Climate Conversations

The Friends of the Earth, Australia, approve of climate moves by the new Federal Government, but puts forward its views and demands in the story: " Federal Climate & Environment Policy Platform 2022 ". Other Quick Climate Links for today are: " UK braces for record temperature as first ever red heat warning comes into effect "; " Climate chief Alok Sharma warns: I may quit if new PM dumps net-...

Tour de France leader Tadj Podacar (pictured in time trialling mode) wilted under the sizzling heat and he was not alone as others in the peloton also suffered as did the roads.  Organizers are preparing to use thousand of litres of cold water to ensure the roads remain rideable - read The France 24 story - " Thousands of litres of water to stop '60-degree' Tour de France roads melting ".&nbs...

Climate protesters (pictured) who glued themselves to the roadway momentarily stopped a recent stage of the Tour de France , but the climate crisis has the potential to stop it permanently. What began as notes for a new episode of Climate Conversations became the essence of a column for my local newspaper, The Shepparton News and so I figured I would share it with my listeners. The 60 km ride ment...

Renown climate activist and the man behind 350.org , Bill McKibben (pictured), was the guest at the regular monthly meeting of 350 Brooklyn . Nearly 70 people at the meeting listen intently as the author and inspiration for many talked about the important role played by groups such as  350 Brooklyn. Bill joined the event wearing a " Th!rd Act " shirt explaining that he had initiated the organ...

Pakistan is suffering from life-threatening heat waves and people with no option but to work are doing just that are suffering devastating consequences - check out the story from France 24 - " 'World's hottest city' wilts under scorching Pakistan heatwaves ". Other Quick Climate Links are: " Price of offshore wind power falls to cheapest ever level in UK "; " No longer one-in-100-year events, expe...

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego (pictured) has long worried about climate change and is now delighted that her city now has a department devoted exclusively to helping residents better understand how to live in a warmer climate. Senior editor with Yahoo News, David Knowles, writing in a story headed " Can Phoenix, the hottest city in America, survive climate change? " said: "In Phoenix, where summer ca...

John Perkins (pictured) is a self-confessed “Economic Hit Man”.  He believed what he was taught and told in the economic classes that rising tide would lift all boats meaning Western financial aid, primarily from America, would not only make the countries he worked in richer, but he was also helping stop communists, that the "rising tide" would play a role in ending poverty, and encourage dem...

Anitra Nelson wants to see a different sort of society - one that cares about people, that cares about the state of the Earth and puts both those values ahead of the profit so prized by the prevailing capitalist society. The honorary principal fellow at the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute from the University of Melbourne wrote about that in her 2022 book " Beyond Money: A Postcapitalist St...

Cam Walker (pictured), from Friends of the Earth in Melbourne , was excited, relieved, and delighted with the outcome of the May 21 Federal election in Australia, so much so that he was somewhat distracted when talking recently on a webinar with the Bayside Climate Crisis Group (BCCG ) that he almost forgot that purpose of his visit was to talk about halting logging in the pristine wilderness of L...

An exasperated John Grimes (pictured) suggests during an interview with Vivien Langford on Community Radio's 3CR that post hole digger and an Allen key will allow us to access the world's cheapest and cleanest energy. John, the Climate Energy Council's CEO, was talking with Vivien about the inadequacies of the media when covering the climate crisis and its failure to address the issues of real con...

Oliver Yates (pictured) wants Victoria to capitalise on the wonderful wind resource of Bass Strait and has given oxygen to this idea through the Sentient Impact Group , a company he now heads after a long spell with Clean Energy Finance Corporation . Oliver was one of the many speakers at the June 22 conference - " State Energy Summit Victoria " - organized by the Clean Energy Council . Not only d...

Jeff Wells (pictured) from The Living Earth Movement is, just as his contemporaries are, urgently concerned about climate change, but to tackle it seriously we need, he argues, is "civilization change". Jeff hosted a recent webinar staged by the group featuring presentations from Audrey Kitagawa, John B.Cobb, David Korten and John Perkins . The webinar which was a part of World Unity Week was enti...

John Grimes (pictured), the Smart Energy Council's Chief Executive, welcomed people to the June 22 Smart Energy Summit arguing that we need to start right now transitioning Australia to renewable energy. The newly elected independent Member for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, chaired the opening session of the morning and that theme continued when Dr Monique Ryan, also elected as an independent, chaired th...

John Bell (pictured) has written a script for a television advertisement that begins: "I am planet Earth". The artistic director of the Bell Shakespeare Company was one of several speakers at the May 9 Smart Energy Conference and Exhibition in Sydney, which was in fact, the 60th conference organized by the Smart Energy Council, a fact proudly pointed out by the council's Chief Executive, John Grim...

Fijian Minister of Defence, Inia Seruiratu (pictured), has declared that climate change poses a greater threat to the Pacific country than war: " Climate change, not war, biggest security threat to Fiji says defence minister ". Christiana Figueres, and others, tell listeners about the " Future of Food " on Outrage and Optimism. " India takes tough stand at climate talks as Delhi endures brutal hea...

Malala Yousafzai (pictured), along with Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate, were with a group of girls outside the Swedish Parliament recently protesting about and warning people that climate change was having a dramatic impact on the education of girls. You can read more about that here: "' Girls' education is a climate solution': Malala Yousafzai joins climate protest ". From The Washington Post,...

Fiji has told the Shangri La conference that climate change worries it far more than military conflict in the region, read the story: "Climate change a bigger threat than war, Fiji tells security summit". The BBC has produced: "What is climate change? A really simple guide". On his blog Queensland's John Quiggin says: "If the opposition wants a mature discussion about nuclear energy, start with a...

The director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD) in Bangladesh, Saleemul Huq (pictured), was the host of one of the many events at the recent Bonn Climate Change talks. The event was: "Striving for a Resilient Future: Addressing key asks of vulnerable countries". Scientists are concerned "‘Triple La Niña’: Australia may face another summer of flooding rains, US...

David Korten (pictured) is known to many people for many reasons, but it was his work as an author that first caught my attention when he published "When Corporations Rule the World". Rather than writing and publishing books, David has chosen to publish his thoughts and papers online and the latest, which warrants reading, is "Ecological Civilization: A global movement of living people of a living...

Andrew Crawford (pictured) farmed near Toolamba in northern Victoria and for a period was a councillor on the now-defunct Tatura-based Rodney Shire Council. Andrew is a keen member of the Shepparton-based Goulburn Valley University of the Third Age and was among the few people who volunteered to be interviewed by Climate Conversations. This episode began with an apology to Andrew as he had handed...

Barry Croke (pictured) has a long history in agricultural science and farming, and after 30 years in the latter has retired and now coordinates the Natural Resources sessions at the Shepparton-based Goulburn Valley University of the Third Age (U3A). Barry was among a handful of U3A members who voluntarily sat down early in June this year to have a chat with Climate Conversations. The City of Great...

Graeme Hanign (pictured) has an acute understanding of how and where the word "skeptic" should be employed and has "called out" Climate Conversations for the term's incorrect use. Graeme, who retired from a career in IT and retail to live in northern Victoria's Rushworth, and who is an active member of the Shepparton-based Goulburn Valey University of The Third Age, now spends considerable time an...

Allan Wilson (pictured) is a former President of the Goulburn Valley University of the Third Age and has many concerns about our inattention to the climate crisis. 'Climate Conversations' is eager to get the view of so-called "ordinary people" and so a few months ago we spent a day at the Bendigo Sustainability Festival to hear the views of eight people, and just recently we visited the Echuca-Moa...

Cruising has returned to the world's oceans bringing with it the recent launch of the world's largest cruise ship, the Wonder of the Seas (pictured), ABC News tells about the return of the cruise ships and their associated complications with carbon emissions - "Cruise ships are bringing tourists back to Pacific waters, but at what cost?" Here is just a handful of today's Quick Climate Links: "We c...

Heather Smith (pictured) is the chair of the Coalition for Community Energy (C4CE) and wants to see as many as possible both support and join the group. Heather, a Churchill Fellow, is an electrical engineer, policy and strategy adviser with a strong technical background in energy and climate change, and brings all those skills to C4CE. She encourages people to take a close look at the group's web...