The Grand Scheme of Things

We love engaging with our fans, and they don’t come any more loyal than Sister Jess - a local Dominican who happens to also be our sibling. Sister shares her thoughts on the divisive ‘Don’t Look Up’, as well as some interesting summer reading. She also gives a very candid song recommendation. Fun as!

Lots more to cover on the Beetaloo fracking issue! For this bumper instalment, we were fortunate to hear from Rikki Dank, a Gudanji/Wakaja woman from Borroloola in the NT. To be clear, she's also currently based in Dubai and working as a gallery owner. Rikki has long been an activist concerned by the effects of fracking and she hails from a family of proud 'troublemakers'. Whilst this episode primarily gives a valuable picture of how Indigenous communities like Borroloola are impacted by resource extraction, we also get Rikki's perspective of travelling to Glasgow for the COP26 summit. Find out how she passed her time there and why she was feeling so fed-up that she looked  to Hollywood for attention! 
 

We reunite with Geoff Glue, a legendary politics and history teacher from our time at school, for a great chat about the Canberran 'state of play' - which, of course, has a big  bearing on the CC issue. With Speers-like professionalism, Geoff helps with dissecting topics such as political 'talent', polling, the impact of media and the leadership style of the PM, all whilst keeping his own leanings a closely guarded secret. Appropriately, this is also one of the few episodes to come with its own bibliography: 

Waleed Aly - https://www.smh.com.au/national/on-net-zero-the-nats-can-t-go-quietly-20211021-p591su.html

Peter Van Onselen - https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/our-political-record-on-climate-is-appalling/news-story/55ce14c6dc1155f4adbe58646a6bfa74

Paul Henderson - Parliament and Politics in Australia (1985)

Blessed to here get the thoughts of one Graeme Sawyer on the hugely controversial issue of hydraulic fracking in the NT’s Beetaloo Sub-basin. There are links to climate emissions, of course, but perhaps just as pertinently direct environmental impacts that might come to affect communities who rarely get hefty political representation. Graeme is no less than a former Lord Mayor of Darwin, a conservationist, and a member of Protect Country Alliance. He comes armed to the teeth with facts, reading and ideas - truly his recall on this topic is amazing. Please make the most of it!

Although not renowned for his sporting prowess, in this conversation former NSW premier and foreign minister Bob Carr brings his 'A game'. It was our great privilege to get his thoughts on all manner of subjects - Australia's international character, climate summits, the decisive global powers, the challenge of decarbonisation, electoral appetite for action in NSW and even the brilliance of Mozart. He's engaging, concise, classy. Goodness me, what a treat! 

As the flag-bearer for News Corp’s ‘Mission Zero’, it was somewhat inevitable that journalist Joe Hildebrand be required to explain himself on this leading climate action perspectives/big questions/society & culture podcast. A seasoned pro and smiling assassin, Joe here gave his two cents frequently enough that the grand total came out at something like $3.26. Listen up for his thoughts on our close friends The Greens, economics vs environment in messaging, recent technological breakthroughs, the process of developing ‘Mission Zero’, and what it’s like to come under the microscope of one Paul Barry. Hit the arrow - you’ve reached playtime!

Could be some serious boot quaking at Liberal Party HQ after this episode...

Here we managed to get a hold of Piers Mitchem, The Greens’ ANSWER to Josh Frydenberg in the seat of Kooyong. Piers, a proud owner of a winning mindset, meticulously laid out how he plans to dethrone the current King of Kooyong, spoke on the matter of nuclear power in Australia and even indulged us with a few thoughts on climate change.

Who knows? If Piers successfully pulls off the coup, this episode may serve as a valuable 'before and after'. His genuine friendliness and idealism would no doubt make for interesting comparison once he’s inevitably been corrupted by the political machine!

 https://www.instagram.com/piersmitchem/

Healesville artist and activist Ali Griffin is sharing some of her own journey in this instalment of TGSOT. 

Like Jo Dodds before her, Ali is a member of Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action. She speaks on her own painful experience of Black Saturday, the recovery that followed, the fresh perspectives enabled by art, and the vexed issue of making links between climate change and bushfires. Bonus topic: Is it possible that artists are more empathetic than your average Ben?

https://www.aligriffinart.com/

We’re lucky to here speak with Jo Dodds, whose personal experience of disaster pushed her involvement in ‘Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action’. To say the least, the group take umbrage at the idea recent fire conditions could have been part of an ‘ordinary’ Australian landscape, and they’re presently riding high after a successful legal skirmish with the NSW EPA. As well as those topics, we’re talking community impacts and bushfire politicisation. Get listening pronto!

https://www.bushfiresurvivors.org/

This time around, we're welcoming aboard one of YouTube's most rugged bushmen. Famous for kayaking several days to get to work, running across the Australian Alps, sleeping in trees, eating his body weight in beans etc., Beau Miles recently took on the challenge of a conversation with TGSOT.

How did he handle it?
Spoiler: Quite well!

https://www.youtube.com/c/BeauMiles