Climate Conversations

Terry Court has stepped up and created Zero Carbon Tatura with the aim of seeing his small northern Victorian town significantly reduce, ideally to zero, its carbon dioxide emissions. Subsequently, he has pulled together a diverse group of about 14 people to help orchestrate this ambitious goal, among them the fellow in charge of GV Community Energy , Geoff Lodge. Terry and Geoff are under no illu...

Hothouse Earth (pictured) by Bill McGuire warns us of both challenging and difficult times ahead. Read the story " ‘Soon it will be unrecognisable’: total climate meltdown cannot be stopped, says expert " from The Guardian by Robin McKie. Other climate links for today are: " What can I do about climate change? 14 ways to take positive action "; " Study Sees Potential Ways to Mitigate India's Risk...

Brett Lemin (pictured) coordinated the gathering of about 50 members of the " Victorian Waste Management Association " in Shepparton recently. Brett, who is the association's Executive Officer, introduced representatives of " Recycling Victoria " and the Victorian Government's " Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning ".  An invitation to the recent breakfast meeting came from Pet...

Al Gore (pictured), probably the most famous of climate activists, equates the failure by police to act at the Ulvade mass shooting with climate denialism - it's a failure to walk through the door. You can read the story and hear Al Gore's comment at the story from The Independent: " Al Gore compares climate denialism to police inaction during Uvalde mass shooting ". And on The Conversation, Ivan...

Anika Molesworth (pictured), who is on the board of directors of Farmers for Climate Action , is on the New South Wales Committee of the Crawford Fund and is a Governor of WWF, Australia , regularly turns to Twitter to air her views about the urgency of our need to address the climate crisis. Anika's argument, which aligns with most other climate-conscious people around the world, was underlined w...

Clinton Rodda (pictured) is excited about the future of electric cars in Australia and through the company with which he works, Jet Charge is helping Australians better understand what role these massive mobile batteries will play in powering the country. As the head of operations at Jet Charge, Clinton has an integral role in not only enabling and ensuring the company's expansion by ensuring Aust...

Tanya Plibersek (pictured) was a part of the Labor Party that won government in Australia at the federal election on May 21 this year and on July 19 was the guest as the Federal Environment Minister at the Canberra gathering of the National Press Club . It was there that she formally released the 2021 State of the Environment Report , a report she described as "shocking". Other Quick Climate Links...

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...