Fuzzy Logic Science Show

They knew but they did it anyway

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.blogspot.com/2022/12/sustainability-and-new-economics.html

Forest Bathing

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. 

The energy transition

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 By that time, whale oil had already been replaced by cheap, abundent mineral oil.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.

Community and the global challenge

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.

8 Billion and counting

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.

States of denial. A tribute to Dr Haydn Washington.

In this interview Dr Haydn Washington muses on what denial means.

We're sad to hear that Haydn died this week and, in his honour, we post this recording from 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=519171740238409&set=a.476584061163844
and Twitter

https://twitter.com/SustPopAus/status/1602408017881812992/photo/1

 

Interview by Rod

Fail / resubmit. Scoring the environment Australian

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

How many Australians?

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/

Forever growth

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

Diet and rheumatoid arthritis

As the cliche goes, you are what you eat. But did you know it might be linked to rheumatoid arthritis?

Honours student Shweta Venkataraman and supervisor Dr Chloe Goldsmith have been investigating the link between diet, the immune system's T-cells and rheumatoid arthritis.

For this research they recruited Fuzzy host Rod, who agreed to provide a detailed account of his weekly diet. From that, they derived a detailed nutrition analysis. They used a blood sample to measure T-cells and later will investigate his epigenetic profile.

Join Shweta, Chloe, Camille and Rod for a fascinating conversation.

Find out more at www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/faculties/health/research/participate-in-a-research-study