Greening The Apocalypse

This week the team chats with Chris Walsh, expert in the health of rivers, streams and their landscapes at the University of Melbourne and a senior member of the Melbourne Waterway Research- Practice Partnership with Melbourne Water. They talk about biodiversity in rivers around the world, introduced species wreaking havoc in Australian rivers and looking after our creeks and streams in increasingly urbanised landscapes.

Adam and Jed chat with Mark Tyler (organiser at Earthworker) and Ella Ryan (worker/owner at Redgum Cleaning Coop) about co-ops, economic democracy and democracy in the workplace. What are the challenges to unions and cooperatives working together?

Bushy, Adam and Jed sit down with Dr Josh Healy, chatting about the changing nature of "work" from traditional manual jobs with long careers to gigs with turbulent change and no long-term stability. They discuss a range of solutions and promising directions in this space.

Adam and Sarah talk to David Holmgren on Retrosuburbia: Energy descent, what Melbourne might look like in 40 years, and the retrofits people can implement at home.

Ross Harding is a creative sustainability consultant. His business, Finding Infinity, provides self sufficiency advice, with projects ranging from houses to city blocks. They work not only on the technical and financial solutions, but equally the culture required to create the transformation. The team talk about changing the way people live, trying and failing at corporate sustainability and future ways of living.

Patrick Jones calls himself a 'neo-peasant'. Bushy, Adam and Jed chat to the writer, community gardener, artist and author of The Art of Free Travel with Meg Ulman, about his lifestyle.

Bushy, Kate and Jed chat with Lisa Howard of the Bendigo Botanical Gardens. They talk planting and planning for a changing climate, the roles of urban design, and botanical gardens in cooling the city and suburbs.

Bushy, Kate, Jed chat to Ary Hoffman, expert in insect ecology and the decline of flying bugs. The team look at the historical context and evolution of insects on Earth, the War on Bugs and looking ahead to our ecological future with insects.

Bushy and Jed chat with Margot and Louise from the Country Women's Association, who are here to show that the CWA is about more than cake. They are advocating for and facilitating social change and support to those in need in their many branches.

Adam and Jed hear from Kat Lavers (Hobson's Bay City Council) on her research into the co-benefits (psychological, social, health etc) of urban food growing and how to approach councils.

Bushy, Kate and Jed are chatting country vs city. How do our carbon footprints compare depending on where we inhabit? The team look at how community, choice and resilience are factors in our way of life and our environmental impact.

Adam, Kate, Jed are joined by former guest Rafael Schouten, who studies plant physiology and energy dynamics. Together, they use some scientific literacy to consider viral environmental videos, talking thermodynamics, algae for biofuel and indoor grow-light vertical farming. Plus, they look to the future with emerging technologies.

Alanta Colley chats all things bees with Bushy, Adam and Jed ahead of her Comedy Festival show "Days Of Our Hives". Colley is public health practitioner, comedian and co-founder of Sci Fight Science Comedy Debate held at the Spotted Mallard. She has performed for the Gates Foundation, Adelaide's Science Exchange and is a regular at Political Asylum and the Laboratory. By day she teaches engineering students about international development, by night she tells jokes about bees to confused crowds.

Are we lonelier than we have ever been? Jed, Kate and Adam chat with Julian Able, Director of Compassionate Communities UK and a consultant in palliative care, currently in Cornwall. Together, we look at ways of dealing with connection and community.

Adam chats with keynote speaker, Dr Lenore Newman, at the Urban Agriculture Forum. They tackle urban food security, peri-urban farming and sustainable food systems. Adam, Kate and Jed sit down in studio with Andrew Butt, Senior Lecturer in community planning and development at La Trobe, to follow up on some of these ideas.

Bushy, Kate and Jed chat with special guest and agrarian pioneer Melissa Connors. Melissa packed up her bags and took to the countryside, eventually founding 'This Farm Needs a Farmer', building a bridge in the gap of hand-me-down knowledge in agriculture and farmers.

Bushy, Jed and Adam chat with Dr Samuel Alexander, founder of the Simplicity Institute and author of many books, and a new as-yet-unpublished essay 'Carbon Civilization and the Energy Descent Future', written with Joshua Floyd. They talk about making cooking gas (biogas) from your household compost, as Sam is doing in his own backyard, and while they're at it, look at the history of how energy has influenced the cultural evolution and structures of the human race.

Bushy, Kate and Jed chat with Gilbert Rochecouste from Village Well. Gilbert is a leading voice in placemaking. His catalyst ideas have regenerated iconic places and enlivened many urban and rural communities. Gilbert sees the potential of placemaking to inspire a deeper cultural and social environmental awareness and stewardship to make a difference both locally and globally.

Adam, Kate, Sarah and Jed are back in the studio for the first episode of 2018, reflecting on what caught their eyes over the summer break; From the state of Adani, to Soul Food Farms, varying ecological cultures across the globe, and more.

One of the many battles we face going forward in a world of resource depletion, economic instability and political upheaval, is that it seems that our ability to organise and coordinate as a group is dying. The whole team is here to close 2017, talking about group dynamics, communication and how we might save our collective skins by learning to communicate better and establishing team goals.