Open Field with Eamon Ryan

On this edition of Open Field, Eamon speaks to the composer Karen Power, who combines acoustic instruments with everyday sounds and soundscapes in her work. They discuss changing how we listen, how sound can provide deep connections to nature, experiences recording the Artic ice, creating music from under the city, capturing the sound of bees, and how technology affects our acoustic environment. The featured works by Karen Power are extracts from “instruments of ice” and “sonic pollinators”, both performed by Quiet Music Ensemble.

Eamon spoke to Christine Milne, former leader of the Australian Greens and current Global Greens ambassador, when she was visiting Ireland earlier this year. Across this edition of Open Field, Eamon and Christine touch on the foundations of the Tasmanian green movement, growing up on a dairy farm, lessons from supporting government, and the climate denial industry in Australia.

This edition of Open Field features Varun Sivaram, a scientist and technologist who has advised both the Governor of New York and Mayor of Los Angeles on energy policy. He is author of the book “Taming the Sun”, which looks at the potential of solar power.  Meeting in California earlier this year, Eamon and Varun discuss new technologies for solar power, how to make solar affordable, why India is becoming a world leader in the field, and whether there is unrealistic optimism about climate change.

Eamon’s guest on this edition of Open Field is Caroline Lucas, who was until recently the co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, and who was the first Green MP to sit in Westminster when she was elected to represent Brighton Pavilion in 2010. Catching a moment in the Houses of Parliament in London just before a key Brexit vote, Eamon and Caroline discuss how to change the teaching of economics, whether humans are by nature kind, working within the English voting system, and if free trade can ever be fair.

On this edition of Open Field, Eamon is joined by Vinay Gupta, an expert on blockchain, and whose career has covered many areas of work from computer programming and venture capital through to humanitarian relief planning. Across this half-hour discussion, Eamon and Vinay cover the energy challenges of blockchain; the race to build the biggest computer; why we actually might want to make oil cheap again; whether political solutions to climate change can work; and how to revolutionise the United Nations.

In the first edition of Open Field, Eamon Ryan talks to Jane Mellett, a pastoral worker from Dublin and project co-ordinator of Our Common Home, an initiative focussed on greening the World Meeting of Families, which coincides with Pope Francis’ first visit to Ireland. Eamon and Jane talk about life as a pastoral worker in Cherry Orchard, Dublin; the role of the church in addressing climate change; what the pope’s visit means for the non-religious; greening the practice of pilgrimage; and Mellett’s work with victims of child labour in India. www.eamonryan.ie/openfield