Environmental stories rooted in people and place.
Earth Matters brings environmental questions down to land, rivers, courts, farms, villages, and public decisions. Recent conversations track forest reserve battles, Sarawak dam proposals, Penang reclamation, food forests, Indigenous ecotourism, and climate action in Southeast Asia.
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Earth Matters is environmental journalism with its feet on the ground. The show comes from BFM 89.9 and works through interviews with people close to conservation disputes, community projects, Indigenous knowledge work, and climate advocacy. Recent episodes move from the Bukit Cherakah forest corridor to Sarawak’s proposed dams, from Penang’s development pressures to food forest farming, and from Jungle School Gombak to Semai-led ecotourism. The range is broad, but the centre is clear. Land, water, culture, livelihood, and public decision-making are treated as connected problems. The show does not frame the environment as scenery. It frames it as home, evidence, memory, food, risk, and governance. Juliet Jacobs often starts with a specific controversy or project, then asks guests to explain the process behind it. That gives the conversations a useful shape. Legal standing, forest reserve status, public consultation, energy transition, coastal reclamation, and Indigenous cultural continuity are not separate beats here. They are recurring pressure points in how Malaysia and the region handle change. The tone is conversational and informed, with room for guests to define terms, explain histories, and describe work that is usually easier to overlook than to understand. Episodes on Garimis Arts, Temuan women’s plant knowledge, and Jungle School Gombak also give the show a strong cultural dimension. Conservation is not only about protection. It is also about who gets to teach, document, plant, farm, host, remember, and decide. Earth Matters suits listeners who want environmental coverage that keeps policy close to lived experience. Its strength is attention to local stakes without losing sight of climate and regional systems.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants Malaysian and Southeast Asian environmental issues explained through communities, advocacy, law, culture, and land-use decisions. It fits people who prefer grounded interviews over abstract climate commentary.
What sets it apart: Earth Matters stands apart by keeping environmental coverage close to specific places and named projects, from Bukit Cherakah and Sarawak rivers to Penang’s coast and Jungle School Gombak. Its conversations connect conservation to governance, Indigenous knowledge, livelihoods, and public participation.
Climate change, ferocious weather and ‘the haze’ are now part our everyday lives. How are our lifestyles connected to them, and what can we do about it? What does the economy have to do with it? Earth Matters engages with activists and experts to explore our changing relationship with the planet that we only borrow from our children.
A 'mini' dam sounds different once you ask whose livelihood it changes.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A forest case becomes a close look at public notice, paperwork, and conservation accountability.
The Federal Court's dismissal of the judicial review over the Bukit Seraka forest corridor, including the Shah Alam Community Forest, frames this episode as more than a single conservation fight. Alicia Teo of the Shah Alam Community Forest Society and advisor Dr.
A community nursery shows how forest knowledge can guide native plant conservation.
Earth Matters visits a community nursery in Kampung Orang Asli, Sungai Buloh, where Temuan women grow native plants through knowledge held close to the surrounding forest.
A forest classroom anchors a clear case for cultural continuity, community-led teaching and environmental care.
Earth Matters visits Jungle School Gomba, where the forest becomes the classroom and Orang Asli community members pass on skills, stories and perspectives rarely taught firsthand in conventional settings.
A clear advocate-led look at energy sovereignty, climate justice and the contested politics of fossil-fuel transition.
Climate policy feels more urgent here because war and geopolitical uncertainty threaten to pull public money and attention away from climate action.
Education policy with evidence in the foreground.
Particle accelerators, compost piles and Queen's guitarist, all explained.
Steven Novella and a rotating panel dissect weekly science news and debunk pseudoscience claims.
Meenakshi Raman discusses the outcomes of COP30 in Belém, highlighting both achievements and shortcomings for developing countries.
Earth Matters on BFM 89.9 centers on the Federal Court's April 1, 2026 dismissal of a judicial review over the Bukit Seraka Forest Corridor in Shah Alam.
Earth Matters on BFM 89.9 follows a Temuan women-run nursery in Kampung Orang Asli Sungai Buloh, near the Bukit Lagong Forest Reserve.
["Sarawak's proposed cascading dam buildout targets 50 gigawatts by 2035, and Peter Kalang and Celine Lim argue that the Baram Dam cancellation should have changed later planning.", "Juliet Jacobs on Earth Matters on BFM 89.9 speaks with Peter Kalang, chairman and founder of Save Rivers, and Celine Lim, the group's managing director, on the 10th anniversary of the Baram Dam cancellation.", "Peter says the Baram campaign involved village visits, overseas trips to Australia, Norway, Switzerland, and Korea, and a two-year blockade before the cancellation surprised the movement.", "The guests compare Sarawak's proposal with Bakun, Murum, and the Mekong, citing displacement, methane emissions, fish migration, sedimentation, and communities that still lack reliable power."]
Jungle School Gombak turns the forest outside IIUM into a classroom where Orang Asli elders teach survival, identity, and environmental practice, according to host Juliet Jacobs and co-founders Major Kalam Bin Bi and Dr Nur Zalifa Binti Zainal Abidin.
Earth Matters on BFM 89.9 frames climate action against rising geopolitical tension, with Juliet Jacobs asking Nithi Nasadurai why war and climate finance are colliding now.
Mimi Saleh says children's books were her first window onto snow and the seasons she did not see in Malaysia.
Roots and Shoots Malaysia’s Rasma program connects young people aged 16 to 30 with more than 40 NGOs and social enterprises.
Seeds Malaysia co-founder Abdul Raza Abdul Aziz says food forests apply layered forest design to food production and climate resilience.
A discussion about the conflict between economic development and environmental conservation in Penang, focusing on the Silicon Island reclamation project and its impact on coastal communities.
Juliet Jacobs interviews Wendy Seah about a Semai family-led ecotourism homestay in Pahang, developed over nearly a decade with support from Garimis Arts.
Kent Leong discusses the origins and mission of The Beach School, a community education initiative in Port Dixon that uses nature-based learning to foster a mindful relationship with the coastline.