Dirt Radio

With the 2018 Victorian State Election less than 10 months away, Dirt Radio embarks on a 2 part series to explore Friends of the Earth's vision for Victoria. This week focusses on climate and energy justice, and transport. You can check out the full election vision statement here and read the transport vision document here.

Adani have already began construction on their rail line to link up the proposed Carmichael Coal Mine to the existing export facilities at Abbot Point. But there are a determined group of people ready to stop them. We are joined by Ike Schwartz from Front Line Action on Coal who are facilitating a frontline protest camp to #StopAdani in Queensland.(Photo: Twitter - Front Line Action on Coal)

Louise Sales from Friends of the Earth's Emerging Tech project speaks to us about a new unregulated genetic modification technique known as CRISPR. Dr Jim Green then joins us to talk about how to deal with that obstinate uncle who thinks that nuclear energy has a place in Australia. Check out foe.org.au for more on all of Friends of the Earth's campaigns.

Yarra Riverkeeper, Andrew Kelly, talks about the Yarra River Protection Act and a forum coming up where future planning for the river will be discussed. And, Leila Farahani from the Centre for Urban Research at RMIT University explains how even Melbourne’s least appealing spaces have green potential.

With the #Disrupt2017 (23/11 - 10 days of decentralised community vs capitalism actions just around the corner, we caught up with Tori Ball from Whistleblowers, Activists and Citizens Alliance (WACA) to talk about the situation on Manus Island and how we can all act to make a difference. Find out more about Disrupt here.

The #StopAdani campaign is ramping up. This week we chack out what Front Line Action on Coal have been up to in Northern Queensland and what local Friends of the Earth collectives are doing more locally and in the climate justice fight.(Image: Darcy Poulton up a monopole in Northern Queensland to #StopAdani. Photo: Front Line Action on Coal)

Environmental sociologist from the University of Newcastle, Vanessa Bowden talks about what she found when she went to the Hunter Valley to interview business leaders about their attitudes to coal and climate change. She explains that Tony Abbott’s doubts about the veracity of climate science and his dismissal of those concerned about climate change, still have considerable support, but there may...

FoE campaigners Pat Simons from Yes2Renewables, and Chloe Aldenhoven from Lock the Gate Victoria discuss developments in energy policy in the state. With the Federal government dithering, what sort of leadership are we seeing at the state level?

A wrap up of FoE's Walk This Way fundraiser and the subsequent campaign to Say NO to the Westgate Tunnel and a quick look at Matthew Guy's gas plan. We also interview Ed Hill - Friends of the Earth's Victorian Forests Campaigner about the upcoming Northcote by-election. 

The campaign against the Adani coal mine proposed for Queensland in the Galilee basin has been described as the biggest environmental battle in Australia since the Franklin Dam blockade. On Saturday October 7th the protest is being taken national. All over Australia the #StopAdani campaign is holding a day of special events and rallies. Blair Palese who heads up 350.org in Aust expains the nationa...

How do you create a sustainable city? Maybe start with a tiny house or two, or even whole suburb full. Heather Shearer, researcher in the Cities Research Institute at Griffith Univesity has been investigating. The Sustainable Cities campaign is relatively recent FoE initiative and Rachel Lynskey is the campaign's key co-ordinator. This week, she talks about her recent work around opposition to Tra...

Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific, FoE APac, the regional network for Friends of the Earth International includes, as well as Australia, 12 other countries. This year the annual general meeting was held in Papua New Guinea, and Chloe Aldenhoven, coal and gas campaigner at FoE Melbourne was the Australian delegate. This week on Dirt Radio we hear about some of the key environmental issues from arou...

Phil Evans is joined by Leigh and Lara from Friends of the Earth's Act On Climate collective to talk about how the effects of climate change are already being felt by rural Victorians. The Bureau of Metereology has declared 2017 the hottest winter on record and Friends of the Earth are pushing for Victoria's first climate budget in 2018. Keep up to date with the Act on Climate campaign at actoncli...

 The finance section of the Age newspaper reports: “Whitehaven Coal digs big net profit after tax of 405 million dollars". Dirt Radio provided extensive coverage of the pushback against the Whitehaven coal mine in northern NSW a few of years back - Maules Creek, the Leard forest blockade, the Frontline Action on Coal campaign. Tim Buckley from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analy...

Phil Evans reads Friends of the Earth's statement on same sex marriage before chatting with Pablo Brait from Market Forces about CommBank's decision to not fund the Adani Carmichael Mega Coal Mine and the recent climate policy from the scandal plagued bank. Find out how you can take action at marketforces.org.au

What have religion and spirituality got to do with climate change? Patrick Nunn, professor of geography at the University of the Sunshine Coast and specialist in Pacific Island cultures, thinks there is a deep and abiding connection that needs to be recognized by ENGOs and climate action campaigners. He explains why in this edition of Dirt Radio. Then, long time climate campaigner and active membe...

Dirt Radio's Phil Evans talks to Friends of the Earth's new Sustainable Cities campaigner Rachel Kate Lynskey and Grow FoE collective's Shalini Rautela and Nabila Norsofiena about Walk this Way - an exciting upcoming project looking at public transport and climate change.

The government’s been sending letters to environment groups registered as eligible for tax deductible donations. That includes Friends of the Earth. They do this every year, but this time around the letters are different, in a disturbing way. First up, Brendan Sydes from Environmental Justice Australia explains the background to latest orchestrated attempt to roll back the tax deductible status of...

Phil Evans is joined in the studio by Suse Scholem - an activist working for system change who recognises the importance of sustainable activism practice. The show outlines the diverse strategy streams for system change and a Top 3 list of things that activists can do to make their work more sustainable. Check out melbourne.foe.org.au for details about some of the actions described in the show.

This week, Hans Baer, anthropologist and development studies specialist at the University of Melbourne, takes the long view of these turbulent times as he explains what's come to be known as eco-socialism, and talks about eco-socialism's particular approach to climate politics and activism. Hans Baer's publications include: Global Warming and the Political Ecology of Health (2009), Global Capitali...

How do you move those seemingly immoveable obstacles on the path to environmental sustainability and gloabal ecological balance? Tria Manley is community organizer at Wilderness Society Australia, and this week she talks about what makes a community organizer and how community organizing builds the collective power needed to create change and maintain public engagement in environmental action. 

How much coal mining is enough coal mining? Well, in Australia, it seems there’s never enough. And there’s even an innovative technique being hyped to help convince the state government of New South Wales to let a new mine get started - in the Southern Highlands, right inside the water catchment area used by Sydney. Campaign Coordinator for the Lock the Gate Alliance in the Southern Highlands Char...

First up, Donald Trump - will he or won’t he? – stay in or pull out of the Paris climate agreement? Climate and environmental policy wonk at ANU, and researcher with the Earth System Governance Project at Lund University in Sweden, Luke Kemp, provides his perspective. Then, instead of selling arms to Saudi Arabia, Bryony Edwards, climate emergency campaigner, explains why the US and the rest of th...

Pat Simmons talks about the Yes2Renewables campaign, the pending road trip as part of the western Victoria Energy Future forums, and the Y2R energy future survey asking the community to let the experts and especially the politicans know old paradigms for power no longer work.  Glenn Todd, from ActionSkills, previews "Non-Violent Creative Action – Training and ActionJam", a once in a long time oppo...

Phil Evans is joined by counterAct's Nicola Paris to discuss policing around the campaign to save Beeliar Wetlands from the Roe8 Highway extension in WA and a recent community report. The report published by the legal support team for the Beeliar protests documents over twenty incidents of excessive use of force, unlawful use of pepper spray, injuries from horses, tasers threatening minors, unlawf...