Environmental as Anything Interviews

Byron Shire Councillor Cate Coorey speaks to Sean O'Shannessy on the motion she just had passed demanding reforms of the recent NSW Koala SEPP

Margie Pestorius & Miriam Torzillo from Wage Peace talk Sean through the Disrupt Land Forces actions planned for Lismore and Brisbane

Julie Beesley interviewing Jo Immig from National Toxics Network re. Aus regulations on glyphosate

Dione Green interviewing Greenpeace Asia Pacific CEO David Ritter re coal industry in Europe v Aus

Zianna Fuad speaks to Sean O'Shannessy on the frontlines against Adani and for our koalas 

Damien Cole from the Surf Rider Foundation talks to Catherine Coxal and Michelle Michels from Eco Futures 

The Shine Report with Naomi from the Lismore Environment Centre illuminating the week ahead.

Jeff Johnson - Ballina Shire Council Divestment

Jo Evans - SANTOS PIlliga plans & obstacles 

The Shine Report - Naomi Shine from LIsmore Environment Centre illuminates the week ahead.

Thanks for tuning in to Environmental as Anything. This week on the show we have:

Eco News

Cate Faehrmann -  Koala SEPP 21 

Dailan Pugh - Koala action

Michelle Michels - Circular Economy interview

Naomi Shine - Events and actions for this week

Vanessa Ekins - Lismore's freshly appointed Green Mayor reveals her vision for a cleaner more prosperous shire.

Dailan Pugh - Analysies what is going on with the federal government and their ongoing failure to fix the EPBC Act

Naomi Shine - Shines some light on local news and events from the Lismore Environment Centre

Susie Russell & Dailan Pugh - NSW Renewable Energy Plan Fatally Flawed

Michael Mazengarb - January RenewEconomy Round up

Jim Beatson - Zombie Murder Rats

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Eve Sinton - Fossil Fool Bulletin

Fossil Fool Bulletin is a resource for people working to end the fossil fuel era in Australia. It combines a fully referenced weekly news summary with original articles, presented as a PDF newsletter with live links. Fossil Fool Bulletin has been published weekly since November 2017 by journalist Eve Sinton of Focus Publications, who has 35 years of experience in journalism and publishing.

Ian Sutton - Murray Darling Basin United We Stand

"We the people of the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) have been disgusted in the way we have been betrayed, with the desecration, drainage and destruction of our ground water, river systems, wetlands and lakes. This has resulted in the devastation of our plants and animals, the expansion of desertification throughout the MDB, increased climate extremes and a rural economic collapse.

We have been protesting, rallying and lobbying successive government for over 30 years and in that time, we have been ignored. We feel that you no longer represent the people and instead are colluding with corporate interests to the detriment of our nation."

Peta Goodwin - Knitting Nanas for Native Forests (WA)

Native forest logging is not smart business. It is foolhardy, unsustainable and unnecessary. We need our wild forests for our children, for our grandchildren, for climate and for life. Nanas for Native Forest are determined to convince our leaders to stop this madness before it is too late.

Lydia Kindred  - Secretary of Northern Rivers Rail Limited

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Catherine Cusack, Mark Pearson, Justin Field and Cate Faehrmann all stood up and spoke against the koala killer bill in the NSW Legislative Council on the 19/11/2020 and their voices were heard. The bill was defeated, referred to committee and withdrawn by the government. A reprieve for our koalas and a big win for people power in NSW. Listen here to their speeches to parliament and Cate's sumation afterwards

Meanwhile people are outraged and taking action over our forests being thrown into the furnaces and called renewable energy at Condong Mill, our wildlife and cultural heritage being threatened with damming at Dunoon and Santos plans to release methane from under the PIliga forest and the Great Artesian Basin. 

We have audio reports and interviews from all of them in this jam packed episode.

In this episode of our gripping radio noir drama lovelorn femme fatale, Princess Gladys, is looking for options but is rudely interrupted by the shocking return of #KoalaKiller Don Porky Barrell and the unexpected arrival of some even more unwelcome guests - #ICAC 

Radio noir is back in style as all our favourite villains and anti-heroes from the #KoalaKiller Gangster State display their moral turpitude, corrupt underbellies and bad relationship choices for all the world to see (all in less than 2minutes)

(WARNING: May contain traces of nuts)

Last Thursday the government passed legislation to close sections of the Casino to Murwilumbah railway line. The Casino to Bentley section will be closed and the Murwillumbah to Crabbes Creek section and the railway tracks ripped up for a rail trail.

Beth Shelley, Chairperson of the Northern Rivers Railway Action Group says, “The government and Labor have stated there has been extensive community consultation to find out if this community wants to have trains running again or a bike path. This isn’t true. There has been no proper community consultation at all, except for the Rail Trail group’s endless lobbying”.

Abigail Boyd, NSW Greens MLC, stated, “When properly built, funded and designed, public transport has immeasurable social, economic and environmental benefits for the health and wellbeing of entire communities. The delivery of services such as the passenger rail on the Casino to Murwillumbah line should be considered a core part of the job of government”.

On Monday WATER Northern Rivers Alliance launched a campaign for smart water options in the Northern Rivers, instead of the Dunoon Dam. The launch coincides with the start of National Water Week, with its message ‘Let’s re-imagine our water future”. Annie Kia is one of the leading spokesp people for water in NE NSW and she spoke to Sean O'Shannessy for Environmental as Anything to clarify the positive agenda on water management for our region.

“We want Rous to take on board what the experts are saying about smart options and policies” says Annie. “The Dunoon dam is last century’s thinking. If we add new supply it should be independent of rainfall. That’s the way to drought-proof our region, not by adding another dam, costing $245,000,000”.

Energy Program Director for the Grattan Institute, Tony Woods had a long career in the gas industry but he tells Sean O'Shannessy that he doesn't see the Morrison government's gas plan effectively stimulating the Australian economy

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Mark Carney (former head of the Bank of England) agree.

SANTOS has had its gas attack on the Piliga forest legitimised by the NSW "Independent" Planning Commission but locals and the wider NSW public are overwhelmingly outraged at the corruption of democratic processes and threats to our climate, biodiversity and water security that this decision represents. Roy Butler is the representative of the NSW Seat of Barwon elected on promises to protect his community from this assault. He speaks to Sean O'Shannessy about the political and economic reasons that this project cannot be allowed to proceed.

Greg Mullins developed a keen interest in the linkages between climate change and extreme weather events in his period as Commissioner of Fire & Rescue in NSW and is an internationally recognised expert in responding to major bushfires and natural disasters. In this interview with Sean O'Shannessy he speaks on the issues raised by the climate infernos sweeping across the West Coast USA and the politics driving Australia's budget response to the climate emergency.

The knitting Nanas are a force to be reckoned with as are our School Strikers for Climate. Both have declared they will be ramping up actions for a genuinely sustainable economic recovery from covid and that massive government subsidies and reckless approvals for fossil fuels are not party of that.

Sean O'Shannessy attended actions by both Nanas and strikers and filed these reports for Environmental as Anything

Southern Cross University whale researcher Dr Wally Franklin speaks to Sean O'Shannessy on the heroic whale rescue carried out this week on the SW coast of Tasmania

Celebrating Earth and Art's Meg Nielsen spoke at length to clinical psychologist and community organiser Wayne Sommerville on the Art of Living in a Dangerous World. Here are the edited highlights.

(Celebrating Earth and Art airs on 92.9 River FM every Tuesday from 10-2)

We've all wondered what on earth could motivate our federal government to ignore the science, economics and public opinion so blatantly and insist on pouring our Covid recovery funds into their ludicrous  "gas led recovery". John Hewson is one of Australia's most emminent economists and  has been leader of the Federal Liberal Party and he calls it "corruption".  Listen in to a revealing conversation as he shares his insights with Environmental as Anything.

Bella Burgemeister is a seasoned youth activist and author who has stepped up to the challenge of joining the class action against the Federal Minister for the Environment to protect young people from the climate change impacts of the proposed Vickery Extension Coal Project. She tells us why and what she hopes to achieve with this action.

https://equitygenerationlawyers.com/cases/sharma-v-minister-for-environment/

Holly Richards is a local leader of the School Strike 4 Climate movement and she shares with us their plans for local action on Friday the 25th of Sept 2020 as well as reflections on her motivations, hopes and experiences of the School Strikes.

https://www.facebook.com/StrikeClimate

Kate Washington is the NSW Shadow Minister for Environment. She spoke to Environmental as Anything about the ALP's vision for our koala's future.

Legendary environmental protector and rainforest ecologist Nan Nicholson tells us why the proposal to dam Dunoon must be stopped to protect  Aboriginal culture, rainforest ecology and the limits to growth

Michael Mazengarb writes prolifically for Renew Economy on the energy transition. He talks Environmental as Anything through the big headlines in Coal, Gas and Renewable NEWS from the past fortnight.

Matt Kean has been Minister for Environment and Energy in NSW for just over a year and he has turned his state from a laggard to a leader in the race to become a renewable energy superpower. This week he has seized the forest conservation nettle and promised to turn around the trajectory of our koalas from extinction to doubling in population by 2050. Environmental as Anything asked him to specify how he intends to achieve this heroic goal.

#Familes4Forest is a new movement of parents and children committed to protecting our public native forests from destruction by the NSW govt. They kicked off their campaign in Myrtle State Forest this week and it was a lot of fun. Environmental as Anything was there to report.

Sue Higginson has been a legal advocate for our forests for decades. She speaks to us about some the various legal fronts on which NSW Forestry Corps is in trouble

Gomeroi Traditional Custodian Maria Cutmore, Boggabri resident David Watt and LIsmore Environment Centre's Naomi Shine were just 3 of the hundreds of NSW citizens who spoke out at the Narabri public hearings of the Independent planning commission against Santos' proposal to contaminate the Great Artesian Basin, trash the Piliga Forest, worsen climate chaos and undermine Australia's economy.

Energy Ministers from every State in Australia as (and the Federal Minister for Emissions) met under the auspices of the Clean Energy Council on 8 July, 2020 to discuss their plans for rapid transition to renewable prosperity (and offer obfuscation & excuses for his Abject Failure). Environmental as Anything edited their presentations into this report.

Amanda King from Lock The Gate Alliance speaks to us on the situation this week regarding the threat of fossil exploitation in NSW

Meg Nielsenm  speaks to Dailan Pugh about the situation for our forests and the urgent need for us to get active to protect them and Sandy Greenwood Speaks to us from the Gumbangyiir country about their growing resistance to public native forest logging in Wild Cattle Creek and Nambucca State Forest