The Sustainable Hour

12/12/2025

In the past two years, with surprisingly little notice, renewable energy has suddenly become the obvious, mainstream, cost-efficient choice around the world. Solar power is now growing faster than any power source in history, and it is closely followed by wind power—which is really another form of energy from the sun, since it is differential heating of the earth that produces the wind that turns the turbines. Globally, roughly a third more power is being generated from the sun this spring than last. If this exponential rate of growth can continue, we will soon live in a very different world.

“There is a chance for a deep reordering of the earth’s power systems, in every sense of the word ‘power,’ offering a plausible check to not only the climate crisis but to autocracy,” Bill McKibben writes. “Instead of relying on scattered deposits of fossil fuel—the control of which has largely defined geopolitics for more than a century—we are moving rapidly toward a reliance on diffuse but ubiquitous sources of supply. The sun and the wind are available everywhere, and they complement each other well; when sunlight diminishes in the northern latitudes at the approach of winter, the winds pick up. This energy is impossible to hoard and difficult to fight wars over. If you’re interested in abundance, the sun beams tens of thousands of times more energy at the earth than we currently need.” Read about how solar power could transform the world: https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/m6H30U

12/12/2025

https://www.facebook.com/100064319514635/posts/1303337495153555/

11/12/2025

→ Listen: https://climatesafety.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/sustainablehour575_128kbps_10dec2025.mp3
→ Notes: https://climatesafety.info/thesustainablehour575

A YEAR IN SONG – The soundtrack of The Sustainable Hour 2025

In Episode 575, we mark an extraordinary milestone. Throughout 2025, The Sustainable Hour has quietly evolved a second voice – a musical one. Week after week, inspired by the insights, emotions and stories shared by our guests, we have turned conversations into songs. 51 of them so far, with number 52 arriving next week – one for every Sustainable Hour of the year.

Mik Aidt introduces this new creative chapter: how songs became a new way of communicating the grief, the joy, the openings and the possibilities within the climate story. Music, he says, reaches where graphs and facts cannot – offering a way to breathe, to feel, and to stay connected to the heart of the work.

These tracks are now released on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music under the artist name ‘The Force of Life Collective‘. They are, in Mik’s words, “a musical diary of 2025” and an echo of the hundreds of voices featured on the show.

Colin Mockett’s Global Outlook

Colin brings news from around the world, beginning with reflections from Brazil’s environment minister Marina Silva on the weak outcomes of COP30 and the urgent need to act before catastrophe strikes:

• Silva highlights the absurdity of rapid global mobilisation for crises like COVID-19, financial collapse and war – while climate and nature continue to receive only fragments of attention.
• Deadly flooding across South and Southeast Asia has claimed more than 1,250 lives, with many still missing.
• Africa’s rainforests have shifted from storing carbon to emitting it, underscoring the gravity of the global ecological breakdown.

Yet positive signals are emerging:

• The UK announces an end to all new oil and gas exploration.
• France’s public broadcaster joins Covering Climate Now to strengthen truth in climate reporting.
• San Francisco’s driverless EV fleet shows dramatic safety improvements, offering a public-health argument for autonomous transport.
• And finally, good news from the pitch: Forest Green Rovers’ men’s and women’s teams are both sitting in second place.

Our Top Ten songs of the year

This episode is dedicated to the music created throughout 2025. Each co-host selected three favourites, bringing the shortlist to ten tracks. They emerge from the stories and themes that shaped this year:

• Consequence Time – inspired by climate activist and poet George Woods.
• New Relations – calling for wider networks and solidarity – a common theme all year
• What Makes Us Happy – drawn from Andy Greg’s reflections on giving and community.
• Symphony of the Shift – inspired by Michael Haupt’s perspective on civilisational change.
• The Periphery – based on Kasper Bjørkskov’s idea that change begins at the edges.
• Return Again – born from Margie Abbott’s Earth Day speech in Eastern Park.
• Learn to Listen – shaped during NAIDOC Week in conversation with Yaraan Bundle.
• EV Smile – a light-hearted celebration of electric mobility and Colin’s great-granddaughter Evie.
• Let the Plants Move In – echoing Peter Andrews’ insights into land, water and ancient wisdom.
• Stand Up – the top-scoring song of the year, calling for courage, truth-telling and ignition of change – another common theme referred to over and over all year.

We end with the track Time to Wake Up, carrying us toward the final episode of 2025.

All 51 current songs can be found at www.climatesafety.info/music and on streaming platforms under ‘The Force of Life Collective’.

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/3drFruLreNaMgUuwtJNyKH?si=wwN0dahaRbmsfVxgvkYfMw

Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-force-of-life-collective/1857810796

Amazon Music:
https://music.amazon.com/artists/B0G4PVDLX7/the-force-of-life-collective
. .

“Working with these songs has become like an opening to a whole new world of communication where sometimes difficult topics, sometimes really joyful topics were blended with a different way of communicating. You know, we can talk about climate statistics and you can look at a graph, but a song, a song has a potential to reach and speak to us in places where the words and the graphs and the numbers really can’t touch us.”
~ Mik Aidt, in explaining the difference having the music on our show has made for him
. .

→ Subscribe to The Sustainable Hour podcast via Apple Podcasts or Spotify

11/12/2025

While some commentators will blame anything and everything on renewable energy, new data illustrates how it is helping to push down electricity prices.

07/12/2025

Ads to be removed from Adelaide Metro buses after advertising regulator rules they breach its environmental claims code

07/12/2025

This was unimaginable just a few years ago - 15GW of solar reaching financial close in one go!

That's over a third of Australia’s current total solar capacity of ~41GW, almost the entire solar capacity of Vietnam, and 75% of the UK's - in one go, and it is in a country full of fossil fuels, Saudi Arabia:

https://renewablesnow.com/news/acwa-power-reaches-financial-close-on-15-gw-of-saudi-renewables-1285825/

07/12/2025

AGL Energy has abandoned its offshore wind-powered electricity generation project in Victoria’s Gippsland region, dealing a significant blow to the state’s renewable energy transition plans.

No thanks from UVA

07/12/2025

“Man, despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments, still owes his existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” – Paul Harvey (1978)

🌱🪱

07/12/2025

With just two refineries left and 80 per cent of liquid fuel being imported, experts are warning Australia is increasingly vulnerable to global supply shocks.

07/12/2025

07/12/2025

More renewables will bring prices down, a slower transition will send them up, the AEMC says in a blunt reminder for those still keen sweating coal and going harder on gas.