Earth Matters

Bec Horridge, Claudia Craig, Mia Audrey & Keiran Stewart-Assheton.

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Local and global environmental issues from grassroots, activist perspectives with a strong social justice focus. Distributed nationally on the Community Radio Network.

4D AGO

Invasion Day - Colonialism and Climate Collapse

This Invasion Day, Earth Matters confronts the truth behind January 26 — not as a celebration, but as the beginning of invasion and ecological destruction.From colonisation as an environmental catastrophe to the climate crisis as a colonial crisis, this special episode centres First Nations sovereignty, Land Back, and the reality that there is no environmental justice without decolonisation. Because the future is either decolonial — or unliveable.
JAN 18

Yurlu |Country: Wittenoom asbestos documentary tells Banjima elder’s cultural story

‘Aboriginal people in Western Australia experience the highest rates of death from mesothelioma globally. That’s because of Wittenoom. And there isn’t a Banjima family who isn’t touched by this. This is really a huge human rights issue.’‘We went pretty deep into where the main tailings dumps are. We have this drone shot that goes for five minutes…It shows the tailings dumps going for like hundreds of metres and that is not a perspective many people will ever see, unless they’re flying over that site in a chopper.’Yurlu | Country director, Yaara Bou Melhem Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Warning: This episode of Earth Matters contains the name of a person who has died.The recently released documentary Yurlu | Country shines new light on the Wittenoom asbestos mine catastrophe. Centring the experience of former Karijini Park ranger Banjima elder Maitland Parker, it shows the impacts of asbestos include not only lost lives and environmental damage but the cultural loss traditional owners have suffered as a result of diminished access to their Country.Guest: Yurlu | Country writer/director/producer Yaara Bou MelhemDocumentary website: https://yurlucountry.comDetails on how to watch and share Yurlu |Country PLUS the Clean Up Wittenoom campaign: https://yurlucountry.com/take-action/For information on asbestos-related disease: https://asbestosdiseases.org.au/information/wittenoom-overview/https://www.asbestos.com/blog/2019/03/19/asbestos-problem-australian-aboriginals/Episode #1539: Producer/presenter: Claudia Craig | Interviewer: Annie McLoughlin This interview was first aired on 3CR’s Showreel on November 6th 2025. Listen to the full interview here. A huge thanks to Annie McLoughlin for sharing this interview with us.Photo credit: Illuminate Films
JAN 11

A Climate for Art

The climate crisis is a crisis of imagination; we are stuck in a web of stories about what’s possible. But voices outside the web are picking at the knots, opening other ways of being through different, older stories. This is the work of artists. And while you may not know it from how your tax dollars are spent, artists are a lifeline for our world in crisis. Enter A Climate for Art (ACFA): a collective of artists, arts workers and organisations intent on mobilising their sector for climate action. This show features two recordings from a Symposium hosted by ACFA—in partnership with Next Wave, City of Melbourne, George Paton Gallery and Climate Action Network Australia—which together give a glimpse of how our biggest imaginations are responding to the climate crisis.Zena Cumpston is a Barkandji woman with Afghan, Irish and English heritage. Zena works as an artist, writer, researcher, curator and consultant and currently resides in Narrm/melbourne. Dr. Jacina Leong 梁玉明 is an artist-curator, educator and researcher whose practice engages with the intersections of community engagement, care ethics and curatorial inquiry. Currently living in Narrm/Melbourne, and working across cultural and educational spaces since 2008, her work considers how creative practices and organisations can respond to the converging crises of our time. https://www.aclimateforart.com.au/https://leifjustham.com/ Earth Matters #1538 was produced by Mia Audrey on Yuin Nation country.
JAN 4

Benny Zable challenges mask laws. /Matthew Jeffrey: First Nations Organiser and Climate Justice Advocate

Benny Zable and Tarneen Onus Browne have filed a legal challenge in the Federal Court against Victoria Police's decision to declare Melbourne's CBD and surrounding suburbs a "designated area" for six months, enabling officers to conduct warrantless pat-down searches across the entire CBD, and making it an offence to refuse a search.Links:Benny Zable webpageProtester statue proposed for Byron Bay. The statue is of Benny Zable in costume, and you can contribute by buying a mini statue.The Benny Zable ProfileLegal challenge to CBD-wide warrantless searchesMatthew Jeffrey: First Nations Organiser and Climate Justice AdvocateAs a Wadi Wadi man and the First Nations Organiser Coordinator for Rising Tide, Matthew Jeffrey's role is to create a welcoming and empowering space for First Nations people at climate protests like the Newcastle event. This includes facilitating advocacy and increasing their participation in climate justice discussions.LinksRising Tide
12/28/2025

Climate change, green capitalism, and the myth of ethical consumption

In this episode, host Keiran Stewart-Assheton looks at the propaganda we are sold around ethical consumption, particularly in the form of "green" energy, electric cars and carbon offsets.He asks Who really pays for this? Are we sacrificing lives for lifestyle? Can individual lifestyle choices truly make an impact?
12/21/2025

John Seed: The Religion of Economics (with transcript).

John Seed explains how modern economics functions as a powerful, unrecognised religion, driving environmental destruction and social inequality, and that unmasking it is crucial for planetary survival.John is the co-founder of the Rainforest Information Centre and, for over forty years, has facilitated hundreds of transformative experiential Deep Ecology, also known as the work that reconnects. Find his upcoming workshop schedule at the Rainforest Information website.Also, a poem by John, celebrating the universe, Earth's creation, and the interconnectedness of all life, reinforcing the call to: "Celebrate life, celebrate Earth, celebrate the cosmos." In 2026 John Seed and friends are holding a series of Deep Ecology workshops at Narara Ecovillage in NSW. FEBRUARY 6-8 DEEP ECOLOGY with John Seed, Erika Aligno & friends, Narara Ecovillage, Central CoastMARCH 7“BUDDHA TOUCHED THE EARTH”, Susie Brown and John Seed, Narara EcovillageAPRIL 10-12 DEEP ECOLOGY with John Seed, Magpie Sally & friends, Narara Ecovillage, Central CoastThere will be workshops at NARARA in June, Aug, Oct & Dec - stay tuned for detailsThankyou to Regen Sydney and the Cooks River Alliance for recording John Seeds' talkThere is a video of John Seeds' talk here. He speaks alongside Helen Norberg Hodge.https://youtu.be/1NeVUUkgrbY?si=3LSjg0ZHM08SgcdQEarth Matter #1524 was made in Gadigal/ Sydney on Wangal Country, the lands of the People of the Eora Nations by Bec Horridge.
12/14/2025

Clive Palmer's Secret Weapon

Six weeks ago, billionaire businessman Clive Palmer lost a $300 billion case against the Australian government when the High Court determined that he is not, in fact, a Singaporean investor.It may sound absurd, but Palmer’s case had potential – and he has three more similar cases in the works. Across the globe, fossil fuel companies are taking up a secret weapon against climate action: it’s baked into many trade agreements, and allows corporations to bypass court systems and sabotage climate policies.‘Investor-state dispute settlement’, or ISDS, has the potential to crush what little progress states are making on climate action. To fill us in on this toxic global loophole, I called on the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network, AFTINET. Audio for this episode comes from their recent webinar on ISDS, and features expert voices on the problem and its solutions. Dr Pat Ranald is an honorary research assistant at the University of Sydney and convenor of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network. Kyla Tienhaara is Canada Research Chair in Economy and Environment and Associate Professor in the School of Environmental Studies and Department of Global Development Studies at Queen’s University, Kingston. Maria Poulos Conklin is a diplomat, policy maker, founder of the Save the Bay Coalition and the former Parliamentary and Political Relations Manager at the Australian Conservation Foundation. Earth Matters #1533 was produced by Mia Audrey on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country.Image courtesy of AFTINET.
12/07/2025

Beating Back Buffel Grass

What would you guess is the largest environmental threat to our iconic deserts? Feral animals? Contaminated or depleted water tables? Desertification? Actually, it’s a grass. Since its introduction in the 1960s and 70s, and particularly in the last couple of decades, buffel grass has spread like wildfire through central so-called Australia. It’s wreaking havoc on fragile arid ecosystems, and ranks higher than any other environmental threat in terms of its social and cultural impacts for Aboriginal people. How is one little grass doing so much damage? To find out, I spoke to Alex Vaughan and Kat Herbert from ALEC, the Arid Lands Environment Centre, in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). ALEC’s ‘Beat Back Buffel’ campaign is a world-leading effort to manage the spread of Buffel Grass through the continent’s arid ecosystems. Sign the petition to declare buffel a Weed of National Significance: https://www.alec.org.au/wons_25 Earth Matters #1532 was produced by Mia Audrey on Wurundjeri Woiwurrung country.

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Local and global environmental issues from grassroots, activist perspectives with a strong social justice focus. Distributed nationally on the Community Radio Network.