“We’re doing well, River just turned 5 and is a delight.

A biopsy late 2017 found that the tumour had returned. The scans had been indicating this for 6 months but prof Miyazaki (cyberknife surgeon) categorically stated it was only scar tissue and advised against the biopsy. By the time I had the biopsy and scan December 2017 it was tracking towards the brain stem and last January I was booked in for surgery with Ben Panizza in Brisbane to remove eye, exenterate the orbit followed by a hole in the back of my skull for further surgery followed by radiation.

However, the final MRI before the op showed that the cancer was too far advanced and he called it off and this was precisely what made me eligible to participate in the trial of a new immune-therapy. This stopped the tumour advancing and then, after 8 months of fortnightly treatments at RNSH, my October MRI showed the volume of the tumour had precipitously dropped to 30% and last month it was down to 15% of its former glory.

So … Dr. Miyazaki saved my eye twice - 4 years ago with his cyberknife and again in 2017 with his mistaken diagnosis! “ 

Johns Son River and Grand daughter Jala

This could be the game-changer we’ve been waiting for. A court in the Azuay Province of Ecuador has rejected the Government’s appeal and the Chinese-owned Rio Blanco gold mine has been stopped! See the excellent article about this issue  written last week before this historic decision.

Megan  left for  a workshop yesterday leaving River (RIVER GALAXY) for a week for the first time. Next Wednesday  he and I will fly to Cairns. Friday we’ll  pick Megan  up at Cairns airport and drive to my first gig with the families at Kowrowa, a small indigenous -community out of Kuranda, (out of Monamona Mission in the 60's). Next morning we head to the Coalessence  Festival,  Mission Beach for a deep ecology workshop and to meet Bodhi and family (IMAGES 6008, 6012, 6014, 6016) there for the weekend before we repair to a week together at Cape Trib then deep ecology gigs in Kuranda and Cairns and home again jiggety jig.

Melbourne RAG's superb research into the Aussie miners who hold the lions share of the contested concessions threatening to lay Ecuador's rainforest biodiversity to waste

Important article on the economic damage caused by the mining industry, written by Alberto Acosta Ecuadorian economist  former Minister of Energy and Mines. Former president of the Constituent Assembly. Former candidate for the Presidency of the Republic of Ecuador. ENGLISH.....  ESPAÑOL.

Thanks to Davide Nicastro, the Hope St Warehouse residents and all the musicians for last night’s  rave party which raised $11,000 for Los Cedros legal defense

About 40 activists from Students of Sustainability, Friends of the Earth  and the Melbourne Rainforest Action Group   descended up BHP's headquarters in downtown Melbourne  today, locking down the lifts and blockading the main entrance for an hour until police intervened. We held  Ecuador-related campaign signs and handed  out leaflets.  Several TV news networks came to cover the action, with the ABC  (the national broadcaster) covering all the various student actions targeting various government agencies

Great deep ecology workshop, 40 participants, first time I’ve had to turn people away from a full workshop in 20 years, booking 2 more in Nov-Dec, $1900 raised for Los Cedros. Thanks so much Mycelium Studios for donating this incredible space. Melbourne rocks! Afterwards, one of the Mycelium gang, Ivanna,  took some great portraits of me

Brendan Condon from The Cape Ecovillage near Melbourne recently gave a talk at our Narara Ecovillage where he described the totally passive (open source) designs that they have created and started building down there which now achieve  over 9  NatHERs stars and require minimal  cooling OR heating. Today Brendan showed a couple of us around his project and we went to visit some of the houses they have built . We were stunned  by the comfort on a wild weather day in July and particularly by the economics – they can now build one of these houses with zero energy bills at a tiny 3% premium over the cost of a well-build conventional house costing $3000 to $3,500/year in energy bills (ie  3 year pay-back period and then no energy bills for the life of the building). This is the future.

Students of Sustainability are a totally kick-ass group of  uni students from around the country that get together at a different campus each winter, this year in Melbourne. They organise direct actions following each of their conferences and I was able to negotiate for this years actions to include one at BHP’s HQ in Collins St – they want to attack BHP around Aussie uranium mines among other things and happy to include Ecuador in the mix. I’ve gone to 6 or 8 of their gatherings during the last 20 years and will once again give a deep ecology workshop at this one next week.

Los Cedros Summary Update Click Here

A weekend  of  deep ecology events in Bathurst NSW to  benefit Los Cedros. Friday night  a talk on deep ecology for “Green Drinks” organised by the Sisters of Mercy “Rahamim Ecology Centre”. They posted a video of my talk onto youtube as well as a 5-minute clip and the two Drew Dellinger raps I opened and closed with: The Universe Jam and Word to the Mother. Then a gorgeous weekend of experiential deep ecology. The best part is that, in spite of being the facilitator,  I’m able to fully  participate as well and, just as for the other participants, I get to soak in the healing and empowerment returning so refreshed to my family and work.

My old friend, the permaculture legend Jeff Lawton, posted my Los Cedros rave to his news site  and also filmed a passionate 7-minute video which went out to some 60,000 subscribers to his “Friday Five”

Los Cedros, the  Biological Reserve in NW Ecuador which we launched back in the late ‘80’s with the help of a grant from the Australian Government’s development assistance bureau is facing its most serious threat – The Ecuadorean government has secretly signed a mining agreement covering Los Cedros and other “protected” areas with the Canadian company “Cornerstone Capital Resources inc”. Many of the international scientists who have worked at Los Cedros have signed a letter attesting to the irreplaceable scientific value of this, the best -forested watershed in Western Ecuador. You can support this fight by signing the petitition here: http://rainforestinfo.nationbuilder.com/save_los_cedros

Great news: following the 3000 emails which you sent to environment minister Jairam Ramesh, news is in to-day that Vedanta’s controversial bauxite mine on Dongria Kondh tribal land at Niyamgiri in India has been stopped. You can see the story in The Guardian or theMinistry of Environment and Forests decision  itself on the ministry website. Furthermore, Ramesh has been quoted as saying that  Vedanta had committed ” very serious violations of environment act and forest right act,” and that his department was looking at taking punitive action against the company. The news sent Vedanta shares down 6%.

For more on this issue, see  the amazing 10-minute film: “Mine: Story of a Sacred Mountain“ or this  great 5 minute clip and a couple of recent articles one by Arundhati Roy

A great new painting for Arunachala (the  sacred mountain we’ve been reforesting for 20 years) .

First music gig in 20 years with my son Bodhi.

Draft  chapter  ”The Religion of Economics” for”Handbook of Social Ecology”.

Indian Journal of Ecocriticism interview with Swarna

3rd exhibition of “The Two of Us” – my sculptures along with paintings by my mother Judy Cassab,  Canberra July 31

Recent interview on ABC Radio National “The Spirit of Things” – transcript

Have you been wondering what the “Maoist insurgency” in India is about. Great article by Arundhati Roy and interview by Tehelka.