Page 2 – Australian Student Environment Network

The dinner table

August 31, 2016 by agnes Comment Closed

Sometimes we sit around the dinner table. Bre has cooked a vegan meal, Ruby has made a good dessert. I brought some strawberries. Kitty has just set up a new table in the living area. It's right by the window. Marco comes home from catching them all. Ed is over for dinner, as well. This house is full of history. Poppy gets home from work. Tim has just spent an hour teaching Ruby the saxophone. There's a potluck on Sunday, when we'll all get together again. Andy and Bre will come for the meeting, before going to visit a relative on Father's day. I am thinking of inviting Maushmi to sleep over, because she lives far away, and getting home at night is hard. Amelie is happy our house will have people in it. She says it will feel warm. ASEN is a funny little group. All its members have lives outside of the group. All its members are involved in things farther...

ASEN NSW citizen science roadtrip!

August 31, 2016August 31, 2016 by Breana Macpherson-Rice Comment Closed

This mid-semester break, ASEN NSW are heading up to Vickery State Forest on Gomeroi country to take part in citizen science efforts and learn from traditional owners and community about the effects of coal mining on livelihoods in the New England area. It'll be happening from 24-28 September (Saturday to Wednesday) with ASEN organising carpooling and food in exchange for attendees chipping in to cover costs. Find out more on the facebook event, at the info night happening at UNSW (Tuesday 6 September 5pm Quad G027) or by emailing nswact[at]asen.org.au . And don't forget to register at tinyurl.com/asen-citizen-science ! All welcome, including non-students....

Film screening of Heritage Fight

August 24, 2016 by agnes Comment Closed

Written by Agnes McKingley Tonight Cinema Politica organised a film screening of Heritage Fight for Radical Education Week at University of Sydney. Radical Education Week has seen a display of different workshops, skill-sharing events and discussions surrounding a range of subjects which are deeply relevant to the emerging citizens among Syndey Uni's youth. The workshops are free and open to anyone, not just uni students. Heritage Fight followed the efforts of a community which would not allow unethical and damaging industrialisation to enter its borders. I decided to go see Heritage Fight because I am planning on moving to Western Australia next year, and the film takes place in the Kimberley, in Western Australia. I thought it would be a good, if somewhat humble, attempt at beginning to familiarise myself with some of the landscape, stories, geography and things that need doing there. I started to spend time with members of the Australian Student Environment Network at the end of last year, in the...

Citizen Science at Vickery Forest

August 14, 2016August 14, 2016 by Andy Mason Comment Closed

Words & Pictures by Andy & Amy. Andy is studying Geography, Political Economy & Indigenous Studies at Sydney University and has been involved with ASEN for a couple of years. Amy is in her first year of a Bachelor of Science and Fine Arts, studying psychology and biology and has only recently, but enthusiastically, become involved in ASEN. We recently participated in a citizen science trip up to Vickery State Forest. Coal & coal seam gas mining in north-western NSW has been the target of enormous protests in recent years. ASEN members have been involved in campaigns in the Pilliga, near Breeza and at the Leard Blockade near Maules Creek. There are enormous plans by the fossil fuel industry to turn the Liverpool Plains into a new Hunter Valley - a once-rich agricultural area now pockmarked by coal mines. A diverse coalition of farmers, environmentalists and the local Aboriginal traditional owners, the Gomeroi, have come together to oppose the industry’s destruction of...

A day at Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy

August 4, 2016 by Breana Macpherson-Rice Comment Closed

Words by BRIDGET HARILAOU, photo by GAELE SOBOTT Paying a visit to the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy is good for your health. I’m dead serious. From sitting around the fire and having a yarn, to playing with the kids, to free dinner and making a bunch of new friends, the community, education and inspiration of the Embassy is incomparable. Here’s how my visit on Tuesday January 6, 2015 went. After wandering into camp at about 4.30pm, I was invited into the shade of a tent to get out of the heat. I was chatting with some people staying at the Embassy and laughing at the antics of the most adorable baby, when some police from Redfern station stopped by. Apparently they had received a call from someone called ‘Amanda’ saying that Aunty Jenny (an Indigenous elder and leader of the Embassy) had been spotted here, breaching her bail conditions. Besides this information being factually incorrect, this phone call shows the constant persecution faced...