alternative?  She recommends Climate for Change with their intentional conversations and magnificent newsletter http://www.climateforchange.org.au/subscribePhilippa RowlandPhilippa Rowland is Living the Change with ARRCC. She came away from the Copenhagen Climate COP inspired not by government but by the sheer people power represented there.  Collectively lowering our carbon footprint out of ethical commitment only means less meat, less flying and more green energy.How hard can that be?  If 10% of the top emitters reduced to the carbon footprint of a European, world emissions could be reduced by 33%.  A report of all the emissions saved around the world by individual action will be used at the next COP to urge greater emissions cuts by business and government.https://www.arrcc.org.au/living_the_changeRabbi Jonathan Keren BlackRabbi Jonathan Keren- Black tells us about the film A mighty Force will screen at the Jewish Community Centre in Forrest ACT on 14th July.He speaks about the Living the Change Initiative of ARRCC and how religious leaders can influence ethical action.As Amitav Ghosh said “Organisations with religious affiliations can mobilise people in far greater numbers than any others, – they transcend nation states and they acknowledge inter -generational, long term responsibilities” The Great Disruption   Kurt Johnson reports from Morwell where he is interviewing people for the Beyond Zero radio special on 30th July.  He talks also about the new film OUR POWER by Peter Yacono which shows both the pain and the enterprise of this community in the Latrobe valley. https://vimeo.com/228587208   A Crude Injustice will screen at the Documentary Film Festival Saturday 14th July at 11.30 am.  Backlist Cinema 65 Haig St Southbank.  We once interviewed the director Jane Hammond, because the fossil fuel than destroyed West Timorese Seaweed Farms should be left beneath the sea bed if climate tipping points are to be averted.A Plastic Ocean will screen courtesy of Climate for Change.  Come along to drink wine and enjoy snacks with this group that practices intentional conversations about climate action.18th July – 6pm Donkey Wheel House 673 Bourke St, Progress Central. Level 3.Further Reading:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/14/big-oil-ceo-climate-change-reality-check-popehttps://kujo.svbtle.com/film-review-our-powerhttps://www.arrcc.org.au/sample_pledges_and_avoided_emissionshttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07/07/moral-christiansThe radio team tonight: Andy Britt. Kurt Johnson Roger Vize and Vivien Langford.

Monday 2nd July 2018Giles ParkinsonThis show is about the Energy Revolution from three points of view and what are the hurdles in its path. We chat to GILES PARKINSON about the Large-Scale Solar Industry Forum that was held in May.  Is Industry united about the National Energy Guarantee?  Does the Business Council of Australia represent industries that are already signing up for wind and solar power to reduce costs?  Is trying to resist the renewables based grid like resisting the Internet?  Adam BandtADAM BANDT is Federal member for Melbourne.Does his blood boil in parliament as there is no National Retirement Plan for our coal fired power plants?  Are the climate criminals locking us into a future dependant on coal?  How can we re-regulate electricity prices and tackle job insecurity in the coal rich valleys?  Leigh EwbankWe will also be chatting to LEIGH EWBANK about his work on the Act on Climate campaign with Friends of the Earth.  We get an understanding of exactly what challenges are involved in being heard by politicians in the upcoming Victorian state election and how to mobilize diverse communities.  Team: Roger Vize, Kurt Johnson and Vivien Langford

Monday 25th June 2018Dr Bob Brown at the Sustainable Living Festival aroused the audIence to save the TARKINE.  He speaks to a young doctor perched as a protector in a tree to bring that remote forest to the city audience.  We hear from Jane Goodall about young people restoring the web of life or falling into despair and dramatic moments from the Sea Shepherd as it is nearly squashed by two whaling boats.  The audience gave him a standing ovation because he celebrates the altruistic side of us that takes a stand.In an interview with Vivien Langford later down by the Yarra,  Bob Brown urges us to believe in democracy.  Lobby hard to be heard and stop voting for people who will betray us with destructive policies.  He talks about DRAWDOWN actions outlined by his friend Paul Hawkins such as restoring forest management to indigenous people like the Orrang Asli in Malaysia.Vivien shows him some meatless meat and he discusses why he is not a vegan but that the people leading us to a mainly plant based diet are climate heroes.He praises those standing up against new coal mines and fighting the anti protest laws right through to the courts as true patriots.  His message is don’t get depressed ,get active.Campaigns that needs your help to save the Tarkine Forest are through the Bob Brown Foundation.The Goongerah Environment Centre is preventing logging in East Gippsland.Let us know what you are doing in a 100 words and we will read it out on the radio.  Further Reading:

Monday 18th June 2018Today Erin Jones talks Sustainable Transport. Starting with the potential of powering Melbourne’s trains with renewable energy with campaigners Pat Simons – Yes 2 Renewables Community Coordinator and Rachel Lynskey, Friends of the Earth’s Sustainable Cities Campaigner.We chat with Richard McNeall a volunteer with the Tesla Owners Club of Australia (TOCA) who coordinated the Round Australia Electric Highway, a joint initiative between the Tesla Owners Club of Australia and the Australian Electric Vehicle Association.  The Round Australia Electric Highway https://www.teslaowners.org.au/round-australia allows drivers of EVs – of any brand – to circumnavigate the whole country, including going through the Red Centre.  The average distance between charge points is 200km, with only a few outliers at 400 km. The TOCA is issuing certificates to the first 100 vehicles to complete the fully circuit around the country.  Finally we speak with Louise Page from Save Westernport https://www.savewesternport.org/  about the proposed AGL floating gas import platform at Crib Point. There is a public rally in Hastings at Hastings Foreshore on July 1st.  Guests:Pat Simons@prrsimonsYes 2 Renewables Community Coordinatorhttps://chuffed.org/project/renewabletrains4melbhttps://www.melbournefoe.org.au/renewable_powered_trainsRachel LynskeyFoE’s Sustainable Cities CampaignerRichard McNeallhttps://www.teslaowners.org.au/round-australiaLouise Pagehttps://www.savewesternport.org/

Subscribe: Android | Email | RSS | MoreMonday 4th June 2018Tina FawcettTina Fawcett speaks to Vivien Langford from Oxford. She was involved in a UK Government report into the feasibility of Personal carbon rations. She wrote Suicidal Planet and thinks that by focusing on our personal carbon budget more people would engage realistically with the problem of global warming. The British decided that this was an idea before its time but Australians with a carbon footprint of 23 tonnes compared to the average European with 8 should not shy away from this detailed and sensible discussion. It is NOT easy listening. George MonbiotGeorge Monbiot talks about his struggle to get the media to take climate change seriously. He feels piecemeal solutions like carbon rations will not work until we have a less reactive,more propositional approach. He says our policies are grown hydroponically and are not embedded in the soil of real values. We are listening out for a restorative narrative that resonates with our concerns. It was difficult to get good audio quality through our skype connection and he was very patient. It will be worth your while to be patient too as you listen to this profound discussion.Further Reading:1.Suicidal Planetby Tina Fawcett, Mayer Hillman and Sudhir Chella Rajanhttps://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-35355-1http://low-carbon-renovation.blogspot.com/Youtube with Dr Yael Parag: http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/people/tfawcett.htmlMayer Hillman: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/26/were-doomed-mayer-hillman-on-the-climate-reality-no-one-else-will-dare-mention2. Rules for Revolutionaries by Becky Bond & Zack Exleyhttps://www.amazon.com/Rules-Revolutionaries-Organizing-Change-Everything-ebook/dp/B01MG20YZ0https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/rules-for-revolutionaries/3. Out of the Wreckage by George Monbiothttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/14/out-of-the-wreckage-george-monbiot-review4. Breaking the spell of Loneliness Song G.Monbiot and Ewan McLenanhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZL8Li01w4s The team tonight: Andy Britt, Roger Vize and Vivien Langford

Port Augusta  Podcast of 28 May 2018BZE played a major part in this story of Port Augusta which is turning from being a coal fired powerhouse to becoming a Renewable Energy Hub.BE radio presenter Vivien Langford took the bus from Adelaide passing hills resplendent with wind turbines and talks to people involved in this transformation.Dan Van Holst Pelikaan DAN VAN HOLST PELIKAAN,  the Minster for Energy in the South Australian parliament,  is an old friend of this programme.  His electorate stretches far into the desert and he has been behind the responsible transition of its workforce into the clean tech industry for years.  He paid tribute to the staunch Port Augusta community,  Doctors for the Environment Australia  and Beyond Zero Emissions  for galvanising  the REPOWER PORT AUGUSTA project.   Brett Prentis  BRETT PRENTIS  worked for 29 years at the power station.  Now he is campaigning for the correct rehabilitation of the ash pits left behind.  The Greenpeace report DONE AND DUSTED tells the story and he was on the ABC 7.30 Report.  All fair minded people agree it has to be a just transition and the health of residents has been sorely tried.  Companies like Alinta andits subsidiaries need national standards to retire our aging power stations in accordance with  world’s best practice.  David Shearman DR DAVID SHEARMAN tells Vivien about the doctors who researched the lung cancer and asthma rate when the power station was still emitting particulates. He says the lobbying effort they put in should be a blue print for other communities faced with the phase out of old power stations. His submissions to the Senate and the alarm bells he rings for state health departments is exhilarating to hear about.   Dan Spencer  DAN SPENCER was on the AYCC march from Port Augusta to Adelaide.  He tells us about the logistics of community organising and the pleasure that can be had from nudging the  transition to clean energy forward.  The climate is mutating but the Australian Youth Coalition is fighting back with education and mobilisation.   Daniel Thompson DANIEL THOMPSON represents SOLAR RESERVE.  They are building a new 24 hour solar plant using heliostats and a tower filled with molten salt. Vivien asks him to describe this project, which surely will become a tourist mecca. It will not replace all the power previously produced  but listeners will be happy to hear that there are  more plants in the offing.   Sam Johnson SAM JOHNSON is the Mayor of Port Augusta.  There is a colourful portrait of the late Mayor Joy Baluch in his office and he says ministers trembled to meet her,  so fierce was her opposition to the power station. He talks about joining forces with  the mayors of other sparcely populated  towns.  They intend to be the Renewable Energy Hub for Australia.  With 11 projects in the pipeline and the Green Steel proposed at Whyalla, they are leading the way.  Thanks  to Michael Lord BZE and Martin Zavan  Greenpeace who briefed Vivien.Thank you to all the speakers who made her so welcome. It was a marvellous visit.The team : Andy Britt, Roger Vize, Kurt Johnson and Vivien Langford

Monday 14th May 2018 Amanda CahillAmanda Cahill is the founding director of the Centre for Social Change.  She has worked extensively in developing countries and worries that climate change will force us to trust people who are just perpetuating a colonialist system.  The impact is falling on people who already do not have access to water and electricity and unless we phase out fossil fuels fast, life will get rapidly worse for them.  It is a thoughtful and wide ranging conversation about how climate denialism can so easily turn into climate nihilism as if there is NOTHING WE CAN DO! She spoke to Vivien Langford at the EcoCities Summit in Melbourne.   The leaders from KIRIBAS, who we hear in the second item, talk about the coherence of their communities.  No room for nihilism there.  Vivien met them at a Pacific Leadership training day. Schoolteacher Morisio tells us how children are falling behind as their school books are washed away or damaged by king tides.Pelenise AlofaPelenise Alofa talks up her project of turning the problem they have with roaming pigs into an asset.She is planning a Bio digester to turn the excrement into cooking gas for the villages.We hear an education officer’s moving poem to her grand daughter.Anyone who does not hear the message in there for us to cut our carbon footprint,  must be made of stone.    Phil Glendinning of the Edmund Rice Centre and Tom Zubryki talk about the film they made in Kiribas called “The Hungry Tide.”  We also hear a drama performed at The Australian Museum by the 350.org Pacific group asking forgiveness from Mother Earth.See Kiribas in “ THE HUNGRY TIDE” trailer here:https://vimeo.com/24807784The Hungry Tide from Natalie Schapira on Vimeo. Radio Team: Andy Britt, Vivien Langford, Kurt Johnson and Roger Vize. Thanks to Edmund Rice Centre and Joseph Zane Silulu from 350.org Pacific  14 May 2018|Categories: Community Show

Monday 7th May 20187th May 2018 BZE Community Radio Show with Andy, Kurt, Viv and RogerGiles ParkinsonGiles Parkinson, Founder and Editor of REneweconomy tells Vivien about new developments on the desert road to transition.Sanjeev Gupta’s Green Steel investments will boost the need for renewable energy at Whyalla and elsewhere.. He thinks that energy intensive industry is set to expand in Australia because of renewable energy potential. But can the grid cope? Giles talks about AEMO and his hopes for Audrey Zibelman. Meanwhile the share holders’ revolt mobilised by ACCR has got big companies pledging to consider climate change and others getting out of coal altogether. Is there momentum behind this?Peter HannamPeter Hannam, Senior Environment Editor at Fairfax News wrote the foreword for The town that said NO to AGL.He tells Vivien the inside story and his admiration for the people. Is it hard reporting on global warming in a media landscape so dominated by vested interests? And Why is so little climate action and campaigning reported in the media?   The town that said noJohn Watts was once a barrister in Sydney John retired to the town of Gloucester in NSW. He heard the mining company AGL was set to mine the area with a vast array coal seam gas wells extending to within 200 metres of the town’s limits. Residents of Gloucester became concerned and mobilized. What happened next was the creation of a protest group called Groundswell that experienced and resisted every strata corporate and political power. They won and John wrote a book about it called the Town that Said No to AGL.Read a review here: http://kujo.svbtle.com/book-review-the-town-that-said-no-to-aglAnd view another story on Earth Matters for Knitting Nanas against Gas and Greed: http://www.3cr.org.au/earthmatters/podcast/earth-matters-17112013Steve RobinsonSteve Robinson is a psychiatrist. He was honoured by the Doctors for the Environment (DEA)for his service to the Gloucester community and his environmental activism. He tells Vivien how the stress and anxiety for people living with the threat of expanded coal mines and new gas wells can affect their immune systems. Behind the brave faces is a heavy weight of worry. He pays tribute to the staunch community and values of towns which will increasingly have to stand up to prevent the degradation of their ecosystem and our climate.City Listeners can stand with them by sending a word of support or a donation toGroundswell Gloucester and Lock the Gate Alliance.  Read more:  Thanks to Giles Parkinson of Reneweconomy for the following podcasthttps://soundcloud.com/reneweconomy-646697966/the-20-billion-pilbara-renewables-hub

Monday 30th April 2018Accelerating Climate Action: Taking on the giantsBill Mc Kibben is in Australia. President Macron is also visiting and he calls for a removal of all obstacles as we scale up.(1)As new coal mines and gas wells open up in NSW ,Qld and NT, not to mention the Adani Project we need to accelerate climate action. You can invite people to livestream Bill Mc Kibben’s talk in Melbourne (2) and lend your support to 350.ORG. They are determined to make climate action front and centre in every election coming up.(1)http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/news/macron-pledges-700-million-euros-to-fund-solar-projects-worldwide(2)https://350.org.au/accelerate-climate-action-livestream-viewing-party/John Grimes is CEO of the Smart Energy Council. He called a crisis meeting to challenge our government’s weak climate policies and we will ask him what his battle plan is. As Oliver Yates told the Smart Energy Industry, Climate Change is disruptive. The transition will be abrupt, so feel free to be disruptive yourselves. He will also talk about how smart energy can lower demand for energy and prevent blackouts as well as cutting emissions. Support a smart energy future. He says “The people are on our side” .By co-ordinating the community and the smart energy industry we will get a strong National Renewable Target and halve our carbon pollution.(3) https://www.smartenergy.org.au/Tim Buckley is Director of Energy Finance Studies Australasia for IEEFA.He says the Global Energy Transformation is inevitable and happening faster than anyone thought. It is deflationary and disruptive. He tells us about how the Saudi Kings of Oil are becoming Kings of Solar and planning to rebuild their whole economy around exporting clean energy. He sees Australia’s policy chaos and puts his trust in Audrey Silberstein. Tune in to find out why the energy policies of China and India are so important to us and why half the battle is to taper demand with energy efficiency.(4)http://ieefa.org/ieefa-australia-escalating-financial-risk-adanis-abbot-point-coal-terminal/Further Readinghttps://www.smartenergy.org.au/news/forces-rally-oppose-neg