The Green Genius - saving our planet

John Blay has been described as a humble Australian bushman but what exactly is an Australian bushman?The word can conjure many things such as hardiness and doggedness. Ned Kelly was described as a fine bushman. Malcom Douglas also springs to mind, the crocodile hunter and film maker. So does the name Robyn Davidson, an author and bush woman who famously trekked the deserts of Western Australia with camels and what about ‘The Bush Tucker Man’ Les Hiddins who inspired my own adventures in...

The Anthropocene, rapid population growth, improved standard of living in developing countries, ever expanding agriculture and inefficient use of water is causing rapid change to water management across the world due to the increased demand for fresh water.1 in 3 people that live on planet earth live without a household water connection and 800 million people lack access to safe water.Climate change is increasing the odds there will be an increase in severe drought in many parts of World and ...

In the year 1800, a little over 200 years ago, there were 1 billion people on Earth. Today there are 7.7 billion people and by 2100 there will be close to 11 billion people on Earth.How are we going to feed everyone? What exactly is aquaculture and what does it have to do with the global population?Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Even farming pearls, crocodiles and ornamental fish is classified as aquaculture. Globally,...

What is corporate sustainability? What does sustainability mean to you? Does your bank, your local supermarket, your butcher, your hairdresser, your clothing store or your local café have a sustainability strategy?Sustainability is a word often used but often confused. While some companies think putting fruit in the staff kitchen is an entire corporate wellbeing strategy, other companies think using organic cotton on a couple of t-shirts in a range of 1000 SKUs will impress their custom...

Anthropogenic climate change, rapid population growth, deforestation and poor management of land leading to devastation mean current agricultural approaches both in Australia and across the world must change. Industrial farming is simply not an option for the future and good governance and agricultural innovation are required to both protect the environment and tackle the uncertainties of climate change. Innovation is however challenging to introduce and to drive positive, innovative cha...

Three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years to generate and the United Nations have estimated that if the current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years.Soils play a critical role in absorbing carbon and filtering water and they are being degraded, rapidly. In fact, the equivalent of one sport field is eroded every five seconds.All of us who live in the capital cities of Australia including Perth, Sydney and Brisbane have experienced dust s...

To dam or not to dam.Ancient rainforest and priceless indigenous sites are at stake.The proposed Dunoon Dam in northern NSW Australia is a contentious topic, one that is dividing a community. You could perhaps compare the current outrage in the community to the infamous protests at nearby Terania Creek in 1979 that saw hundreds of peaceful protestors save ancient rainforests from logging and shape the history of environmental protection in Australia.Rous County Council are telling the communi...

Terania Creek - Australia’s first successful environmental protest.“The Story Of Terania Creek is essentially the story of rainforests everywhere. Rainforest, that cradle of evolution has been hacked, cleared, felled, milled and burned” (Jack Thompson, Give Trees A Chance: the story of Terania Creek, 1980).An army of 200 protesters takes on 100s of police at Terania Creek to save ancient World Heritage-listed rainforest....and they win.Join us for this inspiring interview with Nan and Hugh Ni...

Going back in time.The Big Scrub in the Byron Bay region was once the largest tract of lowland subtropical rainforest in the southern hemisphere. European settlers began clearing the forest for agriculture and timber in the 1840s and, sadly, by 1900 less than 1 per cent of the original 75,000 hectares remained. Now, scattered remnant pockets are all that exist of this glorious forest that once stretched from Byron Bay to Lismore and beyond.Join us for this exciting podcast with former investm...