Climate Conversations

Geelong's Mik Aidt (pictured) has long campaigned through " The Sustainable Hour " to have people better understand the climate crisis, and he is still relentlessly banging the drum, making as much noise as he can. " All-electric homes are better for your hip pocket and the planet. Here’s how governments can help us get off gas ; " The Climate Parables: Reporting from the F...

Professor David Karoly (pictured) has a reputation as being the scariest professor from the University of Melbourne, but as he points out it is not he who is scary but rather the information he shares. Prof Karoly had been with the University of Melbourne before joining the CSIRO , from which he moved into retirement only about 18 months ago. However, he may be retired, at least in name, but it se...

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick hands out the cash and spells out an obvious truth about coal: " QLD delivers largest surplus of any state government in history "; " Socialism 2023 Conference "; " Electrify our homes with Tim Forcey and Dr Genevieve Cowie " " My efficient electric home "; " Not just Greta Thunberg: New book celebrates women who are dr...

Natasha Mitchell (pictured) recorded a new episode of "Big Ideas" at the May Climate Summit in Bendigo organized by the Greater Bendigo Climate Collaboration - " On ya bike or not? Global movers, shakers, and city shapers reimagining car culture ". " Killer Heat: Confronting Disproportionate Impacts on Women and Girls "; " What Wildfire Smoke Does to the Human Bo...

Lesley Hodges (pictured) worked as an environmental scientist and needed little or no nudging to understand or recognise the quickly evolving dangers arising from the human-caused damage to Earth's atmosphere and the increasingly dangerous weather system. Unsure what to do to help people better understand and identify with the quickly unfolding climate crisis, Lesley settled on storytelling, u...

The contradictions within the Australian Government and governments around the world frustrate, confuse and irritate me - they say one thing and then dance to the tune of the fossil fuel corporations. " WEBINAR: One Year On: From the ‘Climate Election’ to Climate action" - special guest Senator David Pocock (pictured); " The Drum " - task force tackles climate protestors and fa...

The climate crisis has undoubtedly contributed to the Canadian "wildfires" (bushfires) and Americans, along with their northern neighbours, are also feeling the pain as smoke drifts south shrouding places such as New York City - " Hazy New York Skyline From Canadian Wildfire Smoke "; " The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it "; &quot...

Alex Mungall (pictured) is both a " Flight Free " pledger and a member of the " NoThirdRunway Coalition " and was among those at a meeting of Melbourne's NxNW campaigns group where he talked about how a proposed third runway at the city's Tullamarine Airport would seriously compromise Australia's carbon dioxide emissions goals. The NxNW campaigns group is affiliated...

Ian McBurney has been shoulder deep in environmental/climate matters for decades. He is now pivotal in helping the northern Victorian city of Bendigo fulfil its climate responsibilities. Ian has worked with many municipalities, but now as the Convenor of the Greater Bendigo Climate Collaboration , he played a key part in organizing the May 27 Greater Bendigo Climate Summit. Ian was the MC for the...

Australian climate scientist, Joëlle Gergis (pictured) understands rain and the country's conditions and writes about the in Australian Geographic " Australia is a land of flooding rains. But climate change could be making it worse "; " Fungi Conference – Fungal connections to flora and fauna"; " The Swanpool Environmental Film Festiva l"; " James Hansen’s ne...

" Economic growth is fuelling climate change – a new book proposes ‘degrowth communism’ as the solution "; " The role of carbon dioxide removal in climate action "; " ClimateCast with Tom Heap "; " Assessing the Viability of Using Autorickshaws for Urban Freight Delivery in India "; " Compostable turbine blades made from mushroom roots could solve waste...

Emy Kane (pictured), the managing director of Lonely Whale , a non-profit organization that develops data-driven campaigns and program to prevent plastic from entering the ocean was a guest on one the many panels in the Economist's Impact event, the third annual Sustainability Week in the U.S. " ‘It’s actually a human person, undergoing real emotions’: how podcasts can impact attitudes ar...

"Electrify everything" guru, Saul Griffith (pictured), was the keynote speaker at the recent Greater Bendigo Climate Summit organized by the Greater Bendigo Climate Collaboration. " The public history, climate change present, and possible future of Australia’s botanic gardens "; " Electric vehicle incentives for ‘gasoline superusers’ would have outsized benefits for the cl...

A message from the Deputy Executive Director at Friends of the Earth Japan , Ayumi Fukakusa (pictured) was read out to those at a Bourke St, Melbourne protest staged out the front of the Japanese Embassy. The Melbourne protest was organised by that city's Friends of the Earth . Ms Fukakusa's message, delivered at similar protests all around the world said: "Japan is one of the top fin...

Rick Wayman (pictured) had been leading the Foundation for Climate Restoration , but significant changes to its funding arrangements forced it to become a pure volunteer organisation and so he has now stepped away from his Chief Executive Officer role, and the group itself, allowing it to become what it needs to be under its new regime. Contact was first made with Rick as he sat through the group&...

Listen to the CEO of the Climateworks Centre , Anna Skarbek (pictured), talks on ABC's Carbon Counter about Australia's new Net-Zero Authority . " Global heating will push billions outside ‘human climate niche’ "; " Shifting gear: The path to cleaner transport "; "' Gobsmacking': Antarctic sea ice shrinks "; " Victoria gives SEC $1 billion to fast...

A corporate lawyer, Robert Brinkley, will be in Geelong on Thursday evening talking about " Taming corporations to relieve the climate emergency ". He has written a book with a similar theme - " Time to Change Corporations - Closing the Citizen Gap ". " Call on the Australian Government to adopt The Code for Corporate Citizenship "; " February 2023 was Earth’s 4t...

About 15 people gathered on the steps of the Japanese Consulate to protest that country's continued investment in and support of the fossil fuel industry, and its use of its presidency of the annual Group of Seven conference at Hiroshima to ensure the sustenance of that issue. The protest, coordinated by the Melbourne office of Friends of the Earth, attracted just 15 people, but that was suffi...

Freja Leonard (pictured) from Friends of the Earth in Melbourne was a surprise guest at a recent monthly meeting of Zero Cabon Tatura and told members about the group's " Community Gas Retirement Roadmap ". In talking about the need for people to get off gas and go all-electric, Freja mentioned what she said was a rather special Facebook page organized by Tim Forcey - " My Effic...

Mónica Guzmán, the author of "I Never Thought of It That Way " helps us better understand how we can talk about the climate crisis with those who think differently about the dilemma; " Emails reveal Melbourne Water ignored conflict advice before flood inquiry scandal "; " Loss and damage finance: where the rubber hits the road for climate justice "; " ‘Significan...

Magistrate commends Violet Coco (pictured) but says she went too far: " Magistrate commends activist Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco for ‘noble’ beliefs but says she went too far "; Go to the Slap Tomorrow " Zoom files " and you will find and recording of an event with Violet Cococ; " COMMUNITY ACTION: Stop Japan's Dirty Energy Plan "; " Building resilience: How to adap...

Here's your chance to tell me what you think about "Climate Conversations" - contact me at: r.mclean7@icloud.com. " Crazy Town: Episode 72. Sucking CO2 and Electrifying Everything: The Climate Movement’s Desperate Dependence on Tenuous Technologies "; " We Make Tomorrow Conference "; " Ethiopia’s vulnerable tropical forests are key to securing future of wild ...

The Ugandian climate justice advocate, Vanessa Nakate (pictured) responds to winning an award on this Time magazine story: " There Needs to Be a Climate Tax for Frequent Fliers "; " Where We'll End Up Living as the Planet Burns "; " Why Extreme Heat Is So Bad for the Human Body "; " How to Build Up Your Heat Tolerance to Prepare for a Hotter World "; &qu...

The idea that we need to be constantly planting trees came at an Agriculture Victoria webinar - " Farmer perspectives - taking action to reduce emissions "; " ‘They can survive just fine’: Bernie Sanders says income over $1bn should be taxed at 100% "; " More and more Americans don't want electric cars "; " From the Frontlines of the Climate Movement, A Messa...

The late Will Steffen (pictured) was a kind and thoughtful man, an one of the world's climate champions - listen to him here as champions science and encourages us to also embrace the climate realities of the science he live. Also you can listen to Climate Council CEO, Amanda McKenzie’s, speak at Professor Will Steffen’s memorial: " Remembering Will "; And don't forget you can at...