OzGREEN educates people about how to integrate sustainability into their daily lives at work and at home, and inspires people to apply their unique skills to accelerate Australia\'s transition to sustainability.
OzGREEN educates people about how to integrate sustainability into their daily lives at work and at home, and inspires people to apply their unique skills to accelerate Australia\'s transition to sustainability.
OzGREEN educates people about how to integrate sustainability into their daily lives at work and at home, and inspires people to apply their unique skills to accelerate Australia\'s transition to sustainability.
OzGREEN educates people about how to integrate sustainability into their daily lives at work and at home, and inspires people to apply their unique skills to accelerate Australia\'s transition to sustainability.)
To Sue, OzGREEN is not a job – it is her strategic response to her deep concern for the environment and her vision to build a more sustainable, peaceful and equitable world. Sue, along with her husband Colin, has been the driving force behind OzGREEN since it’s inception. She has 30 years experience in environmental education program innovation, development, management and implementation in urban, regional, remote and Indigenous communities in Australia, India, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Pakistan.
Sue is an Australia Day Ambassador, a member of the Centre for Social Impact Advisory Council and represented the NGO sector on the NSW Government Advisory Council on Environmental Education (1999-2007). In 2007 Sue was named as one of Sydney’s Top 100 Most Influential People by The Sydney Magazine and OzGREEN was winner of the prestigious Eureka Prize and a 2008 finalist in the National Banksia Environmental Award. Sue has received the Manly Daily Centenary Medal for services to the environment (2006), Banksia Environmental Awards, UN Media Peace Awards, Environmental Educator of the Year (1998), Award for Excellence in Teaching from NSW Department of Education and her former school was designated a Centre of Excellence in Environmental Education in 1992.
OzGREEN is a case study in best practice education for sustainability by the Australian Association for Environmental Education 2006 and was winner of Social Ventures Australia Big Boost in 2002 and 2008.
OzGREEN educates, engages and empowers young people, adults, corporations and communities to tackle critical environmental sustainability challenges (such as climate change and water) and become leaders of positive social change.
Formed in 1992, it now operates nationally across Australia and has run programs overseas in India, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Pakistan. OzGREEN programs are transferable, scalable and facilitate long term engagement – critical for building community connectivity and resilience in challenging environments.
OzGREEN’s programs foster informed participation, harness people’s special contributions and build pathways for ongoing engagement. OzGREEN’s unique approach incorporates environmental education, leadership and personal development, enabling people to develop innovative sustainability solutions themselves.
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During her career as a teacher (1976-1993), Sue had an ongoing commitment to peace and environmental education. However she noticed that young people were overwhelmed by many of these issues. She felt the need to enable people to face up to serious challenges and be empowered to work for change. A ten-year search resulted in the development of multi-award winning environmental education programs. As the impact of this work became more widely known, Sue’s school (Freshwater High School) was designated as a Centre of Excellence in Environmental Education.
In 1991, Sue and her husband Colin were invited to travel to India to help the Clean Up the Ganges Campaign (run by Varanasi based Sankat Mochan Foundation since 1982). This journey was to change their lives. Seeing the beauty of the River Ganges first hand and for the first time measuring the actual pollution levels, broke their hearts. They realised there was much they could contribute. The following year they left teaching, sold their home and moved their young family in with Colin’s mother.
They began the work of setting up OzGREEN working as two volunteers working out of a borrowed garage. Since then OzGREEN has involved over 500 schools and 500 businesses in their learning and leadership programs.
Donations to OzGREEN are tax deductible in Australia.
