Peace building is an umbrella-term for many aspects of dealing with violent conflict. An early paper by Johan Galtung describes peacebuilding as activities used to reduce violence and promote all fonns of justice (Galtung, 1967, p. 12). In a nutshell, peacebuilding is a means of achieving sustainable and durable peace. By peace, we mean an absence of all kinds of violence. In its original use, the tenn peacebuilding was associated with bringing about peace by peaceful means (Galtung, 1996).

Humanity has reaped great benefits from mining. Over the millennia that humans have practiced mining there have been many obvious improvements in mining's environmental and social impacts. However, some aspects of mining still involve an element of ecological violence1 and, in Australia, there is a growing amount of conflict concerned with mining. These two related issues - 'ecological violence' and 'conflict' - were explored at the 'Mining in a Sustainable World' conference on 13 to 15 October 2013 at the University of New England campus in Armidale, Australia. The conference was a joint initiative of the discipline of Peace Studies within the University of New England's School of Humanities, and the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law. Specifically, conference delegates were interested in exploring the work being done to reduce ecological violence and conflict. Articles in this special edition of the International Journal of Rural Law and Policy arose from that conference. This editorial provides an overview of the rationale for the conference and the issues explored.

This paper begins with a brief historical overview of the Australian movement against uranium mining, before focussing on two major campaigns: Roxby and Jabiluka. It describes the reasons the activists gave at the time for their blockades of the Roxby Downs uranium mine in South Australia in 1983 and 1984. These reasons - such as perceptions that the industry is unsafe - have changed little over time and were the basis for the campaign against the proposed Jabiluka mine in the Northern Territory in 1998. They continue to be cited by environmental groups and Aboriginal Traditional Owners to this day as new situations arise, such as the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The paper then describes how the movement evolved between the Roxby and Jabiluka blockades, with changes to the movement's philosophy, strategy, tactics and internal dynamics. This analysis includes a comparison between two anti-nuclear bike rides, one a year after the 1984 Roxby blockade and involving some of the same activists, and another at the time of the Jabiluka blockade. This author was present at all these events, and provides an emic (insider) perspective within a longitudinal participant-observation methodology. Although this perspective obviously has a subjective element, the paper fills a gap in that there is little written history of these blockades (particularly Roxby) and more generally of Australian resistance to uranium mining, let alone the aspects of nonviolence and movement evolution. It is an introductory history of these campaigns, examining the direct action components, the practicalities of nonviolent campaigning, and the evolution of Australian anti-uranium activism.

In Myanmar, a history of structural and ecological violence has resulted in environmental degradation, loss of livelihoods and food insecurity for agrarian populations. This is resulting in the breakdown of traditional communities. It is anticipated that industrialised, modernisation processes will exacerbate the situation. This thesis is based on a case study into a unique environmental peacebuilding initiative that has been developed by Myanmar nationals, in an effort to address some of these socio-ecological issues. A grassroots, environmental, social movement organisation, the Network for Environment and Economic Development (NEED), has established a school and eco-farm in Myanmar, and has designed an environmental adult education (EAE) program, aimed at agrarian youth. EAE is a transformative education that is a hybrid of environmental education (EE) and adult learning theory. EAE is an effective tool in addressing localised environmental problems. Also, its praxis, when applied widely at the local level, has the potential to influence regional, state and global social and political institutions. NEED is educating young adults from a variety of ethnic groups, in land law, human rights, environmentalism, and the practice of permaculture. NEED has created a learning community; a space for new ecological voices and perspectives. The objective of this research is to see how this particular EAE model is contributing to environmental peace in Myanmar. This is important with regard to environmental and food insecurity issues in this rapidly developing nation. It is also important in light of the global systemic crisis of inequality, environmental injustice and climate change. The thesis discusses attempts to live simply and peacefully in a world that, despite 'sustainability' rhetoric, often forces us to do just the opposite, and is a unique contribution to the research into informal critical adult education for social action, and for environmental peacebuilding. It is also an example of grassroots activism emerging from the global South. The study utilizes Paulo Freire's notion of 'conscientization' (critical consciousness), critical social theory, as well as the writings of critical theorist Herbert Marcuse, and a Marxist theory of social movements, as lenses through which to analyse the learning that is occurring within this program, as well as the potential it has for broader, transformative social action.

We have held an annual Nonviolence Film Festival since 2009, showing thirty free films to students, staff and the general public. The 2012 festival included an international conference 'Cultivating Peace: Context, Practices and Multidimensional Models', which led to a book (Cultivating Peace: Contexts, Practices and Multidimensional Models, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle) co-edited by Peace Studies staff. That film festival also included an exhibition: 'Transforming The Human Spirit' (with Soka Gakkai International), talks and discussion panels.

This paper attempts to counter the common misconception that nonviolence would not have worked against Nazi Germany. It adds to the literature showing that nonviolence against Nazism did occur, and although it was mostly ad hoc, poorly coordinated and under-resourced, it was widespread, diverse and sometimes remarkably effective. If it had been better coordinated, planned and resourced, such nonviolence could have been formidable. The paper also examines foreign corporations that were economic and military-industrial pillars of Nazism, and suggests that an international campaign of boycotts, divestments and sanctions against those collaborator corporations - as used successfully against the similar pillars of apartheid South Africa - could have been highly effective.

This is a detailed, comprehensive, erudite book, examining how the reporting of violence can escalate that violence, and how journalists can alter their reporting practices in order to have the opposite effect and promote peace. ... There are fascinating insights into power and the political culture in Indonesia in the period examined - both how it was presented at times in a romanticised way as an extension of the village structure, and how this notion was abused to allow successive presidents discretion but not accountability. There was seemingly a normalisation of violence and criminality as state practices, through a presentation of the state as a guardian agent against constant threats from 'subversive forces'.

Nonviolence is the most powerful and successful philosophy of social change today. In the last century, it led to major change - ending colonial rule in India, removing ruthless dictatorships in South America and the Philippines, bringing down totalitarian regimes in Eastern Europe, improving women's and civil rights in the West, reducing the global threat of nuclear war, and helping to preserve the natural environment (Ackerman and Duvall 2000:3-4). Now, with climate change requiring further drastic action, such as the end of the wasteful extravagance of the military-industrial complex – the world's single largest polluter (Thomas 1995) - nonviolence attains even greater significance. The Centre for Peace Studies at the University of New England last year held its first Short Course in "Nonviolent Social Change in the Contemporary World". The course aimed to give participants theoretical insights into nonviolent action, through lectures and discussions. More than that, however, it was practice-based, with exercises, role-plays and group activities that reflect the collaborative and down-to-earth nature of nonviolence praxis. We hoped to balance the deadly serious nature of some areas of nonviolence with humour, games, creative activities and 'open space' discussions, and an emphasis on solutions to global problems such as militarism and other forms of violence, injustice and environmental destruction.

Anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is regarded as the planet's gravest problem by world leaders as diverse as UN secretary-general Ban KiMoon (Stunner, 2014) and former US President Barak Obama (Park, 2015). However, the necessary mass mitigation actions are yet to happen, partly because traditional scientific and political communication is not adequate alone for this unprecedented challenge (Ockwell et al., 2009; Leiserowitz, 2006). The arts can effectively raise awareness of the problems; stimulate solutions-based reflection, discussion and action at individual and community levels; and bring beauty and optimism to a disturbing issue (Curtis et al., 2012; Branagan, 2013: 176-216). This paper describes my 2015 exhibition Global Warning which attempted to achieve these outcomes. I provide my reflections on what I hoped to represent through the artworks in this exhibition, how I created them and the impact that I hoped to achieve.