Barely Gettin' By

Barely Gettin' By

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Historians, millennials, and friends Dr Emma Shortis and Dr Chloe Ward spend a lot of time getting angry at the way public discussion about history and politics is dominated by the same voices. So they started a podcast.

With the support of RMIT, Emma and Chloe host the Barely Gettin’ By podcast. They talk about a history of the present for the big issues of our time in a world that, in the words of Dolly Parton, is “all takin’ and no givin’’.

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Announcing season four

From the Biden administration’s climate policy and the EU free trade agreement with Australia, sustainability is in the spotlight. Your often confused, occasionally insightful and (sometimes) optimistic hosts Emma and Chloe are back and once again making sense of the present by looking at the past.

This season, Shortis and Ward are using history to navigate and make sense of global climate politics.

Across seven fortnightly episodes, they’ll break down the politics behind efforts to confront climate change, and what the latest, international developments mean for Australia’s future.

They’ll talk heroes and villains, youth-led climate movements, Britain’s Green Industrial Revolution and the role of technology and Sustainable Development Goals.

Increasingly, action on climate revolves around the idea of a “Green New Deal”—but what does this mean, and what would it mean in Australia? And could things have been different if Bob Hawke, otherwise known as Australia’s Prime Minister for the Environment, instituted the climate targets that might have, 40 years down the track, helped avert the crisis we’re facing today?

Barely Getting' By Season 4 launches July 2021 – and, this time, Emma and Chloe are bringing more guests, a playlist of their favourite environmental songs and more.

Meet the presenters

Dr Emma Shortis is an historian who focuses on US and environmental politics. She’s an in-demand media expert who uses history to try to interpret and explain what on earth is happening in the United States today. She’s a regular guest on ABC News radio and television, and programs like Triple RRR’s Common Sense. Emma joined RMIT University in June 2018. In the year before that, she was a Fox-Zucker International Fellow at Yale University. She holds a PhD in History from the University of Melbourne. She’s a mad Collingwood supporter, an expert Twitter stalker, and spends a lot of time being outraged at the state of things.

Dr Chloe Ward trained as a historian, and now works in economic development policy. Her research interests include 20^th century British history, and the intersection between culture and politics. She is a former fellow in the EU Centre of Excellence at RMIT. When she isn’t podcasting, she can usually be found having strong opinions about things she knows nothing about, or walking her dog.

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RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business. - Artwork created by Louisa Bloomer

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