ENVIRONMENTAL educator Sue Lennox, Co-Founder of Bellingen-based OzGREEN, has been recognised as a Member of the Order of Australia 2022.

The 2020 NSW Senior Australian of the Year and Founder of Youth Leading the World has been recognised for her lifelong passion and dedication to environmental sustainability through OzGREEN, with collaborative projects around the world.

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Sue told News Of The Area her life’s work “has been a search for more than fifty years to find ways to face up to the challenges that we have in front of us, to find a place where we can create change”.

Back in the 1990s, Sue and her late husband Colin were invited by environmentalist Fran Peavey to go to India and help with the Clean Ganges Campaign.

“Measuring the pollution in the Ganges, it was just horrific,” Sue said.

“It was an incredible wake-up call for me.

:I saw that what we’d begun in Australia, this combination of citizen science and community action, had a much bigger application than I could have possibly imagined.

“30 years ago, Colin and I made a commitment that this would be our life’s work and we founded OzGREEN in December 1993.

“Through OzGREEN and Clean Ganges Campaign we work in partnership with Sankat Mochan Foundation.

“Primarily our role is citizen science and environmental education.

“Our focus is on leadership development and community leadership.

“Recent projects have established the Mothers for Mother group and the Village Women and Water project where we work with the women in villages, providing safe drinking water and helping them find their voice and become actively involved in the campaign.”

While her work has been one-step-at-a-time there are beautiful wins.

“I heard of a remarkable change last week that made my heart sing.

“Mamadou Babacar Diop, a Youth Leading the World Facilitator in Senegal, was elected to local government last week.

“Along the edge of the Sahara Desert he and his team have been very busy planting trees over the past couple of years.

“It is a remarkable win.”

Sue also notes the work of Vanessa Moskal.

“When the idea of YLTW was first conceived in 2009, Vanessa was a year 12 student at the Northern Beaches Secondary (Manly Campus) and an active participant in OzGREEN’s Youth LEAD (YLTW) program.

“When approached by OzGREEN about kicking off a new model that would train local people to run a youth leadership congress, she was one of the people who said ‘yes, this is a great idea’.

“Vanessa trained as a YLTW Facilitator and ran her first YLTW congress during her ‘schoolies week’ in November 2009.

“Vanessa has been the mainstay and Lead YLTW Facilitator on the Northern Beaches since then.

“In 2012 she was elected as the youngest ever Councillor on Warringah Council.

“When Vanessa tells her personal story it is really influential to other young people.

“It’s one of the things we do – we have a culture of creating a sense of possibility…’if she can do it, so can I’.

“When we bring change ideas into action and see those changes happen in the world, you’re no longer a victim of it – that’s the most important gift we can bring to young people who are involved in our program.”

OzGREEN’s Resilient Communities launches its first ‘baby’ this February with community programs – see our story in this edition.

To learn more about the Resilient Communities program visit https://www.ozgreen.org/rc and for information about the India – Clean Ganges program, visit https://www.ozgreen.org/india.

By Andrea FERRARI