Why we go off the grid and grow edibles

In The Sustainable Hour on 30 April 2014 we seek to understand the arguments in the power games which currently are taking place between the citizens and the regulators. To stand up for what is right you must first understand what is wrong.

For instance, when you look at your electricity bill - which you may have noticed has doubled in just the last couple of years - do you understand exactly why it is that it has increased so much?

It is worth making yourself familiar with this, because apparently what has happened is that we, the consumers, are being ripped off. Tony Abbott blamed the Carbon Tax and won an election. Now he wants us to believe it is because of the Renewable Energy Target. The truth, according to a new report from Schneider Electric and a recent ABC radio documentary, is that we are charged billions of dollars for unnecessary infrastructure, wires and poles, while the companies that manufacture and set them up happily have shoveled in our money.

"In a very positive way you need to make yourself aware of what the solution is, and then get on with making it a part of your local life and your local environment," says Mike Lawrence, CEO, Greenline Engineering: "Be proactive about it. And work with your local politicians. By the end of the day, the logic of the renewable energy movement is just too clear and too strong to stop it or slow it down. We have got those that are digging the hills in, the black and brown coal energy generators - and it is a very powerful lobby group, probably the most powerful in the country - but their argument is becoming increasingly thin," Mike Lawrence explains.

Mark Hoffmann, chair of the Geelong Organic Gardeners, explains why Geelong's council claims that the banned practice of turning a nature strip into a vegetable garden "threatens residents and Geelong's international wetlands", while the truth is that communities benefit from the new trend of establishing public vegetable gardens in various ways - creating more biodiversity, sustainability and more interconnected neighbourhoods.

We also visit the Renew Geelong Picnic and talk with Dave Kerin from Earthworker Cooperative and Surf Coast Councillor Eve Fisher about community renewable energy solutions.

» For photos, lots of links, music videos, online listening or download of excerpts, and more information, go to: http://climatesafety.info/?p=7159

We are both the problem and the solution. In this Earth Day Special, The Sustainable Hour explores what our relationship with the natural world means, what we can learn from looking at old civilisations that collapsed, and from traditional, indigenous people.

How moving from the 'take, make and waste' mentality to a 'borrow, use and return' principle along with conscious action that sustains life on Earth will help us rise to the challenge of transitioning away from burning fossil fuels and over to using non-polluting, renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro.

The annual Anzac day is coming up in Australia, and local media is full of writing and talk about the ceremonies on 25 April which will commemorate those who fought or are fighting in wars.

No one is mentioning the "energy war" that is taking place in our societies at the moment - a citizen-powered battle against a combination of ignorance, prejudice and vested interests which, according to the climate scientists of the United Nations, threatens our civilisation at its foundation.

"This is London calling!" announced the speaker on the AM airwaves coordinating the underground resistance movement in Europe in the 1940s. What we are calling for here and now is not resistance, but awareness and clean energy solutions. Behavior change and community engagement is the next frontier in addressing climate change.

So, here you go: "This is The Pulse calling." We have to STOP burning up our planet.

"And we each have to plant 10 trees a year," adds Carl Callaway who encourages us with saying: "You can't imagine the impact that two people or a little group can have in the world."

Welcome to a radio show where we take the warnings seriously and where we would like to engage YOU as well in the discussion about what we hope Geelong will look like 50 years from now. Meet us in Eastern Park at the Renew Geelong event on Sunday where we will be broadcasting live.

Hope you will enjoy listening to this week's Sustainable Hour and see you at the Renew Geelong event, starting from Yarra Street at the waterfront at 10am on Sunday. www.thesolution.org.au/picnic

On 16 April 2014, The Sustainable Hour heads off for a seminar on unconventional gas mining to hear what the experts have to say about this controversial topic also known as 'fracking'.

The seminar 'Unconventional gas extraction and the social, economic and environmental impacts' took place at Melbourne University on 26 March 2014 and was transmitted via video conference to 11 different locations in Victoria - one of them Deakin University in Geelong.

We listen to excerpts of the presentations by Dr Jeremy Moss from from the Social Justice Initiative at Melbourne University who is co-author of the report 'Is fracking good for your health' and by Glen Martin who spoke over skype from Queensland. He is a lawyer and works in Toowoomba with landholders in South East Queensland who feel invaded by the gas mining industry.

We also hear a range of questions asked from the 11 different locations, answered by the panel which also featured professor Samantha Hepburn from School of Law at Deakin University, and Felicity Millner from the Environment Defenders Office.

> For photos, lots of links, music videos, online listening or download of excerpts, and more information, go to: http://climatesafety.info/?p=6965

Change. Clean energy. Commitment. Community. Movement of the C's

Science confronts us with a question dominated by the letter C: Can we curb carbon emissions with clean energy in time to combat catastrophic climate change? The answer not only blows in the wind but is also full of compelling c's, because change now comes from communities and citizens who collaborate and commit themselves to finding clever solutions and create clean energy co-ops.

In the The Sustainable Hour on 9 April 2014 you can meet one of the change-makers in the forefront of a city's sustainability movement - a young citizen of Geelong, Daniel Cowdell, 33, who made up his mind to become an activist and start working with Geelong Sustainability Group.

Together with Friends of the Earth, Daniel Cowdell and Geelong Sustainability Group launches an eight-month campaign to put climate and clean energy on the state election agenda, asking: what does the climate change challenge which science present to us mean for Geelong and its citizens? What if we saw the challenge of curbing carbon emissions as an opportunity for creating new jobs developing and manufacturing cleantech technology and energy efficiency?

Margaret Rasa from Mount Alexander Sustainability Group highlights another example of brilliant change-making: Together with Energy for the People, Mount Alexander Sustainability Group has developed a clever way of building community solar for tenants and low-income demographics, so that people who can't afford solar can get it on their roof.

Meanwhile the Alternative Technology Association are preparing a report about the gas industry and how government currently is using tax payers' money to lock residents into a fossil fuel infrastructure which not only will become more and more expensive for them in the years to come, but also contributes to that pollution of the atmosphere which we know we need to stop. Craig Memery, renewable energy and smart networks specialist, explained about this at a seminar at Melbourne University about 'Quick Clean Energy Jobs For Victoria', held on 3 April 2014.

An American musician has launched a Climate Message Video Festival where performers make statements about climate change, while famous Hollywood actors now are launching a high profile tv-series about the topic. "It's the biggest story of our time," they state.

Responding to climate change: introducing the 'nanooks' of Geelong

Okay. So the news is out. "Climate change - it's here". Front cover headlines. "UN: Climate change threatens billions of people". For a day, the release of the latest UN-report gave climate change a comeback on the front pages of many national newspapers around the world, the Age included.

So how are we supposed to respond to this?

In Geelong, a group of 10 young artists light up a projection-based show about climage change, a 45-minute performance about the polar bear Nanook who sets out to find out why the ice is melting, and what he can do about it.

In The Sustainable Hour you are going to meet the creator of the show, Trevor Maitland.

"The performance allows us to recognise we have a responsibility in our communities. And we can all become little Nanooks," says Trevor Maitland.

Today in the studio at 94.7 The Pulse, we talk with two of our local 'nanooks': electrical engineer Tim Clark, and Caroline Hawkins who is an anti-coal activist in Surf Coast Air Action. They share their thoughts on how we deal with the climate change issues, the choices we have and the changes we need to make.

Tim Clark is renovating old houses and turning them into smart, energy efficient homes of the 21st century, while Caroline Hawkins is advocating for the closure of an old coal-fired powerplant situated less than a kilometre from her home-town Anglesea.

Community-owned solar. While over a million Australian house-owners have placed solar panels on their roof, only very few renewable energy projects have been launched where shareholders collectively invest in for instance a wind farm or a larger solar power plant. Around 40 communities in Australia are currently looking into the option of starting a renewables co-op. We talk with Aaron Lewtas, president of Surf Coast Energy Group, about an initiative of this nature which is on its way in Torquay, and we talk with Vivienne Burke from Geelong Sustainability Group about the monthly Green Drinks event and the One Planet Living principles which were on the agenda in the afternoon of 26 March 2014.

Guests in the studio:

Aaron Lewtas, Surf Coast Energy Group

Vivienne Burke, Geelong Sustainability Group

Prerecorded interview:

Pascal Mittermaier, LendLease, London

From doom to joy. [Warning: this podcast contains language which could be experienced as offending.]

The Sustainable Hour on 19 March 2014 looks into our choice between free and clean energy along with a safer climate on one hand, and expensive, polluting burning of carbon combined with catastrophic climate-doom with economic collapse on the other.

The choice would seem like a no-brainer. Even so, something is holding our elected leaders back when it comes to kick-starting the necessary transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro-power.

That "something" is not just conservatism or doubt. It is a - in the dual meaning of the word - "powerful" group of stake holders who refuse to let go of their source of immense profits.

However, with climate scientists' "official prophecy of doom" - as a headline in The Independent stated: "Official prophecy of doom: Global warming will cause widespread conflict, displace millions of people and devastate the global economy" - it really doesn't seem like we have much a choice.

And to that end there is another much more fun and optimistic story to be told - the story which is about all the exciting possibilities that follows once we have managed to liberate ourselves from our fossil fuel addiction.

Renew Geelong with 'invisible force' of optimism - for a start by creating a new narrative around how we deal with the employment crisis that Geelong is currently experiencing. In Chinese writing, the word 'Crisis' is made up of two signs - one for 'danger' and one for 'opportunity'. In The Sustainable Hour on 12 March 2014 we talk about opportunities.

What is it with solar? The sky over Geelong is covered with dark clouds, but in the radio studio at 94.7 The Pulse during this hour it is going to be sunny - talking solar power, megawatts and feed-in tarifs up and down the walls. Because: What is it with solar and harnessing the sun, really? What's the costs? Is it expensive? Is it worth the investment? Is it already too late to get in? Is it better than wind turbines? Christian Pritchett from City to Surf Solar Plus, Doug Rolfe from the Alternative Technology Association, and Goshen Watts from Transition South Barwon deliver some answers.

Energy democracy. On 26 February 2013, The Sustainable Hour on 94.7 The Pulse was all about community-powered energy and the shift from using coal and gas to solar and wind.

We live in a democracy. But... how democratic are our energy structures?

Do we have any real choices – or are we living in an energy dictatorship?

Some people say 'Yes we are!' and want to revolt against that regime, because that energy we are being provided with from central power plants is generated by burning fossil fuels. As scientists keep warning us that this ongoing pollution of the atmosphere changes our climate and threatens the future of children and grandchildren in dramatic ways, and since governments currently aren't willing to create that change, communities are stepping in and doing it themselves. Kirsten Hasberg brings examples of this from Germany.

The future of energy is to harness sunbeams, wind blowing and river-water on the move. On 21 February 2014, The Sustainable Hour made an expedition to Melbourne to witness the world premiere of a film with exactly that title: 'The Future of Energy'.

For photos, links, music videos, online listening or download of excerpts, and more information, go to:

http://climatesafety.info/?p=6466