2023 Speakers

Professor Tim Flannery is one of Australia’s leading thinkers and writers on sustainability and the environment.

A scientist, explorer and conservationist he has undertaken over 20 expeditions to remote regions and written over 30 books. He was described by Sir David Attenborough as one of the great explorers, and as a scientist who’s discovered more new species than Charles Darwin. His landmark works The Future Eaters and The Weather Makers have changed the way we think about the environmental challenges facing the world.

Named Australian of the Year in 2007, he works with governments and businesses globally on climate change action. In 2011 he became Australia’s Chief Climate Commissioner, and in 2013 he founded and heads the Australian Climate Council.

In May 2021 Tim Flannery was awarded the prestigious Geddes Environment Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

Prof Tim Flannery appears by arrangement with Claxton Speakers International.

BIO

Inga Simpson is an Australian nature writer with PhDs in creative writing and English literature. She is the author of Mr Wigg, Nest, Where the Trees Were, Understory, The Last Woman in the World, Willowman and, for children, The Book of Australian Trees.

Abstract – Imagining is perceiving
The nature in nature writing is more than inspiration and subject; it is the source. Human creativity stems from our connection to landscape and our relationship with the natural world. Of course, we are nature, too, just one small part of a series of connected ecosystems.

Contrary to what we would like to believe, creativity is not personal genius but the ability to tap into something larger than ourselves, to allow the wild wind of nature to blow through us. Language, imagination and story all originate in the earth, a mind-body awareness shaped by our local terrain and the other beings we share it with.

The tools for writing – vocabulary, specificity, imagery – come from nature, too. In the language of landscape, it is imagery, those intuitive word-pictures that convey so much more than the literal, that hold the power. Images allow room for emotions, room for that mind-body knowing, room for the unknown – and room for the reader. To think like a forest, Eduardo Kohn says, is to think in images.

We like to say that seeing is believing but to imagine is to perceive – to use all our senses to understand the interconnected relationships of a place, its past, present, and tomorrow. When we write (draw/paint/photograph/sing/play) nature, we rewild ourselves; we connect, we care, we are at home. And we can (re-) imagine a future other than the one we are currently rushing towards.

BIO

An academic leader, change maker and educator in sustainable development credited with having developed the initial frameworks for learning in this area. She is an Australian who served a member of the Board of WWF that established EarthHour in 2007 and is a Fellow (Hon) of the University of Cambridge.

Abstract – Transforming the Future: are we there yet?

Sue is a long-term early childhood education for sustainability advocate, researcher and author, she co-convenes the TransNational Dialogues in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability research group. Healthy sustainable futures for young children drive her work across the early childhood sector.

Sue is a long-term early childhood education for sustainability advocate, researcher and author, she co-convenes the TransNational Dialogues in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability research group. Healthy sustainable futures for young children drive her work across the early childhood sector.

Jo-Anne is curious about enduring beliefs in environmental/sustainability education, and how these limit or enable our work. She’s interested in how digital worlds are entangled with us. Jo-Anne is always searching for the new, hence varied roles and career focus!

Sue is passionately involved in supporting environmental educators across NSW and is currently chair of EE NSW and helps coordinate AuSSA. Sue lives on Darug Country with the mighty Dyarubbin flowing through.