Earth Matters

Cultural Landscapes, Connecting Nature and Culture  This week's show unpacks the deep entanglement of nature and culture.  Lana Nguyen from A Climate for Art speaks with Emeritus Professor Lesley Head where she challenges the Western divide that separates urban life from the natural world. She critiques the notion of a "pristine" wilderness as a colonial fantasy, advocating instead for a recogniti...

Conversation with a Climate Scientist; A Supercharged World This week's show is all about climate science, how things like drought, floods and fires impact rural Victoria.  Lana Nguyen from A Climate for Art chat to Dr. Linden Ashcroft, who explores the convergence of climate science, cultural memory, and Australian regional identity. She examines how extreme weather reshapes community narratives...

Janet Salisbury in conversation with Tzeporah Berman and Dr Amanda Cahill continues evaluating the  "Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels" conference held in Santa Marta, Colombia. This conference represents a significant multilateral process outside the conventional UN climate negotiations, aiming to develop an international roadmap for a just transition from fossil fuels, with a focus on phasing...

October is History Month around Australia! Earth Matters listens back to the first episode of the Exploring Extreme Heat series – Hot Histories. We delve into the near past to discover how Australians of European background lived through heatwaves in the 19th and 20th centuries, and what their experiences mean for Australians today. We hear from settler Australian environmental historians Rochelle...

Unpack the  "Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels" conference held in Santa Marta, Colombia. This conference represents a significant multilateral process outside the conventional UN climate negotiations, aiming to develop an international roadmap for a just transition from fossil fuels, with a focus on phasing out fossil fuel production."What I consider to be a major gap in international climate...

Join this Women's Climate Congress yarn exploring the many ways First Nations women are leading change through culture, community, governance and Country. Explore the profound, spiritual connection between Indigenous identity, language, and ancestral lands. Emphasizing the urgent climate threats facing frontline communities, particularly the Torres Strait Islands, advocating for community-led solu...

What does leadership look like when it begins with responsibility rather than authority? How do First Nations women continue to care for Country, strengthen language, advocate for water, preserve culture in the face of increasing climate change impacts, and create spaces where communities can heal, lead and thrive? Join Women's Climate Congress for an evening of yarning that explores the many ways...

Many of us talk about nature as something that exists away from people, outside cities. For the vast quantity of us who call urban environments home, this makes it hard to appreciate, connect with, and work to protect the complex and remarkable web of life that surrounds us. What other stories can we tell, that embrace the multispecies liveliness of the urban community? How might you fight for its...

Off the back of part one—an interview with independent climate expert Ketan Joshi last month—Mia brings in other perspectives on the data centre boom.  You’ll hear from Professor Priya Rajagopalan of RMIT Univeristy; Dr. Thomas Nann, CEO of Allegro Energy and a globally recognised expert on long-duration energy storage.; and Britney Henderson, Greens candidate for the western metropolitan region i...

This program is all about the important role dingoes have in the environment. We were joined by Co-Founder of the Dingo Conservancy Jo Samuel-King. She shed light on the difficulties in protecting dingoes, their lack of protections, common misconceptions and how beneficial they are in ecosystems. To find more information search The Dingo Conservancy on Facebook or go to dingoes.net We then hear fr...

Interviewed by Priya Kunjan, Dr Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka, founder of youth-centred environmental organization Finafinau, joins us from Pago Pago to discuss recent progress in the United States government's moves to advance offshore mineral extraction in the waters off American Samoa in the face of significant resistanceSabrina spoke with us about the cultural and environmental impacts that deep sea m...

We delve into the critical state of the Great Barrier Reef through the lens of Tony Fonts, President of the Whitsunday Conservation Council and a veteran diver with 45 years of immersive experience. Tony upacks the impacts of poor water quality, unsustainable fishing practices and that: "the greatest threat to the reef by far is climate change."He describes the devastating effects of coral bleachi...

By now you would have heard the news: data centres are threatening to unravel the progress we’ve made on emissions reductions, as well as the health of communities throughout the continent. In fact, so-called Australia is a global investment hotspot, with 162 data centres in operation and at least 90 more on the way.  On today’s show, we’ll hear from a global expert on the newest and most ferociou...

The first episode of Earth Matters aired on the 26th of July 1996 - exactly 30 years ago this week! In this special anniversary episode* we time warp back thirty years and listen to excerpts from the first ever episode of Earth Matters broadcast on 26 July 1996. We speak to founder and inaugural presenter/producer Juliet Fox – now Projects Coordinator at 3CR – who shares her memories of the first...

In July 2026 activists and artists from across so-called Australia came together, forming a collective known as the Art of Resistance Tour. The group traveled across the desert with the intention to protest militarism and extractivism with art and performance. We hear from activists at these protests shedding light on the impact BHP's Olympic Dam Mine has on sacred mound springs on Arabunna countr...

Earth Matters Bec Horridge meets a persistent team: Fridays 4 Forests [ Facebook] who regularly protest outside Janelle Saffin MP's office in Lismore on Friday. They are calling for the creation of the Richmond River Koala Parks and to "Stop Native Forest Logging".Then we meet climate campaigner Brett, from Market Forces who dresses as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz to call out Australian Super's c...

Earth Matters 30th Birthday Special: Goolengook Blockade Reflections  This month in June, Earth Matters has turned 30 years old, and our proud partner 3cr Community Radio also celebrates their 50th Birthday. To celebrate these important milestones we have been going through our archives.  In this episode we hear the first Earth Matters host, Juliet Fox at the Goolengook blockades, in East Gippslan...

This year, Earth Matters is thirty years old! And 3CR, our proud parent, is 50 years old! We’re celebrating by digging into the archives, tipping our hat to past presenters who paved the way with hard-hitting and crucial content on environmental current affairs. Have you heard of Pine Gap? Most likely you have. You may even have heard about the fight against the construction of the US military bas...

Earth Matters presents a live show in the studios of 3CR in Fitzroy Naarm to raise funds for our broadcasting. Earth Matters presenters Kieran Stewart-Assherton, Mia Audrey and Claudia Craig together with past producer Judith Peppard are joined on phone by Bec Horridge and Hannah York for a live to air Radiothon broadcast. Also on the show we hear from campaigners Cam Walker (Friends of the Earth)...

To celebrate 30 years of Earth Matters, Mia digs into the archives and presents a special feature on a historic milestone: the Jabiluka blockade. You'll hear former presenter Juliet Fox interviewing Jane Weepers, spokesperson for the Jabiluka Alliance, on the first day of the blockade in March 1998; and audio from the road trip to the proposed uranium mine site organised by the Australian Student...

Content WarningThe episode mentions domestic and sexual violence, and online hate in this episode which might be distressing for some listeners. Later on there is a more in-depth discussion of mental illness including suicidal ideation. The presenter announces when the more in-depth discussion begins and provides support service contacts for anyone needing help at the end of the show. Part 2 Explo...

This week on Earth Matters, Hannah speaks with fire scientist Phil Zylstra about the large planned burn that took place in the Snowy River National Park.  He speaks on the ecological impacts planned burns have on wet forest ecosystems and how Forest Fire Management Victoria is escalating the impacts of fires in the long-term.  We also hear from activist and organiser Violet Coco on fuel breaks mim...

This episode of Earth Matters examines the ecological crisis unfolding across this continent, from the destruction of the Victorian Volcanic Plains to extinction, land clearing, invasive species and climate change. It explores the responsibilities people hold in response, including First Nations obligations to Country grounded in lore, kinship and cultural practice, alongside the broader responsib...

Sooty from South East Forest Rescue shares a significant legal win in the High Court, which affirmed the right for third parties with a "special interest" to take Forestry Corporation to court in New South Wales. This overturned Forestry's argument that such actions would "open the floodgates” to legal action from environmentalists. Sooty describes  the subsequent ongoing case in the Land Environm...

This week on Earth Matters, we zoom out, and across the world, to speak with an author and human development practitioner based in Antigua, about the big picture of sustainable development. You’ll hear about what has changed in the development sector over recent decades; Cherise’s intersectional understanding of poverty and wealth; the concept of the metacrisis; and more. Cherise Adjodha is an aut...