Changemakers

Today we talk with Claire O’Rouke - a former journalist, climate campaigner and author of Together We Can - about the diverse and creative grassroots movement of people around Australia taking action to respond to the threat of climate change. Together We Can canvassed over 70 stories of Australians who have developed novel community based responses to help our climate, defying the logic that you need to be a scientist or a politician to make a difference. We unpack how people have sought to overcome challenges like climate distress and what Claire has learnt about what goes into the most successful forms of change. For more information about Together We Can visit: https://claireorourke.com/new-book-together-we-can/ For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/ On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf

So what do former Fire Chief Greg Mullins and Australian Cricket Captain Pat Cummins have in common? They both want action on climate change and they have both worked with Amanda McKenzie, CEO of Australia’s Climate Council, to build their strategy. Amanda is a climate communicator who has worked to catalyse different communities of people affected by climate change so they can become powerful climate advocates. She talks with us about her approach to climate communications and how long term engaged work with a variety of affected communities has changed the public debate on climate in Australia. You can find out more about the climate council here - https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/ For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/ On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Karen Iles is long time social changemaker, lawyer and victim survivor of aggravated sexual assault when she was a child. As a young adult she went to the police to lodge a statement so they would investigate the crime, only to be stymied at every turn. After almost 20 years of police inaction, she has launched a campaign to create a duty for police to investigate allegations of serious crimes like child sexual assault. Today she shares her journey and the campaign she has launched. We discuss the power of personal experience in shaping political advocacy and her hopes for changing the legal system. For more on Karen’s campaign: Take action to support the campaign at MakePoliceInvetigate.org  Watch Karen on The Project Read Karen’s story in the Guardian and in News.com.au For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/ On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa

Modern society tells subtle but powerful stories that shape how we think about how we should live together, make decisions together and what we should value. Jon Alexander has identified three of these stories - the subject story of the tyrant strong man, the consumer story of the modern market and the citizen story, as alternative ways we can be. In this chat we identify how these stories impact how we make change. We look at how the dominant consumer story infects many change making strategies, and some of the ways in which groups have sought to challenge consumer logic with citizen practice. For more you can find out more about Jon’s book Citizens here. You can find out more about the New Citizenship Project here. For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/ On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in

There is a powerful movement led for and by the trans and gender diverse community building in Australia - and today’s ChangeMaker Chat is with one of its founders. Jackie Turner is a trans woman and a long time social justice and climate organiser. This chat explores how organising in her community has given her a new lens on how and why we make change. She outlines the threats to the trans communities in the UK and USA, and what that means for trans people everywhere. She provides plenty of advice for cis allies about what can be done to support the trans community. You can provide financial support for Jackie’s Trans Justice Project here. You can follow Jackie on Insta www.instagram.com/jackiemaeturner/ or on Twitter @jackiemaeturner. All her writing can be found in her bio. For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/ On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i

Today’s podcast looks at racism in the not for profit world. Aminata Conteh-Bigher has an extraordinary story; having developed powerful leadership qualities in Sierra Leonne civil war forced her to flee her home. In Australia she founded the Aminata Maternal Foundation to change the dangerous conditions that women face when giving birth in Sierra Leonne. Today she shares how this journey has placed her at the centre of the not-for-profit world in Australia, and the struggles around racism that she has encountered on that journey. This is a powerful and provocative conversation for changemakers that calls for us to change how we make change, if we truly want to live the values that so many of us preach. For more on Aminata you can read her book Rising Heart, and you can find more about the Aminata Maternal Foundation here. For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/ On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandat

One of the biggest hurdles to powerful climate action is changing our economy so it is no longer reliant on fossil fuels. Too often plans hatched by experts or environmentalists far removed from coal mining communities fail, because they are unable to bring affected communities and workers with them. This episode comes from Collie Western Australia and talks about how the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union worked with other unions, community groups and political leaders to plan for the closure of their coal mines and the creation of new industries and jobs for their town. In this episode Alex Cassie explains how she supported local workers to write this plan and turn it into state government action. The transition was years in the making and it is still ongoing, but in this story are lessons for every fossil fuel community. The story is also a powerful reminder for people worried about climate change that workers in fossil fuel industries can make powerful allies in the battle to end our reliance on coal.

Terri Janke is an Aboriginal and Torrest Strait Islander Lawyer who uses the law to protect and advance Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property. As a Meriam and Wuthathi woman who grew up in Cairns in northern Queensland, for over 20 years she has crafted a set of legal instruments that allow for the protection of Indigenous Culture. From an Indigenous perspective, Culture is the embodiment of life, and it can be represented in anything from art to dance, from bones to research. She is well recognised across Australia for her work in protecting Indigenous Culture using a series of True Track protocols that enable Indigenous Culture to be recognised as intellectual property. Here she explains her journey and how she found the law. She explores her ICIP principles and then applies them to the process of research, and in particular Country-based ‘placed-based’ research. This is a powerful conversation for non-Indigenous listeners as Terri generously shares an Indigenous perspective on Culture that is very

In the US midterm elections, one of the extraordinary outcomes was how many young people turned their back on some of the more extreme candidates that denied the 2020 election result. Yet should it have been so surprising? Young people have been organising like their lives depended on it for a while - including through the March for Our Lives movement against gun violence. This episode is a re-release of the story of the March for Our Lives movement that arose out of the 2018 mass shooting at  Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.orgOn Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The city of Barcelona has lived with an unprecedented housing crisis, and in its wake the city created a new kind of radical and successful political party. Former housing activist Ada Colou was elected as the city’s Mayor in 2015, and again in 2019. What led to her success? This story, a re-release of our very first episode back in 2017, shares the story and its lessons from the streets of Barcelona.For more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.orgOn Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatattsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jane McAlevey is a fierce advocate for winning social change through organising. Her organising method, grounded in decades of experience, mentorship and the battles of many movements across US history, is that workers and people need to lead their own change. She specialises in teaching how you can support people to do this. For unionists, her work is well known - and this episode is a joyous journey into how she came to this approach, and how that approach works. For others in the climate movement or racial justice movements - this is a useful introduction to what Jane means by organising, how it is different to mobilising and some of its crucial features. If you are interested in Jane’s work, she has published three books and a free online book of case studies that can all be downloaded here - https://janemcalevey.com/. You can find Jane on Twitter at @rsgexp. She also runs a global training program called Workers Rising - the most recent session is described here and future sessions will be advertised on

One of the biggest challenges facing any change maker is how to enlist help from the state, especially when it comes to the fight for economic justice. Australian Labor Party Member of Parliament, Daniel Mulino, has written about the history and future of the welfare state, and in his recent book Safety Net proposes new (and old) ways for imagining the welfare state as a vehicle for managing personal and social risk. This ChangeMaker Chat explores how Daniel’s personal experiences and his time in local, state and federal politics have helped shape his approach to renewing the welfare state. This conversation was recorded live at Gleebooks in Sydney, supported by Black Inc Press. You can follow Daniel Mulino @DanielMulinoMP. For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/  On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for

In too many wealthy countries - political leaders are choosing harsher and harsher policies when it comes to refugees. But there is one country that has decided to treat refugees with basic human decency. Uganda doesn’t lock up its refugees. Instead they live in settlements with freedom of movement, access to land and education. What can the rest of the world learn from Uganda?We recorded this story in 2017 with support from Australia for UNHCR. It continues to speak to a different approach to how we treat refugees around the globe.For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/  On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this ChangeMaker Chat the tables are turned and the person being interviewed is our host Amanda Tattersall. This is an interview previously recorded as part of the On Purpose Podcast, produced by the Muslim Womens’ Association. Interview host Feda Abdo canvases Amanda’s experience as an organiser, some of her research work on people power in cities around the world as well as her more personal experiences as someone living with bipolar. This is a powerful and at times raw account of what it takes to live the maxim, ‘in order to change the world you first must change yourself.’ Thanks to Feda Abdo for hosting this interview and to production team Bilal Abdelwahed (Video Production Lead) and Camelia Gusmardy (Videographer) at Imbuity (https://imbuity.com.au/). To listen to the other On Purpose podcasts visit - https://mwa.org.au/on-purpose-podcast/. For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/  On Twitter

Could there be a single lever in the global marketplace that could transform the stakes for climate change? Yes - the insurance industry. Over the past 5 years insurance has been turned upside down by a nimble network of climate campaigners that have set new rules to end insurance for fossil fuel projects. We are re-releasing this 2021 story of the Sunrise Project, the Insure our Future coalition, and the global and Australian distributed networks that have turned the world of insurance around.For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/  On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How on earth did all those community independents win seats in the May 2022 Election? This ChangeMaker Chat talks to Katerina Gaita the Field Organiser and Volunteer Coordinator for Zoe Daniel’s campaign in Goldstein. She unpacks the long march of the independents, starting with Cathy McGowan winning in Indi to the ‘Wave of Teal’ in 2022. As a community organiser and community builder she explains how she learnt to translate her skills as an activist to help her design a campaign that could win a majority of votes for climate and political integrity in a conservative electorate. In doing so she challenges us all to think about the place that elections can play in changemaking.For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/  On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While the world is striving to stop catastrophic climate change, there is plenty of conflict over how climate campaign goals are chosen and the language that is used to express them. A key fault line is between the Global North and Global South and whether campaigns about energy transition are imposed onto communities, or connected to solutions that create broader economic, social and cultural justice. Ruchira Talukdar, a climate activist in India and Australia has lived and studied these tensions. In this chat we explore what is going wrong, and how listening and embedding climate work in community empowerment - like we see in Indian anti-extractivist campaigns - could signal a way forward.For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/  On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lots of people say they co-design research and policy with communities, but how do you know when co-design is being done well (and when it isn’t)? We talk to one of the world’s leading autistic participatory researchers, Professor Liz Pellicano from University College London. She shares the elements of good co-design, such as the process of interdependence, the role of relationships and power in the co-design process, and the important place of lived experience researchers. You can follow Liz @liz_pellicano.For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/  On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we interview one of the world’s leading climate action warriors, Bill McKibben. Bill began as a writer, where his passion for the story and his love of nature drew him to write the first popular global book about climate change - The End of Nature. In the 2000s, dismayed at the lack of grassroots action to stop climate change he founded 350.org. Still fighting - his latest mission is to engage older people in climate action, a movement he has called the Third Act. We talk about it all in this wide-ranging conversation about life, politics, and what it means to live and fight when literally the fate of the world is in our hands.To find out more about Bill’s latest book - The Flag, the Cross and the Station Wagon (an imprint of Henry Holt Books), go here. You can follow Bill on Twitter @billmckibben.For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/  On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnyst

Australian party politics can seriously lack diversity. This conversation is about how that can be changed. Osmond Chiu has been pushing to increase cultural diversity in the Australian Labor Party for a while.Today he shares some of the triumphs, tribulations, and lessons about how change is possible - including some reflections on the highs and lows of the 2022 Australian Election. Osmond is a rank and file representative on the NSW Labor State Policy Forum and a Research Fellow at the Per Capita think tank.You can find him on Twitter at @redrabbleroz.For more on ChangeMakers check us out: Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/  On Twitter - @changemakers99 or @amandatatts See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.