Listen up, another group episode! This time recorded hundreds of miles apart over zoom.
Here, we discuss the second half of our time in Indonesia, as well as Dom's dengue scare which resulted in the group temporarily splitting up and Cam and Bec pushing on to Singapore and Malaysia.
We also take a shallow dive into how Singapore launders Russian oil and sells it to Australia.
Our GoFundMe for BC can be found here. Please consider donating if you have the means!
Join us for some meandering shenanigans, and catch ya next time!
BOOK RECS
Fiction:
Indonesian authors:
Singaporean Authors:
Australian Authors:
Non-fiction and memoir:
One of the most exciting phenomena in the spread of animals across the globe, the Wallace Line is a tale of life and death, deep time and the movement of humans across an island chain like no other, and it passes right between Bali and Lombok! Join Lotta and Cam as they explore not only the Wallace Line, but also Wallace, a progressive 19 th century naturalist who despite it all, was still a product of colonialism. We also explore the impact colonialism has on science still today and dedicate the episode to all the amazing people we’ve met so far in Indonesia.
We were lucky enough to feature two guests:
Geologist friend Deni Sugandi from Bandung, who helped explain the geological controls on the movements of animals across the archipelago
And
Ronya Ramrath (Lotta’s sister!) who is currently completing her PhD at Oxford on the epistemic injustice of Indigenous Knowledge not being acknowledged as knowledge in western academia.
We hope you enjoy!
Have you ever thought, damn, what a waste to flush my poop down the toilet! Well, permaculture has the answer - compost that sh!t. Join Dom and Dwi as they talk about permaculture and Dwi’s permaculture project, Omah Lor, set on the slopes of a volcano in Central Java, Indonesia.
Permaculture is: the use of ecology as the basis for designing integrated systems of food production, housing, appropriate technology, and community development. Permaculture is built upon an ethic of caring for the earth and interacting with the environment in mutually beneficial ways.
Follow Omah Lor on instagram: Omahlorproject
Dwi’s Book Recommendations:
Learn more about permaculture and the 12 design principles here:
https://worldpermacultureassociation.com/holmgren-principles/
Go online and watch some permy vids! It’s a crazy world to explore
Thanks everyone!
Listen up, another group episode!
Here, we discuss the our time in Lombok, Sumbawa, Bali and Java, and take a shallow dive into BC Foundation and labour issues for people from the global south. Tune in for new segments like Scrubalubadubub and Biggest Bule and old faves like Brick No 1.
Our GoFundMe for BC can be found here. Please consider donating if you have the means!
Join us for some meandering shenanigans, and catch ya next time!
BOOK RECS
Indonesian authors:
Non-fiction:
Memoir:
In this week’s episode Bec and Dom continue the story of the Montara Oil Spill, focussing on the impacts of this environmental disaster on Indonesians.
During the episode they have the privilege of hearing fromaward-winning documentarian Jane Hammond, who spent time in West Timor filming ‘A Crude Injustice’, which promoted awareness in Australia and abroad about the dire consequences of the spill in one of the poorest regions in the world.
We also discuss a landmark class action lawsuit in Australiafrom 2016-2021, where 15,000 seaweed farmers from Indonesia held the liable company PTTEPAA to account.
Important Links and Sources:
Hello everyone, thanks for joining us for another episode ofThe Meandering Pod.
This week we’re introducing a two-part series for the firsttime. It’s about the Montara Oil Spill, which happened in the Timor Sea in 2009. Bec and Dom will focus in this episode on the Australian side of the story, and next episode we’ll look into the Indonesian side of the story.
A big thanks to Fraser Maywood, chair of Sustainable EnergyNow, for providing background information about the oil and gas industry (but not specific details of the incident).
Links to important sources:
- Montara Oil Spill Commission of Inquiry
- Sydney Morning Herald Reporting About PRRT Appeal
- ABC Reporting About Destroyed Evidence
- Boiling Cold Reporting on Jadestone Energy
A bonus episode! Here, you’ll hear all about the greenwashing and double-think world of carbon and biodiversity offsetting in Australia. this episode comes out hand in hand with an article Bec and Lotta wrote for Cheek Media: Carbon and Biodiversity Offsets are the Girl Math of the corporate world - but their consequences affect us all.
We believe in people being able to critically assess the claims of corporation and government and here we hope to shed some light on the trickeries hidden behind claims of carbon neutral or nature neutral. Learn about how frogs can’t fly (but are expected to), oil companies are rigging the system for more profit and how life on earth has no price tag.
For more information check out:
BIODIVERSITY
- Research from the Australian Conservation Foundation about how biodiversity offsets aren't protected.
- A news article by the ABC about the Australian government review about the failings of the biodiversity offset scheme.
- A detailed report by Carbon Brief on the issues associated with biodiversity offsets.
CARBON
- Research by Haizea Analytics, ANU, UNSW and UQ about the inefficacy of human-induced regeneration carbon offsets
- Research by the Australia Institute about the issues with avoided deforestation carbon offsets
- Australian government website about the Chubb Review into the ACCU system
Cameron goes through the scandal ridden history of big gas in Australia starting with Gogh Whitlam's failed plan to nationalise our resources.
Groups who are doing something about it:
-Disrupt Burrup Hub
-Conservation Council of WA
-Greenpeace
-Australian Youth Climate Coalition
Key readings:
The Captured State Report - https://350perth.org.au/captured-state/
The Australia Institute's Great Gas Giveaway Report - https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/P1451-Australias-great-gas-giveaway-Web.pdf
ABC Four Corners Timor Lest Spying Operation - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-27/secrets,-spies-and-trials/11451004
The Guardian Northwest Shelf Extension -
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/19/wa-government-put-very-rosy-spin-on-report-into-woodside-emissions-at-murujuga-scientists-private-email-says
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/30/woodside-north-west-shelf-gas-indigenous-rock-art-murujuga-federal-government-environment-minister-murray-watt-western-australia
Gas is displacing renewables:
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/woodside-contradicts-csiro-report-debunking-key-climate-claims-20220307-p5a2d5.html
Join Lotta on another Meandering Pod Deep Dive where she discovers the fascinating and ancient world of stromatolites! The guest on the show today is Dr Anna Ramrath, who happens to be Lotta’s mum. Tune in for tales of ancient life, the curse and blessing of oxygen, teeny architects and the slowing turning of the earth. It also features one of the hottest places in the world, North Pole, in the Pilbara in Western Australia.
Also, here is my mum’s radio!
https://www.denmarkfm.com.au/shows/considering-earth/
Listen up, another group episode! Here, we discuss our crossing of the Timor Sea from Darwin to Lombok, the highlights and on board, the silly moments and what we learnt. Tune in for some meandering shenanigans!
Jan’s Youtube: Janwantstosail
Books we recommend:
Love and Virtue by Diana Reid
Red Seas und Red Skies by Scott Lynch and Benjamin Carre in the Gentlemen Bastards series
No Friend but the Mountains by Behrouz Boochani
Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta
Join Bec and Lotta on a Deep Dive into the Denmark Community Wind Farm, a community-owned in Southwest corner of Australia!
They follow this case study from the initial idea, barriers to building the wind farm, the innovative way the project was financed, its current success and how it gives back to the town year-on-year and supports further sustainability projects with a portion of profits made.
Some links to learn more about the windfarm and other community energy projects:
Join Lotta and Dom on their first Deep Dive, where they get excited about plants!
The south west of Western Australia is a biodiversity hotspot, meaning we have far more plant species here than in most other places in the world! Lotta and Dom discuss why this is the case, and what plants to look out for that are particularly weird and wonderful. We also mention some of the risks this area faces and what we can all do to help protect our incredible environment.
A couple of ecology terms are used that they totally forgot may not be in everyone's vocabularies. Here is a bit of a glossary:
Productive (ecology) - the rate at which things grow
Species - a group of organisms that are alike enough to make babies
Subspecies - A classification level finer than species - describing variation within species
Taxa - all the organisms within one classification group
Taxonomic diversity - The diversity of organisms that can be classified differently
Functional diversity - The diversity of different ways of doing things - like obtaining nutrients, getting pollinated, getting seed spread...
Morphology - the shape and structure of the plants - like what the flowers look like
Nutrient acquisition strategy - The ways in which plants get their nutrients from the soil (or, spoiler alert, through eating insects...)
Exudates - a fluid that is released from the plant
Plant available Phosphorus - If a nutrient is plant available, it means it is in a form in which plants can just lap it up in the soil. Plant unavailable nutrients are locked up or need to be changed chemically to become useful
Mycorrhizal - a mutually beneficial relationship between plants and fungi in which the fungi basically extends the plant roots, and nutrients or protection from pathogens is traded for sugars
Let us know in the comments if there is anything we've missed!
Dom, Bec, Cam and Lotta introduce you to The Meandering Pod!
Join us as we travel overland from Australia to Europe, meandering through different continents, cultures and conversations.
We’re a bunch of beans travelling from Australia to Europe, the aim of the game is no flying, using any other mode of transport available.
Welcome to our first episode, where we introduce the trip, our progress so far and the background behind our adventure, and what you can expect from us in the future.
Hint: we'll be meandering through a whole range of topics, from culture to politics to history to energy to bugs.
So come join us on a little meander!
Book recs:
- Jylia (Tracy Westerman)
- Stolen Focus (Johan Hari)
NGO links:
- The Westerman Jylia Institute: https://www.thejilyainstitute.com.au/
- Disrupt Burrup Hub: https://www.disruptburruphub.com/