Beyond Zero - Community

12 March 2018BZE (Community)Radio ShowPresenter/Producer: Erin JonesTopic: National Energy GuaranteeOn today’s show we focus on the National Energy Guarantee.We speak with Climate Council Councillor Greg Bourne about their latest report:Clean & Reliable Power: Roadmap to a Renewable Futurehttp://www.climatecouncil.org.au/renewables-roadmap-2018This report is a response to the National Energy Guarantee and looks at the relationship between Climate and Energy Policy. Australia’s Electricity infrastructure is rapidly ageing and a transition is on the horizon. The Climate Council Report outlines how that transition should happenWe also speak with Nicky Ison, Founding Director of Community Power Agency @CommunityPowerA about the submission that Nicky co-ordinated on behalf of the Climate Action Network Alliance in relation to the National Energy Guarantee. Show note links:http://www.climatecouncil.org.au/renewables-roadmap-2018http://www.climatecouncil.org.au/contributors/greg-bourne&

Mon 5th March 2018BULGA to BYLONG- Locking the Gates This is an audio voyage up the Hunter Valley where brave communities are holding out against climate changing coal expansions.We meet:     Wannarua Elder- Pat Hansson     Ex Miner- Frank Turnbull     Community Leader – John Krey     Local Historian – Stewart Mitchell     Goldman Prize Winner – Wendy Bowman     Veteran Campaigner – Bev Smiles     Bylong Grazier – Peter Grieve AO     Guide at The Drip – Phyllis Setchell     Environmental Justice- Dr James Whelan     Lock the Gates Guides – Steve Phillips and Nic Clyde    The Bulga Community is famous for having taken Rio Tinto to court and won!     The extension of the mine was prohibited by the Supreme Court. Aboriginal sacred places and significant woodlands were protected. But their victory was short lived as the head of Rio made a special trip from London and the NSW Government promptly

Mon 26th Feb 2018Ocean DrawdownDo you get seasick out on the ocean?Is the sea sick of climate change?Alanna Mitchell overcame her sea sickness and went down to the bottom of the ocean. She is an award winning Canadian Science journalist. After her show “SEASICK”, she spoke to Vivien about the erotic thrill of witnessing coral spawning. Her play dramatises the enormity of climate change affecting the ocean’s chemistry. As Charlie Veron said after bleaching, the coral will dissolve like an Alka Selzer Tablet in a jug of water. Dealing with the grief and tapping into a more creative response is all part of this sobering interview.Professor Rocky De Nys from James Cook University is the leader of the Macroalgal Biofuels and Bioproducts project. He talks to us about Apsparagopsis Taxiformis and how it reduces methane produced by ruminant animals. The scientists thought it must have been a mistake when the results of 80% reduction in sheep came back from the lab.We talk about the hopes for

LOW CARBON AND LOVING IT +FIGHT FOR THE BIGHT AT TRANSITIONS FILM FESTIVALMon 19th Feb 2018 Mark Delaney brought his kids up in the poor suburbs of Delhi.Returning to Australia he and his son Tom were shocked at our apathy round climate change. Their story is a fresh look at the “small picture solutions” we can all take to reduce our 23 tonnes per person to the 8 tonnes of a European or even the 2 tonnes CO2e of an  average Indian. If you would like to participate in a book club to discuss this text over  four weeks in April contact Vivien at – [email protected] Simons will tell us about some of the Transitions Films he has brought us to inspire climate action.Films such as:  Food Fighter (22nd Feb) The last Animals( 24th Feb) Guardians of the Earth (27th Feb) and The Gateway Bug (2nd March)Eliza Muirhead  directed one of the Transitions Films called Operation Jeedara with Tim Watters as co director . She will take us to the Great Australian

Mon 12th Feb 2018We meet Dr Bob Brown to talk about restoring the Tarkine Forest to its indigenous custodians and sequestering carbon in its soils. Bob also discussed his case defending the right to protest  logging or mining operations and his win in the High court . This protects the Tarkine defenders in Tasmania but protestors in NSW and other states are still facing draconian penalties like 7 years jail for standing on a road leading into a coal mine!Deane Belfield talks to us about regenerative agriculture and carbon farming. He represents the Regenerative Australian Farmers. They will host a masterclass on Drawdown with Paul Hawken and are keen to help famers get baseline data on the carbon content of their soil so they can eventually qualify for carbon credits.Justin Borevitz from ANU is a plant biologist using big data to help farmers regenerate their soils and use fertilisers with more precision. His question is How much soil does your food grow? It’s all about

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CARBON RATIONS OR CARBON ALLOWANCES?Mon 18th Dec 2017How would carbon rationing work?Would it be forever?Would it hurt?BZE’s Vivien Langford talks to author Stan Cox in Salina Kansas about his book “Anyway you slice it”.Some people  are aware of the Climate Emergency, but others behave as if unaware. Australia’s per capita aviation emissions for example  are 18 metric tonnes compares to 5 for a French Citizen.What if this generation put a cap on fossil fuelled travel and energy use? Would it feel better if it was an app on your phone and was called a Carbon Allowance?We say that the bulk of existing coal oil and gas must stay underground, so shouldn’t we treat these as precious commodities, to be rationed while we make the transition? A Government committee in the UK researched this and said it could become an essential measure but that it was” an idea before its time”. We look into why it is such a taboo subject.“How the world breaks” is a new book by Stan Cox and his

Mon 11th Dec 2017BZE radio has spoken often to Christine Milne because she has always been at events to defend the Renewable energy target, the clean energy package and to rid parliament of fossil fuel influence.Her memoir  shows “how hard it is not to become bitter about the ruthless ” people in power. Even at a time of bereavement  they pressured her to perform.Her awareness of the urgency of climate action and the difficulty of translating that into enduring legislation are a lesson for those who want system change.Vivien took the ferry over to Hobart where the retired senator was surrounded by friends.It was  at the launch of “An activist life” in Fullers Bookshop . The atmosphere was warm and full of the laughter  and friendship that underpins action.We hear Christine in conversation with Tasmanian historian James Boyce.In the interview that starts this show Christine Milne talks to Vivien about her love of history and Science. She reports that  climate activists n

Mon 4th Dec 2017World Antarctic Day, December 1st- 2017 was celebrated by a huge Marine Protected Area in the Ross Sea coming into force. As the head of International Greenpeace Antarctic Campaign Frida Begtsson said “Healthy oceans take in vast quantities of CO2 and are essential in tackling climate change”Tonight BZE radio goes to the cryosphere where you will meet scientists and sustainability leaders we can be proud of. You will hear about Katabatic winds,krill, ice cores that show Australian droughts centuries ago and ocean circulation that controls the climate.After visiting the replica of Mawson’s hut in Hobart, Vivien went past a sculpture of Roald Amundsen and into the epicentre of Antarctic research ACE CRC. It’s near Salamanca Place.Dr Jan Lieser is a marine glaciologist. His satellite technology helps him advise ships as the summer seasonstarts.. Sea Ice is his speciality as it expands and contracts every year. It doesn’t affect sea level but its great pulse churns the oce

Subscribe: Android | Email | RSS | MoreMon 27th Nov 2017If Marco Polo returned from China today he’d be telling barely credible stories of wind turbines with livestock grazing beneath them. Australians coming back from Europe tell the same stories, with the kicker that Australia itself is sitting on a FABULOUS wind resource. If we could think BIG wouldn’t we be able to hurry to 100% and then beyond?. So why all the delays? We wanted to find out how the wind industry is going here. It has been in the doldrums with the wrong signals coming out of Canberra but the Clean Energy Council says there is $5.2billion worth of projects with secure finance and ready to go. We will talk to Andrew Bray from the Australian Wind Alliance for the big picture. We will then go back to 2012 when Viv interviewed a farmer called Paul Reardon . Many listeners told us they liked what he had to say about drought proofing his farm by hosting a few turbines. This meant that he could cut down the number of sheep he w

Mon 20th Nov 2017Erin interviews Vanessa Petrie(BZE CEO) about BZE accomplishments in 2017 and what is planned for the coming year.

 Mon 6th Nov 2017What lessons can we learn from  Bangladesh?The 2017 floods in the north of Bangladesh coincided with over half a million refugees staggering in from Myanmar in the east.India has built a security fence with armed guards around its border with Bangladesh. But despite being on the frontline, this country is NOT intending to create climate refugees.Vivien learns how Bangladesh is adapting. Tom Bamforth from Red Cross/Red Crescent has recently been there.  Climate Scientist Dr Saleemul Huq is on skype from Dhaka at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development. He is a beacon of adaptation expertise and humanity.He will inspire you with what a country rich in community spirit is doing. He says to  us “We  don’t want your money, we want your empathy”.Australia’s  task is to see the victims of our emissions. As he says , continuing carbon exports and carbon pollution is “not a victimless crime” and the climate criminals must pay. Of course emergency aid i

Mon 30th October 2017In the land of the lyrebirds  everyone is enthralled.Scientists  measuring the carbon stock, citizens battling the pulp mill, visionaries with maps of the linked up forests, all pause.The first people who came in to this moist forest with its giant trees going back hundreds of years, must have laughed to hear the lyrebird imitate a kookaburra, imitate a cracking branch, imitate them. When the wildfires went through what a thing to be mourned.As we learn new words like eco- system services and legacy industries, what will be the future of this carbon dense series of forests from central Victoria to Southern NSW?. They are our richest ecological asset.Bringing you  a narrative of restoration in these febrile times of climate disruption:Paul Payton from the Great Southern Forest AllianceDr Heather Keith  from The Fenner School of Environment and Society A.N.U.Steve Meacher from The Great Forest National ParkDaisy Barham from Nature Conservation Council

This BZE Radio episode was broadcast on Monday 23rd October 2017 “Every parrot in the pet shop is talking about Energy Policy” ACCCBut for a summit , a lot of voices were absent. Big Wind, Big Solar and the growing movement of citizens, intellectuals and NGO’s demanding the rapid energy descent away from coal oil and gas. The chiefs who supply us with over 80% of our dirty energy were there as the clean energy target was swallowed up and the National Energy Guarantee emerged.The NEG requires Energy Retailers to give a guarantee of reliability. They will need to contract or own a certain amount of dispatchable power. As more coal fired power stations close, this could mean they invest in pumped hydro storage , batteries or gas turbines. In a heatwave when all the air conditioners go on, pumped hydro storage can turn on in 20 seconds and batteries in 1 second, according to Professor Andrew Blakers ANU.  He says 20 or 30 of the 22,000 possible sites need to

Coming up …..This BZE Radio episode was broadcast on Monday 16th October 2017Rethinking CementGuests:Jordi Bates, Kathryn Bennett, Michael Lord and Tim BuckleyYou may not have been thinking very much about cement, but BZE researchers have.Manufacturing cement makes up 8% of world carbon emissions and rising.Could it be made without these emissions?Would a price on carbon make us look differently at fly ash?Don’t be dismayed.Michael Lord makes it all clear as he launches the new BZE report Rethinking Cement in Newcastle.Vivien also learns about the late Jen Bates from her husband and mother. They dedicated the new report to her because of her dynamic support of BZE in Newcastle and to her lifetime’s work protecting our precious environment.Staying with heavy industry, Tim Buckley speaks to Dirt radio about Whitehaven Coal.

This BZE Radio episode was broadcast on Monday 9th October 2017Carbon Sinking in KenyaDr David Kimiti- Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in KenyaClimate blind Journalism from Texas to Bangla DeshGeorge Monbiot-  Author of ” OUT of the Wreckage” on misreporting Hurricane HarveyProfessor Karin Wahl-Jorgensen- Cardiff University on Disaster reporting as climate changes.We continue our series on carbon sequestration through land management and visit a UNESCO Heritage wildlife conservancy in Kenya.Hurricanes in the USA and Caribbean prompt thoughts about how we could report on it better. Meanwhile unusual floods in Nepal, Bangla Desh and India prompt very little media attention while some journalists say “Now is not the time to mention fossil fuels or climate disruptions. It’s insensitive”George Monbiot thinks we need a new politics for an age of crisis. He says that humans are actually altruistic and co-operative and that the media can build a politics of belonging rather than the destruction of