EarthChat

This week on EarthChat, Tim Budge chats with Georgie Purcell, the Animal Justice Party’s MP in the Legislative Council. The EarthChat focuses on Georgie’s work in Parliament, her representation of this big electorate and the important policies of the Animal Justice Party and why they matter for all people in this region. This is the second conversation in our series talking to sitting MPs about th...

This week on Earthchat Marie Gerrard chats to to Una Hobday about a Rotary project that has developed an extensive data bank of native foods suitable for children in danger of malnutrition. In consultation with local gardeners and farmers, the foods have been selected for their nutritional value and local availability. These plants are suitable to be included in community gardens including school...

This week Meredith Budge chats with Inaam Barakat, OAM about what it means to be an older migrant, caring within and across communities. Inaam was born in northern Lebanon and moved to Australia as a teenager. Across her life, she has been a committed humanitarian, feminist and advocate for seeing the good in all cultures and in all people. She was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in reco...

This week Marie  Gerrard chats with Ian Dempsy about the most important issues facing us due to environmental damage. They discuss the damage being done but also possible actions to mitigate them. All on this week's EarthChat.

Jaclyn Symes is the State Labor Member for Northern Victoria and the Minister for Environment, Energy and Resources, Climate Action and the SEC. She is also this week's guest on EarthChat, part of our series of talking to sitting local MPs about their vision for the region and how it aligns with BEAM's commitment to a thriving community for a healthy environment. Jaclyn is a born and bred local, a...

Does everyone have the same access to financial, legal and health benefits in today's society? Who will benefit from the massive role out of data centres? Does capitalism only work when socialism bails it out every ten years or so? Why is it that "too big to fail" companies are given absolute govt support, and also why does Australia's richest person also benefit from millions in taxpayer-funded s...

FOE's Cam Walker joins Ruth to outline significant environmental issues for this next Victorian State Election. Cam will take us through the issues and then offer ways we can help to be part of the solution. Aside from the destructive and tragic cost for all species of the ongoing wars in Iran, Ukraine, and Gaza, the increased burning of fossil fuels by military forces is currently generating 5.5%...

This week on EarthChat, Tim Budge talks with Dr Lynne Kelly AM, a science writer and Adjunct Research Fellow at LaTrobe University. After a secondary school career, Lynne returned to university to complete a doctorate, astonished by the way Indigenous cultures manage to memorise and teach a vast amount of practical information, all without writing. Over the past decade, she has focused on the use...

This week, new EarthChat host Meredith Budge welcomes Clare Claydon as her first guest. A long-time, Central Victoria resident, Clare has spent her life working in community development across education, refugee and migrant support, adult learning, agriculture, Landcare and environmental projects. Having grown up in Ghana, Uganda and Kenya, and later lived in Papua New Guinea, she brings a rich gl...

What if the impact of your efforts to save the planet and plant trees could be seen from space? How exciting would that be? Tony Rinaudo is someone who spent 18 years in West Africa seeking to support farmers to regenerate forests and fight desertification. The program, called Farmer Managed Forest Regeneration, has been responsible for growing 200 million trees and reforesting 6 million hectares...

This week, EarthChat hosts Mark and Jacqui are talking about the environment impact of data centres. It is generally accepted that they will use significant amounts of energy and water. There will be costs and impacts. AI will require multi-gigawatt power and millions of specialized GPUs. Tech giants are building facilities that stretch over a million square metres. However, what will be the actua...

Ruth is joined by Dr Greg Moore OAM, a Senior Research Associate from the University of Melbourne, and EarthChat regular, Cath Olive from the Euroa Arboretum. They join her to talk about the latest data collected from this year’s bush fires in Victoria with a focus on the dire consequences of tree loss, particularly old growth trees whose important tree hollows provide much needed habitat for nati...

This week on EarthChat Marie chats with Ivan Carter on the detection and control of Serrated Tussock, the working party tasked with its detection and control and the impacts of it. How do we dispose of Serrated Tussock, what are suitable herbicides for controlling it? What help is available to farmers who detect it on their property? Check out the Working Party website for more information https:/...

This week on EarthChat we want to focus on some of the key issues facing Australia’s energy future including excellent progress being made towards sustainable transport options and the policy developments and behavioural changes needed to meet our future energy needs and climate change challenges.  Our first guest is Mr Stuart Locke, General Manager, Seymour Coaches and President of the Bus Associ...

Treaties between First Peoples and governments have been signed in many other countries, like New Zealand and Canada, but until October 2025, Australia was the only Commonwealth country without a treaty with its First Peoples. Now, at last, Australia’s first Treaty is legislated, and on November 13, 2025, the Victorian Statewide Treaty Bill 2025 was officially given Royal Assent by the Governor of...

Would you risk physical injury, sexual assault and more from a foreign militia just to get baby food and emergency supplies to people cut off from humanitarian aid? Violet Coco did and was prepared to take on these risks because she knows the people of Gaza have endured and continue to endure so much greater hardships and suffering. Why? Violet is a previous guest on EarthChat (one of our most pop...

This week on EarthChat, we discus a range of  environmental issues that affect us here in Mitchell shire as well as those that affect our wider lives.  Forecasts of very high humidity in our warming world causing health problems. How fungi contribution to a healthy soil and healthy forests What we mean by tipping points in nature and why they are important. Wallan wallan Regional Parkland improvin...

This week, Tim chats with Ellen Hunt from the “Impossible Dairy”, which is showing an "udder" approach to dairy farming. What if a small, regenerative dairy could not only produce milk, but also restore soils, retain water, and even help tackle climate change? And what if this little dairy could attract digital dairy devotees from across the world? Tim and Ellen explore how this bold experiment wo...

Many Australians do not know what a treaty is or could involve. To help answer this question and explore other major issues surrounding Indigenous-State treaty-making, Ruth is joined by Uncle Charles Pakana who is the founder and editor of Victorian Aboriginal News, which focuses primarily on Treaty, Reconciliation, Truth-telling and the sharing of positive First Nations stories from across Victor...

Listen to EarthChat this week. Jacqui Fulton and Mark Lyons are exploring the truth about renewables, working their way through quite a few interesting topics of huge relevance to our times, including: The gap in availability of solar and other renewable power, which are being directly affected by wars. The reasons behind the drop in solar and battery prices, why are they collapsing. The misinform...

This week on Earth Chat we discuss all the ways to minimise our prolific and destructive use of plastics in our lives. Can we eliminate the use of single use plastics? What is the major damage that they cause and can we learn to use alternatives? What did we do before plastics became available? It's actually fairly recent history that they have been available.

What if regional communities owned their own power instead of multinationals? What if that power came from reliable renewables, instead of fossil fuels controlled by foreign powers and at risk to global geopolitics? What if locals got the dividends instead of big companies? The Goulburn Community Energy Co-operative in NSW (GCEC) is doing exactly that, all through the power and ownership of their...

Ruth Yeatman invites Phil Bourne and Russell Fisher to join her to reflect on the interconnected crises threatening humanity and the planet today, primarily driven by climate change, extreme poverty, and geopolitical conflict. “Humans are social beings. We need to communicate, make connections, share how we feel, and truly listen to what others are going through. And to do all this, we need to tal...

The reason for discussing this topic is that national and global demand for flowers is increasing due to a number of factors such as: increasing urbanisation and reduced opportunities to garden; a desire to bring “nature inside” for beauty and well-being, at home and in business and event settings. The Australian industry generates about US$ 812 million currently and is expected to grow another 4%...

Marie chats with Michael Watson from the upper Plenty  Merri Creek Landcare Group about the enormous diversity across Mitchell Shire. We look at the various different environments that are represented across the Shire.   There are particular issues affecting the  areas from the high level of development in much of the south to the need to protect organisms in the forests and farmlands. They also d...