\"I'm conscious of the old adage that it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.\" — Professor Ian Lowe
Harley Breen sits down with Professor Ian Lowe AO, one of Australia's most respected environmental scientists, for a conversation ranging from dodgy cricket umpiring to the fate of the planet, often in the same breath. Now 83, Ian is Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society at Griffith University, with forty years working on energy, climate and sustainable futures. He was President of the Australian Conservation Foundation (2004–2014), chaired the advisory council behind Australia's first national State of the Environment Report, and spent over a decade on the Australian Radiation Health and Safety Advisory Council. He has authored ten books and over 500 other publications, wrote a regular New Scientist column for thirteen years, and is a long-standing opponent of nuclear power as a climate solution. In 2015 he was appointed to South Australia's Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission Expert Advisory Committee. His accolades include an AO, a Eureka Prize, the Prime Minister's Environment Award, and the Konrad Lorenz Gold Medal.
Ian's connection to Woodfordia runs just as deep. A life member, he planted a hoop pine at the very first Woodford Folk Festival — now twenty metres tall after thirty years on-site. He's delivered talks and keynotes here for years, written and performed a sustainability anthem with the crowd singing along, and appeared on Radio Woodfordia live in 2025. He's also a stalwart of the John Thompson Great Comedy Debate. Most recently, Ian was appointed inaugural Chair of the new Woodfordia Foundation — established to hold the land in trust once the Forest of Goodwill campaign reaches its target — and led the ceremonial planting of a Bunya tree at The Planting earlier this year to mark its establishment.
This conversation covers cricket as an antidote to solitary work, the accidental origins of the Greenhouse tent, the economics of Australia's military spending, and what it means to take on a responsibility measured in centuries rather than election cycles.
This episode is for:
Anyone who needs a reminder that speaking up matters, even without a guarantee of change
People curious what it takes to buy back the land underneath a beloved institution
Woodfordians who want to understand the festival's 500-year plan
Dive in to hear about:
How a tent of twenty people on hay bales at the last Maleny Folk Festival grew into the Greenhouse — which, under different guises, remains the beating heart of environmental talks at Woodford
The Woodfordia Foundation, the $2.66 million raised toward the $5 million land buyback, and why the fund sits at arm's length from the festival
Why Ian sees cricket and choir singing as the antidote to solo, ego-driven work
The UNESCO biosphere status held by the Sunshine Coast, Noosa and the Great Sandy region, and what it takes to keep it
Candles from Caragabal, Ian's forthcoming memoir, and lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness
Key topics: Professor Ian Lowe, Woodfordia Foundation, land buyback, climate change, environmental activism, 500-year plan, UNESCO biosphere, Greenhouse tent, nuclear power, Woodford Folk Festival, sustainability, First Nations land management
To come to the Woodford Folk Festival this year visit: https://woodfordfolkfestival.com/
FOR MORE:
Harley Breen: https://www.harleybreen.com.au
Woodfordia: https://woodfordia.org/
A Forest of Goodwill - Woodfordia Land Fundraising Campaign: https://aforestofgoodwill.woodfordia.com/
CREDITS: Host: Harley Breen | Guest: Professor Ian Lowe | Executive Producer: Bree Hickson-Jamieson | Production: Josh Weier | Runner: Monica Clayton | Video Editor: Nick Haddow | Music by: The East Pointers | Recorded on Jinibara Country
Recorded July 2026
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