The most wonderful time of the year is also the most wasteful, but that needn’t be the case! In this episode I share five ways you can reduce your food waste this Christmas so the season is lighter on your wallet, waistline and our precious planet.
Resources: Seasons Greenings e-guide
If you’ve been feeling down about the state of the global environment, particularly after COP26 in Glasgow, this episode is for you. I’m sharing a presentation I delivered to around 200 doctors last month at the Doctors for the Environment iDEA 2021 conference. I was invited by Dr Kate Wylie to share a message of innovation and progress so conference attendees could leave the conference with a feeling of hope. I hope the presentation has a similar impact on you too.
There’s plenty of factors to consider when investing in a home. Proximity to schools, shops, health services, family and public transport are some of the key considerations. Smart investors of today are factoring in another consideration – climate change risk – and for good reason.
Climate change risk is impacting the valuation and insurance cost of Australian residential properties and is expected to become more important as time marches on, and the impacts of climate change become more visible. For this reason it make sense to obtain a climate risk report at the same time as you conduct your building and pest inspections.
In this episode, Karl Mallon from Climate Valuation shares how you can assess the climate risk to your home and steps you can take to ensure that your investment is physically and financially sound.
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If you’re looking to reduce your household carbon emissions, you really can’t go past installing a home solar photovoltaic system with battery storage. But with so many dealers and installers out there, and with such a high investment cost, where do you even start?
In Part 1 of this Home Energy feature, Bernie Kelly from bidmysolar shared how home solar photovoltaic systems work, their cost and their advantages and disadvantages.
In Part 2, Bernie kindly shares how home battery storage systems work, their cost, how long they last and traps you should be aware of before you make the investment.
Resources:
If you’re looking to reduce your household carbon emissions, you really can’t go past installing a home solar photovoltaic system with battery storage. But with so many dealers and installers out there, and with such a high investment cost, where do you even start?
In Part 1 of this Home Energy feature Bernie Kelly from bidmysolar shares how home solar photovoltaic systems work, their cost and their advantages and disadvantages.
Stay tuned for Part 2 where Bernie will share how home battery storage systems work, their cost, how long they last, and traps you should be aware of before you make the investment.
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Money does indeed make the world go round and the type of businesses that we invest in today creates the world of tomorrow. Notwithstanding, the corporate world has a huge role to play in shaping the kind of world we live in.
The traditional mindset of corporates to maximise returns for shareholders is redundant and these days, only companies that are sustainable in the true sense of the word will survive. Think sound environmental practices, a strong human rights record and an inclusive and diverse workforce where every employee can bring their best selves to work.
In this episode I’m chatting all things corporate sustainability with Dr Kaushik Sridhar.
Kaushik shares how he went from being a professional tennis player to a corporate leader in sustainability, what the current state of play of sustainability is in the corporate world and tips and strategies for corporates to become more sustainable.
Resources:
Connect with Dr Kaushik Sridhar on LinkedIn
Learn to live sustainably with Laura in Self Sufficiency in the Suburbs
Oliver is an award-winning author, is studying Communications’ Journalism at University of Technology, Sydney and lives in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales Australia, an area ravaged by the horrendous 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires.
Shocked and traumatised by the destruction he witnessed during the fires, and deeply concerned about the impact on wildlife, Oliver threw himself into writing an adventure novel to raise funds for environmental projects.
The result is FireWorks and the Fireworks Fund.
FireWorks is an adventure story about a koala named Iluka who explains how he and his friends survived the 2019-20 bushfires. All proceeds from the sale of FireWorks go to the Fireworks Fund to support environmental charities.
In this episode Oliver shares why he created FireWorks, what it’s like being a young adult in 2021 (spoiler alert – it doesn’t sound like much fun being overeducated and socially distanced!) and what advice he has for other young adults who are wanting to do something bigger to help the environment.
Dr Marji is a coral reef scientist who aims to teach kids around the world about the climate crisis through interactive play and art. Marji meets kids at their level with play dough and LEGO and isn’t afraid to dress up as a coral polyp or penguin to help get the important message of the climate crisis across to young inquisitive minds.
Dr Marji also runs an international drawing contest for kids at kidscareaboutclimate.org that brings kids around the world together to make their voices heard on this vital issue.
In this episode Dr Marji will share why she’s focussing on educating kids about the climate crisis rather than adults, how she ensures she doesn’t fuel any anxieties the children may already have about the state of our global environment, and how you can get the children in your life involved by drawing a picture of a tree and in turn have a real tree planted on their behalf.
Resources:
Kids Care About Climate Facebook
Climate change has traditionally been viewed as an economic and environmental issue but it is fundamentally a human health issue. In this episode of Eco Chat I’m joined by Dr Kate Wylie from Climate Medicine to discuss the growing health risk to the human population from a warming climate.
Dr Kate Wylie is a GP, a mother and climate activist based in Adelaide, South Australia. She is also the founder of Climate Medicine, a member of Doctors for the Environment Australia and is a Climate Reality Leader. Dr Wylie educates the community and health professionals on the health impacts of climate change.
In this episode Dr Kate will share how the impact of climate change is already presenting in patients in her clinic, what key impacts to human health doctors are anticipating will become more common as our climate continues to change, and what led her to create Climate Medicine.
Resources:
www.climatemedicine.net
If you’re looking for educational sustainability books for the children in your life, you’re in the right place. I’m joined on Eco Chat by Patricia Newman, author of several educational books on environmental and social justice issues including Eavesdropping on Elephants; Sea Otter Heroes; Neema's Reason to Smile; Zoo Scientists to the Rescue; and Plastic, Ahoy!
Translating complicated scientific research into something the average fourth grader can understand is one of Patricia’s gifts. Every Newman title includes hours of research, location travel, and authentic voices sharing the latest scientific discoveries.
Patricia released her latest book, Planet Ocean with photographer Annie Crawley in early March 2021 to much acclaim. Planet Ocean is currently #1 on Amazon in Children’s Australia!
In this episode Patricia will share what led her to write Planet Ocean, how we need to stop thinking of ourselves as existing separate from the ocean and how to start taking better care of this precious resource.
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If you’re looking for an internet search engine that gives back, look no further than Ecosia. Ecosia is quite literally, the search engine that plants trees. Ecosia donates 80% of its profits to non-profit organisations that focus on reforestation, considers itself a social business, is CO2-negative and supports full financial transparency and protect the privacy of its users.
In this episode Hannah Wickes will share how Ecosia came about, how it works and how you can easily make the switch to ensure your web surfing is creating change for good.
Visit www.ecosia.org or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
And if you are growing an eco business check out the Eco Business Collective where I combine my extensive environmental engineering and business experience to support you.
If you’re looking for commercial cleaning products that are toxin free, plastic free and are made in Australia by a social enterprise, look no further than Resparkle. Pearl Chan is on a mission to create a plastic free future for our families and she’s helping people get started in their homes. In this episode Pearl will share her journey from being a corporate banker to founding and growing an eco business that’s become a leader in toxin and plastic free home cleaning products.
Resources:
Laura’s Home Detox Cheat Sheet
While 2020 saw Covid-19 ravage human populations and communities around the world, there were many positives throughout the year for our local, regional and global environments.
This New Year, as many of us continue to struggle to process the year that was 2020, I thought I’d take the opportunity to highlight five positive environmental news stories. It’s my intention that they give you some hope for 2021 and beyond.
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