Local Environment Heroes: Recent Episodes
Canberra Environment Centre
Local Environment Heroes brings you a series of chats with some amazing local heroes from Canberra and further afield who are doing ACE things for our world.
This podcast is produced and supported by the Canberra Environment Centre, including hosts Julie Boulton, Ryan Lungu and Fiona Veikkanen.
Julie (left) and Fiona (right) pumped for a New Season of the podcast. Photo: Zoe McMahon
Fiona and Julie are back with Season 3 of Local Environmental Heroes. This series is all about food - who is growing and cooking it, who is teaching about food and who is helping to distribute it and make the system fairer for all.
In this opening episode, Fiona and Julie discuss all of the amazing guests they have interviewed for this series and reflect on what they have learnt - namely that everyone and everything is just so connected!
As they talk about in this headline episode, the series won’t cover ALL the problems but it WILL shine a spotlight on some incredible humans that are working within their sphere of influence to contribute to a better, more equitable, food system for all Canberrans. Anyone who does this is a hero.
Julie (left) Lucy (centre) and Fiona (right) pumped after recording this episode on fair food
Lucy Ridge is a Canberra based food writer and qualified chef with a passion for food sovereignty and sustainability. She is currently finishing her first book which documents her year of internships all over Australia in the food industry.
Julie and Fiona have a fascinating chat with Lucy about food sovereignty and learn about how eating seasonally is connected with knowing the growers and improving people’s cooking skills. Lucy references The Food Co-op and Southern Harvest in this episode- they’re awesome!
Lucy: “I think people are really disconnected to where their food comes from. You know, people don't really understand seasonality. Um, they don't understand, um, you know, why things are cheaper at certain times of year and, and why things are better at certain times of year.”
“Food sovereignty asserts the rights of people to nourishing and culturally appropriate food. Produced and distributed in ecologically sound and ethical ways and their right to collectively determine their own food and agricultural systems…essentially food sovereignty is about asserting that people should be able to choose where their food comes from, how it's produced and how it gets to them. And all of those things should be done in ways that are good for the environment, that are good for the community and put the needs of people and the planet over profit.”
Philippa Lawrence surrounded by thousands of plants grown by a dedicated team of volunteers ready for the school’s annual plant sale. Photo: Julie Boulton
Philippa is the Garden Specialist with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program at Majura Primary School. She is a trained horticulturist and supports students to grow, eat and enjoy fresh food.
Fiona and Julie recorded this episode on site and were lucky enough to be taken on a tour of the garden and meet the chickens! This conversation was an amazing opportunity to hear (and see) firsthand how the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program supports young people to grow, value and enjoy fresh food (and to create their own compost).
Philippa: “I love the process of getting a seed or choosing a seed. Planting it, watching it grow, planting it in the garden, taking care of it and then harvesting it. And I wanted to really impart that process on students so that they realise that it's not like some impossible thing to do.”
Philippa and Fiona in the Kitchen Garden at Majura Primary School. Photo: Julie Boulton
Julie (left) and Fiona (right) pumped for a New Season of the podcast. Photo: Zoe McMahon
Fiona and Julie are back with Season 3 of Local Environmental Heroes. This series is all about food - who is growing and cooking it, who is teaching about food and who is helping to distribute it and make the system fairer for all.
In this opening episode, Fiona and Julie discuss all of the amazing guests they have interviewed for this series and reflect on what they have learnt - namely that everyone and everything is just so connected!
As they talk about in this headline episode, the series won’t cover ALL the problems but it WILL shine a spotlight on some incredible humans that are working within their sphere of influence to contribute to a better, more equitable, food system for all Canberrans. Anyone who does this is a hero.
Julie (left) Lucy (centre) and Fiona (right) pumped after recording this episode on fair food
Lucy Ridge is a Canberra based food writer and qualified chef with a passion for food sovereignty and sustainability. She is currently finishing her first book which documents her year of internships all over Australia in the food industry.
Julie and Fiona have a fascinating chat with Lucy about food sovereignty and learn about how eating seasonally is connected with knowing the growers and improving people’s cooking skills. Lucy references The Food Co-op and Southern Harvest in this episode- they’re awesome!
Lucy: “I think people are really disconnected to where their food comes from. You know, people don't really understand seasonality. Um, they don't understand, um, you know, why things are cheaper at certain times of year and, and why things are better at certain times of year.”
“Food sovereignty asserts the rights of people to nourishing and culturally appropriate food. Produced and distributed in ecologically sound and ethical ways and their right to collectively determine their own food and agricultural systems…essentially food sovereignty is about asserting that people should be able to choose where their food comes from, how it's produced and how it gets to them. And all of those things should be done in ways that are good for the environment, that are good for the community and put the needs of people and the planet over profit.”
Andy de Groot!
Andy De Groot is a chef and the founder of Queer Food, a sustainable catering company and food retailer run by Trans and Queer People. Andy has an incredibly strong belief in the power of community inclusion and he works to celebrate and honour queer histories and stories through food.
Andy chats to Fiona and Julie about the power of using food to tell stories and foster community connection. He generously shares his insights on how he balances a commitment to sustainability with a need to regenerate himself.
“I think that even if people reach out to one local producer and change one thing that they're buying with, it's like getting bulk milk from somewhere or going and getting your fresh produce box from a local supplier. This can add up to make a big difference in the long run.”
Amy Blaine. Photo: Julie Boulton
Amy Blaine is a co-founder and volunteer for the Ainslie Community Pantry. She’s passionate about meeting the needs of the local community through building social networks that share and distribute food, seeing food as an integral part of our social fabric.
In this episode, Fiona and Julie are blown away by Amy’s endless enthusiasm for the work she does. Listen to Amy talk about increased demand for the services of the street pantries and the incredible volunteers who are working with her to deliver a service that really shows how to build a community and care for each other.
“Anyone can go along and drop food and drop off donations and anyone can go and access food. So it's a nonjudgmental space.”
“I'm motivated by going. ‘People shouldn't be hungry’. And if everyone's focused on, let's have no one being hungry. It would shift the mentality of food waste.”
Fiona, Julie and Amy with recording set up, Canberra Environment Centre Office, Gungaderra Homestead.
Fiona and Aaron outside Gungaderra Homestead. Photo: Julie Boulton
Aaron Chatfield is the owner operator of Dreamtime Connections a business he has built to share Indigenous Culture and native foods with the community especially schools. Aaron’s vision is for every school to have a bush tucker garden.
Fiona and Julie chat to Aaron about the role of native plants within the local foodscape, and here all about his incredible education initiative in local school connecting students with native foods.
“Telling the kids that, yeah, these are native plants from around Canberra that have been used by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. It's important that we don't just start going out Bush and start ripping them out and start using them for whatever. Instead, how about we look at creating gardens at school or at home where they can become an educational space where we can learn about these plants and then learn how to better protect them out in the Bush.”
Aaron Chatfield
Josie Grenfell- cofounder Food2Soil
Josie’s primary role is co-CEO & co-founder of Food2Soil, an innovative circular economy business that makes biologically alive fertiliser from fermented commercial food and coffee waste, transforming waste destined for landfill into soil gold.
Fiona chats to Josie about her journey as a dietician, her passion to reduce waste and how her life experiences have contributed to the formation of her business. They also talk soil health -how crucial nourishing soil is to producing healthy plants, and healthy people.
Sam, Sophie and Fiona at Gollion. Photo: Julie Boulton
Sam Vincent is a regenerative farmer and writer, living at Gollion, his family’s property in the Yass Valley, north of Canberra. His most recent (award winning) book, “My Father and other animals. How I Took on the Family Farm”, is a must read.
Julie and Fiona managed to sneak in a quick visit to Sam’s farm for this recording. This meant they met the magical fig tree which you will hear Sam speak about so fondly in this episode.
“One unexpected part of farming that I really love is when I arrive at restaurants with my produce when they're closed and just talking to them about what I've grown. When I open the door and I have these freshly picked figs and I'm talking to a chef or even someone in the kitchen who's just started working there and I can see the excitement, it makes me feel really good. I have actually hosted a lot of the chefs that I sell to here, they really want to see how I grow the food - and I really love that, that kind of connection.”
Sam and Fiona in the new orchard. Photo: Julie Boulton
In the Orchard. Photo: Julie Boulton
Sam with the Magical Black Genoa Fig Tree. Photo: Julie Boulton
Fiona and Sam with cup of tea in hand in the orchard. Photo: Julie Boulton
Naomi Lacey
Naomi is a permaculturalist passionate about promoting healthy food systems, sustainable lifestyles and cultivating community. She helped to establish the first community garden in the satellite city of Palmerston near Darwin and from there became involved with Community Gardens Australia (CGA) in 2015, taking on the role of President in 2019.
Naomi believes that community gardens have a pivotal role to play in ensuring better health outcomes for Australians, building community, addressing the climate crisis, reducing waste and educating people.
She has even completed a Churchill Fellowship on the topic!
Be inspired by listening to Naomi talk about how community gardens future proof our food systems and why more support for urban localised systems is so critical.
“A lot of people do really rely on their community gardens to put that extra bit of food on the table for their families to share with friends and so on. But probably the main thing that people get - and we get this in our survey every year - and the main reason why people participate in community gardening is for the community aspect. The food's a bonus.”
Laurence Kain- Capital Brewing
Laurence is a co-founder and Managing Director of Capital Brewing Co, one of Australia's fastest growing beer brands.
Capital Brewing recently obtained B Corp certification and in this interview Laurence talks to us about why he sees it as important and how the process has influenced Capital Brewing’s decisions around its supply chain.
We particularly loved Laurence’s view on water management and on the need for incentives to be in place so that businesses do the right thing.
“I guess what drives me is delivering a really cool experience to people, which is, [what] I think we do at the tap room…and being able to offer like a slightly more environmentally responsible choice to people: if they are choosing to consume beer then they can choose to consume a locally produced beer.”
~~~~~
Unfortunately, there was a glitch with CEC’s recording equipment and the interview with Laurence has not cut it sound wise! But, we have provided you with a transcript of the amazing chat we had with Laurence and we think it is well worth a read.
Fiona
All right. Here we are in the Canberra Environment Centre with Laurence Kain, the founder of Capital Brewing. I'm Fiona and it's great to have you [here] Laurence.
Laurence
Thanks for having me.
Julie
We've been wanting to have you on for ages, like a couple of series ago when we were talking about people doing amazing different things like brewing beer. It's done in lots of places and there's lots of microbreweries and there's lots of really, really big brewing brewers [but] we wanted to talk to you because we know that Capital Brewing is trying to do things differently [and] we're really keen to hear about what it is that you're doing differently when it comes to beer.
Laurence
Firstly, we've got an industry in Canberra that didn't exist here. You don't even seven years ago. We [now] employ about 75 people. I come from a background of having gone to a Steiner school [and] I’ve been really interested in permaculture. I've done the permaculture design course and set up my home [related to those principles] to grow food. And…I guess that kind of cast a different lens when [it came] to producing beer. When you see a resource going down the drain, which is a really easy place for it to go, you think, well, what else could we do with that resource? That led us to [bring in] the compost farms…and we made a…deal with them where they take all of our grain for free. It's a valuable stock feed…still full of fiber and protein for their…organic cattle…So they're running about 10 tons of grain a week. Maybe six tons of compost material a week. That's huge. And…that's just an example of like one thing. Try and just take a different lens of looking at. How do we solve…environmental or ethical responsibility challenges in a bit of a lateral way….We haven't solved all of the challenges but that was a really cool one that I thought worked well…because it involved working with another entity on a fairly large commercial scale. [It requires] some different equipment and facilities to handle the waste and different processes in the brewery. But…we're diverting six to seven tonnes a week of liquid waste from sewage treatment that [would otherwise] end up in the Molongo River to an organic compost that gets sold to organic market gardens or to household gardens. I think that's actually one of the coolest things that we've done.
The other thing that we're [done is to get] B Corp certification….[This is] ESG certification. It looks at…people, planet and purpose….
- People: it looks at…[if] you're paying out or above award wage or you, [have] job descriptions, contracts, safety management systems [and] are…treating people fairly.
- Planet looks at your environmental management practices.
- Purpose looks at your supply chain and choices within that supply chain.
…One of the coolest things that came out of the [process] that I'm most into…is… our supply chain.
There's a lot of agriculture in [brewing]…Essentially [beer has] four ingredients: water, malt, hops and yeast and nothing else…So you've got those four things to work with…what we learned through the B-Corp was that there's a massive difference between traditionally farmed input…and regeneratively farmed...so what we’re working out now is changing [to regenerative farming inputs].
Julie
Just talk to us a little bit more about what regenerative farmed malt is…at its core. What is it about?
Laurence
Well…at its core…it's looking after the land…it might be sewing crops into the land between your crops…it's like a less of a monocultural focus [and] more of a focus on fixing nutrients back into the soil…our supply chain team are really engrossed with [regenerative farming]…It's pretty local [too]…
Julie
And so you learned this going through the B Corp process?
Laurence
Yeah, as part of the B Corp process,,,we had an environmental management plan and Dan Waters, who was [working with us and is an] absolute legend…he was really integral in getting the B Corp certification. [He was very] passionate about it…cans are another issue…[do you put beer] in a can or glass bottles? Sometimes…you could just look at the [issue in terms of] glass versus aluminium and not think about all of those extra things…like how you ship it, the wait, how long it lasts - all of those considerations form part of a really detailed life cycle assessment [and] you actually need to consider all of these factors…So when people say, well, just become sustainable, it’s…[about the whole system that sits around that.
Julie
What about the role of water in production?
Laurence
The role of water is huge…part of the Environmental Management Plan that Dan put together…was setting a target on water reduction per litre of finished beer…Taking it back a step, the first step in improvement is measurement…and then the second step is setting a target, a strategy and a plan for reducing it. So we have got the target and we have been reducing it…through a number of different measures…We're constantly finding new things every day on how we can improve…The biggest thing that we could do right now is to install an automated cleaning scheme…to recapture the rinse water and reduce the [use of ]caustic…we have [had] to pull the brakes on it because…we've seen insane rising costs [due to] a reduction in consumer spending.
Julie
How do you manage that trade off? Coming from the Canberra Environment Centre we’re Environment First but what about people first? How do you reconcile the two?
Laurence
We've got a pretty simple way of reconciling that…we've got a decision-making matrix in the business that stems from our board of directors all the way through to the field: …safety, quality, service, environment, commercial. And…you make decisions in that order…Safety always has to come first in a manufacturing plant that's a pretty high risk environment and then quality, which is pretty critical. Service [is where] the people…fit in. In both quality and service, because if you're not nailing the people's side of it…the rest can stuff up…so…in a commercial operation like ours, environmental factors are a consideration, but they're not everything… it's like just balancing all of those things.
Julie
That's interesting that money is last.
Laurence
Yeah. But if you take care of all the other things first then money will flow.
Julie
Yeah. I love that. Love that.
Laurence
If you just focus on money…safety will suffer, quality will suffer…but if all of those things are focused on…you're [more likely] trying to get the best commercial outcome along the way. Going back to your question. It's also like if you're making a commercial decision to buy some equipment, it's going to improve your environmental performance. But you might be also having a redundancy conversation in three weeks time…It's [a] terrible thing to have to do that…we've had to do it twice in the last three years…and it's the worst part of running a business. But it would be even worse if you had been throwing money into equipment and then…a person is then out the door because you …put in cash in the wrong spot…I guess the point I'm trying to make [is that]… we've had to make some sacrifices to our environmental performance. In this weird economy… costs have gone crazy.
Fiona
Something we've been thinking a lot about is food priorities and how tricky it is…[is it about] the packaging or the food miles or the environmental impact? And so it's really cool to hear about that people priority…when you're making those decisions and [using] that decision making matrix.
Laurence
The ethics of environmental responsibility.
Julie
So talk to us about your role, how you see Capital Brewing fitting within the whole Canberra food system. What is Capital Brewing doing or playing a role in the way the whole system is working?
Laurence
That's an interesting question…One other way to look at it is how we're managing the food system within our own environment…We get probably 8,000 people through there a week or thereabouts on a busy day [for Broad Burger]. [That’s] a couple of thousand burgers. There's a reasonable amount of kitchen waste…and a reasonable amount of waste that comes off the floor. And so we've…engaged Goterra [about] four years ago [to] come and pick up all of the food waste. The thing to say about that is [that] it's not free. [Putting] it in a landfill [would be] way cheaper…so you've got to have the appetite [for it] and it requires all of us doing the right thing…it requires all of us turning the dial two degrees in the right direction every day. That's just something that we choose to do. Hopefully other businesses choose to do it as well, but it’d be awesome if the government incentivized this…if you had that incentive in place, it would force everyone and then it becomes an even playing field…part of it comes down to incentivizing and, maybe more than incentivizing, forcing everyone to take part. Getting everyone on board and saying, actually, this is what needs to happen because we know this is better.
Julie
I was really intrigued again with your Molongo comment - that it would have been totally fine for you just to let the water go down the drain and out into the Molongo.
Laurence
We still put a lot of waste down the drain…everyone does…but we're trying to reduce…the ratio…Some of that waste is actually beneficial to the treatment plant because it provides sugars for the microbes to consume.
Julie
I read an article recently about how you're working with Batlow. Can you talk to us a little bit about that? Because there are local apples.
Laurence
Batlow apples [are] I think the oldest apple growing region in Australia, a couple of hours up the road in the mountains. Batlow cider was started by some friends about 10 years ago…[But they were facing] difficult economic times and consumer spending going down. We've got a team of staff and we needed to sustain our business and [so we were] looking at different ways of putting more volume into our manufacturing facility. And we got chatting with the Batlow guys and they were like, actually, wait, we'd be interested in selling the business…We liked that because our sales team can sell [the cider] alongside our beer products and non-alcoholic beer products - our production team can make it in our facility…we're massively reducing the supply chain…from a tanker to a winery then to a packaging plant….now it is one tank, it comes to Capital, gets fermented and…it gets blended together, packaged and distributed from that. It's just wild how much, right, we've knocked down…the [other] thing that I like about this is we've got a much bigger sales team than Batlow [and we can put it] into our supply channels in the East Coast…and sell a lot more cider…I want to get to the point where we produce more cider than the shed has waste apples…[stopping]…having to pay farmers to take the waste apples away…I was worried about bringing it into our production plant cause our team are professional brewers, they're all really passionate about brewing…but I've actually been really stoked about learning this new…process…we've had to get a bit of new lab equipment and…upskilling and learning.
Julie
What's driving you to think about and make all of these changes and improvements.
Laurence
That's an interesting question….I got into this industry sideways through hospitality…I started in hospitality when I was 16 and I just really love the social element that our taproom and our product helps facilitate…I guess what drives me is delivering a really cool experience to people, which is, [what] I think we do at the tap room…and being able to offer like a slightly more environmentally responsible choice to people: if they are choosing to consume beer then they can choose to consume a locally produced beer.
I'm also…very commercially motivated. Like, you know, I want to do well out of this, and I’ve taken a lot of risks into doing this so you've got to balance those things. I'm studying an MBA. I'm commercially minded. And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that…the world needs more commercially motivated people.
Julie
Well, in fact, some people would argue that being commercially motivated and doing good for the planet and that's, what's going to drive the biggest change.
Laurence
That's exactly what has to happen. I guess getting back to what we were discussing before, which is like the incentivization to use…I was discussing with my wife the other night what is the solution to the bigger problem? And the only way it can work is incentivization…There's a lot of food businesses in the ACT [but] there's no disincentive or incentive to manage that food waste more responsibly than throwing it in a landfill right now…But if you look at it from my perspective, by engaging GOTERRA, I'm just putting an attacks on our business…I didn't have to do that…What needs to happen is the carrot and the stick on those important issues…I'm doing it because I care about it. And not that many people care enough about it to pay for it.
Julie
Or they care about it, but they care about it to a point.
Laurence
Exactly. Yeah. And it's not that difficult to implement into your business…I can engage GOTERRA and deal with my food waste ethically...or I can pay a penalty for dumping…either way you've got paid for it. And you just build it into your price, and it might be a 2% uplift in price and your food waste is dealt with responsibly. It doesn't seem that hard to me.
Julie
Two questions in one or maybe two different questions. Do you use this as a selling point for people, for consumers who are coming to buy your beer? Are you saying, look, you want to drink happy then drink this and/or do you find consumers are choosing to drink your beer because they know about the environmental impact or are you just going, we're going to do it anyway and we'll educate consumers along the way as to why we're doing this?
Laurence
Yeah. So that's a really interesting question because it's very, very hard to measure. And I think that there's a real intention action gap at the supermarket shelf. People [want] to buy more environmentally but ultimately what wins? Price. And then…advertising and [product] recognition…I even find when I go to a supermarket I'm influenced by that…promoting it as an environmentally friendly product and people actually buying it because of that - I'm not convinced that we get a lot of uplift because of it [but we] might get a little bit. Then there’s how much do they [consumers] know and how much do they need to know? Because really brands should just be making the change. [But] you get other things from B Corp certification: you attract a higher calibre of staff because they know that there's a certain level of corporate governance in place…You might retain people because they're passionate about working on some of those projects alongside their regular job.
Fiona
Laurence, we've got three final questions…and the first one is who are your environmental heroes?
Laurence
Well…that's a good question. Probably, my Uncle is one of them down at Kabaka. He's really involved in the community [and] community food…and he got me interested in food, I guess, in little ways. And I've drunk the Kool-Aid from Patagonia [and its founder] Yvon Chouinard…I’m…really into what he's done and I guess some of his business philosophy. I'm trying to dissect how much is a marketing truth.
Looking to 2030, what's the change that you want to see in Canberra? If you could just pick one change that you think would put Canberra on an awesome path by 2030. What would it be?
Laurence
I think like more people using bikes…it’s…such a flat city, so easy to ride around…you can ride to…the brewery not much longer than it takes to drive. So incentivize bikes [and have] less cars on the road. The light rail [is] awesome. My wife, daughter and I [took light rail] to a new Ramen [restaurant] in Gungahlin…we're sitting there in the window and [the] light rail [is] coming in every 10 minutes and it's just packed. Every single train that came in was packed…I think the more mass transit the better.
Fiona
And finally, do you have a favourite quote or mantra or any kind of key message you'd like to leave our listeners with?
Laurence
There's no beer on a dead planet. I borrowed that one from Bermagui...where I saw a sticker No jobs on a dead planet. I was like, that's pretty good…It stuck with me.
Julie
That's awesome. All right. Well, thank you so much, Laurence. It's been such a pleasure to hear all about what's been going on.
Laurence
Awesome.
Naomi Lacey
Naomi is a permaculturalist passionate about promoting healthy food systems, sustainable lifestyles and cultivating community. She helped to establish the first community garden in the satellite city of Palmerston near Darwin and from there became involved with Community Gardens Australia (CGA) in 2015, taking on the role of President in 2019.
Naomi believes that community gardens have a pivotal role to play in ensuring better health outcomes for Australians, building community, addressing the climate crisis, reducing waste and educating people.
She has even completed a Churchill Fellowship on the topic!
Be inspired by listening to Naomi talk about how community gardens future proof our food systems and why more support for urban localised systems is so critical.
“A lot of people do really rely on their community gardens to put that extra bit of food on the table for their families to share with friends and so on. But probably the main thing that people get - and we get this in our survey every year - and the main reason why people participate in community gardening is for the community aspect. The food's a bonus.”
Sam, Sophie and Fiona at Gollion. Photo: Julie Boulton
Sam Vincent is a regenerative farmer and writer, living at Gollion, his family’s property in the Yass Valley, north of Canberra. His most recent (award winning) book, “My Father and other animals. How I Took on the Family Farm”, is a must read.
Julie and Fiona managed to sneak in a quick visit to Sam’s farm for this recording. This meant they met the magical fig tree which you will hear Sam speak about so fondly in this episode.
“One unexpected part of farming that I really love is when I arrive at restaurants with my produce when they're closed and just talking to them about what I've grown. When I open the door and I have these freshly picked figs and I'm talking to a chef or even someone in the kitchen who's just started working there and I can see the excitement, it makes me feel really good. I have actually hosted a lot of the chefs that I sell to here, they really want to see how I grow the food - and I really love that, that kind of connection.”
Sam and Fiona in the new orchard. Photo: Julie Boulton
In the Orchard. Photo: Julie Boulton
Sam with the Magical Black Genoa Fig Tree. Photo: Julie Boulton
Fiona and Sam with cup of tea in hand in the orchard. Photo: Julie Boulton
Josie Grenfell- cofounder Food2Soil
Josie’s primary role is co-CEO & co-founder of Food2Soil, an innovative circular economy business that makes biologically alive fertiliser from fermented commercial food and coffee waste, transforming waste destined for landfill into soil gold.
Fiona chats to Josie about her journey as a dietician, her passion to reduce waste and how her life experiences have contributed to the formation of her business. They also talk soil health -how crucial nourishing soil is to producing healthy plants, and healthy people.
Fiona and Aaron outside Gungaderra Homestead. Photo: Julie Boulton
Aaron Chatfield is the owner operator of Dreamtime Connections a business he has built to share Indigenous Culture and native foods with the community especially schools. Aaron’s vision is for every school to have a bush tucker garden.
Fiona and Julie chat to Aaron about the role of native plants within the local foodscape, and here all about his incredible education initiative in local school connecting students with native foods.
“Telling the kids that, yeah, these are native plants from around Canberra that have been used by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. It's important that we don't just start going out Bush and start ripping them out and start using them for whatever. Instead, how about we look at creating gardens at school or at home where they can become an educational space where we can learn about these plants and then learn how to better protect them out in the Bush.”
Aaron Chatfield
Amy Blaine. Photo: Julie Boulton
Amy Blaine is a co-founder and volunteer for the Ainslie Community Pantry. She’s passionate about meeting the needs of the local community through building social networks that share and distribute food, seeing food as an integral part of our social fabric.
In this episode, Fiona and Julie are blown away by Amy’s endless enthusiasm for the work she does. Listen to Amy talk about increased demand for the services of the street pantries and the incredible volunteers who are working with her to deliver a service that really shows how to build a community and care for each other.
“Anyone can go along and drop food and drop off donations and anyone can go and access food. So it's a nonjudgmental space.”
“I'm motivated by going. ‘People shouldn't be hungry’. And if everyone's focused on, let's have no one being hungry. It would shift the mentality of food waste.”
Fiona, Julie and Amy with recording set up, Canberra Environment Centre Office, Gungaderra Homestead.
Andy de Groot!
Andy De Groot is a chef and the founder of Queer Food, a sustainable catering company and food retailer run by Trans and Queer People. Andy has an incredibly strong belief in the power of community inclusion and he works to celebrate and honour queer histories and stories through food.
Andy chats to Fiona and Julie about the power of using food to tell stories and foster community connection. He generously shares his insights on how he balances a commitment to sustainability with a need to regenerate himself.
“I think that even if people reach out to one local producer and change one thing that they're buying with, it's like getting bulk milk from somewhere or going and getting your fresh produce box from a local supplier. This can add up to make a big difference in the long run.”
Philippa Lawrence surrounded by thousands of plants grown by a dedicated team of volunteers ready for the school’s annual plant sale. Photo: Julie Boulton
Philippa is the Garden Specialist with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program at Majura Primary School. She is a trained horticulturist and supports students to grow, eat and enjoy fresh food.
Fiona and Julie recorded this episode on site and were lucky enough to be taken on a tour of the garden and meet the chickens! This conversation was an amazing opportunity to hear (and see) firsthand how the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program supports young people to grow, value and enjoy fresh food (and to create their own compost).
Philippa: “I love the process of getting a seed or choosing a seed. Planting it, watching it grow, planting it in the garden, taking care of it and then harvesting it. And I wanted to really impart that process on students so that they realise that it's not like some impossible thing to do.”
Philippa and Fiona in the Kitchen Garden at Majura Primary School. Photo: Julie Boulton
Julie (left) Lucy (centre) and Fiona (right) pumped after recording this episode on fair food
Lucy Ridge is a Canberra based food writer and qualified chef with a passion for food sovereignty and sustainability. She is currently finishing her first book which documents her year of internships all over Australia in the food industry.
Julie and Fiona have a fascinating chat with Lucy about food sovereignty and learn about how eating seasonally is connected with knowing the growers and improving people’s cooking skills. Lucy references The Food Co-op and Southern Harvest in this episode- they’re awesome!
Lucy: “I think people are really disconnected to where their food comes from. You know, people don't really understand seasonality. Um, they don't understand, um, you know, why things are cheaper at certain times of year and, and why things are better at certain times of year.”
“Food sovereignty asserts the rights of people to nourishing and culturally appropriate food. Produced and distributed in ecologically sound and ethical ways and their right to collectively determine their own food and agricultural systems…essentially food sovereignty is about asserting that people should be able to choose where their food comes from, how it's produced and how it gets to them. And all of those things should be done in ways that are good for the environment, that are good for the community and put the needs of people and the planet over profit.”
Julie (left) and Fiona (right) pumped for a New Season of the podcast. Photo: Zoe McMahon
Fiona and Julie are back with Season 3 of Local Environmental Heroes. This series is all about food - who is growing and cooking it, who is teaching about food and who is helping to distribute it and make the system fairer for all.
In this opening episode, Fiona and Julie discuss all of the amazing guests they have interviewed for this series and reflect on what they have learnt - namely that everyone and everything is just so connected!
As they talk about in this headline episode, the series won’t cover ALL the problems but it WILL shine a spotlight on some incredible humans that are working within their sphere of influence to contribute to a better, more equitable, food system for all Canberrans. Anyone who does this is a hero.
After a career in film, theatre, television and radio, Gabby Millgate has put all those communication skills to work in Early Childhood Education. She is now the Nature Pedagogy lead educator at Woden Valley Early Learning Centre, the first role of its kind in the ACT.
Julie and Fiona chat to Gabby about the role of nature (and chickens!) within’ learning environments, and hear from Gabby about why our children’s environments should be more than plastic entertainment and containment complexes. (Series Final)
Gabby with one of her beloved silkie chickens at Woden Valley Early Learning Centre
Find out more about Gabby and her nature based programs Here.
Zoe and Fred are young farmers at Majura Valley Farm. With the support of their families, they practise regenerative farming techniques with impressive yields. Fred and Zoe are local food advocates, both with farming and art backgrounds, together they create, grow and nurture sustainable farming practices in Canberra and beyond.
Fiona chats with Fred and Zoe about what regenerative farming actually is, and how we can support local farmers. She hears all about what’s growing a stone's throw from Canberra’s city centre.
Fred and Zoe at Majura Valley Farm ***Photo: Abbey Halter***
Find out more about Majura Valley Farm On their website
A wiradyuri woman, Kate grew up in the creek behind the family home and still spends lots of time in streams, even if many of them are now storm water channels. She completed her PhD in Indigenous water sciences (decolonising streams: a confluence of Indigenous and western sciences) at the Fenner School of Environment & Sustainability. This research required extensive time in the local storm water system, trialling Indigenous science-based infrastructure. She is now incorporating Indigenous water knowledge and practices in her work- boldly decolonizing water management approaches, particularly in terms of streams.
Fiona and Julie ask Kate about modern day (dis)connection with where our water comes from and goes to- and what that means for our natural environment. A fascinating Indigenous perspective on Canberra’s waterways.
Read more about Kate Harriden in this great article.
Kate Flood AKA @Compostablekate is a compost coach based in NSW. Through social media and a new book, Kate shows people how to compost effectively in the comfort of their own home. Julie and Fiona talk dirty with Kate, chatting about why composting is such excellent climate action.
Kate’s new book The Compost Coach- highly recommend!
Dr Katherine Trebeck is a political economist, writer and advocate for economic system change. Katherine has Bachelor Degrees in Economics and in Politics (University of Melbourne) and holds a PhD in Political Science from the Australian National University.
Julie chats to Katherine in this episode asking about what a wellbeing economy is and why it matters.
Scotty Foster is a solar powered, radio broadcasting, organic growing, co-operative creating, earth and people-protecting worker from Canberra, Australia. Scotty is powering CoCanberra, creating a co-operative commonwealth, through community groups, and on Community Radio- 2XXFM98.3 with the ‘Behind the Lines’ show.
Julie and Fiona chat to Scotty about co-operatives, permaculture and society. Scotty reflects on the importance of getting organised and cultivating imagination as keys to finding some of the solutions for a better, fairer future.
Elle Lawless is the Executive Director of the Conservation Council, Elle has environmental and climate advocacy experience at both the local and national level. A diversity of experience including growing up in regional NSW has formed a deep passion for ecological justice which has seen Elle campaign on the frontlines and with not for profit organisations. Fiona and Julie chat to Elle about her experiences campaigning for the environment, her environment heroes and find out what her favourite animal is!
Ryan Mcgee is a Primary School Sustainability Teacher- inspiring her community to observe and respond to nature by living more sustainably.
Fiona and Julie chat to Ryan about her experience communicating practical sustainability behaviours throughout a school community and beyond. Ryan reflects on the role of gratitude and active hope in creating change in a challenging world.
Dr Bjorn Sturmberg is a Research Leader in the Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program, as well as the author of kids book Amy’s Balancing Act. Fiona and Julie ask Bjorn about renewable energy and find out about some of the challenges and possibilities for a sustainable future.
Weedy AKA David Trood is a prize-winning travel and commercial photographer who pushes the boundaries of visual storytelling. His passionate narrative of people and nature, shines through in his YouTube channel -The Weedy Garden. Julie and Fiona chat with David about his experience setting up an incredible permaculture inspired edible garden, and his movie documenting the process Down the Carrot Hole.
Diego Bonneto- “The Weedy One” grew up on a dairy farm in northern Italy when it was still common practice to collect the wild produce of the land. Now living in Australia, Diego is passionate about telling the story of plants and runs regular walks and workshops on plant identification, role modelling what valuing the commonly marginalised looks like in action. His recent book Eat Weeds, a Field Guide to Foraging is an excellent resource for those interested in learning more. Julie and Fiona chat with Diego about his experiences foraging, his book and ask him what is his favourite weed?
Canberra Environment Centre (CEC) welcomes you to a whole new season of the Local Environment Heroes Podcast with Julie Boulton and new host for Season 2 Fiona Veikkanen. With guest Dr Holly Trueman- insect scientist and Executive Director of CEC.
Julie and Ryan reflect on what they have learnt from the incredible people they have interviewed in season 1 of the podcast and discuss some exciting developments for season 2.
Dan Fitzpatrick owns and operates Megaflora, a boutique construction company based in Canberra. He focuses on the importance in the relationship between materials, the built form and our environment. Dan takes sustainability seriously and chats to Julie and Ryan about how best to design and build a sustainable home and why Australian singer John Williamson is an environmental hero.
Corey Tutt is a proud Kamilaroi man and the founder of Deadly Science, an organisation bringing science and technology to remote schools around Australia. Corey works to inspire Indigenous children to believe in themselves and understand their environment for the benefit of Australia and all its people. Corey sat down with Julie and Ryan to talk about his time spent working as a zookeeper and alpaca shearer, what inspired him to start Deadly Science and why we shouldn’t be in such a rush to fill the sky with satellites.
Kelli Donovan is a Canberra based sustainable fashion designer and the founder and CEO of Pure Pod. She designs ethical clothes and has a vision for a fashion industry that puts planet and people before profits. Kelli has done her time in mainstream fashion and has seen firsthand the devastating effects that fast fashion has on both the environment and the people making the clothes. Kelli sat down with Julie and Ryan to explain the ins and outs of ethical fashion, the difference between a fashion victim and a slow fashion enthusiast and her fashion centred environmental heroes.
Sarah Reid is the ACT representative of the Australian Conservation Foundation Council and the newly elected President of the Conservation Council ACT. Sarah is passionate about working with the local community to achieve the climate goals that will provide a better future for out children. Sarah sat down with Julie and Ryan to chat about climate conversations and the importance of community environment groups.
Hannah Moloney is a landscape designer, permaculture educator and bestselling author. Her enterprise ‘Good Life Permaculture’ and her recent book ‘The Good Life’ focus on education for a better world and radical hope in the face of a climate emergency. Hannah chatted online with Julie and Ryan about the intersection of gardening and activism, permaculture as a way of life and the joy of goats.
Olympia Yarger is the Founder and CEO of Goterra, an insect farm based in Canberra. Olympia started Goterra with a focus on insects as a sustainable livestock feed and soon realised that the amount of food waste required to keep the insects provided an opportunity for the business to transition into waste management. Olympia chatted online with Julie and Ryan during the Canberra lockdown (audio quality warning!) and talked to them about maggot farming, the problems with food waste, her environmental heroes and what insects actually taste like.
Siwan Lovett is the Director of the not-for-profit Australian River Restoration Centre, an organisation she established after undertaking a Winston Churchill Trust Fellowship in 2008. Siwan’s work focuses on research and science communication and developing future leaders. She has a PhD from the Australian National University in public policy, majoring in sociology and administration and is the founder of finterest, a website dedicated to telling stories about Australian freshwater fish. She sat down with Julie and Ryan to talk about radical hope, why more meetings should happen in kayaks and why we need to elevate feminine leadership traits in river management.
Rebecca Vassarotti is a member of parliament in the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly representing the ACT Greens. In 2020 she was appointed as the Minister for Environment and Heritage, Minister for Homelessness and Housing Services, and Minister for Sustainable Building and Construction.
Charles Massy gained a Bachelor of Science at ANU in 1976 before going farming for 35 years, developing the prominent Merino sheep stud ‘Severn Park’. Concern at ongoing land degradation and humanity’s sustainability challenge led him to return to ANU in 2009 to undertake a PhD in Human Ecology.
Charles has authored several books on the Australian sheep industry including ‘Breaking the Sheep’s Back’. His most recent book ‘Call of the Reed Warbler’ tells the story of a new and regenerative approach to agriculture and won the Scholarly Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 Educational Publishing Awards.
Julie and Ryan catch up for a virtual Sunday afternoon hang out and chat about what they have learnt from the Environmental Heroes so far.
Karissa Preuss is the CEO of ACT Landcare, the peak body for Landcare groups in the ACT. Karissa works with landholders wanting to manage their farm sustainably, community groups monitoring conservation efforts and stewardship groups improving ACT Government land. She sees her role as supporting volunteers to care for country and is a firm believer that if we look after country it will look after us.
Mia Swainson is passionate about leadership and waste reduction. She has worked in government, politics, international development and the non-profit sector and now runs her own boutique management consulting company. Mia is current Chair of the Canberra Environment Centre and of Zero Waste Revolution and her personal challenge to reduce the household waste of her family of five to almost nothing is proof that living a cleaner, greener and simpler life is within everyone’s reach.
Mia sat down with Julie and Ryan to talk zero waste, passionate leadership and how all of the world’s problems could be solved by inner peace.
Fiona Buining runs Ainslie Urban Farm where she grows microgreens in green houses in her backyard for local restaurants and cafes. Fiona’s property has over 50 fruit trees, nuts, berries, vegetables, two beehives, chickens and working rabbits. Working with teenagers as a teacher she has seen first-hand the physical and mental health benefits of learning to grow food. As a grower she has observed an unmet demand for locally grown fresh food.
Fionais passionate about growing and is inspired to create pathways for future food growers in urban areas. Fiona was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2020 to investigate urban farm ventures that provide vocational pathways for aspiring food growers. Fiona believes that growing good food is one of the most positive actions people can do for their own health and to heal the planet.
Brook Clinton is the founder and operator of Capital Scraps Composting, a not-for-profit social enterprise motivated by the direct climate benefit and wider social benefits of composting at the community scale. Brook has a PhD in biodegradation and most mornings she can be found riding around the suburbs of Canberra collecting household food scraps before stepping into her day job as the Executive Director of the community organisation SEE-Change.
Chris Dennis is the man behind Two Before Ten cafes. From humble beginnings in Aranda Shops to a network of cafes across the city, Chris has made an effort to make business decisions that are in line with the UN Sustainable Development goals. This has led to the purchasing of an industrial composting machine to deal with organic waste, a truly seasonal menu and a quarter acre urban farm providing fresh produce directly to the kitchen.
Edwina Robinson is the founder of The Climate Factory, a social enterprise that is empowering people to plant the planet. In 2020-21 Edwina created Canberra’s first urban community micro-forest which has transformed a dusty, weedy park in Downer into a dense pocket of native vegetation. There are now community funded micro-forests popping up all over Canberra and Edwina’s mission is to build a micro-forest in every urban hotspot in Australia.
Julie and Ryan sat down with Edwina to chat about her mission to cool the suburbs, the importance of working with community and why she will never live in a tiny house again!
Julie and Ryan chat with Dr Kate Ringvall about how circularity can assist in removing the word 'waste' from our vocabularies.
Dr Kate has been a leader in the sustainability field for more than 25 years. From her first job as a graduate in a recycling processing plant in Fremantle to becoming the Sustainability Lead for IKEA Australia, Kate has worked for all levels of government, large corporations and universities to implement and integrate sustainability principles and practices.
She holds a Master in Public Policy and a PhD in Planning and has most recently founded her own consultancy focusing exclusively on the circular economy. Dr Kate describes herself as a ‘solutionary’ who is driven to cultivate her multiple ‘creative, strategic, and systems thinking skills in order to address the underlying causes of entrenched and interconnected problems’.
Professor Mark Howden is Director of the Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions at the Australian National University. He is also Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and a member of the ACT Climate Change Council. He has been a major contributor to the IPCC since 1991 and shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with other IPCC participants and Al Gore.
Alongside this Mark is a keen gardener and jam maker who forages for wild plums and rides his bicycle to work. He sat down with Julie and Ryan at the Canberra Environment Centre to talk about his work, his heroes and the simple things we can do at home to lower our emissions while maintaining a positive outlook on life.
Dr. Robert Costanza is a professor of ecological economics and Vice Chancellor's Chair in Public Policy at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University.
Dr. Costanza's work focusses on breaking our societal addiction to growth, replacing GDP with a measure of wellbeing and integrating natural and social capital in our economic decision making.
He is co founder and past president of the International Society for Ecological Economics, and founding editor of the society's journal, 'Ecological Economic'. He currently serves on the editorial board of ten other international academic journals. He is also founding editor-in-chief of 'Solutions' a unique hybrid academic/popular journal and editor in chief of 'The Anthropocene Review', and an ambassador of the 'Wellbeing Economy Alliance'.
Centre Director Ryan Lungu and sustainability professional Julie Boulton have both some microphones and are on a mission to interview their local environmental heroes.
Get to know your hosts in episode 1 and watch this space for future interviews with Canberrans who are getting things done in the filed of sustainability.