Post-Growth Australia Podcast

Welcome back to a brand-new Season Seven of Post Growth Australia Podcast!

As our world teeters on the edge of an increasingly perilous environmental future—extending beyond climate change—we must ask: what does true sustainability entail? How far are we from it, what are the root causes of our current trajectory, and what paths could lead us there?

Rod Taylor (author, columnist, radio host) asks these very questions to eleven esteemed Australian scientists and thinkers in a brand-new radio documentary. PGAP is proud to be the first platform to share this thought-provoking documentary, which explores ecological economics, planned Degrowth and Modern Monetary Theory.

Rod Taylor is author of “Ten Journeys on a Fragile Planet”, co-author with Mark Diesendorf of “The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation” and co-editor with Stephen Williams, of the groundbreaking book, “Sustainability and the New Economics”. Rod is also host of the ‘Fuzzy Logic Science Show.” Rod was a previous guest on PGAP (Fuzzy Logic on a Fragile Planet with Rod Taylor). Stephen Williams and Mark Disendorf were also past guests on PGAP. You can listen to their episodes HERE and HERE.

The impressive list of guests on the documentary ‘Rethinking Sustainability' include (in order of appearance):

• Prof David Lindenmayer

Last but not least, a shout out to environmental scientist David Tiller, who provided production assistance in the making of this documentary.

This episode of PGAP was produced just before the disastrous election results in the USA. As such your co-hosts Michael Bayliss and Mark Allen come across as merely VERY pessimistic at the state of the world, instead of EXTREMELY. Stay tuned for our upcoming episode, where we’ll address these events in more depth and discuss the underlying systemic issues that shape our society. In the meantime, you can explore these ideas further through Mark’s Holistic Activism movement.

Now more than ever, it is important that progressive podcasts are supported, as some panacea to the extreme right leaning media that are dominating the airwaves. Please consider supporting PGAP by sharing this and other episodes with your networks, leaving a review on Apple Podcast and contacting us with your thoughts and feedback.

This episode of Post-Growth Australia Podcast was made possible with the kind support of Sustainable Population Australia.

Special Guest: Rod Taylor.

For the season six finale, PGAP welcomes three core members of Degrowth Network Australia: Sandy Gonzalez de la Vega Gonzalez, Tonié Field and Jess Prescott.

According to the Degrowth blog: "As degrowth becomes a more familiar term worldwide, a loose informal network of Australian degrowth activists, scholars and advocates has emerged into the formal Degrowth Network Australia (DNA)."

Although a new collective, DNA has already made their mark through workshops, Degrowth themed festivals, and at the New Economy Network Australia 2023 conference, through theatrical degrowth scenario skits. It was through this interactive workshop at the 'Life After Capitalism' conference that PGAP co-host Michael Bayliss was inspired to invite DNA as esteemed PGAP guests.

During this episode, we explore the emerging popularity of the Degrowth movement and how presenting Degrowth concepts within fun and interactive ways such as theatrical skits is a means of broadening the movement beyond the academic sphere and include younger generations, local communities and mainstream society. Our guests each share their stories of how they arrived at the Degrowth movement and their perspectives on why we can't have infinite growth on a finite planet.

To contribute, join the DNA network or get more details, contact Anisa Rogers at [email protected] or Natalie Lowrey at [email protected] or [email protected]

Remember to RATE and REVIEW PGAP on APPLE PODCAST or on your favourite platform. You can also SUBSCRIBE to PGAP or CONTACT US with your thoughts, feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests. As we take a short break, we would really love to hear from you, our valued listeners and PGAP community.

In the meantime, you may also be interest in PGAP's coverage of the NENA conference HERE (Michael is still kicking himself for not recording the DNA workshop at the conference). You can find out more about your co-hosts Michael Bayliss HERE and Mark Allen[ HERE].(https://holisticactivism.net/)

Special Guests: Sandy Gonzalez de la Vega Gonzalez and Tonié Field.

The way we design and plan our cities and towns significantly influences our daily lives, which, in turn, affects our carbon emissions and ecological footprints. Australia's continually expanding cities are a striking example of this, illustrating the consequences of an unrelenting pursuit of growth.

Fortunately, there are a few urban planners who recognise that transitioning to a degrowth, steady-state system is imperative for the future of urban planning. Our special guest, Emeritus Professor Michael Buxton (OAM) is one such expert.

Michael Buxton is one of the most well known and most quoted planning professors in Australia and has taught thousands of planning students over the years at RMIT University and Monash University, as well as working in the public service for 12 years. Despite officially being retired, Michael continues to play a huge role in town planning issues, including being interviewed for podcasts such as PGAP.

As a resident of Melbourne, Michael discusses his home city as a case study throughout the interview to illustrate the current state of urban planning. In particular, he draws attention to the Victorian government’s obsession with ‘growth at all cost’ and their ongoing deregulation of the urban planning sector.

This episode provided us with an opportunity to discuss the importance of systemic change towards a post growth society and why this will lead to much better planning and development outcomes.

We invite you to share this very important episode among your networks and rate and review PGAP on Apple Podcast, or contact us with your thoughts and ideas. PGAP is made possible by the support of Sustainable Population Australia (SPA). All opinions, views and legacies past and present of our guests are exclusive theirs and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of PGAP or SPA.

Speaking of Sustainable Population Australia, PGAP co-hosts Mark Allen and Michael Bayliss worked with SPA on an animated video, "The Endless Growth Paradigm", launched in 2019. The animation explores why we need to break from a system of endless economic and population growth. Otherwise, our neighbourhoods will never be dense enough, our cities will never stop sprawling and we will never catch up with the infrastructure backlog. The video has amassed ten thousand views on YouTube and we believe it is still very relevant five years later.

If you are keen to revolutionise the town planning sector, we encourage you to check out Town Planning Rebellion or, if you are a resident of Victoria, Planning Democracy, chaired by Kelvin Thomson.

PGAP has explored the issue of urban planning and overdevelopment several times. If you would like to find out more, we recommend our interviews with Kelvin Thomson, Alex Baumann and David Holmgren. Looking outside Victoria, we interviewed several Western Australian groups fighting overdevelopment. You may also be interested in your co-hosts Mark and Michael’s own perspectives in the episode: “Housing Crisis?? What Housing Crisis!!”

Special Guest: Michael Buxton.

In this mini episode, Post-Growth Australia Podcast reunites with Dr. Shane Simonson.

Last time we spoke with Shane in PGAP season 3, he gave us a tour of his 'Zero Input Agriculture' farm in Queensland.

We caught up with Shane to get an update of the farm - including the addition of some new four legged residents - only to discover that Shane has branched out accross many projects including:

Cohosting the Going To Seed Podcast.. This podcast is of special interest to anyone wanting to explore deeply into alternative and revolutionary crop breeders from around the world. The episode with Bruce Pascoe will be of particular interest to Australian listeners.

Shane has written a biological hard scifi novel "Our Vitreous Womb", under the author name Haldane B. Doyle. You can find more about Shane's impressive work of fiction here.

Shane has also written a non fiction novel "Taming the Apocalypse", a short novella exploring the potential of novel domestications and low tech biotechnology to guide humanity through the end of industrial civilisation. Find out more here.

Shane's two articles mentioned in the interview, are The City Is A Lion and The Genie in the Bottleneck. These articles will be of interest to anyone interested in overpopulation and seeking an original, perspective on the issue.

PGAP is made possible by the kind support of Sustainable Population Australia. All guest opinions, perspectives and past and present legacies are exclusively their own and may not always reflects those of PGAP or SPA. PGAP's official position on the population debate may be read at our [BLOG HERE].(https://pgap.fireside.fm/articles/population)

Please rate and review PGAP on Apple Podcast

Special Guest: Dr. Shane Simonsen.

Welcome to PGAP’s “World Population Day 2024” special, where your co-hosts Mark Allen and Michael Bayliss share their recent musings on sustainable population. World Population Day is an annual event, observed on July 11 every year, which seeks to raise awareness of global population issues.

Our ‘manifesto’ on the population debate can be read on the PGAP blog: “To populate or not to populate? How we can come together around the eternal debate of everyone’s favourite vexed issue.”

Mark’s article “A Holistic Activism Approach to the Population Issue” was published in MEDIUM and the Sustainable Population Australia newsletter May 2024 edition. Want to find out more about Holistic Activism? The booklet can be Downloaded HERE, or accessed at the Holistic Activism website.

Michael’s article “Population growth and wealth inequality are more entwined than we thought: here’s why” was originally published on the Population Media Center blog. An audio summary of the themes may be listened to at the ‘Rethinking Sustainability’ podcast, to which Michael was a guest for the short episode: “Growth and the Parasitic Economy”.

We believe that population sustainability is one essential component of transitioning to a post-growth society and we trust that this episode and our written contributions make for convincing arguments.

Kelvin Thomson, former Australian Federal MP and a huge influence on the population sustainability movement, has released an EP of original music. The track ‘Break Away’, that ends this episode, may be watched on YouTube here.

Sustainable Population Australia has launched a media release for World Population Day: “A population may survive but not thrive if it grows rapidly”. We have been told that this has had some positive response from the media, including interviews with SPA’s national president on mainstream radio.

You can add your name to SPA’s position statement HERE (already at 15,000 signatures) or find out more about how you can make a difference HERE. SPA’s contributions to the population debate are also discussed in this episode.

You can rate and review PGAP at Apple Podcast HERE. Feel free to contact us HERE with your feedback and suggestions, including ideas for future episodes.

This mini episode of PGAP is the 'soundtrack' to a recent seven-minute video that was made by Michael Bayliss on behalf of the Friends of Yakamia Boodja action group, "Meet Larry Blight, Menang Noongar Educator and Friend of Yakamia Forest Boodja"

It touches on some of the main themes that were discussed during a more in-depth conversation that we had with Larry for the full-length episode of Season Five, "Conversation with Noongar Menang Educator and Storyteller Larry Blight."

You may also be interested in another five minute video, "Meet Some of the Friends of Yakamia Forest Boodja" which was filmed on-site and also features Larry Blight along with many other active campaigners. This video was a success on social media and drew in support from the broader community in Albany, South-West Australia.

PGAP recognises NAIDOC Week (07th to 14th of July) which honours the traditions, achievements, and voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This episode along with the videos were made on Menang Noongar Boodja, on lands that were never ceded and to whose lands our current extractive society keeps plundering and 'developing' without meaningful consultation. All in the endless pursuit of growth.

Groups such as Friends of Yakamia Boodja are active in solidarity with the first custodians of the land in their campaign to protect what we can of remaining patches of bushland. Sadly all conservation groups will find themselves having to fight one battle after another until such time that we transition to a post-growth society that applies the wisdom of First Nation cultures.

We deeply respect elders past, present and emerging.

Special Guest: Larry Blight.

Our special guest for the first full length episode of this season is Marcus Feldthus from Post Growth Guide.

Post Growth Guide is a company that is based in Denmark, where Marcus Feldthus and Oscar Haumann work within the business community to assist other organisations in transitioning to post-growth ways of operating. This is crystalised in the handbook "Setting Limits To Growth: How to make better business decisions in the 21st century" which also serves as a document of their own journey, still in progress, towards becoming a post-growth business.

PGAP has previously interviewed many guests whose focus is on system/legislative change or citizen action. This is possibly the first time that we have had a guest who is working towards change from within the business sector. This places Marcus in a unique position as a true pioneer.

We hope you enjoy this episode of Post Growth Australia Podcast. Please feel free to share this and other episodes of PGAP with your networks. You can also rate and review us on APPLE PODCAST, or send us a message with your thoughts and suggestions.

Want to dip your toes deeper into Post Growth Guide, THE learning platform for anyone interested in how to align business with planetary boundaries? Below are a few links to get your started!

Open-Eyed Planning 101: Pre-signup for the course: https://www.postgrowthguide.com/course-signup

The Handbook "Setting Limits to Growth": https://www.postgrowthguide.com/handbook

The Post Growth Guide Membership: https://www.postgrowthguide.com/membership

Post Growth Guide's Open Hub (with 50+ resources on post growth business):

Marcus would also like to share the following links for further information:

20 Cases of Post Growth Practices:

Reduction Roadmap: Getting Out Of A Race To The Bottom (a case still unfolding):

The Danish Deposit System: Collecting & Repurposing 1.9B bottles and cans annually:

The World's First Carbon-Negative Beer (Without Offsets):

How To Pay Living Wages w. Pura Utz:

Steward Ownership - an in-depth explainer of how that works:

Antoine Monserand's paper on Degrowth and Pension Funds:

"Post-Growth in the Global South? Some Reflections from India and Bhutan" (as mentioned in the interview):

Vyld (Purpose Economy has done a case review):

_ You can find out more about your co-hosts Michael Bayliss and Mark Allen here. Post Growth Australia Podcast is made possible from the kind support of Sustainable Population Australia. All views and perspectives of our guests, as well as any past, present or future legacies, are their own and do not always reflect the positions held by PGAP. _

Special Guest: Marcus Feldthus.

Post-Growth Australia Podcast welcomes back Dr. Alex Baumann for a mini episode on housing and Degrowth.

Alex was one of our star guests a couple of years ago, whose epsiode, "A Public Housing Revolution for Degrowth with Dr Alex Baumann" remains one of PGAP's highest performing episodes.

Alex returns to update us on the following:

PGAP is delighted to be returning for a SIXTH season with a mix of full length episodes as well as mini episodes with returning guests. We hope to make this format accessible to everyone, whether you are looking for a briefer or more immersive listen.

Please send us your feedback by contacting us on our CONTACT PAGE HERE. We would appreciate a review on APPLE PODCAST if you have the time. Please share this and your other favourite episodes of PGAP among your networks. PGAP is run by Michael Bayliss and Mark Allen, supported by Sustainable Population Australia.

Special Guest: Alex Baumann.

For the final episode of season 5, PGAP welcomes special guest John Seed (OAM). John is founder and director of Australia’s Rainforest Information Centre and is an Australian figurehead for the Deep Ecology Movement. A long time hero of both co-hosts Mark and Michael, John combines decades of successful environmental activism with an emphasis toward re-establishing a deep emotional connection with the natural world. It is the disconnection from nature which has resulted in the endless growth paradigm which is tearing apart our societies and our planet. John shares his thoughts on why system change is not enough and why a fundamental shift in our collective psychology is needed to get us out of this mess.

In addition to John’s other accolades, he is also an accomplished musician. It was a pleasure to play his song ‘The World Bank Song’ on PGAP. The song was written in 1990 for a protest against the World Bank in Washington DC and the message is arguably even more relevant today. The video may be seen on YouTube and John’s music may also be heard on SoundCloud.

You can find more about the RAINFOREST INFORMATION CENTRE HERE. Or about DEEP ECOLOGY HERE. More links to John’s work include articles on THE RELIGION OF ECONOMICS, THE RIGHTS OF NATURE, and CLIMATE GRIEF. More information regarding the Atlas network may be read HERE and HERE.

You can find out more about HOLISTIC ACTIVISM HERE (founded by co-host Mark Allen). Both Mark and Michael Bayliss have been busy over the last couple of months. Mark has written A Holistic Activism Approach to the Population Issue for Medium. Michael was recently a guest presenter on the Rethinking Sustainability Podcast, on the topic of Growth and the Parasitic Economy.. Mark has written for Independent Australia: Sydney asbestos crisis the tip of the iceberg . EcoVoice published Mark's article Climate Activism and the Crisis of Language . Last but not least, the PGAP Blog has been updated with a new post, Building a house in the 2020s (and other fun things!).

At PGAP, we like to give a shout out to the work of our past guests. The highly anticipated De Gruyter Degrowth Handbook has finally been released! Inside, contributors, including a forward by Jason Hickel, explore various facets of degrowth, delving into its intersections with Marxism, feminism, architecture, and issues related to the global south. A standout chapter, penned by our former podcast guest Alex Baumann and co-author Samuel Alexander, shines a light on the initial privatisation of capitalism, namely land privatisation. While the Handbook itself is behind a paywall, an excellent article in The Conversation gives a great overview.

PGAP will be on break for two months before we return for season six in a couple of months. PGAP has now been on the air for nearly four years and we are so pleased that community support for our grassroots program has gone from strength to strength across the five seasons. We are looking forward to many more stellar guests in season six and we will also be experimenting with 'mini-episodes' for returning guests.

Until then, we invite you to RATE AND REVIEW PGAP, SUBSCRIBE, or CONTACT US with our easy to fill out contact form. Please share this and other episodes of PGAP with your friends, family and networks.

Until season six, until then!

(All views, opinions, and past and present legacies of PGAP guests do not necessarily reflect those of PGAP of Sustainable Population Australia who are the kind supporters of this podcast.)

Special Guest: John Seed.

For this short bonus episode of PGAP, we welcome back Martin Tye, Social Media and Promotions Coordinator of Sustainable Population Australia (SPA). Martin shares with us the details of SPA's new campaign 'Say NO to a Big Australia!' He also gives us a heads up on SPA's public forum, being held in Adelaide on April 20th, "From housing crisis to eco-crisis: Why Australia's Population Growth is Unsustainable," including keynote speakers Leith van Onselen and Dr Jane O'Sullivan.

Please consider signing SPA's position statement, calling for a sustainable population. Find out more about the campaign here.

Will you be in Adelaide on the 20th of April? Then do come along to SPA's free public forum on Australia's Ponzi population experiment - and what we can do about it. For those not in Adelaide, the event will be live streamed. PGAP has interviewed both keynote speakers, including Leith van Onselen from Macrobusiness, and Jane O'Sullivan, in past episodes. Martin Tye was also interviewed in the very first episode of PGAP. Listen here for a walk down history lane!

SPA are the primary supporters of Post-Growth Australia Podcast (PGAP). While this podcast aims to invite broad perspectives on the Degrowth movement, we believe that a stable or slowly declining populations, both domestically and globally, are crucial components of the post-growth transition. If you want to find out more about where your co-hosts Michael Bayliss and Mark Allen sit on population, you can read more HERE and HERE. All opinions, views and past and current legacies of our guests are strictly their own, and do not always reflect the views of PGAP.

PGAP have one last episode in the wings with a VERY special guest (no spoilers!) before we take a short break. Stay tuned! In the meantime, please share this and other episodes of PGAP with your friends, family and networks. Subscribe to PGAP HERE or contact us with your thoughts and ideas HERE.

Special Guest: Martin Tye.