All Episodes - Greening the Apocalypse
There is a crack in everything, that's where the light gets in. Each week the Greening the Apocalypse team talk to the tinkerers and thinkerers, the freaks and geeks from permaculturists and eco-farmers to alt-tech innovators and peer-to-peer information networkers who are growing fascinating new systems through the fault lines of the old.
View Podcast Details40 Episodes
A doomer and a recovering communard walk into a radio station, with Peter Harley and Kate Gracey (27 November 2018)
Someone who's heading to Tasmania to survive the fall of civilisation gets some advice from someone who's been there, done that. Kate Gracey is a self described “doomer” who is moving to southern Tasmania this December to grow potatoes while living on a farm with her son. Peter Harley, spent most of a decade in the 1980s living in a cooperative at Goongerah in East Gippsland, concerned about nuclear armageddon. We think they should talk. David Spratt joins Adam and Jed to host.
Peak Economy?, with James Ward (13 November 2018)
There's probably no more important single number than how much energy we produce as a globe, nor a more important prediction of what direction that trend is heading. It's almost impossible to think of anything we care about that won't somehow be shaped by those numbers. So Adam and Jed speak with James Ward from University of South Australia, to discuss his co-authored study into projections of global fossil fuel production, and a complementary paper on whether we can decouple GDP growth from energy use and environmental impact.
Why this historian praises the burger, with Rachel Laudan (20 November 2018)
Is Slow Food and organic produce an elitist form of status signalling? What's so good about McDonalds?! And why do we need food waste? Food historian Rachel Laudan joins Adam Grubb and Sarah Coles to talk reasons why she thinks many in the ethical and sustainable food movements could use a little historical perspective, and it's a fascinating and provocative discussion. See her critique of the Slow Food movement, and her award winning book 2013's Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History for further reading.
Emergency Climate Action, with Jane Morton (6 Nov 2018)
Our climate is too hot. We are in an emergency. How do we get this message out to the wider public? Bushy and Jed are with clinical psychologist Jane Morton, making the case for emergency climate action.
At The Coalface, with Nikola Van de Wetering (30 Oct 2018)
Bushy and Jed chat with Nikola Van de Wetering from 4ZZZZ in Brisbane on her audio documentary At The Coalface and the general attitude towards coal in QLD. You can hear the documentary here: https://www.cbaa.org.au/article/nfds-2018-coalface
War on Climate Change (23 October 2018)
Bushy, Kate and Jed are in the studio, fronting up to climate change. They look at examples of what has been done in the past and what needs to be done in the future - A war scale effort is necessary!
Embodied Energy in our Buildings, with Rob Crawford (16 October 2018)
Adam and Kent welcome first time host David Spratt, author of What Lies Beneath: The scientific understatement of climate risks. They chat with Rob Crawford - Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne - on the environmental impact of buildings.
Energy and Attitudes, with Manfred Lenzen (9 October 2018)
Adam chats to Manfred Lenzen, Professor in the School of physics of the University of Sydney, about his study on the energy, carbon emissions, water, biodiversity loss and labour that goes into powering our lives. They talk energy slaves, nuclear energy and reconciling your attitudes towards renewable energy and affluence.
Milkwood, with Kirstin Bradley (2 October 2018)
Bushy, Adam, Kent and Sarah are in to chat with Kirstin Bradley, one third of the sustainability skills and permaculture education project Milkwood team. They cover various aspects of Milkwood's new book, ranging within The Tomato, Mushroom Cultivation, Natural Beekeeping, Seaweed and Wild Food.
Energy Talk, with Dylan McConnell (25 September 2018)
Arianne and Kate are with Dylan McConnell, an energy analyst from the Australian-German Climate and Energy College. On this episode, they talk about where we get our electricity from, the transition to clean energy in Australia, and a fact check on electricity prices.
Grey Matters, with Matiu Bush (18 September 2018)
Kate, Bushy and Kent are joined by Matiu Bush, to look at loneliness - Matiu is the founder of One Good Street, a social networking platform for encouraging neighbour initiated care for older residents at risk of social isolation and loneliness.
Fair Wood, with Pete Smith and Raphy Kruse (4 September 2018)
Bushy, Jed and Ariane Wilkinson chat with Pete Smith (Manager of CERES Fair Wood and Raphy Kruse (general skills collector) about some of the harrowing phenomena born from illegal logging, and potential avenues for ethical consumption.
Market Gardening and the Farm Raiser, with Chris Williams and Charlotte Bartlett-Wynne (28 August 2018)
Adam, Peta and Jed chat to Dr. Chris Williams and student Charlotte Bartlett-Wynne from Burnley Campus of Melbourne University's Urban Horticulture associate degree. Along with Pat Turnbull and Kirsty Edwards they have started the not-for-profit Farm Raiser, an organisation that sets up market gardens on vacant, underutilised land at schools to grow and sell food as a healthy fundraiser. They look at how the cultural status of growing food has changed in Australia and the realities of market gardening.
Climate change, with Ian Dunlop and David Spratt (7 August 2018)
Adam, Kate and Jed chat to Ian Dunlop (former corporation executive and head of coal council, turned activist) and David Spratt (climate activist, author and businessman). They unravel risk/scientific/political understatement, and the lack of imagination to think the unpalatable, when it comes to climate change.
The 'Myth' of Progress? with KMO (14 August 2018)
Adam is joined by KMO, host of the C-realm podcast to discuss whether our world is on an unstoppable trajectory of material, social and technological progress, or if perhaps if faith in that process might be allowing us to defer responsibility for addressing some environmental and humanitarian crises. KMO's got a new web comic, check it out at GEBB.io. This is an extended podcast-only episode. And... please please please subscribe to Triple R to keep us on air (and online)! Go to www.rrr.org.au and be in the running for lots of wonderful prizes if you do so before Sept 26. But don't wait, do it now! Thanks so much.
Conservation and activism, with Justin Cally (31 July 2018)
Bushy and Jed chat with Justin Cally from WOTCH (Wildlife of the Central Highlands) about the conservation, activism and citizen science of our forests.
Food, ethics and social media with Rohan Anderson (24 July 2018)
Jed, Bushy and Adam chat to Rohan Anderson; author of Whole Larder Love and A Year Of Practiculture, about his article "How being ethical made me hate being ethical", the online world and the way we communicate ethics and food.
Natural Law with Katie O'Bryan and Erin O'Donnell (17 July 2018)
Katie and Jed speak with Erin O'Donnell; a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne Law School, and Katie O'Bryan; lecturer in the Faculty of Law, and an Associate of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University, about the law and rights of the natural world.
Astrophysics with Dr Rachael Livermore (03 July 2018)
Bushy, Adam and Jed talk to Dr Rachael Livermore; ARC DECRA Fellow in the Astrophysics Group at the University of Melbourne, about the formation the universe, and what coronal mass ejections (sunspots) can have on Earth.
Pandemics with Professor Peter Doherty (10 July 2018)
Bushy, Katie and Jed chat to Professor Peter Doherty about Pandemics. Peter has shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology for Medicine in 1996 with Swiss colleague Rolf Zinkernagel, for their discovery of how the immune system recognises virus-infected cells. He was Australian of the Year in 1997, and has since been commuting between St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne.
River health, with Chris Walsh (26 June 2018)
This week the team chats with Chris Walsh, expert in the health of rivers, streams and their landscapes at the University of Melbourne and a senior member of the Melbourne Waterway Research- Practice Partnership with Melbourne Water. They talk about biodiversity in rivers around the world, introduced species wreaking havoc in Australian rivers and looking after our creeks and streams in increasingly urbanised landscapes.
Democracy in the Workplace, with Mark Tyler and Ella Ryan (19 June 2018)
Adam and Jed chat with Mark Tyler (organiser at Earthworker) and Ella Ryan (worker/owner at Redgum Cleaning Coop) about co-ops, economic democracy and democracy in the workplace. What are the challenges to unions and cooperatives working together?
Future of Work, with Dr Josh Healy (12 June 2018)
Bushy, Adam and Jed sit down with Dr Josh Healy, chatting about the changing nature of “work” from traditional manual jobs with long careers to gigs with turbulent change and no long-term stability. They discuss a range of solutions and promising directions in this space.
Retrosuburbia, with David Holmgren (5 June 2018)
Adam and Sarah talk to David Holmgren on Retrosuburbia: Energy descent, what Melbourne might look like in 40 years, and the retrofits people can implement at home.
Finding Infinity, with Ross Harding (29 May 2018)
Ross Harding is a creative sustainability consultant. His business, Finding Infinity, provides self sufficiency advice, with projects ranging from houses to city blocks. They work not only on the technical and financial solutions, but equally the culture required to create the transformation. The team talk about changing the way people live, trying and failing at corporate sustainability and future ways of living.
Neo-peasantry, with Patrick Jones (22 May 2018)
Patrick Jones calls himself a 'neo-peasant'. Bushy, Adam and Jed chat to the writer, community gardener, artist and author of The Art of Free Travel with Meg Ulman, about his lifestyle.
Urban Design and Changing Climate (15 May 2018)
Bushy, Kate and Jed chat with Lisa Howard of the Bendigo Botanical Gardens. They talk planting and planning for a changing climate, the roles of urban design, and botanical gardens in cooling the city and suburbs.
Bugs Galore (1 May 2018)
Bushy, Kate, Jed chat to Ary Hoffman, expert in insect ecology and the decline of flying bugs. The team look at the historical context and evolution of insects on Earth, the War on Bugs and looking ahead to our ecological future with insects.
Country Women's Association (24 April 2018)
Bushy and Jed chat with Margot and Louise from the Country Women’s Association, who are here to show that the CWA is about more than cake. They are advocating for and facilitating social change and support to those in need in their many branches.
Council and co-benefits (17 April 2018)
Adam and Jed hear from Kat Lavers (Hobson’s Bay City Council) on her research into the co-benefits (psychological, social, health etc) of urban food growing and how to approach councils.
Country vs City (10 April 2018)
Bushy, Kate and Jed are chatting country vs city. How do our carbon footprints compare depending on where we inhabit? The team look at how community, choice and resilience are factors in our way of life and our environmental impact.
Hot or Not? (3 April 2018)
Adam, Kate, Jed are joined by former guest Rafael Schouten, who studies plant physiology and energy dynamics. Together, they use some scientific literacy to consider viral environmental videos, talking thermodynamics, algae for biofuel and indoor grow-light vertical farming. Plus, they look to the future with emerging technologies.
Bees and Comedy, with Alanta Colley (27 March 2018)
Alanta Colley chats all things bees with Bushy, Adam and Jed ahead of her Comedy Festival show “Days Of Our Hives”. Colley is public health practitioner, comedian and co-founder of Sci Fight Science Comedy Debate held at the Spotted Mallard. She has performed for the Gates Foundation, Adelaide’s Science Exchange and is a regular at Political Asylum and the Laboratory. By day she teaches engineering students about international development, by night she tells jokes about bees to confused crowds.
Connection and Community, with Julian Able (20 March 2018)
Are we lonelier than we have ever been? Jed, Kate and Adam chat with Julian Able, Director of Compassionate Communities UK and a consultant in palliative care, currently in Cornwall. Together, we look at ways of dealing with connection and community.
Sustainable Food Systems, with Dr Lenore Newman and Andrew Butt (13 March 2018)
Adam chats with keynote speaker, Dr Lenore Newman, at the Urban Agriculture Forum. They tackle urban food security, peri-urban farming and sustainable food systems. Adam, Kate and Jed sit down in studio with Andrew Butt, Senior Lecturer in community planning and development at La Trobe, to follow up on some of these ideas.
Farming Culture and Community, with Melissa Connors (6 March 2018)
Bushy, Kate and Jed chat with special guest and agrarian pioneer Melissa Connors. Melissa packed up her bags and took to the countryside, eventually founding ‘This Farm Needs a Farmer’, building a bridge in the gap of hand-me-down knowledge in agriculture and farmers.
Cooking with compost, with Samuel Alexander (27 February 2018)
Bushy, Jed and Adam chat with Dr Samuel Alexander, founder of the Simplicity Institute and author of many books, and a new as-yet-unpublished essay 'Carbon Civilization and the Energy Descent Future', written with Joshua Floyd. They talk about making cooking gas (biogas) from your household compost, as Sam is doing in his own backyard, and while they're at it, look at the history of how energy has influenced the cultural evolution and structures of the human race.
Placemaking, with Gilbert Rochecouste (20 February 2018)
Bushy, Kate and Jed chat with Gilbert Rochecouste from Village Well. Gilbert is a leading voice in placemaking. His catalyst ideas have regenerated iconic places and enlivened many urban and rural communities. Gilbert sees the potential of placemaking to inspire a deeper cultural and social environmental awareness and stewardship to make a difference both locally and globally.
What Caught Our Eyes? (13 February 2018)
Adam, Kate, Sarah and Jed are back in the studio for the first episode of 2018, reflecting on what caught their eyes over the summer break; From the state of Adani, to Soul Food Farms, varying ecological cultures across the globe, and more.
Group Dynamics and Communication (12 December 2017)
One of the many battles we face going forward in a world of resource depletion, economic instability and political upheaval, is that it seems that our ability to organise and coordinate as a group is dying. The whole team is here to close 2017, talking about group dynamics, communication and how we might save our collective skins by learning to communicate better and establishing team goals.