EarthChat

Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) are areas of land and sea Country managed by First Nations groups in accordance with Traditional Owners’ objectives. IPAs deliver biodiversity conservation outcomes for the benefit of all Australians, through voluntary agreements with the Australian Government. There are 87 IPAs across Australia, 9 in the Kimberley.

Plastic Free July is only a few sleeps away! Now is the time to think about the small steps we can all take to reduce our use of harmful plastics. To help us, in this week's EarthChat, Tim is again chatting with Rebecca Prince-Ruiz, the founder of the global Plastic Free Foundation.

There are always interesting goings on at "the Arb", and, it’s always a joy to catch up with the passionate and innovative folk who work there.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to visit the Arb, it is a must! Only 160 kms from Melbourne along the Hume Highway, it’ll take you under two hours to get there. And it offers 24 hour access 365 days a year. The retail plant Nursery is open Monday & Thursday from 12 - 4 pm from late March - check the website for the date the Nursery opens each year. For the Arb’s full history, achievements, and events, It’s well worth a ‘surf’.

This week, Tim Budge talks with Alex Kelly, an artist, organiser and filmmaker based on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Working across film, theatre, communications strategy and troublemaking, Alex purposefully connects the disciplines of art and social change.

Read more about Alex here and listen in for a fascinating and inspiring conversation.

This week, Marie Gerrard is chatting about a new group in our area. The group is currently setting up a store of donated medical and educational goods that are being discarded by our own health and educational institutions but are greatly needed by our International neighbourhood. Jenny Foster from the Rotary Club of Change Makers Cub together with a highly motivated group that will be sending container loads of carefully sorted goods that the recipients have indicated that they both need but also can service and have the training to use.

Friends of the Earth (FoE) is the largest grassroots federation of environmental activists in the world and currently active in more than 70 countries, with over 2 million supporters and members world wide. FoE began 56 years ago in the USA (San Francisco in 1969), and 53 years ago FoE set up its first Australian office in Adelaide (1972), and a year later (1973) the Melbourne office was set up. The national Australian office was established in 1974. Since 1973, Friends of the Earth Australia (FoE) has defended and protected forests and waterways, stood as allies in the struggles for First Nations’ self determination and land rights, opposed uranium mining, protested the destruction of war, and kept fossil fuels in the ground.

In this week’s EarthChat Ruth Yeatman celebrates ‘Friends of the Earth’ (FoE) with long time member and campaigns’ coordinator, Cam Walker, who has tirelessly worked with the organization since 1989. Cam Walker is responsible for co-ordinating FoE's various campaigns and projects. He has worked for decades on grassroots environmental campaigns, starting with the Franklin River in 1982, and with indigenous communities and organisations. Over the past 8 years Cam’s key priority has been to gain a permanent ban on the process of fracking in Victoria, a rebuild of the Climate Change Act, adoption of strong emission reduction targets, and a strong renewable energy target (VRET) in the state of Victoria. These successful campaigns were effective because they built strong alliances with rural and regional communities. In the last three years Cam has focused on identifying forests of high conservation value in the Victorian high country and campaigning for their protection, and working towards an early end to native forest logging across the state. A long community campaign led to the Victorian government announcing it will end all native forest logging in the east of the state by January 2024. Cam spent a decade working with FoE International, with experience in environmental campaigning in Africa, Europe, North America and Latin America.Cam is clearly is one of Australia’s treasures (and the world’s). Deep gratitude for his sustained commitment, courage, and incredibly hard work supporting our Environment for near half a century! Listen in! You can follow Cam’s Twitter feed at @Cam_Walker. For more information about Friends of the Earth Melbourne : melbournefoe.org.au

This week Tim, Jill and guests will be discussing biodiversity. Biodiversity is a term that is used frequently today - but what does it really mean and why is it so important to many aspects of our lives?  Essentially it is all the variety and variability of all the different life forms on Earth ie plants and animals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, fungi and other micro-organisms such as bacteria.  The complex interactions of the species and the balance of natural processes and lifecycles make it possible for us to survive into the future meaningfully.

This week Marie and Ruth chat with recently retired shire Councillor Rob Eldridge about some wonderful possibilities in Mitchell Shire for developing our opportunities to set aside significant areas of green space for the future.

They start with the proposed Wallan Wallan  wetland park. This is an opportunity that must not be missed as the population of this area grows. There is also a great discussion on some of the restrictions to the actual powers of the Shire, what we can and cannot do. 

With Dutton and much of the Coalition voted out of parliament, we are saved from going down a fraught path of nuclear power, and the voters of Australia have strongly rejected Trumpism here.

Retired academic and strategic thinker Alan Jenkins rejoins Peter Lockyer on EarthChat to reflect on what the election means, and some challenges in the coming 3 years.

Nuclear power and nuclear weapons are policy realities in this current federal election. Both major parties support them in one way or another. The Leader of the Opposition has been open in saying a Coalition government would build nuclear reactors in Australia to replace “ageing coal power stations”. Both Labor and the Coalition are committed to AUKUS, which would see Australia supplied with eight nuclear-powered submarines, at a cost of approximately $360,000,000,000. Neither party is keen to discuss how they will store spent nuclear fuel, operational waste or the decommissioning of a sub’s reactor at the end of service life, although the waste will need to be stored in highly secured facilities for over 10,000 years and Australia does not have any such facility. Although nuclear waste volumes are relatively small, they remain dangerous for extremely long periods, requiring multi-generational planning and robust political and technical solutions.