Thursday 20th August

7:30pm, at the Regent Multiplex, 49 Lydiard Street North, Ballarat.

You can download an A3 poster and flyers for this event.  Please place them in your work place, community areas and anywhere else you can effectively get the message out.

Tanya Ha's in town presenting a number of workshops around understanding science and sustainable living, including:

It’s complicated! Using Food as a focus, Tanya talks us through understanding the complexity of science and environmental messaging for sustainable living.

This workshop has been organised in partnership with the City of Ballarat and is part of National Science Week.

Plenty of Q&A time, followed by a special viewing of the ‘Great Collections’ exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat!

When Avril Lavigne sang “Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?” she probably wasn’t talking about science and sustainability, but it’s a question often asked of environmental campaigners. Sometimes environmental issues are simple, but more often they’re complicated. Sometimes scientific accuracy gets lost in translation when we try to put an idea into lay terms or fit a complex idea into a short headline, a billboard or a 30 second TV ad. The danger in over-simplifying eco-advice and information is that we can give the wrong advice, create the wrong expectation and/or fail to deliver the kind of change we need to address our environmental challenges. Tanya uses food as an example. Food is the fundamental form of consumption, so in an era of heightened environmental awareness, people are starting to talk about greener food choices. But how does a 100-mile diet stack up scientifically and ethically? Is there any merit in Tesco’s efforts to introduce carbon labelling of food products? Should you think about the virtual water content of various food choices? Just when everyone’s heads start to feel like they’ll explode, Tanya finishes with the patterns that start to emerge from food sustainability and that can be distilled down to some simple tips, like eating foods that are in season and avoiding food waste. The underlying message is that we need to respect the science and the complexity that is behind some simple basic environmental principles.

Who is Tanya Ha?

TANYA HA
Biography
Tanya Ha has been named amongst Australia’s leading environmentalists and is a champion of sustainable living. Holding a Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne and a Graduate Certificate in Scientific and Technical Writing from Deakin University, Tanya is a brilliant science communicator, making complex environmental issues easy to understand and offering practical, accessible advice.

Tanya has always been passionate about the environment and in 1998 began working with the Australian environment group Planet Ark, establishing the Melbourne office. Integrating her science and media backgrounds, Tanya developed the marketing and communications activities of Planet Ark. Her work included public education projects, on-going and new environmental campaigns, preparing much of Planet Ark’s campaign literature, on-line content and media materials, preparing and editing the Planet Ark Recycling Report 2000 (an online encyclopedia of recycling information), and representing Planet Ark in the media.

Over the years, her experience with the media has been extensive, becoming a profiled persona. Tanya has made guest appearances on television shows such as Sunrise, Mornings with Kerri-Anne, Good Morning Australia, Denise, The Glass House, Totally Wild, Saturday Disney and AM Adelaide, talking about the environment and the many ways in which ordinary people can help save the planet. She has also prepared articles and regular columns for newspapers and magazines, including G Magazine, sunday magazine, Australian House & Garden, Fresh, Cosmopolitan, The Age, Herald Sun, Australian Good Taste, madison, Handyman and Yen.

In 2007 Tanya starred as the eco-coach in the landmark SBS reality TV series Eco House Challenge, the expert who guides two ordinary families down the path towards sustainability. 2.4 million viewers tuned in to watch episodes of Eco House Challenge, which won the ATOM Award for Best Multi-Modal Production and a silver plaque Hugo Television Award at the Chicago Film Festival, and was a finalist in the Banksia Awards and the United Nations World Environment Day Awards.

Autumn 2009 saw Tanya on television again as the host and main reporter for Warm TV, an environmental documentary and lifestyle show that screened on WIN Tasmania (www.warm.com.au).

Tanya is also a best-selling author, having penned several books in the last six years. Her title Greeniology was described as the ‘environment bible’ and was arguably Australia’s first localised mainstream reference for green living. The book was also adapted for Canada, and has been translated into French and Chinese. Launching in August 2009, is Tanya’s latest masterpiece, Green Stuff for Kids, an A-Z guide for tween and teen readers on the planet and caring for the environment.

Just last year, Tanya was selected as a delegate to Prime Minister Rudd’s Australia 2020 Summit in the Sustainability and Climate Change stream. She is also an ambassador for the WA government’s Living Smart program (www.dpi.wa.gov.au/livingsmart) and was involved in its development. Tanya is also a founding supporter of Cool Change (www.coolchange.org.au) and assists the work of a range of environment groups, as well as serving on the Boards of the Victorian Government environmental authority Sustainability Victoria and the green group Keep Australia Beautiful.