If you are starting to think that the grip of the coal and gas industry on Australian land and politics is impossible to break -take hope. New coal mines are being knocked back by the courts for their climate impacts. In February  2019   the New South Wales Land and Environment Court made  a landmark judgement  to reject a new open-cut coal mine near Gloucester in the Hunter Valley,  NSW.  For the first time one of the key reasons given was the global heating impacts of the co2 released when the coal is burned. Six months later the legal precedent was repeated when it was determined that   South Korean company’s Kepco’s plan for a coal mine in Bylong Valley cannot go ahead.   For the second time the court case considered the global heating impacts of burning coal.  Coal investors and political backers like Senator Matt Canavan, NSW Minister Rob Stokes and the Minerals Policy Council are in a spin. They are now trying to change the law to make sure no such decision is ever made again. Earth Matters joins farmers from the Bylong Valley  outside the  Korean Embassy in Canberra wanting  Kepco to sell the land in the Bylong Valley back to farmers . James gives a mini update on the mines underneath Sydney and Central Coast water supplies,  the massive proposed Shenhua mine and gas extraction in NSW.Links:Petitions:Protect Our Laws from the Coal LobbyOrganisations:Lock the GateThe Australia Institute. The Australian Student Environment NetworkClimate Action Network AustaliaList of Climate Action Network Australia member groups List of Australian Climate Action Groups (incomplete)List of Sydney  Climate Action Groups News Stories:New coal projects in Sydney's catchment on hold after panel's reports , Sydney Morning Herald. 9/11/19The Berejiklian government will pause new approvals for mining under Sydney's catchment until well into 2020 as it considers an advisory panel's report that environment groups say was too lenient as water supplies dwindle. Show  #1219  was produced by Bec Horridge

IMARC blockade live outside broadcast (Part 2)Recorded live at the (IMARC) International Mining & Resource Conference blockade in Melbourne Oct 28-31. Presenters Viv Malo & Robbie Thorpe (The Black Block) and Michaela Stubbs speak with Porobibi (West Papuan student activist); Tim (Wiradjuri anti-coal/CSG activist); Lucco (Latin American Solidarity Network); and Jessica (grass roots community activist) talking grass roots resistance against mining ecocide and genocide in West Papua, Australia, Colombia, Chile and everywhere.Earth Matters #1218 was produced by Nicky Stott

IMARC blockade live outside broadcast (Part 1)Recorded live at the (IMARC) International Mining & Resource Conference blockade in Melbourne Oct 28-31. Presenters Robbie Thorpe and Viv Malo (The Black Block) speak with Jerome Small, Aunty Vicki Abdullah (Tjiwarl & ANFA co-chair) & former greens MP & Gunditjmara & Gunai woman Lidia Thorpe on extractive industries & ecocide, and Indigenous rights & solutionsEarth Matters #1217 was produced by Nicky Stott

On today’s show we hear about Queensland’s new anti lock-on laws.  Then we get a report-back from Blockade IMARC in Melbourne and the violent police response.  Guests: Andy Paine (Frontline Action on Coal); Apsara (Blockade IMARC); Julia Dehm (MALS)    Earth Matters #1216 was produced by Teishan Ahearne.

"Everything that we have been fighting for over years of our activism has been  for the  rights to be able to make decisions about what happens on our countries. .  My Country is been raped and pillaged and plundered by mining corporations  for coal in the Hunter Valley Region and for gas in Wangkumurra Country ....." "We have been fighting for the  rights to be able to stop those industries  from destroying our land and destroying what is precious to us, taking away  our rights of possession and rights of  ownership and rights of  governance over those countries. We wish to restore our rights over those over those countries . We have a sovereign right that has not ceded..." "If  non indigenous people support and help establish  structural foundations of a sovereign governance,  that allows us to be able to able invite non indigenous people to collaborate on how we best proceed  further  on a journey  that allows us to protect and preserve our countries and our living envirionment and restore our communal values again"                           Uncle Albert Hartnett                 Guests:     Uncle  Albert Hartnett a  Wangkumurra man, and   long time Aboriginal activist and rights defender was a guest   at the Australian Student Environment Network Training Camp.                                    Sylvia Gunn from the Australian Student Environment NetworkLINKS  Australian Student Environment Network: https://asen.org.au/ The next Students of Sustainability "SOS 2020"  giant environment conference will be from January 13-17 in Sydney. This week's show is #1215 and was produced by Bec Horridge

Djab Wurrung, XR & the Nueva Vizcaya BarricadeThis week on Earth Matters we hear from Djab Wurrung and Gunai sovereign Lidia Thorpe update on Djap Wurrung protection blockade; Extinction rebellion spring actions over the last two weeks, including solidarity activist Kevin Bracken on the Nueva Vizcaya barricade against Australian mining company OceanaGold in protest against their violent and destructive mining agenda; as well as the upcoming IMARC blockade.This week's show is #1214, and was produced by Nicky Stott.

Warburdar Bununu - Water Shield documentary is a new short film highlighting the fight for water rights and mining on country near Boorooloola in the Northern Territory. In this program you'll hear from the Director Jason De Santolo and community members Scott McDinney and Gadrien Hoosam and hear of their on-going fight and struggle with local mining companies and the water contamination issues now affecting the local community members and the waterways.

Mining is at the forefront of climate change, and the opposition to it is the nexus of indigenous and environmental struggles. A prime example of this is Ecuador. It’s one of the most bio-diverse countries on earth, but it’s people and environment are under threat as mining companies - many of them from Australia - are swooping in.  From Ecuador to Australia, miners, their financiers and governments are determined to destroy this planet in their pursuit of profit. Blockade IMARC Alliance are organising a mass civil disobedience protest against the conference.  Guests: Anthony Amis (Melbourne Rainforest Action Group); Maria Soupos (Blockade IMARC Alliance).  https://rainforestactiongroup.org/https://blockadeimarc.com/ Earth Matters #1212 was produced by Teishan Ahearne.

This is about  the  fate of the black throated finch  as Adani is bulldozing  some of its last natural habitat . Michael   Kane from the  Mackay Conservation Group challenges the legitimacy of using offsets to counter such habitat destruction. "Its not over yet" says Emma about the long battle to Stop Adani. She describes the ongoing prosecutions of  Adani,  campaigning to persuade companies not to take Adani contracts and community engagement for a just transition. We also go to Townsville where at dawn two Queensland women; Jo Bulmer and Wendy Tubman, locked themselves  by the neck with D shaped bike locks to the gates of the pipe manufacturer Iplex. Along with 25 climate other change campaigners ,they were demanding that Iplex withdraw the tender it  has submitted to supply pipes to Adani’s Carmichael coal project.Guests: Michael Kane, Emma Barrett: Mackay Conservation Group Links:"Adanis finch plan is approved just weeks after being sent back to the drawing board. " The ConversationEnvironmental Defenders Office Media release Adanis current management plan for the Black throated finchThis week's show is #1211, and was produced by Bec Horridge

Mauna Kea Struggle: Aloha, Not for SaleThis week on Earth Matters we hear from Kanaka Maoli activists involved in the ongoing resistance struggle and protest blockade against the construction of a giant telescope development on Mauna Kea, which is a dormant volcano on the Island of Hawaii that is also a sacred site of deep significance to the Indigenous Kanaka Maoli people.And also, why this particular struggle has engaged so profoundly with the global Indigenous resistance network.Guests: Kealoha Pisciotta: Mauna Kea Anaina Hou; Kalamaoka'aina Niheu MD: Mauna Medic Healers Hui; Iokepa Casumbal-Salazar: Ithaca CollegeLinks:Hawaiin Environmental AllianceHawaiʻi Unity and Liberation InstituteMauna Medic Healers Hui(donate to support the front line)Audio excerpts for this episode have been sourced, with thanks, from Archive.org & Sojourner Truth & Rising Up with Sonali  This week's show is #1210, and was produced by Nicky Stott.