Wearing my “I am very proud Australian farmer hat” and I am in a room of farmers and the question is asked “Who of you considers yourself a bit of an environmentalist?”… I would like to be confident, that like mine, every single hand in the room would go up without a moments thought ( or checking out what everyone else is doing). I fear however that this may not be the case
According to Wikipedia
Environmentalists advocate the sustainable management of resources and stewardship of the environment through changes in public policy and individual behaviour. In its recognition of humanity as a participant in (not enemy of) ecosystems, the movement is centred on ecology, health, and human rights.
Is there any more noble cause than ecology, health and human rights? With over 60% of Australia’s landscape being looked after by farmers its goes without saying ( or it should) all Australian farmers are environmentalists
Yet environmentalist seems to be one of those words that farmers shy away from using in case they get labelled “greenies’ or ‘tree huggers’ or heaven forbid ‘friends of Green Peace or WWF’
Stand tall stand proud fellow farmers we aren’t just talking about it we are walking the walk .Shout it from the rooftops “ I am a proud Australian farmer and I am an environmentalist” After all have you ever met a farmer who aims to leave their land worse off then when they arrived?.
For those of you who would like to see what some of our proud Australian farmers who are self declared environmentalists are up to there are some great blogs and websites for you to visit
Gus Whyte and family http://wyndhamstation.com.au/
Seven Aussie Farmers I am very proud to be sharing my story with here 1Million Women
Marian MacDonald as selection from the wonderful Milk Maid Marian blog
http://milkmaidmarian.com/2013/12/01/for-our-children/
http://milkmaidmarian.com/2014/05/05/why-landcare-matters/
http://milkmaidmarian.com/2012/07/20/finding-pleasure-in-the-small-stuff/
http://milkmaidmarian.com/2012/05/10/caring-for-our-country-requires-a-team-effort/
http://milkmaidmarian.com/2011/12/28/our-green-investment-already-begins-to-grow/
http://milkmaidmarian.com/2011/11/26/a-beautiful-set-of-numbers/
http://milkmaidmarian.com/2011/10/05/intensified-farming-good-for-the-environment-sometimes/
Check out the work of the Montrose Dairy team of Gillian Hayman and Graeme Nicol http://montrosedairy.com/category/environment/
Clover Hill Dairies Diary http://cloverhilldiaries.com/category/environment/
Young Eco Champions http://archibullprize.com.au/teachers/yec/yec2013.html
and lots of great stories at the Target 100 site about our Cattle and Sheep Farmers including the Young Farming Champions team
Thank you proud and loud environmentalist Bessie for inspiring this post
I love your message Lynne, but the word ‘environmentalist’ has been associated with some pretty dodgy, radical activists in recent years and many farmers just turn away as soon as they hear that word. I’m not sure how to change the attitude for farmers to embrace the word ‘environmentalist’. I guess they already know that they look after their land and don’t feel they need to justify themselves to some unemployed hippy. Farmers don’t crave media attention and conflict like many of the fanatics, they just go about their business and don’t impose their beliefs on others like the fundamentalists do. It would take generational change for many farmers to fully adopt the label of ‘environmentalist’, if at all. We’re farmers, of course we look after our land, to us that’s a given!