The first two episodes of an exciting new climate podcast, produced by Barkers Creek’s own Kyla Brettle, launched yesterday – Earth Day 2024.
Often when talking about climate, the tone is bleak and the outlook dire, but Kyla’s positivity and passion for a better way to live shines throughout Everything we need – a beautifully crafted six-episode series with sounds and music by local composer/musician Rob Law. The podcast is full of positive and uplifting stories about people making changes in rural Victoria.
“The whole climate debate has moved on from ‘is it happening?’ to ‘it’s here and now’ and we’ve got to adapt to it,” Kyla said.
“It is scary. Here we are clutching our keep cups, worried about feeling dis-empowered, feeling there is nothing we can do except vote and move our super funds.
“But I’ve realised, through making the series and the other work that I’ve done telling climate stories, that it’s really about embracing change and finding a better way to live.
“It’s bringing us closer to other people, connecting us to Country and then starting to feel less tension in yourself. You realise it’s actually a better way to live, one that that is happier and healthier.
“The whole climate issue is not just about whether you’ve got your solar panels, it’s about every part of your lives. It’s a real mindset change, where you embrace being part of the living world,” she said.
Kyla, who has been making radio since 2001 and has worked at ABC Radio National and as a lecturer in radio and TV at RMIT, said each episode of Everything we need was a dive into how communities in regional Victoria were tackling climate impacts head on. It explores ways to work together and ways to adapt that are specific to where we live.
Each episode explores the work already being done around the regions – from Mildura, where a co-op is helping to ensure basic food and water security for local people, to Maldon, where a community organisation is helping skeptical residents get ready for extreme weather events.
Across the way in Maryborough, an individual is stepping up in their workplace to show young people who they can trust in a system that’s letting them down.
Kyla explores a volunteer initiative that is reducing harmful greenhouse emissions and regenerating damaged soils in Castlemaine, before heading up to Bendigo to talk to a group that is tackling climate injustice by inviting everyone to the table, celebrating differences and forging deeper social connections. And in the final episode, Kyla talks to a First Nations mob who are sharing ancient, time-tested knowledge about how to survive adversity and be a custodian of Country.
“First Nations people have survived many different climate changes and they’ve got resources and knowledge,” Kyla said.
“Before any of this can be shared, the relationship has to be healed. That’s a really important, core part of the problem.
“I think making a change needs a whole of community push,” she said.
“It’s about stepping up as an individual, as a citizen, rather than a consumer who sits back and says impress me, sell it to me or I’m not going to bother.
“We can’t just pass the buck. If we’re expecting governments to start thinking about de-growth then we need to think about de-growth ourselves.
“No one’s off the hook, this is a multi-level problem, over multiple tiers of society, and we need a holistic approach, one where we all put in.”
To listen to the first two episodes visit www.sbs.com.au/audio/podcast/everything-we-need or download the SBS audio app. The other episodes will drop every Monday over the next four weeks.
