Victoria University of Wellington - Podcast Victoria University of Wellington

The drive for collaboration and collective support is a cornerstone of sustainability, and the guests in this episode introduce a variety of ways that partnership is being implemented at the University level, as well as at the global scale. The University’s Living Pā project is in the spotlight as a key example of what can be achieved when diverse people and ideas come together for the greater good. The discussion touches on New Zealand being uniquely positioned as a small nation where communication across disciplines is relatively easy, and where everybody can contribute to addressing our sustainability challenges.

Our host Dr Sarah-Jane O’Connor is joined by guests Senior Advisor in the office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor Māori, Rhonda Thompson (Poutini Ngāi Tahu) and the Director of Sustainability, Andrew Wilks, to discuss the importance of partnership in working towards sustainability.

In this episode host Dr Sarah-Jane O’Conner is joined by guests Dr. Hiria McRae from the School of Education and Prof. Warwick Murray from the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences to talk about the relationship between equity and sustainability. This is exemplified through the guest’s work supporting communities that experience educational, social, economic, and political marginalisation, as well as through the development of ethical trade and educational programmes. A theme that runs through the conversation centres on the connection between equity and sustainability and the need to develop ways of being in the world that celebrate connectivity rather than divisiveness.

In this episode host Dr Sarah Jane O’Conner is joined by guests Dr. Ben Walker (School of Management) and Hannah Blumhardt (Institute for Governance and Policy Studies) to discuss the circular economy. A circular economy is a systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change through the elimination of waste and pollution, reusing products and materials, and regenerating nature. The guests discuss ways to re-think how resources are consumed and disposed, and how this framework might encompass and shift value perceptions of skills-based and sharing economies. They introduce these ideas through the lens of the individual consumer and the business sector, and propose strategies for government-led action and implementation.

Clean, fresh water is essential to our health—and is threatened, in Aotearoa New Zealand not only by climate change, but by poor industrial farming practices, population growth, and under-investment. This conversation illuminates the need for strong governance in addressing water security, as well as addressing the issues underlying the Three Waters discussion, and the place freshwater and the 100% Pure New Zealand concept play in our cultural identity.

Our host Dr Sarah Jane O’Connor is joined in this episode by guests, green criminologist Dr Sarah Monod de Froideville, and environmental economist Dr Julia Talbot-Jones to discuss the murky depths of our clean water discourse.

Maintaining biodiversity is a cornerstone of sustainability. In this episode of our Sustainability podcast, our guests discuss the decline of native species, management of predatory species, ecosystem restoration, and how biodiversity loss impacts our oceans, wetlands, and forests. They discuss the value of diversity, with a focus on tracking pests and restoring the Toheroa shellfish, along with the value of maintaining partnerships with Māori and local communities when developing sustainable solutions.

Our host Dr Sarah-Jane O’Connor is joined by two Master’s students, Tessa Thomson (Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngāti Tukorehe) and Ellen Carlyon, to talk about their current research around biodiversity in the New Zealand context.

Climate action is a broad term that Dr Amanda Thomas defines as “the tools people put together in order to address climate change”. Climate justice, on the other hand, looks at the equitable implications of our climate actions.

Climate justice is important in addressing sustainability because climate change is one of the biggest threats to the long-term health and wellbeing of the planet and its inhabitants, and its impacts are often disproportionately felt by marginalised and vulnerable communities. Throughout this episode key considerations related to both climate action and climate justice are discussed, including the role of industry and technology in addressing our climate challenges, as well as implications of climate change on social and gender equity. This episode highlights the need for climate justice to be at the forefront of our actions in contending with our broad sustainability challenges.

In this episode our host, Dr Sarah Jane O’Conner, is joined by co-founder and CEO of TasmanIon, Dr Shalini Divya, and feminist political geographer, Dr Amanda Thomas, to discuss climate action from both a technological and a societal perspective.