We chose this special day to celebrate the 15th
birthday of The Environment Association to give full recognition to
the importance of the work of this community environment group. Here
is an illustrative - while far from complete - story of The
Environment Association.
Early years
In 1989 the idea was born to establish an environment centre in
Deloraine to provide a resource base and a greater degree of
respectability for local forests campaigns. So this association began
its life as the Deloraine Environment Centre (DEC). A small group of
people started to meet and work on issues through the Centre, and in
January 1990 the Deloraine Environment Centre Inc. became a legal
entity. The DEC assisted in the establishment of Deloraine House,
including taking a room for rent at $30 a week. Despite a focus on
protecting forests, one of the first things the DEC did was to set up
a recycling depot in the old shed at Deloraine House. This wonderful
initiative paved the way for the Tasmanian Trash Transformers (TTT) to
establish its full-scale recycling centre at the Deloraine Tip site.
DEC helped TTT to prepare its successful proposal to the Deloraine
Council.
Nevertheless forests were, understandably, a primary focus for the
DEC, particularly the Great Western Tiers For several years DEC
managed the Jackeys Marsh Forest Festival. This major event provided a
community social hub, and vital funding for both the association and
the Great Western Tiers National Park Campaign. Other events, like
market stalls, raffles, trivia nights and Dutch auctions also brought
in much-needed funds. In 1995, DEC left Deloraine House, and for
several years had no home. Conservation campaigns continued, but there
was no place that identified as an environment centre.
In November 1998 the DEC changed its name to The Environment
Association Inc (TEA) to reflect both the expansion of our municipal
area from simply Deloraine to the Meander Valley and the fact that our
membership base and campaigns go far beyond just the local area. Then
in 1999 we took the plunge and rented an office space at 90 Emu Bay Rd
to once again have a visible "shopfront" presence in the community.
TEA has never worked entirely in isolation of other conservation
organisations; but last year, recognising the need for a more
cooperative and collaborative effort from the environment movement, we
participated in the establishment of the umbrella group, Environment
Tasmania. Anyone who wants to know more about that initiative can
speak to Andrew Ricketts.
Environment House Trust
In 1999, TEA designed Environment House Trust and approached
members and other supporters to purchase units in the trust to buy
Environment House to provide security for TEA and its work. The
response was wonderful and the house was purchased, with some of the
money being a donation. Considerable renovations have been carried out
and there are long-term plans to use Environment House as an
environmental showcase, demonstrating such things as solar-heating,
composting toilet, alternate power among others. Units in the trust
are still available now. If you are interested in investing in EHT or
simply knowing more about it, please see Ross Ulman who is one of the
trustees.
Funding
Looking back through financial records, I found that DEC had
received three grants between 1990 and 1991. Firstly there was $500
from the federal Department of the Environment to promote World
Environment Day. Then in 1991 came $1,600 from the Tasmanian
Department of Environment and Planning to hold a seminar on water
issues. In the same year a grant for $25,000 was received from the
National Estate program to produce a heritage package, including the
publication Plains to Plateau. Many funding applications were
submitted in years to follow but these were unsuccessful. It wasn’t
until 1999 that the association first received a grant from the
Meander Valley Council Community Grants’ Program, with two further
grants from MVC since that time. All these funds were directed to
renovations of Environment House to bring it to the standard you see
today. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank MVC for the latest
grant of $860.00 for the purchase and installation of a low-energy hot
water service which will be installed in the near future.
Nevertheless, TEA continues to be primarily financed by its members
and supporters.
Membership subscriptions, fundraising events and donations are
TEA's financial mainstay. As well, many variations on market stalls,
raffles, dinners to name a few activities continue to raise funds to
keep TEA alive.
Submissions, Objections & Appeals
Much of the work of the association is in the form of
making submissions, objections and appeals to government processes and
bodies. Sometimes we wonder if it’s worth the energy expended, but
from time to time we have a win. We contributed to the debate over the
proposed new road to Lorinna, and the industrial area proposed for the
area opposite Bowerbank Mill at the eastern entrance to Deloraine.
Neither of these proposals went ahead. We made an objection and then
an appeal on the development proposal for Dismal Swamp, the world’s
only Blackwood Swamp Polje. Unfortunately this development did go
ahead but with some serious modifications due to our input. TEA was
one of five appellants against a development application for logging
in the heritage landscape of Wesley Dale at Chudleigh. This was
another success with the development application being withdrawn prior
to the appeal being held. We also objected to the Meander Dam
Proposal. You probably all know that even though there was strong
community opposition and that opposition was successful in overturning
the proposal at appeal, the Tasmanian government simply redrew its
legislation to allow the dam to go ahead regardless. The project is
plagued with problems and the dam remains unbuilt. We can only hope
the problems continue into a time of greater enlightenment. Just now
we are working on a submission to the Aerial Spraying Code of
Practice, calling for a ban on this unacceptable and dangerous
practice. We have made so many other submissions I couldn’t talk about
them all now. Please feel free to browse the folder that holds many of
them. If you’d like a copy of a particular document, please ask me.
Community advice
Around 1995, we started receiving numerous calls from people
who were experiencing problems related to environment issues. Most of
these were due to logging operations and/or plantation establishments,
mainly on private land. We were a little puzzled as to the number of
calls and how they came about until we discovered most were referrals
from the Tasmanian Greens. While the recognition was great and we were
glad to help when we could, at times we felt overwhelmed by the number
of enquiries and the degree of distress our callers were experiencing.
Shortly after the RFA was signed in November 1997, the number of calls
escalated till we were receiving up to a dozen every week. While the
demand has slowed down a bit since then, we continue to provide
assistance in this way.
Campaigns
Recycled paper
From the outset the Deloraine Environment Centre made a commitment
to use recycled paper wherever possible. It isn’t always easy but we
have stuck to that commitment. People say —“Oh, but it costs more!”
Firstly let me say, the paper component of any publication is the
smallest part. As well the price of every single consumer item always
bears the hidden cost to the environment. You can buy Canon 100, a
100% recycled, post-consumer waste copy paper from OfficeWorks in
Launceston.
1080
During the early 1990’s the DEC assisted the people of Jackeys
Marsh in campaigning against the use of 1080 poison. This cheap and
nasty practice continues. Who knows how many millions of native
animals have been cruelly killed with this obnoxious poison or when
1080 poison will finally become a thing of the past, or indeed what
will replace it. TEA supports excluding animals from production areas.
If you are interested in working against 1080 poison please talk to
Sue Walker.
Forests
The DEC grew out of the campaign to protect the forests of the
Great Western Tiers. The campaign to protect the Great Western Tiers
is a story in itself, spanning more than 2 decades of direct actions,
awareness raising, publications and extensive lobbying. A great deal
of good work was done, including David Bellamy declaring it a National
Park on behalf of the community on November 15, 1992. That idea hasn’t
filtered through to the government yet as we’ve seen in the latest
round of inadequate conservation with the revision of the Tasmanian
Regional Forest Agreement. Also in November 1992, DEC was a partner
with the Native Forest Network in establishing and running the first
Temperate Forest Conference. DEC made an attempt to start up a
campaign to protect the forests of Christmas Hills. Unfortunately this
was short-lived due to lack of support. In 1995 the Reedy Marsh Forest
Conservation Group was affiliated with the DEC and remains involved
today. TEA and RMFCG have done a substantial body of work in the area
of forest conservation, including RMFCG’s participation as a
stakeholder in the RFA. The RMFCG also does considerable work in
lodging complaints against breaches of the Forest Practices Code of
which there are many more than can be covered by a few volunteers. If
you are interested in doing some of this kind of work, please see
Andrew Ricketts. TEA and RMFCG together have produced various leaflets
to raise awareness of forests and the need for their protection
including kits to advise people about the options for forests during
both state and federal election campaigns.
Keeping in Touch - Newsletter
The DEC News started in 1990 and became TEA News in 1998. It’s
TEA’s way of keeping in touch with its members. We are always looking
for people to write articles, snippets, poetry, whatever, on
environment themes so if you’ve got something to say please let me
know.
Volunteers
Today I haven’t mentioned the names of the people who
have contributed to DEC. TEA & EHT over 15 years. There are so many
and I would hate to leave someone out. Just let me say that none of
the work of this association would happen without the great generosity
of spirit of its volunteers. It is probably unique in that all its
workers are volunteers. Volunteers provide advice to people who are
facing environmental problems, manage and renovate Environment House,
run campaigns, make submissions, hold events to promote issues, in
fact, they do everything. There are so many environment issues facing
our community today and TEA is here to provide a focus on those
issues. Whatever The Environment Association does is done by the
people who get involved. If you want to see improved environment
outcomes, please get involved now.
World Environment Day theme: Organic food — good
for you, good for the planet
Today’s focus is on organic food. It seems to me that
many caring people are yet to embrace food grown organically as part
of their lifestyle. We want everyone to think about the connection
between organic agriculture and a healthy planet. I often hear people
say that organic food is too expensive. I think we all have to start
considering the environmental cost of the things we do, including
eating. When I was a little girl, television came to Australia. TVs
were very expensive and not many people had one. We went each Sunday
evening to our lucky neighbour's place to watch Disneyland. Slowly the
idea caught on and more and more people bought a TV until today it’s
considered very unusual - if not eccentric - to not have at least one
TV in every Australian home. I think organic food can be like that. If
we each choose organic whenever we can, the demand will grow,
production will swell to meet that demand and soon organic food will
be readily available and prices will level out. We can all play a part
in making organic food mainstream and affordable for everyone.
