Voice of Change Sophie Taylor-Price

Non-violent protest has fundamentally changed the course of Australian and global history, and has shaped many of the privileges and social norms that we may take for granted today. Research has found that when 3.5% of the population is engaging in non-violent resistance, governments cannot survive without some sort of flex. The School Strike for climate has erupted over the past 18 months - ‘The Greta Affect’ as it has been dubbed, brings out various emotions and responses – it has provoked a global conversation, inspired local action. The strikers have coordinated some of Australia’s biggest climate protests – bringing 330,000 people to the streets. To help us understand more, and get under the hood of this global movement, we speak to Vivienne Paduch, a year 11 student from Sydney’s northern beachers and one of the founding strikers here in Australia.

One of the challenges of engaging in conversation about climate action, is that we are speaking to highly technical issues of science and economics, and the vast majority of us are not in the position to interpret or extrapolate, query or question. But how can some people say that Australia will meet its Paris agreement, and others tell us not? Will we or won't we? We are told to trust science, and trust the economist, but we should all be empowered to engage in the conversation, and help us disentangle fact from theory from opinion. Today's episode is about you with the basics, and breaking down key terms and issues that are relevant to carbon economics and policy debate. Joining me today in studio is Climate policy specialist and economist Dr Graham Sinden.

We have heard that 2020 marks the start of the decade where we start to see our window for climate action close in on the point where the consequences of climate change begin to escalate, become undoable, and start to trigger other collapses in the system. Scientists say we are reaching tipping points, that once reached, can’t be undone. But what are these tipping points, why do they cause scientists so much concern, and just how much runway do we have left. Answering some of these questions is Earth Systems Scientist Professor Will Steffen.

Australians are taking to the streets, demanding the federal government declare a climate emergency. Governments declaring a climate emergency is a global trend. So much so that ‘climate emergency’ was the Oxford dictionary’s 2019 word of the year. The first declaration in 2016 was by Darebin council in Victoria, and is credited with starting a movement that is now supported by governments representing 800 million people worldwide… That’s about 1 in 10 people covered. However, Australia as a whole has not followed suit. The important question is, what do we mean by declaring a climate emergency? And, If we did declare a climate emergency, what would that mean for Australia. Who better to answer the question than Australia’s most beloved and trusted scientist, Dr Karl. Dr Karl is joined by Peter Thompson, one of the founders of the People’s Climate assembly, a coalition of environmental groups calling for the declaration.

In this episode we are making things personal. Watching the bushfires ravage Australia has left many people with a desperate need to bring about relief and change, and take back control in their lives when it comes to their personal climate impact. Australian’s live largely beyond their means when it comes to their personal carbon impact, and part of the challenge is understanding the everyday choices and decisions we make that have have a climate impact. So what are those choices? What are the hidden and surprising carbon aspects of our lives and what are the three things you and I can do to steadily reduce our impact, together doing our bit for climate action? Breaking it down with us today is Dr Kimberly Nicholas. Kim is an Associate Professor of Sustainability Science and Director of PhD Studies at the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) in Lund, Sweden. In her research, she studies the connections between people, land, and climate.

In this week’s podcast episode we blend the fun and the serious - wine! The viticulture industry is a significant component of Australia’s agriculture industry, and is highly vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate due to the sensitivity of wine grapes to environmental conditions. The wines and regions we love will inevitably change, if not changing already. In this episode we speak to Dr Mardi Longbottom to learn just how and why she calls viticulture the climate canary for agriculture, and what the industry is doing in response.