WOMADelaide - The Planet Talks

Can Trees Talk, Think and Heal? - WOMADelaide 2019

SPEAKERS: Brian Pickles, Monica Gagliano and Alex Gaut

HOST: Robyn Williams

Join pioneering scientists Brian Pickles and Monica Gagliano alongside Nature Connection guide, Alex Gaut as they discuss the fascinating world of tree communication, plant cognition and the healing powers of forest bathing. Gagliano’s bio acoustics research in plant cognition and Pickles’ work revealing a mycelium communication network dubbed “the Wood Wide Web” has exposed an incredible hidden world where plants and trees share, trade, care for family, display altruism, wage war, and even think!

And the connection between trees and humans and is just as fascinating. Originally established with Japanese government support because of its measurable health benefits, tree bathing has become widely popular in Japan, Europe and the US as a mind-tree-body therapy.

Tim Flannery Keynote with Robyn Williams - WOMADelaide 2018

Internationally celebrated environmentalist, scientist, explorer, writer and 2007 Australian of the Year, Professor Tim Flannery will open the Planet Talks with a keynote address and conversation about our sustainable relationship with the planet joined by the father of Australian science broadcasting, the legendary Robyn Williams.

Currently Professorial Fellow at the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute and chief councillor of the Australian Climate Council, Australia’s largest and most successful crowd funded organisation, Tim Flannery has published over 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers and named 25 living and 50 fossil mammal species. His 33 books include his latest publication is ‘Sunlight and Seaweed’ and the award winning “The Future Eaters” and “The Weather Makers”, which has been translated into over 20 languages. He has made numerous documentaries and regularly reviews for the New York Review of Books.

Climate Justice & the Human Face of Climate Change - WOMADelaide 2018

Speakers: Kathy Jetnil Kijiner, Ursula Rakova, Julian Burnside, and Tim Costello

Host: Ben Doherty

While the world’s richest countries talk about climate change, many of the poorest nations are experiencing its devastating effects right now. Climate justice activists, Ursula Rakova (Carteret Islands) and Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner (Marshall Islands) are the human face of climate change. Their homelands are the first nations of people being forcibly displaced due to manmade global warming. Ursula Rakova and Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner are joined by Julian Burnside and Tim Costello to explore our responsibilities and the human face of climate change.

Techtopia LIVE - WOMADelaide 2018

Speakers: Genevieve Bell, Kristin Alford and Toby Walsh

Host: Bernie Hobbs

Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Machines represent the most significant social and organizational challenges since human civilisation emerged 5000 years ago. How humanity engages with these technologies today is the key to ensuring that the future development of these tools benefit both society and the environment.

Joining Bernie Hobbs for a live discussion exploring the ramifications of technologies set to disrupt our sustainable relationship with the planet will be three of Australia's brightest minds - cultural anthropologist and former Adelaide thinker in residence Genevieve Bell, futurist and Director of .MOD, Kristin Alford and one of the world’s leading scientists researching Artificial Intelligence, Toby Walsh.

The Wonder of Birds - WOMADelaide 2018

Our Most Vital Connection to Nature & What They Tell Us About the Planet & Ourselves

Speakers: Jim Robbins and Sonia Kleindorfer

Host: Robyn Williams

Our human relationship to birds is like no other creature on earth. These wondrous and miraculous animals captivate, inform and enrich all life on the planet in extraordinary ways.

New York Times writer and author of "The Wonder of Birds" Jim Robbins and professor of animal behaviour at Flinders Uni Sonia Kleindorfer, will come together for a fascinating conversation about the wonder of birds - our most vital connection to nature and what they tell us about the planet and ourselves.

Wardrobe Crisis LIVE - WOMADelaide 2018

Speakers: Clare Press, Gab Murphy and Megan O’Malley

Vogue Australia's Sustainability Editor-at-Large, respected fashion journalist and author Clare Press brings her popular "slow fashion" podcast Wardrobe Crisis to a live recording at the Planet Talks! The WARDRODE CRISIS Podcast decodes the fashion system and digs deep to explore fashion’s effects on people and planet. Sitting down with Clare are intrepid documentary makers Gab Murphy and Megan O’Malley of "Walk Sew Good" to investigate the impact of our modern fashion consumption habits. These two intrepid explorers walked 3500km across South East Asia to find and document positive stories they hope will change the way people see, value and talk about fashion.

Peter Greste in Conversation with Ben Doherty - WOMADelaide 2018

Speaker: Peter Greste

Host: Ben Doherty

Peter Greste is an award winning foreign correspondent who worked for Reuters, the BBC and Al Jazeera around the world, including London, Belgrade, Africa, South America and Afghanistan. Most recently however, he has become best known for his campaign for press freedom after enduring 400 days in a Cairo prison on charges of terrorism and producing fake news to undermine Egyptian national security.

Peter will be joined in a conversation about press freedom and its importance for the future of democracy by three time Walkley Award-winning journalist Ben Doherty from the Guardian.

What's god got to do with it? - WOMADelaide 2017

Speakers: Prof Mohamad Abdalla | Rabbi Jonathan Keren-Black | Philippa Rowland

Host: Father Bob Maguire

The Pope’s game changing encyclical—Laudato Si – stressed environmental stewardship and climate change action is consistent with Christian spiritual life. But the Green Faith movement is not just a Christian thing. It’s a central pillar of all major religions.

This interfaith panel led by Australia’s favourite Catholic, Father Bob Maguire, will discuss how and why Christian, Muslim, Buddhist and Jewish faiths have made climate change and environmental responsibility a major part of contemporary religious life and practice.

Valuing Indigenous Knowledge and Language - WOMADelaide 2017

Speakers: Lewis Yerloburka O'Brien | Veronica Perrurle Dobson | Fiona Walsh | Zaachariaha Fielding

Host: Miriam Corowa

40,000 years of Indigenous Australians have maintained a sustainable relationship with every corner of Australia’s diverse environment via a deep listening tradition that preserves language, heritage and culture. In this panel respected Indigenous Elders, an Ethno-Ecologist and a young Indigenous rising star who sings in his country’s language will talk about this knowledge and how the future of Australian environmental conservation is linked to preserving and sustaining our indigenous cultures, heritage and languages.

Redefining Resources and the Right To Repair - WOMADelaide 2017

Speakers: Kyle Wiens | Veena Sahajwalla | Nicholas Chileshe

Host: Robyn Williams

We’re running out of resources but according to this panel, we’re going to be ok. Can we compete with the convenience of the garbage dump and the latest iPhone? Are tech companies taking away our right to extend the life of products? Is a waste-free economy possible? iFixit founder Kyle Wiens, UNSW’s Scientia Professor of Materials Science, Veena Sahajwalla and UniSA’s reverse logistics expert Nicholas Chileshe know a thing or two about delaying entropy, so let’s ask them.