Coal for carbon credits and Indigenous rights

We look at how the building of new coal fired power stations can qualify for carbon credits under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism. And where does Australia stand five years on from the passing of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

International agreements

We focus on international agreements on the environment and climate change. One, the Montreal Protocol, has been in place for 25 years and has been pretty successful. You might remember that little issue of that the Montreal Protocol was drawn up to deal with: the hole in the ozone layer. Are there lessons there for the Kyoto Protocol? And we discuss another agreement which doesn’t exist yet - for people displaced by climate change.

Renewable energy target and Galilee Basin coal

We look at the arguments for and against Australia’s renewable energy target, which currently aims to have us producing 20% of our power from renewables by 2020. And we hear about the two-fold threat to the Great Barrier Reef posed by a new coal-mining rush getting underway in QLD.

Montara oil and data journalism

We find out how industry regulations have changed three years on from Australia’s Montara oil spill, and we take a close look at what data journalism can do for environmental reporting.

Linking our ETS with Europe

The Federal Government has made significant changes to its Clean Energy Futures package. They’ve announced that the carbon trading scheme will no longer be subject to a carbon floor price when trading of permits begins in 2015. Instead the price of carbon permits will be linked to the European carbon market. The Third Degree is in conversation with Gareth Bryant, a climate justice campaigner with Friends of the Earth Sydney.

West Papua Media

In Conversation with Nick Chesterfield from West Papua Media. In West Papua, massive gold mines dump toxic sludge into river systems, an independence movement is aggressively crushed by Indonesian soldiers and political leaders are assassinated – and only rarely do we hear about it. In response to an Indonesian media blackout in the region, a variety of people inside and outside West Papua formed West Papua Media, an organization which attempts to bring independent news about West Papua to the rest of the world.

Fullerton Cove CSG, Murray Darling, Write Against Impunity

We look at the complex issue of violence as an occupational hazard for Journalists in Latin America, why the latest plan to save the Murray Darling River has been called ‘laughable’ by the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, and we’ll hear how a community responds to Dart Energy beginning construction on the company’s first coal seam gas pilot production wells in the state.

Media in the DRC

A look at media in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With Mbuyi Tshielantende and Patrice Nyembo of the Congolese Community of Australia and their plans for an online platform based on the West Papua Media website. We also talk to Journalist Shant Fabricatorian who was in DRC last year.

One State for both Israel and Palestine

We're talking Palestine and Israel, the gaps in our knowledge, the flaws in the so called 'peace talks', and the reasons why many are calling for the creation of one nation state. In conversation with Antony Loewenstein, independent journalist, commentator and Co-Editor of the recently published After Zionism: One State for Israel and Palestine, from Saqi Books, and Rihab Charida, Palestinian journalist and Film-maker.

Prisons - Nowra, Grafton and Pelican Bay

This week we’re talking incarceration in our criminal justice system. We look at the living and working conditions for inmates, why it's so extraordinary that the community in Grafton blockaded the gaol to keep the prisoners in and the gaol open, and it’s a year on from the mass hunger strikes at Pelican Bay prison in California.

Left Politics and Australian media with Antony Loewenstein

In conversation with Antony Loewenstein - Today we’re talking Left Politics, and what it means to identify as Left-leaning in the current social and political climate. Our guest is Antony Loewenstein, independent journalist, author, blogger, and commentator on a wide range of issues. His most recent book Left Turn: Political Essays for the New Left is co-edited with Jeff Sparrow, editor of Overland literary journal. It was published by Melbourne University Press last month. It’s an expansive collection of writings on many of the issues often lambasted as being the domain of progressives in this country, and alternative ways of thinking about these issues and left politics.

Carbon Trading and Neoliberalism with Tad Tietze

In Conversation with Tad Tietze - We’re mid-way through the first week of the Clean Energy Futures package, otherwise known as the carbon tax. The partisan debate continues to rage around the policy. The likes of Alan Jones tell us the carbon tax will destroy Australia, while the likes of GetUp! insist that putting a price on carbon emissions will drive clean energy investment. But there are also those on the left who question the wisdom of applying a market mechanism to try to de-carbonise the Australian economy. Tad Tietze is a blogger and political commentator who runs LeftFlank.org

Union action on asbestos, Uranium film festival

We look at the Union push for a national asbestos authority to be established, the conflicts of interest with the Environmental Authority’s assessment of the James Price Point gas hub, and we head to Rio for the International Uranium film festival, the week after Rio plus 20 Earth Summit.

UNESCO reef report, Pacific E-Waste, Enviro law changes

This week - the UN cautions Australia on industrial development near the Great Barrier Reef, the Federal Government is looking to give away some of its environmental regulations to the states, and we look at managing e-waste in the Pacific.

Gas leaks on the Condamine, REDD, and green buildings

We hear about gas bubbling up through the Condamine River, near Chinchilla in Queensland, we question Australia's involvement in carbon offset forestry programs in Indonesia, and discuss the Federal Government's cuts to green building incentives

FIFO, James Price Point clashes, IPCC report

We look at the emotional impacts of fly-in fly out work arrangements for workers and their families, the most recent Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change report – and an update on clashes at James Price Point gas project site in Western Australia.

Alcoa Health, E-waste and Sydney CSG

We look at the health effects of living near an aluminium plant, electronic waste, and the latest, surprising update for coal seam gas in inner Sydney.

Rare Earths - Lynas WA and Alkane NSW

Last week we looked at the defamation case Lynas Corporation has brought against local community groups in Malaysia, who are campaigning against their planned rare earths refinery in Kuantan. This week we look at how the raw earth concentrated will be transported to Malaysia. Also, Alkane Resources is planning a rare earths mine in Dubbo. And we look at open cut coal mining at Boggabri.

Lynas Defamation and Orica's explosive shipment

Orica’s troubled Kooragang Island plant is closed for maintenance, and with nowhere to store 3000 tonnes of explosive ammonium nitrate - Orica boarded it onto a cargo ship and sent it out to sea. And in Malaysia, Australian mining company Lynas Corp planning to operate a controversial rare earths processing plant in Kuantan, is suing a local campaign group and an alternative news website for defamation. And unlike Australian law, Malaysian law has no cap on damages that can be awarded for defamation.

Olympic Dam challenge and Argentina nationalises Oil

The Federal Court gives the go ahead for the expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia. Kevin Buzzacott, Arabunna elder from Lake Eyre, was taking on BHP Billiton, the State of South Australia, and the Federal Environment Minister. And in Argentina the Government has renationalised one of the countries largest oil companies. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has taken back the country’s largest oil company, seizing a controlling share from Spanish Repsol.

Unsafe work sites and Murray Darling

There were delays in notifying workers of asbestos at the Barangaroo site in Inner Sydney, and hazardous chemicals found on the Pacific Highway during upgrade works. The latest draft for the Murray Darling Basin Plan is hotly contested by the South Australian Government, Environment groups and scientists saying it's not 'best science', and has attracted calls that it flouts Aboriginal Sovereignty over the water.

Malalai Joya on Afghan Self Determination

“We don’t fear death, we fear political silence against injustice." Malalai Joya is an Afghan women's rights activist, former parliamentarian and author of the book ‘Raising my Voice’. Joya captured the imagination of Afghanistan and the world when at 25 she stood up the criminals and warlords she said the west had backed to form government in Afghanistan.

Industrial contamination

A look at industrial pollution, environmental regulations and communities affected by contamination. Mining companies are dumping waste tailings into oceans and rivers, the NSW EPA is overhauled, and we hear about the Newcastle community affected by the Orica spills.

Green light for waste dump

The Radioactive Waste Management Act has passed in the Federal Senate, with support from both the ALP and the Coalition. This new legislation paves the way for the Government to unilaterally name a nuclear waste dump site, widely expected to be at the remote Indigenous community of Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. We also look at Environmental Crime.

Women in Radio: IWD special

After years of working alongside Libby King, Tessa Dowdell and Hannah Walters, Third Degree producer Jess Minshall looks around 2ser’s newsroom and studios with the realisation that these amazing women have moved on. She sets off to track down their voices for this International Womens Day Special.

NSW uranium policy overhauled

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell has introduced legislation to overturn a longstanding ban on uranium mining in the state.

Global Civilisation

We talk sustainability, environmentalism, indigenous sovereignty and the end of civilisation with Franklin Lopez, director of END:CIV film.

Seabed Mining: In too deep?

Canadian miners Nautilus minerals has won approval from the PNG government to embark on a large commercial project more than a thousand metres underwater – mining mineral deposits around hydrothermal sulphur vents on the sea floor. The Solwara-1 project is the first commercial operation of its kind.