Climate Conversations

A kitchen table discussion, during Victoria's 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, resulted in the design and construction of the first Frankenstein-like "Power-Droid" by former film and television stuntman, Purven Pather, aided by his business partner and wife, Jessica Gower.

The arrival of the Power-Droid was followed by the creation of the company, Equoria, which is about "Powering your production with portable, renewable power sources".

The Power-Droid, a mobile box of just over 80 kilograms, looking smart in its new finery and remote from its Frankenstein-like elder, was on show at the recent "Australian Cleantech Showcase 2025."

The City of Greater Shepparton followed the earlier lead of other municipalities, declaring a "climate emergency" in 2020, passing the motion on the casting vote of the then mayor, Cr Seema Adullah.

Shepparton climate activists are concerned that the new council, elected last year and whose climate credentials are unknown, will move to see that 2020 reversed, just as has been the case at Mornington: "Mornington Peninsula council scraps climate emergency plan".

On April 22, the organisation that has been set up by journalists for journalists, "Covering Climate Now", organised and staged a webinar with a panel of...

Rob Bakes from Vote Climate One, which includes the Traffic Light Election Guide, says, "The only thing we've got left is one another; we can't rely on government."

He also says, "When you look at the science, we are in real troubles, We're buggered".

Rob, whose passion is as wide as it is deep, finds comfort in talking with Geelong's Mik Aidt, who runs the bay City's "The Sustainable Hour".

The Traffic Light Election Guide has already proved its worth, and Rob has urged people to take the advice it offers and make...

Daniel Lancefield (pictured), who manages the "Victorian Clean Tech Cluster", worked in community organisations and not-for-profits for more than 15 years in sport and the arts before joining the Victorian Cleantech Cluster as Manager in 2022.

Since then, Daniel has developed a deep passion and appreciation for all things clean and green, and has an extensive network of people across clean technology, climate technology, circular economy and sustainability.

He's now overseeing the staging of the group's "Australian Cleantech Showcase 2025" on Wednesday, April 30, at "The Timber Yard" in Port Melbourne.

The event is sponsored by the "...

Taking the nuclear conversation to the people: "Online Citizen Assembly";

"The Climate Council's Climate Risk Map of Australia";

"Weather tracker: north-west Italy braces for thunderstorms and snow";

"One brick higher";

"Victorian Liberal leader distances state party from Peter Dutton’s nuclear proposal: ‘Our focus is gas";

"Coalition scores just 1/100 points for environment and climate policies from conservation organisation";

"How climate change could disrupt the construction and operations of US nuclear submarines";

"Ten things we learned from Peter Dutton’s speech at the Liberal party campaign launch...

Democracy, that's democracy as envisaged by Emeritus Professor Joseph Camilleri and his Online Citizen Assembly he writes about in Pearls and Irritations.

He argues, " Australia’s fading democracy calls for radical rethinking";

"Paris said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change.";

"The Australien Government has made an ad for the coming election, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative!";

"Trump plan would eliminate NOAA climate research, slash agency budget";

"Trump’s new reason for canceling grants: ‘Climate anxiety’";

"World Expo 2025 opens in Osaka themed 'De...

Dr Cathy OPke (pictured) was at TEDx Bendigo talking about our Cities: Our Climate Change Antiheroes’ and challenging us to reimagine cities as robust climate solutions rather than just sources of emissions.

She explained that while national governments debate, cities are becoming command centers for climate action - a role so crucial that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is preparing its first-ever special report focused on cities.

Through examples from Bendigo to Singapore, Cathy Oke shows how 13,000 local governments worldwide are already leading bold climate initiatives, often outpacing national action.

The fu...

Glenn Connley (pictured), moderator for the "Climate Academy" webinar organised by The Australia Institute.

Industrial Atlantic salmon farming near Tasmania is a story that needs to be told and understood, and this "Climate Academy" webinar moderated by Glenn Connley and featuring Leanne Minshull and Eloise Carr is a wonderful opportunity for people to learn more about what's happening in this southern Australian State.

Also, it's an equally wonderful chance to learn more about what's happening to Maugean Skate that has inhabited Australian waters, well, 300 square kilometres of Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania's west coast.

...

Linden Ashcroft (pictured) went from wanting to be a poet to climate science, although she still dabbles in poetry.

Linden grew up in country Victoria, in Tatura near Shepparton, on the lands of the Yorta Yorta people, and is a lecturer, climate scientist and science communicator at the University of Melbourne.

Her parents still live in Tatura, and she will be back there on Saturday, September 6, for an event organised by the Transition Towns group in Tatura.

The Tatura Transition Towns program will include, in addition to Linden, a performance from the Melbourne...

Challenges on her home farm prompted Karin Stark (pictured) to pull together her first National Renewables in Agriculture Conference and Expo in 2019. Now, this year's event will be in Bendigo.

In what is a first for Victoria, the conference and expo will be held at The Capital Theatre in View St, Bendigo, on Wednesday, July 23.

The expo opens at 8:00 a.m., and the conference follows at 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

On the National Renewables in Agriculture Conference and Expo website, it says:

"This event brings together farmers, agriculture and energy...