The Sustainable Futures Convention 2017 has an exciting line-up of social change makers, sustainable industry representatives, business people, artists and church leaders. New presenters are being confirmed daily, so keep updated with the ever-growing list here or on our Facebook page.
Presenters 2017
Nell Schofield: Master of Ceremonies
Sustainable Futures Convention 2017 Master of Ceremonies Nell Schofield is an actor turned activist whose passion is bringing the creative sector and the environment movement together. She recently worked as Project Manager for Solar Citizens and as Producer/Director for organisations like The Sunrise Project.
Keynote speaker: Dr Jim Frazier OAM
Dr. Jim Frazier OAM, ACS: The serious state of the global environments. Jim Frazier is one of Australia’s most highly decorated cinematographers. He is the winner of an Oscar, Emmy, three Golden tripods, a US industrial Film and Video Gold Camera Award, a Golden Panda, an Honorary Doctorate for his contribution to scientific knowledge and…
Keynote speaker: Joanne McCarthy
Joanne McCarthy: Social justice, community and action. Joanne McCarthy works for the Newcastle Herald and in February marked 37 years as a journalist. She was born, grew up and still lives and works from home on the Central Coast. She is the eldest of 11 children, attended Catholic and public high schools, gained an arts degree…
Dr Amanda Cahill
Dr Amanda Cahill: Building the next economy… a crash course. Amanda is the CEO of The Next Economy. Originally trained as an anthropologist, Amanda has been working on community development projects in countries as diverse as The Philippines, Brazil and Fiji, as well as in Australia for 23 years. After five years leading the Centre…
Abbie Allen
Abbie Allen: Powershop. Abbie’s a member of the Marketing and Partnerships team at Powershop, Australia’s greenest power company. Powershop is great supporters of initiatives that promote the growth of the renewable energy mix in Australia and believe community energy will play a big role in Australia’s energy transition.
Anna Burley
Anna Burley: A second look at our community, building the fence at the top of the cliff. Anna is CEO of Bucketts Way Neighbourhood Group Inc., a Gloucester community service. She has a diverse career background that includes banking health, hospitality and natural resource management. Anna returned to live and work in Gloucester after spending a period…
Anne Lanyon
Anne Lanyon: Faith and ecology – what do they have to do with each other? Passionate about education for a better world, Anne coordinates Social Justice days, facilitates workshops and reflection days, develops resources for schools, parishes and community groups, is involved in a variety of peace, ecology and justice groups, including the Diocese of…
Cam Laurie
Cam Laurie: Future farming – in a changing climate. A fifth generation beef farmer from the Gloucester district, Cam began adult life travelling in a different direction. An Industrial Design degree completed, family loss saw Cam returning to the family farm to help after his father’s death.
Blaine Patterson
Blaine Patterson: Community aspirations to action. Blaine is the Department of Family and Community Services Participation & Inclusion Northern Community Development Coordinator, working to identify the strengths and needs of communities, opportunities for collaboration, brokering of relationships and coordinating regional partnerships to deliver outcomes with communities. We do this because meaningful participation: 1. is good for…
Bob Doyle
Bob Doyle: Industrial hemp growing opportunities. Bob holds a Bachelor of Rural Science (Hons). He was the inaugural Chair of Paterson and Allyn Valley Landcare, a former President and current Committee member of Gresford District Landcare Group and a previous member of the NSW Landcare Working Group (Ministerial appointment).
Hunter Valley Amateur Beekeepers (Gloucester Group)
Brian Boyce, Annemie Pelletier, Lorna Tomkinson: Sustainability and bees go hand in hand. The Hunter Valley Amateur Beekeepers Association’s local Gloucester group will hold a workshop on the importance of bees in our environment. Hear how bees influence the environment and how our actions may affect their health and our own. Find out how to…
Read more Hunter Valley Amateur Beekeepers (Gloucester Group)
Boomerang Bags
Michelle Dado-Millynn & Peta Tynan: Creating a culture of reuse. Boomerang Bags community groups, now established across Australia, make recycled fabric bags to replace plastic bags in shopping outlets and by doing so help creature a culture of reuse. In this workshop, presenters Michelle Dado-Millynn and Peta Tynan will talk about why it matters how…
David Marston
David Marston: Community energy. David has 45 years of experience in sustainable natural resource management. His early specialisation was in soil and water conservation in agriculture and then into cropping systems. He has worked in the design, implementation and evaluation of Catchment Management and Landcare programs in Australia.
James Whelan
James Whelan: When push comes to shove: community organising for a healthy future Community campaigns are most powerful when we analyse our political context, understand how decisions are made and target our efforts. In this participatory workshop, James Whelan will introduce practical tools for residents and community groups to strengthen our campaigns for a healthy future.James works…
Jai Allison
Jai Allison: Keeping our rural futures resilient. Jai is a reformed engineer, now busy as a community development practitioner and researcher. Jai’s currently building on his experience working with communities recovering from and making the most of tough times, such as the Blue Mountains bushfire recovery.
Rev. Dr Jason John
Rev. Dr Jason John: Sacred, scientific, sustainability stories: mine, and yours. Jason brings his studies in zoology, environment and theology to his role as Uniting Earth Ministry Consultant, and they form the basis for his own musings at ecofaith.org His PhD explored the connections between evolution, ecology, environmentalism and faith.
Joan McCarthy
Joan McCarthy: Sex is about energy. Joan is mother of four, grandmother of six and great grand mother of five. She has recently published four books: three on older women and one on sexuality. Joan studied sexuality intensely in Mauii, Hawaii and ancient sexuality in Kunming, China. Her port folio career includes: • 30 years…
John Asquith
John Asquith: Land For Wildlife Program. John is the Chairman of the Community Environment Network and the Central Coast Marine Discovery Centre at Terrigal. He has coordinated Land for Wildlife across NSW for the CEN since 22007. Prior to retirement he was an engineer in the utilities sector. His environmental activities began in the late…
John and Rosie Hayes
John and Rosie Hayes: 50 simple steps to sustainable living; and transitioning to renewable energy. John will present the topics: Our Sustainable House; The Power of Two; 50 Simple Steps to Sustainability; Transition to Renewable Energy. John and his wife Rosie are active with Environment, Climate Change and other groups in Newcastle and the Hunter.
Dr John Van Der Kallen
Dr. John Van Der Kallen: Climate change and health impacts. John is a Rheumatologist in Newcastle. John graduated from the University of NSW and spent time training in many rural areas of NSW. He completed his Physicians training in the Hunter and completed his rheumatology training in Leiden in the Netherlands. He subsequently set up…
John Watts
John Watts: The vital role of community advocacy. John is a Barrister with a Bachelor of Laws (QLD) and Master of Laws (UWS). A resident of Gloucester and an active member of Groundswell Gloucester, John was heavily involved in the campaign against AGL’s coal seam gas project and is media adviser to Groundswell Gloucester.
Judy Simonson and Rachel Saunders
Judy Simonson and Rachel Saunders: Art for all – the importance of arts and culture in rural communities. GACCI members Judy Simonson and Gloucester Gallery Director Rachel Saunders are both practicing artists and have volunteered for GACCI, a not for profit organisation over the past few years.
Karen Burge
Karen Burge: The potential of hemp for food, fibre and medicine. Karen is an advocate for a sustainable hemp industry that could be a solution to unemployment, whilst protecting land and water as a chemical free crop. Karen looks forward to sharing her passion about the potential of Hemp and it’s varied uses to make…
Kerrie Guppy
Kerrie Guppy: Small business in a rural town; Reducing toxins in conservation and land management. Kerrie is co-founder of Aus Eco Solutions – an innovative conservation and land management business with a team of ecologists and bush regenerators who take great pride in their work to restore native ecosystems with a focus on organic techniques.
Kirsty Hughes
Kirsty Hughes: Finding energy and inspiration to take action in your community. Kirsty is a coach specialising in helping ‘Earth Warriors’ – those of us who feel an inescapable pull to act on behalf of the planet – to overcome personal challenges, to find peace, to be strong and resilient in the face of global…
Lee Fieldhouse
Lee Fieldhouse: Soil Systems – upcycling through nature. Lee is a vermiculturalist and founder of Islands in the Stream which is all about upcycling through nature. He will present on the role of microbes in soil systems, disease suppression in plants, and waste up-cycling.
Linda Johnson
Linda Johnson: Getting online in the bush. In an age where most business and communication is conducted over a smart phone, having an up-to-date internet presence is vital and need not be expensive or difficult. Linda is a web designer and graphic artist who left her job as a Marketing Manager in Sydney to move…
Lucie Bruvel
Lucie Bruvel: Living your ideals, working as a collective and growing a community. Lucie is a social entrepreneur and founder of the Shepherds Ground farm and village project – creating a new blueprint for the renewal of the rural village. Growing up on a self sufficient small holding in the Hunter, her family grew everything,…
Mayee Warren
Mayee Warren: International justice advocate. Mayee is an international justice advocate, a social entrepreneur, a management executive, a resident of the glorious Gloucester valley, partner to husband Brad Warren for 37 years, mother to two sons and one daughter, “Lola” to four adorable grandchildren, and custodian of four cows. For over 25 years, Mayee worked…
Marc Wittenberg
Marc Wittenberg: The basics of yoga and why it might save the world. Marc is a Hatha, Vinyasa and Yin yoga teacher, based in Sydney and Gloucester. His teachings are based on traditional Indian Asana (postures) and Pranayama (breath control) systems. Complemented with Buddhist Meditation.
Megan Griffiths
Megan Griffiths: What happens to your rubbish – waste as a resource. Megan is the Waste Education Officer at JR Richards & Sons, the biggest supplier of waste and recycling services on the mid north coast. Megan’s presentation will look at what happens when you put your rubbish bins out: what happens next? You’ll take a virtual…
Natalie Isaacs
Natalie Isaacs: 1 Million Women. Natalie is the founder and CEO of 1 Million Women, the movement of women and girls who take practical action to fight dangerous climate change by changing the way they live. Natalie is a mother-of-four who ran her own cosmetics company for two decades, before she had what she calls…
Pat Burrows
Pat Burrows: Beyond organic – Sustainable local food futures. Pat is on the board of Gloucester Food Hub, responsible for the Tucker Patch. Our passion is to promote a local food economy, sharing our knowledge, supporting local farmers and backyard growers, reducing food miles, and enjoying the best, tastiest and most nutritious food.
Paul De Szell
Paul De Szell: Community and Council: working together. Paul is part of MidCoast Council’s Executive team, taking on the role of Director of Community Spaces and Services at the time the three former councils merged. Moving to the mid North Coast from Yass Valley Council in February 2015, he joined Greater Taree City Council as Executive…
Paula Morrow
Paula Morrow: Optimism and engagement in social movements. Paula is a facilitator of Change through Communication in small groups. She is a writer and natural therapist in Newcastle. Paula writes both fiction and non-fiction on the themes of philosophy, the planet and health.
Penny Charles
Penny Charles: Make ’em laugh. Make ’em cry. Make ’em understand? Penny has many years of experience teaching children and adults of all ages. She began as a teacher of English, Drama and Social Studies and quickly discovered how skills learnt in each of these areas could improve learning in the others.
Penny Drake-Brockman
Penny Drake-Brockman: Attracting birds to your garden. As a long-term member and secretary of the Gloucester Environment Group in 2003, Penny is the leader of the RiverCare sub-group, with a particular interest in caring for the George V Memorial Park near where she lives in Gloucester. With the Environment Group, she leads occasional bird walks…
Rachelle Worth
Rachelle Worth: Raw Earth Enviro Education – Getting your kids back to nature. Rachelle is a creative teacher/storyteller who manages and presents Raw Earth Enviro Education (REED), which is based in Gloucester. REED is a unique outdoor-based environmental education program for families with children under 12.
Sam Marshall
Sam Marshall: Making an ethical switch. Sam Marshall is head of Ethical Switch in Australia, an online platform that ranks companies depending on how ethical they are. Their ethical status is largely dependent on their commitment to renewable energy and divestment from fossil fuels. They showcase key consumer sectors such as energy, banking, superannuation and…
Sandra Hawker
Sandra Hawker: Refugees & people seeking asylum in rural & regional NSW. Sandra is the NSW coordinator of Home Among the Gum Trees, a program of free, short-term holidays in rural and regional NSW for people seeking asylum in Australia. After its first successful year in 2016 Home Among the Gum Trees aims to continue…
Shane Hannan
Shane Hannan: Building with hemp and hemp applications. Shane Hannan is a third generation builder from Dungog and is director and chief builder of Hannan Build Pty Ltd, who specialise in architecturally designed, sustainable, healthy homes for people in the Hunter Valley. Building is in his blood, building sustainably has become a passion.
Sandy Killick
Sandy Killick: Building capacity for social change – Using values and frames to increase your impact. As a freelance facilitator Sandy Killick works with organisations, teams and individuals dealing with complex problems to find the new ways of thinking and action required. Sandy designs processes to help for-purpose organisations, government agencies, communities and influencers diagnose…
Sharon Edgar-Jones
Sharon Edgar-Jones: Reclaiming and embracing Aboriginal language and culture. Sharon’s family line is Gringai (Allyn River area) and Wonnarua (Hunter Valley). She acts as a language consultant for Muurrbay Aboriginal Language & Culture Co op (Nambucca) in addition to working as a Cultural Educator with Murrook Culture Centre (Williamtown).
Tom Nockolds and Michael Ramsden
Tom Nockolds and Michael Ramsden: Exploring community power for Gloucester. Tom is a member of the Community Power Agency team, helping communities across Australia develop, own and operate their own sustainable energy projects. He has a strong knowledge of the different business models being adopted or considered by community energy groups in Australia and has…
Rev. Tom Stuart
Rev. Tom Stuart: Shifting from a cosmology of self-destruction to sustainability. Rev. Tom Stuart has focussed his ministry with the Uniting Church in Australia in rural congregations for 22 years and a further 5 years in Newcastle. For the last 10 years of his ministry, Tom has given his attention to the issue of change…
Tracey Farrant
Tracey Farrant: Community and Council, working together. Tracey Farrant is the Community Engagement Officer for MidCoast Council. Tracey has a strong history in rural and regional community engagement. She has worked in local government in both Victoria and New South Wales for over fifteen years and is passionate about councils and communities working in genuine…
ZNET Uralla team: Dr Sandra Eady, Peter Low, Trish Rasmussen
ZNET Uralla team: Community engagement pathways for energy matters. ZNET Uralla has adopted the Zeronet Energy Town Uralla Case Study (also known as the Z-NET Blueprint) as its foundation document for direction and scope of projects to be undertaken in the Uralla Shire. Z-NET activities are designed in consultation with the Uralla community, to give equal…
Read more ZNET Uralla team: Dr Sandra Eady, Peter Low, Trish Rasmussen
