Libsyn Directory

[166] Oliver Smuhar, Author of ‘FireWorks’

Release Date: 06/22/2021

[178] Sustainable Home Design with Janine Strachan

Eco Chat with Laura Trotta Podcast

For most of us, our homes are the biggest investment we’ll make in our lifetime. Decisions we make in the home design process impact not only the durability and longevity of our home but also our home’s sustainability and cost to run. In this Eco Chat episode I’m joined again by Janine Strachan. Janine explains what sustainable home design is and why it’s important. She also describes the main elements of sustainable home design and how they impact the sustainability of a home. If you’re in the process of designing or building a home and would like it to be as sustainable and...

[177] Benefits of Tiny Living with Janine Strachan from Tiny House Solutions

Eco Chat with Laura Trotta Podcast

Tiny Houses are a low impact solution to both the housing crisis and high environmental impact of housing. According to the Australian Tiny House Association, Tiny Houses are moveable dwellings up to 50m2 that are suitable for residential use and can be largely grouped into three categories: on wheels, on skids or shipping containers. In this episode, Janine Strachan, Founder of Tiny House Solutions, President of the Australian Tiny House Association (ATHA) and host of ‘Tips from the Tiny House Guru’ podcast shares what’s driving the growth in the Tiny House Movement, advantages and...

[176] School Strike 4 Climate with Lola Stravoskoufis – Eco Chat with Laura Trotta

Eco Chat with Laura Trotta Podcast

Lola is a Year 9 student from Exeter in the Southern Highlands region of NSW. She marched as a Year 6 student in the large student climate strikes in 2019 and subsequently joined the School Strike 4 Climate movement. She now leads the School Strike 4 Climate group in her regional town and is actively meeting with her local candidates for the upcoming Federal election to ensure the voice of youth is heard loud and clear. In this episode my son Matthew will interview Lola, uncovering the information he needs to include in his school assignment on someone who is using their voice for good, but...

[175] Ethical Everyday Banking with Beyond Bank Sustainability Manager Kate Carrol

Eco Chat with Laura Trotta Podcast

We all need a bank to help us manage our money. But what if “who” we banked with made a difference? What if your everyday banking was yet another avenue to create a better future for humanity? What if your everyday banking could create a better global environment in the future? What if your bank poured its profits into social and environmental initiatives in the community it operated, rather than paying returns to shareholders? WHO you bank with CAN make a difference. A big one! In this Eco Chat episode I’m joined by Sustainability Manager of Beyond Bank, Kate Carroll. Beyond Bank...

[174] Discover Ethical Superannuation with Verve Super Co-founder Christina Hobbs

Eco Chat with Laura Trotta Podcast

Superannuation is incredibly important to ensure you’re comfortable financially in retirement. But what if superannuation had another purpose? What if superannuation was an avenue for you to create a better future for humanity? What if superannuation was an avenue for you to create a better global environment in the future? What if could easily divest your superannuation investments away from fossil fuels, guns or gambling and instead invest in renewables, micro-finance for women-run businesses and social housing? Well you can! In this Eco Chat episode I’m joined by co-founder and CEO of...

[173] Discover Ethical Investing with Life Sherpa’s Christopher Zinn – Eco Chat with Laura Trotta

Eco Chat with Laura Trotta Podcast

Whether it’s eating organically grown food, avoiding fast fashion or divesting your financial investments from fossil fuels, tobacco or companies with a track record of modern slavery, conscious consumers and investors have long voted with their money and changed the world in the process. Investing your money can be complex at the best of times. Investing your money ethically can be even more complicated, with social washing* and greenwashing* rife. In this Eco Chat episode I’m joined by Christopher Zinn. Christopher is a personal finance expert and consumer campaigner at Life Sherpa. He...

[172] How to Reduce Food Waste at Christmas

Eco Chat with Laura Trotta Podcast

The most wonderful time of the year is also the most wasteful, but that needn’t be the case! In this episode I share five ways you can reduce your food waste this Christmas so the season is lighter on your wallet, waistline and our precious planet.

[171] Engineering Solutions to Climate Change

Eco Chat with Laura Trotta Podcast

If you’ve been feeling down about the state of the global environment, particularly after COP26 in Glasgow, this episode is for you. I’m sharing a presentation I delivered to around 200 doctors last month at the Doctors for the Environment iDEA 2021 conference. I was invited by Dr Kate Wylie to share a message of innovation and progress so conference attendees could leave the conference with a feeling of hope. I hope the presentation has a similar impact on you too.

[170] How Climate Risk is Impacting Home Insurance (and Valuation) Costs

Eco Chat with Laura Trotta Podcast

Climate change risk is impacting the valuation and insurance cost of Australian residential properties and is expected to become more important as time marches on, and the impacts of climate change become more visible.

[169] How Home Battery Storage Systems Work

Eco Chat with Laura Trotta Podcast

If you’re looking to reduce your household carbon emissions, you really can’t go past installing a home solar photovoltaic system with battery storage. But with so many dealers and installers out there, and with such a high investment cost, where do you even start?

More Episodes

Oliver is an award-winning author, is studying Communications’ Journalism at University of Technology, Sydney and lives in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales Australia, an area ravaged by the horrendous 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires.

Shocked and traumatised by the destruction he witnessed during the fires, and deeply concerned about the impact on wildlife, Oliver threw himself into writing an adventure novel to raise funds for environmental projects.

The result is FireWorks and the Fireworks Fund.

FireWorks is an adventure story about a koala named Iluka who explains how he and his friends survived the 2019-20 bushfires. All proceeds from the sale of FireWorks go to the Fireworks Fund to support environmental charities.

In this episode Oliver shares why he created FireWorks, what it’s like being a young adult in 2021 (spoiler alert – it doesn’t sound like much fun being overeducated and socially distanced!) and what advice he has for other young adults who are wanting to do something bigger to help the environment.

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