Powerhouse celebrates final episode of 100 Climate Conversations

Powerhouse celebrates the release of the final episode of Australia’s most ambitious climate-focused cultural project, 100 Climate Conversations.

The two-year project to record interviews with 100 visionary Australians who have taken effective action to respond to the most critical issue of our time, climate change, will act as a time capsule for future generations as part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Hosted by some of the nation’s most respected journalists, these conversations have been recorded live in the Powerhouse Ultimo studio each Friday morning with video and transcripts uploaded to the Powerhouse website and produced as a podcast in partnership with Spotify.

From regional farmers sequestering soil carbon, Traditional Owners managing Country through cultural burning, architects building carbon-neutral homes, to entrepreneurs leading the world’s most ambitious renewable energy projects, each episode offers an inspired story of invention, community, and resilience.

100 Climate Conversations inspires action to avert or lesson the effects of climate change by presenting an evidence-based and empowering vision of the future. It features Atlassian CEO and co-founder and renewable energy investor Mike Cannon-Brookes; author and First Nations climate activist Bruce Pascoe; scientist, author and chief councillor of the Australian Climate Council, Professor Tim Flannery; OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn; City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore; and Australian Youth Climate Coalition’s Grace Vegesana.

Powerhouse Chief Executive Lisa Havilah said, ‘The aim of this ambitious project was to offer and inspire listeners with real-world climate action solutions from leading climate innovators who are at the forefront of meeting our climate challenges. We are very proud to have created a platform for these unique stories and perspectives to be heard as we cross this critical point in time for climate action.’

The former Boiler Hall, where 100 Climate Conversations has been recorded, has unique industrial features such as imposing chimneys and coal cart rail tracks, giving a glimpse of its former life as the Ultimo Power Station. Built in 1898, Ultimo Power Station supplied coal-powered electricity to Sydney’s tram system in to the 1960s. Heralded as a great period of technological innovation, the Industrial Revolution resulted in the release of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the air contributing to the climate crisis. 100 Climate Conversations looks from this architectural context towards the innovations of the present, and to the people committed to preserving our planet.

Curated by Catherine Polcz and produced by Brianna Barwise, 100 Climate Conversations is available on Spotify.