The Togetherness Project

Today’s Topic – Plastics Waste, AI and Water

We were going to have an episode focusing on social things. How early childhood and supportive communities have a positive effect on life. That will be coming to you in a few weeks.

What happened last week?:

• The Federal Government abandoned plans to require improved packaging standards to reduce waste and promote recycling¹
• Data centre plan for the NT to use gas from Beetaloo basin rather than renewables²
• Former employee of Antrhopic, Jacob Coxon says I “earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade”.³
• Committee for Ballarat highlights the need for water infrastructure if the planned expansion to 200k people – and a resource recovery centre⁴

The Issue – What to do about Plastic Waste, AI and Water

So today we’re going to talk about why it is critically important that we remove fossil fuel usage as rapidly as it is possible to do so. We will also talk about the risks of AI

Packaging and recycling

Sally is an advocate for removal of plastics from our environment. Let’s hear from her…

The takeout from this is that we are using vast amounts of plastic packaging. Produce in plastic containers, wrapped in plastic and then put into plastic bags. Each piece of plastic embodies fossil fuels and adds to the mountains of plastic pollution.

The NT Data Centre

This hit the news last week as we discovered a deal done to use the newly commissioned Beetaloo Basin gas field to power (generate electricity) for a large data centre in the NT. Is this a good idea? Probably not.

• Cost, energy and water consumption
• Plans for more of the same
• Viable alternatives and plans to export energy to Asia
• Why do we want them anyway?

Can AI kill us?

A former employee of Anthropic Jacob Coxon has joined other researchers into AI to say that there is a realistic chance that AI could kill people and at the extreme end of the spectrum destroy humanity.

All of this is speculative, however the fact that AI has already “gone rogue” and hacked businesses when it was supposed to be contained and unable to interact with the real world, says that there is something in this report.

Water for Ballarat and Waste to Resource

The Committee for Ballarat has put out a 5 point outline for projects to invest in jobs, growth and livability in Ballarat and Western Victoria. It highlights the need for water infrastructure to support the growth that is pretty well locked in for Ballarat as it services a population of over 300k people in the West

There are three projects focused on economic growth and two on infrastructure that allows growth in population in a sustainable way. The two infrastructure ones are:

• Water infrastructure is essential to allow more housing to be built. Not to mention the impacts of a drying planet as we heat up to at least 1.8 degrees above pre-industrial levels

• Resource recovery is the gold standard of the Circular Economy. A growing population needs to handle waste and not by landfill. The argument is both cost and for recovering valuable resources

The Response

What can we do?

• Avoid plastic packaging whenever possible.
• Move away from Fossil fuels. Doing so means there is less production of plastics and therefore more sustainable products will be used for packaging
• Smart Living Ballarat has monthly sessions on how to avoid waste and tap into the Circular Economy
• See what you can do to get an EV, solar panels and similar.
• Opt out of casual AI for searching and using applications. If you dont need it then avoiding its use will save energy and reduce demand for data centres
• Read the proposal from the Committee for Ballarat for some ideas.
• Talk to your local member/council about the Circular Economy, sustainability and water conservation. It works when they know someone cares about these things

The final takeaway is that we know what we can do to make it better and we need a concerted effort to bring about change – TOGETHER

1. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/sep/12/labor-ditch-new-packaging-laws-breaking-promise-plastic-waste [↩]
2. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-22/beetaloo-digital-energy-ai-hyperscale-data-centre-40-billion/106943690 [↩]
3. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-09/anthropic-researcher-coxon-quits-over-human-threat/107134164 [↩]
4. State Election Advocacy – https://committeeforballarat.com/our-news/publications/ [↩]

The Togetherness Project

Today’s Topic – Climate Change

Lets look at some of the things that happened last week – Nepal and much more locally:

• ~2 cubic km of ice and rock going 4,000m downhill¹
• Why did it happen? Is it “normal”?²
• Denial again. One nation wants to abolish renewables in favour of coal and gas³
• VNI West. What it is supposed to do and why cancelling it is a bad idea ⁴

A focus on Climate Change

The Issue – Addressing runaway climate change is critically important

So today we’re going to talk about why it is critically important that we remove fossil fuel usage as rapidly as it is possible to do so.

The Issue

What happened in Nepal is now a frequent occurrence. It is also something that used to hardly ever happen, Sure, there were snow avalanches but not the whole side of a mountain breaking away like this. The cause was thawing of permafrost (frozen soil/rock that has remained so for decades and more) that triggered the collapse of a glacier and brought down vast quantities of rock with it. Permafrost is thawing at an unprecedented rate, mainly in the northern hemisphere where there is more land for it to form. Why?

It is all about the heating of the atmosphere, oceans and land. Heating that has now accelerated to a rate not seen for over 50 million years. Temperatures not seen for over 3 million years in the Late Pliocene when the earth was dry and sea levels 15-25 m higher than now. The temperatures then were 2.5-4 degrees above 1800/preindustrial levels.

What the geological record tells us is that the rate of change in temperature is higher than any time. Possibly with the exception of when an asteroid hit 66 million years ago and turned the earth into a fireball.

That means we are heading towards a possible to likely scenario where much of the world becomes uninhabitable in the next 30 years. Not a hundred or a thousand. The rate of heating is 10-20 times that of past geological (Pliocene/Eocene boundary) rapid heating records – that is extreme.

Looking at Europe and its record hot summer and the statistics show that the continually escalating unprecedented summer heat is made 130 times more likely by the effects of global warming. People are suffering (even dying) from the heat, fires and drought caused by the effects of global heating.

Even more concerning is that with global population increasing, more and more places where people live are becoming uninhabitable. Low lying places due to sea level rise. Desertification of formerly productive land. Floods and fires as we can see increasingly making places dangerous.

So that is the scary bit. Time for something more scary.

We have politicians in Australia telling us that they want to build coal fired, gas fired and nuclear power stations and avoid renewables. They also want to stop the VNI West transmission line that is planned to allow load balancing of power between NSW and Victoria as well as better access to the abundant wind and solar power in western Victoria.

This is a continuation of climate change denial and a blatant push to support miners, who are struggling to compete with far cheaper and cleaner renewables.⁵

The case for new coal fired power seems to be that private investment will build and maintain them. The exact opposite is true. Coal fired power stations are expensive to build, expensive to maintain and require polluting feedstock that does environmental damage to extract and transport. Existing coal fired power stations are uneconomic to run without extensive government subsidies. New ones would be facing even bigger challenges and bigger government subsidies to be economic.

Gas is in a similar bind. It is far more expensive now and drives the highest cost of power when it is used to meet peak demands. It is also highly polluting.

Nuclear is more of a stalking horse to delay large scale deployment of things like offshore wind farms. It is the old method of FUD. Use FUD to create uncertainty and that benefits the incumbents.

Lastly, the VNI West is a major transmission line. It gets represented as a burden on western Victoria when it should be seen as a great opportunity to build a stronger, clean economy based on renewables. It is one of the keys to making energy cheaper and available in the quantities needed with electricity demand skyrocketing (did we mention data centres?).

So, the issue in summary: We have a global crisis that is real and imminent. The proposals by One Nation and the Conservative side of politics can only lock in higher prices and make the climate crisis worse. Recommend reading Juice by Tim Winton to see how things could play out.

The Response

What can we do?

• Start by understanding what is really happening
• Do the best we can individually:
  • Any energy saving project you can afford. Bring it forward
  • Look at the energy plans that use renewables rather than fossil fuels
  • Look at EVs for your next car
  • Use public transport
  • Consume less while still being comfortable
• Make a noise. Don’t let vested interests to avoid the consequences of what they have been doing
• Get involved with local groups that are doing good things. Remember that your own contribution might be small but a million people like you can move a mountain. In a nicer way.
• Talk to friends and acquaintances with some simple messages. Questions are a good way to start:
  • Why do we want to burn fossil fuels when we know that they are expensive and kill people?
  • Why choose technologies that the market has refused to fund because building coal and nuclear power plants in Australia would result in stranded assets?
  • Why do we want to choose the most expensive forms of power generation over the least expensive?
  • Why are certain powerlines that produce economic benefits and grid resilience seen as a bad thing when the 10,000 km of existing power lines were considered as essential services?
  • Who is behind all this push to do things that independent analysts say are economically and environmentally reckless?
• Make your vote count. Talk to political candidates and ask them those questions as well.

The final takeaway is that we know what we can do to make it better and we need a concerted effort to bring about change – TOGETHER

1. https://theconversation.com/the-collapse-of-a-mountainside-triggered-nepals-devastating-floods-as-the-regions-mountains-heat-up-it-wont-be-the-last-290924 [↩]
2. https://theconversation.com/when-a-mountain-falls-how-ice-and-rock-triggered-nepals-catastrophic-flood-and-why-climate-change-is-raising-the-risks-290779 [↩]
3. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-31/one-nation-victoria-energy-policy-announcement/107097686 [↩]
4. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-19/victorian-coalition-promises-to-scrap-vni-west-transmission-line/107053638 [↩]
5. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/fossil-fuel-climate-disinformation-threatens-australia/106490840 [↩]

The Togetherness Project

Today’s Topic – Food Part 2 (updated)

Continuing our series on Food:

• What kind of shortages do we have?¹
• What about waste?²
• My Grandma’s garden
• Industrial farming and alternatives

A focus on Famine

The Issue

So today we’re going to talk about food again. Particularly we’re going to be talking about what ways to produce and consume food other than industrial farming and mass production.³

We are talking about the types of food that has been stored for months and transported over long distances, selected for cosmetic appeal and re-manufactured into something that is not in any way a natural food.⁴

There is an epidemic of metabolic diseases and other forms of illness that have been linked to ultra processed foods. It should be no surprise that this is scientifically linked to loss of important symbiotic gut flora. It should be no surprise that studies reported in New Scientist (How to think about Ageing) find that traditional diets featuring whole foods and connectedness with community are important factors in living a long and healthy life. So why do we choose differently? ⁵

We previously talked about waste. Food distribution wastes between 15% (packaged food) and 40% (“slow moving” fresh food). Then households throw out up to 30% of the food bought.

Supermarkets are very good at transferring responsibility to us to do the “right thing” while making it easier on themselves

Packaging is a huge problem. It can be hard to buy fresh food that is not packaged in plastic, put in a plastic bag and then bagged again at a checkout. Why?

The Response

What can we do?

• Buy local not high food miles. Better food and potentially cheaper
• Buy fresh and whole foods
• Cooperatives (Wholefood Collective) – NY city run stores
• Hidden Orchard
• Markets/Stalls
• Buy what you need, not what is packaged up (more in Part 2)
• Lobby for change – political and to businesses
• Buy from local farms
• Seasonal produce
• Lets start with the quantities we buy. If I want to make say, potato and leek soup, I can buy packets of celery, onions and potatoes, some cream and a leek or two. Unless I want to make two or three batches, there will be too much and I will have to keep the excess for another recipe. Alternatively, I can buy exactly what I need. I can put what I buy in reusable bags or boxes. I can do so at a place where the produce is sourced locally.
• Today we will talk with Maggie from just this kind of place to buy your food.
• The final takeaway is that we know what we can do to make it better and we need a concerted effort to bring about change.
• Yes it is a bit harder to think through what you need, do meal plans and shop efficiently but there is the good stuff:
• You save money by not buying in excess – even if the per kilo price is a bit higher
• You don’t pay for the packaging and you don’t have to dispose of it (to do so sustainably costs effort and money)
• You get fresher and more nutritious food
• You support producers who are better custodians of the land
• By buying seasonal food, you multiply those benefits
• So lets hear from Maggie, from the Wholefood Collective!
• Have a toolbox of recipes not the same all year
• Urban farms
• Grow your own

Now lets hear from Maggie who is from the Wholefood

The final takeaway is that we know what we can do to make it better and we need a concerted effort to bring about change – TOGETHER

1. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/ozharvest-warns-of-rising-food-insecurity/106594414 [↩]
2. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-13/australia-food-waste-business-economic-cost/107249996 [↩]
3. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-14/regenerative-agriculture-farming-soil-health-food-security/105024708 [↩]
4. https://www.foodisfree.com.au/ [↩]
5. https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2016-08-16/community-garden-changes-food-habits-disadvantaged-town/7735190 [↩]

The Togetherness Project

Today’s Topic – Food Part 1

Today we’re going to talk about food. Particularly we’re going to be talking about what we eat and where it comes from. I’m going to start with a little story where yesterday I was walking through Melbourne University and. There I saw queues of students around fast food places. Eating what I would describe as poor quality food that is probably cheap and probably not too much of a problem for young people who need lots of energy – fast.

The Issue

Where does this food come from and how is this different to the kind of diet that our species evolved with? Are our eating habits able to be sustained?¹

There is an epidemic of metabolic diseases and other forms of illness that have been linked to ultra processed foods. It should be no surprise that this is scientifically linked to loss of important symbiotic gut flora. It should be no surprise that studies reported in New Scientist (How to think about Ageing) find that traditional diets featuring whole foods and connectedness with community are important factors in living a long and healthy life. So why do we choose differently? Who wants us to eat this way?²

It comes down to psychology and the way we evolved in an environment of scarcity. Added to this we are bombarded with prompts to buy and consume low nutrition foods. More about this in Part 2.

The default for most people is to buy food at supermarkets or fast food outlets. These are “affordable”. The whole of life costs may not be so affordable when we consider years of good health compared to years of ill health and restricted lifestyle.

Supermarket food distribution results in 30% and more wasted food. Households throw out between 20 and 40% of the food bought. All this can feed those in need.

The Response

How do we get out of this mess?

Firstly, people need to be aware that the issue exists and that there is something that can be done about it. Then there needs to be a clear path of action to take. The most important component of the response is to find was to work together to a common cause. *We will revisit this many times in each program.

• Buy local not high food miles. Better food and potentially cheaper
• Buy fresh and whole foods
• Cooperatives (Wholefood Collective) – NY city run stores
• Hidden Orchard
• Markets/Stalls
• Buy what you need, not what is packaged up (more in Part 2)
• Lobby for change – political and to businesses
• Buy from local farms
• Seasonal produce
• Have a toolbox of recipes not the same all year
• Urban farms
• Grow your own

The final takeaway is that we know what we can do to make it better and we need a concerted effort to bring about change

1. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2587239-can-we-really-reverse-global-warming-after-overshooting-1-5c/ [↩]
2. https://theconversation.com/junk-food-is-promoted-online-to-appeal-to-kids-and-target-young-men-our-study-shows-234285 [↩]