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Lyrebird Dreaming Pty Ltd
Blog
I write about climate, human rights, biodiversity, and uncomfortable truths. From the wisdom of First Nations caring for Country to the global action needed to protect ecosystems and ensure intergenerational equity, these stories are personal, political, and urgent. They aim to inspire hope.
Explore my Yeah But... series for sharp takes on deflection, denial, and double standards. And scroll through Climate Conscious Man's reflections on what it means to live responsibly on a heating planet.
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“Always Was, Always Will Be”: What It Really Means for Belonging on This Land
Somewhere between Narrabri and Gilgandra, bumping along a dirt back road on my e-bike, I realised just how far I’d travelled without really moving at all. On this #eBike4Australia ride I’ve crossed Ngunnawal, Gundungurra, D’harawal, Dharug, Awabakal, Worimi, Birpai, Bundjalung, Gumbaynggirr, Jagera, Kamilaroi, and Wiradjuri Country - and that’s just the short list. Every day begins with a new horizon line, but it’s also the same old truth under my tyres: I am riding on Aborig

Gregory Andrews
5 days ago3 min read


The Pilliga Doesn't Get to Speak in Parliament
Today I left the trucks of the Newell Highway for 100km or so of back roads through the Pilliga. It was quieter and softer on the nerves. That said, I do want to say up front that the truckies out here have been fantastic – slowing down, giving me space, and looking out for a lone cyclist on an e-bike. Rolling under the eucalypts of the Pilliga, I couldn’t shake two thoughts. The first was fire. Climate change is loading the dice for hotter, drier, more destructive bushfires.

Gregory Andrews
6 days ago2 min read


Abandoning Net Zero Abandons Australia's Farmers
Riding my bike from Goondiwindi down to Narrabri via Moree, I had the Nandewar Range and Mount Kaputar sitting off to my left on the horizon. In front of me were paddocks of early summer crops on rich black soils, stretching as far as I could see. On numerous fence-lines, hand-painted signs from farmers warned about coal seam gas and fracking. Out here, people understand in their bones that their livelihoods depend on healthy Country. But the Liberal and National Parties seem

Gregory Andrews
Nov 193 min read


Hope Is a Verb: My Take Home from AlterCOP 30
Speaking at AlterCOP 30 Australia was a real privilege. Walking my bike into a space filled with people who had chosen to spend three days thinking, feeling and acting for the climate reminded me that active hope is alive and well. This wasn’t a meeting of passive spectators. It was a community of people hungry to learn, ready to listen, and determined to roll up their sleeves and do the work that this moment in history demands of humanity. What inspired me most was the dive

Gregory Andrews
Nov 181 min read


If Parliament Lived Like Farmers Do, Net Zero Would Be a No-Brainer
On the back roads between Lismore and Mullumbimby during my #eBike4Australia trip to Brisbane, I stopped beside a farm with a bright yellow sign that said everything Australia needs to hear right now: ROSEBANK GASFIELD FREE ✓ 99% AGREE Behind it stretched some of the most beautiful Country I've seen - macadamia orchards, dairy farms, remnant rainforest, and mountains shaped by ancient lava flows. But while I was standing there taking in the view, the Liberal Party was busy an

Gregory Andrews
Nov 162 min read


Where Your Blueberries Really Come From
Spoiler alert, it's not from the pretty pictures on the punnet. It's from places like this on Gumbaynggirr Country in the Clarence Valley: a huge old gumtree cut off at the base, one of many sacrifed for endless rows of plastic tunnels. Cycling up the NSW mid-north coast from Nambucca to Grafton I saw the landscape changing in real time. Paddocks, forests and small-scale farms being turned into industrial blueberry estates: steel hoops, white plastic, dams, pumps, chemical sh

Gregory Andrews
Nov 142 min read


Talking Climate with the Adikaram Familiy
The climate crisis has no borders - and nor should our responsibility Cycling through Coffs Harbour on my #eBike4Australia ride, I met the Adikaram family from Sri Lanka. Senaan, his mum and dad, and his sister were on a road trip along Australia’s east coast. We got talking beside my loaded-up e-bike, the sun hot on the concrete, and within the space of five minutes our conversation turned from travel to the climate crisis. The Adikarams told me of climate impacts back home

Gregory Andrews
Nov 142 min read


Climate Change Through Aboriginal Eyes
Uncle Gary Williams on changing seasons, shifting species and hope This morning I had the privilege of meeting two remarkable people: Gumbaynggirr Elder Uncle Gary Williams and his wife Diedre Bear. We sat together in Nambucca Heads, a place that has carried stories, food, floods, families, and ceremony for thousands of years. Uncle Gary told me he worked with my own Uncle Gavin back in the 1980s during the Land Rights movement and the establishment of NSW Land Councils. Two

Gregory Andrews
Nov 132 min read


Rural Climate Leaders: Perspectives from the Nambucca Valley
Local heroes caring for Country - Janette Blainey, Luby Simson, Dinah Eadie and Marc Percival Last night, after cycling 200km from Taree and watching the sun drop over the Nambucca River in Macksville, I had the privilege of sitting down with four remarkable people: Janette Blainey, Luby Simson, Dinah Eadie and Marc Percival. Each, their own way, embodies the kind of climate-and-Country leadership Australia desperately needs. Janette Blainey, from the Miimi Aboriginal Corpora

Gregory Andrews
Nov 132 min read


Dolphins, a Ferry, and the Truth We Already Know
Today, while crossing Port Stephens on the Tea Gardens Ferry , something simple and beautiful happened. Two dolphins began to swim in the bow wave. One person spotted them and pointed. Then another. And soon it seems everyone on the boat was taking turns, leaning over the rail, smiling, laughing, calling to strangers they hadn’t spoken to before. One woman just kept turning around to anyone who would listen and saying, “This is wonderful! Isn’t this just wonderful!” And it w

Gregory Andrews
Nov 112 min read


Australia’s Dirtiest Open Secret: We Export the Climate Problem
As I waited for the Stockton Ferry to cross the Hunter River this morning, the truth sat in the air. I could smell coal. I could feel its dust in my eyes. Looking across to Newcastle’s loaders and endless coal trains, I saw what Australia rarely says out loud: we’re not just a coal country; we’re an coal export nation. We're shipping the problem offshore while counting the profits at home. Newcastle is the world's largest coal port. It ships out 150 million tonnes of coal a y

Gregory Andrews
Nov 112 min read


Climate Adaptation is a Relationship, Not a Project
How First Nations wisdom and leadership can guide Australia through the climate crisis. Just after dawn this morning, I sat in Newtown with my Aboriginal brother Lee beneath the “I Have A Dream” and Aboriginal Flag mural on King Street. The sun was low, the air was warming, and we were just two fellas sitting in the shadow of a truth we both know: Australia will not get through climate change without First Nations wisdom and leadership. The Climate Crisis Isn’t Coming. It’s H

Gregory Andrews
Nov 103 min read


I'm Off to AlterCOP 30 Australia - Riding for Climate, Country and Hope
Panniers packed. Bike oiled. Heart full. This weekend I begin my next big #eBike4Australia journey. I’m riding more than 2,400 kilometres from Canberra to Brisbane and back. For AlterCOP 30 Australia , where as Guest of Honour on Day One, I'll be speaking on A First Nations Vision for Caring for Country in 2050 . For years I sat inside the so-called “real” COPs drafting paragraphs, negotiating commas, and watching ambition shrink in the shadow of politics and fossil-fuelled p

Gregory Andrews
Nov 81 min read


Still Stuck at the Lights on Climate Action
I’ve just finished reading the latest State of Climate Action report which is released each year ahead of the Climate COPs. One line keeps echoing in my mind: “Most, if not all, of the bright spots represent isolated instances of rapid change - a far cry from the systemwide transformations urgently needed to close the greenhouse gas emissions gap for 1.5°C.” It’s a stark truth. There are glimmers of hope everywhere - solar uptake, electrification, people installing home batt

Gregory Andrews
Oct 252 min read


Barbed Wire: A Silent Killer of Aussie Wildlife
Yesterday on my way to #CitSciOz25 in Melbourne, I cycled past a Defence facility near Seymour in Victoria. I found this sugar glider...

Gregory Andrews
Oct 132 min read


Woke Sheep Exposing Anti-Renewables Nonsense
I saw these sheep at a solar farm between Glenrowan and Benalla yesterday on my #eBike4Australia ride to Melbourne. They were munching...

Gregory Andrews
Oct 122 min read


Hope Painted on Silos
This morning I cycled in to Rutherglen in Victoria expecting nothing more than the quiet end of another rail trail. Instead, I found...

Gregory Andrews
Oct 113 min read


I Made It 4,970km Across Australia: Outcomes And Thanks
I feel proud but also a bit nostalgic now that my #eBike4Australia trip has come to an end. On Saturday 14 September, five weeks and a...

Gregory Andrews
Sep 19, 20243 min read


Climate Action No-Brainer: Rewiring Australia
With my #eBike4Australia journey close to the finish line, it was fitting that my final stop was with someone who’s not just talking...

Gregory Andrews
Sep 14, 20243 min read


More Voices, Better Choices: A ‘Hung Parliament’ For Real Climate Action
After sitting outside Parliament House yesterday, I felt more exhausted than after a day of cycling 150 km or more. That building has a...

Gregory Andrews
Sep 12, 20243 min read
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