Reimagined Futures

You’ve journeyed with us through the valleys of the Himalayas, to the humid expanses of southern India, and across the ocean to the windswept eastern coast of Australia. Despite climate change undermining their vital life support systems, the communities we’ve met are acting collectively and creatively to reimagine their future and tackle the climate crisis head on. In doing so, they are creating new imaginaries. However, we can’t escape the fact that their courageous action is set against the harsh reality of the broader economic, social and political systems that remain addicted to extraction and development. The final episode of Reimagined Futures reflects on what we can learn from these communities. What inspires grounded imaginaries, and what gets in the way? How are communities keeping hope alive in the face of national and global systems that block transformation at every turn? And how can you become involved in driving change locally as part of a global movement towards a more just and sustainable world? Delve into the series more and explore our show notes here: https://tinyurl.com/5x9bwxas  Credits Narrated by: Danielle Celermajer Written by: Danielle Celermajer Edited by: Genevieve Wright

We conclude the series in Perumbakkam, a community of resettlement sites in the southern Indian city of Chennai, one of the cities in South Asia most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. As a result of the government’s response to flood mitigation, marginalised communities are displaced to the outskirts of the city. In this episode, we hear from the community members involved in the housing rights organisation, Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC). They’ll discuss how the community now feels empowered with their issues and ideas being represented by IRCDUC in government decision-making. They’ll illustrate the importance of centring social justice and community engagement in responding to the effects of climate change. Imagining a different future is particularly difficult in Perumbakkam but be inspired as we hear from the community members envisioning ways to transform sites of exclusion into homes. Delve into the series more and explore our show notes here: https://tinyurl.com/5x9bwxas  Credits Narrated by: Rohit Nair Written by: Rohit Nair Edited by: Aston Brown, Genevieve Wright Featuring: - Vanessa Peter is the Founder of the Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities and a policy researcher ad social activist. - Mercy M and Mahalaxmi are Community Fellows from the Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities. - Karen Coelho is an Associate Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies. Karen’s research interest include urban anthropology including critical examinations of urban collective action, urban infrastructure including housing, shelter policies and resettlement schemes. - Natasha Thomas (English translations)

Being a cold desert even higher up in the Himalayas, the Ladakhi landscape is rugged and harsh for people and nature alike. Their survival is under threat because of untimely glacial melts, altered river systems and mismanaged interventions by local governing bodies. We'll discover how this ecosystem has been altered over the last two decades, and what its youth are doing today to mitigate their intensifying water crises. Delve into the series more and explore our show notes here: https://tinyurl.com/5x9bwxas  Credits Narrated by: Ishika Ramakrishna Written by: Ishika Ramakrishna, Mayank Shah, VPJ Sambhavi Edited by: Ishika Ramakrishna, Genevieve Wright Featuring: - Lobzang Wangtak is the co-founder of Navikarana Trust and Zanskar Conservancy Movement. Lobzang and his colleagues at Navikarana Trust have worked tirelessly to provide water to the people of Zanskar by lifting the water from the nearby spring in a sustainable way through solar water pumping. In 2021, the Pishu Village finally got water lifted to their village through Lobzang’s intervention and community collaboration and now more than 20 villages are in need of his help. Without any institutional support Lobzang’s work relies on public funding or NGOs support. To support the incredible work Lobzang and his team are doing, contact him here. - Dawa Dolma is a Tibetan and independent journalist from Leh. Dawa was a Youth Fellow on the Western Himalayan team. Dawa writes on earth stories from Ladakh in local journals, NGO newsletters and digital media.

Flying across the Indian Ocean to Australia, we arrive in the small town of Moruya on the southern coast of New South Wales. We’ll discover how a not-for-profit community group called Sustainability Agriculture Gardening Eurobodalla (SAGE) formed, and about their dream to develop a strong community-based food system. We will also follow them through the fires and floods and hear how these climactic disasters forced them to re-evaluate their relationship to the land. Delve into the series more and explore our show notes here: https://tinyurl.com/5x9bwxas  Credits Narrated by: Maria Paula Cardoso Nunez, Josh Gowers Written by: Maria Paula Cardoso Nunez, Josh Gowers Edited by: Aston Brown, Genevieve Wright Featuring: - Stuart Whitelaw is an architect, artist and the co-founder of Sustainability Agriculture Gardening Eurobodalla (SAGE). In 2008, Stuart’s enthusiasm for reclaiming a place in the food system for small scale and localised food production saw the creation of the not-for-profit SAGE Project. In 2013, the SAGE Farmers Market began. - Kathryn Maxwell is President of the Southcoast Health and Sustainability Alliance (SHASA). Kathryn is passionate about achieving a resilient Eurobodalla in which the community generates more of their electricity and food and keeps the money local. - Fraser Bayley is a highly experienced small-scale grower and educator. Fraser is one part of Old Mill Road BioFarm alongside Kirsti, Pats and the family. Growing since 2006, they've provided reliable, good food through severe drought, fires and a pandemic and their farm has become a haven for biodiversity through tough climatic conditions.

Moving to northern India, we gain altitude as we venture through the foothills of the Himalayas up to the mid-elevations of Uttarakhand. People here are facing the twin devastations of altered extreme seasonality and forms of so-called development that are overwhelming traditional lifestyles. Yet, in the face of these rapid change, two villages in this region are experimenting with regenerative farming practices that are also creating leadership opportunities for women in the community. Through their experiences, we'll learn how climate crises and people's survival are deeply interwoven. Delve into the series more and explore our show notes here: https://tinyurl.com/5x9bwxas  Credits Narrated by: Ishika Ramakrishna Written by: Ishika Ramakrishna, Mayank Shah, VPJ Sambhavi Edited by: Ishika Ramakrishna, Genevieve Wright Featuring: - Malika Virdi Sarpanch is from Sarmoli-Jainti Van Panchayat and is a member of the women’s collective Maati Sangthan. She is also a subsistence farmer and founder of Himalayan Ark. - Siddharth Negi is Director of Uttaranchal Youth Research and Development Centre (UYRDC) and is working on providing food security and reviving the traditional regenerative agricultural practices along with focussing on nature-based nutritive farming using natural farming techniques.

On the south-east coast of India in the Tamil Nadu region, we visit a living laboratory for human evolution, called Auroville. We’ll learn from their community about the power of integral yoga and integral ecology to deepen people’s understanding of their place and belonging within the larger ecological worlds. Delve into the series more and explore our show notes here: https://tinyurl.com/5x9bwxas  Credits Narrated by: Deepthi Indukuri Written by: Pragnya Khanna, Deepthi Indukuri, Gijs Spoor Edited by: Aston Brown, Genevieve Wright Featuring: - Gopal is co-steward of Darkali Forest Park and is one of the earliest members of the Auroville community. He arrived in Auroville at the age of 4 in the early 1970s. - Deepika & Bernard are stewards of Pebble Garden, an eco-restoration and seed saving initiative. - Lakshmi is the founder and vision holder for Inner Climate Academy and a resident of one of Auroville’s green belt communities.

How can we so clearly understand the gravity of the climate crisis and what needs to be done and yet still not be acting fast enough? What gets in the way of all of us being part of making the change, or pushing for the changes that need to be made? In the opening episode of the Reimagined Futures series, Professor Danielle Celermajer reveals the barriers that are halting systemic change and the possibilities for transformative collective action. Delve into the series more and explore our show notes here: https://tinyurl.com/5x9bwxas  Credits Narrated by: Danielle Celermajer Featuring: Aadya Singh, David Schlosberg, Pragnya Khanna Written by: Danielle Celermajer Edited by: Aston Brown, Genevieve Wright

Join us for Reimagined Futures, a seven-part podcast series produced by the Sydney Environment Institute, navigating the critical questions and myths surrounding life under a climate-changed future. We will be exploring how some of the most impacted communities in the world are engaging in collective action to reimagine a just and sustainable future for all. This podcast series is produced by Sydney Environment Institute in partnership with the Social Entrepreneurship Association Auroville and the India and Bharat Together Foundation. This series is part of the Grounded Imaginaries project funded by V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation. Available on your favourite podcast streaming app. Delve into the series more and explore our show notes here: https://tinyurl.com/5x9bwxas