Students to converge to save the environment
BY EWAN SAUNDERS
BRISBANE — Students, activists and environmentalists from around the continent will converge on Griffith University here on July 3 for Australia's largest student environment initiative — Students and Sustainability, 2000.
First held in 1991, the conference has grown by leaps and bounds in the years since, each year emerging at a new location and with a new swell of young environmentalists keen to hone their activism and understanding.
This year's conference, from July 3-7, will be held under the banner "Solutions through community action", a theme which stems from the idea that positive social change can be achieved by collective action and by focusing on community solutions to environmental problems.
The conference agenda centres on four main plenaries: Whose movement is this? Building unity and linking the environment movement with other struggles; Fighting corporate tyranny: internationalism, imperialism and the environment; Taking stock and future visions for the environment movement; and Overpopulation: Debunking the myth.
The conference's third day will feature field trips to local environmental projects. Throughout the week, workshops and forums will canvass a broad range of topics, both practical and informative.
In addition to organising speakers and logistics, raising money and getting the publicity out, this year's collective has set up caucuses for women, indigenous people, people from non-English speaking backgrounds and people identifying as queer to ensure their issues are discussed at the conference.
In this day of the almighty dollar, it seems that no matter how many global environmental warning signs flash before our eyes, government and corporate leaders the world over pour derision on those who seek to heed the warnings. Students and Sustainability is a beacon of light at the end of a bleak tunnel — make sure you're there.
For more information, call (07) 3875 3919, or visit the conference web site at .