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Australian National University Vice-Chancellor, Brian Schmidt (pictured), has told a Netherlands climate summit that countries had put their faith science to counter the Covid-19 crisis and needed to do the same in their efforts to address the climate emergency. Meanwhile, an ABC story from mid-January has warned that parts of Sydney could, with decades, be too warm for human habitation. And RMIT associate professor, Wendy Steele, who last year published "Planning Wild Cities" has said: "We are a world racing towards a crisis of our own making: that there is no precedent in history; and that rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes are required in all aspects of society, We must act now with everything we have at our disposal." Please listen to and enjoy "Music for a Warming World".See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joe Biden became America's new president and almost immediately signed the papers to take the U.S. back into the Paris Climate Accord. And it was just the day before his inauguration the New York Times had another of its "Netting Zero" webinars to discuss 'Breaking our fossil fuel Addiction'. Ivan Penn, an energy correspondent, with the Times was the moderator and he was joined by the U.K's. High-level Climate Action Champion, Nigel Topping, for COP 26 to be held later this year. The panel included an energy strategist with Carbon Tracker, Kingsmill Bond; the National Director of Campaigns with the Sierra Club, May Anne Hitt; the CEO of Enel Green Power, Salvatore Bernabei; the CEO of Offshore North America, Orsted, David Hardy; the founder and CEO of Uncharted Power, Jessica O. Matthews; and the Executive Director of Student Energy, Meredith Adler. Music for Climate Conversations comes from the Melbourne -based group, Music for a Warming World.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mary-Anne Cosgrove (pictured) is the acting chair of Humanists Australia. She puts a strong case for the adoption and implementation of the values and ideals of humanism in our approach to dealing with the climate crisis. The Canberra-based interim president is well versed in all aspects of modern communications technology and so has used it to consolidate the humanist movement through Australia. During our conversation, Mary-Anne mentioned two upcoming events she felt people might be interested in and they can be found at: Humanists Australia Meetup Group https://www.meetup.com/Humanists-Australia/ (That meetup with Andrew Copson is Wednesday, January 20. You can also register for it without joining Meetup at https://communities.humanistsaustralia.org/rainbow-copson-20-jan-21). Music for Climate Conversations is provided courtesy of the Melbourne-based, Music for a Warming World.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The City of Greater Shepparton has declared a climate emergency (that's the easy part) and now it must act (that's the hard part). A paper from a group of scientists working with 17 of the world's most credentialled universities has warned us of "ghastly' future unless we act, immediately. The reasons behind our troubled future are clear and what we must do to avoid those same troubles is equally clear and all of us must stand together to change the impending crisis into an opportunity. Music used in the podcast is from the Melbourne-based group, "Music for a Warming World".  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Family, friends and a strong sense of community become increasingly important as the climate crisis worsens. The climate crisis is so huge and so complex that it is beyond the intellectual and emotional capacity of any single person and so it can only be addressed when we work as one rather than individuals. And to do that we all need to stand shoulder to shoulder and all of us need family, friends and others to be with us as we confront what is now commonly seen as a wicked problem. The loss of one, as what happened to a friend recently, is not just the loss of one person, rather it has a much broader impact, weakening the social bonding we urgently need if was are to find our way through this emergency, this climate crisis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My stomach churned as I drove north and the guilt worsened as I read "Fire, Flood, Plague", a book-length series of articles edited by Sophie Cunningham. Conscious of the causes of the climate crisis, I felt guilty driving from Victoria to Queensland and then the guilt really settled in when reading the words of the Australian writers who told of their experiences with the year that has just ended, 2020. The podcast begins with the audio being recorded using the internal microphone on my Macbook Air as I had intended to post the episode while still in Queensland. However, that didn't eventuate and I finished it off sitting back at my desk in Shepparton. I left the original part untouched as I felt it added some sort of "bookend" to what has been a somewhat dystopian year, and this being the first episode of 2021, as it turns out, I must say "welcome!" to Climate Conversations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2020 was personally rewarding, but publicly largely dystopian. Climate Conversations found a new home at the Climactic Collective; beyond a few rare exceptions, those I talked with became willing guests, and I learned a huge amount, both about the climate crisis and the audio skills I need to produce this podcast. Australia was ablaze when we welcomed 2020 and now at least much of the east coast is awash as we begin to feel the practical effects of the present La Nina. Degrowth was a philosophy I was able to explore with the co-author of "Exploring Degrowth" and that, it seems to me is a way of living we will need to embrace if we are to have any chance of addressing the climate crisis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Voices all around the world call for governance and systematic changes, along with boldness, haste and innovation to address the climate crisis. American climate activist, Bill McKibben, wrote in The New Yorker about what's needed in an article headed: "Where we stand on climate". U.N. General Secretary, António Guterres, deliver a powerful address at the opening of the Climate Ambition Summit and Brett Hennis gave us a different take on governance at the Hungary Tedx event. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia's Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister, Simon Birmingham (pictured), continues to spread the fallacy that his government is demonstrating to the world how to best deal with the climate crisis. Australia, despite the protestations of the Morrison Government, is clearly a laggard, playing a lead role in assuring the world plunges even deeper into the climate crisis.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres (pictured), took the stage at the December 2 World Leaders Forum at Columbia University in New York and delivered what some have said was the important address of the year, if not ever. Mr Guterres again warned the world about the seriousness of the climate crisis, pointing out that if people truly cared about their fellows they would act now to do all they could to mitigate the causes of this quickly unfolding crisis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Uk's top climate crisis expert, Nigel Topping (pictured) has argued that coal is "dead in the water", but Australia's Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and his LNP cohort are not listening and are so ideologically blind that they can't even see the writing on the wall, let alone read it. Australia's Wilderness Society at its recent 'Nature Chat' talked about the devastation of last summer's bushfires and Gemma Plesman talked about growing up in Nymbodia in New South Wales and how the fires destroyed her family home; fires easily attributable to the climate crisis. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Federal Government Minister, Keith Pitt (pictured), along with his Ministerial compatriot, Angus Taylor, are mounting a personal campaign against me, it seems. That is not true, of course, rather both fellows are simply sprouting LNP talking points during interviews on the ABC's Radio National program "Breakfast". Because of their roles, both are regulars and the latest in which Minister Pitt first talked about trade with China shifted to the climate crisis (my description and not Minister Pitt's) following questions from the host, Fran Kelly.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Oksana Tarasova (pictured) mentally transported me back about a decade today when she was interviewed by Julian Morrow on Radio National's Sunday Extra, and she used the image of a bathtub to illustrate how carbon dioxide continues to worsen Earth's climate crisis. The Melbourne-based Professor David Karoly spoke in Shepparton about a decade ago and used a similar word-picture to help the crowd of more than 70 better understand how greenhouse gases were accumulating in Earth's atmosphere and the other available sinks. Dr Tarasova talked with Julian Morrow about the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Lara Stevens (pictured) talks about feminism, or "feminisms",  Val Plumwood and Mother Earth, and why it's not "Father Earth". Dr Stevens, a researcher with the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, helped me better understand why women are playing such a leading role in humanity's response to the climate crisis. "The climate debate isn't just about science; it's also about gender and power. Ecofeminism takes this seriously, and ecofeminist philosophy is uniquely positioned to help us reimagine our place in the world and the ways in which we can care for the environment", the ABC said in an introduction to a session on the Philosophers Zone entitled "Feminism, ecology and motherhood".See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sydney's Willoughby City Council gave us all the chance to again hear the sounds of Music for a Warming World, even despite the restrictions of the Covid-19 crisis - the council gave us a special live online showing of the Melbourne-based band. Those restrictions impacted too also on the band and so only three members could, with regard for social distancing, fit into the Melbourne studio - Simon Kerr, Kylie Morrigan and Mal Webb. The restricted size of the band had no impact on the music - the message was still there; the inspiration was still there; as was the call to action - use your skill and talents to do whatever you can to help the world avoid the worst of the climate crisis. A complete YouTube version of the performance, including all the visuals, is available at Music for a Warming World. Also, the band has a new album coming out soon with fully produced (and some quite wonderful) versions of many of these songs. If anyone is interested they can contact Simon or join the band's mailing list via the website.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of those deeply involved with the climate change conversation at RMIT, Dr Lauren Rickards (pictured), was among the speakers at a recent webinar - "Education institutions in a changing climate: action, leadership and activism". A full recording from this webinar will be posted soon on the RMIT website so call back regularly.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melbourne's David Spratt (pictured) took advantage of the city's Covid-19 lockdown to assemble the facts to produce the "Climate Reality Check 2020". David talked about the new report at the November meeting of the Victorian Climate Action Network (VCAN) at which he made reference to a number of relevant publications, among them: What has become known as the "Hothouse Earth" report; A story from The Guardian headed: "Melting Antarctic ice will raise sea level by 2.5 metres – even if Paris climate goals are met, study finds"; A story he and Ian Dunlop wrote and published in The Canberra Times headed: "Net-zero emissions by 2050: leadership or climate colonialism?"; A letter published in The Guardian headed, "Hitting net-zero is not enough – we must restore the climate"; And a story from Earth.org headed: "Climate crisis: University of Cambridge to launch a new centre to explore geoengineering and climate change".See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Joëlle Gergis (pictured) has adhered to her science but allowed emotion to intrude as she wrote a powerful and beautiful piece for The Guardian entitled "The great unravelling: I never thought I'd live to see the horror of planetary collapse". I urge you to read the story, make it yours, tell others and, importantly, tell our decision-makers. Dr Gergis is from the Australian National University.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The climate crisis is worsening the challenges facing the Plains Wanderer (pictured), This small, wonderfully camouflaged bird lives among the grass on the plains of eastern Australia, but because of many things, among them, climate change is very nearly extinct. It's argued that this fascinating bird, which is unique to Australia, has had its population cut to about just 1000. Deniliquin's Philip Maher, who has successfully answered more the ABC's "Tweet of the Week" competitions than anyone has a particularly sound knowledge of the bird and the impact of the climate crisis on its survival. Philip, who with his partner Patricia maintains the website Australian Orthinological Services, will be the subject of a later episode on Climate Conversations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jane Hunter (pictured) was one of the guests on a recent virtual event organized by the University of Queensland. Jane, the CEO of the Brisbane-based technology company Tritium, talked about electric vehicles, discounting the myths and explained it was really government legislation that stopped the uptake of these emission-free vehicles.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.