Fuzzy Logic Science Show

The standard line is that governments* are always short of money and must balance their budgets. But what if that's not true? It changes everything if government money is not the contraint we're told it is.

* Federal governments of monetary sovereign countries.

Stephen Williams and Rod Taylor are editors of Sustainability and the New Economics.

What could happen when people decide to do something about unemployment in their community?

In this episode of our new series, Rethinking Sustainability, Robin Krabbe describes an initiative of Live Well Tasmania. 

In 2024 we have smart phones, smart cars and even smart washing machines. We also have climate change.

So are we intelligent but not wise? These are questions Sue Ferris ponders as part of our new series Rethinking Sustainability.

Sue Ferris is the author of Let’s Not Lose Them

It's a fair bet that if you're listening to this podcast, you care about sustainability. But unfortunately has become grossly abused, almost to the point of meaningless.

This podcast marks the start of a new series, Rethinking Sustainability, where each week we'll be broadcasting a new episode. And if you'd like to contribute an episode, please get in touch.

https://rethinkingsustainabilitypod.blogspot.com/

What makes a system fragile? In this short talk, Rod sketches what drives a system towards collapse.

Can you see the parallels to our civisliation today?

Proceedings from the NENA conference, November 2023 in Canberra.

More about the book, The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation here.

The word "sustainability" has become cliché, loaded with myths, half-truths and outright lies that try to convince us that a few tweaks to ‘business as usual’ will be enough.

What then, does ‘sustainability’ really mean? A fundamental problem requires fundamental solutions - yet these are often completely ignored.

In this talk at the Conservation Council, sponsored by Sustainable Population Australia, Rod Taylor digs into the themes of the in The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation co-authored with Mark Diesendorf.

We are fortunate to live on a planet that surrounds us with the wonders of nature. From frogs to koalas and even snakes and sharks. Yet what are we to make of the sixth great extinction now underway, caused by humans?

Suzanne Ferris' book Let's Not Lose Them: Endangered Species in Australia embodies both the joy of life and a warning that we are unwinding our life support system.

Joining us in this conversation is Jeremy Barrett, in which we touch on the economic thinking that is driving environmental destruction.

For more on the economy, we recommend the upcoming NENA conference to be held in Canberra, 17-19 November.

Also mentioned in - and highly recommended - is the Rethinking Capitalism weekend run by Steven Hail and Gabrielle Bond.

Interview by Rod.

We open today's broadcast with a question: what would you do if you did not have access to your doctor, your GP, a hospital or even a local pharmacy? Without "western medicine", this is what indigenous cultures have been doing for thousands of years.

For all its prodigious advances in medical science, what do these cultures have to teach us? This is a theme that has driven Valerie Albrecht for many years across many countries. And now she's distilled much of what she's learned into a beautiful new book One Voice Medicine Conversations with First People Healers.

Visit her at https://www.theoceansofenergy.com/

Interview by Rod

This week Broderick and Camille are joined by geoscientist Dr Verity Normington and science communicator Alice Ryder, both from Geoscience Australia, to discuss their new exhibition Rocks that Shape Australia.

The Rocks that Shape Australia exhibition explores how rocks can be valued by Australians for many different reasons, including their economic, historical, cultural and environmental significance.

That our civilisation is unsustainable is abundantly clear. And yet we plough onwards as if business as usual in the faith that somehow the problem will fix itself. In this seminar, authors Dr Mark Diesendorf and Rod Taylor outline the themes in their new book, The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation.

The seminar is introduced by Professor Lorrae Van Kerkhoff from the ANU Fenner School with keynote speaker Dr Richard Denniss from The Australia Institute.

Recorded at Thor's Hammer in Canberra, 4th July 2023.