Fuzzy Logic Science Show

How far off 'sustainability' are we today? How did we get here, and where do we go next? These are questions tackled by Rod Taylor at a U3A event in June.

This wide ranging talk is based on the book co-authored with Mark Diesendorf, The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation.

Other links: 

If you know the term cognitive dissonance, it applies to ability of a person to hold entirely incompatible ideas in their head at the same time. If people can have it, so can a government. Take these two statements:

1) We will work towards a sustainable future

2) We will pursue economic growth

The evidence is overwhelming:  we cannot do both of these things because economic growth is the antithesis of sustainability. Pasting a veneer over this chasm are terms such as green growth and weightless economy.

Jonathan Miller is the Director of Steady State ACT.

How do you cope with the dire trajectory of climate change? It's a tough question that we all now face. In this episode, ACT Greens MLA tells the story of her climate journey.

If there were a single invention of humanity that you remove, what would that be? In this episode we revisit a personal story broadcast on Radio National in 2006.

This is part of our series, Rethinking Sustainability.

So it's okay to clear the Amazon jungle?

Almost certainly you disagree with that statement, but how do you respond when someone says that to you? In this episode we think about 'that' conversation. How do you convince somebody that they're wrong?

But first, is it even worth even trying?

You'll find a summary of Fran Peavey's Strategic Questioning at commonslibrary.org/strategic-questioning

and the full PDF commonslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/strat_questioning_manual.pdf.

From our series Rethinking Sustainbility.

The answer of course, is that it this cannot be sustained. While we hear that word thrown around so often, we should remember the end point of something that is unsustainable - is literally - the end.

As Andrew Skeoch says in this episode, there is much we can learn from Nature, if only we sit quietly and listen. Andrew takes that a step further by recording the beautiful songs of birds around the world. And, as he says, it's more than simply enjoying the aesthetics because the birds use their song to build relationships and navigate a shared environment.

Andrew is author of Deep Listening to Nature. 

On page 2 of the newspaper there's a story about melting icecaps. On page 3 there's a full page ad for this week's bargains. Somewhere here there's a disconnect. Meanwhile, shopping is - literally - sold to us as something we should do more of. But does it really make us feel better?

Artist and thinker Jeremy Barrett ponders these things as he wanders through his local shopping maul.

Jeremy's exhibition of paintings & mono prints is at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre, 2 February - 28 March. The opening Talk & Tea will be Tuesday 13 February, 12 — 1pm

This podcast is part of the Rethinking Sustainability series.

It seems every day we're hit with more bad news. War in the Ukraine, floods, droughts and melting ice caps. In this episode, Rod Taylor mulls over how we cope. Do we give up and fall into a pit of despair, or do we carry on regardless?

This episode is part of the Rethinking Sustainability series.