The Green Genius - saving our planet

John Blay has been described as a humble Australian bushman but what exactly is an Australian bushman?The word can conjure many things such as hardiness and doggedness. Ned Kelly was described as a fine bushman. Malcom Douglas also springs to mind, the crocodile hunter and film maker. So does the name Robyn Davidson, an author and bush woman who famously trekked the deserts of Western Australia with camels and what about ‘The Bush Tucker Man’ Les Hiddins who inspired my own adventures in Cape York.Born in Parramatta in 1944, the bushman that we are speaking with today is also a naturalist, a philosopher, a playwright, a poet and a critically acclaimed author of numerous books including Trek Through Back Country; On Track: Searching out the Bundian Way; and Wild Nature: walking Australia’s south east forests.John’s writing has been described as bringing together human and physical landscape with historical influences. In 1981 his journey as a bushman truly began when he spent 12 months in the Deua and Wadbilliga National Parks with a sometimes stubborn mule called Zac and since then has never stopped exploring Australia’s Southern Forests. Working closely with the local Aboriginal people, John re-discovered The Bundian Way, an ancient Aboriginal pathway from the sea at Twofold Bay to Mount Kosciuszko, a pathway that is many thousands of years old.Amongst many accolades John has also discovered a new species of acacia that is aptly called Blay’s Wattle. Join us for this enchanting discussion that was recorded at John’s home in Eden NSW overlooking Twofold Bay and hear about John’s fascinating stories of solitude, discovery, indigenous heritage and the wild horses of Kosciuszko National Park. 

The Anthropocene, rapid population growth, improved standard of living in developing countries, ever expanding agriculture and inefficient use of water is causing rapid change to water management across the world due to the increased demand for fresh water.1 in 3 people that live on planet earth live without a household water connection and 800 million people lack access to safe water.Climate change is increasing the odds there will be an increase in severe drought in many parts of World and this year scientists referred to the drought in the US as the worst drought in 1,200 years’. In Australia we are already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate, particularly changes associated with increases in temperature, frequency and intensity of heatwaves, severe weather events, intense fires and drought conditions.Something is not right. Can technology save us? The desalination of saltwater is an example of a technocentric solution and there are now an estimated 20,000 desalination plants world-wide. In Australia there are 26 desalination plants with another several in the pipeline.The rapid growth of desalination plants comes with much uncertainty and the water industry looks to become a major contributor to climate change via the significant energy usage required to operate desalination plants and the associated pollution.The growing concern and uncertainty about the environmental impacts of desalination plants means it is critical that we continue to question if ‘desalination is the genuine and unique technological solution’ to the water crisis in the Anthropocene.As the famous German sociologist Ulrich Beck once asked, what could be the ‘unintended consequences of these technological fixes’?Join us for this insightful discussion with the preeminent and globally renowned water expert Professor Stuart Khan from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and learn about desalination, storm water harvesting, dams (including his thoughts on raising the Warragamba Dam wall), technocracy and the policy process in times of water crisis. 

In the year 1800, a little over 200 years ago, there were 1 billion people on Earth. Today there are 7.7 billion people and by 2100 there will be close to 11 billion people on Earth.How are we going to feed everyone? What exactly is aquaculture and what does it have to do with the global population?Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Even farming pearls, crocodiles and ornamental fish is classified as aquaculture. Globally, the aquaculture market is worth over $50 Billion USD and production is led by China who produces over 65 billion metric tons of aquaculture products annually and aquaculture is the fastest growing primary industry in Australia.Driving the growth of the Australian aquaculture sector is the world demand for fisheries products that the world's commercial fisheries are increasingly unable to meet due in part to greatly depleted fish stocks and global population growth. The Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment estimates the value of Australian aquaculture production is worth around $1 billion annually.Aquaculture in Australia dates back thousands of years with evidence of an Aboriginal community farming eels in Victoria (United Nations) and Australian writers such as Bruce Pascoe have educated many of us about how first peoples have farmed, nurtured and lived in harmony with nature in Australia for millennia and another remarkable fact is that indigenous Australians used to transport yabbies between waterholes to restock impoverished waterbodies. The first true aquaculture in Australia.The earliest commercial aquaculture products was the Sydney Rock Oyster from New South Wales in the 1870s and it is only in more recent times (since the 1960s) that farming freshwater crayfish in purpose-built dams has really commenced. Join us for this insightful discussion with entrepreneur and visionary Dr. Lisa Elliot, Managing Director and founder of the Australian Crayfish Hatchery, the first state-of-the-art redclaw crayfish hatchery of its kind.

What is corporate sustainability? What does sustainability mean to you? Does your bank, your local supermarket, your butcher, your hairdresser, your clothing store or your local café have a sustainability strategy?Sustainability is a word often used but often confused.  While some companies think putting fruit in the staff kitchen is an entire corporate wellbeing strategy, other companies think using organic cotton on a couple of t-shirts in a range of 1000 SKUs will impress their customers and they think they will sell more products, make more profit.  They think customers will perceive them as being sustainable, as environmentally friendly, as caring, as hip, as cool, as doing their part. This is not sustainability, it’s greenwashing.So what is greenwashing you are probably asking? The Oxford Dictionary defines greenwashing as “disinformation disseminated by an organisation so as to present an environmentally responsible public image”. It’s basically modern day propaganda.The concept of sustainability can be complex and confusing. In fact, awareness of sustainability as a concept only really started to grow after it was defined in a 1987 report called Our Common Future, by the World Commission on Environment and Development, which is part of the United Nations and also now known as the Brundtland Commission. The definition of sustainability development in the 1987 Brundtland Commission report is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’’.Being green is not easy and corporate sustainability is a tough racket. Let’s not forget that the core focus of an organisation and its employees is to create and maintain a viable organisation that can successfully compete in the marketplace.There is an academic called John Alexander from Grand Valley State University in Michigan in the United States who refers to the “systematic condition” that affectively gives organisations little choice but to pursue initiatives that maximise profits rather than making decisions based on environmental and moral terms.Do we need to abandon this purely economically driven paradigm?Unless there is a remedy to cure the insanity of endless growth will the systematic disease continue to wreak havoc on the environment? The answer is probably yes.However, there is hope.This is a story that goes against the systematic condition of endless growth, a story of guts, a story of plastic, a story of very, very cool shades.The University of Wollongong estimates that in Australia 400 million plastic bottles end up in landfill each year and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) tells us:Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year across the globeAt least 8 million tons of plastic ends up in our oceans every single yearPlastic pollution threatens food safety and quality, human health, coastal tourism, and contributes greatly to climate changeThe IUCN also tell us that recycling and reuse of plastic products, and support for research and innovation to develop new products to replace single-use plastics are necessary to prevent and reduce plastic pollution.Join us for this unique and powerful story about Good Citizens, a company founded by sustainability entrepreneur Nik Robinson. After 752 days and over 2500 failed attempts Good Citizens successfully turned a discarded 600ml single-use plastic bottle into a pair of sunglasses. 1 bottle = 1 pair. 100% recycled.This is a great story, a story of “un-trashing the planet of single-use plastic”.

Anthropogenic climate change, rapid population growth, deforestation and poor management of land leading to devastation mean current agricultural approaches both in Australia and across the world must change. Industrial farming is simply not an option for the future and good governance and agricultural innovation are required to both protect the environment and tackle the uncertainties of climate change. Innovation is however challenging to introduce and to drive positive, innovative change in land management there must be achievable incentives for agriculturists and at the same time education of consumers. Large grocery players in Australia also have an important part to play in land management and need to lift their game. Regenerative agriculture aims to enhance and restore “resilient systems” and focuses on restoring and enhancing soil health that has been degraded by traditional agriculture. Importantly regenerative agriculture creates better quality nutrient dense food and provides other ecosystem services including soil carbon sequestration, improved soil water retention, higher crop yields and healthier communities. Regenerative farming practices are apparently increasing however it is estimated that under 2% of Australian farmers practice regenerative agriculture.Farmers often feel a “sense of alienation” when they transition to the path of regenerative agriculture and there has been limited research conducted on the challenges farmers face when shifting from industrial farming practices to a relatively new approach that is based on conservation and adaptive management. There must be consideration of the often fluctuating seasonal darkness of being a farmer as the sound mental health of farmers is a critical component of this new paradigm in agriculture.Join us for this thought provoking podcast with the man described by some as the godfather and leader of regenerative agriculture in Australia, Charlie Massy.

Three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years to generate and the United Nations have estimated that if the current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years.Soils play a critical role in absorbing carbon and filtering water and they are being degraded, rapidly. In fact, the equivalent of one sport field is eroded every five seconds.All of us who live in the capital cities of Australia including Perth, Sydney and Brisbane have experienced dust storms. The dust is mostly topsoil from a heavily degraded Australian landscape. Dust storms are also now frequently experienced across the globe.Soil across the globe is being destroyed by chemical heavy industrial farming, deforestation and global warming driven by rapid climate change and there are extremely negative flow on effects to our water quality, food production capacity and biodiversity.Anthropogenic climate change is creating an epoch characterised by incredible uncertainty and panic causing many of us to actually question the concept of sustainability. So when we hear the term sustainable agriculture, is this really possible?Join us for this insightful discussion with Charlie Arnott, a biodynamic farmer and grazier and one of the most prominent and positively vocal leaders in regenerative agriculture also known as sustainable agriculture.

To dam or not to dam.Ancient rainforest and priceless indigenous sites are at stake.The proposed Dunoon Dam in northern NSW Australia is a contentious topic, one that is dividing a community. You could perhaps compare the current outrage in the community to the infamous protests at nearby Terania Creek in 1979 that saw hundreds of peaceful protestors save ancient rainforests from logging and shape the history of environmental protection in Australia.Rous County Council are telling the community that the dam must go ahead because of climate change and population growth. Is this the truth?What about alternatives like use of water groundwater, indirect potable reuse of wastewater or better water usage management?The Dunoon Dam has been in the pipeline since the mid-1990s and Rous County Council has been acquiring properties for the project since this time and the cost of the proposed dam is close to $250 million dollars.The size of the proposed dam is 50 gigalitres which is over 3 times the size of nearby Rocky Creek Dam which has the capacity of 14 gigalitres. If the dam goes ahead, not only will it be over three times the size of nearby Rocky Creek Dam, ancient rainforest will be destroyed and so will indigenous heritage sites including burial grounds and sites that contain priceless cultural artifacts and scarred trees. In Australia, scarred trees indicate bark that was removed by Aboriginal Australians for the creation of shelters, canoes, weapons such as shields or for use as food containers. Join us for this engaging discussion with Rous County Council Chairperson Keith Williams about a proposed project that has global relevance and discusses the importance of community engagement, the impacts of climate change and a local government agency's justification for building a dam.

Terania Creek - Australia’s first successful environmental protest.“The Story Of Terania Creek is essentially the story of rainforests everywhere. Rainforest, that cradle of evolution has been hacked, cleared, felled, milled and burned” (Jack Thompson, Give Trees A Chance: the story of Terania Creek, 1980).An army of 200 protesters takes on 100s of police at Terania Creek to save ancient World Heritage-listed rainforest....and they win.Join us for this inspiring interview with Nan and Hugh Nicholson on their property at The Channon in northern NSW.Learn about their incredible plight to save the ancient rainforest at Terania Creek and how the protests changed Australia’s approach to protecting the environment forever.Nan and Hugh also discuss the recent fires which burned ancient rainforests for the first time in millennia and the proposed Dunoon Dam.

Going back in time.The Big Scrub in the Byron Bay region was once the largest tract of lowland subtropical rainforest in the southern hemisphere. European settlers began clearing the forest for agriculture and timber in the 1840s and, sadly, by 1900 less than 1 per cent of the original 75,000 hectares remained. Now, scattered remnant pockets are all that exist of this glorious forest that once stretched from Byron Bay to Lismore and beyond.Join us for this exciting podcast with former investment banker Dr. Tony Parkes who has dedicated 3 decades to restoring the remaining Big Scrub including facilitating the planting of a staggering 2 million trees.Tony talks about the significance of the remaining Big Scrub which is internationally significant with species whose lineages go back more than 180 million years to the forests of Gondwana.Learn about Tony’s ground breaking seed diversity program, a world first initiative he is working on in conjunction with the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens.This podcast was recorded on Tony’s property in Binna Burra northern NSW, not far from Bangalow.