The Meandering Pod

Sit down with a cuppa and prepare to have your socks blown off about the humble drink, tea. What is it? Where did it come from? When did the British start drinking teas? Join me as I take part in a tea ceremony with tea master Mabel in her home in Kunming, trying ripe Pu’er, Oolong and White Tea as we explore the historical and cultural force that is tea. Teas have inspired spirituality and purity...

Join Dom and Lotta for this special bonus episode where they discuss bin diving, the Australian food system and its abundant food waste. This is a re-run of a radio show that they did for Lotta’s mums radio show Considering Earth, on Denmark Community Radio. Check out her shows here:  https://www.denmarkfm.com.au/shows/considering-earth/

Laos has the unenviable title of being the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world. In this episode, we’ll be unpacking why, as well as the dangerous legacy of unexploded ordinances (UXOs) left in the lives of everyday Laotian people.   Join Bec this week as she interviews two representatives from Mines Advisory Group (MAG), Bella and Ben, about the history, ramifications and ongoing w...

Damning the Mekong - Can we call hydropower clean energy? Whilst certainly renewable, hydropower can’t claim to have clean hands on the Mekong River, where it is causing widespread ecological and social damage, across many national borders. Despite the damning evidence and widespread impacts, many more dams are in the pipeline, and are getting constructed with enthusiasm from those who profit.  Jo...

Cam takes a meander through Thai political history, including how Thailand avoided colonisation, why they keep fighting with Cambodia and how they continue as a stable, prosperous country despite having a military coup roughly every eight years. Apologies for my pronunciation of Thai names.

Join Lotta and Dom as they dive deep into the floodwaters that hit South East Asia last year - and swim through the nuanced and shocking currents of human’s relationships with floods from the past into the future. We also do a bit of a nerd out about the climate - if you’ve decided to skip that section, jump to 13:25! Some papers , books and other resources I recommend checking out if you’re curio...

What a spicy group episode! Spanning two birthdays, Christmas and the lovely addition of our friend Blair for three weeks of adventure. Join us as we take overnight trains, learn how to make papaya salad for Bec’s birthday, push bikes up endless and steep hills, learn a couple of words of Karen and embark on our (long) path to enlightenment with the help of Buddhist teachings.  We also have a shal...

Over our travels we have crossed one of the heartland countries for the controversial palm oil industry – Malaysia. In today's deep dive, Bec and Lotta discuss the environmental and ethical issues levelled at Big Oil Palm, trying to answer the question of whether palm oil can ever be a truly sustainable product. We also have the privilege of hearing from renowned Malaysian economist Jomo Kwame...

Another group episode beans! Here, you will be updated on our journeys through Malaysia and how we reunited in Thailand. Listen for food highlights, a shallow dive on LGBTQIA+ rights in Malaysia and, of course, BRICK #1! Including who won it last time after we left the choice to you guys… Sick advocacy groups working in Malaysia you should totally follow on your socials and check out in general: h...

In this episode Cam talks to Alex Au from Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), an NGO that advocates for migrant workers in Singapore. Links: Donate to TWC2 here The report I wrote with Kael for TWC2

Have you ever told ghost stories around a campfire? Do you believe in spirits of place, or perhaps black and white magic? Well for many in Indonesia, they are real, and are powerful forces across the country today. Join Dom and Italian Dom, Michy, as they explore the religions and spiritualism of Java, Indonesia. Michy, Dom’s friend, has visited spiritual leaders and shamans to research the comple...

Listen up, another group episode! This time recorded hundreds of miles apart over zoom. Here, we discuss the second half of our time in Indonesia, as well as Dom's dengue scare which resulted in the group temporarily splitting up and Cam and Bec pushing on to Singapore and Malaysia. We also take a shallow dive into how Singapore launders Russian oil and sells it to Australia. The Asia Times Centre...

One of the most exciting phenomena in the spread of animals across the globe, the Wallace Line is a tale of life and death, deep time and the movement of humans across an island chain like no other, and it passes right between Bali and Lombok! Join Lotta and Cam as they explore not only the Wallace Line, but also Wallace, a progressive 19 th century naturalist who despite it all, was still a produ...

Have you ever thought, damn, what a waste to flush my poop down the toilet! Well, permaculture has the answer - compost that sh!t. Join Dom and Dwi as they talk about permaculture and Dwi’s permaculture project, Omah Lor, set on the slopes of a volcano in Central Java, Indonesia. Permaculture is:  the use of ecology as the basis for designing integrated systems of food production, housing, appropr...

Listen up, another group episode! Here, we discuss the our time in Lombok, Sumbawa, Bali and Java, and take a shallow dive into BC Foundation and labour issues for people from the global south. Tune in for new segments like Scrubalubadubub and Biggest Bule and old faves like Brick No 1. Our GoFundMe for BC can be found here . Please consider donating if you have the means! Join us for some meander...

In this week’s episode Bec and Dom continue the story of the Montara Oil Spill, focussing on the impacts of this environmental disaster on Indonesians.   During the episode they have the privilege of hearing fromaward-winning documentarian Jane Hammond, who spent time in West Timor filming ‘A Crude Injustice’, which promoted awareness in Australia and abroad about the dire consequences of the spil...

Hello everyone, thanks for joining us for another episode ofThe Meandering Pod.   This week we’re introducing a two-part series for the firsttime. It’s about the Montara Oil Spill, which happened in the Timor Sea in 2009. Bec and Dom will focus in this episode on the Australian side of the story, and next episode we’ll look into the Indonesian side of the story.   A big thanks to Fraser Maywood, c...

A bonus episode! Here, you’ll hear all about the greenwashing and double-think world of carbon and biodiversity offsetting in Australia. this episode comes out hand in hand with an article Bec and Lotta wrote for Cheek Media: Carbon and Biodiversity Offsets are the Girl Math of the corporate world - but their consequences affect us all. We believe in people being able to critically assess the clai...

Cameron goes through the scandal ridden history of big gas in Australia starting with Gogh Whitlam's failed plan to nationalise our resources. Groups who are doing something about it: -Disrupt Burrup Hub -Conservation Council of WA -Greenpeace -Australian Youth Climate Coalition Key readings: The Captured State Report - https://350perth.org.au/captured-state/ The Australia Institute's Grea...

Join Lotta on another Meandering Pod Deep Dive where she discovers the fascinating and ancient world of stromatolites! The guest on the show today is Dr Anna Ramrath, who happens to be Lotta’s mum. Tune in for tales of ancient life, the curse and blessing of oxygen, teeny architects and the slowing turning of the earth. It also features one of the hottest places in the world, North Pole, in the Pi...

Listen up, another group episode! Here, we discuss our crossing of the Timor Sea from Darwin to Lombok, the highlights and on board, the silly moments and what we learnt. Tune in for some meandering shenanigans! Jan’s Youtube: Janwantstosail Books we recommend: (from Bec) Love and Virtue by Diana Reid The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindnes...

Join Bec and Lotta on a Deep Dive into the Denmark Community Wind Farm, a community-owned in Southwest corner of Australia! They follow this case study from the initial idea, barriers to building the wind farm, the innovative way the project was financed, its current success and how it gives back to the town year-on-year and supports further sustainability projects with a portion of profits made....

Join Lotta and Dom on their first Deep Dive, where they get excited about plants! The south west of Western Australia is a biodiversity hotspot, meaning we have far more plant species here than in most other places in the world! Lotta and Dom discuss why this is the case, and what plants to look out for that are particularly weird and wonderful. We also mention some of the risks this area faces an...

Dom, Bec, Cam and Lotta introduce you to The Meandering Pod! Join us as we travel overland from Australia to Europe, meandering through different continents, cultures and conversations. We’re a bunch of beans travelling from Australia to Europe, the aim of the game is no flying, using any other mode of transport available. Welcome to our first episode, where we introduce the trip, our progress so...