After participating in a Deep Ecology workshop with John Seed, a small group of Bellingen folk decided to organize a series of educational events about the pressing issue of global warming and climate change. “An Inconvenient Truth” was shown on the “big screen” of the Bellingen Memorial Hall in February of 2007, with 270 people attending – a large crowd for a small town! A few weeks later, John Seed came back to town to present his “Climate Change: Despair and Empowerment Road show” to an enthusiastic audience of 130 people. This was followed the next week by a more intimate and in-depth one day workshop on the same topic, attended by 35 people. Two weeks later the Bellingen Climate Action Group was born at an inaugural meeting of 33 attendees.

We hold monthly general meetings (usually on the first Wednesday of the month) at the Bellingen Environment Centre, under which we are auspiced. A Steering Committee has been formed, which has defined three main goals for itself:

1. To provide and hold the space for the group to function, both in cyberspace through the website, and in real space through monthly meetings.
2. To facilitate communication among members, and between members and the community, through the website, use of media, and regular meetings.
3. To stimulate and support community action, by holding educational monthly meetings, and then supporting individuals and workgroups through a “steering committee buddy” system.

Currently, six people sit on the Steering Committee:

• Coordination (meeting planning and facilitation, contact for workgroups):  Lisa Siegel, Rossmor McLeod
• Finances (coordination of expenses and fundraising): Jan VanHoffen, Rachael McCallum
• Public Relations (website,contact with media, other groups): Thea O’Connor, Laurie Kane

Contact us at: steeringcommittee@ecobello.org.au