Our guest in The Tunnel Hour – sorry… The Sustainable Hour on 8 April 2020 is Dawn Barrington, a folk singer and song writer based in Denmark in Western Australia, who writes songs about climate change and refugee justice. We talk about both topics from a big picture point of view – and listen to ‘Coffee My Dear’.

We play an excerpt from the debate at a council meeting in Shepparton last week, where councillors were voting on whether or not to declare a climate emergency. Four wanted to do it, while four others didn’t think it was a good idea. More about the outcome below.

Colin talks about a new report from ClimateWorks, ‘Decarbonising Futures’, that shows how Australia can achieve those carbon emissions reductions which are required across all industry sectors to limit global warming to below the 1.5°C degree target under the Paris Agreement, which Australia has committed itself to.

And Mik talks about the ‘World Happiness Report’ from the United Nations, which highlights the importance of social trust: Nations “with higher levels of social trust and connections are more resilient in the face of natural disasters and economic crises, because fixing rather than fighting becomes the order of the day.”

Covid-19 has added a new dimension to this. The co-ordinated international response to this pandemic has brought us all closer together. We wish you a happy Easter staycation – be the difference.

“From a big picture point of view it is no longer about particular things we can do as individuals any more, it is no longer separate issues – it is all coming in to one. It is about a philosophy that we need to all take on, and for all humanity to ask: what is the right thing to do for Mother Earth, for all us? We know in our hearts that are breaking the rules of Mother Earth. We know that.”~ Dawn Barrington, in The Sustainable Hour

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“We are at what we used to term a watershed. This is a time when we have been forced by circumstances to stop and think, and then choose a new direction. We have got to make it obvious to all of our leaders thatthe new direction has got to include the health of the planet.”~ Colin Mockett, in The Sustainable Hour