Infrastructure Connections

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝟭𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶a?
Ben Goldfarb found that roads are "the leading direct human cause of vertebrate mortality on land." More than hunting, wildfires, dams, and urban habitat loss combined.
The costs are enormous.
According to the @Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) animal-vehicle collisions cost Australia $7 billion every year through:
• Vehicle damage
• Towing and insurance costs
• Human hospital bills
• Almost 150 human pedestrian deaths each year
• Road repairs
But the real damage to animals and the environment is invisible.
• Lost access to breeding grounds
• Lost access to food sources
• Impeded migration
• Biodiversity loss as seeds fail to cross roads
• Reductions in fertile females
• Starvation
• Functional extinction
• Species extinction
There is good news. Australia is increasingly leading the world in wildlife crossings, building:
• Arboreal bridges
• The Crab Bridges of Christmas Island
• Koala log bridges through underpasses
• Flying squirrel poles.
Road ecologists continue to find ways to reduce the impact of roads on our environment. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳.
👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.
👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!
👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council:
Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/
LinkedIn: / infrastructure-sustainability-council
#infrastructure #podcast #infrastructureconnections #sustainability #crossings #roadecology

𝗜𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆?
Sustainability feels expensive and hard when it’s bolted on at the end.
But when procurement is involved early, everything shifts:
• Sustainability is embedded from planning, not post‑design
• Procurement and sustainability teams work together
• Suppliers help shape smarter, cost‑neutral solutions
Public procurement is powerful — it influences 13–20% of global GDP and can shift entire markets.
So… is it the most important stage?
We explore this with Bec Timmings, Executive Advisor at ConnellGriffin and a leading voice in sustainable procurement.
👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.
👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!
👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council:
Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/
LinkedIn: / infrastructure-sustainability-council
#infrastructure #podcast #infrastructureconnections #sustainability #sustainableprocurement #procurement

Do you take cars for granted?
What if you learned they were responsible for an increased sense of isolation?
A lack of trust in the community?
A source of stress throughout your day?
Even where you spend time in your home?
Studies show all this and more, yet we often fail to see cars as anything but urban solutions. Today we're speaking to Melissa Bruntlett, Co-Founder of Modacity Creative.
She’s a well known cycling advocate, working worldwide to bring cycling to a city near you. She’s written a wealth of knowledge into three books, Building the Cycling City, Curbing Traffic, and Women Changing Cities. She most recently appeared in The New York Times' Women in Leadership Special Report.
Find out how simple it can be to improve a city, one bicycle at a time. To make AI more useful, maybe it should tell us who to call? Right now it sends you to a website or Reddit. We need to make people a priority, and that means people who know.
👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.
👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!
👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council:
Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/
LinkedIn: / infrastructure-sustainability-council
#podcast #infrastructure #sustainability #buildingtomorrow

Do you have someone to call when you don't know the answer?
On carbon?
On Nature Based Solutions?
On sustainable finance?
On circularity?
With so many sustainability regulations and requirements, it's impossible for one person to know it all. But it takes hours to read up on these topics and, even then, do you qualify as an expert?
When we spoke with Joan Ko, she suggested the simplest answer:
Phone a friend.
Today, your network is your most valuable tool. If you don't know, you know who to call. That's the value we add as knowledge professionals.
Sure, AI can give you a summary, a crash course. But you can get far more history and context from a five minute phone call with an expert, and that's what matters.
To make AI more useful, maybe it should tell us who to call? Right now it sends you to a website or Reddit. We need to make people a priority, and that means people who know.
👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.
👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!
👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council:
Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/
LinkedIn: / infrastructure-sustainability-council
#podcast #infrastructure #sustainability #buildingtomorrow

Richard Evans is the Founder and CEO of Talent Nation, Australia’s leading Sustainability, ESG, Environment, Sustainable Finance and Climate & Energy recruitment agency. The company is a B Corp and 100% employee owned. He serves part time on the Membership Advisory Group of the UN Global Compact Network Australia. He has a background in management consulting and banking, and joins us from Melbourne.
Richard tells us about the risks and opportunities of a career in sustainability. The good news? The market is picking up after a two year doldrum and salaries are higher than they were a few years ago. The bad news? The focus is still on compliance over strategy. Expect more opportunities over the next nine months, but also expect to buckle down to the core needs of your organization rather than the more lofty goals of the profession.
👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.
👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!
👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council:
Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/
LinkedIn: / infrastructure-sustainability-council
#podcast #infrastructure #sustainability #buildingtomorrow