Zero Climate Action - a podcast by Anthony Gleeson, Jackie Matthews, Colin Mockett, Mik Aidt

We have two guests in The Sustainable Hour no. 393 on 15 December 2021:







Dan Ilic is an Aussie comedian, podcaster and billboard fundraiser – and now also a political satire pamphlet-creator in his bedroom. Dan talks about his activism which started around 10 years ago with a podcast called ‘A Rational Fear’. More recently he has gained international attention by crowdfunding for billboards mainly aimed at our federal politicians and their attempts to greenwash and make us believe that they are doing enough on climate. This started in an attempt to embarrass them, especially our Prime Minister, in the lead up to and during COP26 in Glasgow.







Professor Stephen Bygrave is a member of the Australian National University’s new Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions. What an exciting position to have at this time. When we learn of Stephen’s work history from academia to head of Beyond Zero Emissions, to the head of government departments in both ACT and New South Wales, it’s easy to understand why he is involved in this new initiative back in academia at ANU.















Mik Aidt starts us off today talking about a global organisation named Avaaz which over the years has gathered 70 million members world wide to sign on to various petitions around real action on climate. He reports that in their latest newsletter they comment on a team from Harvard University who have established a ‘golden rule’ as to the percentage of people who need to be actively involved in a campaign to bring about the change which the campaign is calling for. Very strikingly, he then translates this to the number of people needed for this happen in Geelong and makes it sound very do-able.







Mik then takes us to ExxonMobil’s fuel distribution centre in Yarraville where two Extinction Rebellion activists have locked onto a barrel filled with concrete. They are supported by many others who are singing, holding banners and signs, chanting and generally shining a light on this huge fossil fuel company who have been doing everything in their power for over 50 years to ignore what their own scientists were telling them about the climate-destructive nature of their products. The wording on the barrel says it all: ‘Climate Criminals – Exxon Kills’. We then find out why Tony Gleeson is absent today as Mik is able to interview him with his right hand firmly attached to a pin in the centre of a pipe inserted into the barrel. On the other side of the barrel is fellow staunch Extinction Rebellion Westside activist Brad.















Colin Mockett’s Global Outlook this week begins with a real global impetus from the activist group Avaaz urging everyone in the world to sign a petition to prosecute Brazilian president Bolsanaro in the international criminal court for sabotaging our world environment by his backing of industrial logging of the Amazon basin. You can sign the petition by logging on to: www.avaaz.orgHe then zooms us to the United Kingdom with a suitably festive item, where a coalition of 25 breweries have joined together to accelerate action on climate change. They have also proposed a strategy to reduce food waste, which they name as one of the fastest and most equitable measures to tackle the climate crisis. Apart from elimination strategies in breweries and beer outlets, they have developed a limited-edition collection of beers that uses surplus bread to prevent waste and reduce demand for natural resources.

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