Rethinking Sustainability

  Today's episode  should  prompt us to ask, how should we measure the success of our society? Is it the growth, consumption, GDP and the size of our armies? Or perhaps it should be about  opportunity, the strength of our communities and how we care for people less well off. Michael Bayliss from Sustainable Population Australia looks at what growth is really doing to social equality. Michael invites you to sign the Position Statement on Population . If you would like to contribute to these podcasts, please get in  touch .

In his book  Deep Listening to Nature  Andrew Skeoch asks: What does listening reveal about how the living systems of nature function? Why do birds in particular negotiate their interactions in such lyrical and extraordinary ways? At a time when most people live in cities, listening to nature is listening to ourselves. Because, much as it becomes hidden from ourselves, we are still part of nature.  Ultimately, it is nature that is the foundation of our existence. Money, stockmarkets, smartphones and cars are only possible because nature provides them for us. And, as we lose that connection, our world becomes unsustainable. If you would like to contribute to these podcasts, please get in  touch .

Graffiti art, Kaleen ACT In modern life the act of shopping is so much more than buying a few groceries.  It's become the experience as each purchase tickles those dopamine receptors.  There's no doubting that bit of shopping can be fun, but what is it really doing to us? Jeremy Barrett ponders these things as he wanders through the shopping mall. Jeremy's exhibition of paintings & mono prints is at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre, 2 February - 28 March. The opening Talk & Tea will be Tuesday 13 February, 12 — 1pm If you'd like to contribute a podcast to this series, please get in   touch .

It seems every day we're hit with more bad news. War in the Ukraine, floods, droughts and melting ice caps. In this episode, Rod Taylor mulls over how we cope. Do we give up and fall into a pit of despair, or do we carry on regardless? If you'd like to contribute to this series, please get in  touch .

The standard line is that governments* are always short of money and must balance their budgets. But what if that's not true? It changes everything if government money is not the contraint we're told it is. In this episode, Stephen Williams describes a way of thinking about economics that should revolutionise our approach. * Federal  governments of monetary sovereign countries . Stephen Williams and Rod Taylor are editors of Sustainability and the New Economics . To learn more about MMT, we highly recommend the Modern Money Lab and Stephanie Kelton's film, Finding the Money . If you'd like to contribute a podcast to this series, please get in  touch .

What could happen when people decide to do something about unemployment in their community?  If we look at unemployment it can appear as nothing more than a bunch of numbers, but behind each one is a person. With families, friends and hopes. Real people with skills an energy they want to contribute. They don't want to be left idle, buried in some statistic. Leaving people behind is not socially sustainable. In this episode Robin Krabbe describes an initiative of  Live Well Tasmania .  If you would like to contribute to these podcasts, please get in  touch .