The Australian Bite

Climate change, bushfires and country slang

16 July 2009

Listen and download: MP3

This week on the Australian Bite, we look at a new climate change think tank – its called Safe Climate Australia, and it was launched last Sunday in Melbourne by former US Vice President Al Gore. We also meet some Victorian bushfire survivors  as they board the bus from Kinglake and head off on a winter beach retreat, and rural reporter Carl Curtain gives us the lowdown on Australian country slang.

New climate change group calls for emergency action

Safe Climate Australia is a new climate change think tank made up of scientists, business and community leaders, which believes we need to take emergency action to return the planet to a safe climate. It was launched in Melbourne last Sunday (17 July) by former US Vice President Al Gore. We hear some of what Mr Gore had to say at the launch, and also find out more about the organisation and its aims from foundation member Ian Dunlop, an independent advisor on governance and sustainability issues, and former Chairman of the Australian Coal Association.

You can also find out more about Safe Climate Australia at their website www.safeclimateaustralia.org/

For a very different view of the climate change issue, you might want to take a look at this article, A New Trend In Climate Alarmism on the ABC website written by mathemetician and engineer Dr David Evans, who worked for the Australian Greenhouse Office from 1999 to 2005, building the carbon accounting model that Australia uses to track carbon in its biosphere for the purposes of the Kyoto Protocol.

And ABC resources reporter Babs McHugh has interviewed a geologist Dr David Archibald, who believes that global warming is a natural, not man-made phenomenon.  Check it out here if you like.  http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2008/s2627758.htm

A beach retreat for bushfire survivors

Five months on from Black Saturday and Victoria’s worst ever bushfires in which over 170 people died, the affected communities are doing their best to move forward, and rebuild their lives, homes, businesses and communities. It’s a slow, and difficult process, and the recent Bush to Beach Retreat gave women from bushfire affected areas a chance to rest and recuperate at a five star resort in Lorne, a well know seaside resort on Victoria’s Great Ocean road. On a very windy day in Kinglake, reporter Jemina Wilson had a chat with some local women as they waited to get on the bus to Lorne.

This story was originally broadcast on ABC local radio 774  in Melbourne

Life is still a struggle for many people in Kinglake, as outline in this article on the ABC news website  http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/06/2617641.htm

Australian country slang

Country people are often stereotyped as talking a little slower than the rest of the population. While this is debatable, it’s become clear the English language is ever expanding from words used on the cattle station or the farm. Rural reporter Carl Curtain takes a look at some of the latest country slang.

Music (not in podcast)

Singer-songwriter Daniel Merriweather grew up in Melbourne’s Dandenong ranges, although he now divides his time between London and New York.  He’s collaborated with a wide range of musicians over the years, and has just released his first commercially available album, called Love and War.

Artist:     Daniel Merriweather feat. Wale

Track:     Change

Album:   Love and War (2009)