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On the Brink, a film made in 2003 by the Rainforest Information Centre to save the habitat of threatened and endangered species, had its relaunch at Narara Eco Village on Saturday, September 23.
The film was presented twice on the day. A morning platypus spotting workshop, hosted by the ACF Central Coast Community Group, was attended by 60 people, who then viewed the film, narrated by Jack Thompson, Olivia Newton John, Sir David Attenborough and other luminaries.
An evening screening was then attended by another 60 people who were also given presentations by Mark Ellis, ACF’s Central Coast group convenor, Ursula Da Silva, founder and lead campaigner for Camp Ourimbah and renowned rainforest campaigner, deep ecology teacher and founder of the Rainforest Information Centre, John Seed.
Seed, who is a cancer survivor, said he hadn’t been involved in rainforest campaigning for quite some time but was reinvigorated by the local campaign to stop logging in Ourimbah State Forest.
“I was busy doing other things but the koalas wouldn’t hear of it,” he told attendees.
The evening film session raised $130 for Camp Ourimbah and set the scene for what John Seed hopes will grow into a national social media campaign that state and federal governments will not be able to ignore.
He spoke about how, in the leadup to the 2003 NSW state election, On the Brink was shown in towns across the state, followed by Q&A sessions and on-the-spot letter writing drills.
The outcome was that Premier Bob Carr decided to protect 67,000 Ha of old growth forest in the north east of NSW.
According to Seed, about 20 environment organisations have already agreed to participate in a coordinated social media campaign using the footage of David Attenborough, David Suzuki and Olivia Newton-John to “create the conditions for an end to the logging of koala habitat and calling for the ALP to honour their Great Koala National Park election promise”.
The campaign, which will use footage from On the Brink, already has the support of the Bob Brown Foundation, Friends of the Earth, NSW Greens, Wilderness Australia, NSW Nature Conservation Council, Australian Rainforest Conservation Society, Rainforest 4 Foundation, Extinction Rebellion, Rainforest Rescue, North East Forest Alliance, Morag Gamble’s vast permaculture network, Community Voice Australia, ACF Central Coast, Mullum Seed, Community Environment Network, Central Coast Permaculture.
The idea is that each group and individual who comes on board will forward to other groups and individuals who might be interested.
Everyone who registers to participate will then receive instructions about how this national campaign will roll out to end native forest logging across Australia, so watch this space. If you are interested in participating, contact John Seed via his facebook page or send The Point a message.
Meanwhile, here are some tasks Ursula Da Silva and the Camp Ourimbah team have suggested you can do to help their campaign to stop the destruction of Ourimbah State Forest:
- Write a letter to David Harris and other MPs https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/13k966stvgapg0jld1uql/Letter-to-Ministers.docx?rlkey=7jq2dyv52ixauuec734oc0tfp&dl=0
- Request a meeting with David Harris at his office in Wyong ph (02) 4352 2711
- Follow Camp Ourimbah on facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068469774081
- Email [email protected] to be on email list
- Stay connected for citizen science and seasonal science program and help spread awareness with letter box drop days
- Join Camp Ourimbah outside David Harris’s Office, Dec 1st, Event up on our Facebook soon.
