Environmentality 30 April 2014, Cam Walker, Friends of the Earth Melbourne

45 minutes is definitely not long enough to cover all the issues and campaigns that Friends of the Earth Melbourne are working on, let alone what is going on in the rest of the country and world.

The Barmah-Millewah redgum forest is one of FOEs current campaigns.

The Barmah-Millewah forest forms part of the great Murray Darling Basin.  An amazing array of great rivers and tributaries that cover over 1 million square kms.  This huge area is also known as Australia's food bowl and apart from feeding us it also supports 30,000 wetlands, 30 different species of fish and 98 species of waterbirds. If you are interested in reading more about the wetlands of the Murray Darling have a look at The Murray Darling Wetlands Working Group.

The Barmah Millewah Regum forest lays either side of the Murray River and are the largest remaining redgum forests in the world.  Since European settlement the redgum forests have been under threat from logging, cattle grazing, wild horses and a huge decrease in the amount of water that flows through them due to the amount of water we take out of our rivers for irrigation; the Goulburn and Ovens and Murray to name a few.

The Barmah-Millewah forests is now national park which may go some way to preserving this important area. The traditional owners, Yorta Yorta, Barapa Barapa and Wamba Wamba, whose traditional lands stretch along the this section of the Murray River are also having a say in how it is managed. There are many more traditional land owners along the 2,500 km of the Murray River, where you can still see remains of their sustainable, nomadic lives.  If you get the chance head up to the Murray it is definitely worth it.

We covered lots of other topics on the show this week, East-West link, climate change and coal to name a few.  Make sure you listen to the show!

Music played on the show today

Casey Chambers, Poppa Bill & the Little Hillbillies, Lost Music
Philip Phillips, Gone, Gone, Gone
Psy, Gangnam Style

Next week on the show, Robyn Deed, Editor of ReNew Magazine

Environmentality, 16 April 2014, Craig Byatt, aCure Holistic Environments + Architecture

No it wasn't anything like Grand Designs and where the client was going to find that extra half a million to finish the project!  It was much more grounded.  Hopefully Craig was able to put to bed some of the myths that architects are just adding to your building budget!

It was fantastic to have Craig Byatt, aCure Holistics Environments + Architecture in the Environmentality studio.  There were no pipe dream concepts in the mix just good old fashioned sensible design, small scale builds with an element of DIY and of course a lot of sustainable, community minded, environmentally friendly conversations.

For many Australians owning your own home on a 1/4 acre block is a fantasy.  And that is where Craig was coming from.  We need to reassess the way we live and the community we want to live in.

What if we did buy a house with friends or another family?  If you wanted to be within 10km of the CBD, it would definitely be more affordable.  If you had the right architect on the job, it could be redesigned to suit such a scenario.  Imagine if you were able to cycle or walk everywhere and were close to public transport? It sounds perfect, too perfect?

It's not to say these ideas can't work of course they do, Murundaka Cohousing Community in Heidelberg is a good example of community living.  It's not for everyone though. We like our space and we like to have space between our neighbours and us.

There are so many options to build a stronger, more sustainable community to live in.  It might even start with having a conversation with a neighbour, or introducing yourself in some cases.  Sharing the lawn mower or swapping recipes.

When we start to look outside the square it is amazing what we can come up with.  I wonder what happens to all those thousands of unused shipping containers around the world.......

Don't forget to listen to the show! 


Music played on the show today:

The Transantlantics, A Man Like That
Jane Denham, Addicted to the Diesel
The Smiths, Panic
Van Morrison, Gloria

Environmentality 9 April 2014 - Doctors for the Environment Australia

The saying 'an apple a day keeps the Dr away' is certainly true for those that live a healthy and active life.  It is also what underpins the amazing work that Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA) are doing.

DEA's members are medical students and medical professionals who not only want to see happy and healthy Australians and other world citizens but also a healthy, sustainable and clean environment for us to live in.

Grace Davies, student representative for DEA and Kate Lardner, Convenor of the iDea Conference joined us today on Environmentality.  It was great to have them on the show and really interesting to hear what has inspired them to volunteer their time to champion the most important cause of our time.  Listen to the show to hear about the amazing speakers Kate lined up for the conference.

The medical professional are at the coal face, no pun intended, of any health epidemic.  From your local doctor checking your blood pressure to the scientists looking at the tolerance that mosquitos have to anything we might throw at them!

There is always a challenge in the medical field, and the challenge now is how to educate our growing population of the correlation between the destruction of our natural world and the burgeoning cities and sedentary lifestyle we are living and climate change.

It looks like Grace and Kate and the other members of DEA are up to the challenge!

Music played today:

Imagine Dragons, On Top of The World
TinPan Orange, Like Snow
Powderfinger, My Happiness

Next week - Craig Byatt, Architect

Environmentality 2 April 2014

It looks like our esteemed co-presenter Sir John Merory is on the ball, or bike as it is.  Yesterday on Environmentality we kicked off with his bike vs car vs public transport experiment from Heidelberg Heights to the Journal Cafe in Flinders Lane.  Among John's crew were a couple of councillors one of which is a Mayor and an author of some note, you might like to look at his book .  No chocolate frogs for guessing who the winner was.  The cyclist got to his destination in 32 minutes with Mayor Langdon parking up 75minutes later!

As I open The Age today, front and centre, it wasn't John and his cohorts, but another group of like minded people, however the point is that the push to ditch the car and get on your bike is gaining momentum.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its 5th Assessment Report - Climate Change 2014 - Impacts, Adaption and Vulnerability.  

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the international body for assessing the science related to climate change.  It was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program to provide policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation.

The IPCC is not telling us what we don't already know, especially those in Australia.  Less rain when we normally get it, too much rain when we don't need it, hot and unpredictable summers, major stress on food security and production and the list goes on.

It is not surprising that our Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, is not saying much, as a climate denier he has made some very interesting statements on climate change over the years.  You only need to 'google' to find plenty of very amusing quotes.

Make sure you listen to the show and join us next week with our guests Doctors for the Environment.

Music played today

Queen, Bicycle Race

ABBA, Dancing Queen

Otouto, Sushi