Post-Growth Australia Podcast

Why does modern society persist in pursuing its endless growth experiment when it is so obvious that this is unsustainable? Why is modern neo-liberalism so resistant to change even when the writing is so clearly on the wall? PGAP talks to environmentalist, naturalist, educator, poet and author of new book “Change Our Stories, Change Our World” – Karen Shragg. Karen, who lives in the USA, discusses...

* One of the downsides of becoming intimate with Post-Growth is that one becomes acutely aware of the human impact on our planetary systems. One is continuity at loggerheads with growth based economies that are pulling in the opposite direction of where they should be going and what they should be doing - and the people just don’t seem to stop! * Now I don’t know about you, but this can often fill...

Martuwarra, the Fitzroy River, is located in the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia – renowned and cherished for being one of the last of the world’s isolated, vast and by global standards – relatively untouched by Western development. Of course, like all places that haven’t yet been concreted over by a dominant culture that demands to grow infinitely on a finite planet, Martuwarra, th...

Three inspiring women. Three powerful arguments why empowered women who choose smaller or childfree families are good for individuals, good for communities and arguably better for the planet. This is the case regardless of where in the world you happen to live - global north OR global south. Population is a contentious conversation starter - in large part because it is a very personal issue for al...

A new year – a new season of Post-Growth Australia Podcast (PGAP). What better way to open than with Meg Ulman and Patrick Jones from Artist as Family – two people who are living Degrowth day by day in the most visceral, practical, and inspiring way I have ever seen. Their dedication to living within their ethics, politics and the bio-capacity of their home in Daylesford is nothing short of phenom...

December the 09th marks ‘ International Anti-Corruption Day ’. This day was designated nearly 20 years ago by the ‘ United Nations Convention against Corruption ’ to raise awareness on corruption and its role in undermining democracy, stability and equity. Australia is no exception to this phenomena – one is hard pressed to find a major party politician who is NOT in bed with big business. If you...

Are you keen on the idea of permaculture but find the idea of starting an acreage in the country a bit much? Do your cortisone levels go through the roof whenever you see productive farmland being torn down for more cookie cutter suburbia? Are you baulking at the thought of perfectly good houses on your street being pulled down for battleship grey pre-fab concrete apartments? Would you prefer that...

Another month, another bunch of elections. In Australia, we’ve just had the ACT elections, QLD elections, and Victoria council elections. I think that’s it. Oh yeah, there’s a small North American country having a federal election counting ballots as we speak. You may have heard about it. Post-Growth still exists on the fringe and for most of us on the fringe voting can be a frustrating exercise c...

The Federal budget was made public on October 2006 with the usual disappointment we have come to expect from the coalition government (well from both major parties really). So what SHOULD the budget have looked like as we enter into the pandemic flecked decade of consequence? Host Michael Bayliss talks to Leith van Onselen to find out what a sensible economic response during these trying times OUG...

In the second part of the 'spirituality special' of PGAP, we interview Jim Villarreal of Gold Cap Integration Network to discuss that healing the world means healing the internal traumas that lie within us all. We also explore an exciting new movement called Holistic Activism which is seeking to bring together activism and mindful practices. ( ) Jimmy and I reunite after many adventures spanning t...

Many times on PGAP we have discussed how critical it is to live in a way that is Ecocentric rather than Anthropocentric. To decolonise our economies and societies so they are living within the laws of nature rather than trying to dominate the natural world. So what needs to change and how to we facilitate this change? Do we rally against corporations, governments, capitalism and neoliberalism? Or...

Degrowth? What does it mean? Is it about austerity and deprivation? Or is it about community, collaboration and unshackling ourselves from the matrix of the growth economy into a world that is more equitable, liveable and sustainable? According to Anitra Nelson – definitely the latter! Anitra Nelson is an author, scholar and activist. She is passionate about the degrowth movement in addition to al...

For the 06th episode of Post Growth Australia Podcast, we thought it was prime time to connect with the Post Growth Institute (PGI) themselves. After all, no post-growth advocate worth their salt should go through life without connecting with this wonderful, tireless hub of connectors and game changers at some point. Being the incredible international networkers they are, PGAP had the opportunity...

Well the good news is that Earth Overshoot Day arrived later this year on August the 22nd than it did in 2019 (July the 29th). The bad news is that this is due to COVID, not because of concerted effort on part of the dominant economic paradigm. Earth Overshoot Day is always a sobering, soul-searching time for host Michael Bayliss, so what better way to go about it than to soul-search with one of t...

Since colonization (at least!) the human race has been blinded by the delusion that we are separate, above and beyond all other species to whom we share the planet. As we enter the decade of consequence, PGAP interviews Dr Michelle Maloney, who has dedicated her life to unpacking these myths and provides some insight into what an earth-centred society might look like. The 2020s is the decade of co...

World Population Day has passed but its legacy continues! In part B of our world population day special, PGAP travels (virtually) to the USA to speak with Dave Gardner from World Population Balance and to Portugal to talk with population sustainability academic João Abegão. We are also serenaded by the song 'Let's Hang Out' by child-free comedian Jude Perl. Dave Gardner speaks with Michael about W...

* Think we can go post-growth without a slow-down in population? * Regardless of what our personal views are in regards to population, hopefully most of us can agree that empowerment of women, choice and agency in regards to family size and worldwide access to affordable family planning and contraception services is a moral imperative. These are essential human rights no matter where we happen to...

What is the steady state economy? Why is it better than the growth economy we already have? For the first episode of Post-Growth Australia Podcast, host Michael Bayliss is joined by Jonathan Miller (Steady Sstate ACT, a chapter of the Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy [CASSE]) and Martin Tye (Australian Regional Communities Chapter, CASSE) who explain why the steady state econ...