Eco Futurists
By Prof Andy Lowe
In this podcast, we hear from people leading the way not only in imagining, but also providing solutions for a future with environmental sustainability in mind. We speak to scientific experts, industry leaders, artists, adventurers, and committed personalities who make connections in their local and global communities, making life on earth a priority in their grand plans.
They are Eco Futurists.
Eco FuturistsNov 15, 2023
Sowing the seeds for the future of health, resilience, and environmental protection
Have you ever had a memory from childhood that took you back to nature? Maybe it was the smell after the rain, freshly cut grass, or the warmth from of the sun on your skin. How do our experiences of the natural world as children affect us as adults? Are these effects lasting or do we need to ‘top up’ our nature reserves to reap the full benefits that nature has to give? How can we fill our ‘nature cup’ when the demands of day-to-day modern existence can often pull us away from the natural environment?
In this episode we explore all this an more with Human Geographer Melissa Nursey-Bray Deputy Director, Institute of Sustainability, Energy and Resources (ISER), https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/melissa.nursey-bray and Dr Mark Kohler Senior Lecturer School of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Medica
l Sciences https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/mark.kohler
Eco Futurists is supported by the Environment Institute https://www.adelaide.edu.au/environment/ at the University of Adelaide http://www.adelaide.edu.au/.
Learn More:
School of Psychology https://health.adelaide.edu.au/psychology/
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences https://health.adelaide.edu.au
Wellbeing in Learning and Development Lab (WiLDlab): https://wildlabadelaide.org/.
Youth Symposium on Human Nature Connection in the Anthropocene: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/environment/events/list/2023/11/a-symposium-on-human-nature-connection-in-the-anthropocene
Roots and Shoots Australia: https://rootsandshoots.org.au/.
Jane Goodall Institute Australia Resource Boxhttps://janegoodall.org.au/australian-programs-resourcebox/
Review Article: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.10128
Children & Nature Network: https://www.childrenandnature.org/
Institute of Sustainability, Energy and Resources (ISER) https://www.adelaide.edu.au/iser/
Finding the Fab Five https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/61ca6f9be4354e808146e47e0a59a7d0
Adaptation Community Environment Research Group (ACE) https://able.adelaide.edu.au/socialsciences/adaptation-community-environment/
Department of Geography, Environment and Population https://able.adelaide.edu.au/socialsciences/departments/department-of-geography-environment-and-population
Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education (ABLE) https://able.adelaide.edu.au
Get In Touch
You can contact Eco Futurists podcast here andrew.lowe@adelaide.edu.au
Enjoying the show? Rate, review, and share it with your friends to help listeners like yourself explore their inner Eco Futurist.
You can’t build an ego when caring for a stream
Eco Futurists is supported by the Environment Institute www.adelaide.edu.au/environment/ at the University of Adelaide www.adelaide.edu.au/.
Learn More:
Black Duck Foods www.blackduckfoods.com.au
Nature Festival www.naturefestival.org.au
You can contact Eco Futurists podcast here andrew.lowe@adelaide.edu.au
Enjoying the show? Rate, review, and share it with your friends to help listeners like yourself explore their inner Eco Futurist.
Exotic plants and animals: the illegal wildlife trade happening right under your nose
In this episode we speak with Prof Phill Cassey researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/phill.cassey and PhD student Charlotte Lassaline both from the School of Biological Sciences set.adelaide.edu.au/biological-sciences/ as well as from the Invasion Science and Wildlife Ecology Group www.cassey-invasion-ecology.org at the University of Adelaide www.adelaide.edu.au/ . We examine what it’s going to take to conserve and recover ecosystems in a world where wildlife is being traded not only in secret corners of the internet, but often right in front of our eyes.
Eco Futurists is supported by the Environment Institute www.adelaide.edu.au/environment/ at the University of Adelaide www.adelaide.edu.au/.
Learn More:
School of Biological Sciences University of Adelaide set.adelaide.edu.au/biological-sciences/
Invasion Science and Wildlife Ecology Group University of Adelaide www.cassey-invasion-ecology.org
You can contact Eco Futurists podcast here andrew.lowe@adelaide.edu.au
Enjoying the show? Rate, review, and share it with your friends to help listeners like yourself explore their inner Eco Futurist.
Nature deprivation: the real consequences
Are you getting the best microbes on offer? What are microbes anyway and why should we care?
If you’ve ever heard of the term “microbiome” you probably relate it to gut health, but there’s so much more to it! It’s all around us, and in us, and affects our brains, immune systems, stress levels, and psychological state.
Join us for this episode where we speak with Dr Jess Stanhope and Prof Phil Weinstein about how public health is effected by urban environments and the promising future for disease prevention and treatment in the reversal of global urban nature deprivation.
This podcast is supported by the Environment Institute https://www.adelaide.edu.au/environment/ at the University of Adelaide https://www.adelaide.edu.au. Learn More:
School of Allied Health Science and Practice University of Adelaide https://health.adelaide.edu.au/allied-health/
School of Public Health University of Adelaide https://health.adelaide.edu.au/public-health/
Green Adelaide https://www.greenadelaide.sa.gov.au
Hosted by Prof Andy Lowe https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/andrew.lowe, Interim Director of the Environment Institute https://www.adelaide.edu.au/environment/ University of Adelaide You can contact Eco Futurists podcast here https://www.adelaide.edu.au/environment/ Enjoying the show? Rate, review, and share it with your friends to help listeners like yourself explore their inner Eco Futurist.
Under the surface: shedding light on ‘ocean blindness’
What happened when the head of Engineering for Google Australia and the Professor and author behind Australia’s first ever textbook on Marine Ecology came together? Nothing short of the miraculous bringing back to life of an extinct ecosystem in the waters of Australia's biodiverse southern coastline.
And what’s next on the sparkly horizon?
In this podcast episode find out how the founders of AusOcean, Alan Noble and Prof Sean Connell, are stretching traditional models of marine conservation efforts through open-source hardware and software, and low-cost ways of public engagement. They are a driving force shedding light on the ‘ocean blindness’ that muddies our understanding of biodiversity conservation in marine ecosystems, looking to reverse the tide of extinction in our oceans.
This podcast is supported by the Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide.
Learn More:
Marine Biology at the Environment Institute, University of Adelaide
Hosted by Prof Andy Lowe, Interim Director of the Environment Institute University of Adelaide
You can contact Eco Futurists podcast here
Enjoying the show? Rate, review, and share it with your friends to help listeners like yourself explore their inner Eco Futurist.
Water: too much, too little, too dirty
Water is finally back on the global table after 46 years of not being discussed at a global scale conference. Conservation, salinity, pricing, agriculture, cultural use - the list goes on. Is the subject of 'water rights' at risk of getting lost in an endless talk fest? Where do we start when trying to come up with solutions to the many water issues we face on a local and global scale? What even are ‘water rights’?
In this podcast episode host Prof Andy Lowe Interim Director of the Environment Institute University of Adelaide, speaks with Assoc Prof Peter Burdon and Prof Sarah Wheeler, both from the University of Adelaide. Sarah is a water economist from the School of Economics and Public Policy, and Peter is an expert in environmental law from the Adelaide Law School.
Eco Futurists is supported by the Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide.
Learn More:
United Nations 2023 Water Conference
Water for First Nations - The Murray-Darling Basin Authority
You can contact Eco Futurists podcast here
Enjoying the show? Rate, review, and share it with your friends to help listeners like yourself explore their inner Eco Futurist.
Markets for nature. What’s the currency of biodiversity?
Markets for nature. What’s the currency of biodiversity?
Nature is threatened, but it is also messy and complex. Ecologist try to untangle the mess of conservation, governments and industry. Small landowners are trying to help too. How do we work to save life on Earth?
How do we get the scale of investment required to restore our degraded land? Can we create markets for nature? Where does the money come from? And who are the buyers?
In this episode host Prof Andy Lowe Interim Director of the Environment Institute University of Adelaide, speaks with renowned ecologist Prof Hugh Possingham about the need to set aside 30% of every different kind of habitat for conservation in order to sustain the health of our global biodiversity and to establish biodiversity markets to drive these outcomes.
Eco Futurists is supported by the Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide.
Learn More:
Prof Hugh Possingham is currently Chief Councillor of the newly created Biodiversity Council and Chief Scientist of Accounting for Nature, and has recently been Queensland Chief Scientist and Chief Scientist of The Nature Conservancy, the world’s largest environmental non-government organisation. Hugh is also the Chair of The Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide.
You can contact Eco Futurists podcast here
Enjoying the show? Rate, review, and share it with your friends to help listeners like yourself explore their inner Eco Futurist.
Hearts & Minds. Can science inspired music be a solution to climate change?
Can music, the arts and humanities help us work together across traditional science and industry boundary lines to come up with a solution to climate change?
In this episode host Prof Andy Lowe Interim Director of the Environment Institute University of Adelaide, speaks with Airan Berg, Artistic Director of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s Floods of Fire Citizens’ Orchestra event , and Professor Anna Goldsworthy, Director of The Elder Conservatorium of Music at the University of Adelaide.
Together they discuss the arts as communicator of complex human situations, a flawed system for tackling climate change, and how working openly between the sciences and the humanities can unite hearts and minds for a better future.
Eco Futurists is supported by the Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide.
Learn More:
Floods of Fire will be performing for the first time ever at a FREE event Friday 3 March 2023 in Elder Park Adelaide, starting at 7:30pm ahead of Spinifex Gum as part of the Adelaide Festival.
You can contact Eco Futurists podcast here
Enjoying the show? Rate, review, and share it with your friends to help listeners like yourself explore their inner Eco Futurist.
Thinking solutions
IPES Values Assessment Video
vimeo.com/735690263
We would like to acknowledge the University of Adelaide’s:
School of Social Sciences
Institute for Sustainability Energy and Resources
Environment Institute
Prof Christopher Raymond
Biography: Prof Raymond is Professor of Sustainability Science (Sustainability Transformations and Ecosystem Services) at the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science, University of Helsinki, Finland. He is jointly based at the Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme in the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, and the Department of Economics and Management in the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. His research interests include sense of place; nature-based solutions; the social valuation of nature; and the conservation of biodiversity. Since 2018, Prof. Raymond has been Coordinating Lead Author (Chapter 2) of the IPBES Values Assessment.
Music, the language of inspiration
Festivals - a platform for fun and knowledge
As the world tipped
Reaching a sustainable future
Rewilding a city
Leading for sustainability
Monuments in the forest
Capturing peoples’ spark
Rebuilding Australia’s native oyster reefs
Here is a short video of the Eureka Awards, highlighting some of the key partners associated with the work: youtu.be/Drkl61DGqcM
The state of the world’s forests
Cool bees and Air Bee'n'Bee
Discovering and protecting Africa’s lost virgin rainforest
Motivating a community to plant 35 million trees?