Dirt Radio

This week fresh from  Victoria's budget lock-up, Leigh Ewbank, co-ordinator for FoE's Act on Climate campaign, talks about the ways that the 2017 budget makes a gesture towards around climate change. But plans to make climate a major plank of the state's 2018 budget are now being mapped through FoE community conversations and outreach initiatives.

In March this year, Victoria became the first state in Australia to declare a permanent ban on fracking and on shore gas extraction. This ban was the result of a huge mobilization of communities right across the state, especially communities in regional and rural areas.To celebrate this long and hard fought win, Friends of the Earth held a special fundraiser celebration in Melbourne with a special screening of a "The Bentley Effect", a documentary film about another hard fought win, where a comunity in northern NSW took a stand to protect its precious resources and livelihood to fight against the money and the power of politicians and the fossil fuel industry. Kudra Ricketts was on Bentley blockade for many months and she speaks about her engagement and experience as front line environmental activist.In its just released climate change policy, the Westpac bank declared it was not would not invest in new coal mines. This means that the bank will no longer consider putting money into the Adani coal mine in the Galilee Basin. Another win for the environment. But the fight to Stop Adani is far from over. Rob Foster from 350.org explains why.

More than 85% of the Northern Territory is currently covered by petroleum and gas exploration licences and applications. Community members have significant concerns on the practice of "fracking" and the impacts of the unconventional gas industry, and want to see the practice banned. This week, Jimmy Cocking, Director at Arid Lands Environment Centre in Alice Springs talks about the 620km Northern Gas Pipeline that will open up the NT to fracking – a development of dubious economic value, and a potential source of huge environmental damage.Remember the federal government's National Wind Farm Commission? Set up by Tony Abbott, after what appeared to be a massive set of health problems connected living near wind turbines, it began operating in October 2015. The Wind Farm commissioner has just tabled his first report, and Simon Chapman, long time Public Health researcher and advocate, best known for his critical work on the tobacco industry, turns his attention to this report to see if taxpayers are getting value for money.

Gene editing is a new bio-engineering technique that allows precision dicing and splicing of DNA – like a pair of molecular scissors - and, according to its proponents,  the process can be used to cure everything from AIDS to malaria. Louise Sales campaign co-ordinator of FoE’s Emerging Tech Project has been investigating.Dr. Michael Antoniou, specialist in molecular genetics at King’s College London, explains how gene editing works and why this newly fashionable bio-technology needs to be rigorously tested and then regulated before being fully introduced in Australia.Claire Robinson, co-author of GMO Myths and Truths and editor of GMWatch.org talks about how countries in Europe are responding to this emerging technology, and the implications for growing crops and raising animals for food consumption.

At the end of 2015, the climate summit in Paris, COP 21, saw nearly 200 countries sign on to confront global climate change. In November 2016, there was a follow up conference in Morocco. But Australia is still dragging its feet to the table, and the Adani coalmine - the biggest in the southern hemisphere if it goes ahead - was given fast-track approval by the Queensland government and the Turnbull federal govenment is promising one billion of taxpayer funds to kick-start the mine.This week, Simon Torok, a specialist in science communication talks about how he finds ways to communicate the climate crisis that will make sense to non-scientific people.Then, Mik Aidt, journalist and climate action campaigner explains a petition he's organized to send to the ABC and SBS calling on Australia's public broadcasters to 'break the silence on the climate emergency'.

Australian summer 2016-17 is officially over, and it has been a weird and unsettled one. Sarah Perkins Kirkpatrick, research fellow at the University of New South Wales with a specialsm in climate extremes related to droughts and heat waves in Australia is here with Dirt Radio this week to explain why.The Yarra River has its own advocate. He’s Andrew Kelly, the Yarra Riverkeeper.The river runs for 242 kilometres through the Yarra Valley, across Melbourne's suburbs, and to the CBD. Environmentalists have been lobbying for better planning rules for years, particularly around the 41-kilometre stretch between Richmond and Warrandyte, where development pressure is the greatest. Now there’s the Yarra River Action Plan –  just announced by the Andrew’s government.

What is an environment campaigner and activist supposed to do in a post –truth world? In the era of 'alternative facts' and fake news? In a world being remade by Brexit, the victory of Donald Trump… and in Australia, the re-emergence of Pauline Hanson and the One Nation party?Cam Walker, campaign co-ordinator with Friends of the Earth in Melbourne, talks about FoE's future campaign alignments and strategizing faced with the reality of these momentous historic changes.Also, a live cross to 350.org anti-Adani coal mine rally at a Westpac branch in the CBD, protesting the bank's commitment to fund this climate wrecking disaster.

FoE's Ursula Alquier, key organizer with Lock the Gate Victoria and lead campaigner for Coal and Gas Free Victoria provides an up-date on the onshore gas mining ban declared last year by the Andrew’s Government and talks about the misinformation currently being circulated by the gas lobby.Anti-coal campaigner Maddie Egan from FoE Melbourne was one of the delegates at Friends of the Earth International's Biennial General Meeting in Bandar Lampung, South Sumatra. She speaks about experience there, and her connection with the the School of Sustainability project

The sun is setting on coal in the Latrobe Valley. We have already seen the closure of Hazelwood and the future of other plants looking in doubt. What will the end of coal look like in the Latrobe Valley? This week, Kate Wattchow, Friends of the Earth Latrobe Valley community campaigner, talks about community planning and preparation for a future beyond coal.Join the call for just climate action at melbourne.foe.org.au

Post Trump, post Brexit and the re-animation of One Nation. Progressive movements around the world pondering - where to next? This week on Dirt Radio, we begin to offer some locally focused answers. This is the building from the ground up edition.To start, Hayden Annable from Curvatecture talks about super adobe dwellings and how they get built with innovative, inexpensive and sustainable earthbag technology. An earthbag technology home is being constucted in Gippsland over the summer, and in conjunction with the building, workshops are being offered to the community to introduce this technology.In the second half of the show, Em Gayfer from Yes2Renewables explains the next stage of FoE's climate action campaign and building momentum and support in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs. The kick-off happens with a picnic on Sunday Dec 4, All Nations Park in Northcote.