Afternoons for Wednesday 29 November 2023

 

1:15 Off grid living, how to make it more accessible

The desire for a simpler life, living sustainability off the land, is rising in popularity and should come as no surprise considering the current state of the cost of living.

GridFree is a leading advocate for off-grid living in New Zealand.

What started as a personal mission for founder Craig Simpson, turned into a bigger mission to make sustainable living more accessible and support others on their journeys.

GridFree founder Craig Simpson speaks to Jesse.

1:25 Looking after our elderly during the festive season 

Christmas is nearing which means we're all secretly thinking about our upcoming get aways and summer plans, instead of whatever it is we should be focusing on right now.

While the holiday season is a time of travelling and catching up with mates for many, it's the older people in our lives who can sometimes be left behind amongst all the busyness.

For some, the Christmas season can be the season of loneliness.

Miranda Smith is the founder of in-home care specialists Miranda Smith Homecare, and she's here with some advice on what to look out for to keep the elderly in our lives happy and healthy over the holidays.

1:35 The heat is back on the with the NZ Firefighters Calendar release

The annual New Zealand Firefighters Calendar is back and causing a bit of a storm.

Columnist Verity Johnson wrote about the renaissance of the racy calendar, and a national outcry soon followed.

Verity talks to Jesse about what's going on and why the fuss.

1:45 School principals lining up for 'race day'

If the vision of your school principal hooning around in a potential death trap sounds intriguing - listen up, because that's what our next guest has signed himself up for.

Bruce James is the principal of Carisbrook School.

He's one of a dozen school principals from around Dunedin who have tentatively agreed to take part in a School Principals' Race this Friday. He speaks to Jesse.

2.12 Podcast Critic: Alex Barnes

Today Alex talks to Jesse about the podcasts Haka Life and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k.

2:20 Collectors corner: Sheet music collector Liz Hodgson

This week for collectors corner we head to north Canterbury and meet Liz Hodgson who's got an impressive collection of sheet music.

She talks to Jesse about how her collection started and what she's planning on doing with her treasure trove.

2:30 Bookmarks with Dr Georgia Grant

This week on bookmarks we meet Dr Georgia Grant, a sedimentologist whose work has led to her winning the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship.

Her research has taken her all over the world from Greenland to Antarctica, learning what past periods of climate change can tell us about what we're currently experiencing.

She's along to talk about that work as well as her favourite books, movies and music.

3:10 David Brooks on the 'blindness' created by social media

The world is suffering from an epidemic of blindness says New York Times Columnist David Brooks. Social media has divided us and we don't see past what divides us. To understand each other we need to be  more open-hearted, he says,  a prerequisite for being a full, kind, and wise human being. He's written a self help book for modern society called How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen.

3:35 Stories from Our Changing World

Coming up on Our Changing World - Claire Concannon learns about the development of a monitoring tool that could identify individual birds based on their song.

3:45 The Panel with Ali Jones and Steve McCabe