National Press Club address: Australia's newly elected/appointed Enivornment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, launches 2021 State of the Environment Report

"I’ve done the sums. All we need is 1,200 square kilometres. That’s not much. The area devoted to agriculture is about 3,500 times larger at 4.2 million square kilometres. The area of land that would be taken away from agriculture works out at about 45 square metres per person – about the size of a large living room. "We can ditch fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse emissions with negligible impact on agriculture. And, in many cases, farmers can be paid for hosting renewable energy infrastructure while continuing to run sheep and cows or grow crops." So says a Professor of Engineering from the Australian National University, Professor Andrew Blakers (pictured), in an article published in The Conversation: "No threat to farmland: just 1,200 square kilometres can fulfil Australia’s solar and wind energy needs". Professor Blakers visited Mooroopna, just across the Goulburn River from Shepparton, several years ago as one of about three speakers at a climate change forum organised by the Shepparton-based group, "Slap Tomorrow". The convenor of Zero Carbon Tatura, Terry Court, also on the Goulburn Valley-based GV Community Energy board, joined me for the conversation with Professor Blakers. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-mclean/message

Those who understand climate change see adaptation and mitigation as key planks in national security and former international oil, gas and coal industry executive, chair of the Australian Coal Association and CEO of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Ian Dunlop, writes on Pearls and Irritations - "Climate security risks and Australia’s failure"; "Australia’s National Defence Strategy: Where ideology trumps strategy"; "As climate change pushes deer north, other animals may lose out"; "Startup mimics nature to produce zero-carbon cement"; "Here’s what record-breaking temperatures looked like around the globe"; "8 years into America’s e-scooter experiment, what have we learned?"; "Why India is key to heading off climate catastrophe"; "Southern Africa drought flags dilemma for loss and damage fund"; "Where seas are rising at alarming speed"; "Air Pollution Could Potentially Exacerbate Menopause Symptoms, Study Says"; "Girt by Sea: can Australia reduce its dependence on US security?"; "‘Near unliveable’ extreme heat poses national security risk"; "Study: Climate change boosted July's heat for 81% of world's population"; "Getting together on climate action"; "ELECTRIC SUV EXPO 24, MELBOURNE"; "Mom fights air pollution in North Denver"; "Welcome to the Regen Learning Hub"; "Surveyors warn EV chargers in old apartment buildings should have fire safety approval"; "Slow Fashion 101: Everything You Need to Know"; "‘Near unliveable’ extreme heat poses national security risk"; "Climate-security risks too hot to handle for Australian Government"; "Florida sees thriving future if climate resilience managed, research finds"; "Appeals Court Ordered the Dismissal of a Landmark Youth Climate Court Case"; "Loss and Damage Meeting Shows Signs of Giving Developing Countries a Bigger Voice and Easier Access to Aid"; "Policy Experts Say the UN Climate Talks Need Reform, but Change Would be Difficult in the Current Political Landscape"; "Perth residents question use of groundwater for Coca-Cola bottled water amid record low rainfall"; "Roger Cook faces defamation threat from teen climate protesters"; "Minnesota’s biggest solar project will help replace a huge coal plant"; "Texas Companies Eye Pecos River Watershed for Oilfield Wastewater"; "Increasingly Frequent Ocean Heat Waves Trigger Mass Die-Offs of Sealife, and Grief in Marine Scientists"; "First ever planet-wide analysis shows conservation work is making a measurable difference"; "We think we control our health – but corporations selling forever chemicals, fossil fuels and ultra-processed foods have a much greater role"; "Is bioenergy ever truly green? It depends on 5 key questions"; "El Niño not climate change key to drought that caused Panama Canal disruption, study says"; "No Mow May: How to turn your garden into a haven for butterflies this spring"; "How close is the world to securing a global treaty to end plastic pollution?"; "Can Forests Be More Profitable Than Beef?"; "Curbing Contrails: A Climate Solution in the Skies"; "Trains Are Cleaner Than Planes, Right"; "Corn to Power Airplanes? Biden Administration Sets a High Bar."; "Why 40°C is bearable in a desert but lethal in the tropics"; "Sharing the Truth About Electric Vehicles and Clean Energy"; "Transformative Incrementalism: Changing Global Systems By Changing Our Part Of The World". --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-mclean/message

Nuclear energy was given a brief platform on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Q&A program and was championed by the National Party Senator for Victoria, Bridget McKenzie. "Charged up: WA town to home Australia’s biggest battery"; "GV Community Energy"; "Farmers must innovate or risk profits says CSIRO"; "Colbinabbin residents oppose huge solar farm"; "Heat wave in Southeast Asia closes schools, triggers health alerts"; "Dangerous heat kills dozens, closes schools, prompts four-day workweek"; "Peter Dutton calls for government to engage in ‘mature conversation’ on nuclear energy"; "Some anglers say Rhode Island’s Block Island wind farm has improved fishing"; "Alaska Native community experiments with growing food above the Arctic Circle"; "Australia mining at risk from climate change-fueled drought and heat"; "Mexico proudly controls its energy but could find it hard to reach its climate goals"; "I found a $2,100 EV. Here’s how you can, too"; "Great Barrier Reef’s worst bleaching leaves giant coral graveyard: ‘It looks as if it has been carpet bombed’"; "Labor’s first extinction"; "NSW to announce life extension of Eraring, Australia’s largest coal-fired power station"; "A Uniquely French Approach to Environmentalism"; "Saying the stakes could not be higher, Newsom to speak at Vatican climate summit"; "How do we define climate responsibility? Woodside has no answer"; "The Green Gas Lie"; "Repeated periods of heat and drought causing some trees to die – study"; "Hydrogen Offers Germany a Chance to Take a Lead in Green Energy"; "Scotland’s leader resigns after conflicts over climate change, gender identity weakened government"; "Heavy Rains Threaten China’s Rice as Extreme Weather Grips South"; "European cities are turning to nature-based solutions amid climate crisis"; "Majority of critical minerals face heightened climate risks by 2050, study finds"; "Countries consider pact to reduce plastic production by 40% in 15 years"; "Taxing big fossil fuel firms ‘could raise $900bn in climate finance by 2030’"; "Capital Research Center"; "Kenya flooding: Around 50 killed in villages near Mai Mahiu town"; "PM Update: Records set after highs hit near 90, with more heat expected Tuesday"; "Alaska Native community experiments with growing food above the Arctic Circle"; "New rules will slash air, water and climate pollution from U.S. power plants"; "Ford Hybrids, EVs, Transit Set Records; Q1 Sales Top Industry, Up 7%"; "Climate change and human rights: how a landmark legal victory in Europe could affect NZ": "Republicans want to plant a trillion trees. Scientists are skeptical."; "What kind of diner are you? 6 types of diners who avoid plant-based meat dishes"; "House Republicans pass energy bill to roll back regulation of fossil fuel production"; "Our tall, wet forests were not open and park-like when colonists arrived – and we shouldn’t be burning them"; "Carbon Dioxide Levels Have Passed a New Milestone"; "Retired UK GP suspended for five months after climate protests"; "Sugar gums have a reputation as risky branch-droppers but they’re important to bees, parrots and possums"; "These European countries could lose more than 30 days of comfortable weather a year by 2100"; "17 fatalities, 736 crashes: The shocking toll of Tesla’s Autopilot"; "Drought, food shortages and deadly heat: El Niño has ended but its impacts are still being felt"; "With the clean energy transition, low-income communities fear they’ll be saddled with big infrastructure projects, again"; "High Seas Treaty: EU votes to ratify landmark international law to protect oceans"; "Heat Islands and Equity"; "‘A serious risk’: Mexican villagers take on cartel-backed avocado farms as water dries up"; "Pre-Bunking Climate Misinformation"; "IRA’s Solar for All Program Will Install Nearly 1 Million Systems in US"; "Why dimming the Sun would be an effective tool in the fight against climate change". --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-mclean/message

The much loved ARIA and AIR Award-winning children’s act Teeny Tiny Stevies, featuring sisters Byll and Beth Stephen, released their fifth record The Green Album via ABC Music. It is launched into the world with a new single and accompanying video, Climate Change. "Growing leaders in Maryborough: How a school groundsman and students tackle climate change"; "The Nymphageddon with Dr. Trebicki"; "The great distribution dilemma – can public interest journalism survive?"; "Green petrol and eco plastic? Fake ‘Earth friendly’ claims are out of control"; "The Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International"; "Powering ahead with green hydrogen"; "Global plastic pollution treaty talks hit critical stage in Canada"; "Video Games Are Finally Waking Up to Climate Change"; "The $200 Billion Video Game Industry Is a Climate Opportunity"; "Players travel the world to learn about heat-resilience techniques—then come back and gallantly slay the heat dragon"; "Extreme Heat Series for Minecraft Education"; "Attention gamers! Defeat the ‘heat dragon’ or get burned."; "Species living closely together in symbiosis is far older and way more common than you might think"; "Native bats should be celebrated like other Australian wildlife, ecologist says"; "Residents of climate change-affected communities support Torres Strait Islanders in landmark federal court case"; "If plastic manufacturing goes up 10%, plastic pollution goes up 10% – and we’re set for a huge surge in production"; "Blue Derby Wild's High Court appeal thrown out, with native logging set to continue near mountain-biking trails"; "Violent tornadoes wreak destruction in Nebraska and Iowa"; "PM Update: Summery night to follow warm Sunday. First 90-degree day Monday?"; "Tornadoes rip through Plains, with more possible Saturday"; "The Environmental Victories Keep on Comin"; "Chart: Heavy industry is the next big climate problem to tackle"; "G7 agrees to shut down coal plants by 2035, UK minister says, in climate breakthrough"; "Anatomy of a failed EV startup": "Why are fish still dying in the Darling River at Menindee — and what can we do to prevent it?": "Geothermal heat pumps are helping clean up city buildings"; "Majority of young American adults say climate change influences their decision to have children"; "Climate Change Has Infiltrated Game Night—and That’s a Good Thing, Experts Say"; "The Drowning South"; "Grasslands 101: Everything You Need to Know"; "Bunbury becomes 30th member of WA EV Network with new fast-charger along Blair Street"; "It’s time to strike an environmental grand bargain between businesses, governments and conservationists – and stop doing things the hard way"; "Battery Energy Storage Capacity Must Increase 6x Faster to Meet Global Climate Goals: IEA"; "4 Must-Read Graphic Nonfiction Books About the Environment"; "Creating a liveable, equitable world"; "A New Federal Tool Could Help Cities Prepare for Scorching Summer Heat"; "China’s quiet energy revolution: The switch from nuclear to renewable energy"; "A Simple Act of Defiance Can Improve Science for Women"; "Strict new EPA rules would force coal-fired power plants to capture emissions or shut down"; "Letting Your Grass Grow Wild Boosts Butterfly Numbers, UK Study Says"; "More Than 1 in 5 Cars Sold Globally This Year Will Be Electric: IEA Report"; "Humans might need to re-engineer the climate"; "Global warming threatens Antarctica’s meteorites"; "Extreme Heat Stress in Europe Hit Record Levels in 2023, Report Finds"; "Big Oil’s Dangerous Radioactive Secret"; "How an Arizona Medical Anthropologist Uses Oral Histories to Add Depth to Environmental Science"; "Biden to Announce $7 Billion in Rooftop Solar Grants to Power Nearly 1 Million Households"; "Birdsong once signalled the onset of spring on my street – but not this year"; "Renewable Electricity Generation Outpaces Fossil Fuels for Record Time Span in UK"; "Climate change threatens the coastal Gullah Geechee" --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-mclean/message

Life often stands in the way of goals, but eventually, the fog lifts and you get back to the essence of those aims - "Playing God With the Atmosphere"; "Why won’t Chris Packham have a real debate on climate?"; "‘Outrageous’ climate activists get in the faces of politicians and oil bosses – will it work?"; "Global battery rollout doubled last year – but needs to be six times faster, says IEA"; "Deadly Dubai floods made worse by climate change"; "E.P.A. Severely Limits Pollution From Coal-Burning Power Plants"; "“Guiding compass to 1.5C”: COP29 presidency unveils plans for global climate action"; "Tanya Plibersek rejects claims renewable projects are being held up by approval delays"; "Global heating and urbanisation to blame for severity of UAE floods, study finds"; "Nationals’ nuclear climate policy puts Australia’s Paris deal in doubt"; "Circular Action Guide"; "‘Just do it!’ Wisconsin couple built a net-zero home"; "Could fossil fuel companies be charged with homicide?"; "Clean image, dirty truth | Between the Lines"; "The truth about getting to net zero, according to the numbers – video"; "Honda Commits to E.V.s With Big Investment in Canada"; "Tesla Fell Behind, Then Leapt Ahead of ExxonMobil in Market Value This Week"; "Alabama Coal Mine Keeps Digging Under A Rural Community After Hundreds of Fines and a Fatal Explosion. Residents Are Rattled"; "In Wyoming, a Tribe and a City Pursue Clean Energy Funds Spurned by the Governor"; "How an obscure atmospheric phenomenon causes catastrophic flooding in California"; "NASA Announces Summer 2023 Hottest on Record"; "A long, hot U.S. summer is looming, forecasters say"; "Cities' heat solutions are mainly Band-Aids"; "How Phoenix is preparing for its next brutally hot summer"; "Climate Damage Costs Could Total $38 Trillion per Year by 2050, Study Finds"; "‘It’s Got to Be a Fight’: Author Adam Welz on Surviving Climate Breakdown and Saving Species of a ‘Tarnished Eden’"; "Worst wine harvest in 62 years blamed on ‘extreme’ weather and climate change"; "Will There Be Less Wind to Fuel Wind Energy?"; "Dozens of Climate Activists Arrested at Citibank Headquarters in New York City During Earth Week"; "How to talk to a climate doomer (even if that doomer is you)"; "Doctor: To fight asthma, fight global warming"; "Tensions rise over who will contribute to new climate finance goal"; "State of the climate: 2024 off to a record-warm start"; "Climate activist's 'Kafkaesque' trial"; "Climate Impact of Primary Plastic Production"; "Building a Net Zero Ready Home: Episode 1"; "Sinking land is a problem for cities all over the world"; "I’m asking BP to take its share of responsibility for my son’s death, and will take it to UK court if I have to"; "Could this pink rice be the food of the future? Scientists say it’s more nutritious than normal rice"; "How the EPA will spend $27 billion in carbon-reduction funds"; "Kiwis are learning how to fight climate change – polls"; "A global study just revealed the world’s biggest known plastic polluters"; "Ministers of Germany, Brazil, South Africa and Spain: why we need a global tax on billionaires"; "Hot Oceans Worsened Dubai’s Dramatic Flooding, Scientists Say"; "Mining Giant BHP Makes $39 Billion Bid for Rival Anglo American"; "Nearly Half the States Sue E.P.A. Over New Limits on Deadly Pollution"; "Energy Dept. Aims to Speed Up Permits for Power Lines"; "Biden Administration Pauses Approvals of New Gas Export Terminals"; "New Pollution Rules Aim to Lift Sales of Electric Trucks"; "So Much Produce Comes in Plastic. Is There a Better Way?"; "Survey finds that 60 firms are responsible for half of world’s plastic pollution"; "State of the science on plastic chemicals"; "For Earth Day 2024, experts are spreading optimism – not doom. Here's why."; "This state is quickly becoming America's clean energy paradise. Here's how it's happening"; --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-mclean/message

Kyla Brettle (pictured) drops the first two episodes of her new podcast: "Everything We Need"; "Lessons in Climate Storytelling"; "America’s biggest wind farm | Repowering the West"; "Chris Stark: Rishi Sunak has set us back, head of climate change watchdog says"; "What the Fossil Fuel Industry Doesn't Want You To Know"; "LSU’s fossil-fuel partnerships"; "Uncharted Oceans"; "Cristina Mittermeier"; "Consumer watchdog refuses to certify green labelling scheme"; "Thoughtful Threads: Presented by Climate One and Nothin But Hits at SF Climate Week"; "A new rule aims to fortify public lands against climate change. Here’s why Utah wants to fight it."; "Biden-Harris Administration Announces $7 Billion Solar for All Grants to Deliver Residential Solar, Saving Low-Income Americans $350 Million Annually and Advancing Environmental Justice Across America"; "West Antarctica’s ice sheet was smaller thousands of years ago – here’s why this matters today"; "Vastly bigger than the Black Summer: 84 million hectares of northern Australia burned in 2023"; "Chinese province of Guangdong hit by historic floods"; "Cloak and desecrate: The specter of deep-sea mining"; "Stockland and Ampol rev up superfast EV charging stations"; "Rewilding ourselves: A project of hope [Midwest USA]"; "Almost half of all major Chinese cities are sinking, study warns"; "Do the people care about the climate crisis? These voters say yes - but the polls do not"; "US offshore wind needs American-made ships. The first is nearly ready"; "Tritium, major supplier of EV fast-charging equipment, is insolvent"; "Lisa Wee on how digital solutions drive the transition to net zero and help cut industrial emissions"; "Fashion and lifestyle brands unite to protect forests on Earth Day"; "Here’s the truth: energy transition is hard. Not everyone gets a pony"; "If Australia has reached ‘peak milk’, what does that mean for our food security?"; "Gone in a puff of smoke: 52,000 sq km of ‘long unburnt’ Australian habitat has vanished in 40 years"; "Guardian Essential poll: voters back Labor’s Future Made in Australia plan while overestimating cost of renewables"; "Meet four people in refugee communities who are creating a greener future"; "Jared Kushner Has Big Plans for Delta of Europe’s Last Wild River"; "In Wyoming, a Tribe and a City Pursue Clean Energy Funds Spurned by the Governor"; "Would you give up planes for these trains? Europe pushes travel that’s climate-friendly."; "These 150-foot-high sails could help solve shipping’s climate problem"; "Nine practices from Native American culture that could help the environment"; "Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem"; "Coal trains carry health risks along with cargo"; "Climate change is creating a ‘cocktail’ of health hazards for 2.4 billion workers"; "High Levels of PFAA (Subgroup of PFAS) Found in Sea Spray"; "Seychelles Beach Cleanup Shows Potential for Citizens to Tackle Marine Trash"; "Metal Waste Could Be Used as a Catalyst for More Sustainable Hydrogen Production, Researchers Say"; "Biden’s Bureau of Land Management Will Offer Leasing of Public Lands for Conservation"; "More than coral: the unseen casualties of record-breaking heat on the Great Barrier Reef"; "Ecosystems are deeply interconnected – environmental research, policy and management should be too"; "SeaLegacy"; "The Commons Social Change Library"; "Scottish Greens to vote on power-sharing deal with SNP after carbon goal ditched"; "Tens of thousands evacuated from massive China floods"; "Pakistani province issues a flood alert and warns of a heavy loss of life from glacial melting"; "Austria likely to be largely ice-free within 45 years as glaciers recede quickly, experts say"; "Next UN climate talks are critical to plot aid for poorer nations, says incoming president"; "Powering down: end times for the UK’s final coal-fired station"; "Coastal cities not safe from sea level rise warns oceanographer"; --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-mclean/message

Joining a Melbourne workshop and arriving early, as I always do, I was helping a woman adjust some blinds and upon hearing me speak she said "Are you a podcaster?" In answering yes and adding that I host "Climate Conversations", she said she was a follower. I was thrilled! Anne is the co-host of RadioMMT, a program that can also be found on YouTube. "What is a passive house?"; "Artificial Intelligence, Real Climate Impacts"; "Seven countries now generate 100% of their electricity from renewable energy"; "A third of U.S. adults are interested in cutting back on meat, report finds"; "NOAA Confirms 4th Global Coral Bleaching Event as Climate Crisis Puts Reefs ‘Under Serious Pressure’"; "Dubai floods: Chaos, queues and submerged cars after UAE hit by record rains"; "Great Barrier Reef experiencing one of its worst coral bleaching events"; "Climate change: Deadly African heatwave 'impossible' without warming"; "Global warming is coming for your shopping cart"; "How Do Neighbors of Solar Farms Really Feel? A New Survey Has Answers"; "‘We would not survive without coffee’: how rules made in Europe put Ethiopian farmers at risk"; "Death Valley is alive this year. A super bloom is the latest sign."; "Meteorologist warns of 'weather wars' between countries after Dubai floods were blamed on 'cloud seeding' - with 'catastrophic' consequences"; "Extreme Heat Resilience: lessons from Spain for Australia"; "Battery-Electric Buses piloted in Seattle reduced maintenance costs per mile by 44.1 per cent compared to their diesel bus counterparts."; "EPA $61 Million in Funding Will Put Clean School Buses on the Streets of New York City"; "EV school bus rollout off to slow start despite billion-dollar subsidies"; "Water is at the heart of farmers’ struggle to survive in Benin"; "‘Step on the gas,’ ‘well-oiled machine,’ and other fossil-fuel phrases that pervade our language"; "Schools in coal country are going solar"; "How much CO₂ does the world emit? Which countries emit the most?" "A California firm may have a concrete way to help the planet with cleaner cement"; "Construction to begin on high-speed rail between Vegas and California"; "Just 57 companies linked to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions since 2016"; "Climate crisis: average world incomes to diminish by nearly a fifth by 2050"; "The heat is on: what we know about why ocean temperatures keep smashing records"; "The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)"; "The economic commitment of climate change"; "For the first time, U.S. may force polluters to clean up these ‘forever chemicals’"; "Despite Their ‘Bad Rap,’ Bats Can Help Farmers"; "More Than $100 Billion in Debt-for-Nature Swaps Could Help Fight Climate Crisis, Report Says"; "Climate change played a role in killing tens of thousands of people in 2023"; "Global billionaires tax to fight climate change, hunger rises up political agenda"; "Fossil fuel debts are illegitimate and must be cancelled"; "World Bank climate funding greens African hotels while fishermen sink"; "Researchers at Michigan Tech Want to Create a High-Tech Wood Product Called Cross-Laminated Timber From the State’s Hardwood Trees"; "Fracking-Induced Earthquakes Are Menacing Argentina as Regulators Stand By"; "Ultra-fast fashion is a disturbing trend undermining efforts to make the whole industry more sustainable"; "Following a t-shirt from cotton field to landfill shows the true cost of fast fashion"; "More EV drivers embracing outback roads amid plan to expand Queensland's charger network"; "‘End crippling debt’: Calls mount for global financial reform to tackle debt and climate crisis"; "Airline Places Order for Sustainable Aviation Fuel Made From Human Waste"; "‘Climate-controlled pig’? Danish Crown admits to misleading people with greenwashing pork claims"; "Govt urged to protect seabirds on the brink of extinction"; "Global coral bleaching caused by global warming demands a global response"; "Geothermal joins the energy mix". --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-mclean/message

Executive Secretary at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Simon Steel (pictured during Q&A at London's Chatham House), has declared we have "Two years to save the world". As a bonus, you can follow this link and go to "Outrage and Optimism" to hear an interview with Simon Steill and then listen as hosts, Tom Rivett-Carnac, Christiana Figueres and Paul Dickinson, take a deep dive into what Simon Steill said. On climate, the world has gone from denial to procrastination. Climate inaction is no longer defended by denying the science, but because action is claimed to be ‘too costly’ or unachievable. Yet, the time to shape a liveable future is running out, with the decisions taken over the coming two years determining how close to limiting global warming to 1.5°C we will get by the end of the century. With more than 60 countries going to the polls this year, and nearly 90 per cent of the population in 125 countries want stronger climate action, every election is a climate change election.  We must now see climate action as a tool to create better, more equitable and cleaner societies, with solid economies built around plentiful, renewable energy. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-mclean/message

"Investor heavyweights failing to boot directors on climate commitments"; Samantha Helps is full of praise for Violet Coco (pictured) in her piece on Pearls and Irritations: "XR blocking arteries of capitalism labelled “catastrophic inconvenience”"; "Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action" - Dana R. Fisher; "The EV revolution has stalled. Can these nifty bikes kick it back into gear?"; "Unprecedented spread of coral bleaching along Great Barrier Reef"; "After years of promises on climate change, oil giants are backtracking"; "Climate for Change"; "Plibersek scales back environment reforms as coral bleaching goes global"; "Fossil fuel’s war on protest"; "Jonathan Vigliotti: Stories from the Front Lines of Climate Change in Small-Town America"; "Environmental impacts of underground nuclear weapons testing"; "Callaway Climate Insights founder David Callaway joins the Bulletin’s Governing Board"; "Is hydropower aging out of the clean energy race?"; "California derailed its booming rooftop solar buildout. Can it be fixed?"; "Climate Deniers in the 117th Congress"; "New House Speaker Champions Fossil Fuels and Dismisses Climate Concerns"; "Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles"; "Brown University Study Documents Links Between National & Local Offshore Wind Opponents"; "Wafer-thin, stretchy and strong as steel: could ‘miracle’ material graphene finally transform our world?"; "Russia and Kazakhstan evacuate tens of thousands amid worst floods in decades"; "Climate change driving demand for predatory loans, research shows"; "Strasbourg court’s Swiss climate ruling could have global impact, say experts"; "India Forecasts Searing Heat Ahead of World’s Biggest Election": "UK Climate Minister Stands Down Ahead of General Election"; "Lightning and heavy rain kill dozens in Pakistan and Afghanistan in three days"; "Global heating pushes coral reefs towards worst planet-wide mass bleaching on record"; "As the Federal Government Proposes a Plan to Cull Barred Owls in the West, the Debate Around ‘Invasive’ Species Heats Up"; "Climate change is causing marine ‘coldwaves’ too, killing wildlife"; "As Climate Change Intensifies Wildfire Risk, Prescribed Burns Prove Their Worth in the Heat-Stressed Plains of the Texas Panhandle"; "A Highway in Indiana Could One Day Charge Your EV While You’re Driving It"; "Air pollution boosts Alzheimer’s disease risk"; "Air NZ calls for Govt mandates to help drive sustainable aviation fuel use"; "Corals are bleaching in every corner of the ocean, threatening its web of life"; "There’s no such thing as a benign beef farm – so beware the ‘eco-friendly’ new film straight out of a storybook"; "Sewage pollution could jeopardise Olympic swimming events in the River Seine, NGO warns"; "‘Grownup’ leaders are pushing us towards catastrophe, says former US climate chief"; "World in grip of new major coral bleaching event, reefs at risk"; "Switching to Plant-Based Diets Could Save More Than 200,000 Lives per Year, Study Finds"; "The big dry: forests and shrublands are dying in parched Western Australia"; "A Philosopher’s Guide to an Ethical Diet: A Conversation With Peter Singer"; "Africa’s Great Apes Are Already Feeling the Effects of Climate Change, First-of-Its-Kind Study Finds"; "Great Barrier Reef Suffering Record Coral Bleaching With Damage 59 Feet Below the Surface"; "Green economy summit: how can Australia get more from its relationship with Vietnam?': "Trillions of tonnes of carbon locked in soil has been left out of environmental models – and it’s on the move"; "Greece to Invest $830 Million for Marine Conservation"; "Tonnes and tonnes of old solar panels with nowhere to go"; "Victorian households have the highest gas usage in the country — will they turn it around?"; "Faster-melting snow causes major flooding in Russia and Kazakhstan"; "BOM's first winter forecast for 2024 declares it could be one of Australia's warmest on record"; --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-mclean/message

Just 40 minutes, along with a fair bit of research, with Gabrielle Bond (pictured), the woman behind the Modern Money Lab at Adelaides Torrens University, changed, no, exploded my views about economic ideas, particularly those of Federal Government deficits. Gabrielle is an enthusiast of the Modern Money Theory (MMT) and an ardent supporter of her contemporary from the university, Assistant Professor Steven Hail, who explained MMT through an article in The Conversation, entitled, "Explainer: what is modern monetary theory?". In that article, he discussed one of MMT's pioneers, Professor Bill Mitchell, who has long explored the workings and application of the Modern Monetary Theory. Of course, the real modern hero of MMT is U.S. economist, Stephanie Kelton, who can be seen in this TEDx talk "The big myth of government deficits" and again in this "Stony Brook University Presidential Lecture Series". My journey to interview Gabrielle began when I listened to Professor Kelton in Melbourne, where she talked about many things, including the movie "Finding the Money". It was in 2021 that reporter Gareth Hutchins wrote a story for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) entitled: "Modern Monetary Theory: How MMT is challenging the economic establishment". --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robert-mclean/message