Problem solved

In a healing landscape in central Victoria we wait hopefully for signs of change - hanging on the gritty hiss of a boardroom microphone to find out whether or not our council will declare a climate emergency.

Kyla’s notes

Last year I became really invested in whether or not my local council would declare a climate emergency. The vote happened shortly after a monumental petition signed by 400,000 Australians wanting the federal government to respond urgently to climate change - went nowhere. I withdrew my hopes like small change from national politics and I fell into worrying about what would happen to me and my little family as climate change worsens.

A declaration of a climate emergency is a bit of a weird thing to long for - or at least it seemed so before 2020, when normal didn’t include firestorms and pandemics. At the time I was awakening to the grim reality of our situation - reading long essays about tipping points and deep adaptation - weeping before youtube videos of floating fish and blazing rainforests - coming adrift over plastic waste in a supermarket isle. I wrote about this in my blog. Unable to withstand the tide, I made the inevitable shift from being concerned about climate change to being alarmed.

My man and I talked about moving to New Zealand - a relative crevice in the cliff facing the storm. For my part, I realised I didn’t want to leave this country - that in some way I had to stand by it. So my focus shifted to the local - a place where I felt I could have some kind of influence - and that took me to my first town meeting about the climate crisis.

The speeches at the start of this soundwork are from this Town Hall event - set up to share information about climate change in our shire and the most recent petition to declare a climate emergency. This is where the story started for me. In the photo taken at the event I’m sitting in the front row with the red shoes - a few seats down from fellow sound person and local creek dweller, Rob Law. We didn’t know one another then, but a few months later we started collaborating on this sound project.

Initially we thought this audio sequence would open the podcast series we intend to make out of the story site - but now we are not so sure.

Credits
co-Produced by Kyla Brettle and Rob Law
Sound Design by Kyla Brettle
Music by Rob Law

Featuring
Jodi Newcombe, Rob Law, Kyla Brettle
Town Hall Speakers: Warwick Smith, Harriet O’Shea Carre & Heather Cummins
Councillors: Bronwen Machin, Stephen Gardener, Dave Petrusma

Other Recording
Sound recording of Owlet Nightjars, courtesy of Listening Earth, Andrew Keogh
Town Hall Recording by Twofold Media
MAS Council Recordings on youtube

Licence
CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike)

Distribution
Jan 8, 2021 “End Game + Kyla Brettle | Reviewing "How to Talk About Climate Change in a Way That Makes a Difference" on Climactic with Mark Spencer on The Climactic Collective podcasting network

If you would like to share this show with your audience please get in touch via our contact form to request the audio file.

Links
Jodi Newcombe website
Central Victorian Climate Action Team
Mount Alexander Shire Council
Rob Law’s music
Twofold Media
Listening Earth

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