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“It’s easy to be angry. It’s hard work to be happy.”
~ Rick Coleman
The Sustainable Hour no. 525 | Transcript | Podcast notes
Our guests in The Sustainable Hour on 23 October 2024 are Karina Donkers from Geelong Sustainability along with builder Shamus O’Reilly from SO’R Construction, and Monica Winston from Transition Streets Geelong along with permaculture elders Rick Coleman and Mark Dekker.
This 525th episode delves into the pressing need for climate action, the impact of vehicle choices on environmental sustainability, and wonderful local initiatives such as Sustainable House Day in Geelong:
Karina Donkers is campaign manager at Geelong Sustainability. Today she speaks enthusiastically about what is arguably the premier event on Geelong Sustainability’s premier event on their calendar, their Sustainable House Day which will be held on this coming Saturday, 26 October 2024. This year eight homes are going to be open for your inspection.
→ For more details about the event, go to: www.geelongsustainability.org.au/shd
. . .
Monica Winston is founder of Transition Streets Geelong and a good friend of The Sustainable hour podcast. Today she tells us about the fourth in a series of six workshops she has organised, ‘Permaculture Speed Consults and Talks’ – a fun and informative event on Sunday 27 October at 2-5pm at Vines Rd Community Centre. There will be 10-15 permaculture designers available for consultation at this event.
Monica has a Bachelor degree in Visual Communication Design. She did a Permaculture Design Course in 2008, a 12-month permaculture course in 2009, an Edible Forest Garden design course in 2013, and permaculture teacher training with Rowe Morrow and Lis Bastian. In 2011 and 2012, she organised and catered for permaculture design courses in Geelong. She has successfully applied for many grants and organised, delivered and facilitated many events, including Sustainable House Day in Geelong 2009-2012, bulk discount buys of solar panels, Edible Weed Walks, Edible Garden Blitzes, Intro to Permaculture courses, and supporting people to set up 25 different Transition Street groups.
. . .
Rick Coleman is a permaculture elder. He has taught permaculture on every continent in the world. He is currently running “Garden Gems” masterclasses for the Bass shire.
. . .
Mark Dekker is a proud Keeray Woorong Gunditjmara man and Yidindji Ambassador. He has a diverse background in town planning, organic farming and community development. Mark has recently returned to the region where he is an active member of the local Wadawurrung and Greater Geelong community with a passion for the true Care of Country, its people and for all living beings.
→ To find out more about the event, go to: www.transitionstreetsgeelong.org/blog
→ Here’s the booking link to read more about the event on Sunday – and to invite others. There’s a number of different priced tickets and all of them get people the same experience but it allows people to choose what they can afford.
This is the fourth of a series of six events run by Transition Streets Geelong in a ‘Mini Sustainable Living Festival’. The project is supported by the City of Greater Geelong through its Environment & Sustainability Program.
. . .
Mik Aidt mentions an event he is organising together with Geelong Media, The Business Revolution and Sustainable Shift, which he hopes could become the Geelong launch of a series of recurring sustainable business community gatherings: Pioneering the global transition in business – Unlocking your company’s sustainable advantage.
. . .
Colin Mockett explores the significant rise of SUVs in urban areas, their environmental impact, and the regulatory failures that have allowed this trend to flourish.
The discussion then transitions into discussions on permaculture, community engagement, and the importance of connecting with the land and indigenous wisdom.
Two of the speakers at the permaculture event, Rick Coleman and Mark Dekker, emphasise the need for resilience through community efforts and the role of joy and humour in fostering sustainable practices and making climate action more popular in local communities.
The Hour emphasises community efforts to promote sustainable living and the importance of making informed choices for a better future.
Find more information and links in the transcript below.
. . .
So ends The Sustainable Hour for another week – a week where we focused on local events and people.
In a world full of people and projects making a difference, it’s easy to miss things happening in our own back yard. So we feel that it is important to look at what’s happening locally from time to time. We hope this motivates you, our listeners and supporters to investigate what’s happening on the carbon reduction front in your patch if you haven’t done that already. Feel free to let us know what is going on in your area that impresses you and we will do all we can to get them on as guests.
What are you going to “be” this week? Resilient? Happy? Determined? Resolute? Musical? Inclusive? Collaborative?
#FindYourRole in the #GlobalTransition
“Just acknowledge their elders who fought hard to sustain the values of looking after the place, looking after each other, and looking after the values that were bestowed upon them from the Creator. Which is, you know, a bit of looking after each other and all the little creatures – and looking after the place so we can sustain it for another 60,000 years for everybody that’s here.”
~ Mark Dekker, First Nations permaculture practitioner
→ Subscribe to The Sustainable Hour podcast via Apple Podcasts
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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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Sustainable House Day Geelong and surrounds 2024 is on Saturday 26 October
This year, eight remarkable homes from Greater Geelong, Surf Coast and Queenscliff are open to the public including cutting-edge technology, energy efficiency, Passivhaus designs and innovative retrofits as well as a rare 10-star energy rated home. View the houses online and plan your day.
→ Read more about the Ten Star house in Modewarre
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→ Read more and book a seat at Humanitix
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Damn right
— Bill McGuire (@ProfBillMcGuire) November 4, 2024
SUVs are one of the biggest contributors to increasing global emissions
A straight line can be drawn from purchase of one of these ludicrous tanks to the explosion of extreme weather and the deaths that resulthttps://t.co/QXK5Mz4QUW
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DO WORRY
“You may choose to look the other way but you can never again say that you did not know.”
~ William Wilberforce.
→ The Telegraph – 6 October 2024:
It’s too late to save Britain from overheating, says UN climate chief
“Interview: Professor Jim Skea warns the world risks 3°C of global warming by 2100 unless it changes course.”
→ ABC News – 8 October 2024:
Australian Security Leaders Climate Group calls for overhaul of federal government’s climate threat preparedness strategy
“The Australian Security Leaders Climate Group’s latest report says the threat is so serious now that an “emergency mobilisation” is needed.”
→ Sci Tech Daily – 15 October 2024:
Could Climate Change Be Worse Than We Thought? New Models Say Yes
“EPFL scientists have developed a rating system using machine learning to evaluate global climate models, revealing that a third of the models predict a much hotter future due to high carbon sensitivity. Their findings suggest that current measures to reduce carbon emissions may not be enough to prevent extreme warming, highlighting the urgency for stronger climate action.”
→ Climate Change News – 11 August 2012:
Planet 6°C: Will climate change turn Planet Earth into Mars?
“6°C has often been described as the ‘doomsday scenario’ of climate change.”
→ The Conversation – 9 October 2024:
Unprecedented peril: disaster lies ahead as we track towards 2.7°C of warming this century
“You don’t have to look far to see what climate change is doing to the planet. The word “unprecedented” is everywhere this year. We are seeing unprecedented rapidly intensifying tropical storms such as Hurricane Helene in the eastern United States and Super Typhoon Yagi in Vietnam. Unprecedented fires in Canada have destroyed towns. Unprecedented drought in Brazil has dried out enormous rivers and left swathes of empty river beds. At least 1,300 pilgrims died during this year’s Hajj in Mecca as temperatures passed 50°C. Unfortunately, we are headed for far worse.”
→ The Guardian – 14 October 2024:
Trees and land absorbed almost no CO2 last year. Is nature’s carbon sink failing?
“The sudden collapse of carbon sinks was not factored into climate models – and could rapidly accelerate global heating”
→ The Guardian – 15 October 2024:
What happens to the world if forests stop absorbing carbon? Ask Finland
“Natural sinks of forests and peat were key to Finland’s ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2035. But now, the land has started emitting more greenhouse gases than it stores.”
→ CNN – 16 October 2024:
The system that moves water around the Earth is off balance for the first time in human history
“Humanity has thrown the global water cycle off balance “for the first time in human history,” fueling a growing water disaster that will wreak havoc on economies, food production and lives, according to a landmark new report.”
→ The Guardian – 17 October 2024:
Global water crisis leaves half of world food production at risk in next 25 years
“Landmark review says urgent action needed to conserve resources and save ecosystems that supply fresh water.”
Our weather is on ‘fossil fuel steroids’
According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2024 is turning out worse for extreme weather than 2023.
Droughts, extreme heat, and floods are causing damage to both health and livelihoods
The last 15 months have been the hottest on record. In the last month alone, millions of people across the US, Asia, Africa and Europe have faced extreme flooding and hurricanes.
In September alone, Americans saw five major flood events, along with typhoons, hurricanes, and wildfires. The damages are counted in hundreds of billions of dollars – and insurance companies are copping out.
Here in Australia, the climate breakdown is making it increasingly difficult to insure homes across the country. According to the Climate Council, by 2030, 1 in 25 homes will be uninsurable due to risks from wildfires, floods, and storms. (How’s that for a ‘healthy property market’?!)
This is “our weather on fossil fuel steroids” – but regardless, in Australia companies like Whitehaven Coal wants to start aggressively mining more coal.
Its important to understand that this is just the beginning. If we don’t learn from our mistakes and change the way we develop, the future looks grim: 70 per cent of humans will be hit hard by extreme weather in the next 20 years unless we dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
‘Playing with fire – but out of time’
“We’re playing with fire; but there can be no more playing for time. We’re out of time.”
~ António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General
Guterres remarks come as the UN published its latest Emissions Gap Report on Thursday, which looks at how much nations must promise to cut off greenhouse gases, and deliver, in the next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
The report warns that current pledges put the world on track for a temperature increase of 2.6-3.1°C over the course of this century. Cuts of 42% by 2030 and 57% by 2035 are needed to get on track for 1.5°C of warming. For a 2°C pathway, emissions must fall 28% by 2030 and 37% by 2035 from 2019 levels.
However, UN says argues that the 1.5°C goal is still technically feasible, owing to increased deployment of solar and wind energy. Renewable energy currently accounts for little over 30% of global electricity and the world is set to add over 5,500 gigawatts of new renewable capacity in the next five years, outpacing governments goals.
This massive growth could deliver up to 27% of the total reduction potential in 2030 and 38% in 2035, the UN says. But delivering on even some of this potential will require unprecedented international mobilisation and cooperation and a whole-of-government approach.
2024 State of the Climate Report
“We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled. We are stepping into a critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis. For many years, scientists, including a group of more than 15,000, have sounded the alarm about the impending dangers of climate change driven by increasing greenhouse gas emissions and ecosystem change. For half a century, global warming has been correctly predicted even before it was observed–and not only by independent academic scientists but also by fossil fuel companies. Despite these warnings, we are still moving in the wrong direction.”
→ American Institute of Biological Sciences – 8 October 2024:
The 2024 state of the climate report: Perilous times on planet Earth
The era of unlimited growth is over: Radical climate action is our only hope
“In a world with finite resources, unlimited growth is a perilous illusion. We need transformative change: drastically reducing overconsumption and waste, especially by the affluent… and adopting ecological and post-growth frameworks that ensure social justice.”
The 2024 State of the Climate Report, authored by the world’s leading climate scientists, is clear: We are heading for disaster unless we act NOW.
• Planetary vital signs: 25 out of 35 tracked indicators, including sea surface temperatures, are at record extremes, signaling an urgent need for climate action.
• Rising temperatures: Global warming is accelerating, and 2024 is expected to be one of the hottest years ever, with more than 40 gigatons of CO2-equivalent emissions recorded.
• Ocean crisis: Ocean acidity and sea level rise are at all-time highs, threatening marine life and coastal communities worldwide.
• Extreme weather: The incidence of climate-related disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires, and heatwaves, has significantly increased, with many events linked to climate change.
• Energy consumption: Fossil fuel use rose in 2023, with renewables like solar and wind expanding but still far from replacing fossil fuels.
• Deforestation and wildfires: Global forest cover loss reached its third-highest level in 2023, contributing to feedback loops that accelerate warming.
• Methane emissions: The surge in methane emissions, which has a potent warming effect, is a major concern for near-term climate action.
• Food security: Climate impacts, such as heatwaves and floods, are increasingly jeopardising global food production, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations.
• Feedback loops: Multiple amplifying feedback loops, including permafrost thawing and forest dieback, are hastening climate destabilisation, with potential tipping points nearing.
• Global inequality: Wealthier nations, which are less vulnerable to climate impacts, contribute the most emissions, while poorer regions suffer disproportionately from climate disasters.
The solution? Radical, immediate action. It’s time to slash emissions, stop overconsumption, and build an economy rooted in sustainability and equity.
“We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled. We are stepping into a critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis.”
We have a moral obligation to future generations to protect Mother Earth. We must act as if the cavalry is not coming—because it isn’t. It’s up to us.
~ Kasper Benjamin Reimer Bjørkskov
The 2024 Climate Outlook from the Rhodium Group is out and the news isn’t great
Yes, the world has avoided the most catastrophic projections, BUT we are very likely to hit 2°-3.7° degrees C warming by the end of the century. Moreover, “if current trends in policy and technology development continue, we find there is a less than 7 per cent chance of keeping global temperature increases below 2°C, a Paris Agreement goal.”
The science is clear: this level of likely warming will have disastrous effects on communities as climate shocks come more frequently and hit with more severity.
→ Full report here:
Rhodium Climate Outlook 2024: Probabilistic Global Emissions and Energy Projections
“The likely evolution of global greenhouse gas emissions and temperature rise through the end of the century, and energy trends in the world’s major economies.”
→ World Resources Institute – 18 October 2024:
One-Quarter of the World’s Crops Are Threatened by Growing Water Risks
“Data released this week revealed a hidden but growing threat to the world’s food supplies: water. Our analysis showed that one-quarter of the world’s crops now face water-related risks. Climate change is making precipitation more unpredictable, while competing demands from farms, industries and households put increasing pressure on limited water supplies.”
→ Phys.org – 10 October 2024:
Catastrophically warm predictions are more plausible than previously thought, say climate scientists
“The current measures to reduce carbon emissions, which are based on lower carbon sensitivity estimates, may not be enough to curb a catastrophically hot future.”
→ Nature – 13 August 2024:
Network-based constraint to evaluate climate sensitivity
Wow. If this isn't enough for the world to go into emergency mode, then what is.
— Matthew Todd 🌏🔥 (@MrMatthewTodd) October 16, 2024
GLOBAL WATER CRISIS LEAVES HALF OF WORLD FOOD PRODUCTION AT RISK IN NEXT 25 YEARS
Think about what that means – billons potentially migrating, war, unprecedented political instability.
WE ARE… pic.twitter.com/Go38rTX5Tz
No one is coming to save us
This piece has been a long time in the germinating, with a fair degree of hesitation on my part.
I am speaking, with love and humility, to all those who consider themselves in any way part of the ‘climate movement’, whether the mainstream or the ‘radical flank’
I would be grateful if you might read and share my article, and of course feedback, comment and more. Thank you
“Telling the truth and acting like it’s real: What’s the story in October 2024?”
“It’s almost 6 years to the day that I discovered Extinction Rebellion, and ran as fast as I could towards some of the most wonderful experiences of my life.
And yet 6 years on, having put so much of myself into civil resistance with different campaigns, I don’t feel that ‘we’, by which I mean the collective movement of movements, are now being honest with ourselves, each other, or the wider world.
The tenets of XR to ‘Tell the Truth’ and ‘Act like the truth is real’ resonated so strongly with me, and still do. Like the words through a stick of rock. And I’ve been trying to live these out. What that means to me is that when we receive or come to understand new information, we need to take it in, assess it and act appropriately.
So when I saw the horrors of the crazy hotter sea temperatures in 2023 (as well as witnessing a mass fish death first hand), studied the accelerating global temperatures over the last 2 years, and read James Hansen et al’s ‘Global Warming in the Pipeline’ paper last year, I knew it was too late. My last shreds of hope disappeared, and I knew I had to give myself over fully to the collapse acceptance that was growing within me but I’d been resisting for many years. (And of course carbon, and global temperatures are only a part of the true picture anyway.)
I hadn’t really believed the “rapidly closing window” line anyway, I couldn’t see any evidence that the window wasn’t effectively already shut. But the truth is that I’d been allowing myself, since 2019, to hold on to a shred of hope. The other truth is that I’ve been meaning to write this for 12 months.
But if I’m honest, I think hope is killing us. Especially the ‘hopium’ variety.
It really is deadly. It’s depriving us of getting on with the real job at hand. Survival, together.
We’re alone, because no one is coming to save us.
But the reality is we’re far from alone. We are and can be, together.”… (continued in article)
~ Zoe Cohen
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Electrifying facts
Global EV sales soared 30.5% in September, compared to September 2023
Someone on the Dark Side of Social Media is spreading the rumour that the market for EVs is collapsing – or that there is a “slowdown” in sales of EVs. But nothing could be further from the truth. More EVs – 1.7 million EVs all together – were sold in September than in any month, ever. And the plunging battery costs mean that more and better EVs are coming on the market all the time now.
“All electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are doing just fine, despite what you might have read elsewhere. While it’s true that some car brands are having a rough time and others have adjusted their rather optimistic EV rollout plans, the big picture is clear: EVs are on the rise,” writes Inside EVs:
→ Inside EVs – 15 October 2024:
Global EV And PHEV Sales Just Reached A New Record In September
“Sales of fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles went up by a whopping 30.5% last month.”
→ The Driven – 16 October 2024:
EV battery prices to fall by nearly 50 pct and near ICE parity by 2026, says Goldman Sachs
“Global electric vehicle battery prices could drop by almost another 50 per cent by 2026, according to Goldman Sachs Research, bringing with it the potential of price parity with internal combustion engine cars.”
“After the Age of Coal and the Age of Oil, the world is moving rapidly into the Age of Electricity. Electricity has recently grown 2x as fast as total energy demand. But from now to 2035, it’s set to grow 6x as fast, driven by EVs, ACs, chips, AI & more”
~ Fatif Birol
If you delve into the new IEA report, you can find a lot of interesting figures that prove that the world is in the midst of a green energy revolution with solar, wind and batteries. Global solar capacity has increased 40 times in the last 13 years. (Wind energy 6 times).
Last year, 550 GW of solar and wind energy was installed – in the last five years there has been a four-fold increase in new solar energy.
And by the way, did you know that when we switch to renewable energy, the number of ships crossing the ocean will fall almost in half. Because they’re just carrying coal and oil and gas from one country to another.
→ IEA – 16 October 2024:
Geopolitical tensions are laying bare fragilities in the global energy system, reinforcing need for faster expansion of clean energy
“World Energy Outlook 2024 shows critical choices facing governments and consumers as period of more ample supplies nears and surging electricity demand reshapes energy security.”
In Australia, the National Electricity Market reported a record high instantaneous renewable energy share of 73.7% just a week ago, in October 2024. This followed a record high average 45% renewable energy penetration for the month of September 2024.
As always, more renewables leads to lower prices. Record low wholesale electricity prices resulted from the renewables surge, averaging just $54/MWh for September, a dynamic which spells good news down the track for retail prices as Australians continue to grapple with cost of living and energy bill crises.
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Transcript of The Sustainable Hour no. 525
Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland:
We are literally talking about whether we have a livable future, for goodness sake.
Dr Melissa Lem:
There’s no better adventure out there than working together to save the planet.
Jingle:
The Sustainable Hour. For a green, clean, sustainable Geelong: The Sustainable Hour.
Mark Dekker:
I’d like to acknowledge that the Geelong Sustainable Hour is recorded on the lands of the Wadawurrung people. Lands and sovereignty was never ceded by them, by their elders. Just acknowledge their elders who fought hard to sustain the values of looking after the place, looking after each other, and looking after the values that were bestowed upon them from the Creator. Which is, you know, bit of looking after each other and all the little creatures and looking after the place so we can sustain it for another 60,000 years for everybody that’s here. So I’d like to acknowledge that, acknowledge all the Aboriginal people who may be listening – and also acknowledge all elders, if you’re not Aboriginal as well, just to acknowledge them and all the wonderful sacrifices that all our old people make to keep families as happy and healthy as possible.
Colin Mockett:
As a cyclist in Geelong, I’m very much aware that things have changed over the course of the last decade. Not only have our drivers and our driving standards dropped considerably, we’ve become much more aggressive. And first of all, I blame that on the COVID restrictions because they changed so many different things.
But now I’m blaming it on bad temper due to the fact that so many of us now drive around in great big SUVs, which are actually larger and way more than World War II tanks. And that’s not an exaggeration. We’re talking about three tons. The original SUVs, which we used to call four-wheel drives, were around about a tonne a third. Then the larger SUVs with the four seats, the dual cab SUVs, came in at two tonnes and now they’re coming in at three tonnes. And this is a time when the rest of the world is moving to smaller EVs. The rest of the world is moving to smaller more efficient vehicles and here in Geelong especially we’re all driving around in cars that are twice as heavy as the Holden Commodores that we were driving around about 20 years ago.
Now this… we’re not alone. I Googled up to try and find the biggest selling cars in Australia. The biggest selling car in 2023 was the Ford Ranger, which is made in Thailand. The second biggest selling car is the Toyota Hilux. That’s made in Japan and that’s the Toyota Hilux Dual Cab.
The latest figures are for June of this year. That has the Ford Ranger as the highest selling car, 6,289 nationwide. Second is the Hilux 5,630. Third is the Toyota RAV4, which is 3,907. So you can add those together and say, although Ford’s top, the Toyota two cars have got 8,000 together or 9,000, when you add the odd numbers.
Then comes the Mitsubishi Outlander, which is another four-wheel drive vehicle. And then in position number five is the Tesla Mark Y, which is really very good news because it’s come out of nowhere.
Now I couldn’t get the Geelong figures because they’re very, very, what should we say, shy about releasing them. The latest Geelong figures still show the Holden Commodore as being one of the best sellers because they’re from 2021. That’s the last figures that they’re prepared to say in the Geelong area.
Now, you might ask yourself why we’ve gone so much against world trends. And I can answer that for you. The reason we’ve gone against world trends is because our federal government is in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry. They choose their advisors from the fossil fuel industry and the fossil fuel industry gets to, if you like, frame the federal government’s laws. And during the Morrison government, that’s the one before the immediately passed one, but also the two governments before that, which were the Turnbull and the Abbott government, they restructured the vehicle licensing, the taxes that people pay for their cars. And what they’ve done is put a tax on EVs which they consider to be, they consider them to be luxury cars. They bought in a luxury car tax and all EVs went on it. And then they lowered the tax on the large SUVs, especially the dual cab ones, by saying that they were going to be helping the tradies and the working men.
So suddenly it’s a lot cheaper to buy a large SUV than it is to buy an EV, an electric vehicle. So that’s the real reason that we’ve moved against the trend. And the reason that we’re so aggressive, bad drivers these days is because we’re all driving these great big cars and they’re way too big for the roads which our roads were designed for 1930s cars, which are very small things.
And so instead of waiting maybe eight or nine times per trip, you have to stop and wait for another car to get past two parked cars. You have to do that now probably 30 or 40 times because we’re too wide for the little roads that we’re driving on. And nobody’s saying anything about it and nobody’s pointing the blame where it should be going, which is to the federal government’s tax structure.
We should be pressuring the federal government right now to turn its tax structure on its head and make EVs and small vehicles a lot cheaper and the great big vehicles much much dearer. And then we wouldn’t have to fix the potholes either. So look, that’s my rant for this week. And now I’m going to hand over to Mik Aidt, who is the temporary World Roundup fellow for you today.
Mik Aidt:
I’ll try if I can fit the seat. I have a lot of respect for the way you do it, Colin, so I’m a little bit nervous.
This week, our global outlook starts with, I would say, some tough news. Because this year, 2024 is shaping up to be one of the worst on record for extreme weather… you could say: ever, at least, you know, as long as human beings have been measuring extreme weather. We’re talking about droughts, heatwaves, and floods. We’ve seen it all on the news, but now we have the World Meteorological Organization warning us that this year is getting even worse than last year, which was worse than all the other years.
In just the past months, millions of people across the globe in the US, Asia, Africa and Europe have faced devastating floods and hurricanes. And here in Australia, the effects are becoming very personal.
Insurance companies are starting to back out of covering homes in high-risk areas. By 2030, one in 25 homes here in Australia will be uninsurable, according to the Climate Council. So there you go. Our property market is now being reshaped by climate risk, and not in a good way. And for some reason, our mainstream media doesn’t think it’s relevant to explain why all of this is happening around us, let alone give us some clear information and advice about what we can do to stop it. And I know, of course, here in The Sustainable Hour listeners already know what’s driving this havoc that we’re seeing. It’s our addiction to fossil fuels, as Colin just mentioned before. There are, of course, other factors like land clearing and so on, but primarily it’s the burning of fossil fuels that’s causing the damage. And this should be in the news every day.
And last year alone, is the surprising thing, global fossil fuel sales hit a new record. We are burning more oil, gas and coal than ever before. And countries, including Australia, keep investing in more oil and gas projects, while governments are pouring billions of dollars in subsidies to prop up the industry even further. You’d think that our governments have learned something about this by now, but apparently not, because according to the International Monetary Fund, fossil fuel subsidies have not decreased but increased worldwide from $2 trillion now up to $7 trillion. And that’s mostly because governments are trying to shield us, the consumers, from the rising energy prices. So instead of solving the problem, our governments are pouring trillions of dollars into fueling the climate breakdown.
It’s that time of the year where all the state of the planet and state of climate reports are coming out because we have the annual United Nations climate summit coming up in November. And don’t worry, I’m not going to go through all of them here, but I just want to highlight just a few points and a quote or two from these reports instead of ignoring them completely as our media broadcasters are doing. The ‘2024 State of the Climate’ report which was written by the world’s leading climate scientists, and published in Bioscience, starts with this sentence, “We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency.” And then it goes on and ends with a section called, “Risk of Societal Collapse”.
Fossil fuel use rose in 2023 with renewables like solar and wind expanding – but still far from replacing fossil fuel, it states in the report. Climate impacts such as heat waves and floods are increasingly jeopardising global food production. And the ‘2024 Climate Outlook Report’ from the Rhodium Group also delivers this kind of news. It says, if current trends in policy and technology development continue, we find there is a less of a 7 per cent chance of keeping global temperature increases below the 2 degrees Celsius, which was a key goal in the Paris Agreement. The science around what 2 degrees Celsius global heating means is very clear. This level of likely warming will have a disastrous effect on communities as climate shocks come more frequently and with greater severity.
And as we saw here in Geelong on Friday and Saturday, the climate crisis is in many ways a water crisis. And there’s a new report out from the World Resources Institute that warms the global water crisis leaves half of world food production at risk within the next 25 years. Already this year in the United Kingdom, the harvest has been a shocker. Wheat production was down 21 per cent and barley production down 26 per cent. Climate change is to blame.
Another report from the Australian Security Leaders’ Climate Group says the threat is now so serious that an emergency mobilisation is needed. And these are generals and military leaders speaking mind you. These are people who have been in charge of our national security.
The Institute for Economics and Peace, which is an international think tank that has its headquarters here in Sydney, and also has offices in New York, The Hague, Mexico City and Harare, has published research on climate migration and they predict that 25 years from now up to 1.2 billion people could be displaced due to these impacts of the climate breakdown, which means extreme weather events, rising sea levels and unnatural disasters.
But I will pause here because there are so many reports and it’s important to also have space for the good news. And there are good news. For instance, Australia is now leading the charge in renewable energy. Can you believe it? Just last week, our national electricity market hit a new record with 73 per cent of energy coming from renewables. And in fact, Australia has had the fastest growth in renewable energy globally over the last five years, which you would think is something to be proud of and talking about.
Renewable energy is also driving prices down. In September, a month ago, we saw record low wholesale electricity prices thanks to renewables. And last week, what is going to become the world’s largest onshore wind farm started producing electricity here in Victoria, the Golden Plains Wind Farm near Ballarat. When it’s finished in about two years from now, there’ll be 215 wind turbines powering up to 765,000 homes here in Victoria. And at the same time, the local farmers there will be earning an extra income by hosting all these turbines on their land. So they will be powering all the new electric vehicles that are going to be rolling out on our roads.
The other day I was talking to one of the council candidates and he told me that ‘the EV market is collapsing’ and I was saying, ‘What? Where did you hear that from?’ Because, sorry to say, but rumours like that, that’s fake news. The truth is – and you’ll hear that in The Sustainable Hour – the truth is that global sales of electric vehicles jumped by over 30 per cent last month, which is hitting a new record.
Another fact about EVs is that battery costs are falling, making them more affordable and more accessible than ever. And a company like Uber are shifting over fast to EVs. Five times faster than the rest of the population. In London, a third of all kilometres that are driven by an Uber driver is now driven in an EV.
So we are moving little by little into this new age of electricity. And while the climate situation is critical and risks are growing faster than anyone has expected, there are some positive momentum as well. And renewables are soaring.
Colin:
It’s also worth noting that once people do make the move from internal combustion driven cars to EVs, it’s very rare that they move back again. And so it’s a momentum that’s growing all the time. And the one thing you missed out there was the Forest Green Rovers this week, which won and is joint top of the division on 30 points. That was just for Tony. Tony, who are our guests today?
Tony:
I’ve got allegedly lots and lots of our listeners. Hang on! That very news about how the road was wet in the previous week, so not. Yeah, I certainly appreciate hearing the score each week.
Yeah, there are others as well, I can assure you.
And with those words… I am sorry if I ranted it a little bit in your Global Outlook, Colin, it’s difficult for me to stay like a sober news bulletin. However, this was what we had in the Global Outlook for you today.
Jingle:
Listen to our Sustainable Hour – for the future.
Tony:
Today, The Sustainable Hour is very much about local events, what’s happening as the weather warms up in Geelong, lots of things start happening, which is good to see. So we’ll be featuring that today.
Our first guest in that light is Karina Donkers. Karina works at Geelong Sustainability, she’s in charge of campaigns there. And one of the biggest days in the Geelong Sustainability calendar is their sustainability day, and that’s coming up on the weekend. So Karina, thanks for coming in and giving up your valuable time. Tell us a little bit about what’s happening. It is an event that’s been happening for many years in Geelong now. So what’s is going to look like this year?
Karina Donkers:
Great, thanks so much, Tony. We are really excited about the 16th year of Sustainable House Day. So we’ve actually been running it in this region for 16 years and each year it tends to be growing bigger and better each year. So we’ve had a month long of events and we’re coming up to the end of that month, which is highlighted by our open house day, which is happening on this Saturday, so Saturday the 26th of October. And it’s going to be a wonderful day where there’s going to be eight homes open around the region in three different local government areas. So Council of Geelong, Borough of Queenscliff and Surf Coast Shire.
We’re going to have eight homes around that region open. The Sustainable House Day was developed to really support the community to be able to and homeowners and people living in rentals and homes to be able to actually make practical changes to make their homes more comfortable, more cost effective and to lower their emissions and give them real practical examples of how to make more sustainable homes for them and for the larger climate.
And so we’re really proud to have a amazing showcase of eight homes and they vary from new… We’ve got actually our first ever 10 star straw bale home that’s going to be shown in Modewarre – and opened in Modewarre – which is really cool, quite fantastic, and there is not that many of them in Australia, let alone in Victoria. And so to have a 10-star home open is extra exciting for people to go and see what that looks like, how they can implement these things within their area and within their own homes.
And so we’ve got new homes, we’ve got renovated homes and also retrofitted homes, as well as some showcases of passivhouse designs from a renovated home to a passive house renovation and also an in-progress passive house.
And so that is really interesting for those who want to understand what goes into actually implementing a passivhouse design, because that’s quite an involved process and one that Australia has been doing a little bit in, other countries have been more developed in for many, many years. And we’re kind of learning and catching up in regards to how to design these homes better.
Passivhouse is an option that has been a growing space in Australia. And it’s really exciting that we have two examples of them. One of how you take an old beach house that’s run down into a house design and one that’s a new build but is in progress so you get to actually go in and see what’s involved with the envelope, see what’s involved with the build and learn about that. But during the day you actually have the opportunity to tour around, have a look at these homes, speak with the homeowners and hear about their learnings – why they implemented it, the benefits they’ve had.
So a lot of these homeowners have experienced huge cost savings in their bills. And so not only is it a benefit for the climate and the environment, but also for the cost of living, which is hitting home for people considerably at the moment. So you get to talk to the homeowners, you also get to talk to the experts, so the architects or the designers or some of them will have retrofit window, people that you can speak to, solar experts, and you can really ask your technical questions and learn a little bit about either a small step that you want to take or a larger dream that you’re dreaming into around making a more sustainable house for yourself.
So we really encourage everyone to come along. The homes are live on our website and you can kind of go through and see the different characteristics of each of the open homes and kind of plan out the ones that feel the most relevant to you and which will support you in whatever you’re working through at the moment and cater for your needs. So you can go, okay, I want to go to the Easter long home and the Queenscliff home because they’ve got these elements that I’m really passionate about. And so that’s what we encourage people to go in onto our website, have a look at the homes and plan the ones that you want to go to and then do a bit of a tour on the day and get all of your questions answered.
Mik:
And the website is?
Karina:
The website is on Geelong Sustainability’s website. You’ll see that on our front homepage that you can jump onto the Sustainable House Day page from there, but it’s www.geelongsustainability.org.au forward-slash S-H-D. So Sustainable House Day S-H-D at the end of that.
But if you just go onto our normal website on that front page, you’ll see the link, click on that. And that’s got our range of events. And we’re really passionate about providing people those tools to be able to make these changes, because it makes a huge difference. The emissions that our residential space has in regards to the bigger picture is significant and really important that we’re looking at how to do that tangibly in our region.
Mik:
It’s great to see, Carina, that it’s so popular as it is. And I know it’s been 16 years of growing a tradition almost, but how do you manage that sometimes you have hundreds of people who come to one house and how do you get them through and how do they all get a good experience?
Karina:
Yeah, no, we plan it out a lot. And that is the great thing about the day. It actually attracts thousands of people throughout the multiple homes around the region. The homes are open for four hours each. And so there is an opportunity for people to get that amount of time that they want to have where they can chat with the homeowners and the experts. But we do it via tours. We don’t have people just wandering through because they won’t necessarily know what they’re looking at. They won’t know the key learnings that we want to share. And so we do it via set tours where the homeowners or the experts are actually taking, you know, 10, 15 minute tours of the homes with groups of people.
So the volunteers will gather you at the front, sign you in, and then you’ll go on a tour of the home, learn all these pieces about it, all the tips and tricks, get your questions answered and then the next two will go through and that allows for a large proportion of people to really learn collectively together.
Colin:
I think it’s super, Karina. I opened up our house, something like, must have been one of the early ones, 15 or 16 years ago. And when I think of the difference between the house that we opened then, we were then talking about things like insulation and putting windows up high so that they got the sun and we were talking about orientation and at that time we had just put in, well not just put in, we had solar panels and we were really talking to people about how beneficial solar panels are. Nowadays that is, that’s accepted by just about everybody, they’ve got solar panels. They’re now talking batteries and they’re talking how to have double glazing windows and things that weren’t even on the agenda then. So it’s changing all the time and it’s improving all the time.
Shamus, SO’R Construction, builder of the 10-star home in Modewarre:
Meeting a 10-star home means that the house can run without really too much heating and cooling input purely by using the sun’s heat energy and shading it in summer, we’re able to have a house that might maintain 20-21C degrees year-round without any heating or cooling needs.
The house is a fully off-grid solar home, so it’s all electric, which is a big thing to get it to 10 star, means we’re using way less power, much less demand on the off-grid system really based on really good insulation. We’ve got our straw bale home, which is a great insulator. We added additional insulation in the ceiling and under the floors. And it was a real spec with the window and the glazing as to really get us across the line. And we did also have to add in a front door airlock essentially. So we just created a small space by the front door to create an unconditioned space which just give us all the ticks on the program with the energy rating software, 10 star is the maximum, the highest rating you can get. There is no 10.1, there’s no 11, we hit 10 and yeah, we were, I guess that’s all we could do. That’s the best house as far as the energy rating software is concerned. That’s the best house we could build.
In the design process of the house, we really did just set out to build a really comfortable home. What we were able to achieve was a nine star originally and then because we were so close to ten, you know, the desire of myself and of the clients and the energy raider as well. We were all really driven. Even the window glaziers and the window manufacturers, we all put in that bit of extra effort and really up spec things and attention to detail. And it was really the one percenters that sort of pushed us to that 10 star rating. You know, it was it was a real collaborative team effort, but to achieve something like that was super exciting for everybody. You know, we don’t like to gloat, but we are gloating about it because it’s amazing.
Not Just Bikes: ‘These Stupid Trucks are Literally Killing Us’
I really don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that if there’s a positive goal that cities have for the future, SUVs fight against that. They’re just bad for cities. Really bad. If you’re walking and you get hit by an SUV, you’re three times more likely to die than if you’ve been hit by regular car. And if you’re in that regular car, you’re more likely to die in a crash if it’s with an SUV. SUVs are more likely to hit people in the first place because they’re big, unwieldy, and have poor visibility.
SUV drivers themselves are twice as likely to be killed in a rollover than car drivers. SUVs make congestion worse because they take up more space on the roads, they have terrible fuel economy too, and the list goes on and on. And to be completely honest, I’m making this video because I’m absolutely fed up with the conversation around SUVs and light trucks. We’re constantly being told that doing anything about the astronomical growth in the average size of motor vehicles would infringe on the freedoms of people to do whatever they want.
But your freedom to swing your arm ends where my face begins, and SUVs are a giant punch in the face to everyone who doesn’t drive one. In short, SUVs are oversised, ridiculous, unnecessary death machines that are literally killing people, even their own drivers. So let’s look at why they’re so popular. If you went back in time about 40 years, you wouldn’t really see any SUVs. If you lived in a rural area, you might see a small pickup truck or a bare-bones Jeep used for hunting or farming.
But until fairly recently, pretty much everybody drove a car or maybe a van. But today, light trucks and SUVs make up almost 80 per cent of all new car sales in the US. 80 per cent ! The auto industry has been heavily pushing these vehicles for years and it’s been done to avoid regulations, meaning more profit for car manufacturers. This is possible because in America, SUVs are classified as light trucks, which aren’t subject to the same safety and emission standards as cars. Light trucks originally referred to commercial vehicles that needed to carry or tow heavy loads or traverse difficult terrain. To facilitate this, light trucks have large engines and stiff frames, both of which are disastrous for fuel economy and safety, but more on that in a second. And it all started because of these f***ing chickens. In 1962, Europe placed a heavy import tax on American chickens.
In retaliation, America levied import taxes of their own. They specifically targeted European light trucks that were typically used by small businesses. And since foreign automakers were already producing better and cheaper cars, the declining American auto industry really wanted to shift to a vehicle where they didn’t have to compete, because competition is for suckers. So that carved out light trucks as its own category in America. But what really kicked off the explosion of SUVs was, ironically, Fuel Efficiency Regulations The corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE standards, required all automobile manufacturers in the US to improve the average fuel economy of their entire fleet or face financial penalties. But here’s the catch. American automakers lobbied hard so that light trucks were classified differently than passenger cars. This was necessary, they argued, because unlike cars, light trucks were used by honest, hard-working, red-blooded American patriots.
So with effectively nothing being done to slow the adoption of heavier vehicles, some people are taking matters into their own hands. A group calling themselves the Tire Extinguishers have started deflating the tires of SUVs in Europe. It’s unclear whether this is a crime. Their stated goal is to make it impossible to own an SUV in the city. Now obviously this is really extreme behavior, but let’s be clear.
This group only exists because of the complete and utter regulatory silence that has come from city and federal governments when it comes to curbing the problems caused by SUVs in cities. And even if the US is too far gone, European cities need to deal with this issue immediately. SUVs and crossovers now account for 40 per cent of all vehicles sold in the EU, a 900 per cent increase since 2001. I don’t think Europeans realise how bad this can get.
I hear people justifiably complaining about the infestation of giant Land Rovers in European cities. But look at how small this Range Rover looks next to a full-sized American SUV. Europe needs to get ahead of SUVs and pickup trucks now before more Europeans end up under them. Fundamentally, SUVs are a plague on cities. They’re impractical, dangerous, expensive, and polluting, but car manufacturers have spent billions of dollars to convince you to think otherwise. Don’t fall for it. Let your local representatives know you’re not okay with these suburban assault vehicles taking over our roads. Ultimately, this really is about freedom. The freedom to get around however we want. The freedom to drive a small and efficient car without worrying about the road safety arms race. Or even better, the freedom to not to have to drive. To get around by walking, cycling and public transit – without the constant threat of serious injury or death from bloated oversized trucks. And finally, since the typical light truck driver is so status obsessed, let’s use that to our advantage. So when you see someone driving a truck like this, let them know they look like a f***ing idiot. Get a station wagon, loser. This is cold. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared. At the heart of this conflict is a battle between truth and science – and power and lies.
Tony:
Now we’ll continue with the local theme and we have good friend of The Sustainable Hour, Monica Winston. Monica, welcome once again. Thanks for coming on. And yeah, earlier in the year you were talking about your series of workshops and there’s another one coming up in the near future centered around permaculture. So maybe if you can tell our listeners about what’s happening on that front.
Monica Winston:
Thank you, Tony. Yes, this is number four in a series of six that we’re running for a mini sustainable living festival. This one is about, it’s very exciting. It’s based on a workshop that we ran about five years ago. The format is we’re going to have two, maybe three speakers and then we can have a lovely plant-based afternoon tea. Then we’ve got
Between 10 and 15 permaculture designers coming with a huge amount and width of experience in different areas and they’re making themselves available to provide many consultations of between 10 and 20 minutes to the public. So people book in and then they’ll be able to select one or maybe two, depends on the numbers, designers that they want to ask questions based on permaculture ethics and principles and the experience of those designers. And they could be asking anything about their life, their career path, their whatever, and they could bring photos and plans of their home or ideas that they want advice on or a property or an urban garden, anything really. then there’ll be a lot of mixing and I want to the permaculture designers an opportunity to sort of chat with each other as well because there’s a range of possibilities after this of a more connected community in the region. Monica, you have also invited two of your main speakers who are with us here today in the sustainable hour, Rick Coleman and Mark Dekker.
Maybe we should just hear briefly what are you going to be talking about if we start with you, Rick? Okay,
I found it quite amusing listening to you two rant today because what I’m going to be selling is joy. You come into your backyards and you don’t know how to start. You’re a bit disempowered. And my objective in my talk is to open up and empower you. But there’s a couple of factors that really struck me during the coronavirus. Isolation really hit in.
And a bit of information came to me. was one third of people are lonely all the time. Two thirds of people are lonely most of the time. I was just shattered by that news. And I started reconstructing how I went about permaculture and concentrated a lot more on building communities and bringing them together. I’m currently doing a garden gems program at Bas Shire in all the different community gardens there.
You’re about switching to a green, sustainable thing. And where do get your status? Where do you get your joy? Where do you get your company from? Because when I go into a permaculture conference, I’m looking at a lot of dour monks. We’ve been fighting the cause for 30 years. We’re saving the world. It’s serious business. But we forget to have fun. We forget to have fun.
And people look at us from the outside and we look serious, folks. We’re going to sell the happiness. No one’s coming to down amongst. So that’s the first thing I want to talk about, getting some joy out of your backyard as well as sustainability. And no man is an island, no backyard is a community. So I want to link a lot of small backyards together and help the community rebuild.
The other reason I’m coming up to this talk is also the last one five years ago. We were uncertain how the designers were going to connect with the public. But the problem in the end was prying them away from each other. Once they got attached to each other, the designers just let fly. And they were just, they’ve been hanging out for years to talk about all the knowledge they have. The public couldn’t get enough of it. And it went way over time. And
The lasting impression of that day for me was just overriding joy right through from the organisers to the public to the designers and it accessed the public to the designers for the first time. And yeah, Colin. yeah, look, I was just going to point out that we’ve got King Charles III visiting us at the moment. And when he was a young prince, a stripling, he was well known for
talking to his plants. Are you now suggesting that we go out and tell them jokes? Yes, I’ve got many corny jokes. I’ve got nutty jokes for my orchard. And I’ve got cheesy jokes for the dairy section of my For the tomatoes? Make sure you listen to their response though too. yeah. Yeah.
And when Colin was speaking, I was already saying, you know, but what are we going to do about our earned status if we get rid of the SUVs? And how are we going to look macho in a Tesla? These are the real issues for those trainees. How are we going to look macho in a Tesla on the side? So we’ve got to conquer these social issues rather than the technical ones as we go along. That sounds very facetious.
But often, one of the blocks falling on my friends was they bought a four wheel drive because the other mothers dropping kids off to school had big SUVs. So she had to get rid of her BMW to compete. Yep. And they think it’s safer too. Their argument is that the four wheel drives are safer. It’s not backed up by any statistics at all. The four wheel drives are actually less safe.
to drive their less safe, they have more accidents. Sorry to over talk you, I think they’re status oriented and we’ve got to raise the status of what we’re selling. I think the social sustainability is just important. I find that overseas that the social aspect is the biggest block. I can talk the technical and everything like that, but what about what he’s getting and she’s getting and they’re getting often commute blocks. So what am I talking about?
I’m talking about some simple techniques you can do for your backyard as an individual, as in a family. But I’m talking about the backyard can be a lot more than vegetables. It can be a barbecue, it can be a playground, it can be a respite area. It doesn’t have to be just vegetables. There’s another bit of information that came recently, and that is they did a study of the consumption or carbon emissions of community gardens.
home gardens and commercial farms. And commercial farms actually won out. And the main reason is the home gardens are putting so many beaches in and raised garden beds of tin and so on, that actually they’re not gaining any benefit in terms of carbon emissions. And the community gardens are doing the same thing. So I want people to have a look at the reuse, recycle, reduce philosophy and talk about ways, okay, it’s gonna look a bit rough, start bringing some art into that garden so those rough old things that they’re reusing actually look nice as well and then that’s transferable because to be facetious, no middle class person’s gonna switch to an old rusty bucket but they will switch to a nice painted rusty bucket that has status.
Mark Dekker, welcome back to The Sustainable Hour because I remember a decade ago when we started, and this is close to 11 years ago that we started the Sustainable Hour on 94.7 The Pulse. And you were one of the first guests who came in and we filled an entire hour talking about the connection between land and permaculture and many, many other aspects of Aboriginal culture and so on. Mark, what are you going to talk about at this event coming up on Sunday?
Mark Dekker:
Thanks, Mik. I will be talking about some of the same themes that we spoke about a decade ago, and that is about becoming Indigenous to place, inviting people to really immerse themselves in their local landscape and their bioregion and embrace it and become a kid, become part of it. We’ve all been born, well, some of us have been born in Geelong under the creator’s eye of Bundjal, those of us that been born in that way belong here. Our atoms are here. When we eat, that is the magic of our DNA putting country together into a person. And here we are. So we are country walking. You could say the earth is people. And then what’s our role? To be human beings, not just human doings. And also just to
slow down bit look after the place and look after each other. So it’s just a bit of a chat around exploring the values of permaculture and how they are consistent with some of the ways that have been brought up, but also gleaned over the years from elders as well. It’s one of those journeys, I think, in life where you’re always learning and you’re always learning to be a mindful resident on the planet.
and to be an active member of community. So I’d just like to talk to that a little bit and encourage people to get involved and feel like they have something to give. Feel like everybody should feel like they can be worthy elders and they’ve got something to give because God knows the world needs them. We need a bunch of people who are willing to explore what it means to be a good ally, but also a good elder.
We all need them. So people who are walking on the earth in such a way that is inspiring for the next generation and is showing the way that there is hope and that there is action and that they can be involved. There are local solutions. are local community events to get involved in and have some fun with, you know, and that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about carnival. It’s all about festival. That’s what we need to build going forward and make this
regenerative process as fun as possible and inclusive as possible. Bring everybody under that one tension, because as far as First Nations people are concerned, we are concerned about the future of the planet. And as a global sort of community, know our mob can be fairly kind of insular and inward looking. But we are global citizens also these days and it is concerning.
We do see leadership from First Nations people at the United Nations level, which is fantastic. And we need to, I think as a global community, start to listen. Just to explore that inner work that we all can do and reconnect with our own Indigenous ancestors, we all have them, whether you’re European, African, Asian, or South American or whatever, we all have our old people who had a very deep and divine connection to the landscape, divine connection to land, the gods were in the landscape and they had an intimate connection to it. So I think it’s an invitation for everybody just to reinvigorate and reconnect and remember their place as an earthling, as an earth being.
That’s great Mark.
So if people want to know more and if they want to meet you in person where both you and Rick and many others will be speaking and talking for how many hours is it? Several hours suddenly. That’s on Sunday. And Monica, you can give us the details. Yes, sure. It starts at two at Vines Road Community Center in Hamlin Heights and goes till five o’clock. But there is a booking link. We have asked for some payment.
There’s multiple tickets that range from $5 to $50. And we’re on Facebook and Instagram, Transition Streets Geelong. And anyone’s welcome to message me. If like the $5 tickets run out and you want to come and that’s what you can afford, I can always expand the amount of $5 tickets that there are. Because we want, we could have a hundred people there. Yeah. And it sounds so important and really, really something that goes deep.
And we need to have that discussion, don’t we? to respond to some of the points? yes. Go on, Monica. Okay. Well, I just thought of a few things. First of all, love, like, when I started organising this event, I forgot that I might be buoyed up by it as well. And I’m really finding the contact so far with Rick and Mark so invigorating because I can lose hope and I can feel swamped as well.
And both of them brings, you know, that’s what I love about permaculture and people connecting is especially very experienced people like these two can bring, there’s always something you can do, you know, that kind of feeling of active hope or whatever you call it. And the other thing is there is an assumption that governments are here to look after us. When they’re funded by fossil fuel corporations, that’s a big assumption.
So I wanted to say that. And another thing is that the demand for fossil fuels or for that matter any other source of energy is really the result of bad design. And what I love about permaculture is it’s a design system. And switching to alternative energy sources is helpful, but that’s not going to save us either because if we use that energy the way that we have been.
We’re going to plunder ecological systems and that’s not going to be good. So yes, it will slow things down but really we need a redesign of all sorts of things including the way we live, the way we work and that kind of thing and some of that can be retrofitted. So we really need system change and that can come from the ground up or it can come from the top down and it can come from anywhere in between.
But most of us were born in the industrial age of cheap energy and we have lots of skills and the concept that we should actually be responsible for doing anything to meet our own basic needs. So some people are resistant to the idea except if they find out that it could be fun or enrich their life, that’s a different thing. And I also think that with economic and other kinds of stress that people
often turn, I know I do, I turn to comforting practices and lifestyles which are really to do with abundant energy and I don’t know, driving around instead of riding my bike and that sort of thing. So I really like what you raised Rick about. It’s not only important for people to get something out of it but we have to think about how we care for ourselves when times get tough, which they have done.
And we know that in Geelong because zillions of people are on food aid and people having mortgage stress and all that kind of thing. So for me, permaculture is not only a strategy for minimising and regenerating environments and social systems, it’s also a great strategy for our best chance of resilience in the face of whatever, a disaster, know, a personal tragedy, whatever it is. Excellent.
So the title of the event is Permaculture Speed Consults and Talk, organized by Transition Streets Geelong. This Sunday from 2 5 at Vines Road Community House. And you can find tickets for it if you look up TransitionStreetsGeelong.org. We should also, Monica, briefly mention that for the business community, we are doing something, I wouldn’t say something similar, but it’s also something about bringing people together and finding out what we can do.
within the world of business. If people out there sit and think, what can I do in my business? And I’m feeling a little bit lonely, either as a business or as an employee in a company, wanting to do something more, something that’s relevant in this world of climate crisis, as we’re talking about. So there’s an event that we’re organizing at Common Ground Project Cafe, Common Ground, which is this place on the road between
just going out of Geelong towards Anglesey. They actually just recently received a business reward. The Business Class Finance Grant was awarded to the Common Ground Project by the Geelong Chamber of Commerce. So that’s also, I think, a very community-focused business, truly inspiring business, where this event will be hosted on the 6th of November. That’s a Wednesday evening from 6 to 9, where people can get together
who are working with business in one way or the other and get inspiration, meet other people who are like-minded in the same boat of wanting to start that journey towards a much more sustainable and climate-friendly way of doing business.
[Jingle]
Mik:
That’s all we could fit in one Sustainable Hour. Thank you very, very much for some great content. And I think spreading optimism, joy, and even humor at a time when we feel some of us, some more than others, feel down about the news and all the terrible things that are going on at a global scale on this planet. Be resilient.
Yep, stay cheerful right up through the Trump election. So that’s gonna be hard. But yeah, if we’re cheerful, we attract people, they listen to our ideas. Absolutely. Waving their finger and wagging their… raging with their fists, people shut down. So we’ve got to start doing that. And if we don’t combat the joy, I can tell you now, all the sights are being taken over by far-right angry trolls at the moment.
And if you’re not selling joy back, people are going to move to that. It’s easy to be angry. It’s hard work to be happy. So we need to help them along their way. So it’s almost as if the good old slogan, don’t worry, be happy is what should end this hour. I think we should worry. Do worry, but be happy. Yeah. And keep moving, keep going. Yeah, don’t stop.
SONG: (54:42)
Formidable Vegetable: ‘Earth People Fair’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIQlS_VrNkQ
I wanna see myself as a part of the whole
grow some food for my family food bowl
stand my ground but give up control
know the boundaries but tear down all the walls
won’t give up or give in to apathy
gonna plant a tree then plant another three thousand
now’s the time to start feeding my soul
feet in the soil
believing anything is possible
As I get older some things become clearer
the end of my life is always getting nearer
focussing on the things that bring meaning
food, community, love and healing
been getting tired of all this moving around
wanna bring it back home to a simple piece of ground
been talking bout it til my mouth is dumb
but all I wanna do it make a deeper connection with some
Earth people fair
I’ve been looking for the
Earth people fair
Show me where to find the
Earth people fair, yeah
A stray alien wandering this ancient land
so much of the dream that I still don’t understand
been lookin at ya but I’d rather see you
and follow the path of that old dark emu
some day my body’s gonna breathe it’s last
yeah, I’m aware that this too shall pass
but til then, I’ll keep singin to the open air
hoping there’s time to
Advance Earth People Fair
Earth People fair
I’ve been looking for the
Earth people fair
Show me where to find the
Earth people fair, yeah
Earth people fair
get together with the
Earth people fair
let me hear it for the
Earth people fair, yeah
Nick Cave: Letter about hopefulness (Hopefulness Is the Warrior Emotion)
https://kottke.org/24/08/hopefulness-is-the-warrior-emotion
Okay, so the question someone has written in called Valerio from Stockholm has written in saying, following the last few years I’m feeling empty and more cynical than ever. I’m losing faith in other people and I’m scared to pass these feelings onto my little son. Do you still believe in us human beings? So this is the letter that I wrote:
‘Dear Valerio. Much of my early life was spent holding the world and the people in it in contempt. It was a position both seductive and indulgent. The truth is I was young and had no idea what was coming down the line. It took a devastation to teach me the preciousness of life and the essential goodness of people. It took a devastation to reveal the precariousness of the world, of its very soul, and to understand that the world was crying out for help.
It took a devastation to understand the idea of mortal value and it took a devastation to find hope. Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard earned, makes demands upon us and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth. Hopefulness is not a neutral position, it is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism.
Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like, such as reading to your little boy or showing him a thing you love or singing him a song or putting on his shoes, keeps the devil down in the hole. It says the world and its inhabitants have value and are worth defending. It says the world is worth believing in. In time, we come to find that this is so. Love, Nick.’
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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.
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