Climate Action Show

Rosie interviews Dr Jeremy Walker of the University of Technology Sydney on his research, on the history of petroleum industry and fossil fuel investors early knowledge of global heating, systematic efforts to influence public opinion and government policy to defeat effective climate policy: that is, to reduce fossil fuel industry, extraction and combustion to zero, and replace all energy use with zero-combustion, zero emissions sources.  Key to this is an international network of ‘free market thinktanks’ assembled by neoliberal economists, activists, politicians, media organisations and big business funders. Since its 1981 registration, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation (Arlington VA) has fulfilled its mission to ‘litter the world with free market thinktanks’, expanding the global Atlas Network of neoliberal thinktanks to some 550 ‘partner organisations’ in 100 nations eight of which are in Australian and New Zealand (see Pic). In this episode Dr Jeremy Walker discusses new research finding regarding  the history, definitions and methods of the Atlas Network of ostensibly ‘independent, non-profit’ public policy research institutes, which whilst generating vast quantities of legacy media outputs policy papers and social media content to influence public opinion, frame public debate (moving the ‘Overton window’) to defeat or advance government policies and constitutional reforms, has only recently been brought to light and named as a coherent global infrastructure- the Atlas Network.Dr Walker then discusses Liberal opposition leader Peter Dutton’s flagship election campaign promises: to use public finances to build ‘clean and cheap’ nuclear power stations across the nation, and to scrap offshore windfarm projects in Port Stephens, Illawarra (NSW), the Southern Ocean (Vic) and Geographe Bay (WA), In each case these announcements were preceded by highly sophisticated, disinformation campaigns involving individuals and organisations long associated with Australian and US  Atlas thinktanks, and accompanied by a swarm of ostensibly ‘community based’ campaign websites, often with anonymous membership and always without declaring funding. Pic 2: Atlas Network video celebrating Institute of Public Affairs ‘Repeal the Carbon Tax’ campaign (Youtube).  Pic 3: Tim Wilson, Ex- Liberal MP and candidate for Goldstein lead climate campaigner, Institute of Public Affairs, c. 2006-2013 (Youtube).Clarification: In response to this podcast, the CIS has contacted 3CR requesting a retraction of the statement that Fisher “set up” the CIS. 3CR clarifies that the CIS organisation name was legally registered in Australia by Greg Lindsay, not Anthony Fisher. The history of the financial backing and broader activation of the CIS remains disputed.Research publications: Walker, J (2023) Silencing the Voice: the fossil-fuelled Atlas Network’s campaign against constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australia, Cosmopolitan Civil Societies,15(2).  Walker, J (2022). Freedom to burn: mining propaganda, fossil capital and the Australian neoliberals. In Slobodian, Q & Plehwe, D (eds) Market Civilisations: Neoliberals East and South, Princeton University Press.  Walker, J (2020). More Heat than Life: the Tangled Roots of Ecology, Energy and Economics, Palgrave. Australian Parliament:  17 December 2024. Submission (no. 297) to Senate Standing Committee on Environment and Communications, Offshore Wind Industry Consultation Process, Australian Parliament House. Dr Jeremy Walker. ‘Who says ‘offshore wind kills whales’ and why? Funded by Big Oil and Coal, the co-ordinated disinformation and astroturfing against offshore wind development is a trans-national project of the Atlas Network. 13 page submission, 4 supporting  research articles, right of reply by Adam Weinberg ( Atlas Network, Virginia USA), Dr Walker reply to Weinberg. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/OffshoreWind/Submissions 4 Feb 2025. Australian Parliament. Speech by Senator David Shoebridge Advance and the Atlas Network. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBZa4ZGfJOE     Senate Hansard: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansards/28689/&sid=0000 11 Feb 2025. Australian Parliament . Speech by Senator Peter Whish-Wilson Exposing the Atlas Network. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHkwa_rrM4w     Senate Hansard: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansards/28693/&sid=0000 13 Feb 2025. Australian Parliament. Speech by Senator Peter Whish-Wilson. Offshore Wind Farm Disinformation & the Atlas Network. Calls for a new Senate inquiry into the Atlas Network in order to make recommendations regarding future anti-disinformation legislation. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32tqyZTBIQw   Senate Hansard: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansards/28695/&sid=0282 Select Media: 18 April 2025. Good Weekend (Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times). By Tim Elliott. ‘Copied the MAGA model’: The ‘grassroots’ lobby group funded by some of Australia’s richest.’ It claims to be a “grassroots” group promoting free speech and common-sense policy to ordinary Aussies. But behind Advance’s propaganda machine – and its deluge of disinformation – are links to the far right in the US. https://www.smh.com.au/national/copied-the-maga-model-the-grassroots-lobby-group-funded-by-some-of-australia-s-richest-20250408-p5lq6k.html 24 April 2025. ABC News. By Emily Clarke. ‘How Atlas Network amassed a global network of free market think tanks and reached into Australia and New Zealand.’ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-24/atlas-network-think-tanks-active-in-australia-and-new-zealand/104788732 2 July 2024. Washington Post. By Rachel Pannett. New Zealand, once a utopia for Trump-weary exiles, turns to the right. The populist National-led government is undoing many of Jacinda Ardern’s progressive initiatives, including gun control and environmental protections. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/02/new-zealand-america-moving-trump/ 22 Dec 2023. Mata Reports -New Zealand Television.. By Mihingarangi Forbes.  Trick or Treaty? Indigenous rights, referendums and the Treaty of Waitangi. https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/12/22/trick-or-treaty-indigenous-rights-referendums-and-the-treaty-of-waitangi/ 30 Oct 2023­­­­. ABC Radio National. Late Night Live. What is the Atlas Network? Dr Jeremy Walker interviewed by Philip Adams. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/latenightlive/atlas-network-jeremy-walker-think-tanks-/103041202

CLIMATE ACTION SHOWAPRIL 21ST 2025Produced by Vivien Langford "YOU ARE NOT ALONE"This episode of the Climate Action Show is part of the 89%Project, an initiative of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now. The idea is that although between 80 and 89% of people worldwide want more effective climate ACTION they do not know that they are the majority. At the National Press Club Lunchin April, Greens Leader Adam Bandt reassured voters concerned about the climate crisis, by repeating... "You are not alone." Knowing that we are the majority could create a social tipping point that motivates action.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y69TTh__Npw With the headlines predicting minority goverment after the coming election, we explore what a hung parliament might achieve taking the urgency of the 89% to those who want to keep business as usual. 1.We will hear extracts from Allegra Spender's Climate speech in Parliament in May Allegra urges the government to get off fossil fuels, to stop opening new coal and gas projects, and to move as quickly as possible to renewables. She criticises the Labor Government's lack of a future gas strategy. She argues that their increase of fossil fuel projects creates more climate pollution and is a great disappointment for those who hoped for better.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTodgadZupg  2. Nick Ward standing for the Greens against Independent Allegra Spender in the Sydney Seat of WentworthOur community is facing significant challenges, from housing affordability to the pressing need for climate action. The scourge of racism and antisemitism will weigh heavily on this campaign. I believe in proactive, evidence-based solutions that address these issues head-on. I aim to bring a fresh perspective to Wentworth, advocating for Greens policies that reflect our shared values of fairness, sustainability, and community well-being. 3. Hannah Thomas standing for the Greens against the PM in the Sydney seat of GrayndlerIn 2022 she wrote in Independent Australia"Tuesday was also a heartbreaking day for the most vulnerable of individuals, children, standing up against the state in the courts of the colony. The Full Federal Court unanimously overturned an earlier finding that the Minister for the Environment has a duty to take reasonable care to avoid causing personal injury to children when deciding to approve a coal mine extension.The decision was essentially a green light to the Government and corporations to continue wrecking the climate in the face of overwhelming evidence that doing so would have catastrophic consequences for children.All of the evidence of the existential threat posed by climate change, and the fact that climate change is caused by fossil fuels, was accepted by the Court. And yet, the Minister for the Environment, who holds enormous power and discretion to perpetuate climate change, was found to owe nothing to the children whose futures are being irreparably harmed by climate change.I have no doubt that any number of legal experts would be able to defend each of these decisions based on the most sophisticated of technical arguments. But who cares about finessed points of law when ultimately, these decisions are all patently unjust to anyone with a functioning moral compass?" 4. Music by Eskimo Joe "Say Something" " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtWeAspTz0g

CLIMATE ACTION SHOW APRIL 14th 2025Produced by Vivien LangfordKeeping the Ocean pristine andWhyalla Green Steel in Public Hands?  GuestsLisa Deppeler is a prominent figure associated with the OCEAN (Otway Coastal Environment Action Network) organization. She is particularly focused on stopping seismic blasting proposals off the coast. Lisa has been a key voice in raising public awareness about the potential impacts of seismic blasting on marine life, including whales and zooplankton. She has also been involved in organizing the "Great Ocean Rescue Tour" to inform people about the issues.  Renfrey Clarke is an Australian journalist, translator and left activist. Throughout the 1990s he reported from Moscow for Green Left Weekly,  His article about reviving the vision of Green Steel in Whyalla prompted this interview. His conclusion is that public ownership isthe best way forward."Profit margins for steel firms are mostly wafer thin, and a buyer for the plant will not be easily found. The chances seem high that the complex, after being modernised at taxpayer expense, will again be sold off for a derisory sum.Worse, there is the real prospect that the only credible-seeming bidder will be another “adventure capitalist” such as Gupta.Re-establishing a viable steel industry in SA requires the kind of financial resources that the private sector is unlikely to want to risk. The only realistic source of this money is the public purse. But if taxpayers are to bear the cost, they are entitled to demand that the assets stay in public ownership.Further, the public are entitled to demand that the steel plant be saved as part of a rational plan that takes in the whole of the Northern Spencer Gulf industrial region, and that stresses new processes and highly productive, clean technologies". https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/why-whyalla-steelworks-must-be-publicly-owned Here's what you can do to support OCEAN's campaign against seismic blasting​1. Sign the petition to abolish SPA permitsSpecial Prospecting Authority permits are a cheap and easy way for companies to buy access to large areas of ocean to conduct seismic blasting. The Australian Marine Conservation Society have a petition to abolish SPA permits. Please also share the link to your social media!Sign the petition here.​​2. Email the PM urging him to declare a moratorium on seismic blastingSend an email to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urging him to declare a moratorium on seismic blasting until the recommendations from the 2021 'Making Waves' Senate Inquiry are acted upon.Click here to send an email to the PM3. Phone The Federal Minister for Resources Madeleine KingShe is in Western Australia : (08) 95279377The electorate concerned in Wannon https://www.abc.net.au/news/elections/federal/2025/guide/wann​

CLIMATE ACTION SHOWAPRIL 7TH 2025VIOLET COCO - Portrait of an ActivistProduced by Vivien Langford Interview courtesy of  Tim Budge and Ruth Yateman at Seymour FM on BEAM Mitchell Environment Group's radio show EARTH CHAThttps://programs.seymourfm.com.au/earth-chat Featured Guest: Violet CocoYou may not know the name Violet Coco, but you would have seen her on the news, arrested for protesting in different places, all to highlight the precarious state of our planet. Violet is a passionate environment and social justice activist. She has been arrested 49 times in 6 years as a non-violent, direct action, change maker. She recently spent two months in prison.She was the first person sentenced under controversial new anti-protest laws in NSW, receiving a sentence of 18 months in prison for blocking the Sydney Harbour Bridge in a campaign which was supporting firefighters. Her sentence was dropped on appeal. Violet describes herself as a conscientious objector to the murder of our planet. Violet is an eloquent and gracious conversationalist and someone who has great wisdom to share.   Information on Violet:- Patreon, Wilipedia and The Guardian Some links of interest mentioned in the show:- Song: People's Uprising by James Brook ft Violet Coco (on Bandcamp) - Some books and other resources:  Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet and Peace is Every Step, Thich Nhat Hanh We can’t get There from Here: Carbon, Climate and the Call to Wonder, with Báyò Akómoláfé and Paul Hawken  Any book by Joanna Macy

This week Duckie interviews Long time People and Planet activist Zelda Grimshaw on her experiances, observations, and theories on the trend of, to put it in her words, 100 young activists becoming maybe 3 older activist. Zelda shares what she has notest about this trend, why she thinks this happens, and Duckie tries to understand how, as a young activist, them and their cohort can better address this trend and stay accountable to the work and justice we say we are commited to.

CLIMATE ACTION SHOWMARCH  24th 2025Produced by Vivien LangfordKUMI NAIDOO and PEOPLE'S CLIMATE COP at UTShttps://www.philanthropy.org.au/news-and-stories/an-australian-cop31-should-be-a-peoples-cop-with-community-at-its-core/  Guests Kumi Naidoo - Head of the Fossil Fuel Non Proliferation Treatyhttps://fossilfueltreaty.org/australia-report-pr Professor Anne Poelina - Traditional custodian of the Martuwarra/Fitzroy River. Film Maker and Academichttps://www.100climateconversations.com/anne-poelina Tui Shortland - Director of  Te Kopu- Pacific Indigenous and Local Knowledge Centrehttps://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/protecting-worlds-biodiversity-tui-shortland Greg Mullins AO - Founder of the Eergency Leaders of Climate Action - Fire fighter and Member of the Climate Councilhttps://www.climatecouncil.org.au/2025-critical-climate-election/ David Crosbie - CEO of Community Council for Australiahttps://communitycouncil.com.au/2025/03/13/wheres-the-community-in-climate-action/ Alopi Latukefu - CEO Edmund Rice Centrehttps://www.erc.org.au/the_edmund_rice_centre_response_to_the_2025_2026_budget Song "My Child" from Small Island Big Sound Guy Retani - Part of the Haka at Newcastle Protestival at the biggers coal exporting port in the world puttingn us on a higher footing

CLIMATE ACTION SHOWProduced by Vivien Langford17th March 2025D O N ' T   B U R N   OUR   F U T U R E“The PM’s Climate Speech we’ve been waiting for” from the SLF 2025 Join climate activists Violet CoCo, David Spratt and Mark Carter to view and reflect on the speech — that we all want to hear. They ask the government to safeguard the wellbeing of all Australians by responding at emergency speed to an honest, evidence-based, risk-averse assessment of our climate predicament. The panellists will discuss what that response could actually look like, why it is now necessary, and how it can provide climate-concerned Australians — those now despairing at current, demonstrably ineffective, national climate policy and actions — with a future they can demand.Remember with an election coming up:Pick your battles, Don't go alone, The Time is Now! Music by  James Brook featuring Violet Coco "Peoples' uprisinghttps://jamesbrook.bandcamp.com/album/yandoitViolet Coco https://greenagenda.org.au/author/violet-coco HEADLINES showing CLIMATE ACTION WORLDWIDE Our energy bills are torching the planetMarch 04, 2025 by Extinction RebellionActivists from Extinction Rebellion North and Axe Drax staged a banner-burning action on the day that tree-burning power station Drax announced earnings of over one billion pounds in 2024. The action called for an end to public money to burning trees for electricity. A spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion said: “Even the government’s own advisors say we need to end burning trees in power stations by 2027. So the fact that the government has committed billions of pounds of public money so Drax can keep doing this until 2031 doesn’t make sense. This decision needs to be urgently revisited.”  International Year  of Glacier Presrevationhttps://news.un.org/en/story/2025/01/1159236#:~:text=2025%20key%20initiatives,engaging%20youth%20and%20local%20communities.  Lakenheath UKhttps://extinctionrebellion.uk/2025/02/26/join-xruk-at-lakenheath-alliance-for-peace/Join XRUK at the camp organised by Lakenheath Alliance For Peace, culminating in a blockade of the largest US airbase in Europe:Where: Outside RAF Lakenheath, SuffolkWhen: 14–26 April 2025Militarism and climate change are catastrophically linked. Weapons-related activity causes significant emissions, and over half of the most climate-vulnerable nations are already in conflict.RAF Lakenheath is the largest US airbase in Europe and supports operations across the globe, hosting aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons with over 20 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb. The base is now getting ready to receive US nuclear weapons, putting the UK in the nuclear front line. CYCLONE AlfredDr Joelle Gergis connects the cyclone with the coal oil and gas which are warming the oceans to intensify storms. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/could-cyclones-become-a-new-norm-for-northern-nsw/105033536 https://www.echo.net.au/2025/03/leading-global-climate-scientist-based-in-northern-rivers-speaks-out-on-need-to-stop-burning-fossil-fuels/

The Climate Action ShowMarch 10th 2025The fight against climate disinformation in the mediaProduced by Hélène Goyat Interview with Eva Morel, co-founder of Quota Climat(Interview recorded on the 25/02/2025)

During her role as parliamentary assistant in France, Eva Morel discovered the role media and journalists play in bringing climate issues to the political agenda. In 2022, she co-founded the organisation called Quota Climat, which works to improve media coverage of environmental topics through national, European, and international advocacy, outreach and data production.

 

“Our freedom of expression shouldn’t contradict our right to good information”, Eva Morel (E.M.), co-founder of Quota Climat.

 

“Climate change is a really particular and efficient topic to polarize opinion because it pushes on specific fears and values” (E.M.)

"We know for example that people are afraid to lose their individual freedoms, so it is easy for people trying to polarize the debate to push on those specific topics, and this is what they are doing" (E.M.)

"These actors are also trying to defame and discredit the voice of environmental defenders, scientists, NGOs, political leaders that are positioned on environmental subjects and propositions." (E.M.)

"The difference between facts and opinions should prevent these narratives from emerging because it allows for specific regulations to be put in place. [...] We don't restrict freedom of speech and other values we are attached to, but try to position regulation in this difference." (E.M.)

 

To find out more about Quota Climat's work: 

- https://www.quotaclimat.org/qui-sommes-nous

 

Other links:

- The Digital Services Act: https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/digital-services-act_en

- The Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition: https://caad.info/

[Editor's note: at 10mn55s, the fine to CNews amounted to 20 000 euros, Source: https://vert.eco/articles/eva-morel-de-quotaclimat-cnews-est-lembleme-de-la-polarisation-de-lopinion]

 

Interview with Alfie Chadwick, PhD student at CliComm

(Interview recorded on the 06/03/2025)

Alfie is a PhD student at CliComm (Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub). With a background in software engineering, he brings a technical perspective to the study of climate communication, blending data-driven approaches with societal insights.

Before beginning his PhD, Alfie spent several years at CliComm working on groundbreaking projects designed to detect and debunk climate change misinformation. This experience deepened his commitment to combating misinformation and inspired his current research into the role of media in shaping public understanding of climate issues. Nowadays, Alfie’s PHD research focuses on the automated analysis of climate change coverage in Australian news media.

 

"With misinformation nowadays, it's a lot about creating confusion, so being able to have a clear narrative helps cut through the fog [...] of misleading facts and helps [people] make the informed decisions they need to participate in democracy", Alfie Chadwick (A.C.), PhD student at CliComm

 

“We work as an education and communication program, being able to transfer the science into something that people can understand [...] and make informed decisions and build resilience against mis- and dis-information.”, A.C.

Alfie mentions the research done at CliComm, where they looked into who the public trusts in terms of climate messaging. They found these people were usually radio presenters, or weather people (people you would wake up listening to in the morning, or in the evenings when turning your TV on): CliComm looks for ways to partner with them in order to deliver clear climate messaging where it might not have been the case before, and put weather into the context of climate, by giving weather presenters clear graphs and data that is easily understandable by the general public.

This Flagship Communications program is planned to operate in six regions across Asia, Europe, UK, the Americas, Africa and Oceania and will train Universities in how to deliver high impact, non-partisan communications on climate to public audiences.

 

To find out more about CliComm's work: 

- The MCCCRH website: https://www.monash.edu/mcccrh

 

Other links:

- The Skeptical Science website, launched by John Cook: https://skepticalscience.com/about.shtml

CLIMATE ACTION RADIO SHOWProduced by Vivien LangfordMarch 3rd 2025C L I M A T E   M O R A L I T Y+ Focus on Papua New Guinea "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any". Alice Walker Polly Hemmings from The Australia Institute speaks at the Climate Integrity Summit.https://australiainstitute.org.au/expert/polly-hemming/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etR2MXInies MUSIC FOR A WARMING WORLD new album Only One way ahead by Simon Kerrhttps://www.musicforawarmingworld.org/ Dr Gianluca Grimalda in conversation with Nick Breeze at Zurich courtesy of Climate Genn.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYE-s5Oh85A Gianluca Grimalda, a climate change researcher, lost his job after he refused to fly back from fieldwork in Papua New Guinea. Gianluca has been “slow travelling” for decades. He thinks his former employer tried to make an example out of him because of his climate activism. It’s one of those stories that reveals the madness of the world—he was sent to research how vulnerable communities are responding to climate change as the seas consume their villages, and then told he could no longer continue that research if he did not commit an act of harm.Subscribe: https://www.planetcritical.com/ PAPUA NEW GUINEA - The Guardian December 31st 2024Rebecca Bush in Port Moresby"As well as fishing, many in the province earn a living from coconut and betel nut farming. In recent years, residents say the tides have been rising and weather patterns have shifted, making it harder to grow crops or fish in the oceans, and affecting their livelihoods.“Many are moving to the mountaintops in Kerema town, while those who have land [further inland in nearby] Murua have moved there,” Trevor says.“We need a proper count of the population in the area to come up with a way to address it, all land are customarily owned so authorities can’t just relocate people,” she adds. Papua New Guinea is in the process of conducting its first census in many years, which experts say may reveal the population of the Pacific country to be far higher than current estimates of about 10 million people."https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/31/moving-to-the-mountaintops-rising-seas-displace-tens-of-thousands-in-papua-new-guinea

This is the full workshop presented by LASNET and presented by the wonderful Marisol Salinas, and Lucho Riquelme on solidarity between Indigenous and non Indigenous people working together at the 2024 degrowth spring festival.