WOMADelaide - The Planet Talks

The Magic of Mushrooms: A mycelial path to saving the planet - WOMADelaide 2019

SPEAKERS: Gavin McIntyre, Brian Pickles, Alison Pouliot and Mike Hornblow

HOST: Robyn Williams

Fungi preceded trees and animals on the Earth by hundreds of millions of years, and they’ll be cleaning humanity’s mess long after we’re gone. But can the humble ‘shroom help us save the planet right now? Bioneer Gavin McIntyre from ground breaking New York biofabrication company Ecovative Design, mycologists Brian Pickles and Alison Pouliot, and interdisciplinary designer Mike Hornblow are certain they can.

Fungi are saving the planet daily by energy cycling ecosystems, decomposing organic matter and feeding plants and animals. Now, scientists are also harnessing their mycelium – the root structure of mushrooms – to save the planet. They’re growing incredible sustainable materials to replace the use of wood, foam, bricks, leather, and plastics. They’ve even discovered fungi that eat plastic, clean up petrochemicals, absorb radiation, filter wastewater and treat a range of illnesses and immune-mediated conditions! Here’s to a fungi future.

The Party Room podcast: Live! - WOMADelaide 2019

SPEAKERS: Fran Kelly, Patricia Karvelas, Senator Penny Wong and Minister Simon Birmingham.

Radio National’s brilliant politics podcast The Party Room comes out of the studio and into the Park for the first time. Join two of Australia’s most respected journalist broadcasters, Fran Kelly and Patricia Karvelas, plus special guests Senator Wong and Minister Birmingham as they analyse and interpret the latest issues from Canberra affecting our world.

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.

Is Plastic Pollution as Great a Threat to Humanity as Climate Change? - WOMADelaide 2018

Speakers: Vaughan Levitzke, Vivian Sim, and Anne Sharp

Host: Deb Tribe

An estimated five trillion plastic items - mostly less than five millimetres in size - are currently circulating the surface of the world's oceans and scientists cite microplastics (particles less than 5mm) entering our food chain as a potential toxic ticking time bomb. Let that sink in for a minute... ('scuse the pun).

Three experts in waste, microplastic contamination research and consumer behaviour, Vaughan Levitzke, Vivian Sim, and Anne Sharp sit down with the ABCs Deb Tribe to discuss the scale of the world's addiction to plastic and the possible solutions.

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.