Dirt Radio

A moratorium on the extraction of unconventional gas, better known as fracking, was introduced in 2012 by the former Coalition government due to community pressure. The moratorium expires mid-2015. Labor pledged an inquiry before any change would take place, and this week the inquiry holds a session in Melbourne. In the first part of Dirt Radio, we hear about how communities all across the Gippsland region of Victoria have organized to "Lock the Gate" on the mining of on-shore gas.In part two, we get a FoE perspective on ALP environment policy and the party's national conference being held in Melbourne on the weeked of July 25-27

“Enemy forces" are dug in and poised in the jungles of Northern Australia waiting for thousands of allied troops to storm ashore and drop from the skies for the nation’s biggest war game — Talisman Sabre 2015. More than 30,000 soldiers, marines, sailors and flyers from Australia, the US, New Zealand and Japan will participate in the exercise scenario.This week a Dirt Radio discussion of the implications and environmental costs of the bi-annual Talisman Sabre war 'games'/rehearsal.

East Gippsland, forest heartland of Australia deserves to be protected and promoted as the great tourism asset it is, not logged at a loss to the taxpayer. GECO is an independent grassroots environment organisation based in East Gippsland dedicated to protecting the remaining old growth forests of the region. They're holding a a weekend of threatened species surveying workshops, forest walks and campaign info sessions. We talk to forest campaigner Ed Hill to get the background.At 8am Mon July 6, members of the Melbourne Palestine Action Coalition (MPAC) shut down the headquarters of Israeli arms manufacturer, ELBIT SYSTEMS, at 235 Ingles St Port Melbourne to mark the first anniversary of the 2014 Israeli ‘Protective Edge’ assault on Gaza. The group have blockaded access to the building and currently have two people locked on to the entrance gate. Dirt Radio talked to the Coalition's spokesperson about the issues and the current action.

Some disturbing information from the America's Navy website:More than 33,000 U.S. and Australian personnel will participate in the biennial military training exercise Talisman Sabre 2015 in Australia July 4-19. Talisman Sabre, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Pacific Command and Australian Defence Force Headquarters Joint Operations Command, will incorporate U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force and the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army, and Royal Australian Air Force as well as other government agencies from each country. Featuring 21 ships, including the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS George Washington and more than 200 aircraft and three submarines, this sixth iteration of the exercise will focus on joint training of a combined task force of U.S. and Australian forces in a mid-intensity, high-end operation, incorporating... land, sea, and air training.As Australia's military gears up for the Talisman Sabre operations, peace activists from all over the country will converge on the war games extravaganza at Shoalwater Bay in Rockhampton.Dirt Radio talks with two activists heading to the Peace Convergence which aims to disrupt the "war rehearsals" and create counter narratives to highlight the cost of the US-Australia military alliance. Debates, concerts, parades, and a "peace pilgrim" into the Shoalwater Exercise Area are all part of the planned events.

This is James Inhofe. He's a senator in the state of Oklahoma: "God's still up there, the arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous". The problem is he's been the Chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. This is the committee that has oversight on environmenal matters in the US. And this is Pope Francis last week on climate change: "decisive action, here and now".Denial 101x is an on-line open access course run by environment researcher John Cook from the University of Queensland,  and he speaks to Dirt Radio this week about the course and why he decided to put it together.Then we head to western Victoria to talk with a spokesperson from the Otway Conservation Association about why burning native forest is not a renewable energy source and should not be included in the RET.

The Coalition government seems to be intent on trying to silence anyone who stands up for the environment.The House of Representatives Environment Committee is now conducting an inquiry into environmental groups who are eligible to receive tax-deductible donations. While the chair of the Committee has assured Friends of the Earth ‘it’s not a witch hunt’, it is hard to see this as anything but another part of the ideological attack on the environment movement being waged by the Abbott government.This week Dirt Radio looks at some of the campaign work it's been involved in over the past year and the importance of continued community support at this critical time for environmental activism in Australia.

Once a year, 3CR's Radiothon takes off, raising enough dosh to keep broadcasting and 'activating the airwaves', with programs like Dirt Radio, and a bunch of other enviro-focused shows and with lots of progressive and activist oriented content.This week, we hear about why, in the Abbott era of environmental outrages, programs like Dirt Radio and organizations like Friends of the Earth are more important than ever.

On May 31, the No Room for Racism campaign co-hosted a forum on racism and Islamophobia with the Islamic Council of Victoria at the Richmond Town Hall in the City of Yarra. United Patriots Front, a breakaway group from Reclaim Australia, attracting neo-Nazis and white supremacists, insisted on holding a 'counter-rally' on the street. This week we attempt to unpick and analyze the underlying social and political currents driving these developments. Seemingly a distant issue from the environmental concerns of Dirt Radio, these developments are symptomatic of a emergent politcal culture lurching even further to the right, which ultimately will have an impact on all forms of progressive activism.

Weather Stations is a global project which places literature and storytelling at the heart of the conversations around climate change. Launched in 2014, the Weather Stations project harnesses the transformative power of words to imagine, in the context of a threatened environment, how we might live our lives differently. Five partner cities are involved - London, Warsaw, Dublin, Warsaw and Melbourne. Each partner city selects a local school as a 'Substation' where students work with teachers and mentors to discover ways to develop as citizens with the knowledge, motivation and tools to fight for a more sustainable future.Footscay City College is the only school in Australia taking part. This week we hear from FCC students participating in the Weather Stations project and how this has affected their thinking and behavior around the issue of climate change.

This week, sounds and voices from FoE's 40th birthday shindig, and we hear why FoE is unique and a much admired part of the environment movement in Australia.