Core Value 1: Building Bridges.
The future is everyone's. It is not for governments, nor corporations, nor 'environmentalists', to decide what kind of a world we will live in. Meeting the challenges of the current ecological crisis is something we need to do together.
As participants in the Australian environmental movement, we have come to realise that our activities can often be insular and narrow in scope, engaging the same groups and demographic of people time and time again without reaching out to those who are most directly and profoundly affected by ecological and social upheaval.
Anyone who believes that sustainability is a niche issue should think again about what unsustainable means. It seems reasonable to feel more interested in practicing medicine, in peace and conflict or in helping the economically and socially marginalised than in ‘the environment’: until one considers that there is no greater threat to human health, to global security or to the poor than our present ecological and social crisis.
Conversely, anyone within the environment movement who believes that there is no need to reach out to these other groups must consider themselves part of a vanguard that will take power against the will of the masses, or somehow believe that large numbers of people will very soon adopt the opinions and eating habits of environmentalists without ever seriously talking with them.
That’s why, this year, we want to put a special emphasis on the need to build broad-based coalitions with a range of key social groups who might never have entertained an interest in environmental justice: farmers, workers, health professionals, people of faith, socially marginalised people and social workers, as well as many others. This will be a theme running throughout the entire conference, culminating on the last day of the conference (Saturday the 5th of July) when we will develop plenaries and workshops around the theme of ‘Building Bridges’.
We have set out three broad aims for this day:
1. Foster personal relationships between individuals who would not normally interact, with participants coming away feeling more connected to those from different groups, having found shared values and common ground when it comes to ideals of social and environmental justice.
2. Critically reflect on past successes and challenges or limitations of coalition building based on experiences of past cooperative campaigns.
3. Establish common ground between different groups and use this as a departure point for discussions of potential areas of future collaboration and campaigning.
As participants in the Australian environmental movement, we have come to realise that our activities can often be insular and narrow in scope, engaging the same groups and demographic of people time and time again without reaching out to those who are most directly and profoundly affected by ecological and social upheaval.
Anyone who believes that sustainability is a niche issue should think again about what unsustainable means. It seems reasonable to feel more interested in practicing medicine, in peace and conflict or in helping the economically and socially marginalised than in ‘the environment’: until one considers that there is no greater threat to human health, to global security or to the poor than our present ecological and social crisis.
Conversely, anyone within the environment movement who believes that there is no need to reach out to these other groups must consider themselves part of a vanguard that will take power against the will of the masses, or somehow believe that large numbers of people will very soon adopt the opinions and eating habits of environmentalists without ever seriously talking with them.
That’s why, this year, we want to put a special emphasis on the need to build broad-based coalitions with a range of key social groups who might never have entertained an interest in environmental justice: farmers, workers, health professionals, people of faith, socially marginalised people and social workers, as well as many others. This will be a theme running throughout the entire conference, culminating on the last day of the conference (Saturday the 5th of July) when we will develop plenaries and workshops around the theme of ‘Building Bridges’.
We have set out three broad aims for this day:
1. Foster personal relationships between individuals who would not normally interact, with participants coming away feeling more connected to those from different groups, having found shared values and common ground when it comes to ideals of social and environmental justice.
2. Critically reflect on past successes and challenges or limitations of coalition building based on experiences of past cooperative campaigns.
3. Establish common ground between different groups and use this as a departure point for discussions of potential areas of future collaboration and campaigning.