Be present amongst each other
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The Sustainable Hour no. 530?| Transcript | Podcast notes
Our guests in The Sustainable Hour no. 530 on 27 November 2024 are: internationally renowned architect Kevin Kennon in New York and climate activist Joe Zammit in Newcastle.
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Kevin Kennon is an architect with over 40 years of experience, specialising in environmentally sustainable and innovative design, who explains to us how high rise office spaces are now being sustainably updated in New York.
Kevin has a deep understanding of architecture’s role in societal and environmental shifts. His expertise spans adaptive reuse, urban planning, and large-scale developments, with some of his projects featured in the permanent collection of MoMA in New York.
As the founder and CEO of Beyond Zero DDC Inc., Kevin leads the development of zero-carbon emission luxury eco-resorts in remote wilderness locations worldwide, merging design excellence with ecological responsibility.
Kevin’s extensive portfolio includes projects like the 1.5 million square foot Barclays North American Headquarters, the Rodin Museum in Seoul, and multiple award-winning Bloomingdale’s stores. Additionally, he led United Architects, a finalist in the prestigious World Trade Center design competition.
He has earned over 40 international design awards and is a sought-after thought leader, contributing to discussions on urban development, climate change, and sustainable architecture. His work extends beyond architecture: as an expert witness and lecturer at leading institutions like Yale and Columbia, he brings a multidisciplinary approach to his craft.
→ To follow Kevin’s work, go to: podfol.io/profile/kevin-kennon
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Joe Zammit is a climate activist based in Naarm (Melbourne). He is a member of Extinction Rebellion Westside. He is seriously concerned about the crisis and is determined to be part of the solution as he was also part of the 7,000 people who formed a caring community of climate activists in Rising Tide‘s Newcastle event for seven days, bringing three generations together to protect everything they value.
This is a climate-concerned community who just can’t accept that the world has to be the way it is today. In a time of climate breakdown, they have decided they can’t be bystanders and let the fossil fuel psychopaths destroy everything they value. In doing this, they modelled what the post carbon world could look like. Inspired by all this community spirit, hundreds of the participants took to the water in numbers unprecedented in our country to assert their democratic rights to protest the passage of coal out of the Newcastle port. This resulted in approximately 170 activists aged between 14 and 79 being arrested.
→ Here’s more information about Extinction Rebellion Australia.
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In the 530th episode of The Sustainable Hour, the hosts initially discuss the pressing climate crisis, the recent global climate meetings, including the G20 and COP29, highlighting the lack of consensus and urgent need for action.
The discussion then shifts to grassroots movements like Rising Tide, emphasising community engagement and the importance of political action in upcoming elections.
The remaining part of the program explores sustainable architecture, the future of cities, and the intersection of culture and architecture – the challenges faced, and innovative solutions being implemented. The hosts and their guests share a hopeful vision for the future with a message from 2050 that inspires continued efforts towards environmental sustainability.
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In the Geelong region, if you would like to meet like-minded people who are in this sort of spirit as Kevin has given us today, we are meeting on this Friday at the first, the inaugural Climate Café in Geelong at 3 o’clock in the afternoon in the centre of town.
And at the same place a week later at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, so: Friday in a week, there’s going to be a meeting of the Voices of Corangamite and Voices of Corio groups who are into politics and into seeing if they can create a movement of volunteers who supporting an independent candidate in our federal election, which is coming next year in maybe just three, four months from now.
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During the Hour, we listen to The Juice Media’s Honest Government Ad about the 2025 Election, and a video message from 2050 produced by a new initiative called WeTheHopeful.
We round off the Hour with Julian Lennon’s song ‘Change’, where he pleads with and offers direction, and a Linkedin video which was posted by Gilles Toussaint – about Rachel Carson and her 1962-book ‘Silent Spring’.
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“The idea of preserving what’s there instead of tearing down and building new all the time is something that I think is worth promoting. Cities have a lot of problems in terms of their impact on greenhouse gas emissions. If you count the cities in the world, New York has been one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse emissions.
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