Beyond Zero - Community

BZE tours the Great Forest National Park with the people who are working to preserve it. We speak to Senator Janet Rice about why so called" forest waste " must not be included in any renewable energy target and WHY preserving trees is a brilliant tactic to slow down climate disruption.When the state forests become National Park, a Carbon Sink worth $40 million each year will be created. The effect of letting this moist forest age gracefully will be to slow down the impacts of climate change. Vivien also chats with Artist Karena Goldfinch, Forest campaigner Steve Meacher and the Knitting Nanas (First broadcast on 15th June 2015) 

Dipping back into our archives, this episode on heat stress is clearly timely as we swelter through 40 odd degree days.  Vivien talks with Greg Foyster, and Maggie Baron from 'The Big Issue' about the severe impact of Heat Waves and the people who are hit the hardest.Then, an interview with the National Coordinator of the Australian Wind Alliance, Andrew Bray regarding the RET followed up with BZE's CEO, Stephen Bygrave, in the studio and speaking with Viv about the importance of consistent government policy in underpinning investment in renewables.(First broadcast 13 April 2015)

In this episode, Viv hosts Deborah Hart, Carol Ride, Fiona Armstrong and Julian Vincent in the studio.  These four climate change activists, and contributors to the book "Guarding Eden,"  share their journeys with us. (First broadcast on 31 August, 2015)      

In this episode, Naomi Klein, at Town Hall, Seattle dissects the issues around transitioning to climate justice, followed by a Q&A - this audio courtesy of Alternative Radio."The historical responsibility for the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions lies with the industrialised countries of the Global North. The production and consumption habits of countries like the United States continue to threaten the survival of humanity and biodiversity globally. It is imperative that the North urgently shifts to a low carbon economy.”

When citizens take a coal project to court, are they vexatious vigilantes with a vendetta against development?  In this episode, Viv brings us Senator Larissa Waters and Professor Clive Hamilton, each discussing  "Lawfare" and threats to our democracy.  Then, Geoff Maddox takes us to a retreat at Maule's Creek and Jarrod Talbot talks about how mining is taking his sacred sites.

"For us climate change is not an event in the future.It's an event that we're dealing with now......The use of coal is simply bad economics, unless one refuses to count as a cost the damages and deaths now and in the future from air pollution and climate change."– Anote TongCheck out the podcast to hear from President Anote Tong of Kiribati, Tim Flannery from the Climate Council, and journalist Thom Mitchell from New Matilda, in Paris. Also featuring some of the activist climate action from last Friday's 60,000 strong Paris Climate Rally in Melbourne. http://www.peoplesclimate.org.au/

 In this episode, Viv brings together psychologist Lyn Bender, author Psychology for a Safe Climate. David Spratt, co-author of Climate Code Red and  Dr Colin Long Victorian,Vice President, NTEU (National Tertiary Education Union).   With only a bit of a stretch, this trinity of climate defenders could be said to represent the health, science and humanity surrounding the issues, well at least in this radio hour anyway. But if you do nothing else this year to support action against climate disruption DO THIS!  Come to the People's Climate March this Friday and send those in-Paris-pollies an unambiguous message by swelling the numbers Paris Climate Rally in MelbourneFriday 27th November. 5:30pmState Library Stepshttp://www.peoplesclimate.org.au/

Vivien takes us to a vigil for the Filipino victims of Typhoon Hayan, outside Whitehaven Coal and to meet the people of BULGA fighting off Rio Tinto.But first we go to an International Symposium called 'Paris and Beyond'. Fergus Green tells us how Australia can be an energy superpower if we don’t miss the window of opportunity and Caroline Lambert talks about the European Union delegation to Australia. She is their first counsellor on climate and Environment.Guests: Fergus Green (LSE), Caroline Lambert (EU), Grace from Australian Youth Climate Coalition  BULGA v Rio (John Krey, Josh Creaser 350.org, Daisy Barham ACF, Jeremy Buckingham Greens NSW) The People's Climate March

The  worst environmental disaster of the twenty first century? Emissions greater than the whole US economy? Dr Daniel Murdiyarso from CIFOR, Centre for International Forestry Research talks about Indonesian peat fires. PLUS Tim Buckley from the Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis (IEEFA) on investor shock, stranded coal assets and how we can be a  superpower. Further Reading:Read up on the complex intersection of business and politics to what may amount as one of the greatest crimes against humanity and nature. https://theconversation.com/playing-with-fire-the-economics-and-network-of-fire-and-haze-47284 "As rains finally clear the skies over south-east Asia, dramatic Greenpeace photos show people and wildlife coping with the haze in one of the worst hit areas of Central Kalimantan on Borneo island." http://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2015/nov/02/indonesias-forest-fires-living-under-a-yellow-haze-in-pictures Indonesia is burning. So why is the world looking away? by

In this episode we find things are moving fast around Port Augusta. The coal mine and power plant are closing. Will Australia's first  Concentrated Solar Thermal plant with storage  be built here in its place?  Vivien called on local MP Dan Van Holst Pellekaan, to find out about the Sundrop Glasshouses and found out a lot more.Ellen Roberts talks to us from the Mackay Conservation group about the Adani coal project. Is it time for a court case  more about climate impacts than skinks and lizards? Billions of people trust their religious leaders more than politicians or environmentalists. We need them to get behind climate action. The Islamic Declaration and Pope Francis's "Laudato Si " call for rapid decarbonisation in words that will surprise you.Thea Ormerod founded the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change. She talks to us about how climate unites Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians  and Jewish people.Arguably, the biggest event in town...And, have a look at these...One

In this episode, we look at another climate catastrophe contributor - black soot.  Killling more people than HIV, malaria, and TB combined soot and smoke from cookstoves and hearths contributes not only to direct deaths but is a major contributor to climate warming.Interviewed by Alex Smith, host of Radio Ecoshockauthor of Fire and Ice, Jonathan Mingle explains how this dirty residue, a.k.a. black carbon, is one of the world's most dangerous and least understood pollutants, leading to millions of premature deaths annually and contributing more to glacial melting than carbon dioxide does.Will black soot, the second greatest cause of global warming, be regulated at Paris?Vivien hunts down the answers with scientists Gerard Wedderburn Bisshop, David Karoly and Malte Meinshausen.Put this in your diary - Melbourne People's March.  If you do nothing else to support climate change, do this!  Friday, November 27th outside the State Library.  See you there. 

 In this episode we are heartened by a successful campaign to close down the Anglesea coal mine, with Barrister Andrew Laird outlining how this was achieved.And then we hear from Greens MP's Dr Adam Bandt and Ellen Sandell, and John Grimes, CEO, the Australian Solar Council. The campaign to close down the Hazelwood power station is gaining momentum and they want your supprt. And lastly,  there is also a piece from The Rt Hon. the Lord Deben head of the UK committee on climate change. Join a local Melbourne action group, as an example, check out Lighter Footprints

How are we coping with climate fuelled disasters? How can we cope better? Why are so many still in denial?In the studio, Viv has 3 psychologists and 1 psychiatrist from Psychologists for a Safe Climate to shrink the problem.Lyn Bender specialises in existential issues and her writing is widely published in, for example,  New Matilda and the Independent Australian.  Lyn was jailed over the Franklin River Dam and is an advocate for asylum seekers,Charles Le Feuvre is a distinguished psychoanalytic psychiatrist.,Susie Burke helps people rebuild their lives as well as the biodiversity that is so threatened by a changing climate.,Sue Pratt is a psychologist  and a major contributor to the two books published by Psychology for a safe climate. Sign this petition - no new coal mines!

Retired Independent MP Tony Windsor, NSW Farmers mining spokesman Tim Duddy and farmers from the Liverpool Plains. They came to Lane Cove to mobilise support and they want to prevent Shenhua's Watermark coal mine spoiling their aquifers, and Aboriginal sacred sites. ‪#‎WrongMineWrongPlace‬People are very upset about the defeat at Maules Creek. Half the forest has been bulldozed now and Whitehaven is already producing coal from an open cut mine. Now citizens are putting all their campaigning energy into defending the Liverpool Plains farmland against Shenhua Chinese state owned coal company. 

First up in tonight's episode is Malcolm Turnball speaking in 2010 at the launch of Beyond Zero Emission's Zero Carbon Report.  The passion, strength and sentiment of this environmentally focussed speech will make even a Labor voter proud this man is prime minister, (providing they are a Green Labor voter...).  Could it be that Malcolm is the The One, the Great Green Hope, the Zorro of our times, sweeping to power and charming the arch-conservatives into a pro-climate position.Let's hope so!But where Malcolm may be going to be slow to crank up others are working at speed in their efforts to slow down/stop carbon emissions.  Listen also to artist David Watson on his Abbott Proof fence, Prof David Karoly on how he got into Climate science. Prof Will Steffan on the new Climate Council report, Guardian Divestment showcasing Bill McKibben and BZE CEO Dr Stephen Bygrave.  

What they won't tell you about the climate catastrophe.Could it be that even the greenies are greenwashing us?  Professor Kevin Anderson thinks so. Kevin is a top British scientist from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research (UK) and believes that climate scientists and governments are deluded, and deluding us with targets of 2% increases and collegial agreements in prepration for the Paris chat.   Instead, Kevin speaks to the impending catastrophe awaiting us and calls on the us, the high energy users, to rapidly, if not immediately, reduce our consumption, thereby reducing the need for energy supply.This isn't the first time you've heard this viewpoint, but it is time to hear it again.With thanks to the excellent Alex Smith from Radio Ecoshock, for allowing us to replay his broadcast.

If you ever visit a Parliament public gallery to hear a climate related debate and consider yourself 'green' be prepared to be slandered, insulted and derided.   Viv takes a seat in the NSW public gallery only to hear the Hon. Dr Peter Phelps's new definition of 'climate activist' which aside from "lunatics" includes "Stalinists, the sociopaths, the suckers, the Marxists, the misanthropists and the misguided".  Outside the parliament Viv seeks a sort of right of reply from those very 'lunatics,' including Phil Laird, from the 'Lock the Gate Alliance.'Next we replay a 3RN interview, Frank Kelly interviews Barnaby Joyce on citizens interrupting big projects.And lastly, but not leastly, Dr Debra Roberts from Durban, South Africa, talks with Viv about African cities and how they are adapting to the effects and impacts of climate change, on reforestation around Durban and the IPCC plans for cities taking climate action. Dr Roberts has played a lead role in international research, delivered papers at

Why would a local conservation group need to enforce the government's own laws and why would George Brandis react in a manner that seeks to align Australia with authoritarian states?Find out in this episode, where Viv uses the Carmichael Coal Case as a talking point with:Cristy Clark, Lecturer in Law at Southern Cross Uni and contributor to online zine - The Conversation (Cristy's current research is focused on the intersection of law, development and the environment)Jeff Smith, Executive Director, EDO, (independent community legal centre specialising in public interest environmental law) NSW and lawyer for the mighty Mackay Conservation GroupProfessor Samantha Hepburn, (Associate Head of School (Research), Law & Busines, Deakin Uni with a strong research interest in unconventional gas regulation in Australia and is also examining the regulatory development of carbon capture sequestration both in Australia and internationally.)  "...under a democratic system, the rule of law means that the gove

 What would it take for you to climb an industrial chimney, blockade a coal mine or make a speech to hundreds of people?The answer for the people in the just released book "Guarding Eden" is climate change.In tonight's episode Viv brings 4 guests into the studio, the author of Guarding Eden, Deborah Hart  and three of the contributors Julien Vincent (known for the organisation Market Forces, amongst other things), Carol Ride, President of Psychology for a Safe Climate,  and Fiona Armstrong, the founder and convenor of the Climate and Health Alliance. 

In this episode Vivien speaks with Dr David Holmes, Senior Lecturer, Communications and Media Studies,  Monash University about the impact of the media and those shadowy think tanks on people's understanding of climate change.We also bring you an Michael MacKenzie (Radio National) interview with Dr Roger Dargaville.  Roger tells us how, given the political will, Australia could achieve a 50% carbon reduction by 2030.