Earth Matters

12 months on from the start of last year's horror bushfire season, four experts discuss what we can learn from last summer's fires to better protect not just property and assets, but Australia's biodiversity and threatened species in future fire seasons.'The impacts (of the fires) on biodiversity is greater than any other single event in our lifetime... They've set back years of work by individual...

Guardians of the Forest: Indigenous youth global call outThis week on Earth Matters four young indigenous rights activists from around the world discuss impacts of COVID on their communities, and on their environmental campaigns and struggles. They put the call out for young people around the world to unite now in solidarity and fight the global establishment in the face of climate crisis. (record...

The school strikers for climate action are back!   Rosie and Jimmy will tell you clearly what  they want.  Into the lawns of Parliament House Canberran,  they plant hundreds of  placards made by school students  protesting against Morrisons gas led recovery and for renewable energy.  " I have had to miss out on my school and learning  so that I can do the job the adults are  meant to be doing."  J...

Not-so-golden rice: Agro-imperialism in a time of COVID-19 (Part 3—Final)The Gates Foundation funded project ‘Golden Rice’ is an unnecessary and unwanted GMO technology driven by big agriculture corporations purely for profit. It endangers agrobiodiversity, self-determination and community health in the global south. Agroecologists & small-medium/peasant farmer networks have been campaigning again...

At the beginning of the pandemic the Morrison Federal government announced the creation of the COVID commission. Stacked with mining and fossil fuel interests, it’s little surprise that now in September the government is pushing what it calls a ‘gas led recovery.’ But could a different COVID recovery be possible - or maybe even necessary?  On this week's show we talk with Dylan Goldsworthy from Wo...

NSW Upper House inquiry underway into impacts of dams in Murray Darling fast tracked by NSW Gov. The Murray-Darling supports RAMSAR wetlands and critical ecosystems for endangered fish & migratory birds and supplies food for millions. So whether you live near a project, downstream or elsewhere in Australia these projects effect you! This week on Earth Matters we hear from community members opposin...

Not-so-golden rice: Agro-imperialism in a time of COVID-19 (Part 2) The Gates Foundation funded project ‘Golden Rice’ is an unnecessary and unwanted GMO technology driven by big agriculture corporations purely for profit. It endangers agrobiodiversity, self-determination and community health in the global south. Agroecologists & small-medium/peasant farmer networks have been campaigning against th...

200 Years in Antarctica: Australia's bicentenary development plans On the 200th anniversary of the first European sighting of Antarctica, Australia is planning the biggest single development in Antarctic history. In this episode we talk to Shaun Brookes, environmental researcher at the University of Tasmania, about what the development is and what environmental impact it could have. We speak with ...

A new report titled  "The extinction crisis in Australia's cities and towns " has just been released by the Australian Conservation Foundation. It shows that there a lot of threatened plants and animals in Australian urban areas  and just how much forest habitat and grasslands in and on the edge of our towns  and cities is destroyed for development  under Australia's weak national environment laws...

Not-so-golden rice: Agro-imperialism in a time of COVID-19 (Part 1)The Gates Foundation funded project ‘Golden Rice’ is an unnecessary and unwanted GMO technology driven by big agriculture corporations purely for profit. It endangers agrobiodiversity, self-determination and community health in the global south. Agroecologists & small-medium/peasant farmer networks have been campaigning against the...

On today’s show, Raj Patel helps us un-pack the history of capitalism, and how it has radically altered the ecology of this planet. Patel is the co-author, with Jason W. Moore of the book 'A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things : A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet'  This episode we hear Patel outline these 7 cheaps, and he explains the crisis capitalism is facing. In...

"Leave Our Lakes Alone" - Darling-Baaka Community Says NoThe Menindee Lakes in far west NSW are the site for large water savings project under the Murray Darling Basin Plan. After seeing this unique ecosystem decline over the past 2 decades, the local community is fiercely opposed to any changes that would leave the lakes with less water. Tom Kennedy Broken Hill City Councillor and publicity offic...

‘Once in a decade chance’: Australia’s environment law review and why it mattersLidia Thorpe, Gunai/Brabwauloong/Briakaloong/DjapWurrung/Gunditjmara Greens Senator;  and Suzanne Milthorpe, Environment Law campaigner for the Wilderness Society discuss what’s wrong with Australia’s environment laws, the government’s plans for a hasty fix in regards to the ongoing Environment Protection and Biodivers...

Non-violence verses direct action: We need both! Leslie James Pickering, Burning Books co-owner & former ELF spokesperson, and radical treatise 'Eco-Warriors' author Rik Scarce, debate non-violent civil disobedience versus direct action tactics like property destruction. The audio in this week's episode was sourced from The Final Straw Radio, and was recorded at November 2017 Burning Books communi...

Jenny Weber  works alongside Bob Brown. She takes us to the heart of the  campaign to save Tasmania's Tarkine wilderness where 20 people recently occupied tree sits. Bunnings hardware store  has just vetoed sourcing any timber form Vic forests, as the forestry corporation  has been found to be logging illegally. Jenny explores the implications of this for the push to persuade consumers not to buy...

NT Fight Against FrackingThe Federal government's National Covid-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC) has proposed a boost to the country's economy through an increase to the gas industry. Wiradjuri and Noongar woman Edie Shepherd (Original Power) and Daniel Robins (Protect Country Alliance) discuss the current situation in the Northern Territory with communities around the Territory alread opposing...

Cloud Frightening: Techno-spin & false solutionsLouise Sales (FoE Emerging Tech Project) & Silvia Ribeiro (ETC Group) discuss environmental, safety and green washing concerns of global proportions over ongoing open air testing of a geoengineering technique known as cloud brightening on the Great Barrier Reef. These tests are part of a $326 million project funded by fossil fuels corporates includin...

Extractive industries threaten Indigenous heritage across this continent and the Shenhua Watermark Coal Mine is no exception. Gomeroi woman Dolly Talbott has taken the Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley to court over her decision to approve the Shenhua Watermark coal mine despite the fact it will destroy sacred sites with "immeasurable value" on her Country.   Guests: Gomeroi woman Dolly Talb...

"Police violence is an environmental justice issue...Abolition should be a demand of environmental justice." - Nick Estes.    This week we bring you an edited extract from a wide-ranging discussion between Indigenous academics Kim TallBear and Nick Estes, who locate the current uprising in the United States within a larger context of capitalism and colonialism, and a long history of resistance.   ...

Environmental Racism: BIPOC in climate movementsPatrisse Cullors—climate justice & decarceration activist— and one of the original founders of the Black Lives Matter movement— speaks with Khristen Hamilton, from Zero Hour, about the impacts of environmental racism. Also, Extinction Rebellion youth network activists Fiona Jarvis & Cynthia Leung from XR New York City and Krissy Oliver-Mays from XR C...

BirdLife Australia has launched a campain calling for logging to stop in the habitat of  the critically endangered Swift Parrot. Armed with Forestry Harvest Plans we take a drive into a partially burnt State Forest near Ulladulla, NSW that is due to be logged.   A forest defender describes how to use the harvest plans to find out if the loggers break rules about protecting animals and plants. Rece...

First People First: Pay the RentGunai & Gunditjmara activist Lidia Thorpe speaks with Teishan Ahearne about the ongoing impacts of colonisation on Country, and her vision for how non-indigenous allies in the environment movement can do better to unite with and support the struggles of First Nations peoples. Also, what the Victorian state government’s sneaky moves with extractive industries means f...

This week we’re looking at the fight to save Victoria’s native forests, and what the government and their logging agency are getting away with under cover of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Then later in the show, we pay respects to the late Jack Mundey and look for hope in the history of the Green Bans movement.  Guest: Chris Schuringa (GECO); Dave Kerin (Earth Worker); Jack Mundey (archival audio).  Lin...

The Great Barrier Reef, one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet has experienced its third mass coral bleaching event in 5 years.  But what impact is this having across the whole ecosystem and what is the outlook for the future? We speak with Dr Anne Hoggett AM from the Lizard Island Research Station and Tanya Murphy from Divers for Reef Conservation. Support their workLizard...

Australia is known to have high quality drinking water, and standards that ensure the health and safety of the population. But is this really the whole picture? Although most Australians are accustomed to turning on the tap and safe, clean drinking water flowing out, many regions are suffering from a water crisis. With droughts creating limited water supply and contamination of the water that is a...