Episode #51 The Threat to our Natural Values

My guest on The Find Your Feet Podcast is Micah Visoiu. Micah currently works for the Natural & Cultural Heritage Division of the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment. In his words, he is a ‘non-specialised specialist’ contributing work to provide context, advice and scientific grounding for the management of the Tasmanian Reserve estate managed by the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service. His overarching area of interest is Tasmanian biogeography and ecology in the wholistic sense. Today we discuss the impact that climate change is having on our natural values, specifically in the World Heritage Area of Tasmania. The threat of climate change terrifies me and it is into this fear that I have leant, using it to motivate me to understand what the risk is of climate change on our lifestyles, our food sources, the futures of our children, and now, our pristine natural values. I wanted to tap into Micah’s extraordinary knowledge and respect for Tasmania’s living species, to understand what we have to gain but also to lose. Topics discussed in this episode are: - Micah’s childhood growing up in Northern Tasmania and how he uncovered his calling - The complexity of defining climate change - The uniqueness of Tasmania and what is at stake with the onset of climate change - The timeframes that we have to make change - The severity of where we are at now and what the climate change models are telling us - What needs to be done, by individuals but also by policy & change makers - The predicted changes we are likely to see in Tasmania’s climate and natural values - What Micah is focussing on in the face of all this knowledge