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The Sustainable Hour no. 531 | Transcript | Podcast notes
Our guest in The Sustainable Hour no. 531 on 4 December 2024 is Jeff Allen, founder of Blue Moon Destillers, an essential oils start-up which will launch its online shop on 1 February 2025.
Blue Moon Distillers is a family-owned brand with over 30 years of expertise in the art of distillation. Led by internationally renowned Master Distiller Jeff Allen, they craft 100 per cent pure, slow-distilled oils and botanical massage blends inspired by the Australian bush landscape and a celebration of sustainable farming practices. Each product they create tells a story.
With a commitment to quality, sustainability, and cultural respect, Blue Moon Distillers offer a sensory experience that connects you to the spirit of the land, wherever you may be.
Launch date: 1 February 2025
Launch location: Honorbread, Bermagui, New South Wales, Australia
Website: Launching 1 February 2025 (sneak preview can be made available to host)
Blue Moon Destillers creates
– ‘Sense of Place’ body oil blends
– Pure essential oils
– Workshops, scent collaborations, custom still manufacturing, retail opportunities
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Jeff Allen has travelled to Egypt, Vanuatu, West Timor, Papua New Guinea and beyond, working with First Nations peoples to build sustainable distilling practices.
Jeff was employed by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation as an international expert of distillation. In 2021 he was inspired to craft and curate a line of slow-distilled oils and botanical massage and body oil blends to give people a true sense or ‘scent’ of the Australian bush, wherever they may land.
Why the name ‘Blue Moon’?
The name Blue Moon comes from a constellation of places – a rusted sign on an old apple packing shed in Stanley, Victoria, a blue moon being something rare, in nature’s timing, and a little bit magic, and in Jeff’s family’s adoration for the way the moon pulls and sways the oceans.
Now working with an extended team of talented craftspeople, Blue Moon Distillers is passionate about bringing out 100 per cent pure, slow-distilled oils to enhance everyone’s daily rituals.
At Blue Moon Distillers, they believe in the power of nature to heal and inspire, which is why they use only the finest, sustainably sourced botanicals in teir blends. Their oils and blends are a celebration of Australia’s rich natural heritage and a tribute to the sacred beauty of the land Australia’s First Peoples nurtured, celebrated and fought for.
From the very beginning, the journey has been about connecting with people and places in a meaningful way. Blue Moon Distillers are dedicated to supporting local communities and preserving traditional practices, ensuring that every bottle reflects their commitment to quality, sustainability, and giving back.
About the ‘Sense of Place’ range
Blue Moon’s Sense of Place collection is a curated line of body oils distilled from botanics endemic to iconic Australian terrain. Each blend pays homage to plants that uniquely flourish along the Sapphire Coast of New South Wales – and soon, beyond!
From the warm embrace of Tanja’s Lavaleuca to the refreshing zest of Bermagui’s citrus notes, every drop captures the spirit of its environment.
Blue Moon Distillers work closely with farmers farmers and suppliers to deliver a product as close to its natural state as possible. No nasties, no fragrances, no tampering – just the beautiful aroma of the Australian bush.
Supporting marine conservation
At Blue Moon, they believe in the power of community and environmental stewardship. That’s why they donate 5 per cent of their annual profits to the Sea Women of Melanesia, SWOM, the first all-female marine conservation organisation in the region. Their mission is to empower Melanesian women with the training and resources needed to actively protect and manage marine environments.
→ You can read more about them here: www.seawomen.net
Through education, Blue Moon Destillers aim to empower communities with knowledge about sustainable distillation practices, the unique properties of Australian flora, and the importance of environmental stewardship, fostering a deeper connection to the natural world around us.
Part of nature
Their wish for us is to have a few moments in our day to “arrive home in our bodies”. They want you to feel truly still and grounded, however fleeting that may be, so as to remind you that you are a part of nature and it is a part of you.
Their products are clean and uncomplicated, and they hope you use them as selfishly as possible to unfold, restore and rejuvenate.
→ For more information, you can reach out to Madison Phillips on 0491 087 459
→ Connect and catch up with Bluee Moon Destillers on Facebook and Instagram
We built stills, machinery for distilling essential oils, and every time we travel – whenever we spoke about the place we’d just been, we’d be able to smell the place. You now, after you go bushwalking, after it’s rained, there’s a definite smell, and they’re all different. So I’ve got over 30 years of apprenticeship, and I’ve now come to this point where I want to share that knowledge and experience with other people and let those people then experience their own sense of place. So I’ve worked out different plants that grow in different areas, such as we’ve got Sense of Place Burmaguay, Sense of Place Tanger, and though we’re concentrating on the Bega Valley area first and then hopefully go broader from there.”
~ Jeff Allen, founder of Blue Moon Distillers
During the hour, we also play Australian climate minister Chris Bowen’s speech at CoP29 in Baku, a video from Climate Council, a video about that ‘Every fraction of a degree matters’ from the United Nations Environment Programme, Sir David Attenborough speaking for an advertisement for Cambridge University, an ABC News report from Norlane, where local residents met to protest against a propost gas hub project, and, rounding off, we listen to the Formidable Vegetable’s formidable song ‘Climate Movement’.
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The best part about being involved with this podcast, is that each week we feature at least one climate concerned person who knows about the true nature of the climate crisis we face, but inspite of those concerns, are prepared to become active participants in the solutions.
It was especially pleasing for me this week, when that person just happened to be someone I know well. Jeff Allen has worked in his field of essential oils for over three decades and is putting these lessons together in starting up Blue Moon DistIllers.
We wish him all the best in this and will be following his progress with such great interest.
What was also exciting about today’s show were not one, but two significant reports which we featured:
Firstly there was The New Energy Trade report that was authored by Dr Reuben Fineghan. This reinforced what we at The Sustainable Hour have been saying for a long time: The clean energy transition will put us in the superpower category because we are blessed with a great wealth of solar and wind resources which we can readily trade with countries that don’t have these resources.
Secondly was news from Mik’s birth country Denmark, where they recently passed their “Agreement for a Green Denmark” legislation in their parliament. We didn’t feature this as a ‘perfect model’, because it isn’t, however it is something that hopefully other countries like ours can look at and start to get serious about real action on the climate crisis.
We could do much worse than sending both of these to every Australian politician in the lead up to the federal election which will be held in the first half of next year – to show them just what is possible.
We’ll be back next week with our annual music show, as we continue our quest to distill the problems down to a simple solution.
~ Tony Gleeson
“The climate stability of the past 12,000 years has come to an end. And around the world, we are now suffering from the impact. At the same time, nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history with as many as a million species facing extinction. Fortunately, we’re now better informed about the state of the world than ever before in the planet’s history. And those with knowledge and the ability to innovate can provide solutions to a great number of problems. We need solutions. We need action. And we need them now.”
~ David Attenborough, British TV presenter in an advertisement for Cambridge University
→ Subscribe to The Sustainable Hour podcast via Apple Podcasts
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We at The Sustainable Hour would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are broadcasting, the Wadawurrung People. We pay our respects to their elders – past, present, and emerging, and extend that respect to all First Nations people.
The traditional custodians lived in harmony with the land for millennia, nurturing it and thriving in often harsh conditions. Their connection to the land was deeply spiritual and sustainable. This land was invaded and stolen from them. It was never ceded. Today, it is increasingly clear that if we are to survive the climate emergency we face, we must learn from their land management practices and cultural wisdom.
True climate justice cannot be achieved until Australia’s First Nations people receive the justice they deserve. When we speak about the future, we must include respect for those yet to be born, the generations to come. As the old saying reminds us: “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” It is deeply unfair that decisions to ignore the climate emergency are being made by those who won’t live to face the worst impacts, leaving future generations to bear the burden of their inaction.
“The Indigenous worldview has been marginalised for generations because it was seen as antiquated and unscientific and its ethics of respect for Mother Earth were in conflict with the industrial worldview. But now, in this time of climate change and massive loss of biodiversity, we understand that the Indigenous worldview is neither unscientific nor antiquated, but is, in fact, a source of wisdom that we urgently need.”
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer, weallcanada.org
→ The Conversation – 6 December 2024:
After 65,000 years caring for this land, First Nations peoples are now key to Australia’s clean energy revolution
“Australia is on the cusp of a once-in-a-generation transformation, as our energy systems shift to clean, renewable forms of power. First Nations peoples, the original custodians of this land, must be central to – and benefit from – this transition. That is the key message of the federal government’s new First Nations Clean Energy Strategy. The government has committed A$70 million to help realise its aims.”
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Circularity pioneers in Bega
Bega’s bid to become a circular economy to reduce waste
ReefCloud
ReefCloud is an open-access digital platform developed by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and its partners. It utilises machine learning and advanced analysis to rapidly extract and share data from images of coral reefs worldwide. By automating data processing, ReefCloud standardises collected information, analysing coral reef composition with 80-90% accuracy and performing assessments 700 times faster than traditional manual methods. This efficiency enables timely and informed decision-making, enhancing the global coral reef monitoring community’s ability to collaborate in real time and improve the long-term resilience of coral reefs.
→ reefcloud.ai
“The world is in a climate emergency. Unless greenhouse gas emissions fall dramatically, warming could pass 2.9°C this century. Narrated by Don Cheadle, learn about UNEP’s latest climate action series and the leaders, activists and entrepreneurs building scalable climate solutions across the world. Every fraction of a degree matters, every climate action counts. What will you do?”
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Agreement for a Green Denmark
In November 2024, Denmark approved a political agreement to transform agriculture, enhance biodiversity, improve water quality, and strengthen climate efforts. The agreement, titled “Agreement for a Green Denmark,” is also known as the Green Tripartite Agreement.
The main points of the agreement are:
Introduction of a CO2e tax on agriculture:
A carbon tax on livestock will be implemented at a rate of DKK 300 per ton of CO2 in 2030, rising to DKK 750 per ton in 2035. With a 60% baseline deduction, the effective tax rate will be DKK 120 per ton in 2030, increasing to DKK 300 per ton in 2035.
In addition, a carbon tax on carbon-rich peatlands of DKK 40 per ton will be introduced in 2028 to incentivize landowners to participate in retirement-projects of peatlands.
10% of Denmark’s total land area is to be converted to nature and forest to benefit biodiversity and water quality, including 15% of agricultural land.
140,000 hectares of carbon-rich peatlands will be retired from agricultural use.
The goal is for annual nitrogen emissions to be reduced by 13,780 tons starting in 2027. Bornholm (a Danish island in the Baltic Sea) is exempt, as water areas here are significantly affected by transboundary emissions.
Establishment of 250,000 hectares of new forest by 2045
Of this, 100,000 hectares will be set aside as natural forests, with 80,000 hectares privately owned and 20,000 hectares state-owned. The remaining 150,000 hectares will be private forests, most likely production forests.
Approximately DKK 10 billion in subsidies will be allocated for biochar storage through pyrolysis by 2045.
Financing: A green area fund of DKK 43 billion will be established.
Revenue recycling for green transition: Return of revenue to agriculture: The revenue from the CO2 tax on livestock in 2030-31 will be returned to a transition support pool to promote the green transition in agriculture. The system for handling the revenue will be reassessed in 2032.
Climate impact
The agreement targets a reduction of 1.8 million tons of CO₂ emissions by 2030, with potential reductions of up to 2.6 million tons.
If the planned reductions are not realized, equivalent reductions of up to 2.2 million tonnes of CO₂ in 2030 must be found through other agricultural measures.
Concerns and weaknesses
- Afforestation is based on a voluntary scheme
- The establishment of 230,000 hectares relies on voluntary participation.
- Analyses indicate that creating forest areas or converting farmland is not necessarily economically advantageous for farmers, which poses a significant challenge.
- The 100.000 hectares of natural forests will still be covered by the Danish forest law, which will limit the opportunities to get proper wild forests.
Denmark remains non-compliant with the EU’s Water Framework Directive – here, too, it relies on voluntary measures.
Denmark still lacks an overarching strategy for land use planning, which leads to the concern that land converted to nature will be small areas scattered around the land and not necessarily the most biodiverse areas.
Weak CO2 tax
Due to built-in tax exemptions, the effective tax rate is too low to drive the necessary reductions and transitions. In some cases, minimal adjustments may exempt farmers/producers from the tax entirely e.g. by adding additives like bovaer to feed. This undermines the CO2 tax as especially large producers will easily be able to implement this.
While the tax is an important first step, it is insufficient to drive the fundamental transformation of agriculture. Instead of encouraging a structural shift toward more plant-based foods, fewer livestock, and organic farming, the current model risks maintaining a large, intensive livestock production system.
Funding challenges
The financing of the tripartite agreement remains unclear. For example, Denmark plans to sell CO2 quotas that were originally intended to be canceled for the benefit of climate and nature, following new calculations of Danish forests’ CO2 absorption capacity.
Lack of evidence for climate effects of pyrolysis
The agreement heavily emphasizes pyrolysis and biochar. While the technology shows potential, its climate impacts are not yet fully studied, leading to significant uncertainty. It is advisable to wait for further evidence before becoming dependent on this solution. On a positive note, the pyrolysis fund will be reevaluated in 2027.
No focus on what this agreement will mean for the import of animal feed
This text was provided by Anne-Sofie Sadolin Henningsen, advisor at Forests of the World
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→ Concity – 14 November 2024:
Paving the Way for Agriculture Emission Reductions – the Danish case
“Denmark has garnered global attention as the first country to introduce a national CO2e tax targeting the agricultural sector. This was made possible through an unusual political agreement.”
→ State of Green:
Denmark announces historic tripartite agreement to cut agricultural carbon emissions and restore nature
→ You can read more about the Danish green transition of the agricultural sector on the home page of Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark
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Mik’s recipe for Glögg
Glögg Essence Recipe (Scandinavian mulled wine)
The ’essence’ is the secret ingredient in Glögg. On the day of making the glögg for your guests, the essence is mixed with a lot of split almonds, raisins, some cinnamon sticks, and a bottle of redwine or two, heated in a big pot (heated, but not boiled) and served in cups.
Essence ingredients
10 cl schnapps, (other taste neutral superstrong alcohol can be used as well)
15 cl dark rum
60 cl portwine
30 cl freshly squeezed orange juice
200 g cane sugar
200 g muscovado sugar (or brown sugar)
0.5 teaspoon finely grated nutmeg
4 cinnamon sticks
20 whole cloves
1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
10 peppercorns
1 teaspoon allspice
5 star anise
1 licorice root (can be omitted, or add more if you like licorice taste)
1 vanilla bean
25 g ginger, cut into thin slices
2 eco sliced orange, with peel
1 eco sliced lemon, with peel
Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the grains. The vanilla beans are stirred together with cane sugar and then added to the pan along with the empty vanilla bean, muscovado sugar, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon sticks, cardamom seeds, peppercorns, allspice, star anise, licorice root, ginger and orange juice. Stir well and heat slowly to boiling point and until the sugar has melted. Let it just boil for 3-4 minutes and then turn down the heat completely.
Add sliced orange and lemon along with schnapps, rum and port wine.
Sift the glögg essence and store it in a bottle.
Since there is a large amount of alcohol in the essence, the mulled wine can last a long time.
Let it soak in a cool room for at least a week and preferably three weeks.
When you want to have a glass of wonderful mulled wine on a cold and cozy winter evening, or when you want to offer your guests a warming drink to get them in the spirit of Christimas, then just warm a bottle of red wine, without making it boil, and mix with essence to taste.
About 5 cl essence is roughly suitable for a glass with 20 cl red wine.
In other words, for one bottle (70 cl) of red wine, use 15-20 cl of essence = 1 medium sized cup.
But try it out – use your taste buds!
Add split almonds – or coarsely chopped almonds – and raisins while heating the wine. You might soak the raisins in a good dark rum for some hours before.
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VIVA NON GRATA:
No gas terminal in Geelong, thank you very much!
to rally against a proposed gas import terminal near Viva Energy’s refinery.”
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The Australian fossil gas industry has recently undertaken an advertising blitz in various News Corp media outlets. Aside from all the boring falsehoods that feature, the fact that it exists is pretty meaningful.
The suppliers of fossil fuels present themselves as angelic, humble passive heroes simply meeting the ‘demands of society’. They absolve themselves of any agency or moral responsibility: they’re simply handing out what society demands of them.
This screaming chorus of faux-journalistic advertisements tells us the reality: the suppliers of fossil fuels are paying big money to fabricate demand for their dangerous product. They’re extremely aware that there are safer ways to heat homes, cook food, power devices and run heavy industry and they need to protect their businesses through expensive ad campaigns.
People need energy to live good lives. They do not need fossil fuels to live good lives.
~ Ketan Joshi
IN THE NEWS
We recevied the following newsletters and stories in our info@climatesafety.info mailbox:
From the Beyond Gas Network:
NT Roadshow’s urgent message to Melbourne
23-24 November 2024
Naarm aka Melbourne has just hosted two powerful community gatherings where Traditional Owners and health and environment experts travelled from the Northern Territory to bring an urgent message to Victoria and the Federal Government:
- to redirect the $1.9 billion fossil fuel subsidy from a massive gas project in Darwin’s Middle Arm to sustainable projects that will benefit Territorians
- to stop fracking in the Beetaloo Basin and to rally support for the fight against gas expansion in the NT.
The NT Roadshow events were organised by a collaboration of NGOs and community groups – Environment Centre NT, ACF, and community climate action groups that make up the Beyond Gas Network.
On Saturday 23 November, there was a Town Hall in Coburg, “Voices from the frontline of the climate crisis: an urgent call to action from the Territory” and on Sunday 24 November, “Voices from the frontline of the climate crisis: Community Gathering for NT climate justice” at the Koorie Heritage Trust, Fed Square.
Here is a short video of the Coburg event
Audiences were engaged and inspired by the deeply personal stories from Traditional Owners, and horrified by the looming construction of 6,000 wells planned to be fracked on Country. Attendees left with determination to do what we can here in Melbourne to pressure Victorian Federal Labor MPs to advocate against fracking. Follow up action to support the NT TOs and activists is crucial.
We will be following these events with action to advocate to MPs that fracking must be stopped. It is now desperately important to meet with Labor MPs and discuss the following points:
The climate crisis is accelerating and action in Australia is increasingly urgent, given that the incoming Trump administration is certain to wind back important progress on climate made by the US in the years of the Biden administration;
The Beetaloo Basin is a carbon bomb and action to stop imminent fracking is urgent and must be implemented without delay;
Reinforce the TOs urgent message: to redirect the $1.9 billion fossil fuel subsidy from a massive gas project in Darwin’s Middle Arm to sustainable projects that will benefit Territorians;
Minister Plibersek must be pressured to implement the water trigger in the EPBC Act. The Federal government must use its powers under Federal Environment legislation to stop fracking in the Beetaloo Basin.
It’s vital that we leverage the abundant energy and momentum raised in Melbourne by these events and pressure MPs to act.
These are our requests of Federal Labor MPs:
- Urgently write to Minister Plibersek requesting the she use her power under the EPBC Act to call in for assessment the unconventional gas exploration and appraisal activities of the fracking companies in the Beetaloo Basin; noting that the report of the Independent Expert Scientific Committee tasked with reporting to the Minister on this matter is due by 31st December and that it cannot cover the vastly greater environmental risks from production from thousands of wells that will ensue if fracking is not stopped.
- Urgently write to Minister Catherine King requesting that she redirect the $1.9 billion subsidy from Middle Arm to sustainable projects that will benefit Territorians.
So if you attended one of the events, or couldn’t attend as well, follow-up action is vital. We need as many federal Victorian Labor MPs as possible to hear from us. Most will likely be back in their electorate offices now before they take a break, but time is short!
Please call, write to and/or call in to your Federal Labor MP. If you don’t know your MP you can look them up on the Australian Electoral Commission website via postcode, electorate or suburb. Then click on your electorate — you’ll be given the name of your local MP and a link with more information on how to contact them.
The AMCS has great tips about calling here
Drilling has already started in the Beetaloo Basin and this may be the last opportunity to prevent full-scale fracking before it starts next year (bearing in mind that “exploratory” and “appraisal” drilling in preparation for fracking is well under way and that unless it is paused fracking will commence in the wet season with greatly increased risk of contamination of surface water).
Please act urgently to help save the NT and protect us all from the climate consequences of the massive carbon bomb of the Beetaloo basin gas.
Thank you for all you do, and we wish you, after this, a peaceful and relaxing holiday season.
Mitzi Tuke, Peter Moraitis, Helen Lester, Rob Davis and Janet Dimelow
for the Beyond Gas Network”
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From Sustainability Victoria:
| The State of Sustainability Report 2024 provides an annual snapshot into how Victorians think, feel, and act on sustainability right now. The research tracks community sentiment and attitudes on climate change, energy efficiency, renewable energy, electrification, waste and circular economy. As decision-makers – whether in government, business, education or beyond – this research can help us meet communities where they are at, to develop policies and programs that drive real change and ensure we’re investing for impact in reducing waste and emissions. Read the newsletter |
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From the Breakthrough National for Climate Restoration:
COLLISION COURSE:
3 degrees of warming and humanity’s future
There is a chasm in outlook between the global climate policy-making elite with their focus on distant goals, market solutions and non-disruptive change, and activists and key researchers who see the world hurtling towards climate breakdown and social collapse.
COLLISION COURSE presents a rigorous analysis of the world’s trajectory toward 3°C warming—a level of change with catastrophic implications for human societies and ecological systems. Drawing on the latest evidence, the report explores breached tipping points, cascading systemic risks, and the limitations of current policy frameworks. At 3°C, the stability of global systems is profoundly threatened, requiring urgent action to reverse warming and mitigate irreversible impacts.
STORY
‘Climate policy is on a collision course with physical reality’
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If you paid any tax in 2022-23, you paid more than all of these multinational gas corporations did on $36 BILLION income, exporting Australian gas from QLD. Really makes you think. #auspol
— The Australia Institute (@australiainstitute.org.au) November 26, 2024 at 2:12 PM
[image or embed]
Great piece by Guardian on News Corp running misleading paid ads by the gas industry disguised as news.
— Allegra Spender (@spenderallegra) December 2, 2024
The truth?
Gas is an expensive & polluting fossil fuel. We need to minimise our gas use – not open up massive new projects; not depend on gas in the future. pic.twitter.com/pMJhNuan2l
How about we make the multinational coal and gas corporates causing it pay?… instead of us! https://t.co/54NN2s2Qzb pic.twitter.com/vhXtiVKwbk
— Mark Ogge (@MarkOgge) December 2, 2024
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Transcript of The Sustainable Hour no. 531
Antonio Guterres:
We are at the moment of truth, but we have a breakdown of trust.
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, as always, that we are broadcasting from the land of the Wadawurrung people. We pay tribute to their elders – past, present and those that earn that great honour in the future. We’re on stolen land, land that was never ceded, always was and always will be First Nations land. The same First Nations land that’s been nurtured for millennia. They’ve spent all that time accumulating ancient wisdom, the same ancient wisdom that we’re going to need to nurture, to help our land recover and to build community as we face up to the climate emergency.
Mik Aidt:
Thirty pieces of legislation could suddenly go through Parliament in one day. If nothing else, that’s a very clear sign that the election, the federal election is in the air now. There’s mobilisation happening on all fronts here in Geelong. The Voices of Corio and Voices of Corangamite are meeting on Friday at 5 o’clock, as an example. And I’m sure there’s also things happening in all the micro parties and among the Greens, as well as of course, the two big parties who are already out with advertisements and videos on social media and so on.
I think the election is likely to be happening soon, which means maybe already in March or in April. But once again, there’s no consensus, there’s no, you know, full agreement about the things that are important that we are all agreeing about, for instance, how we solve the climate crisis. What about if Australia was able to come together and create something called ‘Agreement for a green Australia’?
And then that would have legislation about a carbon tax and about turning land areas into nature and forest. Could you see that happening?
Well, here’s the thing. That is what just happened in Denmark. There is now such a thing as an ‘Agreement for a Green Denmark’. That’s a legislation that was approved in parliament. It has a longer title as well. The Green Tripartite Agreement, it is called.
And it does have, for the first time, I think in the world, a CO2 tax, a carbon tax, on agriculture. So now the farmers will be paying 300 Danish kroner, that’s about $60 per ton of carbon CO2 rising all the way up to 750 Danish kroner per ton in 2035.
On top of that, Denmark has now decided to take 10 per cent of its total land area and convert it into nature and forest for the benefit of the animals and the plants out there, the biodiversity and the water quality. And the controversial part of that is that 15 per cent of Denmark’s agricultural land is going to be turned into forest now by law. 140,000 hectares of carbon-rich peatlands are going to be retired from agricultural use.
Also, interestingly, subsidies for biochar: 10 billion Danish kroner, which is 2.1 billion dollars, has been allocated for supporting biochar storage.
And I’ll put the entire legislation from Denmark out in our show notes because I think it’s interesting to see that when we talk about change and also having ideas for our politicians, what they could be doing in parliament. It’s not just some fantasy. It’s not just some fluffy dream that these things can be done. It’s actually happening in countries around the world. Certainly now Denmark is showing an example.
Tony:
We could do worse and send that to every politician in Australia, Mik, we can say, ‘Here’s a model. It’s not hard! Just don’t reinvent this wheel. Just follow and see where that gets us.’
Colin Mockett:
Yeah, but unfortunately, fellas, just the word ‘green’ is a red flag to everybody who’s on the right hand side of our Parliament.
Tony:
Well, we could change that to something that
Mik:
I think that needs to change. Colin, I think that that’s a discussion that needs to be had. And that is, you know, it’s actually a global movement. I have looked around and I have found that, you know, the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, the EU, the United Nations, and also the media, like: Reuters, AFP, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Financial Times, Newsweek, and on and on and on. They are all talking about ‘the green transition’ now.
So that concept, I’ve been rambling quite a bit about it here in The Sustainable Hour the last months – ‘the green transition’ – is not just in Denmark any longer. It’s actually becoming a word that’s being used. It was used all over the place at the recent COP that we also reported from in Azerbaijan, the United Nations Climate Summit. The green transition is a reality and the word is being used by all the big international players. So maybe Australia just needs to chew on it and get used to it.
Yes.
Anyway, Colin Mockett OAM, it’s time for some news from around the world. We definitely need to hear what’s been happening. Now that the COP is over and there’s been a little bit of disappointment in the air, I hope you have some better news for us this week.
Colin:
Yes, I do actually, Mik. And it does relate to what you’ve been talking about already. It starts with two highly qualified Australians, an economist, professor Ross Garnaut and the former ACC chair Rod Sims. They published a report last month with a concept that would place Australia’s abundant renewable power at the centre of future world greenhouse gas reductions.
This week, they produced evidence to show how the idea would work. They employed an independent analyst, that’s Dr Reuben Finighan, to test and extend their theories within a detailed study of the future energy supply and demand of five potential importing countries. These are China, Japan, South Korea, India, and Germany.
Now these five together account for more than half the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Finighan’s report, which is titled The New Energy Trade, provides a world-first analysis of likely international trade in clean energy.
And it found that not only would the Garnaut-Sims concept work, but Australia alone could contribute up to 10 per cent of the world’s emissions reductions. And while doing this, it would generate six to eight times larger revenues than it’s making now from its fossil fuel exports. It found that Australia’s present export of fossil fuels, that’s coal and natural gas, will lose its value as the world moves to net zero carbon emissions. But it could be replaced by a new, a much more valuable export. We would have a massive advantage in exporting energy-intensive iron and steel, aluminium and urea, plus green fuels for shipping, aviation and road freight. All would have renewable energy from solar and wind embedded in them.
Finighan’s report begins by reminding us that the developed world’s high standard of living could not have been achieved without the use of fossil fuels, which requires extensive trade between the countries that don’t have enough oil, or gas of their own and those countries that have far more than they need.
The premise of the new report is that it will be pretty much the same story in the future, in the future net zero world, with the trade between those countries that can’t produce enough renewable energy of their own, buying from those countries with an abundant ability to produce solar and wind power at low cost.
Dr Finighan says countries with the most abundant and thus the cheapest renewable energy available for export are those whose solar and wind resources are more intense, less seasonal, and that have abundant land relative to the size of their population and economy.
Australia is one of the few countries where this applies. And we also have the benefit of a stable political system. That’s not the case in other places in South America or Africa.
The report says that we are the country with by far the largest capacity to export to the densely populated, highly developed countries of the Northern Hemisphere. It says we can produce essentially limitless, low-cost green electricity with the required solar and wind farms that would occupy only about 1 per cent of our land mass. But, Finighan points out, there’s a big difference between the old trade in dirty energy and the new trade in clean energy. Whereas fossil fuels are relatively cheap to transport, shipping clean energy is prohibitively expensive. You can’t easily export electricity and transforming it into hydrogen or ammonia requires huge amounts of power, which involves a loss of energy and increased cost.
So it’s much cheaper to use locally made electricity to produce energy intensive products such as iron, aluminium, urea and so forth. You produce it locally and then export the product rather than exporting the electricity. The new report for the first time brings manufacturing into the power reduction equation and that’s very good for our comparative advantage.
Finighan’s report looked at earlier studies, including those by the International Energy Agency, and found that they’ve underestimated how much more electricity production the world would need in the future. In examining the five large economies likely energy needs, he predicted shortfalls in their local electricity supplies.
By mid-century Japan, South Korea, and Germany will have shortfalls of between 37 and 66 per cent. Because of the later targets for reaching net zero, China’s greatest shortfall won’t occur until 2060 and India’s until 2070.
Using the Australian concept of moving manufacturing here, close to where the energy is produced, and then exporting the product would solve all of this and his calculations took full account of the role of nuclear energy. It is, he found, one of the most expensive means of generating clean energy. Unlike renewable technology, nuclear has become much more costly over time, not only in the rich economies, but also in those such as India.
The report found that nuclear could only play a minor role, even in countries where heavy government subsidies render it competitive. So that’s the Garnaut report, which I think we’re going to be hearing much more about in the future.
But now it’s time for Forest Green Rovers, the only clean, carbon neutral sports club in the world. They drew 1-1 at home against Halifax Town at the weekend. They’re now second on the ladder behind Barnett, and next week they play in the FA Cup.
That’s my roundup for the week.
. . .
COP29 speech by Australian climate minister Chris Bowen: (at 13:32)
Now to welcome His Excellency Mr Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy of Australia. Your Excellency, you have the floor.
Chris Bowen:
I begin by reaffirming Australia’s commitment to the inclusion of First Nations people in our climate change response and clean energy future. Friends, two years ago, I told you Australia was back. Last year, I told you about our progress towards our 2030 targets, which is going well. But this year, I’m here to tell you how Australia is accelerating our transformation to lock in our place as an indispensable part of the global net zero economy.
We know that implementation of the Paris Agreement is critical to unlock the economic opportunities of the greatest global transformation since the Industrial Revolution. The COP President is an important steward in this process, so I want to express my gratitude to President Mukhtar Babayev for his guidance to date. We look forward to working closely with him and his team to deliver a strong outcome. Friends, the Paris Agreement is working.
Last year’s global stock takes showed that we have come a long way from the brink of catastrophic 4°C degrees of warming before Paris to between two and three degrees now. We’ve come far, but not far enough. This year I return to Fiji to meet with climate ministers from across the Pacific, where the impacts of climate change are a clear and present danger, not far away abstractions. Where climate change is not seen as a subject for negotiation, but a matter of their very existence.
This is a message that the world needs to hear and a reality the world needs to see. That’s why we’re bidding to host COP31 in partnership with our Pacific family and we’re grateful for the strong support our bid has received so far. Next year when we bring forward our next NDCs, we must all strengthen efforts to deliver the highest possible ambition, to accelerate global climate action to keep 1.5°C degrees alive and to position our nations to harness the economic opportunities of the energy transition.
In Australia, we believe that climate action makes economic sense at every level, from the household budget to the nation’s economy. It makes sense for the family home with cheaper bills, powered by clean, renewable energy. It makes sense for businesses to harness the cheapest energy ever known. And it makes sense for Australia’s economy, blessed with abundant renewable resources. And we’re taking action to seize this opportunity. This year, we committed to more than $20 billion in clean energy investments over a decade as part of our Future Made in Australia plan.
This is the biggest investment in a generation to build new jobs and industries and position Australia to be that indispensable part of our global net zero transformation. Not only to decarbonise and grow our economy, but to help our friends and neighbours decarbonise and develop their economies too. Because we know that we must keep moving or the world will move past us. That’s why we remain laser focused on our efforts to transform our energy system to 82 per cent renewables by 2030, supported by our capacity investment scheme which will unlock 32 gigawatts of wind, solar and storage in support of this goal.
We’re also supporting accelerated climate action and emissions reduction in our region. We’ve strengthened our climate finance commitments and expect to deliver $3 billion between 2020 and 2025. And we’re strengthening our support for addressing the impacts of climate change as well.
Today I’m announcing that we’ll be making further contributions to respond to loss and damage. Australia will become the sixth largest contributor to the fund for responding to loss and damage with a $50 million contribution. This builds on our foundation, a $100 million contribution to the Pacific Resilience Facility, a Pacific-owned facility that will support locally-led small-scale projects across the Blue Pacific continent that respond to loss and damage.
And of course, it’s our ambition to bring the COP to the Indo-Pacific for the first time since 2007 through our bid to host COP31 in genuine partnership with the Pacific. We’re ready to step up and do our bit in helping shepherding this global critical forum.
Friends, I look forward to working closely with you all in coming days and into the future to accelerate our efforts to meet the Paris Goals. Thank you.
Climate Council Linkedin video: (at 18:12)
Remember those good old Aussie summers? Scariest thing back then was seeing your old man in his Speedos. And sure, you might have been stung by a blue bottle or copped a foot full of bindies. But those summers were the best time of year. And nobody does summer better than Australia. But now, that’s all changing. Climate change is making summer a season of anxiety. Heat waves are getting hotter, lasting longer, and happening more often. Drought is ruining livelihoods and bushfires are raging across the country. But there’s still time to save our summer. Let’s band together and do more to tackle climate change. Come on Australia, let’s save ours.
Tony: (at 19:05)
Our guest today is Jeff Allen. Jeff’s about to launch a new project of his, an online company called Blue Moon Distillers. So Jeff, thanks for coming on. I promise I won’t talk about our broad water days together. Yeah, tell us all about the Blue Moon. Tell us about it.
Jeff:
Well, Tony, let’s go back because it starts back at Broadwater because I was working in the tea tree industry back then and I’d come from a chefing background and I just couldn’t handle the intensity of the kitchen, but I love the infusion of smells and scents and tastes. And then when our second child was born, two doors up from your place, Tony, we moved down to the far south coast of New South Wales and then we kept traveling.
We built stills, machinery for distilling essential oils and every time we travel, whenever we spoke about the place we’ve just been, we’d be able to smell the place. You know, after you’ve been… You go bushwalking, after it’s rained, there’s a definite smell – and they’re all different. So I’ve got over 30 years of apprenticeship. I’ve now come to this point where I want to share that knowledge and experience with other people and let those people then experience their own sense of place.
So I’ve worked out different plants that grow in different areas, such as… we’ve got: Sense of Place Burmaguay, Sense of Place Tanger, and though we’re concentrating on the Bega Valley area first and then hopefully go broader from there.
Yeah, yeah. That’s in their body oils and specific essential oils. So they’re all batik oils, native oils that a lot of people haven’t heard of. And a lot of oils that come from plants that farmers slash because they see them as a woody weed.
Colin: (at 21:25)
Your Blue Moon Distillery…
Jeff:
Distillers.
Colin:
Distillers doesn’t create gins or spirits in any form at all? You want distilling the essence of Australia plants?
Jeff:
Yes, correct.
Colin:
What purpose do you sell them for?
Jeff:
They’re for relaxation. Look, that’s a great question because the more that we’ve developed the Sense of Place, we’ve spoken to people that want to do small trials, especially with people with dementia. The smell and the textures of things take people back to their farm where they grew up on. And it’s quite a good thing for the psyche, for the mind also. The olfactory system in our being can actually pinpoint different parts in your life. Some might be really bad, but… Hopefully most will be good. But sometimes you do have to deal with the bad, that’s, that’s yeah. We, yeah. It’s definitely not alcohol. It’s all, pure essential oils and a lot of bit of, I’ve worked, I’ve worked all over the world doing stills from Egypt and Papua New Guinea, many great places. And a lot of the, what I call industrial essential oil farms, they don’t look at sustainable farming. They become essential farm, but they’re using really high pressure steam where I use slow wet steam and you actually retain that beautiful fresh smell that is in the bush. Yeah. And also a lot of the big farms look at, they almost become carbon farmers. I mean, the tea tree industry, they’ve changed now, but back in the day, they’re actually distilling the oil out of the plant, then selling that waste material, which is biomass for landscaping, for mulching, which sounds fine, but you’re depleting that initial farm of carbon from the soil. So you can actually get a carbon cycling going.
Colin: (at 23:38)
You said earlier on that you can distill the essence of a particular district. Is your still portable or do you cut the plants and trees and bring it to your still in a static place?
Jeff:
We’ve got two options. Over my 30 years I’ve done mobile distillery and we’ve got some great, if anyone wants to look on Instagram or website or Facebook, Blue Moon Distillers, you’ll see us, me waiting on a beach next to an island in Venuadu for a barge to come in with our mobile still on there, going to distill sandalwood oil.
But at the moment we’ve set up in Tanger and there’s one plant that we’re working with, Kunzia, Iroquoides and the Ambigua, farmers see it as a weed and it can become a weed because it’s a pioneer species. So it’s taking advantage of degradation of land and if farmers just let it go. It will take over, it’s doing its one step in the colleges for another larger plant to come through. So we’re offering, we want to offer land care groups a price for that leaf to come in, which then will help them plant trees, do tree guards, et cetera, et cetera. And we make the oil from that.
We’re trying to get that whole circular economy going, but circular distillation. And in the bigger Shire, I’m not sure if you know about the big circular economy project that’s happening there? It’s it’s brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. It’s based in Bega, and it’s yeah… Anyone wants to it was on ABC Landline a couple of months ago. And it’s huge! It’s looking at all different waste streams and how you can actually capitalise and use those waste streams to create this circular economy from the abalone fishing, all the fish waste has been composted now.
The Bega Cheese Factory, that’s where the centre will be. It’s a big information centre. There’s education for schools to come in and experience and look and see what potential job opportunities and enterprises will come out of looking at waste streams.
For instance, as I said, the fishing industry, they are using a lot of the fish wastes for composting. The bigger cheese factories looking at harnessing… If you look at any factory around the world, you’ll see steam and you’ll see heat being, it’s just a waste product. So they’re looking at harnessing all that waste product to refurnish or dry material. Yeah. So the circular economy, if anyone’s really interested, it’s good to jump online and a circular economy in Bega, it’s – yeah, over the next five to 10 years, it’ll be good.
Colin:
What do people say when you say I’m going to set up a still? Do they immediately think you’re going to be brewing moonshine whiskey? That’s my first question. And the second one is the one that you talked about Jeff:
earlier on, what was it? Tanya or it’s a weed?
Yeah, Kunzia.
Colin:
Does it have any medicinal properties or is it just a nice perfume?
Jeff:
Very good you asked that, thank you. Kunzia Arokoides – it’s got out of all the Australian plants, it has got the highest content of antioxidants in there. So it’s being used a lot in… it will be used a lot in cosmetics.
I can’t say too much at the moment because we’re working with a company that’s developing that. But at the same time… It’s… University Tasmania has done huge research project on it and it’s being used for arthritis use as a rub.
Plus what I’ve really focused on as well, and I need to acknowledge is, what country those plants come from and what was their traditional use for by First Nation groups – because I’ve seen white fellas grab things and take it and not acknowledge where it’s come from, etc etc, so yeah, we’re open to working with First Nation groups to bring more knowledge in, whilst protecting IP – their IP, my IP. It’s a two-way learning, two-way walk.
So, yeah. I hope that answered your question.
Mik:
Yeah, maybe. And the other one, the first one about the distillery?
Jeff:
The distillery. Yes, people do. People always do ask me about that. And to be honest, I’ve made some very nice little drinks in the past and it’s coming out… I mean, we did the first export of lemon myrtle leaf overseas many years ago. And when you distill a leaf to get the oil out, the by-product is water. It’s scented water. So you can actually make good cordials out of it. But if you actually go a little couple of extra steps that I can’t divulge, you can actually make very good alcohol.
There’s a wonderful label that I will use one day if I do do it alcohol and it’s ‘Distilled to eradicate the seemingly incurable sadness.’
Tony:
Jeff, you’ve got me thinking about a ‘Sense of Footscray’ – is that… do you see any market for that?
Jeff:
As long as it wasn’t Collingwood mate I’m not talking about Hawthorne Collingwood here you know but yep.
Now, I’ll look, I’ll search, you’ve got me on a mission now, I’ll see if I can get something that’ll give the sense of Footscray.
Jeff:
Yes, yes.
Tony:
Some native plant.
Jeff:
Yep, and it’s not just one, Tony, it’s a mix of them. That’s what the magic is when you actually can mix several scents and we’re working on one that’s got, it’s near the ocean, but it’s got cliff face. When in the mornings, if you go swimming, you can smell that, you know, when you smell dirt and I’m thinking, how do I get that, you know, and mix that in. yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s exciting. It’s like, it’s like exploring, pioneering. Yeah.
How do you do it, Jeff? Because I mean, you said you’ve got a different process to most. You’re using a dry steam or wet steam.
Jeff: (at 30:51)
Yeah, wet, very low pressure steam. I can’t give too much away, it’s a basic same process. It’s just there’s some people call it the dark art of distillation. But it’s basically using your observation and your smell. I’ll actually be for a place, a sense of place. I’d like to sit down in the bush near there and all night and then in the morning when that dew drops there’s different smells come out and that’s when you start documenting things and put your recipe or your formulation together.
Colin:
I used to have a friend who distilled eucalyptus leaves just outside of Malden.
Jeff:
Yes.
Colin:
Sitting there with him and it really is an astonishing. It’s magical. The intensity of the smell. It’s when the distillation process is actually working.
Jeff:
And that’s the wonderful thing is, and this is a sense of place, you’re, when, if you’re in the bush, as the sun heats up leaf litter on the ground, you’ll get, it’s like perfumery, you’ll get that really fine high note that comes off, which is more volatile. So it’s going to be released in the early hours of the morning as it heats up – and it’s the same with distillation as you’re distilling you can actually manipulate distilling by the end product by taking… I do this when I’m… I do workshops as well so I’ll take a sample off every 10 minutes and mark them one minute five minutes ten minutes all the way long, and people will go along and smell them – ‘Ah yeah that’s good, that’s good!’ – But then you give them the end product, which is a combination of all those. go, now I can identify each little, it’s like whiskey tasting a bit. Yeah. So it’s quite, it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s been my life for 30 years.
Mik:
Certainly this time of year is very much a time for smells, isn’t it? You know, it reminds me of a tradition that we have in Denmark where we would take an orange and then put cloves in. You know, you put it through the skin of the orange, and it sort of extracts the smell of the orange as well as the clove. It comes out in the room and it’s a beautiful smell. It’s like a symbol of that season.
Many smells that I remember from this time of year in Denmark. Another one is you come into a room like when there’s a party, and you can smell when you open the door, there’s this amazing smell that comes from a drink that we, a hot drink that we make called glögg.
Glögg is, you could call it a kind of mulled wine, because the recipe for it is that you put together a lot of different spices, mix it with some rum and some snaps and oranges and lemons and cinnamon, and so on, and put it all in a big jar, and it has to sit for three weeks at least. Where it’s just fermenting a little bit. And then you mix that with red wine and almonds and raisins in a big pot. You heat it up and that smell that comes out of that pot, it fills the room. It fills the room, and you come in and you just feel… you get, you know, when you get a drink of this, it just warms you up.
So the thing about the oranges with the cloves doesn’t work here in Australia, because it’s simply too warm here and it takes only like, you know, a couple of days, then the orange starts to rot and you get a very different smell. But with the with the other one, where you mix it in a big jar and you let it sit for three weeks, that’s not a problem because you are mixing it in rum, you know, so the the alcohol, the snaps, preserves it.
Jeff
In my mind went, straight away… then, if that happened to me, I would have grabbed that orange and I would have put it in a jar and let it ferment. Then you would have your same thing.
Mik:
Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff:
It’s it’s every time I distill Rosemary, the olfactory system is amazing. And this is what I talk about with dementia as well. And, just, just peace of mind. Being able to identify parts in your life from a smell.
Every time I put rosemary in, I can see my Nana putting a leg of lamb in the wood fired oven every time it’s because she’s got rosemary on it. It’s quite unique. Yeah. And with books, if we, it’s cause Susan and I have spent, probably over three different visits, probably about three years in Western Australia down in Margaret River and that. Every time we read Tim Winton books, we can smell that desert and the sea and the salt bush.
Colin:
Is it your experience, Jeff, that rosemary is entristic in the work with dementia and memory?
Jeff:
No, no, not at all. That was just an example because I’m speaking to a fellow, his mum’s got dementia, he’s looking after her. And I said, ‘Well, where does she grow up?’ And she grew up on a sheep farm at Wagga. So I’m not going to do sheep poo, at Sense of Place, but you think about that straw smell, the timber, what eucalyptus out there. And then if, if someone that there would take that one person back to their hometown or just, it may not, but it may just trigger something, you know, it’s still being investigated, what dementia… that’s, you know – it’s a big area.
Colin:
Well, I’ve spent some time in dressing rooms in the theatre and the number of actors who swear that rosemary, smelling rosemary, helps them learn their lines.
Jeff:
Yeah, well, that’s that. Yeah, for sure. For sure. There’s a lot of things like that.
Tony:
Jeff, you’re just starting out, which is terrific. And it’s just so good to see after… like, you’re putting all this wisdom that you’ve accumulated over the 30, 40 years. Where do you see your products going? Like, what’s your vision for Blue Moon?
Jeff:
It’s online, but also I’m just about to… because we’re based near Eden, the far south coast in South Wales. And lo and behold, it’s like Susan and I have realised that every time we’ve moved to another place it’s because of botanical reasons. From St John’s Ward to Tea Tree, Ginkgo, everything. And in Vanuatu, we were trying to sell to the cruise boat people coming in and we got wiped out by tropical cyclone Pam, the whole island did. Anyway, we’re back here, this is a cycle. Eden has got cruise boats coming in from Denmark, from all over the world. So we’re going to try and market. I’m going to give it a try next year between February and July and just see what the market’s like because that there, I just feel that’s a really good, you know, they’re a small bottle, easy for tourists to grab. And then it represents Australia, and they can actually then buy online. There’s more… That’s that product, but I’m looking at other products.
We all look after ourselves, I’m wanting to, well, we’ve got a few formulations experimenting with now for cleaning products. If you look after yourself, you should be looking after your house as well, not using high chemical inputs in your house. So we’re looking at that. And that again, Sense of Place in your house would be just great.
And outdoor insects like Kunji Arakordi and Bigui is commonly known as tick bush. And funny enough, there’s a mutual friend of ours, Tony, from out of Bunga Walden – Jenny, the Hendersons.
Tony:
Yep.
Jeff:
They called me out there to have a look at their Kunsia many years ago, 15 years ago. And those certified organic farmers, beef farmers. And he said, ‘We don’t spray or dip for the Buffalo fly’, but every time there’s Buffalo strike next door, all these kundzia bushes are smashed to the ground because the cattle would roll in that kundzia and get the oil in their skin – their hide, which would deter the buffalo fly.
So just through observation: why not use that for people that are doing bush? We’ve got some friends that are bush regenerators. We’re to do trials with them. They’ll put it on and just see what it is. It’s huge scope. So that’s I hope that answers your question, Tony.
Tony:
It does. It’s very much akin to what we mentioned at the start the wisdom that’s been gathered by First Nations people for millennia and it’s all done by observing what’s going on and adding that to the bank of knowledge.
Jeff:
Yeah, sure is.
Colin:
Our guest this week is Jeff Allen who is a distiller of the essence of Australian leaves. You use the leaves, don’t you?
Jeff:
I use leaves, roots, wood, seeds. Many, many different things depending on what plant you’re looking at. Yeah.
Colin:
And I can recommend if you’re thinking about going into the Danish market, I’d put together one with oranges and cloves.
Jeff:
I may do that. I may do that because we’re going to sell them to the cruise boat people. Maybe that could be like a disco ball, but it would be a big orange spinning over my market store with clothes on it. The Danes would just come from everywhere.
Tony:
What is your set up going to look like, Jeff? You’re, like, you’re not going to have a shop front, I imagine, at first?
Jeff:
No, the, the website is, we’re doing a soft launch amongst friends next in another two weeks and I’ll be doing market stalls. But as we develop another Sense of Place formula, I’ll take my I’ve got a beautiful little stone. I make stills, which I sell as well. All food grade stainless.
So, if it was in Footscray, I would then work out the oil that we’re going to do. But then to launch that oil or that range of Footscray range, I take the still there and we’d set up at a community center or somewhere, get people in to look, ask questions, learn how it’s done.
Because what we’re more about is education and awareness of things, instead of just that hard selling. And plus what we’ve also done is we’ve set up… so we’ve got a wonderful social cause that we’re donating profits to. And that’s… their acronym is: SWOM, S-W-O-M, and it’s the Sea Women of Melanesia. They’re fantastic.
These women go, or if people aren’t aware, Melanesia starts Papua New Guinea, Coral Sea Triangle, all the way out, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, down Fiji.
And these women get trained up in scuba diving. How to use really good cameras and learned how to do quadrats. So the monitoring coral and reef habitat, which is really important to us all. And they’ve actually gone… and the University of Queensland, I think, has worked with them, and they’ve developed… If people Google ‘reef cloud’, it’s a bit like street view on Google maps, where they’ve actually got the photographs that they’ve done of the whole reef and you can go down and look into the coral, under the coral, around the back of the coral. It’s just, yeah, so… That’s always been our view of trying to support that wonderful… And it’s not just… – it’s for women’s health as well in a lot of those Melanesian countries. They’re quite remote and it’s very hard to get good services. So hopefully that will help a little bit.
Tony:
What’s that the name again?
Jeff:
Sea Women of Melanesia. Okay. The acronym is SWOM Melanesia. And they’ve just been… They’ve won all these awards, and National Geographic’s just linked up with them. Yeah, and they’ve got David Attenborough by their side as well, promoting them. In the last three years, they’re loops and bounds. It’s amazing.
It comes back from one fellow, Dr Andy Lewis, who’s a marine biologist based up in Queensland. And they’ve got the… He helps run the research centre up there. And he was… I think this was the story – you can correct me if I’m wrong – he was working on a eco tourism dive boat around Papua New Guinea. And one woman, Naomi Longi came up to him and said, ‘I’m worried about our reef’.
Because when you think about Melanesian villages, those South Pacific villages, the women are the food preparers. So they’re the food gatherers as well. So they are monitoring their local environment. They know what’s going on in their environment. And she came up to him and said, ‘I’m worried about this reef – we are not getting… There’s a few fish disappearing there’.
And he supported her all the way through. And now she’s basically running, Sea Women Melanesia with a good team of other women. So it just shows if you know, by supporting just one one one little spark will make a very nice warm fire. Yeah.
Tony:
And while the women are gathering and hunting, the men are drinking kava – is that…?
Jeff:
No no, there’s not, there – no no that’s – no no. I must stick up for the men. I lived on Island of Aramango for about two or three years, and I was the only white fella there. And yeah, you do enjoy your kava, but… and it’s great when you get into the capital cities, the women are in the kava bars as well. And it’s very respectful. Kava is another big thing, where it’s not alcoholic, it’s psycho-active, but it’s not alcoholic. It’s not addictive. You can abuse it, but it’s used for problem solving or, recognition and solving just… – what they call it is ‘talk-talk’. So you have some… You sit down and everyone is so respectful and talk. And it is nothing like a Aussie pub where you’re sitting out across the bar at someone, you know, or Denmark.
Mik:
You mentioned David Attenborough and I think we should round off this hour with a clip… We don’t usually play advertisements for anywhere, but this is an advertisement for Cambridge University. Sir David Attenborough is actually a patron for Cambridge University. And I think what he says in this particular video is not just advertising. It is actually a very good statement for how we enter 2025. It’s like a New Year’s resolution kind-of-talk. So let’s just have a listen here to what David Attenborough has for us:
. . .
Sir David Attenborough, Cambridge University promotion video:
It might seem like an obvious thing to say, but we need to keep saying it: Our planet is precious. The climate stability of the past 12,000 years has come to an end. And around the world, we are now suffering from the impact. At the same time, nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history with as many as a million species facing extinction.
Fortunately, we’re now better informed about the state of the world than ever before in the planet’s history. And those with knowledge and the ability to innovate can provide solutions to a great number of problems.
Female voice:
We need solutions. We need action. And we need them now. We’re bringing together some of the world’s brightest minds to develop real, workable solutions. We’re helping today’s leaders build sustainability into everything they do. And we’re training tomorrow’s leaders to deliver a zero carbon future.
Cambridge is a world leader in low-cost, next-generation solar cells, which convert more of the sun’s rays into electricity. We’re designing new types of batteries to support an energy revolution. Our scientists are harnessing photosynthesis to turn sunlight into clean liquid fuel to power vehicles and industry sustainably. We’re developing natural construction materials tapping heat from underground transport to reuse as an energy source.
But it’s not just about reducing emissions. We must remove carbon that’s already in our atmosphere. This means protecting and growing the Earth’s natural carbon extractor, the tree and plant life that helps us breathe.
It’s time to reconstruct economics to include nature as an ingredient. Rebalancing fragile ecosystems won’t be easy. It will affect how we work, how we travel, what we eat and how we live. But in a world riven with inequality, the way we do this must be fair for all. That’s why we’re working with governments and industries to develop zero carbon policies that work locally, nationally and internationally. If we don’t change, we’ll lose more than we can ever recover.
Sir David Attenborough:
It’s a source of comfort to me that people are recognising their world is at stake. That the ocean is not infinitely full of food and the ground is not infinitely full of minerals. There are huge opportunities to getting things right. The only way to operate is to believe we can do something about it. And I truly think we can.
. . .
Jeff: (at 50:15)
That was great. It’s like thinking globally, act locally. If lots of little projects are happening around the place, it’s without suffering too much anxiety from thinking or thinking too globally. That’s that becomes my problem a bit. I need to zone in on what’s in front of me and act really well. Just an example of that up at Burmaguay. There’s one cafe… well I’m sick of these takeaway cups. So they’ve developed… well, they didn’t develop, they used a example from Germany where they would charge three dollars for the cup and people bring it back, they wash those cups and out they go.
But then they thought, well if we do that people will get the poos and go, we’re going down to the next cafe down the road. So they just rang all the cafes in Burmangui on the far South coast. And I said, yeah, let’s do that. That’s great. So that system is starting at Christmas time.
So, yeah, it’s a good little, and yeah, what David said, that’s a huge, big thing. Isn’t it? We’ve all, what you guys are doing there at the studio on your show is great because it just gets people thinking and.
What else can we do? Small things.
Mik:
And spread the good news that action is actually happening all over the place. The green transition is rolling.
Jeff:
It is. It’s amazing. And have a look at the circular economy in Bega. It’s amazing because there’s only three roads into the valley from the west, from the north and from the south. So it’s really easy to monitor your outflows and your inflows and get it right.
JINGLE
Jeff: (at 52:07)
Our launch date is the 1st of February and anyone can come along. It’s in the courtyard of Honorbread Bakery in Bermagui, which is a Saturday bakery. And that bakery is one of the cafes that are participating in the cup… ‘You buy a cup and you return it to them’. So it’ll be a good day. And then, after that, we go up to Mr. Hope’s Cafe, which is just two doors up. Seven o’clock, we’re going to have Kava and talk and I’m going to do a presentation on the intimate art of distillation where I do what I spoke about, break up the fractions, smells over 10 minute intervals for the hour, and answer questions, and relax.
Mik:
So Jeff, we have a short little challenge for you: At the end we always say Be the change or Be the difference or Be … something. What would you be?
Jeff:
You know what? As David Attenborough was talking then, I thought: ‘I’d love to be as successful as him’ – not for monetary gain or anything like that, but to do such good other, like not one good thing, but to be able, if it was really successful, I’d be able to do 5,000 really good little things and help, yeah, help people to do.
I hope that answered your question.
Mik:
Well, you could say: Be good in the world… – or: Be good to the world.
Tony:
Be educational.
Jeff:
Education is huge for me. Yeah, and I have improved on the education forefront. Tony got me up to his school to do a presentation on permaculture in my early days and I was so nervous. All I could say was ‘beans and corn’ and that’s all I said. And thank God, Tony felt sorry for me and took me outside. As soon as I was amongst the garden and the chooks, it all, it flowed well – didn’t it, Tony – from there?
Tony:
It did. You did a great job. I was getting hassled by kids for months after that, Jeff. ‘When’s he coming back again to talk about chooks and things?’
Jeff:
Chooks, really? Not the beans and corn?
Tony:
And beans and corn too.
Jeff:
And it’s so good to catch up with you again, Tony, after all these years. You fought the good fight all the way along. It’s great. Really!
Tony:
We all have.
Mik:
Be sensitive.
Jeff:
Yes, yes.
Colin:
Be inspirational.
Jeff:
Be in a sense of place.
Colin:
Yeah. And don’t lose focus.
Jeff:
No, and distill the problems down to a simple solution.
. . .
SONG (54:49)
Formidable Vegetable: ‘Climate Movement’
I believe we all came to be here for a reason
To acknowledge the seniors, everything has a season
This season is warm, but it’s bringing a storm
And a burning urge for our journey to transform
But held in our hand at this grave intersection
Is a map of the passage for a clearer direction
To a permanent culture, it’s time we began it
With some wise design to realign with the planet
Share skills to rebuild our combined reliance
And with wild guidance, redesign our diets
Befriend energy descent and the changing climate
To grow forests of food and a finer environment
Permaculture at this tumultuous juncture
Is a superstructure that can plug the puncture
In a society of anxiety, confusion & greed
This really may be one solution we need
To bring back our elementary essence of ethics
And walk an Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share epic
Now’s the time to embed it while the temperature’s tepid
Let us rise as a choir beside the people who get it
To guarantee that our future generations lives
Are provided the conditions they require to thrive
Instead of being deprived of the tools to survive
In a biosphere too defiled to revive
So we invite you now to amplify the synergy
Devise an inspired distinctive soliloquy
Combining with like-minds in adaptable symphony
Of radical simplicity, balance and symmetry
Whatever your ability, we need your assistance
In aid of reclaiming a stable existence
So summon your gifts at this critical hour
And deliver wherever they move and empower
Credits
Released on 30 April 2020
Produced by Spoonbill
Vocals: Charlie Mgee
Trombone: Mal Webb
Violin: Kylie Morrigan
www.formidablevegetable.bandcamp.com/track/climate-movement
. . .
Antonio Guterres: (at 56:37)
I have a special message for fossil fuel producers and their enablers scrambling to expand production and raking in monster profits. If you cannot set a credible course for net zero, with 2025 and 2030 targets covering all your operations, you should not be in business. Your core product is our core problem. We need a renewables revolution, not a self-destructive fossil fuel resurgence.
. . .
UN Environment Programme video:
As the climate crisis intensifies, we need such leadership more than ever. The window to keep 1.5° Celsius in reach is closing. Every fraction of a degree of warming avoided matters. Every action counts. What will you do?
. . .
ABC News report – video from Norlane:
No gas hub! Locals standing firmly against a new gas project, afraid its impacts would be widespread. This project proposal adds air pollution, noise pollution, it threatens the amazing ecosystems and marine life that is within our bay.
The bottom line is this is a polluting and expensive proposal. It’s too close to schools. It’s too close to homes. Around 100 people rallied in Geelong today opposing a new gas import terminal in Corio Bay. The proposal by company Viva Energy includes a floating vessel, treatment facility, building a pipeline and dredging part of the bay. But its proximity to homes has locals worried.
The potential area that it can devastate is significant and us being so close, 220 metres away from it, actually makes us really concerned. Victorian households use more gas than any other state or territory, but the state’s gas supply in Bass Strait is running out. We’re going to need something more for the winter seasons and that’s where the idea of bringing something into Victoria by ship makes sense. In a statement, Viva Energy’s Chief Strategy Officer said,
The project is about efficiently securing Victoria’s energy needs at the lowest cost, delivering gas close to where it is most needed, the large Melbourne and Geelong market, in an existing industrial port. The government says it’s trying to reduce demand for gas while securing new supply through projects like this. But some say this project is a contradiction to the government’s target of achieving net zero by 2045.
The Victorian Government should stick with its plan to get Victoria off gas and switch to efficient electric appliances that run on renewable energy. A public hearing next month will allow opponents to share their concerns with the Government-appointed committee. Natasha Schipova, ABC News.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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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