Beneath big skies

Our Big Sky Country podcast’s latest season journeys far and wide asking: How can biodiversity help solve the climate crisis?

“They want us to burn out. They want us to feel overwrought and ineffective. But we mustn’t get into that mindset. We must be optimistic. We must be defiant.” 

That’s what Dr Bob Brown told Tiahni Adamson by his cabin in Tasmania’s Oura Oura Reserve. On Pakana Country, less than an hour south-west of Launceston, taytitikithika (Drys Bluff) towered above, ancient gums and Tasmanian Blackwoods surrounded them. Robins flitted. Everywhere, nature’s power was evident. 

“We have to get on the front foot,” he said, “because we are defending the planet that gives us everything.” 

Tiahni is a wildlife conservation biologist, proud Kaurareg woman, and the host of the third season of our Big Sky Country podcast. This conversation with Bob was the first of many with experts across the continent. 

“It was a life highlight to be totally immersed in on-ground conservation work – crouched in the sand, learning about the feminisation of turtles next to curling waves," she says, "or catching numbats in 45-degree desert heat … it was a privilege to be ignited by the passion of people working on the front line of climate change.” 

Rising temperatures are no longer a distant threat. The world is on track to surpass a global average temperature increase of 1.5 degrees in the next five years and heat-related deaths already top global weather-related fatalities for humans. For plants and animals, extinction rates continue to rise, with modelling predicting the highest emission scenario will impact nearly a third of the Earth’s species. 

One of Tiahni’s guests, Clive Hamilton, author of Living Hot: Surviving and Thriving on a Heating Planet, emphasised that conservation needs to evolve. 

Adaptation is key.

For shellfish restoration expert Dr Dominic McAfee, that means music and oysters. “Oysters are like the trees of the sea,” he explains. “They provide structure and create habitats for small fish and invertebrates, supporting coastal productivity and food webs.”

Oyster reefs also play a role in nutrient cycling and can help protect coastlines from rising seas.

To restore oyster-population density, Dom’s team is using underwater speakers to play ocean sounds – luring larvae back to reefs. In just two years, they’ve built densities of mature reproductive size oysters equivalent to that of the only surviving flat oyster reef, which is found down in Tasmania.

“Biodiversity is often excluded from climate discussions,” Tiahni says. “As a First Nations woman, I grew up with a deep connection to Country. For me, it is a place that holds answers and irreplaceable life – so why do we continue to tear it down, rather than turn to it for solutions and nourishment?”

Nature already does so much – absorbing roughly half of the greenhouse gases we emit.

“Country needs people to listen to it, connect with it, and know they are a part of it. Once people establish a good relationship with Country and the fight for its protection, adapting with it becomes natural once again.” •

We gratefully acknowledge all the guests who made Big Sky Country – Season 3 possible. Listen now or find it wherever you get your podcasts.