4. Universities and climate

The New Social Contract

After a savage summer of devastating fires, universities, society and even some Australian states have recognised that the country needs a social and economic framework dedicated to the conditions of habitability - so how might the imperatives of climate change remake the social contract for universities in the 21st century?

COVID-19 has not only shown that public goods are the key to well being and health, but it has revealed that the consent of populations and their willingness to participate in collective action is just as crucial to effecting transformation as is expertise.

What does that mean for universities and their purpose in the 21st century?

What new set of obligations and expectations will students face?

And what should we be asking of our institutions as we confront the implications of climate?

These are the questions the sector should be asking as we face lengthening months and possibly years in which the world of higher education in Australia, and the lives of all those who rely on it, is likely to grow more precarious rather than less.

Special thanks to The New Social Contract guests:

Professor Mark Howden, Director of the Climate Change Institute at the Australian National University

&

Associate Professor Lauren Rickards, co-leader of the Climate Change and Resilience research program of the Centre for Urban Research

For show notes and transcript visit: https://www.uts.edu.au/partners-and-community/initiatives/impact-studios/projects/new-social-contract-podcast

News and audio grabs used in the podcast feature the voices of:

Abc journalists Hamish Mc Donald on ABC News in the news item: Flames rip through towns, fears death toll will rise as bushfires rage on’ ABC News

Abc journalist Karina Carvalho on ABC News in news item: Flames rip through towns, fears death toll will rise as bushfires rage on’ ABC News

Journalist Eddy Michah Jnr from DW News in the news item: ‘East Africa braces for severe tropical storms’ URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkXx7MzJaxs

Former US President Barack Obama, giving a speech at the. 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. News source from Euronews.

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCWKy9zN90A)

ABC Journalist Sarah Dingle on RN Breakfast in the news item: ‘Scientists believe Earth is now in the Anthropocene era’ from the 8 January 2016.

(URL: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/scientists-believe-earth-is-now-in-the/7075730)

You also heard the voice of the Mayor Carol Sparks from of Glen Innes, on ABC The World Today in the news item:’Climate change debate refuelled amid bushfire crisis’.

URL: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/worldtoday/climate-change-debate-refuelled-amid-bushfire-crisis/11692184

Journalist Eric Sorensen reporting for the Global News, in a news item titled: ‘Growing evidence Australia's wildfires connected to climate change’

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU-ye4J2-eA

Sir David Attenborough on ITV News in the newsitem:Sir David Attenborough calls for 'urgent' climate change action’ in 2018.

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbZEYz1oGQ0).

Greta Thunberg, as reported by the Guardian, from her speech at the 2019 UN climate action summit in New York.

URL:https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2019/sep/23/greta-thunberg-to-world-leaders-how-dare-you-you-have-stolen-my-dreams-and-my-childhood-video

The actuality of thousands of students chanting at the climate protest across Australia from November 2018, as reported by the Guardian, Australia

URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKlBXltX2I0

And finally, at the start of the podcast you heard the rumblings of the Ilulissat Glacier. It was subject to the largest carving event ever recorded. It took place on May 28, 2008 while Adam Le Winter and Jeff Orlowski were filming the glacier in Western Greenland for the award winning documentary film Chasing Ice.

URL: https://chasingice.com/