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The Sustainable Hour no. 442 | Podcast notes
Our guests in The Sustainable Hour no. 442 on 14 December 2022 are PhD Candidate Kirsty Jackson, who studies childrens’ connection with nature, and Kim Mallee, who has started selling ‘solar plots’ in Australia’s first ‘solar garden’ to people who live in rentals or apartments.
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Kirsty Jackson is a PhD Candidate at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. After graduating with a Bachelor of Education (Primary, Honours) at the university, she was then accepted to study a PhD in Environmental Education. With a strong interest in sustainability and children’s emotional connections with the more-than-human world – nature – Kirsty started to critically examine the ways in which children experience environmental education excursions at an environmental education centre in Brisbane.
Currently, educators and policy-makers are divided on how to help children and young people cope in the Anthropocene – the Age of Climate and Ecological Emergency. One approach is to shelter and protect children from these challenging or ‘controversial’ world issues. This romanticised response supports the traditional view of childhood as being limited to playful innocence. An alternative approach is to engage children as knowledgeable agents who can make a difference.
Studies in this area have mainly focussed on changing unsustainable behaviours, developing students’ environmental knowledge, and encouraging children’s involvement in community initiatives. What is absent from environmental education literature is how emotional and lived experiences in ‘nature’ can directly influence children’s environmental advocacy.
As part of her PhD, Kirsty is interested in how children’s emotional experiences during environmental education excursions shape the way they relate to and, in turn, advocate for ‘nature’. What arises for children during these environmental education excursions are feelings of care, love and ‘enchantment’ with nature, which then prompt them to act in ways that demonstrate their advocacy. The motivation behind this study comes back to the idea that ‘we cannot care for what we do not love’.
You can find out more about Kirsty’s work here. Kirsty asked us to include her email address if anyone wants to contact her about her important research work. It is: kirsty.jackson@uq.net.au
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Kim Mallee is a project manager at Community Power Agency whose mission is to ensure that our transition to a renewable energy future is not only fast, but also fair. Since 2020, she has been project managing the Haystacks Solar Garden project, which is Australia’s first large-scale solar garden – a new way of owning solar in this country: You can now own solar panels even though you don’t own a sunny roof. Renters and people living in apartments need to look no further – the first 3,000 solar garden plots are now available on haystacks.solargarden.org.au
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We start today with a clip from the head of the United Nations Antonio Guterres. In just 6 seconds, he manages to explain the stark choice we have.
We then hear a twitter-clip from England: Tom, a 62 year old climate activist, who came to London to show solidarity to the climate activists there who have been imprisoned for taking non-violent direct action in order to stop building new oil and gas projects.
Mik Aidt tells us that over 150 people have been imprisoned in the United Kingdom for taking a stand against new oil and gas this year, including 51 people remanded on a single day in September, and 24 who are currently in prison.
Mik refers to Australian climate activist Violet Coco who we mentioned last week had been jailed in Sydney. This has caused an incredible uprising of commentary in media from all over the world – the issue is covered well in this Facebook reel. Just before listening to the reel, we also briefly hear NSW premier Dominic Perrottet describing the eight-month jail sentence given to Violet as ‘pleasing to see’.
Later in the show Tony Gleeson refers to what he considers to be a historic media release that was issued earlier this week. At the time 180 groups had signed up to support it. The number of groups has since grown to 230. The big environmental non-government organisations who have been reluctant to speak out publicly on climate prior to this, signed on. So did many grassroots community groups. However the big difference this time was that many other groups, e.g. social justice, human rights, First Nations, prison reform and others signed up. Historic because so many of these groups have not worked with each other before of their perceived differences. This time they united against Violet’s imprisonment for non-violent direct action to draw attention to the climate crisis we face. Having the right to protest is a cornerstone of democracy and activists shouldn’t be jailed for undertaking it. The media release condemns the trend from some of our state governments to stifle dissent by imposing draconian measures on climate activists.
Today Violet was released on bail with 10 conditions placed on her, but after spending a week at Silverwater jail in Sydney, she is free till her appeal hearing in April.
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Mik follows this up with reference to the incredible amount of money that three well known fossil fuel companies have announced they are going to spend billions of dollars on new gas and oil projects. This is hard to believe as they are completely ignoring the science that is screaming out that all fossil fuels must stay in the ground if we want a liveable planet. Yes the stakes are high, but for the fossil fuel companies, it’s just about money. For the tens of thousands of climate activists all over the planet, it’s much more important than that.
Speaking about connecting to nature, we hear an excerpt from Eckhart Tolle. In it he gives us some suggestions for going into the new year. The entire video can be seen below.
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Colin Mockett‘s Global Outlook this week begins in Europe where a new political agreement was reached last week between the European Parliament and the European Economic Council on the regulation of deforestation-free supply chains. Once adopted, the new law will ensure that goods placed on the EU market will no longer contribute to deforestation and forest degradation anywhere in the world. Since the EU is a major consumer, this step will help stop a significant share of global deforestation and forest degradation, which in turn will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. The EU’s Commissioner for Environment said that the move was sending a strong signal to the rest of the world that it is determined to address global deforestation that contributes massively to the climate crisis.
In the United States, in the wake of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the individual states are now taking stronger action to reduce carbon emissions. They are reportedly taking a more holistic policy approach rather than piecemeal policy actions. The act gave financial incentives, so that instead of just setting some goals and calling it a day, new state laws are more likely to set attainable goals and then monitor progress. States are also accelerating their timetables for when the laws need to be showing results. The Rhode Island law, for instance, signed this week by Gov. Dan McKee, says that 100 percent of the state’s electricity use needs to be offset by the production of electricity from renewable sources by 2033. So, the electricity sector won’t be emissions-free, but any use of fossil fuels needs to be matched by production of renewable energy, some of which can be exported to other states. The timetable is short enough that the state needs to take major actions right away, which is different to the previous case, where the state just set targets to take effect in mid-century.
For their part, Washington State has adopted new rules to require all-electric heating and water heating in new commercial and multifamily buildings, the first state to take this step to cut emissions from buildings. We can expect more announcements like this from the US in the New Year.
But the big news in the U.S. is that the shift to electric vehicles has gone into overdrive: The market share for electric vehicles is rising rapidly, and at the same time that automakers and battery manufacturers are investing tens of billions of dollars in new factories preparing for a near future when EVs are a mainstream product, U.S. electric vehicle sales rose 76 per cent in the first quarter of this year, which doubled its share of the market to 5.2 per cent, up from 2.5 per cent according to the car sales bible Kelley Blue Book. That’s against a backdrop of overall sales of new cars in the U.S. were down 15.7 per cent for the quarter, as carmakers dealt with shortages of computer chips and other supplies, leading to slowdowns in production. The changes on the road and in companies’ planning are being supported by government incentives for switching to EVs as part of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Those strong first-quarter EV results came before the most anticipated EV debut of the year, the Ford F-150 Lightning pickup, which began mass production on Tuesday. At the launch, Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said, “Whenever the world needed us, we met the moment with American ingenuity and American muscle. And right now, the world needs zero-emissions vehicles, and more importantly it needs us to bring them to the many, not just the few.”
And a note of caution on a week when most news is positive, worldwide the wind energy industry is facing difficulties due to the soaring demand for wind turbines. Turbine manufacturers Vestas Wind Systems A/S, General Electric, Siemens and Renewable Energy SA said they are facing financial pressure on several fronts. The companies are dealing with rising costs of raw materials, shortages of key microchips and pressure from buyers to cut prices.
Finally our carbon-neutral sports team Forest Green Rovers beat Cheltenham 1-0 at the weekend, climbing one place on the ladder, while the team’s Women First didn’t play – but they’re still top of their women’s premier league.
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That’s it from us for another week. We are so pleased that Violet has regained her freedom, at least sort-of. Over the next 12 months, 20 other ordinary Aussies, who have decided to stand up for our climate, are going to face court to answer charges coming out of the newly minted New South Wales anti-protest laws. We’ll be following these with great interest and will continue to ask, as the UN Chief Guterres did: just who are the real climate criminals?
We have one more show for 2022, that’s next week. That will be the end of our regular programs till we return at the end of January 2023. Until next we hope we have given you reasons and ways to join the climate revolution.
For a safer, more just, inclusive, peaceful and healthy world.
Colin, Mik & Tony
The Sustainable Hour
“We have set up a co-operative. What we have is an offer – an information and disclosure statement – which is like the co-operative version of a prospectus, essentially. That outlines all the terms and conditions of purchasing a plot in the solar garden. So a plot price is $4,200, and the project initiative will run for 10 years. The structure we have created is because we are absolutely passionate that we want the first large scale solar garden in Australia to work, to be safe and to provide returns for the members’ bills.”
~ Kim Mallee, Project Manages Haystacks Solar Farms
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We at The Sustainable Hour would like to pay our respect to the traditional custodians of the land on which we
are broadcasting, the Wathaurong People, and pay our respect to their elders, past, present and future.
The traditional owners lived in harmony with the land. They nurtured it and thrived in often harsh conditions for millenia before they were invaded. Their land was then stolen from them – it wasn’t ceeded. It is becoming more and more obvious that, if we are to survive the climate emergency we are facing, we have much to learn from their land management practices.
Our battle for climate justice won’t be won until our First Nations brothers and sisters have their true justice. When we talk about the future, it means extending our respect to those children not yet born, the generations of the future – remembering the old saying that, “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children.”
The decisions currently being made around Australia to ignore the climate emergency are being made by those who won’t be around by the time the worst effects hit home. How disrespectful and unfair is that?
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- Nature needs half
- Could we set aside half the Earth for nature? (The Guardian)
- UN Secretary-General calls for bold action to end biodiversity crisis (UN)
- Nature crisis: Humans ‘threaten 1m species with extinction’ (BBC)
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“The EU has decided on a ground-breaking new law that will stop products causing forest destruction from being sold in European shops. Protecting the world’s remaining forests is vital to avoid catastrophic climate change and this law is one of the biggest steps in the fight against deforestation yet.”
Client Earth
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“I remember hearing Greta Thunberg saying, ‘I want you to act as if our house is on fire’ – and it is. I thought really deeply about that and what it meant to me, to act as if it was an emergency. I spent a long time on petitions, on one-day marches, gatherings on the lawn of parliament. I’ve got young kids in my family [and] seeing the fear in them at what is happening to our environment, with fires and floods, and understanding that it is going to get worse unless we take immediate action, it made me feel inspired to be part of the change to that story.”
~ Deanna Violet Coco, in her first interview since being released from prison with The Guardian’s Michael McGowan
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Events we have talked about in The Sustainable Hour
Events in Victoria
The following is a collation of Victorian climate change events, activities, seminars, exhibitions, meetings and protests. Most are free, many ask for RSVP (which lets the organising group know how many to expect), some ask for donations to cover expenses, and a few require registration and fees. This calendar is provided as a free service by volunteers of the Victorian Climate Action Network. Information is as accurate as possible, but changes may occur.
Petitions
→ List of running petitions where we encourage you to add your name
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The Sustainable Hour is streamed live on the Internet and broadcasted on FM airwaves in the Geelong region every Wednesday from 11am to 12pm (Melbourne time).
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