A word from Kelly O'Shanassy, our CEO
By now you would have noticed some pretty big changes here at Environment Victoria. A new look and a new Green Action campaign to make 5 million people taking care of our environment a reality.
- We know 5 million is a big number, but we are getting closer everyday. In fact, in 2008-2009:
- 30,150 people took part in our sustainable living program or participated in one of our campaign events.
- 220,000 people used our website to take action for our environment.
- Tens of thousands of people worked tirelessly through local community groups to repair and safeguard our environment.
- Millions of people took green action at home and work to lighten their footprint.
Suddenly, 5 million people seems a very real possibility. And we have only just gotten started.
Of course its not just about the number of people taking action, its about what we achieved for our environment.
In 2008/09 we won a (very) long battle to get 460 billion litres of water returned to northern Victorian rivers over the next 5 years (and we are so pleased that this water will nourish the newly declared redgum national parks). We won a huge boost to solar power in Victoria thanks to our solar feed-in law campaign. And we have laid the groundwork for a recycling scheme for TV’s and computers.
And again, we have only just gotten going.
In 2008/09 we came up with some big solutions to solve our environmental challenges that (after lots of lobbying by us) will turn into future environmental outcomes! We worked out how to halve Victoria’s greenhouse emissions by 2020 using existing technology. We showed how water efficiency and recycling can provide water to Melbourne rather than using desalination plants and pipelines. And we shattered the mis-conception that the economy will suffer if we protect the environment through our green jobs work.
Now, leading up to the state election, we will mobilise people around these solutions and ramp up the pressure on our politicians to do the right thing.
That’s where the 5 million people come in.
Our new website will help us reach many more people. Our partnerships with farmers, social groups, community groups and cutting edge businesses will spread the word far and wide. We have even entered the world of twittering and social networking to get younger people involved.
We are pretty excited about the outcomes we are and will continue to achieve. We know they are not enough right now but they will get bigger and bigger as we get more and more people taking action.
And we won’t stop until we reach 5 million people.
