Fuzzy Logic Science Show

It's a fair bet that if you're listening to this podcast, you care about sustainability. But unfortunately has become grossly abused, almost to the point of meaningless. This podcast marks the start of a new series, Rethinking Sustainability, where each week we'll be broadcasting a new episode. And if you'd like to contribute an episode, please get in touch. https://rethinkingsustainabilitypod.blogspot.com/  

What makes a system fragile? In this short talk, Rod sketches what drives a system towards collapse. Can you see the parallels to our civisliation today? Proceedings from the NENA conference, November 2023 in Canberra.   More about the book, The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation here.

The word "sustainability" has become cliché, loaded with myths, half-truths and outright lies that try to convince us that a few tweaks to ‘business as usual’ will be enough. What then, does ‘sustainability’ really mean? A fundamental problem requires fundamental solutions - yet these are often completely ignored. In this talk at the Conservation Council, sponsored by Sustainable Population Australia, Rod Taylor digs into the themes of the in The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation co-authored with Mark Diesendorf.  

We are fortunate to live on a planet that surrounds us with the wonders of nature. From frogs to koalas and even snakes and sharks. Yet what are we to make of the sixth great extinction now underway, caused by humans? Suzanne Ferris' book Let's Not Lose Them: Endangered Species in Australia embodies both the joy of life and a warning that we are unwinding our life support system. Joining us in this conversation is Jeremy Barrett, in which we touch on the economic thinking that is driving environmental destruction.   For more on the economy, we recommend the upcoming NENA conference to be held in Canberra, 17-19 November. Also mentioned in - and highly recommended - is the Rethinking Capitalism weekend run by Steven Hail and Gabrielle Bond. Interview by Rod.    

We open today's broadcast with a question: what would you do if you did not have access to your doctor, your GP, a hospital or even a local pharmacy? Without "western medicine", this is what indigenous cultures have been doing for thousands of years. For all its prodigious advances in medical science, what do these cultures have to teach us? This is a theme that has driven Valerie Albrecht for many years across many countries. And now she's distilled much of what she's learned into a beautiful new book One Voice Medicine Conversations with First People Healers. Visit her at https://www.theoceansofenergy.com/ Interview by Rod  

This week Broderick and Camille are joined by geoscientist Dr Verity Normington and science communicator Alice Ryder, both from Geoscience Australia, to discuss their new exhibition Rocks that Shape Australia. The Rocks that Shape Australia exhibition explores how rocks can be valued by Australians for many different reasons, including their economic, historical, cultural and environmental significance.

That our civilisation is unsustainable is abundantly clear. And yet we plough onwards as if business as usual in the faith that somehow the problem will fix itself. In this seminar, authors Dr Mark Diesendorf and Rod Taylor outline the themes in their new book, The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation. The seminar is introduced by Professor Lorrae Van Kerkhoff from the ANU Fenner School with keynote speaker Dr Richard Denniss from The Australia Institute. Recorded at Thor's Hammer in Canberra, 4th July 2023.

It seems every day, we hear yet more news about the declining world environment. It's not only climate change, and if when we add other threats including loss of biodiversity and depleting resources, it becomes a dangerous brew. These are having impacts on people - and the economy - which are largely ignored by neoclassical economics and neoliberalism Dr Mark Diesendorf and Rod Taylor discuss their new book The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation (Palgrave Macmillan) out now in eBook and soon as paperback. This book tackles the fundamental drivers of this crisis, and what we can do about it. Pre-order copies are now on special.

Standing, walking or running is something most of us take for granted. And yet it is a remarkably sophisticated thing we do without even thinking about it. Professor Gordon Waddington and PhD student Ashleigh Marchant walk us through the beautifully synchronised dance that coordinates parts of your body to make this happen. Muscles, tendons, joints, bones and, of course, your nervous system. We highly recommend being part of Ashleigh's research project at the University of Canberra, where she tests your proprioception skills and be part of a real lab experiment. Ashleigh.Marchant@canberra.edu.au Interview by Rod. And sorry about the puns.

If you were to visit a river, it might look beautiful, but is it healthy? Looks may be a good start, but properly assessing a water body takes a bit more and, yes, how it smells is another indicator. And then, why should we care whether a river or stream is in good condition? Leon Metzling was a Victorian EPA senior water ecologist for 30 years. Here he's talking to Rod.

What happened to the plants and animals when Africa crashed into Eurasia and when Australia broke apart from Pangea?  Find out with Biogeographer Octavio Jimenez Robles.  Octavio is a Marie Sklodowska Curie Action postdoctoral fellow who has been based at the  Australian National University in Canberra for the last few years and is just about to head to Paris to continue his work there. You can find him on twitter at https://twitter.com/OJimenez_Robles  

They knew it then, they know it now, and yet they still do it. Fossil fuel companies are driving the planet - and us along with it - towards climate induced oblivion. While the anti-science tactics of the tobacco industry inflicts death and illness among a huge number of people, climate change is doing that on a global scale. In the process, they have co-opted the levers of government and public institutions that should be steering us towards a safer future. The question is why? Why drives industry and captive governments towards disaster? In this, the true meaning of 'sustainability' has been ignored. With his history inside the coal industry, Ian Dunlop has a unique insight into this story and today is an ardent voice for action on climate change. Ian Dunlop is a contributing author of Sustainability and the New Economics, edited by Stephen Williams and Rod Taylor. This interview by Rod is one of a series with authors from that book. You'll find more interviews at https://sustainabilityandtheneweconomics.bl

On this episode Broderick is joined by Jay Ridgewell from Held Outside as they discuss the scientific value behind nature therapy. Also known as "forest bathing" from its origins in Japan, this episode promises to explore what genuine benefits there are to connecting in a deeper way with nature. To find our more about Jay's work in forest therapy, head to https://heldoutside.mailchimpsites.com/ This episode originally aired on 13 November 2022. 

For many thousands of years the first humans burned wood to keep ourselves warm and cook food. Then we discovered coal and later, gas. For a while whale oil became an important source of energy - until they they were driven close to extinction and whaling didn't end until the 1960s. By that time, whale oil had already been replaced by cheap, abundent mineral oil. Over the course of human history there have been several major energy transitions and we are in one right now. This time it's urgent because the products of burning are the major driver of climate change. It's doubly difficult because our growing civilisation is consuming energy at a prodigious rate, increasing by the day. Dr Bjorn Sturmberg is Senior Research Fellow at the ANU Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program and author of Amy's Balancing Act. Interview by Rod.

The word "community" has a slightly soft appeal to it, as if it's something nice to have, something we do for a bit of socialising. But that undervalues the vast importance of community and there's no doubt humans would not be remotely as successful without it. Our ability to cooperate is central to our existence. Now the world is facing threats from multiple directions and, if we don't solve them soon, the future will be bleak. That makes community is a critical part of the solution. On Australia Day, the Federation of Chinese Community of Canberra held a forum invited Rod who spoke about this question.

Business-as-usual will result in collapse of the global system midway through the 21st century. That's the stark warning issued by Graham Turner in 2008 when he reviewed modelling by the Club of Rome in the early 1970s. Can we avoid that in the short time we have left? Professor Ian Lowe and Rod discuss how we might avert a looming crisis. Ian Lowe is a contributing author of Sustainability and the New Economics (Springer, 2022), edited by Stephen Williams and Rod Taylor.

What does it denial mean? We're sad to hear that Dr Haydn Washington died this week and, in his honour, we post this interview recorded in 2013. It's interesting and sobering to reflect on how the world looks now, nearly ten years later. Dr Jane O'Sullivan provides a few eloquent words for Haydn: "Haydn was a prolific and passionate writer and speaker on sustainability, degrowth, the need for population stabilisation and denialism against both climate and population realities. He wrote or edited many books. He was active in CASSE and the Ecological Economics community. And he was a generous, humble colleague who supported others to raise their voices. I worked with him over the past couple of months to get a paper published on population denialism. Thankfully it was published a week before he died. Here is the link to the paper (it is open access): https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/3/4/57 Martin Tye from Sustainable Population Australia has placed tributes on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=5191717

We begin today's interview by asking our expert guest Prof David Lindenmayer: if the Australian environment were a medical patient, what score would he give it? It's a plot spoiler to say his answer is an "F". But he goes on to say, not just why it matters, but what are some of the positive steps we can do to fix it. He offers some surprisingly upbeat, optimistic and practical things that can be done. The cost? Minimal. The gain? Enormous. Interview by Rod, Camille and Eamon. Prof David Lindenmayer is from the ANU Fenner School and contributing author of Sustainability and the New Economics (Springer, 2022). Find us on @FuzzyLogicSci

Yesterday we caught up with Dr Paul Collins who was launching Sustainable Population Australia's discussion paper “How many Australians?” With his theology background Dr Collins offers a lively philosphical view on our diminished connection with nature. And...traffic jams in a national park? Interview by Rod who is a member of SPA. The discussion paper is on this link: https://population.org.au/discussion-papers/how-many-australians-the-need-for-earth-centric-ethics/

At the heart of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is a contradiction: by assuming the Ever Bigger Pie economic model, everybody will be better off. But can that really happen? We explore how the SDGs got this way and the thinking behind them. Dr Kerryn Higgs who is writer and historian, Associate Member Club of Rome (speaking here on her own behalf), and author of Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet (MIT Press, 2014). She's also author of two chapters in Sustainability and the New Economics (Springer, 2022). Interview by Rod who is co-editor of the Springer book.  @FuzzyLogicSci