The Sustainable Hour no. 405 with Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Jane Morton and MidCoast Council mayor Claire Pontin, along with statements from Greens MP Cate Faehrmann and climatestriker Lauren Dillon.

Two climate-related events took place in Geelong - we encourage you to see or listen to the recordings of them.

Deakin University PhD student Natalie Purves is searching for two schools who will take part in her climate action study, Rusty calls in from Australia's coal capital Newcastle, and Heidi Fog delivers her second 'Sustainable Endpoint' episode.

The Sustainable Hour no 403 with Electric Dream Machine, EV Show & Shine event, Electric Vehicle Festival and ‘The Sustainable Endpoint’.

The Sustainable Hour's Women's Day special on 8 March 2022 - with Monica Winston and Suzette Jackson, Dr Belinda Moloney, youth climate activist Hailey Tan and author Elizabeth Bechard.

In a turbulent week, our guests are: Doctor Jenny Huang from Geelong and Healthy Futures - and Ugandan Extinction Rebellion activists Elijah and Josh.

The Sustainable Hour no 400

The science that is screaming out to us that we must stop burning fossil fuels. The scientists report that the destruction of Earth’s eco-systems and climate is reaching a point of no return. But do we listen? Or rather, why don’t we listen? Increasing amounts of CO2 emissions are still going into our atmosphere each year. When we started The Sustainable Hour in 2013, the world had just passed the 400 mark for how carbon we have burned and dumped in the atmosphere – 400 parts per million, ppm. We’re now at 419 ppm.

This is the background scenery for The Sustainable Hour no 400 where we are joined by Luke Taylor, who is director of the Sustainable Living Festival and a regular on our show at his time of the year, February being the month dedicated to the National Sustainable Living Festival.

Luke muses about the success and otherwise of both the Sustainable Living Festival and the climate movement in general. We learn about the impact that Covid has had on the last two festivals, and Luke informs us that another important festival anniversary will be achieved next February.

Scientists have been sounding the alarm bells on environmental breakdown for over 40 years, yet emissions and environmental degradation have continued to rise during this time. We talk with two scientists who believe it’s now of paramount importance that scientists demonstrate the severity of the crisis by organising and engaging in civil disobedience: Elena Gonzalez Egea and Kyle Topfer from the group Scientist Rebellion – a group of academics, researchers and scientists across all disciplines determined to engage in peaceful civil disobedience using non-violent direct action tactics to highlight government inaction on the climate and ecological crisis.

Elena from Scientist Rebellion Spain has a PhD in Astrophysics. She joined Scientist Rebellion at the end of 2020. Since then she has been arrested three times in climate actions.

Kyle Topfer from Scientist Rebellion Germany is an environmental scientist who specialises in environmental assessment for air, noise, contaminated land and renewable energy. He joined Scientist Rebellion at the beginning of 2021. Since then he has been arrested in climate actions twice.

In April 2022, as the IPCC global panel of climate scientists publish their next report, Scientist Rebellion aims to mobilise thousands of scientists worldwide to strike in order to highlight the severity of the present situation. A summary of the new IPCC report has been leaked, and you can see Scientist Rebellion’s analysis of it further down on this page.

The group has organised a series of online talks throughout February and March 2022: The Role of Scientists on a Planet in Crisis – these talks are dedicated to the climate and ecological emergency and what we can do about it.

In the last couple of weeks, news of Scientist Rebellion’s mobilisation and strikes in April has reached our shores and an Scientist Rebellion Australia has formed...

The Sustainable Hour no 399 on 16 February 2022.

Our first guests today are Elly Tucker, Joe Barnes-Hill and David Maher from AusRegen. They have come back to excitedly tell us about their latest project. Much has happened since we last heard from them. They now have a professional structure around which they are building. Today they tell us about an exciting weekend initiative they have coming up from 18 to 20 March 2022. They have called it RegenFest 2022 – a weekend of “walking their talk” where around 50 people will be coming together to undertake regenerative practices on an actual site near Kynton in Victoria.

We plan that The Sustainable Hour will attend the ecofestival and report back on it as we sweat it out during the day by building water flow slowing objects in and around the creek and listening to their music on Friday and Saturday nights.

Next follows Olympic Games 52-kilometre walker Rhydian Cowley. (Yes thats right: 52 kilometres all at once). Along with his elite status in this sport, Rhydian feels comes a responsibility to use that platform to talk publicly about his climate concerns and actively promote solutions that are job rich and aren’t going to cost us the earth literally. We talk about the impact that sponsorship by fossil fuel companies and the banks that help fund them have on sporting events and liken it to sponsorship by tobacco companies in the past, something that’s no longer accepted in today’s world.

Rhydian mentions a number of organisations and content, firstly the Sports Environment Alliance and their “no planet, no play” resource for sports organisations. Also Frontrunners, whose team helped get AFL Players for Climate Action and Cricket for Climate get off the ground. Most recently this was through ‘The Cooldown Letter‘ which was signed by hundreds of elite sportspeople from a variety of Aussie sports. Another group Rhydian mentions is EcoAthletes.

The Guardian article which Rhydian thought deserves more reads is titled Australian sport has been captured by carbon. The ‘sliver of light’ came from Tennis Australia dropping Santos as a sponsor. This is the same fossil fuel company that is sponsoring three Australian teams in the International Rugby Union competition. Will other sporting codes and bodies follow this bold lead and become the all important “first responders” when look...

Our guests in The Sustainable Hour no 398 on 9 February 2022 are:Doctor Julie Shiels – a visual artist who makes sculpture and photomedia work for the gallery, web and the street. She is also a lecturer at RMIT University’s School of Art in Melbourne. Her most recent project and book ‘The Grandmasters #Shtfckery’ is a series of political parodies. These digital collages combine old masters paintings, with verbatim quotes extracted from the daily news churn with headshots of our political leaders and power brokers. The purpose of the project is make these moments humorous and memorable. Julie’s work can be followed on Instagram, or can be seen around Melbourne as pasteups. To find out more about Julie go to her website: julieshiels.com.au

Professor Yin Paradies – a Wakaya man who teaches and undertakes research in Indigenous knowledges and decolonisation at Deakin University. He is an anarchist and ecological activist who is committed to understanding and interrupting the devastating impacts of modern societies. Yin seeks meaningful mutuality of becoming and embodied kinship with all life through transformed ways of knowing, being and doing that are grounded in wisdom, humility, respect, generosity, down-shifted collective sufficiency, voluntary simplicity, direct participation and radical localisation. Today he tells us about a four-day deep immersion Thrive to Survive experience coming up on 24-28 March 2022 on the intentional community in which he lives in the Yarra Valley. We also learn what drives him to do the work he does, as well as what he values. Here’s a link to a workshop Yin is running in May 2022, and here is information about the event ‘Explore a sustainable, ecologically focused community’ at the Moora Moora intentional community on 27 February 2022.

Mik Aidt starts off today outraged by the public money being put into fossil fuel projects and the way it is reported on the front page of a local newspaper as if it’s a good thing. He connects this with extreme weather events being fuelled by the same fossil fuel projects and their cost.

Mik also mentions a new exciting and sustainability-focused housing development project in Geelong, which launched its website last week: Bellarine Urban Farm – aspiring to become a place where “Your loved ones of all ages can grow and farm together in harmony with the seasons and the elements while remaining connected to modern conveniences. Inspired by urban farm models and edible landscapes, your family will grow their own food and discov...

Our guests in The Sustainable Hour no 397 on 2 February 2022 are two climate-concerned elite sports groups from two sports closest to the Australians’ heart and identity as a nation: Australian football and surfing.

First we have Jasper Pittard and Tom Campbell from AFL Players for Climate Action. Jasper has been on the show before, but since then, he and Tom have founded this group which now represent more than 260 AFL players who want to do more to tackle climate change: to take action in their lives, at their clubs, and across the industry. We hear about what they have achieved so far – plus what their ambitious plans are for the future, taking steps to address AFL’s contribution to climate change and hoping they can bring millions of Australians on the journey with them.Tom is a professional athlete playing for St Kilda Football Club. He has played 54 AFL games for North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs. Jasper played 11 seasons of AFL football with Kangaroos, Port Adelaide and North Melbourne. To find out more about AFL Players for Climate Action, they have a presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and their website is www.aflp4ca.org.au

Next we have Belinda Baggs and Linley Hurrell from Surfers for Climate. They have been busy educating fellow surfers to become active participants in climate solutions. We hear of successful campaigns they’ve been part of over the last 12 months as well as what has been occupying them recently. This includes campaigns against seismic testing around the iconic 12 Apostles and plans to drill for gas in that area. They are also collaborating with a network of local groups working to stop Viva Energy’s proposed floating gas hub in Corio Bay. They have recently launched a commitment to wiping out members’ emissions – details of this can be found here.

Surfers for Climate have an election campaign, ‘Don’t kook it on climate’, where Corangamite will be one of their key electorates. At this stage they are selling t-shirts for people to wear when they’re at the polls. Details of this can be found here: surfersforclimate.org.au/merch. They will be busy in the time leading up to the election with a series of events coming to Surf Coast beaches. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Colin Mockett‘s Global Outlook hits the first 2022 Sustainable Hour running. He starts off in England where,