Episode 22

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Published on:

5th Sep 2018

Phil Wilkinson — "Reversing Global Warming with HVAC&R and Drawdown"

Phil is a leader in the HVAC&R (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Regfrigeration) industry, the largely invisible sector that powers our modern world. Without heating, cooling, and refrigeration, Australia would a very different place. But HVAC&R has done more than just allow progress, it also consumes a huge amount of electricity, and handles and is responsible for some of the most powerful greenhouse gases in the world.

Phil, in his work at the industry advocate AIRAH, is humanising the industry. He believes that in making the industry accessible and understandable, the people and firms that are taking strides in sustainability can be recognized and rewarded, and bad actors can begin to lose out. He's got a great personal story, from his year of University in France, learning mechanical engineering in a second language, to his trajectory and then long and stellar service with AIRAH.

But wait, there's more. Phil had the chance to interview Paul Hawken, editor of Drawdown, and we are thrilled to bring you a great bit of that interview. We'll share Paul's thoughts on Australia from his recent trip in early 2018, and what it means to really start using the Drawdown research to make an impact on emissions.

Credits:
Caleb Fidecaro — Producer
Rich Bowden — Co-Founder
Mark Spencer — Co-Founder
Abigail Hawkins — Designer
Greg Grassi — Composer

Special Guest: Phil Wilkinson.

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Links:

  • AIRAH — Safe, sustainable, healthy and effective environments
  • Drawdown by Paul Hawken — In the face of widespread fear and apathy, an international coalition of researchers, professionals, and scientists have come together to offer a set of realistic and bold solutions to climate change. One hundred techniques and practices are described here—some are well known; some you may have never heard of. They range from clean energy to educating girls in lower-income countries to land use practices that pull carbon out of the air. The solutions exist, are economically viable, and communities throughout the world are currently enacting them with skill and determination. If deployed collectively on a global scale over the next thirty years, they represent a credible path forward, not just to slow the earth’s warming but to reach drawdown, that point in time when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere peak and begin to decline.
  • Comfort, Cleanliness and Convenience by Elizabeth Shove — Over the past few generations, expectations of comfort, cleanliness and convenience have altered radically, but these dramatic changes have largely gone unnoticed. This intriguing book brings together the sociology of consumption and technology to investigate the evolution of these changes, as well the social meaning of the practices themselves. Homes, offices, domestic appliances and clothes play a crucial role in our lives, but not many of us question exactly how and why we perform so many daily rituals associated with them.
  • Drawdown Home
  • Paul Hawken — Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author. Starting at age 20, he dedicated his life to sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment.
  • Could you be an Enviro Champ? — Sustainable Port Phillip
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About the Podcast

Climactic
Here Media Studios
We live in Climactic times. Climactic tells the stories of the people making a difference in the face of climate crisis.

About your host

Profile picture for Mark Spencer

Mark Spencer

Hello!
I'm Mark, and I'm a podcast addict. I've turned my tens of thousands of misbegotten hours binging history, comedy, and everything in-between into being a keen collaborator on audio projects (climate, local stories, place-based audio especially).

I work with passionate people to turn their ideas into published projects, when I'm not working in the renewable energy space in Naarm/Melbourne.