http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/ en celeste.ecuyer@anu.edu.au Copyright 2009 2009-11-05T03:40:10+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/thirsty_work/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/thirsty_work/#When:03:40:10Z Rod Quantock says, "If climate change doesn't scare you, then you don't get the science." Fortunately Quantock does, and when he gives you his take on the physics, chemistry, biology, geology, palaeontology, cosmology and meteorology of climate science you'll get it too. And then... you'll be scared. It's win-win. Sounds like great fun doesn't? It's an edgy mix of panic and hysteria. But that's what you'd expect from someone whose comedy has been described as ‘medicinal'. In his irreverent style and clever humour has proven to be a great avenue to deliver powerful messages about the reality of climate change, water issues and possible outcomes.  This lecture was introduced by Jon Ward, Manager, Environmental Policy, Toyota Motor Corporation Australia. Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, Society & Culture, ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, ANU College of Physical Sciences, Medicine and Life Science, Physical Science 2009-11-05T03:40:10+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/one_year_after_garnaut_review/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/one_year_after_garnaut_review/#When:00:30:39Z Professor Ross Garnaut presented the final report of the Garnaut Climate Change Review to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 30 September 2008, the morning of the largest ever one day points fall on the New York Stock Exchange. Since then, the histories of the financial crisis and climate change policy have been closely linked. Amongst much else, they have been linked by the challenge that Governments have faced, in Australia, in the United States and elsewhere, in formulating policy in the national interest alongside an extraordinary presence of vested interests in the policy making process. This lecture analysed the past year's history of policy-making on climate change in this difficult context, and assess the prospects of the world developing a satisfactory response to the risks of dangerous human-induced climate change. Part of the Toyota-ANU Public Lecture Series 2009 Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-09-15T00:30:39+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/coal_the_elephant_in_the_room/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/coal_the_elephant_in_the_room/#When:04:52:34Z John Ashton, Special Representative for Climate Change at the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office presented a public lecture called, Coal: The Elephant in the Room Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, Resource Management, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-09-14T04:52:34+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/fires_forests_and_futures/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/fires_forests_and_futures/#When:06:51:12Z The sustainability of the Ash forests of Victoria is contentious for a number of reasons, not least because of the pressures of population and economic growth, and climate change on their diverse uses. Attempts to take account of the principle of sustainability in weighing alternative uses have not been widely accepted and the methods used are themselves the subject of debate. But those attempts have been largely grounded in deterministic models. Recent experience in the Ash forests of Victoria indicates that planning and management needs to be much more attuned to the role of fire and to examine future paths stochastically. Such an examination suggests that the zero-sum game being played by the conservation and development camps is more likely to risk than help future sustainability of these forests and that new strategies are needed. This lecture was the Seventh Jack Westoby Lecture, presented by ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment. Public Lecture, Botany & Zoology, Environment, ANU College of Science 2009-08-31T06:51:12+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/powering_the_planet/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/powering_the_planet/#When:03:43:22Z The supply of secure, clean, sustainable energy is arguably the most important scientific and technical challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. Rising living standards of a growing world population will cause global energy consumption to increase dramatically over the next half century. Within our lifetimes, energy consumption will increase at least two-fold. This additional energy needed is not attainable from long discussed sources, the global appetite for energy is simply too much. Petroleum-based fuel sources could be increased. However, deleterious consequences resulting from external drivers of economy, the environment, and global security dictate that this energy need be met by renewable and sustainable sources. Of the possible sustainable and renewable carbon-neutral energy sources, sunlight is preeminent. If photosynthesis can be duplicated outside of the leaf - an artificial photosynthesis if you will - then the sun's energy can be harnessed as a fuel. The combination of water and light from the sun can be used to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can then be combined with the oxygen in a fuel cell to give back water and energy. This lecture placed the scale of the global energy issue in perspective and then discussed how an artificial photosynthesis to power our planet might be achieved. This lecture was the 2009 Birch Lecture, presented by the ANU Research School of Chemistry. Public Lecture, Chemical Sciences, Environment, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2009-08-19T03:43:22+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/energy_security_climate_change_europe/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/energy_security_climate_change_europe/#When:04:39:44Z The world faces monumental challenges of ensuring energy supply can meet ever growing needs, while urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The current course we are on will see global energy demand rise 45% by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook 2008. The report also offers this sobering assessment: The world's energy systems are at a crossroads. Current global trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable - environmentally, economically, socially. The EU's indigenous energy supplies fall well short of demand, with over 54% of primary energy consumption currently being imported. The European Union does not underestimate the scale of the task ahead. December 2008 saw the formal adoption of measures to put the EU on a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, boost energy efficiency and increase the share of renewables in final energy consumption to 20% by 2020. The objectives also include increasing renewables in transport, to encourage the uptake of biofuels and electric vehicles. Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, discussed the EU response to its energy security concerns and the threat of climate change. Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, University 2009-06-01T04:39:44+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/quarry_vision/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/quarry_vision/#When:02:00:17Z In this lecture Dr Guy Pearse will spoke about the mindset that sees Australia's greatest asset as its mineral and energy resources - coal especially, asking how has this distorted our national politics and our response to climate change and what happens now that our coal-fired resources boom has gone bust? He also discussed the future of the coal industry and argued with the current economic orthodoxy. He looks at the shadowy world of greenhouse lobbyists; how they think and operate. Quarry vision, he argued, is a carbon-laced trap and a blind faith and a mentality we can no longer afford. This lecture comes from the March 2009 Quarterly Essay by Guy Pearse of the same name. Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU College of Science, Asia and the Pacific, Medicine and Life Science 2009-04-02T02:00:17+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/ecology_conservation_public_policy/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/ecology_conservation_public_policy/#When:01:28:46Z One of the great challenges of this century is to answer the question: Howdo we bring first class basic science to bear on important appliedproblems? Although the path is not completely clear, it is becoming moreso. Professor Mangel will address a series of sub-questions including: How does the nature of environmental problems differ from other kinds of problems? How do we deal with uncertainty, data and models? How can science support policy making? How do we and what should we learn from other disciplines? After answering these questions, he will provide some suggestions to thenext generation of biologists. Public Lecture, Biological Sciences, Economics, Environment, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-03-27T01:28:46+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/charting_towards_low_carbon_economy/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/charting_towards_low_carbon_economy/#When:03:53:08Z The presentation focuses on three key questions on climate change: what set of policies are desirable? What are the impacts of policy action, and is global action achievable? The first question requires the development of a robust national policy framework and to ensure a set of policies are in place that deliver abatement and adjustment at least cost to the economy. The second question requires an understanding of the causes, nature, and the scale of the economic impacts to achieve the transition to a low carbon future. The third and final question relates to the political economy of international action, and whether a robust and worthwhile agreement is achievable. The lecture  highlights the contribution of economics in providing a response to these important issues. Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Business and Economics 2008-12-08T03:53:08+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/do_garnauts_targets_add_up/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/do_garnauts_targets_add_up/#When:01:37:08Z On Friday, 5 September 2008, Professor Ross Garnaut released his much awaited supplementary draft report on targets and trajectories. The report argues that Australia's mid- and long-term targets should be to reduce emissions net of international trading by 10 per cent from 2000 levels by 2020, and 80 per cent by m2050. This, we are told, is a proportionate contribution to the ‘achievable' international goal of stabilising the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases at 550 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e). This lecture, Do Garnaut's targets add up? An analysis of the Garnaut Review's targets and trajectories recommendations, explored whether the proposed national targets are consistent with the goal of stabilising atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at 550 ppm CO2-e and whether the risks associated with his 'overshoot' strategy have been fully explored. Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, ANU College of Law, Law 2008-12-02T01:37:08+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/2008_k_r_narayanan_oration_why_environmentalism_needs_equity/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/2008_k_r_narayanan_oration_why_environmentalism_needs_equity/#When:01:57:53Z "Why Environmentalism Needs Equity: Learning from the environmentalism of the poor to build our common future". Ms Sunita Narain, Director of the Centre for Science & Environment; Director of the Society for Environmental Communications; and publisher of the fortnightly magazine 'Down to Earth', has been with the Centre from 1982 and has worked hard at analysing and studying the relationship between environment and development, and at creating public consciousness about the need for sustainable development. Her research interests are wide-ranging - from global democracy, with a special focus on climate change, to the need for local democracy, within which she has worked both on forest-related resource management and water-related issues. Ms Narain began her career by writing and researching for the State of India's Environment reports and then went on to study issues related to forest management. For this project she travelled across the country to understand people's management of natural resources, and in 1989 co-authored the publication Towards Green Villages advocating local participatory democracy as the key to sustainable development. In the early 1990s she became involved with global environmental issues and continues to work on these as researcher and advocate. Ms Narain remains an active participant, both nationally and internationally, in civil society. She serves on the boards of various organisations and on governmental committees and has spoken at many fora across the world on issues of her concern and expertise. Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, Society & Culture, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2008-09-24T01:57:53+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_evolution_of_economic_policy_on_climate_change/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_evolution_of_economic_policy_on_climate_change/#When:04:38:58Z ANU Trevor Swan Distinguished Lectures in Economics The lecture traces the outlines of economic thinking on climate change. Two competing paradigms are reviewed: (1) modelling of greenhouse gases mitigation as a dynamic optimal control problem and (2) the willingness to pay of the present generation to ensure future generations against the potential adverse impacts of climate change. The presentation examines the challenges of the economics of international co-operation, the choice of economic instruments for climate mitigation, uncertainty, climate adaptation, abrupt climate change, induced technological change, discounting, and equity considerations. Economics, Environment, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU College of Business and Economics, Asia and the Pacific, Business and Economics 2008-09-05T04:38:58+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/building_kyoto/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/building_kyoto/#When:01:09:50Z As a mechanism for controlling climate change, the Kyoto Protocol has not been a success. Over the decade from it’s signing in 1997 to the beginning of its first commitment period in 2008, greenhouse gas emissions in industrial countries subject to targets under the protocol did not fall as the protocol intended. Instead, emissions in many countries rose rapidly. Moreover, emissions have increased substantially in countries such as China, which were not bound by the protocol but which will eventually have to be part of any serious climate change regime. The world community is looking to move beyond Kyoto. This lecture draws on a new report prepared for a G8 background meeting in Tokyo that takes the lessons to be learned from Kyoto to design a post Kyoto framework that builds on Kyoto but which addresses the key elements needed to build a truly global regime. The current state of the global debate is very relevant as Australia considers a domestic climate policy. The lecture also outlines why a traditional cap and trade emission trading system as proposed by some is inadequate to deal with the uncertainty that underlies climate change and is not in Australia’s national interest. Public Lecture, Environment, ANU College of Business and Economics, Business and Economics 2008-07-11T01:09:50+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/climate_change_mitigation/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/climate_change_mitigation/#When:04:26:58Z Decisions on whether and how much mitigation of the risks of dangerous climate change is justified raises exceptional challenges. In this lecture Professor Garnaut discusses the issues that arise when we measure and compare market and non-market costs with the benefits of climate change mitigation. He explores the value judgements that must be made when comparing welfare of people with different incomes and wealth, living in different countries, at different times. He also looks at how these conceptual challenges are compounded by uncertainties in scientific and economic analysis. Finally, he examines the awful uncertainties within which Australian and other governments are compelled to make fateful decisions or equally fateful non-decisions in the years immediately ahead. This was the Sixth HW Arndt Memorial Lecture. >> Watch it on SlowTV Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2008-06-10T04:26:58+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/messages_past_warm_earth/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/messages_past_warm_earth/#When:22:44:01Z As a pioneer in paleoceanography who has contributed to three generations of scientific ocean drilling programs, Ted Moore questions whether lessons learned from Earth's past will help us better appreciate the extensive changes that could be brought on by higher global temperatures, rising sea level, and more intense storms predicted for the future. He draws upon the 50-million-year-old climate records of the Eocene to offer insights into the impacts of increased global greenhouse gases and the expectations for Earth's future climate. Professor Moore's lecture is part of the inaugural DRILLS lecture series - a new scientific lecture series that features prominent, internationally known scientists describing scientific ocean drilling from first-hand experience. Public Lecture, Earth & Marine Sciences, Environment, University, Physical Science 2008-05-14T22:44:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/global_land_uses/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/global_land_uses/#When:01:27:00Z Human driven changes to the land surface have wide ranging influence on the functioning of the Earth System. The intensity of land cover change has increased rapidly over the last three hundred years, driven by population growth and increasing living standards. Expansion of agriculture and deforestation has significantly altered the environment. Recent development in land cover data sources enables us to obtain a reasonable overview of the global changes in land cover. Much less, however, is known about change in land use practices and agricultural and forest management that impact ecological services. In this lecture Professor Reenberg outlines the complexity of causes, processes and impacts of land change and call for a comprehensive framework to understand the human decisions that drive the global changes. Public Lecture, Environment, University, Medicine and Life Science 2008-04-02T01:27:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/climate_change_platinum_age/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/climate_change_platinum_age/#When:23:33:00Z In the inaugural S.T. Lee Lecture on Asia and the Pacific Professor Garnaut asks: How the risks of climate change will interact with the 'Platinum Age' of global economic growth? What are the limits for global emissions within which the world will need to live if the risk of dangerous climate change is to be kept within acceptable bounds? What principles could be reasonably applied to the allocation of a global emissions budget amongst countries? What global emissions budget would make sense for Australia? What would these principles suggest for Australia’s climate change policy? Dr S.T. Lee comes from a distinguished family in Singapore that has for many years supported various community, educational and research causes. Since the early 1990s, Dr Lee has supported a number of scholarly projects around the world, and in 2007 endowed an annual lecture at ANU named the S.T. Lee Lecture on Asia and the Pacific. This annual lecture will provide opportunities for distinguished figures from the Asia-Pacific to speak on developments and trends in the region and draw attention to crucial issues that affect us all. Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Arts and Social Sciences 2007-11-29T23:33:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/coping_climate_change_india/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/coping_climate_change_india/#When:00:09:00Z 2007 K R Narayanan Oration Recent high rates of economic growth in India and other parts of the developing world, while reducing poverty and raising global economic growth, have put considerable stress on the environment even as it is already saddled with high emissions from the developed world. The 2007 K R Narayanan Oration  by Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri questions whether such growth patterns can be sustained into the future and what options are available for ensuring that the adverse impact of economic growth on the environment is manageable. Public Lecture, Architecture, Urban Environment & Building, Economics, Environment, Humanities, Policy & Political Science, Society & Culture, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2007-09-17T00:09:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/emissions_trading/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/emissions_trading/#When:00:00:01Z Will emissions trading harm or benefit the economy? Can emissions trading get Australia to a low emissions future? What is the right way toward an effective post-Kyoto international scheme? This is an opportunity to engage with leading experts as they present their perspectives.   Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, ANU College of Science, Arts and Social Sciences 2007-08-21T00:00:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/debunking_global_warming_swindle/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/debunking_global_warming_swindle/#When:00:43:01Z Leading expert scientists from ANU and Stanford University presented critiques of the ABC televised program from the previous evening entitled 'The Great Global Warming Swindle'. The forum was then opened for general discussion and questions. Public Lecture, Earth & Marine Sciences, Environment, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2007-07-18T00:43:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/geological_perspectives_climate_change/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/geological_perspectives_climate_change/#When:01:16:00Z Throughout Earth’s history, mass extinctions of species were closely related to physical and chemical changes in the atmosphere and the oceans. These variations were controlled by heat from the sun, the distribution of oceans and continents, the extent of ice sheets; volcanic eruptions and asteroid impacts, air-borne particles, the eruption of methane and greenhouse effects. Greenhouse episodes were amplified by carbon dioxide and methane feedback effects from warming oceans and drying vegetation, and by changed reflection effects due to the extent of ice and snow. Current climate changes, triggered by human-generated emissions, will lead to shifts in the Earth’s climate zones toward the poles. The instability of ice sheets melting may lead to significant sea level rises over a time scale of decades. Public Lecture, Earth & Marine Sciences, Environment, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2007-06-25T01:16:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_dirty_politics_of_climate_change/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_dirty_politics_of_climate_change/#When:03:32:01Z 2007 may be the year in which climate change has hit the headlines and the environment has become the political issue, but how much do we know really know about the backroom deals, lobbying and power players who influence environmental policy? Why have our political leaders been so slow to act? Which are the fossil-fuel lobby groups that still set the policy agenda? In this lecture Clive Hamilton, best-selling author of Scorcher, the Dirty Politics of Climate Change , reveals the real influences on the politics of climate change in Australia. Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Science, Arts and Social Sciences 2007-05-17T03:32:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/monkey/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/monkey/#When:04:23:00Z Taking off to mend a broken heart, Vanessa Woods left safe, suburban Canberra and headed for the remote, wild and distinctly unsafe jungles of Costa Rica. She was stung so often by killer bees she developed a lethal allergy, and the monkeys she was to study were evasive, mean and aggressive. The only difference between them and her housemates was that at least she could tell her housemates apart. In this talk, science writer Vanessa Woods will explain how to survive a year in the jungle: a world of love, loss, bitter rivalry and vicious battles – and that’s just the monkeys. Public Lecture, Behavioural & Cognitive Sciences, Biological Sciences, Botany & Zoology, Environment, Society & Culture, ANU College of Science, Arts and Social Sciences 2007-03-14T04:23:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/architecture_climate_change/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/architecture_climate_change/#When:03:19:00Z The Fifth Annual Sir Leslie Melville Lecture was presented by Professor Warwick J McKibbin.  Sir Leslie Melville’s legacy includes the design and establishment of new institutions for dealing with global macroeconomic interdependence. Today the world is grappling with a far more complex set of problems related to environmental interdependence on a global scale. In this lecture, Professor Warwick McKibbin argues that major countries must respond to the issue of climate change, taking into account the enormous uncertainties that are involved. He discusses the key features of the climate change policy problem and will outline a policy framework that would allow an effective but flexible response to what may be the major issue of our time. Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Business and Economics, Physical Science 2006-10-31T03:19:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/david_suzuki/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/david_suzuki/#When:01:59:00Z In this last lecture tour of Australia, acclaimed environmentalist and scientist Dr David Suzuki tells the story of his passion for the planet – a passion that for several decades he has brought to the world through his research, his writings, his broadcasting, and above all his life story. Public Lecture, Environment, University, Physical Science 2006-10-25T01:59:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/reason_for_hope/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/reason_for_hope/#When:05:36:00Z Dr Jane Goodall is known worldwide as a passionate environmental advocate. At the heart of her mission is a 46-year research and conservation project studying humanity’s closest relative – the chimpanzee – at Gombe Stream in Tanzania. In this talk, Dr Goodall gives an update on the Gombe Stream project, and discusses how it is helping those people who live adjacent to the park to be more sustainable. She also discusses the work of the Jane Goodall Institute, including the ‘Roots & Shoots’ youth program which runs in 90 countries. Public Lecture, Botany & Zoology, Environment, University, Medicine and Life Science 2006-07-24T05:36:00+10:00