The RegenNarration Podcast
The RegenNarration podcast features the stories of a generation that is changing the story, enabling the regeneration of life on this planet. It’s ad-free, freely available and entirely listener-supported. You'll hear from high profile and grass-roots leaders from around Australia and the world, on how they're changing the stories we live by, and the systems we create in their mold. Along with often very personal tales of how they themselves are changing, in the places they call home. With award-winning host, Anthony James.
The RegenNarration Podcast
237 Extra. Renewables Double Edge, Repair Revolution & First Nations Radio Renaissance
A brief bonus featuring part of my conversation with Chantal Caruso that never saw the light of day, due to Clean State’s mandate for shorter episodes.
A poignant moment occurred at the launch of The Clean State Plan, with a group of First Nations people there expressing concern at the impending renewables revolution. It raised an important question - how do we transition energy systems without repeating colonial extractive patterns? And moreover, without unwittingly hampering the regenerative work they, farmers and others of the land are also pioneering?
Then we talk about the low-cost, exponential positive impacts of First Nations radio, and one of Chantal’s favourite stories, stemming from her childhood.
If you’ve come here first, tune into the main episode with Chantal Caruso, ep237 ‘Introducing The Clean State Stories, with former director Chantal Caruso.’
To hear the rest of The Clean State Stories series, and learn more about the sorts of things talked about here, be sure to follow The RegenNarration podcast.
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Music:
By Jeremiah Johnson.
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At the launch, for example, there were First Nations people there who expressed concern that the mining needed for the renewables transition and the scale and speed of it. They were concerned that they'd be treated the same way they've been treated to date with the fossil fuel industry. What have you got your eye on in that regard?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's obviously something that really concerns us as well. So obviously we're solutions focused, but we recognise that it is not a solution to be pushing technology that requires minerals. That is going to create the same problems. We've seen that's hurting First Nations communities and it's hurting our biodiversity.
Speaker 2:And I saw just yesterday a report that came out that is mapping where there's these overlaps of conflict worldwide, because there's this massive recognition now I think the World Resources Institute have looked at how much of these minerals like lithium and cobalt that we need for a fully decarbonised economy.
Speaker 2:You know it's in the billions of tonnes, and so they've actually mapped it and then what they've done is look at where these resources lay in the world and then, in terms of where they lay, what areas are biodiverse, no-go zones, contested zones, and I think the figure was about 13%. So if there's work that's being done by that, that's something that Clean State can really get behind, because it needs to be strategic and we can't let go of our climate justice ethic. We have to bring communities with us and we've been working really closely as well with the forest alliance and the wa forest alliance on their southwest transition plan for forestry, and they're really aware of the threats of lithium mining, for example, down there in our old growth forests, and so that's something we're also watching really closely. So I guess it's a watch this space, but it's something we're very, very conscious of and something that we'll be certainly advocating for not making the mistakes we've made in the past and again, it's not just what to avoid, isn't it?
Speaker 1:it's what First Nations and the regions, and farmers and pastoralists bring to the table in terms of carbon drawdown, in terms of landscape restoration and biodiversity restoration, so forth. Yeah, so it's how to enable them to do what we actually need and, of course, not continue the same patterns.
Speaker 2:Well, there's also a great opportunity to recycle the lithium and to recycle all of those metals, and so we're going to be seeing in our plan we include recycling facilities in Collie because we see that as a hub that could potentially take all of the solar panels that are going to be coming offline really soon. Western Australia has you know it's a really popular technology here. Almost one in five, I think it is now West Aussies have solar on their roof, but if those have a lifespan of 20-25 years, we're going to need somewhere to put them, and so there's this massive potential in WA to create jobs and create the infrastructure to have recycling of those incredible resources right here in WA. So that's something we're really pushing as well that hopefully will take the pressure off the mining of the new resource as well.
Speaker 1:Now I have to draw attention, before we close up, to two things that well, one thing that really stood out to me is amazing and another one that's a personal favourite of yours, I know. The first thing that surprised me was First Nations radio. Yes is vital. Tell us how.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love this story. So, yeah, look, I really wanted to do justice to our chapter on First Nations communities and opportunities. I think all of us can do better at becoming aware and learning and listening to the stories of First Nations communities here in Western Australia, and so when I got started on looking at that, like there's obvious things that you think of when you think of remote communities needing infrastructure. For example, some of our remote communities, our Aboriginal communities, don't even have clean water or clean energy. Uh, overcrowding is a real issue. But when we talked to folks on the ground, they were also saying, well as important is language and is having broadcasting in language, and we I loved working with the um, the first nations media folks who have mapped all of the they call them white spots, and so in western australia, love it it's great.
Speaker 2:Hey, in western australia the northwest is pretty well covered.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of radio stations up there broadcasting in language, providing an amazing service yes but everywhere south, pretty much, from perth, south um, all the way down to the deep south, all of noongar country, noongar nations um, is not covered at all. And so for a really small investment of just a couple of million dollars you could get we're proposing six new radio stations up and running that would broadcast in language. You'd create hundreds of jobs through that and also these training opportunities, training and mentoring, which is so important. Yeah, and it just shows that often the things you think are the most obvious you actually know nothing about. And so broadcasting, broadcasting, I think, is something that we could all get behind. And again, it's an example of such a tiny investment that would have such a great big impact.
Speaker 1:And your personal favorite. That harks back to a childhood experience, which I can't remember, around repair labs. But tell us, tell us what's lost from my mind.
Speaker 2:Yes, this is showing my age, but um, look I, and sometimes I wonder if I imagined this or not. But I actually got a show of hands when we, when we launched our plan, and people did back me that they did exist. So I remember as a kid bowling up to a you know, suburban shopping center and they'd have these kind of caravans that were called safety watch it vans and they were run run by. Back then Synergy was called SEC, state Electrical Commission and it was a place where you could take your broken lamp or your broken computer or something that was broken and they would test it whether it was safe to work on it and they would repair it for you. And I remember it being I'm pretty sure it was for free and it was just this incredible like what a great idea. And I don't know about you, but I've got at my home there's a shredder that.
Speaker 2:I you know that I can't get to unjam and I'm too guilty about putting it in landfill.
Speaker 2:It's too, expensive to repair. Imagine everyone and we're sending I think it's almost 100 kilos of e-waste to landfill per person every year in WA. We have no facilities to recycle those, so obviously we'd cover that in our plan. But what an awesome way as well to have happening in our suburbs if we have what's called local repair labs so you could have them, for example, here in Mount Lawley. We could have one in one of our vacant stores here in Mount Lawley. There's one in five shopfronts in Mount Lawley that are now vacant.
Speaker 2:As we see people shift from retail, I think there's going to be a massive need for services. So we could have repair labs. We could have our co-working spaces, we could have crates where have crates gone? And yeah, local repair labs are just this amazing place where you could bring your stuff, learn how to fix it, and it'd employ people as well locally to provide that for you. So we just think we've kind of covered everything from really big ideas like 90% renewables down to local repair labs where you can get your shredder fixed. Thank you.
