How To Save Our Planet

We all know the planet is in trouble. So why does so much of what we hear about it make us want to look away? Fear, guilt, doom, jargon: the way we talk about sustainability might be doing as much harm as good.Sarah Bassett has spent years doing the opposite. As a sustainability communicator and content creator, she has built an audience by making the planet feel like something you can actually do something about, in a way that is warm, human and refreshingly free of shame.In this episode, inspired by a talk called "The Words That Make People Care About the Planet", Lottie sits down with Sarah to talk about the craft of climate communication: the language that makes people lean in versus switch off, why guilt is such a poor motivator, and how any of us can bring the people around us along without the eye-rolls. It is a conversation about words, but really it is about how we get more people to care, and to act.If you’re looking for more ways to save money while living sustainably, my book “365+ Ways to Save the Planet and Your Money at the Same Time” is available now — http://bit.ly/48Fs4CEIf you enjoyed this conversation, please hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode, and leave a quick rating or review — it really helps more people find the show.Thanks for tuning in, and I’ll catch you next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most of us feel completely powerless when it comes to climate change. We recycle, we buy better, we sign petitions - and then we watch the news and wonder if any of it matters.Eezu Tan had the same feeling. Then in April 2022, she invited four friends over to her house in Sydney and they did something old-fashioned and a little radical: they wrote letters to their politicians. That small living-room gathering became Climate Writers - a monthly community that has now sent over 400 personalised letters to policymakers, held meetings with MPs including the Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister, and helped shift the needle on real policy issues.In this episode, Lottie Dalziel sits down with Eezu to talk about why writing to your MP is one of the most underrated and effective forms of climate action available to ordinary Australians, how Climate Writers makes it feel easy and even fun, and what Eezu witnessed at COP30 in Brazil that renewed her hope - and her urgency.This is the episode for anyone who wants to do more but doesn't know where to start.Find ouf more about Climate Writers here.If you’re looking for more ways to save money while living sustainably, my book “365+ Ways to Save the Planet and Your Money at the Same Time” is available now — http://bit.ly/48Fs4CEIf you enjoyed this conversation, please hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode, and leave a quick rating or review — it really helps more people find the show.Thanks for tuning in, and I’ll catch you next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most of us care deeply about climate change. But between the doom-scrolling, the overwhelm, and the sense that nothing we do will make a dent, it's easy to end up doing... nothing.Tegan Lerm has dedicated her career to solving exactly that problem. As co-founder and CEO of Project Planet, the not-for-profit that's become Australia's go-to guide for turning climate anxiety into real action – she's helped hundreds of thousands of Australians find their place in the solution.In this episode, Lottie sits down with Tegan to talk about why individual action still matters even when the system is broken, how to have climate conversations that actually land (without alienating the people you love), and how Build a Ballot, Project Planet's game-changing voting tool, is helping Australians connect their values to their vote. Because as Tegan will tell you, your vote isn't just a personal choice. It's a collective one.Find out more here.If you’re looking for more ways to save money while living sustainably, my book “365+ Ways to Save the Planet and Your Money at the Same Time” is available now — http://bit.ly/48Fs4CEIf you enjoyed this conversation, please hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode, and leave a quick rating or review — it really helps more people find the show.Thanks for tuning in, and I’ll catch you next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most Australians care about plastic pollution. But caring and acting are two very different things and the gap between them is exactly where the real problem lives.In this episode, Lottie sits down with Sophia from the Ministry of the Future to talk about why awareness alone isn't enough, and what it actually takes to make plastic action feel normal, relevant, and achievable for everyday people. Through their Plastics: Unsealed campaign, Sophia and her team are taking a refreshingly different approach: instead of leading with guilt or doom, they're connecting plastic pollution to the things Australians already care about — their health, their household budgets, and the daily choices that quietly add up.They get into the hidden costs of plastic that most of us never see, why 85% of Australians being concerned about plastic hasn't yet translated into real behaviour change, and what it looks like when the narrative around plastics actually shifts from something overwhelming to something you can genuinely do something about.This one is for every listener who cares but sometimes wonders if any of it matters. Spoiler: it does.If you’re looking for more ways to save money while living sustainably, my book “365+ Ways to Save the Planet and Your Money at the Same Time” is available now — http://bit.ly/48Fs4CEIf you enjoyed this conversation, please hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode, and leave a quick rating or review — it really helps more people find the show.Thanks for tuning in, and I’ll catch you next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kal Glanznig grew up surfing the beaches of Cronulla, and like most of us, he assumed Australia had dodged the worst of the global plastic crisis. Then he joined a clean-up in East Arnhem Land and everything changed.In a two-week clean-up in October 2022, Dhimurru Rangers in partnership with Sea Shepherd collected 10.4 tonnes of rubbish from just 4.5 kilometres of shoreline. That was 30% more waste than was collected over the same distance in 2018. For Kal, it was a shattering moment and the beginning of an 18-month journey across Australia that became The Plastic Country.In this episode, Lottie sits down with Kal to talk about what he found: plastic infiltrating remote First Nations beaches, turtles at Taronga Zoo on their deathbed with stomachs full of plastic, and a plastic pollution problem that Australia is almost uniquely positioned to ignore because we'd rather not look. They talk about the science, the politics, the personal stakes, and crucially the stories of hope and ordinary Australians already fighting back.This is a conversation about what it means to grow up in a plastic country. And what it means to do something about it anyway.Follow Kal's Journey on Instagram @kalglanznig, find out how to Take Action here and watch the full documentary here.If you’re looking for more ways to save money while living sustainably, my book “365+ Ways to Save the Planet and Your Money at the Same Time” is available now — http://bit.ly/48Fs4CEIf you enjoyed this conversation, please hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode, and leave a quick rating or review — it really helps more people find the show.Thanks for tuning in, and I’ll catch you next time! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.