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The Sustainable Hour no. 506 | Transcript | Podcast notes
Our guests in this week’s episode are Tasmanian permaculturist Neysan Pertl, The Soil Guru. He is accompanied by Kanchana and Pasini from Sri Lanka as they prepare for their eighth Yathra – a ‘climate journey’ camp for 15 young people.
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The Sustainable Hour no. 506 covers a range of topics related to the climate emergency, soil conservation and environmental sustainability. It delves into the impact of extreme weather events on various regions, the role of fossil fuel companies, and the importance of sustainable farming practices.
Our first guest, Neysan Pertl, shares his journey and expertise in soil conservation and permaculture. The conversation covers a range of topics related to environmental conservation. The 29-year-old soil scientist has a background in traditional agriculture. Under the Soil Guru brand he works as a permaculture consultant with 15 years of designing hands-on gardening as well as soil knowledge.
You can learn more about Neysan and The Soil Guru’s activities on www.soilgurutas.com
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Next we dig into the efforts of a group in Sri Lanka to educate and inspire young leaders in sustainability. Our two guests Kanchana and Pasini share their experiences and initiatives, highlighting the progress and challenges in their journey for climate justice.
They are part of the organising group for the eigth Yathra in Sri Lanka – a five day camp in Colombo after which the ‘yathrees’ will return to their communities where they will carry out sustainability initiatives ably mentored by leaders like Pasini. 15 “yathrees” have been chosen from in excess of 150 applicants.
Journeys For Climate Justice is also a small Australian non-for-profit organisation which you can learn more about on www.journeysforclimatejustice.org.
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We start the Hour with a short statement by Senator David Pocock, and a video clip from ‘Yellow dot Studio’ with Rainn Wilson, talking about “Profit – the oldest story in the world”.
Mik Aidt is excited about the news from Scotland that advertisements for fossil fuel companies, airlines, airports, cruise ships, SUVs, and petrol and diesel cars will all be banned from Edinburgh council property and events. You can join Mik in asking Geelong Council to do the same and ban fossil fuel ads and sponsorships in the Geelong municipality – there’s a form you can fill here: www.fossiladban.org
The overlooked US Senate report which exposes Big Oil’s deception on climate can be found here.
Orpheus – our AI-powered oracle – delivers a contemplation over what the 2,400 gigatons of carbon dioxide which humanity has released into the atmosphere, would look like if the equivalent weight of soil was stacked up in kilometre-tall cubes.
Orpheus also talks about the kind of “beacons of progress” that light a way forward amidst all the news of climate calamities and ecological disasters. For instance how Spain’s renewable energy initiatives have led to a drastic reduction in electricity costs, and how Portugal now runs 89 per cent on renewable energy. “The path to a sustainable future is being paved by a global community committed to change,” Orpheus reminds us.
. . .
The songs we play are from Louise Harris‘ ‘Climate Album’ performance which is available on Youtube.com, recorded at the Just Stop Oil Music Fundraiser in Walthamstow Tradeshall in February 2024.
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That’s it for episode #506. We sure are living in fascinating times. While humanity has never been in such danger, each week we listen to people who are prepared to look this danger squarely in the face. These people inspire hope. Kanchana and Pasini’s country is technically bankrupt, but still they battle on because they believe that a better world is possible and they want to play a role in creating it. Meanwhile Neysan uses the same motivation as he focuses on regenerating depleted soils in Tasmania.
We’ll be back next week with more inspirational guests.
“I want to get some experience about how to conduct a training program in Sri Lanka for the local community to encourage about sustainability and environmental conservation, climate change and conscious consumerism areas. And I want to give some practical knowledge – and not the theoretical parts but in our day to day life I want to encourage people to engage with this kind of environmental conservation and sustainability in their day to day life. I want to encourage to do their activities in a practical way.”
~ Pasini, young Sri Lankan Yathra leader
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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 millennia before they were invaded. Their land was then stolen from them – it wasn’t ceded. 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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HOW BAD IS IT?
The trend is driven mainly by climate pollution from burning fossil fuels.
The short answer? It’s bad! It’s really bad.
→ The Guardian – 27 May 2024:
Humanity’s survival is still within our grasp – just. But only if we take these radical steps
“Reduce emissions, build resilience, repair ecosystems, remove greenhouse gases: these are the four Rs that can save us.” By David King
→ ABC News – 5 June 2024:
As 12 months of record heat stack up, scientists unpack the impacts around the globe
“A new report by a team of international climate scientists shows the staggering amount of extreme heat days each country across the globeexperienced last year, with the majority made more likely by human-induced climate change.”
→ SBS News – 5 June 2024:
The sports that could disappear from Australia in the next 50 years
“Australia’s ski season is set to get even shorter, according to new modelling detailing what’s in store for the nation’s most popular resorts.”
These Australian councils have a fossil advertisement ban
Blue Mountains
Byron Bay (has banned fossil fuel sponsorships)
Charles Sturt
Darebin
Fremantle
Glen Eira (has banned fossil fuel partnerships)
Inner West
Lane Cove
Maribyrnong
Merri-bek (has banned advertising and sponsorships on council property)
Mitcham (banned sponsorships and advertising)
Northern Beaches
Sydney
Waratah Wynyard (has banned fossil fuel sponsor signage)
Wingecarribee (has banned fossil fuel sponsorships)
Yarra (has banned advertising and sponsorships on council property)
Source: Fossil Ad Ban
→ Resilience – 31 May 2024:
The concentrated ills of concentrated agribusiness
“In his highly readable book, ‘Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry’, Austin Frerick describes the businesses of barons who dominate seven sectors of the US food industry. In the process he illuminates much in recent American history and goes a long way towards diagnosing environmental ills, socio-economic ills, and the ill health of so many food consumers.”
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Transcript of The Sustainable Hour no. 506
David Pocock:
At two degrees the Great Barrier Reef dies, 99 % of it according to the government. More fossil fuels leads to two degrees. We need to stop this.
Jingle:
The Sustainable Hour. For a green, clean, sustainable Geelong. The Sustainable Hour.
Anthony Gleeson:
Welcome to the Sustainable Hour. We’d like to acknowledge that we’re broadcasting from the land of the Wadawurrung people. We pay tribute to the elders – past, present and those that earn that great honour in the future. We’re broadcasting from stolen land, land that was never ceded. Always was and always will be Aboriginal land. We can’t hope to have any form of climate justice without justice for First Nations people. In their ancient wisdom that was honed from nurturing both their land and their communities for millennia before that land was stolen lies many of the answers for us as we navigate the climate crisis.
Rainn Wilson: (Yellowdot Studio video clip)
Instead of stopping their treachery, the houses of Big Oil formed an unholy alliance. They bought the politicians and the media and had them spread lies about the very science that they knew to be true. Because… Profit. Oldest story in the world.
Mik Aidt:
The Scottish capital, Edinburgh, and that’s a city of about half a million people, has just announced some really strict restrictions on advertising a whole range of climate polluting products. So ads for fossil fuel companies, for airlines, airports, cruise ships, petrol and diesel cars, SUVs, are from here on all banned from being used in Edinburgh’s council properties and events.
And interestingly, this ban includes electric SUVs. That’s following an international energy agency report that showed that all SUVs use 20 % more energy than smaller cars. If you took all the SUVs in the world, and if they were a country, they would be the world’s fifth largest emitter of CO2.
Why I mention this is because I think it’s interesting when you take that in a Geelong context where the streets here, I often see sports venues and also in the streets literally being flooded with fossil fuel advertisements. We have a football team who proudly have made a deal with Viva Energy, our local gas and oil and gas refinery. And I just wonder, where does City of Greater Geelong, where does Geelong Council stand when it comes to moving a ban on fossil fuel advertisements like they’ve done in Edinburgh- and not just in Edinburgh but in cities around the world it’s more and more places are actually doing this and I think it’s something to consider when you are four years down the track after officially having declared that here in Geelong we the residents of Geelong are just as much in a climate emergency as the rest of the world is. That’s a cue for you Colin Mockett OAM because I’m quite sure that you must be having on your news radar all the things that’s going on in the world because it’s really as if that the climate emergency has become, how can you say, very very tangible and very very real for a lot of people, for millions of people around the planet right now.
COLIN MOCKETT’S GLOBAL OUTLOOK:
Yes, thank you Mik. It’s difficult to know where to begin the roundup this week because there’s climate disasters worldwide everywhere.
I’ll start in Brazil where flooding killed dozens of people and paralysed a town called Canoas. It’s a city with four million people, it’s in the Rio Grande, and it’s flooded at the moment. The ongoing Asian heat wave has killed people in Thailand, closed schools in the Philippines and set new record high temperature levels both in the Philippines and Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives and Myanmar.
Voters and politicians in India, amid their national elections, which finished at the weekend, were fainting in the heat that hit as high as 46°C degrees while they queued up at polling booths.
Many parts of Africa recorded record temperatures too, especially at night when it doesn’t cool down, whereas it always used to. South Sudan has closed all of its schools for this week in anticipation of a forecast two-week heat wave.
Flooding has devastated Houston in Texas and the United States as a whole just had its second highest number of tornadoes for the month of April. With the world growing increasingly accustomed to wild weather swings, the last few days and weeks have seemingly taken those environmental extremes to a new level. Some climate scientists say they are hard pressed to remember when so much of the world
has had its weather on overdrive all at the same time. Given that we’ve seen an unprecedented jump in global warmth over the last 11 months, it’s not surprising to see worsening climate extremes so early in the year. That’s University of Michigan environment Dean Jonathan Overpeck speaking. “If this record pace of warming continues, 2024 will likely be a record year for climate disasters and human suffering.”
Meanwhile, Vermont, the state of Vermont in the US, has become the first US state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage that they caused in climate change. Now this was after the state suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather.
They’ve got a Republican governor, Phil Scott, and he passed the law without signing it because the Republicans are the sort of equivalent of our Liberal Party over here, a National Party. The Republicans don’t acknowledge climate change, but it’s so bad in Vermont that even the Republican governor allowed this bill to go through. He said he’s concerned about the costs and outcomes of the small state taking on Big Oil alone.
Instead of coordinating with other states like New York and California, who have far more abundant resources, Vermont, which is one of the least populated states with the lowest GDP in America, has decided to recover costs associated with climate change on its own. That’s in a letter that he wrote to lawmakers. But he said he understands the desire to seek funding to mitigate the damages caused by the climate change that has hurt Vermont in so many ways.
Last year, flooding from torrential rains inundated Vermont’s capital city of Montpellier and the nearby city of Barre, devastating homes and washing away roads around the rural state. Under the new law, the state would use federal data to determine the amount of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to individual fossil fuel companies. Then, it would bring in a polluter pays model affecting fossil fuel and refining companies that are attributed to more than one billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions during the time period. The funds raised could be used by the state for such things as upgrading stormwater drainage systems, upgrading roads, bridges and railroads, locating or relocating elevating or retrofitting sewage treatment plants, and making energy efficient upgrades to buildings. It’s modeled after the federal superfund pollution cleanup program. And it’s a brilliant idea if people want to adopt a way of taking a real action by getting the fossil fuel companies to actually pay for the damage that they’re doing.
“For too long, giant fossil fuel companies have knowingly lit the match of climate disruption without being required to do a thing to put out the fire.” That’s Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. “Finally, maybe for the first time anywhere, Vermont is going to hold the companies most responsible for climate-driven floods, fires, and heat waves financially accountable for a fair share of the damages they’ve caused.”
And in another piece of positive news, the University College London and the International Institute for Sustainable Development, they and their researchers put out a paper last week in Science Magazine that found that the world has enough fossil fuel projects in development to meet global energy demand forecast until 2050.
Their data offered what the researchers said was “a rigorous scientific basis” for global governments to ban new fossil fuel projects and begin a managed decline in the fossil fuel industry. The researchers also found “governments pledging no new fossil fuel projects would be more effective at changing opinions and tackling climate change than the complex long-term climate targets such as net zero by 2050.” That’s the lead author, Dr Fergus Green speaking.
“Goals like ‘Net zero emissions by 2050’ lack impact”, he said, but no new fossil fuel projects is a clear and immediate demand against which all current governments and the fossil fuel industry can rightly be judged.
The findings contradicted Labour’s claims. We’re talking now of the federal Labor Party in Australia. The findings contradict their claims that new gas projects will be needed to provide gas for energy systems beyond 2050. That’s a position that continues the former government’s policies, which were widely attributed to have been written by the fossil fuel industry itself. I just want to finish with a little bit for Australian listeners.
Saul Griffiths, the climate campaigner that we all know, who was advisor to Joe Biden in the US and putting together its climate policies. Now he’s published a comprehensive essay at the weekend, which details exactly how to decarbonise your lifestyle. Everybody. It’s really long. It’s really complex and it points out that we do change our lives anyway. So if we’re going to change anyway, let’s do it in a positive way for the planet. You can find it by Googling the wires that bind or just simply Saul Griffith. The wires that bind is a way for Australians to get away from using fossil fuels and move into a new electric 21st century and that is my Roundup for the Week, Mik.
Jingle:
Listen to our Sustainable Hour – for the future.
Anthony Gleeson:
Yes, that news from Vermont is things getting real. It’s brilliant, isn’t it?
Yeah.
And just the chooks coming home to roost, I guess, the damage that’s been caused that they’ve caused for decades and known full well what those damages were going to be and just completely ignored them. And they’re still trying to ignore them. So, yeah, maybe their argument always is, ‘We’ve got to get returns for our shareholders.’ Well, maybe the shareholders will start saying, hang on, we’re paying for this. So yeah, interesting, fascinating times.
Mik Aidt:
There’s a very interesting report that was completely missed by mainstream media. It came out in April and I’ll just read two lines from it:
“For more than half a century, big oil has misled the American public about its role in the climate crisis, doing everything in its power to keep the United States and the world dependent on its polluting products. It’s long time past to hold big oil accountable for its deception campaign and to take action to undo the harms that it has perpetrated.”
That’s the quote. Now, who do you think wrote this in a report that was published in the United States in April? It wasn’t some green group, as you would think. No, this came from the Senate, the American Senate, the House Oversight Committee on page 60.
This is the conclusion about what’s happened – how we have been deceived by these people in the fossil fuel industry.
Anthony Gleeson:
Yeah. And then we get, we get Saul Griffith giving us a way to do that. So we’ve got, yeah, the message is emphasised both ways: ‘Okay, this is wrong. Let’s stop it. And this is the way we can stop it.’ Now that certainly… that discussion has stimulated a great amount of interest, and our guest today, Neysan, is keen to jump in. Neysan Pertl is from The Soil Guru from Tasmania and we thought we’d get him on today to have a chat about his work. Yeah, so Neysan, welcome to the show. Thanks for coming on. So tell us your story.
Neysan Pertl:
Well, thank you all for having me here. It’s a pleasure to be here and I absolutely love to meet more like-minded folk that are into the environment and the climate. So it’s fantastic to be here. Similar wavelength. So I am from an international background. I was born and raised in Tasmania. I have quite a diverse background in terms of what I studied leading up to the basically the broth of what was to be made into the soil guru. So in 2012, I undertook at the age of 17, my first training course. I was me and my father were the last students of Bill Mollison after he had his stroke. After that, he never did any more courses. So I was trained by basically number one and number two in the world of permaculture with Bill Mollison and Jeff Lawton, who – absolutely incredible man, unbelievable experience.
In my 2012 course, Jeff Lawton told me that Australia in the shortest amount of time has the world record of losing the most topsoil in the shortest period of time in Earth’s history. Darling Downs used to have 10 meters of Black Prairie Earth and now there are areas you only could get half a meter if you’re lucky, from 10 meters, in a hundred years, it’s all gone. And from that, I took on a bachelor’s of agriculture. And after the second day, I already was having arguments with one of the professors. Arguments! With hemiculture concepts. So, I said to myself, we’ll not get anywhere. No one will listen to me.
Jeff Lawton is a genius of a permaculture teacher. No background, no degree in agriculture. So many people blotched him out because he didn’t have that piece of paper. And I said, okay, I’m going to bulletproof this. So I went through and I did a four year study on the bachelor’s of agriculture at University of Tasmania where I studied all traditional farming practices, pesticide use, monoculture systems, large-scale shea dairy operations, mass scale for poppies, for lettuce production, or what you can think of, viticulture vineyards. So I walked away and did that. Then in that degree, I had a passionate teacher who inspired me to become into soil. So I did all soil subjects in my study. After I finished that, I went on applying, applying, applying, and nothing was happening. Nothing was happening. And I then, was about to move to Europe to go to Germany. So it’d be good to learn another, probably another language. And, then your COVID struck. And so I stood back home and I said, what can I do? What can I do? So then I got offered an honours project.
I happened to call it the right time, and my professor said, ‘Neysan, you called it the right time. We had four candidates to come and do an important study.’ Now this important study went beyond important because this is the formation of the soil guru. And this is the crazy story that happened here. So I had called in May. He’s like, ‘Neysan, enroll now, please come because we’re about to close this honours offer.’
So I took it. And I ended up doing a thesis on describing and characterising deeply where the dollar rot and its erosion processes in the rainforest system in Tasmania and how forestry impacts soil degradation. And I then was working in a nursery. So I work currently at Mittre 10 in the nursery department, living on a permaculture farm with my parents for the last 14 years. I built up… On one of the worst laws you can think of a 400 tree Permaculture garden with a variety of a whole bunch of different plant species so there was not going to be a job where I could use all of this. So I created my own business and that was called the Soil Guru because I had so many experiences with people who were, you know… landscaping is not cheap. We’re talking tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars, and people were losing 50 grand worth of trees because the nursery guys didn’t know what they were doing. They had no idea how to think. So the Soil Guru basically is this business where you have permaculture… the full experience of traditional agriculture, which I can outrightly say is garbage. My Honours Degree, which has given me the entitlement to be a soil scientist and actually you could call me an agricultural geologist with the hand-on experience, not just theory of how to improve what works, what doesn’t work, all combined into this unique package with sun angles, where to plan it, everything. So, I basically, I have a guy, he came to me, he’s like: I want to build a full arboretum. I want 15 acres. I want to pack it in with a whole bunch of trees… and I’ll continue on, but Colin’s got a question for me.
Colin Mockett:
I have. Neysan, I’m really intrigued by your studies. Now as part of the roundup for this week, I didn’t include a report that I read about the landslip that occurred in Papua New Guinea, some, what, two weeks ago now. This report that I was reading, and I’ll go deeper into it later on, basically blamed the fact that Australian companies had been in that area in the 1970s and logged the hillside that slipped. And then what has happened since is that the logged trees, they had deep roots going down the hill itself and those roots withered. And then the high rainfall that they’ve experienced due to climate change meant that the whole hill that slipped became waterlogged in the place where the tree roots were. And that’s why it slipped because it was aerated or it was watered by the amount of rain that had come down into the remains of where the trees were. I’d really like to know that with your depth of research and university studies, whether that theory stands up.
The second site that I analysed in the Styx Valley was a clear recently logged landscape where we had this valley like, it was a section of a huge scar that was exposed. That happened many years ago but this valley got to be 100 meters long, 40 meters wide, and about 12 meters deep. And there was a section where we could profile. And it had an old forestry road going right adjacent next to it. So all the runoff was running and gushing down into that valley, creating this huge thing. And absolutely the logging has been a… definitely a contributing factor. So definitely, it is a serious issue. And in terms of the old roots that decompose into grit, absolutely you can get water seepage going down through the old roots, because it’s like a drill machine. It’s naturally drilled in the ground. So once you get that water going down in there, it causes a full mudslide. Yeah. Big, big, big issue. Big issue.
How do you feel about so-called modern farming techniques?
I’m absolutely disgusted. Well, modern farming techniques, okay, depends on what type of modern farming technique, because there is a lot. As you study permaculture, there’s a lot of conflicts of interest when you compare. What I’m seeing in Tasmania is a, well, one aspect of modern farming, which I’m definitely not in agreement with, but you know, my friends who live on the midlands, actually I’ve got friends who are traditional farmers, but I don’t talk to them about this because I don’t want to upset them. My adoption rate has not been very high at the moment. I’m still like my friend who was a tree arborist. He’s totally, you know, he lives up in the bush and he is all about, you know, save the forest and all these ancient trees and you know, I support him and you know.
Like one of my friends just got arrested at the Tarkan. He wrapped himself around a tree and got arrested. And I said, well done, bro. I’m proud for you. You know, he’s like, I just wrapped yourself. But this is why I did a bachelor’s of agriculture because I just knew nothing is going to come if I don’t have that qualification so that I can outwardly criticise and say, I’ve studied it.
And, and I’m sorry to tell you guys, but my personal experience of the university, they’re all living in La La Land and they all are so removed from reality. It’s not funny. This is why I’m grateful for the farm being on a hands on system. I’ve worked the earth. I know what’s going on. Okay. I don’t know everything. And I will say people, my business named the soul guru. I am not like, I don’t have the shaman hat. I’m not, no, I just picked a catchy name so people could catch me. Catch me. But you know, the thing is, I don’t know everything. I’m still learning. So my mission that I want to achieve is that we can all get along. Agriculturalists, permaculturists, that we all have tools that we can help each other and stop bashing each other up.
For me, what’s really important is to build a community network. This is what I like with this hosting. Like I want to build a network with people who are interested to work together and to, you know, cooperation because we’re in a time where you can’t have competition anymore. It can’t exist anymore. We’re not in the sixties and seventies like in the pay days where everyone could have their own thing and just be happy. No, we have to help each other out.
And we need to share, collaborate. And of course, yes, we all need to make money, you know, and pay bills. I mean, that’s reality. But the core of it is not to be disheartened by actually what’s going on. And I want to tell like the young people, because I’m 29 turning 30, I’m telling them, no, we have a great future. Turn off the television and start learning about how to do things like, you know, the other night I was watching how to grow potatoes in a container bag. You know, like, it’s just five minutes and you’ve learned something new instead of watching an hour, look, all the kids in Palestine being killed. I mean, it’s horrible. You have to be proactive in these things. We need to embrace the now and look at the future and how can we improve it? The Earth is going to keep screaming and get louder and louder and louder before people realise that we need to change our ways.
Song:
Louise Harris: ‘We tried’
The world is changing all the time
And you know it ain’t right
Yeah, I know you think twice
And love, it takes you on a ride
And leaves you with no respite
Well, I think I’ve done my time
I don’t want to cry
To take me where the bluebirds sing
While we lose everything
And it’s too much poisoning
Bye.
still fly, cause smoke fills up our sky,
cause we ran out of time,
well, we tried, yeah
This was meant to be a mother
I’m to win but not enough good
drowned out the sin
they watched the world cave in
but I, I can’t work out why
So take me where the boobies sing
While we lose everything
There’s too much poisoning
Fly me where the birds still fly,
cause smoke fills up our sky,
cause we ran out of time, well.
We tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried, we tried
Thank you.
[Applause]
Orpheus:
Ever wondered how much our CO2 emissions since the pre-industrial times could physically amount to? Imagine this, since the start of the industrial age, humanity has released about 2,400 gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That’s a lot of CO2. But just how much is a gigaton, you ask? Well, a gigaton is a massive number, a billion metric tons to be exact. Think of it like this.
Each ton is 1000 kilograms, so a gigaton is essentially a billion of those. It’s like saying a thousand million tons. Now let’s talk about the volume these gigatons would occupy if we could see them. Let’s use soil as an example because its density is something we can picture, about 1.2 to 1.6 tons per cubic meter. On average, a gigaton of soil would fill up to 714 million cubic meters. Imagine a cube nearly one kilometer tall on each side.
That’s how much space a single gigaton of soil would take up. Here’s where it gets really interesting. If you stacked up 2,400 of these massive soil cubes, they’d stretch for about 2,130 kilometers. That’s roughly the distance from London to Athens. If you were cruising along this line of giant cubes at 100 kilometers per hour, you’d be driving for 21 hours straight to see them all. So next time someone questions if our emissions could really impact the climate,
Just think about that massive line of cubes. It’s a fun way to grasp the sheer scale of what we’re talking about when it comes to global CO2 emissions.
The victories in the relentless battle against the climate emergency are evident, despite the oversight by corporate executives and governments who fail to grasp the severity of the issue. Europe’s highest court on human rights has recognised a safe climate as a fundamental human right, affirming the commitment of citizens, voters, and responsible parents alike. Despite a often grim news cycle, there are beacons of progress that light the way forward.
Today, let’s examine a few of these shining examples.
Spain’s renewable energy initiatives are a prime example, where the abundant wind and sunshine have led to a drastic reduction in electricity costs. Portugal has also made impressive strides, with renewables accounting for 89 % of its electricity needs in the first quarter of this year alone. The sensation of the breeze and sunlight once just pleasant on your face now also power your home with virtually no cost.
This reality was highlighted when two European wind energy pioneers were recently awarded the Nobel Prize of Engineering, underscoring significant advancements in the renewable energy sector.
Across the Atlantic, a high school in Arkansas, USA, turned a significant budget deficit into a substantial surplus thanks to a large solar installation, proving the financial viability of renewable investments and directly benefiting the salaries of teachers in the district. In Australia, a new report has revealed that households could save approximately $9.3 billion annually on energy bills by harnessing the untapped solar potential of residential rooftops.
Victoria now boasts the lowest wholesale power prices in the nation, driven down by the proliferation of renewable energy sources. This includes large-scale renewables and incentives like the Solar Victoria rebate, encouraging homeowners to install their own solar power stations. The electric vehicle EV revolution, although slow, is gaining traction in Australia with significant yearly increases in EV purchases.
The decline in lithium and battery prices suggests that EVs may soon be more cost effective than petrol cars, a development that is set to revolutionise the automotive industry. The active transport options of cycling and walking are becoming increasingly attractive for their health benefits. Policies promoting these low traffic activities are proving to be vastly beneficial, yielding public health benefits up to 100 times greater than the costs.
Globally, new laws are being introduced to cement these positive changes, such as Tokyo’s mandate for solar panels on all new homes from April 2025 and Oregon’s groundbreaking divestment from coal. The surge in clean energy investment, which has increased by 40 % over the past two years, is creating jobs and propelling the industry forward. Now, clean energy employs more individuals globally than fossil fuels, with 35 million people working in the sector.
The examples of clean energy progress are numerous, from Finland’s leadership towards carbon neutrality to the EU’s aggressive CO2 emission reductions and the adoption of renewable energy in states like California and countries like India. Innovative solutions like Funga, the world’s first project using fungi for commercial carbon offsetting, and plant-based polymers are tackling carbon sequestration and microplastic pollution respectively. Despite the challenges,
The path to a sustainable future is being paved by a global community committed to change. As we witness countries and companies making substantial progress, it becomes clear that while the journey is long, it is peppered with significant milestones. Every small step is part of a larger, hopeful journey towards a sustainable future. Let’s keep the momentum alive and continue to build the better world we envision.
Anthony Gleeson:
Our next guests today are from Sri Lanka. And we’re just about to cross over to Kanchana and Pasini who they’re involved in what’s called, what they’re calling a Yathra, which essentially, I think that roughly translates in English to a journey. So welcome.
Thank you.
Pleasure. Now, Pasini, can you tell us about why you’re there? Why have you chosen to become a leader at the Yathra?
Pasini:
So I want to get some experience about how to conduct a training program in Sri Lanka for the local community to encourage about sustainability and environmental conservation, climate change and conscious consumerism areas. And I want to give some practical knowledge and not the theoretical parts but in our day to day life I want to encourage people to engage with this kind of environmental conservation and sustainability in their day to day life. I want to encourage to do their activities in practical way.
Colin Mockett:
Well that’s wonderful. My first question is whereabouts are you?
Pasini:
We are now in Kalambu.
Colin:
How many people will attend the camp and what are the subjects that you will be talking about individually?
Pasini:
15 participants will be coming to our training yathra to get knowledge about climate change, conscious consumerism and regenerative agriculture.
Colin:
Now that’s wonderful. How are you going to tackle consumerism?
Pasini:
So we hope to give some ideas about how we select the correct products from the market and how we can use that product as a sustainable manner or sustainable way and how we use resources efficiently and how we manage the waste and how we buy our needs and wants only. Buy the needs, not the wants. Buy the needs, not the wants.
Colin:
When you finish with your 15 people, can you come over here because there’s lots of Australians who have got not a clue about how to manage their waste and how to buy sustainably.
Actually, we are very much blessed if we are invited because you know, Pasini and we all are having zero waste lifestyle for past 23 years. So we are working the talk.
Good. Pasini, the zero waste lifestyle, how will you be working through that with the participants?
We ask them to buy what are the things they need for the training. And we are talking about how that product will affect to the health and how we use efficiently to our body and go for natural alternatives instead of plastics and other chemical substitutes.
How long will the camp go for?
Five days. Five days and then at the end of that each participant has a project that he or she takes back to their community? For two years.
Okay.
And there were 15 people chosen, but I understand there were quite a deal more than that who applied. How many applied for the?
150 applicants.
And this is number, which number Yathri is this one?
Eight.
It seems like if it’s attracted that many participants. It’s a sign that the previous seven have been successful. And what do you hope personally to get out of it, out of the camp?
I want to give more knowledge to the participants to also learn from them and work together to give the best, better future for the society, youngsters, and encourage the youngsters to do more work as sustainable leaders.
Colin:
I understand that you were married yesterday. Will your husband be coming on the camp with you and will you be urging him to take sustainable methods into your marriage?
Pasini:
No, he is not participating in this training yathra, but he will help me.
Colin:
Good.
Kanchana:
Actually, I got a promise from him before he got married. I said, okay, you are allowed to marry Pasini, my best staff member, but you must allow her to continue her work and also do this residential yathra with us. He agreed happily.
Colin:
Yeah, look, I think you two have got to be the happiest guests that we’ve ever had on our program. And I’d like to thank you for that. It’s delightful to talk to you.
I’m not concerned. I’d like a clearer idea of what sort of environmental problems you are facing in Sri Lanka. Is your biggest pollution plastics and that’s why you’re cutting them out?
Yeah, because we are an island surrounded by ocean pollution now at the moment because of the plastics in the ocean.
And of course, Pasini is aware about climate change repercussions. We are having floods. Yes, now we are facing lots of changing of rain patterns and now we are facing lots of floods and heavy rains. So we are difficult to save our plants and yield. So…
Maybe it will affect from the food security of the country because we don’t have any improved technology to secure our yield with this condition, heavy rain and floods.
Mik:
Kanchana, it sounds to me like, and we’ve talked with you about this before in Sri Lanka, that is there an opportunity here for Sri Lanka to not do the same mistakes as most of the modern western world has done when it comes to polluting the world with plastics and fossil fuels and all that. That there is an alternative and that there is maybe a new story that needs to be told about you can have little money but live a very rich life?
Kanchana:
Yes, Mik. The thing is we all are happy and you know content with the island live in because everything is there. We don’t have any seasonal barriers to plant our agriculture, whatever. But unfortunately, change of the climate is very much affecting us at the moment and our monsoon patterns are really changed. And also because of these natural disasters, we had a good opportunity for solar power, rather than, you know, whatever the harmful power generation methods in the world. But the thing is developed countries, our, the local politicians and all are going for easy money and, you know, commission. So it’s kind of mindset is not sustainable among the policymakers. So they are really going after the unsustainable development.
And innovations and local thinking is not having a very powerful voice. And therefore the country is anyway, as you all know, economically bankrupt. So therefore they are going for easy and dirty methods, I would say. So rather than thinking sustainably and implementing sustainably, because what they say is we have to get rid of this economic crisis. So we have to really go up, and then think about the sustainability which is really sad and devastated kind of feeling, you know. So in one week’s time, you will be sending 16 people back into different areas of your community to spread the message. How long before you have another camp and you send another 16 people out and you spread it all the way throughout Sri Lanka? We have been doing this for last 10 years.
Our yathra systems are quite unique. We bring usually 30 people for these kind of training yathra. But because of the economic crisis and we couldn’t secure funding properly because initially we used to get some funding from Sri Lanka as well but this time we couldn’t get any corporate money for this program. Only JCJ, Journey for Climate Justice in Australia is raising funds for these youngsters to come to this yathra.
So this time we limited our youngsters, but every other year we have been training 30 youngsters and sending them across Sri Lanka and they have been working superb kind of changed leaders. And we really saw the results. And for this training, there are two previously trained youngsters coming as trainers, and Newton and Danushka were the leaders before and this time they are going to come as fully fledged, experienced leaders to teach even including Pasini.
And I’ll be sitting on a chair because I am quite happy and proud about my ex-trainer, ex-yathrees. We call them yathrees – those who were the participants of this training. So we all have a hope and we believe the next year or year after we will have a better situation to train more youngsters, more than 50. And international, she says, Pasili says, of course bring some international participants as well. That’s our hope.
Colin:
Well, that’s probably Tony who’ll be over there. Do you know how your electricity is generated locally for Colombo? Is it coal that’s burned or is it oil or gas?
Yeah, mainly it is hydropower. We have 110 odd rivers. So they are making some dams and we already have reservoirs. So hydropower is the main source and then we have diesel power generation and now we have coal. So all these three, there are some solar power generating homes and companies now who are talking about sustainability. So they are also supplying electricity back to the national grid through the solar power. And how do most people cook in their homes? What power do they use to heat their food? Mainly gas, LP gas, live petroleum gas. That’s what they use. They come in cylinders, not the common pipelines, cylinders and then of course firewood. Firewood, yep.
Anthony:
Yes. Kanchana, you like this is number eight. Is there anything that’s projects that are that have, you know, that you’re really pleased about?
Yeah, Tony, when I co-founded journeys for climate justice with my Australian friend, Jim Crosthwaite in 2010, our first journey was a river journey. We traveled along our one of our widest river in Sri Lanka for 12 days and it was a beautiful river journey and then second one was so beautiful as well because we paddled, we had our bicycles for 10 days we paddled from one city to the other city with 30 youngsters and racing awareness and visiting schools on the path, and also, it’s so beautiful talking to government officers, military, everybody was paddling with us. Those two were highlights, I guess. And then of course we had Voki Nyatras. We had another paddling yathra in 2018, which was our seventh yathra. And that is also so special because I didn’t take the lead of that yathra. And Newton and Chapa, another girl like Pasini, they both conducted that yathra as leaders. So I was nicely sitting on a chair and watching them doing that. So this time my hope is Pasini, Newton, Danushka will be conducting. I’ll be like back bone, just to push them if they need that. But otherwise, yes, that is our journeys for climate justice in Australia are trying to help these youngsters by raising funds for these yathra’s because we believe that our little contributions will help these youngsters to become fully fledged leaders and we have proven that. So that is why we call it’s a beautiful thing because journeys are making their lives changed and they are having another journey after these journeys.
And if someone in Australia listening to this would like to support your journeys, is there a website where they can contact you or how is it done?
Yes, we do have a website and website name is called Journeys for Climate Justice. And then there is a portal for clicking and then you can actually that is also we are telling that please become conscious about your carbon emission. It is not only traveling. Be conscious about your day-to-day carbon emission either you know having the lights on or even you know cooking and water usage or power usage or even your clothes become very conscious about you know your own carbon footprint maybe it’s not directly emitting things bad things for the nature but indirectly doing some unsustainable repercussions. So be aware of that, live consciously and contribute little ways via our portal and that little dollars will come to Sri Lanka for this journey, particularly this time, but not only Sri Lanka, we are working with other countries like Malaysia, Bangladesh and some other islands, Cataract Island, and all people are suffering due to climate repercussions. We are trying to help in whatever the ways that we can. There’s a lot we should do, but we are a very small organisation, but we believe that we are doing something good. I believe it too.
I think you’re doing a wonderful job.
Thank you, Collin.
Do you have local councils? Are you getting support from any of the authorities?
Yes, actually one of the five-star hotels in Sri Lanka that we have been working with their sustainability. They gave us food. They promised us to give one day fully sponsored venue and food. So our youngsters will be having five-star hotel food, but we said it has to be healthy.
There you go, Tony. That’s definitely you in there now, mate. You’re going to a five-star hotel.
Yes, and government is also giving us permission whenever we want. We are visiting a very popular resource, I mean waste management center. They are helping us to come there and they are training our youngsters for a half a day how to separate waste and all these things. So yeah, we are getting the support whenever we need it, but not financially, unfortunately, and we understand that.
Can I wish you good luck on your two journeys, Kanchana and Pasini?
Yes.
Your journey as a team leader in this particular and your marriage journey too. It’s a new journey in life for you. Good luck on both of them from all of us here in Australia.
Thank you.
Song:
Louise Harris: ‘Climate Album Live’:
Do we accept we have to change?
Or do we kill ourselves by staying the same?
I know that you deny the truth
There’s something beautiful about closing your eyes
But we’re paying with their lives
So do we stand up and fight?
Ignite, unite, reclaim the night
Or do we dance to the beat
and make a stand
Restore the land,
reach out a hand
Or do we party till the world ends?
Aware of what’s at stake
or only realise when we’re way too late
can we find the love to trump the fear
cause gods are powerless if we don’t adhere
I know that we are scared
to see we are the playwrights of this great tragedy
How will we ride the end?
Will we stand up and fight?
Hey night, unite! Reclaim the night!
Or do we dance to obedience?
Make a stand, restore the land,
reach out a hand!
Or do we party to?
Do we stand up and fight?
Hey night, unite!
Reclaim the night!
Or do we…
Dance to the beat,
make a stand
Restore the land,
reach out a hand
Until we party to the world
Thank you.
Song from Yellowdot Studio:
hi there, it’s your friendly big oil executive with a message for you about climate change.
Yale Climate Connections podcast: Just do it – Wisconsin couple built a net zero home:
A few years ago, Jacqueline Friedel and her husband built their new home near Madison, Wisconsin, complete with four bedrooms and an open concept floor plan. But the couple’s house has a hidden feature. It runs entirely on electricity and is net zero, meaning it produces just as much energy as it uses every year. If you were walking by and didn’t know anything about the house, you might not even guess that it is net zero energy and all electric. Friedel is an energy efficiency consultant but she says anyone can build a net-zero home if they hire a contractor who has experience with energy-efficient houses. In their home, the couple and their builders installed electric appliances, like an induction stove and a heat pump instead of a gas stove or furnace. They insulated the house tightly to save on heating and cooling costs, and the builders angled the roof so that the 41 solar panels the couple had installed could absorb plenty of sunlight. Friedel and her husband shared the entire process of building a net-zero home, on YouTube, and she encourages anyone building a house to make it energy efficient. Certainly I would tell people, it’s not as scary as you think. You can do it. There’s lots of resources out there and experts that can help you out along the way. So just do it.
Song: ‘Gasoline’
You took me for a ride
and now we’re lost
I’m choking on your pollution trip
You’re making me cough
You’re turning me off
I’m breaking this relationship
Gasoline, gasoline
You’re driving me insane
Gasoline, gasoline
The world’s aflame
Gasoline, gasoline
I’ve found someone new
Someone better
Better than you
We had a good run,
but now we’re done
You’re poisoning our atmosphere
You don’t even care,
poppin’ dirt in the air
We gotta leave you in the ground
Gasoline, gasoline
You’re driving me insane
Gasoline, gasoline
The world’s a flame
Gasoline, gasoline
I found someone new
And I’m leaving
Leaving you
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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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